Published Sep 6, 2026, 3:01 AM EDT
Kevin Delane of DDN explains how data infrastructure supports the Navy’s new AI supercomputer and defense research.
The Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, has brought the first Nvidia DGX GB300 supercomputer deployed within the U.S. military online. Students, faculty and approved research partners will use it to study defense applications involving weather and ocean modeling, cybersecurity, disaster response and operational analysis. High-performance storage and networking will determine how efficiently researchers can use its advanced processors.
Moving Data Fast Enough for AI
Kevin Delane, President and Chief Revenue Officer of the data infrastructure company DDN, has worked in storage, cloud computing and data management for more than three decades. He joined DDN in April after holding senior positions at EverPure (formerly Pure Storage), Cohesity and OwnBackup (now Own), which became part of Salesforce. “Whoever has the most data, and is able to process it the fastest, generally has an advantage,” Delane said in an interview with Military.com. An AI model learns by repeatedly analyzing examples. Graphics processing units, or GPUs, can perform many calculations at the same time, allowing researchers to train models faster. Those processors need a steady flow of information from storage. Delays in loading training data, saving a model’s progress or retrieving information can leave expensive processors waiting for work. “There’s always a bottleneck when you look at all areas of the compute stack,” Delane said. “First is to get the data in. Second is to be able to disperse that in the network. And then the third is you have to be able to store and bring data back as fast as possible.” DDN supplied high-performance data infrastructure that helps researchers access, manage, protect and expand the data available to the system. Nvidia donated the DGX GB300 and supplied the computing platform and software. VAST Data provided a data-management platform, while Vertiv supplied racks, cooling, power equipment and commissioning support.
