Earlier this week Selectel, a major Russian hosting and cloud service provider, announced the launch of a GPU hosting offer in the country.
GPU (graphics processing unit) servers are intended for executing high-performance and memory-intensive tasks. Their processors significantly reduce the execution time for computations, which is critical for neural network algorithms, modelling and analyzing physical processes, drafting, real-time media processing, financial analytics, and more.
“For these kinds of projects demand a specific infrastructure, and standard servers and public clouds just don’t meet all of their needs,” Alexander Vechersky, Head of Public Affairs at Selectel, stated.
“There is a growing demand for high-performance computing, but few companies can allow themselves the appropriate infrastructure. GPU servers are very expensive, energy-intensive, and demanding of operating conditions. The leasing model makes this equipment more widely available. There are no capital expenditures and you have the possibility for rapid scaling,” Vechersky added.
GPU hosting offers are not new abroad, with Amazon, RedStation, and RapidSwitch standing among market leaders. But Selectel claims to be the first to launch such an offer in Russia.
The Saint-Petersburg-based company is offering custom GPU servers on a trial basis. Clients may submit a request on the company’s site.
According to estimates by iKS Consulting, Russian commercial data center service providers generated a gross income of 13.9 billion rubles ($222 million at the average exchanage rate) in 2015, up 16% from the previous year.
By the end of 2015, there were 28,700 server racks in Russian data centers, 8% more than the previous year.
