Opera, a Nordic firm recognised for its innovations in the browser development field, has stated its intention to set up a new artificial intelligence (AI) cluster located in Keflavik, Iceland. What sets this system apart is its complete reliance on green energy, marking a significant step in fostering environmentally conscious, high-tech development.
The anticipated launch of this AI data cluster in February 2024 illustrates Opera's progressive approach towards technology and sustainability. Marvelled for its advanced capabilities, the AI cluster harnesses the power of an NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD, which is expected to catalyse the growth of Opera's browser range and form the backbone of its forthcoming AI services.
Opera has established a strong presence in the browser AI sector since the beginning of 2023, with AI taking a prime role in the company's product development approach. From providing the Aria Browser AI in its suite of flagship browsers to envisioning AI's role beyond being a chatbot, Opera is keen on expanding AI's potential in facilitating more complex browser tasks. The new data cluster in Iceland promotes this vision by empowering Opera to offer novel, customised features catering to browser users' needs.
"Opera was the first browser to bring built-in AI services to reality in the spring of 2023. It gave PC and mobile users access to its novel generative AI assistant, Aria. The capabilities of Aria as a browsing companion for our users are continuously expanding," says Krystian Zubel, VP of Group IT at Opera. "The new setup in Iceland will bolster our existing infrastructure worldwide. It will serve as a green, cost-efficient, centrally located hub for computation-heavy tasks, enabling Opera to have the necessary infrastructure in place to pursue new opportunities and to quickly scale the scope of its AI services."
This eco-friendly AI cluster based in Iceland assembles its energy from geothermal and hydroelectric power sources and employs the cool Icelandic air for cooling. Treading lightly on the environment, the NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD-fueled cluster boasts the latest NVIDIA H100 Tensor Core GPUs and the NVIDIA AI Enterprise software platform. These state-of-the-art facilities ensure speedy development and deployment of high-quality AI applications, besides allowing the whole system to operate as a single AI cluster catering to Opera's AI workloads.
Emphasizing the critical role advanced infrastructure plays in maximising the potential of AI, Carlo Ruiz, EMEA Director of AI Data Center Solutions and Operations at NVIDIA, stated, "Organisations intent on modernising their business through AI need robust infrastructure to create large language models and enable generative AI applications. Our NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD with NVIDIA H100 GPUs endows Opera with cutting-edge AI supercomputing capabilities, which will assist developers in creating new features to deliver generative AI experiences at users' fingertips."
The high-tech NVIDIA H100 GPUs also promise faster AI training, up to four times, and expedited large language model inference, roughly 30 times faster when compared to the capabilities of the preceding GPU model. With such advancements, Opera is poised to revolutionise the browser space with its expanded AI offerings.