This sponsored post from Lenovo's Bhushan Desam covers how new HPC tools like Lenovo's LiCO (Lenovo Intelligent Computing Orchestration) are working to address the growing popularity of AI and to simplify the convergence of HPC and AI. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is coming for your HPC cluster – and while there are no autonomous robots taking over the data center, some days it might feel that way to cluster administrators. The HPC cluster looks very attractive to the "outside world", particularly to those who will need performance beyond a single system or workstation. That is, until they try to use it and realize there is a learning curve they have to overcome. AI workloads are well suited for running on a cluster – but is your cluster management ready for AI users?

I recently caught up with Dr. Bhushan Desam, AI global business leader for Lenovo's Data Center Group to discuss how the digital transformation of business isn't truly possible without incorporating machine learning. As a global business leader, Bhushan is focused on developing AI and machine learning business at DCG. On any given day, Bhushan helps manage Lenovo's overall AI strategy, assists in making product portfolio decisions with engineers and product teams, interfaces with R&T teams, supports global sales teams with customer engagement and deepens relationships with HPC customers and partners. He completed his PhD in engineering at the University of Utah, which introduced Bhushan to high performance computing (HPC) and laid the technical groundwork for his role and responsibilities today. After several years working in the field as a researcher and an engineer, Bhushan re-entered academia in 2011 to pursue a joint program in technology management at MIT Sloan School of Management and School of Engineering.