Taiga Cloud i54 Winter 24

EXECUTIVE INSIGHT LEADING THE PROFESSIONAL CHARGE

WINTER 2024

ISSUE 54

KARL HAVARD, MANAGING DIRECTOR, TALKS TO EXECUTIVE INSIGHT ABOUT THEIR PLANS FOR FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS AS AN ELITE PARTNER OF NVIDIA

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Taiga Cloud, A NORTHERN DATA GROUP COMPANY,

roars ahead as an Elite Partner of NVIDIA Taiga Cloud, a Northern Data Group company, has recently achieved the prestigious status of certified NVIDIA Elite Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) - an elite designation recognizing Taiga Cloud as a top-tier provider for AI and High-Performance Computing (HPC) in the Cloud. After extensive audits validating Taiga Cloud’s operations, infrastructure, software stack, security protocols and Generative AI competencies, NVIDIA effectively crowned Taiga Cloud amongst the world’s most capable Cloud partners for accelerated computing. Taiga Cloud stands at the forefront of meeting surging enterprise demand for specialised Generative AI capabilities in Europe. Amongst all these accolades, and facilitated by Northern Data Group’s continued investment, Taiga Cloud, is demonstrating accelerated growth, indicating an even more exciting future ahead.

Executive Insight’s Jon Bradley sat down with Karl Havard, Managing Director of Taiga Cloud, to further explore what the future holds.

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Revolutionized High-Performance Computing.

Advances in High-Performance Computing continue to place new demands on data centers.

But what if innovations in infrastructure could revolutionize computing environments, delivering greater performance, density and availability for years to come?

With more than 25 years’ experience in designing and operating data centers, we’re pioneering a new era of high-performance and efficiency.

100% Uptime SLA ISO27001 Information Security certified Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) as low as 1.15

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In the ever-evolving realm of data centers, Ardent Data Centers, a Northern Data Group company, stands out as a beacon of innovation and agility. Enabled by Northern Data Group’s Data Center heritage and with a relentless focus on providing cutting-edge infrastructure and services, the company is rapidly establishing itself as a leading infrastructure provider for High-Performance Computing (HPC) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications. Ardent Data Centers are also expanding at a fast pace, with several new locations having been added to their portfolio in recent months and more on the way.

Executive Insight caught up with Ardent’s Managing Director, Corey Needles.

Ardent, the data center division of Northern Data Group, a leading provider of HPC infrastructure solutions, is a relatively young company, and that might be its biggest advantage. As the AI boom continues, and its many growing needs see legacy data centers scrambling to rapidly repurpose their old facilities, Ardent enjoys the benefits of being purpose built for the needs of the modern era. “Flexibility is really our key focus”, Needles points out. “When you are repurposing older infrastructure for more high-density operations, you run into many challenges. We don’t have to worry about that as our infrastructure has been designed to support future technology cycles. Traditional data centers will have to adapt but we haven’t seen many yet preparing for the hybrid CPU-GPU environment and that is what we are capturing at Ardent. This is also why our power and cooling systems are tailor made to support the most cutting-edge, high-density operations with the ability to further modify our services to fit our customers’ needs”.

This flexibility can be found across the rest of Ardent’s operations as well; “I want to make sure our customers can have as much freedom as they want. If they need to have systems reconfigured quickly, they should get that, and we make sure our staff have the technical training to provide that”.

This customer driven mindset is also evident in how Ardent is designing their product offerings. Needles notes a recent article describing how most of the NVIDIA H100 GPUs are monopolized by a few mega 6

corporations. “I want to ensure smaller enterprises also have reasonable access to HPC. Through our partnership with our sister company, Generative AI Cloud Service Provider Taiga Cloud, we are doing just that.

While Ardent is the data center division of Northern Data Group, Taiga Cloud is its Cloud Solutions division.

Alongside supporting Taiga Cloud’s Generative AI offering through its data center infrastructure, Ardent will lead the way in its offering of sustainable, compliant and secure HPC co-location services and infrastructure to the market.

Ardent’s ability to cater to customers and provide so much flexibility is no coincidence. Corey’s team is full of industry veterans. “Dan Beers, our VP of Global Data Center Operations and our core Senior Operations team have decades of experience in the industry.

We have seen what it takes to build a company to the highest level and that has also helped us to build up a fantastic panel of suppliers. This means we are ready to spring into action and provide the exact solutions our customers need”.

