Enterprise Infrastructure for AI

Table of Contents
2024 Enterprise Infrastructure for AI Brand Leader Survey Report

PageIntroduction

3

Survey Report Overview

4Brand Leader Survey Methodology

5

Brand Leader Definitions

6

Survey Respondents - Title/Job Description

8

Survey Respondents - Data Center Environment

92024 Enterprise Infrastructure for AI Brand Leader Winners Chart

11

Most Dominant Brands Chart

12

Product Category Definitions

13

Summary Analysis

14-15

Servers for AI 2024 Brand Leader Chart

16-17

Primary Storage for AI 2024 Brand Leader Chart

18-19

File and Object Storage for AI 2024 Brand Leader Chart

20-21

Network Switches for AI 2024 Brand Leader Chart

22-23

SmartNICs for AI 2024 Brand Leader Chart

24-25

High Bandwidth Memory for AI 2024 Brand Leader Chart

26-27

GPUs for AI 2024 Brand Leader Chart

28-29

CPUs for AI 2024 Brand Leader Chart

30-31

Most Dominant AI Market and Innovation Leader Brands

32

Most Dominant AI Market Leader Brands

33

Most Dominant Brands for AI Innovation

34

About the Author

35

Introduction
The AI Big Bang: An explosion of multi-modal generative AI
The Big Bang Theory explains how our universe began with a single point exploding at unimaginable speeds to the still-expanding
space we live in today. The “AI Big Bang” started with an explosion of multi-modal generative AI usage, driven by billions of non-AI
experts using it to easily create text, code, images, videos, music, and much more.

The biggest technology inflection point in human history
Generative AI is considered the biggest technology inflection point in human history with hundreds of billions of dollars alreadyinvested to create a new universe of hardware, software, systems, and services designed for AI. At this inflection point, traditional
product brand leaders are being challenged while all new categories of products and brand leaders emerge.

Join us on this journey to pick new technology winners to buy from, partner with, and invest inThis survey covering eight product categories is just the beginning of IT Brand Pulse research that eventually will cover dozens of AI
product categories and hundreds of AI vendors. We invite you to join us on this journey to track AI technology brand leadership, an
important factor in picking new technology winners to buy from, partner with, and invest in.

2024 IT Brand Leader Survey3

Survey Report Overview
The 2024 Enterprise Infrastructure for AI brand leader surveys covers eight Enterprise Infrastructure
for AI products: Servers, Primary Storage, File and Object Storage, Network Switches, SmartNICs,
High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM), GPUs, and CPUs.
A complete IT brand leader survey asks IT pros to vote for a Market, Price, Performance, Reliability,Innovation, and Service & Support leader. Because AI infrastructure deployments are new and few,
this report includes the results of voting for only two categories of brand leadership for eachproduct category: Market and Innovation.
Numerical survey data is available upon request. Please contact us at info@itbrandpulse.com.

2024 IT Brand Leader Survey

4Brand Leader Survey Methodology
Brand Leader surveys are designed to measure the pulse of brand leadership in specific productcategories using results from independent, non-sponsored surveys with at least 200 respondents.
The Enterprise Infrastructure for AI Brand Leader Survey was conducted in May 2024.
• Respondents were solicited from over 1,000,000 members of 100+ online IT groups, and from the IT Brand Pulse database of150,000 IT professionals.
• Responses were collected using an online survey engine.

In each part, respondents were provided with a product category description, randomly-listed vendor choices (plus an“Other” answer choice to add a vendor, if applicable), and were asked two questions:1.

Who do you perceive as the <product category> market leader?

2.

Who do you perceive as the <product category> innovation leader?

2024 IT Brand Leader Survey

5Brand Leader Definitions

2024 IT Brand Leader Survey

6Respondent Profiles

Respondent Title/Job Description:
IT Manager/Director
Executive/Management
Server Administrator/ArchitectStorage Administrator/Architect
Network Administrator/Architect
OtherVAR/OEM
Cloud Admin/Architect
IT Analyst
Security Administrator/Architect
Data Center Manager

2024 IT Brand Leader Survey

8Your environment is best described as:Enterprise Data Center
Small-Medium Business Data Center
High-Performance Computing Data Center
Public Cloud/Data Center Provider
Product Development
OtherMSP

2024 IT Brand Leader Survey

9Results and Analysis

2024 Brand LeadersEnterprise Infrastructure for AI
Voted by IT Pros

Product CategoryMarket Leader

Innovation Leader

Servers for AI

Dell Technologies

Dell Technologies

Primary Storage for AI

Dell Technologies

Pure Storage

File and Object Storage for AI

NetAppPure Storage

Network Switches for AI

NVIDIANVIDIAAMD

NVIDIA

Samsung

Samsung

GPUs for AI

NVIDIANVIDIA

CPUs for AIIntelIntel

SmartNICs for AI
High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) for AI

2024 IT Brand Leader Survey

The Most Dominant Brands
Market Leader and Innovation Leader Combined
NVIDIA was 1st in 3 of the 5 categories with the highest percentage of votes, while Intel remains adominant brand with their CPUs. See page 32 for the full list of brand leaders in ranked order.

