Broadberry WEKA Storage

High-Performance Shared Storage for AI, Analytics and Production Workloads

Broadberry WEKA storage combines NVMe performance with a distributed filesystem designed for demanding shared workloads. Each solution is tailored to your workload, active dataset, concurrency, performance and capacity requirements.

WEKA distributes file data and metadata across storage backends, allowing many clients to access shared files without relying on a single intermediary server.

Before recommending a WEKA architecture, Broadberry evaluates your active dataset, concurrency, client resources, performance targets and retention requirements.

Workload Assessment

Model file sizes, concurrency,
throughput and metadata
activity.

Capacity Planning

Size active flash, retained
data, protection reserve and
growth.

Platform Design

Choose dedicated or tiered
WEKA deployment
models.

Infrastructure Design

Engineer CPU, memory,
NVMe, networking and client
resources.

Validation

Test application
performance, tiered reads,
failover and recovery.

Lifecycle Support

Plan expansion, software
support, upgrades and
ongoing operations.

WEKA is best suited to applications where file I/O is a measured performance constraint. Broadberry sizes the platform around the actual mixed workload rather than a single synthetic bandwidth number.

Workload Typical I/O Design Priority
AI Training & Fine-Tuning Shared reads, small-file access, checkpoints Active-data performance and concurrency
Engineering & Builds Frequent opens, creates and small-file reads Metadata rate and client resources
Media & Rendering Parallel asset reads and output streams Sustained bandwidth and mixed I/O
Life Sciences & Research Shared inputs and varied intermediate files Working-set capacity and concurrency
Analytics & Data Processing Repeated access to shared datasets Throughput and application response
Retained Projects Occasional access to colder data Object retrieval and flash residency

WEKA is well suited to performance-sensitive shared workloads that combine metadata activity, concurrency and large data transfers.

Use Case Typical Requirements
AI & Machine Learning Shared training data, concurrent reads and checkpoint writes
Engineering & EDA Small-file activity, builds and metadata-intensive workflows
Media & Visual Effects Parallel asset access and large output streams
Life Sciences Shared project data and mixed intermediate files
Financial Analytics Repeated dataset access and low-latency processing
Scientific Computing High-concurrency analysis with active data on flash
WEKA Is a Strong Fit When... Consider Another Approach When...
Shared workloads are latency- or metadata-sensitive Storage is primarily capacity-only archive
Applications need concurrent access to active datasets Simple office file sharing is the main requirement
NVMe performance is important HDD economics matter more than active-data performance
Workloads benefit from shared flash plus object retention Software licensing simplicity is a primary goal
AI, analytics, engineering or media workloads dominate File I/O is not the actual application bottleneck

Broadberry combines WEKA software expertise with workload-led hardware design to deliver a qualified storage platform built around the way your applications actually use data.

Workload-Led Design

Architecture based on active datasets, concurrency and performance requirements.

Qualified Hardware

NVMe, CPU, memory and networking selected around WEKA support requirements.

Complete System Engineering

Storage, client resources, networking and lifecycle policies designed together.

Deployment and Lifecycle Support

Qualification, validation, expansion and ongoing operational support.


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Which workloads benefit most from WEKA?

WEKA is best suited to shared applications with demanding latency, metadata or throughput requirements, including AI, engineering, media, scientific processing and analytics.

Is an external object store required?

No. A WEKA configuration can keep all data on flash. Object storage is optional and can be used for additional capacity or recovery.

Does tiering change the application's file path?

No. Applications continue to use the same logical file path while WEKA manages data placement. Reads from data held only in the object tier may have additional latency.

Is WEKA suitable for AI and GPU clusters?

Yes. WEKA can provide shared NVMe storage for concurrent training reads, metadata-heavy pipelines and checkpoint workloads. The full application pipeline should be validated before scaling.

Does GPUDirect Storage make every AI application faster?

No. GPUDirect Storage can reduce CPU-memory copies on supported paths, but the application must use an enabled configuration. Other bottlenecks can limit performance, so the complete pipeline should be tested.

Can WEKA run alongside application compute?

Yes. WEKA supports converged and dedicated deployment models. Resource budgets for CPU, memory, devices and networking must be reserved appropriately when roles are combined.

Does distributed protection replace backup?

No. Local snapshots and fault-tolerant storage protect against different risks than independent backup and disaster recovery.

Will tiered data always respond at NVMe speed?

No. Data resident on flash uses the SSD path, while reads of object-only data require retrieval from the capacity tier.

Tell us about your applications, active dataset, concurrency, performance targets and retention requirements. Broadberry will design a WEKA hardware platform around the flash capacity, client resources, networking and lifecycle model your environment needs.

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