Despite these advantages, Needles and Ardent also are very eager to constantly learn. “The partnership with Taiga Cloud is great in this regard. They are both a customer, as our anchor tenant, and a sister company, as part of Northern Data Group. This gives us the opportunity to utilize each other’s capacities and capabilities to run pilot programs and test out new technology. The more we can do this, the more we are able to provide cutting edge services to our customers at competitive

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prices. It also gives us the flexibility to work with technologies like Direct-To-Chip [a cutting edge and experimental method of cooling chips], for example, which not many others currently have the access to”.

Needles also shares a bit of personal admiration for Karl Havard, Managing Director of Taiga Cloud. “The strong supplier relationships that Karl has built up at Taiga Cloud is a great boon for us as well because it lets us grow in conjunction with them.

Taiga Cloud will continue to grow on the back of these collaborations and that will only enable us to keep growing and innovating alongside them. The biggest benefactor of all of this will be our customers”.

their data center of choice. The focus right now is to make sure we offer high-end solutions to all of our customers and solve any problems they might have. We have built up quite a bit of momentum with Taiga Cloud and we will continue to keep that momentum going”.

Despite pushing the envelope regarding computing power, Ardent remains committed to sustainability, “Our sites in Sweden and Norway have already achieved very good PUE scores, at 1.15 and 1.06”, Needles adds, “The Norway site is also geothermal, and we are always working to see what else can move the needle in that regard. We recognize that different climates and energy sources bring unique conditions, so we always work to make the best of the geography where we operate”.

In that light, Needles noted how Northern Data Group has placed a lot of faith in Needles and their team. “We are a very nimble group, and our investors have a lot of faith in what we do. We are always on the lookout for new opportunities and new locations to move into. In addition to the traditionally larger markets of the EU and North America, we are also exploring emerging markets.

I believe within the next five years, we will be in the billing as one of the top players in the sector”.

While remaining firm on these big ambitions, Needles also added that they are prepared to meet the challenges of an up-and-coming business, “My team and I are very experienced and have decades of data center experience between us. We know that we will have to execute, build credibility, and prove to our customers that we should be

With Needles and his team driving this innovative company forward, the world is likely to see a new champion in the data center industry at this rate. Its partnership with sister company Taiga Cloud means exciting pilot projects and the parties that benefits the most will be the consumers and the planet. Together, Northern Data’s Group’s Data Center and Cloud divisions are exploring ways to ensure the environmental footprint of compute-intensive processes is as light as possible, from strategic locations,to renewable energy, greater utilization and waste-reduction solutions. As Taiga Cloud roars ahead, Ardent will certainly roar alongside it.

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GIGA POD The Future of AI Computing www.gigacomputing.com

What do y’all know about the GIGAPOD GIGABYTE’s newly launched GIGA POD comes with four of GIGABYTE’s G593-series GPU Servers in one rack! That’s four of the industry’s best in class AI computing platforms linked together to form a cluster. You can expect incredible performance for image recognition and natural language processing at scale. A renowned European GPU cloud provider has already deployed 8 GIGA POD’s totaling 256 NVIDIA H100 Tensor Core GPUs to power the EU’s largest AI data center!

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GIGA POD: Taking your AI experience to the next level In the ever-evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, GIGABYTE is proud to launch the breakthrough GIGA POD product line, carefully crafted to redefine and enhance your artificial intelligence computing journey. GIGA POD is at the forefront of innovation, delivering a turnkey solution that seamlessly integrates cutting-edge hardware to solve the most demanding AI applications built on neural networks such as Deep Learning and large language models.

Unlock the potential of GIGA POD The first GIGA POD model features the formidable GIGABYTE G593 series server, laying the foundation for an unparalleled AI computing experience. The powerful server that GIGABYTE created enables the GIGA POD’s exceptional performance and efficiency for AI applications.

Unprecedented scalability GIGA POD extends beyond individual servers, offering the approach of scale-out computing that integrates multiple racks. This rack-scale-level product is integrated with the NVIDIA HGX platform or an OCP Accelerator Module (OAM) to redefine the boundaries of what is possible. The result is a comprehensive infrastructure that empowers you to tackle the most ambitious AI-enabled services with ease.

Consulting, design and construction GIGA POD is more than just a product. It is a partnership. Our professional team works with you to understand your AI computing needs. From initial consultation through the design phase to building a powerful, scaled infrastructure, GIGABYTE supports you every step of the way. We are committed to helping our customers unlock the full potential of artificial intelligence without compromise.