ProductBrandLeadership

GPUs for AI

1st PlaceVotes

2nd Place

VotesSpread

Market

NVIDIA

78.95%

Intel

12.63%

66.32%

Network Switches for AI

Innovation

NVIDIA

70.53%

Arista20.00%

50.53%

CPUs for AI

MarketIntel

68.42%

AMD

31.58%

36.84%

GPUs for AI

Innovation

NVIDIA

66.32%

AMD

18.95%

47.37%

CPUs for AI

InnovationIntel

53.68%

AMD

46.32%

7.36%

Product Category Definitions
Servers for AI: General purpose servers configured with high-powered CPUs and GPUs, and for rapid
development and deployment of large machine learning models.
Primary Storage for AI: High-capacity, high-bandwidth, low-latency flash storage required to feed data to LLM CPU and GPU
memory as fast as possible.
File and Object Storage for AI: High-capacity, high-bandwidth, low-latency, and scale-out flash storage required to feed data toLLM CPU and GPU memory as fast as possible.
Network Switches for AI: InfiniBand and Ethernet switches with the ultra-high-bandwidth and low-latency required to maintain
LLM performance in large scale-out environments.
SmartNICs for AI: Offloads network software processes, analytics, transfer, security, compression, and encryption.
High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) for AI: Embedded in CPUs and GPUS, HBM offers faster data access with lower energy
consumption. For AI, it is a critical component for performance and reducing power consumption.
GPUs for AI: Perform technical calculations fast and with great energy efficiency. That means best performance for AI trainingand inference.
CPUs for AI: Less expensive than GPUs, but with a limited number of cores, CPUs are effective for training small neuralnetworks with a limited dataset.

2024 IT Brand Leader Survey

13Summary Analysis
Servers and Primary Storage for AI - IT Pros Choose Dell as Market and Innovation leader
Dell Technologies is a perennial Market and Innovation brand leader for enterprise servers and primary storage. The company moved
decisively into AI by introducing the Dell AI factory offering validated full-stack solutions. IT pros responded by voting Dell Technologies
the Market and Innovation leader for both product categories.

Primary Storage and File & Object Storage for AI - Pure Storage Selected as Innovation leader
Pure Storage is a recurrent Innovation leader for Primary Storage and File & Object Storage as IT pros recognize their patented
DirectFlash modules that allows their all-flash arrays to communicate directly with raw flash storage, and the pioneering development
the company has done with low-cost QLC flash. AI is mostly a high-performance / high-capacity environment, with a critical need to getmassive amounts of data in and out of storage as fast as possible. Our survey results indicate IT Pros believe Pure innovation is exactly
what is needed for AI.

File & Object Storage for AI - NetApp Voted Market leader
Another incumbent enterprise brand leader is NetApp for file storage. AWS is perceived as the clear market leader with 33% more
votes than Microsoft, and 50% more votes than Google. AWS won innovation leader voting by a narrow margin despite Microsoft’s close
relationship with Chatbot Brand Leader, ChatGPT.

Network Switches for AI - NVIDIA unseats incumbent Market leader, dominates voting for Innovation leader
Since 2008 when IT Brand Pulse was founded, Cisco was voted as the Market leader for Ethernet switches and Mellanox as the Marketleader for higher bandwidth and lower latency InfiniBand switches. Apparently, IT pros realize that AI needs high-bandwidth and low
latency because they voted NVIDIA (formerly Mellanox) network switches as the Market and Innovation leaders.
2024 IT Brand Leader Survey

14Summary Analysis
SmartNICs for AI - AMD inaugural Market leader
In our first-ever survey measuring brand leadership for SmartNICs, AMD (formerly Xilinx and Pensando SmartNICs) was voted themarket leader, reflecting IT pro awareness of Xilinx’s longtime market presence and leadership in this arena.

SmartNICs for AI - NVIDIA inaugural Innovation leader
In our inaugural survey for SmartNICs, NVIDIA (formerly Mellanox SmartNICs) was voted the Innovation leader. The survey results
indicate IT pros value the tight integration and added value of SmartNICS that are tightly integrated with NVIDIA network switches andGPUs.

