Our team visited the Supermicro event in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, and we saw the best and latest that the server hardware market has to offer (or will soon offer).
On Monday, 23.10.2023, we arrived early in the morning in the picturesque town of 's-Hertogenbosch, where most of the team had breakfast together and waited for hotel check-in. After settling in and refreshing from the strenuous journey, everyone had their own individual program, and in the evening we were invited to a welcoming reception at the Design Museum, which also served as the base for the following day. There were many new and interesting servers on display, and each exhibited rack was attended by a specialist who was very willing to talk with our HW designers and even share some know-how. We had the opportunity to discuss current market trends, expectations, and concerns with partners and competitors.
On Tuesday, 24.10., a program full of knowledge, technological innovations, and everything we at ANAFRA love awaited the participants from early morning.
The schedule was filled with the best from the world of servers. The opening speech was given by Supermicro's President of EMEA, Vik Malyala, and many notable guests from both European and American Supermicro — welcomes, thank yous, and a bit of motivation.
Then there were lectures from real pros, and everyone could choose exactly to their taste. AI, storage, rack-scale solutions, water and immersion cooling, in short, nothing was missing. Each participant had to choose just one presentation in each block, which is why we appreciate being able to attend in such numbers and listen to them all - and then share the gained experiences and knowledge over good food and coffee.
And there was a lot to learn. Did you know, for example, that within ten years, the vast majority of global data centers should be cooled by liquid? Or that an unbelievable 90,000,000 IOPS can be "squeezed" out on the GrandTwin platform with WekaIO? We also learned a lot about CXL technology and its integration with Supermicro servers, which will largely change the computing we know. And of course, lots of AI and beautiful servers for it. In short, the program was very rich, and every team member took away valuable and interesting insights.
This was followed by a short break for rest or a small brainstorming session with the top of their field about what we heard in the lectures. And since everyone involved was a good listener, we then moved to the Jheronimus Bosch Art Center, a beautiful decommissioned Gothic church that now serves as an art gallery, where each exhibited work specifically plays with the theme of good and evil. Here we enjoyed an excellent dinner accompanied by live string music and a raffle draw with really interesting prizes. The rest of the evening was spent in the spirit of casual entertainment, forging new relationships and strengthening existing ones.
On Wednesday, 25.10., we had a tour of Supermicro's headquarters, where we had a unique opportunity to peek into the production areas, server burning, testing, and also modern automated warehouses. But no photography ???? Some colleagues then had the opportunity to visit the beautiful, albeit rainy, city center, pick up some souvenirs from the trip, and set off back to Rožnov pod Radhoštěm - full of new experiences and knowledge, excited for further cooperation.
