The Open Compute Project (OCP) Foundation has teamed up with another non-profit group, the Storage Networking Infrastructure Organization (SNIA), to drive open technology standards that tackle the storage, memory, and networking needs of AI data centers.

It will work with SNIA, which advances technologies related to handling and optimizing data, in a partnership that aims to further integrate the work of the two organizations.

The partnership follows the release of Storage.AITM, an open standards project for efficient data services related to AI workloads developed by SNIA.

“Tying together the AI-related work of SNIA technical work groups, it focuses on industry-standard, non-proprietary, and neutral approaches to solving AI-related data problems to optimize the performance, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness of AI workloads,” a joint statement from OCP and SNIA said.

"The unprecedented demands of AI require a holistic view of the data pipeline, from storage and memory to networking and processing,” said Dr. J Metz, chair of the SNIA. “No single company can solve these challenges alone. SNIA and OCP working together provide a complementary neutral alliance for data center operators like hyperscalers and neoclouds to work alongside vendors on open solutions that unlock the high-performance data services required for AI infrastructure."

The collaboration will involve mutual promotion of open, interoperable technologies to optimize data center performance, reduce vendor lock-in, and support emerging needs like AI and Edge computing, with OCP providing the data center and IT hardware framework and SNIA ensuring robust storage standards integration.

"SNIA is an important OCP Alliance Partner as we work together to advance openness within the storage ecosystem to meet the needs of hyperscale and AI-driven data centers, including specifications and education around NVMe SSDs, EDSFF form factors, security, and future technologies like data-centric computing and computational storage," said James Kelly, VP market intelligence and innovation at the OCP Foundation.

The announcement comes as the OCP global summit gets underway in San Jose, California.