High-Bandwidth Memory for AI - Samsung sweeps Market and Innovation leader awards
The halo of the Samsung household name shines on their HBM product brand. IT pros voted Samsung as the Market and Innovation
leader.

GPUs for AI - Any other results would be shocking. NVIDA chosen Market and Innovation leader
Jensen Huang and NVIDIA are leading a new era of GPU-centric AI computing that is global news almost impossible to avoid. The only
surprise is that NVIDIA didn’t receive all the votes for GPU market and innovation leader.

CPUs for AI – Intel voted Market and Innovation leader for CPUs
For the 17th Consecutive Year, Intel is Voted Market and Innovation Leader for CPUs, only this time it’s “CPUs for AI.” This year, only 9
percentage points separated AMD from first place Intel in voting from Innovation leader.
2024 IT Brand Leader Survey

15

Servers for AI
50%
45%45.26%

Who do you perceive as theMarket Leader for Servers for AI?

40%

34.74%

35%
30%
25%
20%
15%

9.47%

10%

10.53%

5%0%Dell Technologies2024 IT Brand Leader Survey

HPE

Lenovo16SupermicroServers for AI
35%

32.63%

30%

Who do you perceive as theInnovation Leader for Servers for AI?

28.42%

25%

23.16%

20%

15.79%
15%
10%
5%
0%

Dell Technologies

2024 IT Brand Leader Survey

HPE

Lenovo17

SupermicroPrimary Storage for AI
30%

25%

25.26%
23.16%

Who do you perceive as the Market
Leader for Primary Storage for AI?
18.95%

20%

17.89%

14.74%

15%

10%

5%0.00%0%Dell Technologies

2024 IT Brand Leader Survey

HPE

IBMNetApp

18

Infinidat

Pure Storage

Primary Storage for AI45%

Who do you perceive as the Innovation
Leader for Primary Storage for AI?

40%

38.95%

35%
30%
25%

22.11%

20%

15.79%
15%

11.58%
8.42%

10%
5%

3.16%

0%

Dell Technologies

2024 IT Brand Leader Survey

HPEIBMNetApp

19

Infinidat

Pure Storage

File and Object Storage for AI
30%

25%

Who do you perceive as the Market Leader
for File and Object Storage for AI?

23.16%

24.21%

21.05%

20.00%

20%

15%

10%

4.21%

5%

4.21%
0.00%

0%

Dell Technologies

2024 IT Brand Leader Survey

IBMVAST Data

QumuloScality

20

1.05%
Weka

2.11%

CloudianNetApp

Pure Storage

File and Object Storage for AI
25%

22.11%
20%

16.84%

Who do you perceive as the Innovation
Leader for File and Object Storage for AI?

17.89%

18.95%

15%

9.47%

10%

6.32%
5%

2.11%

3.16%

3.16%

Weka

Cloudian

0%

Dell
Technologies

2024 IT Brand Leader Survey

IBM

VAST Data

QumuloScality

21

NetAppPure Storage

Network Switches for AI
50%
45%
40%

45.26%

Who do you perceive as theMarket Leader for Network
Switches for AI?

35%

31.58%

30%
25%

23.16%

20%
15%
10%
5%
0%

Cisco

2024 IT Brand Leader Survey

Arista22

NVIDIA

Network Switches for AI
80%

Who do you perceive as theInnovation Leader for
Network Switches for AI?

70%
60%

70.53%

50%
40%
30%

20.00%

20%
10%

9.47%

0%

Cisco

2024 IT Brand Leader Survey

Arista23

NVIDIASmartNICs for AI
Who do you perceive as the Market
Leader for SmartNICs for AI?

45%

40.31%

40%
35%

29.47%

30%

26.01%

25%
20%
15%
10%
5%

4.21%

0%

Marvell

2024 IT Brand Leader Survey

AMDNVIDIA

24

AlteraSmartNICs for AI
45%

40.21%

40%

35.54%

35%

Who do you perceive as theInnovation Leader for
SmartNICs for AI?

30%
25%

20.04%

20%
15%
10%
5%

4.21%0%Marvell

2024 IT Brand Leader Survey

AMDNVIDIA

25

AlteraHigh Bandwidth Memory (HBM) for AI
60%

50%

Who do you perceive as theMarket Leader for High
Bandwidth Memory for AI?

49.47%
42.11%

40%

30%

20%

8.42%

10%0%

SK Hynix2024 IT Brand Leader Survey

Samsung26

MicronHigh Bandwidth Memory (HBM) for AI
50%
45%
40%

47.37%

Who do you perceive as theInnovation Leader for High
Bandwidth Memory for AI?

38.95%

35%
30%
25%
20%

13.68%

15%
10%
5%0%

SK Hynix2024 IT Brand Leader Survey

Samsung27

MicronGPUs for AI
90%
80%

78.95%

Who do you perceive as theMarket Leader for GPUs for AI?

