Data Unchained

In this Supercomputing 25 edition of Data Unchained, host Molly Presley talks with Hunter Hagewood of Vanderbilt University’s ACCRE research computing center about the urgent storage and performance challenges that pushed Vanderbilt to rethink its entire HPC strategy. Hunter explains how procurement delays, faculty chargeback pressures, millions of small medical imaging files, manual GPU data staging, and rapidly growing research datasets created a breaking point that traditional appliance based storage could not solve. He shares how Hammer Space helped eliminate the 20 percent of workloads that were bottlenecking the cluster, enabled modular growth at scale, improved GPU performance for AI driven workflows, and positioned Vanderbilt to save nearly two million dollars over four years while supporting future research expansion.Cyberpunk by jiglr | https://soundcloud.com/jiglrmusicMusic promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.comCreative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licensehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US

In this landmark 100th episode of Data Unchained, host Molly Presley sits down with Jonathan Flynn, Director of Applied Systems at Hammerspace, live from Supercomputing 2025. Together they explore the performance engineering breakthroughs that enabled Hammerspace and Samsung to deliver a historic IO500 10 Node Production result using only standard Linux, the upstream NFSv4.2 client, and off the shelf NVMe hardware.This episode breaks down how the Hammerspace Data Platform delivered more than a 33 percent gain over earlier submissions, doubled overall bandwidth, and achieved an unprecedented 809 percent improvement in the IO Hard Read test using Samsung PM1753 Gen 5 NVMe SSDs. Jonathan explains the Linux kernel innovations, metadata advancements, IO path optimization, parallel file system breakthroughs, and multi instance file placement strategies that allowed Hammerspace to reach genuine HPC class performance without proprietary clients or custom networking.Listeners get a detailed walkthrough of the architectural differences between Research and Production IO500 submissions, the impact of metadata redundancy, the performance benefits of NFSd direct and NFS direct, the role of ZFS locking improvements, and how upstream Linux contributions directly advanced the state of HPC and AI data infrastructure. Jonathan also highlights the evolution of MLPerf benchmarking, the benefits of tier zero storage, and how Hammerspace performance engineering is unlocking new levels of efficiency and scalability for AI training, scientific workloads, and large scale analytics.This episode is essential for AI architects, HPC engineers, kernel developers, data scientists, and infrastructure leaders building the next generation of high performance data platforms.Cyberpunk by jiglr | https://soundcloud.com/jiglrmusicMusic promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.comCreative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licensehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US

In this episode of Data Unchained we sit down with Ellison Anne Williams, Founder and CEO of Enveil, to explore one of the most important questions in modern technology: how do you protect your data from AI. In this conversation, Ellison Anne breaks down how data can be used securely across environments you do not own, trust, or control, why AI models silently leak sensitive information, and how encrypted computation is transforming the future of AI, cybersecurity, finance, and national security. Learn how privacy enhancing technologies are reshaping enterprise data protection, how secure AI evaluation works, and what technologies organizations must adopt to stay ahead of the next wave of cyber risk.Cyberpunk by jiglr | https://soundcloud.com/jiglrmusicMusic promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.comCreative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licensehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US

As we count down to the 100th episode of Data Unchained, we’re revisiting one of the conversations that perfectly captures the spirit of this show: how data mobility is transforming business.In this look-back episode, host Molly Presley welcomes Harry Carr, CEO of Vcinity, for a deep dive into the technology that’s redefining how enterprises access and move data across distributed environments. Harry explains why hybrid cloud exists, how Vcinity accelerates data access without duplication or compression, and why the future of data architecture lies in making data available anywhere—instantly.From connecting global AI workflows to eliminating the need to move massive datasets, this episode explores what true “data anti-gravity” looks like and how it’s reshaping the modern enterprise.Listen as Molly and Harry discuss the evolution of data architectures, the synergy between Hammerspace and Vcinity, and what it means to build a world where applications and data connect seamlessly, no matter where they live.Cyberpunk by jiglr | https://soundcloud.com/jiglrmusicMusic promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.comCreative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licensehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US

Welcome to another episode of Data Unchained hosted by Molly Presley. In this episode, Molly sits down with Ted Weatherford, VP of Business Development at Xsight Labs, to explore the cutting-edge future of data infrastructure. They dive deep into the rise of DPUs (Data Processing Units), how they compare to GPUs, and why 800G networking could change the balance of supercomputing forever. From AI data centers and neo cloud architectures to the Open Flash Platform initiative, this conversation uncovers how efficiency, scalability, and democratization of technology are shaping the next generation of computing.Find out more about Xsight Labs by visting their webstite: https://xsightlabs.com/Cyberpunk by jiglr | https://soundcloud.com/jiglrmusicMusic promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.comCreative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licensehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US

Chris Mohr, President of the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), joins us to unpack the legal and policy challenges shaping the future of data, AI, and digital information. Discover how companies, policymakers, and innovators can prepare for an era where AI regulation, copyright liability, and privacy standards are evolving faster than ever. If you’re a CIO, CTO, or business leader navigating decentralized data, compliance, and digital transformation, this episode will give you the insights you need to stay ahead of the curve.Be sure to check out Chris's podcast The Business of Information:https://www.siia.net/the-business-of-information/You can find out more about Chris and SIIA by visiting their website: https://www.siia.net/Cyberpunk by jiglr | https://soundcloud.com/jiglrmusicMusic promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.comCreative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licensehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Copyright #DataPrivacy #AIRegulation #TechnologyPolicy #DigitalTransformation #Section230 #DataUnchained #TechPodcast #CloudData #DecentralizedData #CIO #CTO #SIIA

In this episode of Data Unchained,we sit down with David Flynn, Founder and CEO of Hammerspace, to explore how next-generation infrastructure is transforming the future of AI factories, hyperscaler data centers, and enterprise-scale AI deployments. From exabyte-in-a-rack architectures to parallel file systems native in Linux, this conversation reveals how organizations can drastically lower CapEx, OpEx, and power consumption while unlocking unprecedented performance density.Cyberpunk by jiglr | https://soundcloud.com/jiglrmusicMusic promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.comCreative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licensehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US#AIInfrastructure #Hyperscalers #DataEngineering #EnterpriseAI #SoftwareArchitecture #ExabyteStorage #ParallelFileSystems #LinuxNative #DataCenters #AIatScale #OpenPlatformInitiative #globaldata

In this episode, Rita Gupta, AMD Fellow and recent recipient of the Superwomen of FMS Leadership Award, shares her 25-year journey in technology—from being one of the only women in engineering school to leading innovation in CXL, memory technologies, and supercomputing infrastructure at AMD. She opens up about career-defining moments, the importance of embracing discomfort for growth, and her mission to mentor the next generation of women in tech.Discover how Rita is helping shape the future of data centers, AI infrastructure, and memory architecture—and why diversity of thought is essential for solving tomorrow’s challenges.Powered by Hammerspace – Learn more at https://hammerspace.comCyberpunk by jiglr | https://soundcloud.com/jiglrmusicMusic promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.comCreative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licensehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US#AMD #DataCenters #CXL #Supercomputing #WomenInTech #Leadership #AI #MemoryInnovation #FutureOfTech #TechLeadership #DataInfrastructure #AIInfrastructure #ServerArchitecture #TechCareers #Mentorship #DataUnchained #Hammerspace #STEM #Engineering #TechInnovation