Sponsor Talk
Will Eatherton
SVP, Data Center, Internet & Cloud Infrastructure Engineering at Cisco
Title: Managing the fabrics underpinning AI infrastructure
Abstract:
As an industry we often oscillate between two extremes; loosely coupled, heterogeneous, robust infrastructure with limited failure domains on one end; tightly coupled, monolithic and homogenous infrastructure with a system wide blast radius on the other. This pattern has manifested in high-performance compute with today’s AI/ML infrastructure exhibiting homogeneity and a lack of robustness in the pursuit of maximized performance. The real-world implications on connectivity management for scale-up approaches in contrast with scale-out technology adds another dimension of consideration for operators.
This talk will explore today’s embedded and management software approaches to these infrastructures and will discuss the evolution of this stack going forward to facilitate more robust heterogeneous architectures whilst preserving optimal performance and user experience.
This talk will explore today’s embedded and management software approaches to these infrastructures and will discuss the evolution of this stack going forward to facilitate more robust heterogeneous architectures whilst preserving optimal performance and user experience.
Biography:
As the SVP of the Data Center, Internet & Cloud Infrastructure Engineering team, Will leads a wide-ranging group responsible for data center, web, and service provider solutions. This group encompasses cutting-edge technologies, longstanding Cisco product lines, and the recently launched Cisco 8000 series.
Will initially joined Cisco in 2000 with the acquisition of Growth Networks. During his early years at Cisco, Will expanded his expertise in routing systems architecture and co-authored several patents on packet processing. In 2013, Will co-founded Skyport Systems, a cloud technology pioneer addressing industry gaps in cloud-managed secure virtualized systems. In 2018, Will returned to Cisco with the acquisition of Skyport Systems. With his return, Will has led the Cisco Networking Engineering team, bringing with him a wealth of industry knowledge and experience.
Will is an active technology researcher, author, and speaker. His most recent speaking engagements include sessions on high-performance ethernet fabrics for AI infrastructure and enabling enterprise generative AI with ethernet AI networking.
Will has a master’s degree in Electric Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis, MO, and a Bachelor’s in Electric Engineering from the Missouri University of Science and Technology.
Will initially joined Cisco in 2000 with the acquisition of Growth Networks. During his early years at Cisco, Will expanded his expertise in routing systems architecture and co-authored several patents on packet processing. In 2013, Will co-founded Skyport Systems, a cloud technology pioneer addressing industry gaps in cloud-managed secure virtualized systems. In 2018, Will returned to Cisco with the acquisition of Skyport Systems. With his return, Will has led the Cisco Networking Engineering team, bringing with him a wealth of industry knowledge and experience.
Will is an active technology researcher, author, and speaker. His most recent speaking engagements include sessions on high-performance ethernet fabrics for AI infrastructure and enabling enterprise generative AI with ethernet AI networking.
Will has a master’s degree in Electric Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis, MO, and a Bachelor’s in Electric Engineering from the Missouri University of Science and Technology.