70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%

8.42%

10%

12.63%

0%

NVIDIA

2024 IT Brand Leader Survey

AMD28

Intel

GPUs for AI
70%

66.32%

Who do you perceive as theInnovation Leader for GPUs for AI?

60%
50%
40%
30%

18.95%

20%

14.74%

10%0%

NVIDIA

2024 IT Brand Leader Survey

AMD29

Intel

CPUs for AI
80%
70%

Who do you perceive as the MarketLeader for GPUs for AI?

68.42%

60%
50%
40%

31.58%
30%
20%
10%0%

AMD2024 IT Brand Leader Survey

Intel30

CPUs for AI
56%
54%

Who do you perceive as the Innovation
Leader for GPUs for AI?

53.68%

52%
50%
48%

46.32%
46%
44%
42%

AMD2024 IT Brand Leader Survey

Intel

31

The Most Dominant AI Market
and Innovation Leader Brands
Product

Brand Leadership

1st PlaceVotes

2nd Place

Votes

SpreadGPUs for AI

Market

NVIDIA

78.95%

Intel

12.63%

66.32%

Network Switches for AI

Innovation

NVIDIA

70.53%

Arista20.00%

50.53%

CPUs for AI

MarketIntel

68.42%

AMD

31.58%

36.84%

GPUs for AI

Innovation

NVIDIA

66.32%

AMD

18.95%

47.37%

CPUs for AI

InnovationIntel

53.68%

AMD

46.32%

7.36%

High-Bandwidth Memory for AI

MarketSamsung

49.47%

Micron42.11%

7.36%

High-Bandwidth Memory for AI

Innovation

Samsung

47.37%

Micron38.95%

8.42%

Servers for AI

MarketDell Technologies

45.26%

HPE

34.74%

10.52%

Network Switches for AI

Market

NVIDIA

45.26%

Arista31.58%

13.68%

SmartNICs for AI

MarketAMD

40.31%NVIDIA

29.47%

10.84%

SmartNICs for AI

Innovation

NVIDIA

40.21%

AMD

35.54%

4.67%

Primary Storage for AI

Innovation

Pure Storage

38.95%

NetApp22.11%

16.84%

Servers for AI

Innovation

Dell Technologies

32.63%

HPE

28.42%

4.21%

Primary Storage for AI

MarketDell Technologies

25.26%

HPE

23.16%

2.10%

File & Object Storage for AI

MarketNetApp

24.21%

IBM

23.16%

1.05%

File & Object Storage for AI

Innovation

Pure Storage

22.11%

NetApp18.95%

3.16%

The Most Dominant AI Market Leader Brands
ProductBrand
Leadership

1st PlaceVotes

2nd Place

Votes

SpreadGPUs for AI

Market

NVIDIA

78.95%

Intel

12.63%

66.32%

CPUs for AI

MarketIntel

68.42%

AMD

31.58%

36.84%

High-Bandwidth Memory for AI

MarketSamsung

49.47%

Micron42.11%

7.36%

Servers for AI

MarketDell
Technologies45.26%

HPE

34.74%

10.52%

Network Switches for AI

Market

NVIDIA

45.26%

Arista31.58%

13.68%

SmartNICs for AI

MarketAMD

40.31%NVIDIA

29.47%

10.84%

Primary Storage for AI

MarketDell
Technologies

25.26%

HPE

23.16%

2.10%

File & Object Storage for AI

MarketNetApp24.21%

IBM

23.16%

1.05%

Most Dominant Brands for AI Innovation
ProductBrand
Leadership

1st PlaceVotes

2nd Place

Votes

SpreadNetwork Switches for AI

Innovation

NVIDIA

70.53%

Arista20.00%

50.53%

GPUs for AI

Innovation

NVIDIA

66.32%

AMD

18.95%

47.37%

CPUs for AI

Innovation

Intel53.68%AMD

46.32%

7.36%

High-Bandwidth Memory for AI

Innovation

Samsung

47.37%

Micron38.95%

8.42%

SmartNICs for AI

Innovation

NVIDIA

40.21%

AMD35.54%

4.67%

Primary Storage for AI

Innovation

Pure Storage

38.95%

NetApp22.11%

16.84%

Servers for AI

Innovation

DellTechnologies

32.63%

HPE

28.42%

4.21%

File & Object Storage for AI

Innovation

Pure Storage

22.11%

NetApp18.95%

3.16%

About the AuthorFrankie Berry

Senior Analyst and Managing Partner
frankie.berry@itbrandpulse.com

2024 IT Brand Leader Survey

35