Storage software company WEKA unveiled next-generation WEKApod appliances designed to optimize AI workload performance and economics.

WEKA, the AI storage company, announced the next generation of its WEKApod appliances from SC25, designed to address the mounting infrastructure efficiency crisis facing AI organizations. The completely redesigned WEKApod Prime achieves 65% better price-performance by intelligently placing data across mixed flash configurations, while WEKApod Nitro doubles performance density with refreshed hardware to accelerate AI and high-performance computing innovation. Organizations currently face mounting pressure to demonstrate ROI as valuable GPU resources sit underutilized, training cycles extend timelines, inference costs consume margins, and cloud bills spiral with data growth. Traditional storage systems force an impossible choice between extreme performance or manageable costs, while datacenter constraints—limited rack space, power budgets, and cooling capacity—mean every rack unit must deliver more capability or infrastructure costs spiral out of control.

WEKApod Prime offers a unique approach to mixed-flash technology through AlloyFlash, intelligently combining TLC and eTLC flash drives in configurations supporting up to 20 drives in a 1U rack or 40 drives in a 2U rack configuration. Unlike traditional tiered storage solutions that introduce cache hierarchies and write performance penalties, WEKApod's AlloyFlash delivers consistent performance across all operations—including full write performance without throttling—while achieving breakthrough economics. The result is exceptional density: 4.6x better capacity density, 5x better write IOPS per rack unit versus the previous generation, 4x better power density at 23,000 IOPS per kW (or 1.6 PB per kW), and 68% less power consumption per terabyte. WEKApod Prime is already being used by leading AI cloud pioneers like the Danish Centre for AI Innovation (DCAI).

WEKApod Nitro is purpose-built for AI factories running hundreds or thousands of GPUs, delivering 2x faster performance and 60% better price-performance through upgraded hardware, including NVIDIA ConnectX-8 SuperNIC delivering 800 Gb/s throughput and 20 TLC drives in a compact 1U form factor. As turnkey NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD and NVIDIA Cloud Partner-certified appliances, both WEKApod configurations eliminate weeks of integration work, allowing organizations to bring customer services to market in days rather than months while ensuring storage infrastructure keeps pace with next-generation accelerators.

Nadia Carlsten, CEO of the Danish Centre for AI Innovation, stated: "Space and power are the new limits of innovation in data centres. WEKApod's exceptional storage performance density allows us to deliver hyperscaler-level data throughput and efficiency within an optimised footprint—unlocking more AI capability per kilowatt and square metre. This efficiency directly improves economics and accelerates how we bring AI innovation to our customers." Ajay Singh, Chief Product Officer at WEKA, added: "AI investments must demonstrate ROI. WEKApod Prime delivers 65% better price-performance without compromising on speed, while WEKApod Nitro doubles performance to maximize GPU utilization. The result: faster model development, higher inference throughput, and better returns on compute investments that directly impact profitability and time-to-market."