Best AI Infrastructure Platforms for Azure Machine Learning

DSVMs, or Data Science Virtual Machines, are pre-configured Azure Virtual Machine images equipped with a variety of widely-used tools for data analysis, machine learning, and AI training. They ensure a uniform setup across teams, encouraging seamless collaboration and sharing of resources while leveraging Azure's scalability and management features. Offering a near-zero setup experience, these VMs provide a fully cloud-based desktop environment tailored for data science applications. They facilitate rapid and low-friction deployment suitable for both classroom settings and online learning environments. Users can execute analytics tasks on diverse Azure hardware configurations, benefiting from both vertical and horizontal scaling options. Moreover, the pricing structure allows individuals to pay only for the resources they utilize, ensuring cost-effectiveness. With readily available GPU clusters that come pre-configured for deep learning tasks, users can hit the ground running. Additionally, the VMs include various examples, templates, and sample notebooks crafted or validated by Microsoft, which aids in the smooth onboarding process for numerous tools and capabilities, including but not limited to Neural Networks through frameworks like PyTorch and TensorFlow, as well as data manipulation using R, Python, Julia, and SQL Server. This comprehensive package not only accelerates the learning curve for newcomers but also enhances productivity for seasoned data scientists.

The NVIDIA Triton™ inference server provides efficient and scalable AI solutions for production environments. This open-source software simplifies the process of AI inference, allowing teams to deploy trained models from various frameworks, such as TensorFlow, NVIDIA TensorRT®, PyTorch, ONNX, XGBoost, Python, and more, across any infrastructure that relies on GPUs or CPUs, whether in the cloud, data center, or at the edge. By enabling concurrent model execution on GPUs, Triton enhances throughput and resource utilization, while also supporting inferencing on both x86 and ARM architectures. It comes equipped with advanced features such as dynamic batching, model analysis, ensemble modeling, and audio streaming capabilities. Additionally, Triton is designed to integrate seamlessly with Kubernetes, facilitating orchestration and scaling, while providing Prometheus metrics for effective monitoring and supporting live updates to models. This software is compatible with all major public cloud machine learning platforms and managed Kubernetes services, making it an essential tool for standardizing model deployment in production settings. Ultimately, Triton empowers developers to achieve high-performance inference while simplifying the overall deployment process.