Why choose GIGA POD? • Superior performance GIGA POD harnesses the computing power of the most innovative and powerful AI servers for scale-out deployments, delivering the best performance for AI workloads.

• Seamless scalability Giga POD scales easily with GIGABYTE’s validation and integration. Say goodbye to performance bottlenecks caused by improper network connections when

you invest in a powerful system. Ensure your computing infrastructure keeps pace with your AI goals.

• Comprehensive services In addition to hardware, GIGABYTE also provides a wide range of services, such as consulting, design, and construction, making GIGA POD a comprehensive solution tailored to meet your AI computing needs.

Success Case: GIGA POD “In 2021, Taiga Cloud a Northern Data Group company started building its first Gen AI cluster, together with GIGABYTE, based on NVIDIA A100 GPUs. In Q4 2023, Taiga Cloud and GIGABYTE were the first in Europe to set up a shared design of NVIDIA H100 super pods. The tremendous effort from both teams has propelled Taiga Cloud to new heights in its ability to offer our customers access to flexible, secure, and compliant clean-energy compute power to serve Gen AI innovation across Europe. Thanks to the whole team at GIGABYTE for their support, especially Matthew Miller, Thomas Yen, Andie Yen, and Josephine Su.” Christof Stührmann, Director, Cloud Engineering, Taiga.

“GIGABYTE is pleased to assist Taiga Cloud in meeting the strong demand from businesses for AI-driven solutions by offering access to Europe’s largest clean, energy-powered, expandable AI and ML processing capabilities. We anticipate fully harnessing the potential of our collaboration as we further our strategic partnership. GIGABYTE is facilitating an expedited chip supply chain in Europe by providing the highly desired NVIDIA H100 GPUs to Taiga Cloud. Customers have the option to pre-register their interest in the H100, with access being available prior to the conclusion of 2023. This cooperation represents the culmination of almost two years of work between the two organizations. It originated with GIGABYTE supplying Taiga Cloud NVIDIA A100 GPUs, which were hosted at Ardent Data Centers, part of Northern Data Group’s innovative Site in in Boden, Sweden.” Matthew Miller, Senior Sales Manager, GIGABYTE EMEA Embark on a transformative AI journey with GIGA POD, where innovation and scalability come together to turn your ambitions into reality. GIGABYTE proudly presents the infinite future of artificial intelligence computing.

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aiga Cloud, the Cloud Solutions division of Northern Data Group, a leading provider of HPC infrastructure solutions, is Europe’s first and largest Generative AI Cloud provider. We’re on a mission to enable customer access to unprecedented Generative AI capabilities through flexible and sustainable Cloud infrastructure, purpose-built for efficiency and performance,” notes Taiga Cloud’s Managing Director, Karl Havard. With over 24,000 NVIDIA GPUs rolling out across 2024 – including the latest, in-demand H100 GPUs, expansion plans are truly underway. Taiga Cloud provides precisely tailored solutions for European organisations pursuing innovations like AI software development, drug discovery, 3D rendering, digital twinning, intelligent data synthesis, personalised text, speech applications and more in the dawning era of industrialised Generative AI computing.

Rapid Growth Fuelled by AI growth/AI demand While AI’s latest advancements such as ChatGPT and DALL-E suddenly thrust it into public consciousness, Taiga Cloud is at the forefront of meeting the growing demand and appetite from enterprises and research institutions for infrastructure specifically equipped to train, infer and deploy sophisticated Generative AI models.

As European organisations pushed boundaries in natural language processing, speech synthesis, video generation, drug discovery and other applications years back, their innovation remained stifled by the standardised commodity cloud offerings at the time. Taiga Cloud was born out of this market opportunity and has quickly grown and established itself as Europe’s first and largest CSP which is specifically engineered for the intense computational demands of cutting-edge ML and AI workloads.

“Our vision is to democratise access to Generative AI, enabling start-ups, researchers, and enterprises alike to bring ideas to life efficiently, effectively and sustainably via Cloud. We offer flexible purchase options so customers can precisely access the GPU resources needed rather than facing restrictive demands,” outlines Havard. Uniquely tailored contract lengths empower innovators to leverage Taiga’s Cloud offering on an on-demand basis for iterative development, a refreshing offer when compared to many long-term contracts in the market, before project viability is proved.

