Powering the Next Era of AI Infrastructure in Europe

 

In a significant step forward for AI infrastructure in Europe, Sesterce has become the first company in France to deploy NVIDIA’s powerful H200 cluster. As the company continues to expand its ambitions as a leading Cloud Service Provider, the partnership with VAST Data is proving to be a win-win collaboration, offering unmatched compute and data to meet the growing demands of AI-driven businesses.

 

The First Cluster of its Kind

 

As the first cluster of its kind in France, this deployment marks a pivotal moment for the company’s operations and aims to position Sesterce as a frontrunner in AI infrastructure, providing customers with robust GPU resources and a seamless data platform powered by VAST Data.

 

Nicolas Paugam, Head of Infrastructures & HPC, reveals "We have big ambitions to be the largest supplier of GPU access in Europe. Partnering with VAST Data allows us to scale our compute clusters efficiently while providing significant data capacities to our customers, making it a natural fit for both of us."

 

Why VAST Data?

 

Sesterce chose VAST Data after a thorough evaluation of data platform options. Furthermore, many of its customers were already using VAST Data, allowing for a smooth transition. Beyond customer familiarity, VAST Data stood out for its performance. The platform offers unique data preparation capabilities, global synchronization, and scalability that are ideal for Sesterce’s diverse customer base.

 

Sesterce's team bench-tested other suppliers and found that VAST provided the most efficiency in terms of price-to-performance ratio. The ease of use and support from the VAST technical and account teams made it an obvious choice.

 

Building AI-Powered Solutions for European Businesses

 

Sesterce is deploying its H200 cluster at an Equinix data center. Their infrastructure boasts high-performance network fabrics that can support demanding AI workloads, with plans to expand their data and compute capabilities even further. While Sesterce initially focused on serving AI companies, the scope of its vision is expanding, now aiming to engage institutional customers across industries, including government and enterprise clients.

 

"The AI story is much bigger now, and we’re looking to work with more diverse industries like government institutions and traditional enterprises,” said Paugam. 

 

This diversification represents the next major step for the company to broaden its customer base beyond AI-focused companies. This flexibility is one of Sesterce's biggest strengths, setting it apart in the market and enabling it to provide full support to its customers at every stage—from data center management to financing. This holistic approach allows Sesterce to stay close to its clients and deliver complete solutions.

 

"We’re not like other large suppliers who force clients to adapt to their systems," Paugam explained. "We take pride in working hand-in-hand with our customers to design the clusters they need."