The University of Utah retains operational sovereignty with Redtail

Operational sovereignty gives universities authority over how shared computing resources are allocated, managed and secured.

The University of Utah’s Redtail AI factory supercomputer provides advanced computing capabilities to a nationwide community. According to University of Utah Chief AI Officer Manish Parashar (pictured), supporting researchers, students, administrators and external partners through this infrastructure requires more than just computing capacity.

“In research, we always try to balance research security with conducting open research for the good of society,” he said. “Depending on where you are, you may want to lean one way or the other. The ability to turn the knob becomes so important.”

Parashar spoke with Dave Vellante and Amit Eyal Govrin of theCUBE Research for the video series “Sovereign AI: From Strategy to Reality” during an exclusive interview on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed university control of computing infrastructure, research governance and the investments needed to support Utah’s growing ambitions. (*Disclosure below.)

Operational sovereignty begins with university expertise

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. helped develop and deploy Redtail as a turnkey system. The university’s Center for High Performance Computing operates it, drawing on expertise that also supports separate regulated research environments, Parashar explained.

“They have admin access, do the assignments and do the onboarding,” he said. “They do the management and monitoring…the optimization [and] … the right size.”

The interview examined Utah’s approach using CUBE Research’s five-pillar framework for sovereign AI: territorial, legal, technological, operational and financial. The operational and legal responsibility lies with the university, while funding relies on partnerships with the state and donors, according to Parashar.

“Our entire ecosystem is a hybrid,” he said. “There are things that are on-premises, there are things that are hosted in the cloud, and we will always look at it as a hybrid system. Not everything has to be territorial in a single data center or across the state.”

Redtail also gives the university the opportunity to meet growing demand for protected computing by freeing up capacity in existing facilities. The current environment supports sensitive and regulated research, including health projects, and expanding their capacity is a priority, Parashar stressed.

“How do we move to a facility that not only has the capacity, but also adheres to the emerging controls? We want to grow that, and that’s our focus right now,” he said. “And what’s happening is that with the Redtail, a lot of our open research is moving to it, freeing up capacity in our data center and other places where we can grow out of that regulated environment.”

Nationwide ambitions require sustained investments

The university’s One-U Responsible AI initiative connects research to broader societal needs. His work includes entrepreneurship, public sector collaboration and regional challenges such as air quality, Parashar explained.

“It’s going to be very, very important to be open there because you want to bring the best ideas and the best data – and most of the time it’s citizen data – and then see how we can most effectively use AI to address this very regional challenge,” he said. “We don’t want to lose ideas; we don’t want to lose the data coming in. We want to process it and make sure that the result and the resulting alerts – the notifications – are disseminated as widely as possible.”

Financial sustainability must take into account increasing demand and the renewal of technology. Expansion planning began before the Redtail contract was signed, and the university is reaching out to federal agencies, including the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation, to invest in the existing ecosystem, Parashar noted.

“We talk to the state and show them – very quickly – added value and convince them that investing in this thing is good for the state.” [and] It’s good for its citizens,” he said. “That’s who we are [also] Discussions with additional philanthropic donors.”

The university’s statewide mission goes beyond providing access to computing resources. Training, workforce development and shared expertise are also part of the ecosystem that must support operational sovereignty, according to Parashar.

“It’s not that everything has to be strictly controlled. We don’t want everything to be completely open,” he said. “We want to make sure we can adjust the right size depending on what we’re working on.”

Here is the full video interview, part of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of the Sovereign AI: From Strategy to Reality video series:

(*Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the “Sovereign AI: From Strategy to Reality” interview series. Neither HPE, the sponsor of theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over theCUBE or SiliconANGLE content.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE