ESS 3500 is up to 12% faster than previous generation.

IBM has unveiled the ESS 3500 – a new storage server designed specifically for AI training work.

The new unit houses 24 drive bays and has a maximum raw capacity of 368TB.

Making use of Spectrum Scale, IBM’s high-performance software, the ESS 3500 can achieve up to 91GB/s of throughput performance.

The system is designed to "break performance barriers" for AI – with its increased power keeping GPUs active to solve AI problems faster.

The new offering can be combined with other IBM storage units – including previous generations in the ESS line. It is also compatible with non-IBM storage. Given its improvements to GPU output, it could be paired with Nvidia DGX A100 systems – which are GPU-focused but lack storage.

The solution comes with Spectrum Scale installed on a pre-configured system, with updates delivered at speed by containerized software.

ESS 3500 key specs

System features

Performance

Adapters

Drive support

Software

Full specifications can be found here.