When Server Hardware is Tough to Procure, Engineering Matters Even More
Enterprises and research institutions investing in HPC, AI and advanced computing infrastructure are facing a challenge: Computing power continues to grow, but constrained supplies of chips, memory and other critical components are driving up costs and extending lead times.
While no systems integrator can eliminate an industry-wide supply shortage, an experienced integrator can engineer around it.
Instead of treating the list of components as fixed, Nor-Tech works with customers to evaluate the larger objective: What performance do they actually need, when do they need it and where is there flexibility in the configuration? That opens several possibilities:
- Alternative configurations: Identify technically equivalent components that may offer better availability, pricing or both.
- Availability-first engineering: Consider component availability alongside performance and cost before the final system configuration is established.
- Phased deployment: Deploy available compute capacity first rather than delaying an entire project waiting for one constrained component.
- Prequalified substitutions: Establish acceptable alternatives in advance so component changes don’t require starting the approval process over.
- Upgrade-ready designs: Configure infrastructure that meets immediate requirements while allowing for the expansion of storage, GPUs or compute capacity as availability improves. Nor-Tech will also consult on memory expansion options.
For some organizations, the answer may not be the exact system they originally planned to purchase. A slightly different architecture could deliver the required workload performance sooner—or provide a better balance of performance, availability and cost. This is where engineering expertise becomes especially valuable.
Nor-Tech Executive Vice President Jeff Olson said, “No matter the current environment, our job is to understand what our customers are trying to accomplish and develop the best available path to get them there. Our engineers understand this and have been doing just that for nearly three decades.”
Nor-Tech’s engineers work with customers before and after the sale, providing fully integrated, tested and validated HPC clusters and servers. In a constrained technology market, that engineering-first approach can help organizations evaluate their options rather than simply waiting for a particular configuration to become available.
When hardware is tough to procure, Nor-Tech’s Engineering Expertise matters even more.
Contact Nor-Tech to discuss your performance requirements, timeline and infrastructure options. To schedule a no-cost, in-depth consultation, call 952-808-1000, email engineering@nor-tech.com or visit https://www.nor-tech.com
Why Nor-Tech is the Best Choice for Your Business
Since 1998 we have been establishing ourselves as one of the leading providers of quality HPC solutions. Our servers are backed by an expert team that is available to provide support and assistance, ensuring that your business always has access to the resources you need. Contact us for more information or a quick quote: 952-808-1000; engineering@nor-tech.com/ or click on the Contact tab at https://nor-tech.com/contact/.
Nor-Tech is on CRN’s list of the top 40 Data Center Infrastructure Providers along with IBM, Oracle, Dell, and Supermicro and is also a member of Hyperion Research’s prestigious HPC Technical Computing Advisory Panel. The company is a complete high performance computer solution provider for 2015 and 2017 Nobel Physics Award-contending/winning projects. Nor-Tech engineers average 20+ years of experience. All of Nor-Tech’s high-performance technology is developed by Nor-Tech in Minnesota and supported by Nor-Tech around the world. The company is headquartered in Burnsville, Minn. just outside of Minneapolis. To contact Nor-Tech call 952-808-1000 or visit https://www.nor-tech.com.