Data centre network fabric startup GigaIO has raised $14.7 million in a B-round, following its $4.5 million A-round in 2018. That came six years after its 2012 founding and one year after a 2017 seed round. GigaIO is developing FabreX software to compose — dynamically group together — rack-scale pooled accelerators such as GPUs. The initial FabreX product was launched in 2019.
The B-round was over-subscribed and led by Impact Venture Capital. It included participation from Mark IV Capital, Lagomaj Capital, SK hynix, and Four Palms Ventures.
Alan Benjamin, President and CEO of GigaIO., issued a statement: “Today, by completing this funding round, we are better positioned to get [our] technology into the hands of more customers and channel partners and to increase traction among commercial and other customers.”
FabreX is said to be the world’s only enterprise-class, universal composable fabric and marketed to HPC and AI-using customers. Workloads run as if they were using components inside one server but harness the power of many nodes, all communicating within one universal fabric. The idea is that composed resources are utilised more efficiently and not stranded inside a server with periods of idleness.
Benjamin said: “Due to the pandemic, hardware testing has been difficult. Since the start of the year however, we’ve been able to get equipment into facilities and the results have been fantastic for us. Our customers are thrilled with the results and impressed by what they can do with the technology, and to be blunt, they’re amazed that we’re getting results that the industry has been striving to achieve for more than a decade”
It is based on the PCIe bus, and PCIe Gen-4 server systems and storage drives have started appearing this year. PCIe Gen-5, doubling PCIe Gen-4 speed, is on the near horizon and the CXL bus or link will be based in that, with its memory pooling capability.
This technology development will increase FabreX capabilities by increasing network fabric speed and the size of the composable element pool.
GigaIO will use the funding to accelerate sales and marketing efforts. It will expand its market and channel development by recruiting more partners and expanding channel programs.
