How NetApp And Intel Are Helping Partners Simplify And Scale AI

AI is a top priority for many businesses, but getting it up and running can be challenging, especially without the right infrastructure. That’s where NetApp and Intel’s AIPod Mini comes in. Designed to simplify AI deployments, reduce risk and help partners bring AI to more customers faster, the solution is gaining traction across industries. Lynn Comp of Intel and Russell Fishman of NetApp speak with CRNtv host Sydney Neely to explain how it works and why it is a strong opportunity for the channel.

Sydney: Russell, what makes AIPod Mini such a strong opportunity for partners?

Russell: I think most partners know that they’re facing a massive AI market opportunity. And AIPod Mini offers probably one of the most rare and unique opportunities for them to get in front of that market.

Ultimately, it’s an AI inferencing solution that we deliver through AIPod Mini. And what it’s designed to do is to help enterprise departments harness the full potential of artificial intelligence by enabling three things: real-time decision-making, operational efficiency and cost optimization.

We’ve designed it from the ground up for simplicity and scalability, which is really critical. And the solution supports a wide range of AI models, from things like predictive analytics to advanced generative AI. The idea is to make it seamlessly integrated with all of our customers’ existing workflows.

Sydney: Lynn, who is the ideal customer for this solution? Are there certain industries or workloads where you are already seeing strong demand for this kind of pre-integrated AI infrastructure?

Lynn: I think every industry wants those immediate transformative results that AI could promise to them. And so, the NetApp AIPod Mini is absolutely perfect for it.

Now, there’s three industries right off the bat that I think are just prime examples. Manufacturing, the defect detection on product lines and production lines. And Intel has seen these kinds of deployments significantly improve quality and efficiency. You’ve got healthcare, benefits from diagnostic workflows. Public safety agencies—they can use real-time video analytics to enhance security response times, and they can really help move traffic faster when they need to get something out of the way for an emergency response.

So that pre-integrated AI infrastructure helps businesses harness AI without having to deal with cost and complexity and the open-heart surgery that comes with your more traditional GPU deployments. So, it’s accessible and impactful across many diverse workloads.

Sydney: Russell, let’s talk enablement, especially for partners who may be newer to AI deployments. How are NetApp and Intel helping partners get up to speed and build successful AI practices?

Russell: I think partners, most of them don’t have AI practices. They haven’t gone and invested in that space. So AIPod Mini is all about helping partners connect with customers in ways that they weren’t able to before.

And it starts with the customer. So, it starts with making sure that the customer can get to value faster. That’s skipping over POCs and the risk of trying to do it yourself and getting straight to an outcome that has an ROI associated with it.

It’s also about reducing deployment risks and complexity. So, it simplifies AI adoption. It’s allowing partners to take what is essentially a complete pre-integrated and trusted AI solution stack and take that directly to market.

It enables partners to expand services and margins. It’s not just about the product. It’s also about things like consulting, integration and managed service opportunities. Frankly, it helps our partners differentiate their portfolios because this is not something that’s mainstream yet. What we have done is Intel and NetApp have accelerated that market by delivering something that’s full stack and turnkey for the first time.

Sydney: Lynn, as partners look to grow their AI business, how does this solution help them scale long term, from quick wins to full practice development?

Lynn: First of all, you have to have this ongoing, sustainable and scalable mindset around AI practices and have this growing portfolio of that. Because we all know you have to go in to every customer with what can you do to help them with using AI to benefit their business.

First of all, the partners can achieve these quick wins with targeted solutions in really high-demand sectors like the three we mentioned, especially manufacturing and health care. And because it’s CPU-optimized AI, it’s not something that’s unfamiliar to them. So, they can get ramping faster.

And this goes edge, core data center and in the cloud environments. And the partners can enhance their portfolios, not just with what they have been delivering to customers, but with consulting, integration and management services. Because the AIPod Mini’s pre-validated workflows and seamless deployments basically let them create this recurring revenue stream.

And not only does that help them with their revenues, but it also deepens customer relationships because the customers are delighted they get much faster time to solution and time to business benefits.

To learn more about the AIPod Mini and how it can help you deliver faster, smarter AI outcomes for your customers, visit: netapp.com/blog/aipod-mini-intel-ai-adoption