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Our vision is to democratise access to Generative AI 11

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We are completely transparent with granular metrics around sustainability and component-level efficiency

Yet, dedication to expanding access runs deeper than competitive positioning. “We are growing responsibly through customer-aligned investments rather than selling our supply to a single buyer that does not align with our beliefs,” affirms Havard, contrasting against providers prioritising their own internal AI programs over external client needs. By steadfastly guiding infrastructure growth to fulfil diverse customer demands, instead of

narrowly optimising for internal usage, Taiga Cloud keeps progress firmly rooted in equitable principles not just profits. The company stays true to its vision by ignoring hype-driven turbulence and avoiding growth that compromises its commitments to transparency, sustainability and compliance adherence.

Purpose-Built for AI Achievement with Watertight Ethics Insatiable enterprise appetite for Gener-

ative AI capabilities provides no excuse for compromising principles in Havard’s book.

Enabled by Northern Data Group’s Data Center heritage, Taiga Cloud has access to state-of-the-art sustainable data centres running on 100% carbon-free energy while driving ground-breaking gains in power utilisation efficiency even for dense AI hardware configurations. “Our facilities in Sweden and Norway utilise renewable hydro-powered energy

whilst employing new and innovative cooling techniques to handle intense heat without energy waste,” explains Havard, who adds, “We are completely transparent with granular metrics around sustainability and component-level efficiency.”

By tackling the explosive demand for specialty AI infrastructure sustainably and ethically, Taiga Cloud empowers customers to achieve unprecedented breakthroughs

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without negative externalities. In addition to laudable sustainability outcomes across Scopes 1, 2 and 3; customers experience comprehensive privacy protection and rigorous multi-layered compliance enforcement supportive of regional standards. “We are a European company with in-region data processing flows meeting GDPR and ISO 27001 standards, and more, to facilitate innovation with trust”, Havard adds.

Comprehensive Service Portfolio Tailored for Generative AI Outcomes Taiga Cloud goes way beyond just providing racks of GPUs – with their expert technical team they are offering managed services tailored to help European companies accelerate their AI efforts, especially around generative models. Their flexible support plans give customers control over their architecture, with the Taiga Cloud Team on hand to help manage things if needed.

For private H100 SXM HGX Island clusters, they can create fully customized setups to fit each customer’s specific models, data, and frameworks. By collaborating closely, they build purpose-built systems that can scale up to thousands of NVIDIA GPUs and all the latest tech like BlueField DPUs and InfiniBand networking. The goal is to tune the infrastructure to each customer’s unique workloads.

Customers can also access Taiga Cloud’s own infrastructure management solution, or use the API for simplified deployment, monitoring and administration of the Generative AI machines and resources.

Responsible Innovation Moving Forward NVIDIA’s extensive evaluation of operational excellence, culminating in Taiga Cloud’s Elite CSP certification, spotlights infrastructure that is undeniably ready to fuel incredible new innovations on the frontier of

Generative AI. Yet, Havard balances excitement with a solemn recognition that such technologies require informed development aligned to social values, “This recognition motivates us immensely, but we acknowledge serious obligations as well to lead clients forward responsibly.”

Maintaining ethical principles around democratized access, sustainability, transparency, and education sits right alongside driving technical breakthroughs on Taiga Cloud’s leadership agenda moving ahead.

“As Europe’s foremost dedicated player in this space, we feel a major responsibility to promote policies nurturing innovation, whilst establishing guardrails to prevent harms,” observes Havard.

With foundational elements firmly solidified through its investments in people, infrastructure, and ethical orientation, Taiga Cloud looks ahead to a bright future on the frontier of Generative AI computing. “This milestone kickstarts the next chapter for Taiga Cloud, as we work closely with NVIDIA to push boundaries even further”, projects Havard. After cementing its position atop Europe’s booming market for enterprise AI acceleration, Taiga Cloud seems poised to lead a new wave of innovation into emerging territories, with outsized potential to transform industries - but only if their principles can remain intact.

As this next era of human and AI collaboration dawns, Havard believes companies like Taiga Cloud must remain grounded when turbulence strikes hype-fuelled domains, “There will always exist tension between revolutionary technology potential and responsible development pacing - those able to navigate this balance sustainably have much to contribute.” With the generative AI tide rising faster than ever, along with many debates about the ethical use of AI, Taiga Cloud appears positioned to lift all boats ethically by sticking to its true north.

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