Tech
Dell AI server revenues leap but storage waits on Project Lightning | Computer Weekly
Dell’s quarterly results show a huge growth in server sales, driven by artificial intelligence (AI) projects, but a relative lag in storage. Key reasons behind that might be that Dell’s current storage lags a little behind the curve in AI performance, while its massive parallel network-attached storage (NAS) that aims to plug that gap, Project Lightning, is in gestation.
Dell’s PC division usually massively outsells its datacentre products, but that’s not the case in its latest (second) quarterly results, which show 69% growth in sales of servers and networking equipment year-on-year. That equated to a revenue of $16.8bn for the infrastructure division that put the client services – i.e. personal equipment – into the shade with $12.5bn of sales.
Dell has benefited here from being the first to the AI market, with servers, the latest Nvidia graphics processing unit (GPUs), and switches compatible with high throughput Nvidia Spectrum-X networking and Ultra-Ethernet cards.
“In the last six months we have delivered $10bn worth of servers for AI,” said Jeff Clarke, vice-chairman and chief operating officer for Dell Technologies. “That’s more than was attained in the whole previous year. Demand is strong and sales of the new AI hardware has totalled $20bn for the year.”
Overall, Dell’s Q2 results showed record revenue of $29.8bn, which was up 19% on the previous year. Of the $16.8bn of revenue contributed by the infrastructure group – growth of 44% in a year – servers and network equipment contributed $12.9bn.
Meanwhile, however, storage arrays – flash and disk – saw revenues lower by 3% over the year at $3.9bn in the quarter.
Meanwhile, the client services group’s revenue growth was a mere 1% year-on-year, with enterprise PCs reporting $10.8bn revenue (+2%) and consumer products $1.7bn (-7%).
Storage the poor relation in infrastructure sales
A salient feature of these results is that the demands of AI seem to favour compute hardware more than storage.
That might be confirmed by the latest results from NetApp, which is number one in flash storage arrays, according to IDC. Here, the array maker posted quarterly results of $1.56bn in August, which equated to annual growth of 1%.
Meanwhile, Pure Storage announced revenue of $861m, and that was an increase of 13% on sales in a year – but there’s a catch. That set of figures included its delivery – unprecedented – of SSD DirectFlash Modules (DFM) to hyperscaler Meta.
Pure’s DFMs are a proprietary format in which the vendor has packed a much higher density of storage onto SSD cards. That’s because it offloads a lot of on-board cache to the array and handles data there instead.
HPE’s third quarter results showed revenue growth for servers at $4.9bn, up 16% year-on-year, but doesn’t appear to break out storage revenue.
Towards evolution in storage
Why have we seen a boost in revenue for servers for AI, but not really with storage?
There’s no doubt from a technical point of view that storage is an essential support for compute for AI; it’s possible that enterprises have staged their budget spend and focused first on processing power.
At the same time, it’s true that storage products have lagged behind in terms of performance compared with compute. For example, servers that feed GPUs are able to move data at a rate of 400Gbps or even 800Gbps. Current storage products offer around 100Gbps.
Storage suppliers have, however, centred efforts to develop AI storage around parallel file system storage for AI.
Vast Data led the way here, with massive parallel access to storage, while Hammerspace and Weka also followed.
Dell responded with Project Lightning – which comprises Powerscale, the rebranded Isilon scale-out NAS – but that doesn’t seem to have a release date yet. Meanwhile, NetApp has Ontap Data Platform for AI, while Pure has FlashBlade//Exa.
OpenAI’s chief communications officer, Hannah Wong, announced internally on Monday that she is leaving the company in January, WIRED has learned. In a statement to WIRED, OpenAI spokesperson Kayla Wood confirmed the departure.
“Hannah has played a defining role in shaping how people understand OpenAI and the work we do,” said CEO Sam Altman and CEO of applications Fidji Simo in a joint statement. “She has an extraordinary ability to bring clarity to complex ideas, and to do it with care and grace. We’re deeply grateful for her leadership and partnership these last five years, and we wish her the very best.”
Wong joined OpenAI in 2021 when it was a relatively small research lab, and has led the company’s communications team as ChatGPT has grown into one of the world’s largest consumer products. She was considered instrumental in leading the company through the PR crisis that was Altman’s brief ouster and re-hiring in 2023—a period the company internally calls “the blip.” Wong assumed the chief communications officer role in August 2024, and has expanded the company’s communications team since then.
In a drafted LinkedIn post shared with WIRED, Wong said that OpenAI’s VP of communications, Lindsey Held, will lead the company’s communications team until a new chief communications officer is hired. OpenAI’s VP of marketing, Kate Rouch, is leading the search for Wong’s replacement.
“These years have been intense and deeply formative,” said Wong in the LinkedIn post. “I’m grateful I got to help tell OpenAI’s story, introduce ChatGPT and other incredible products to the world, and share more about the people forging the path to AGI during an extraordinary moment of growth and momentum.”
Wong says she looks forward to spending more time with her husband and kids as she figures out the next chapter in her career.
I love having a whimsical, comfortable wardrobe, and that doesn’t apply just to daytime clothes. My pajama collection is quite extensive, with the added requirement that each pair be both cooling and extra soft. I’m someone who overheats easily in her sleep, and with sensitive skin, it’s not a winning combination.
I’ve been growing my Cozy Earth pajama collection for years, usually getting a new set during Black Friday. Obviously, that shopping event has come and gone, but this sale gives you one more chance. And, believe it or not, it’s even better than what Cozy Earth ran sale-wise for its pajamas during Cyber Week.
Tech
We Just Found Out Taylor Swift Sleeps on a Coop Pillow—They’re Having a Flash Sale to Celebrate
While I’m a mattress and sleep product expert, thanks to years of hands-on experience, I’m also aware that my opinion is not the end-all, be-all for everyone. However, when a megastar is also a fan of a product you’ve reviewed, it’s a good confirmation that you’re on the right track.
Taylor Swift, as it would turn out, is also a fan of Coop Sleep Goods—which we can confirm based on this December 10 Late Show With Stephen Colbert appearance.
Coop’s got some of our favorite pillows, particularly the Original Adjustable pillow. It comes in three shapes: the Crescent, the Cut Out, and the Classic, which is a traditional rectangular shape. I love (and regularly sleep on) the Crescent, which has a gentle curve on the bottom to allow for movement while maintaining head and neck support.
Ole Miss legend describes ‘hurt’ created by Lane Kiffin’s decision to join LSU: ‘There’s anger’
OpenAI’s Chief Communications Officer Is Leaving the Company
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