NVIDIA (News - Alert) is a name of note in the cloud computing markets, and has made an important move to cement that status with its new partner program. Dubbed the NVIDIA HGX Partner Program, NVIDIA’s new program will offer up a slate of options that get members a lot more interested in where NVIDIA’s going with this.

NVIDIA’s HGX Partner Program—launched in conjunction with several major original design manufacturers (ODMs) like Quanta, Foxconn, Wistron and Inventec (News - Alert)—was created as a means to help meet the growing demand for artificial intelligence (AI) based cloud computing. Those who get in on the program get early access to the NVIDIA HGX reference architecture, as well as NVIDIA’s GPU computing technologies and even its design guidelines.

Having access to HGX is particularly noteworthy for data centers, as several companies are already using it to great effect including Facebook (News - Alert)'s Big Basin line, Microsoft's Project Olympus, and NVIDIA’s own DGX-1 AI supercomputer line. Those who turn to HGX can, along with NVIDIA, work to create new GPU-accelerated mechanisms for hyperscale data centers, making it particularly useful for cloud computing developments. 

The program also offers access to NVIDIA engineers, who will be helping the ODMs involved in the program to drive down total time required to go from design to production deployment. Recent upgrades in NVIDIA’s GPUs, as expressed through the recent release of the Volta architecture, have provided valuable tools to help feed ever-climbing market demand on this front.

NVIDIA’s general manager of accelerated computing, Ian Buck, commented, “Accelerated computing is evolving rapidly — in just one year we tripled the deep learning performance in our Tesla GPUs — and this is having a significant impact on the way systems are designed. Through our HGX partner program, device makers can ensure they’re offering the latest AI technologies to the growing community of cloud computing providers.”

Essentially, the program is offering up access to some of NVIDIA’s latest technology to help drive AI efforts and cloud computing, among others. With these in place, NVIDIA will likely be able to cement its position as a vital part of cloud computing operations and potentially open up some new markets for its other operations.

If NVIDIA can get developers thinking about its product line when it comes to development, it's a safe bet it will be able to transfer that demand to operations. NVIDIA was what these systems were built on, many will likely note, so why not run these systems on NVIDIA material as well?