News/PR
March 10, 2022

NEWS: Graid Technology Named Data Center 2022 Startup Challenge Finalist!

?  Graid is honored to be named a 2022 Data Center Startup Challenge finalist, one of a few select companies recognized for revolutionizing the data center. Join us at AFCOM Data Center World 2022 Wednesday March 30th at 4:30pm! [ READ THE PRESS RELEASE ]

Data Center World Announces the 2022 Data Center Startup Challenge Finalists, Recognizes the Companies Revolutionizing the Data Center

March 03, 2022 10:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Data Center World, the leading global conference for data center facilities and IT professionals, today announces the 2022 Data Center Startup Challenge finalists. The contest pits data center technology startups against each other, and judges will determine the companies with the best opportunity for success. Data Center World is AFCOM’s annual global gathering and is taking place March 28-31, 2022, in Austin, Texas. Register to attend here.

Tara Gibb, Senior Director, Data Center World said, “Entrepreneurs with a great technology idea can revolutionize our community and make a tremendous impact on data centers. That’s why we’re thrilled to announce our second annual tech startup finalists. All of these companies are developing or selling technology solutions that directly impacts the data center or data center professionals. We wish them the best of luck when they present to our panel of judges at Data Center World.”

The second annual Data Center Startup Challenge finalists include:

  • Round World Business Group, supports HotSite®, an array of specialized aluminum gantry cranes and beams that can protect IT equipment.
  • Correct Networks, lightweight virtualization platform for 5G networks.
  • IQS, supports Quick Rack, a patented device that assists with installing hardware within a server/network rack.
  • Graid Technology, the world's first NVMe RAID to eliminate the traditional RAID bottleneck and unlock the full potential of enterprise SSD performance.
  • Alcatraz AI, provides an autonomous access control experience by leveraging the unique power of the human face.
  • Cumulus Digital Systems, Inc., digitalizing mission-critical manual work in maintenance and construction.

The contest will take place live on stage at Data Center World on Wednesday, March 30 at 4:30 p.m. The finalists will present a ten minute “elevator pitch” and answer questions from the judges.

The Data Center Startup Challenge is judged by a panel of industry thought leaders from the market research, editorial, and investment communities, including:

  • Andrea Munoz, Senior Vice President, Operations & Customer Success, CyrusOne
  • Moises Levy, PhD, Principal Analyst, Data Center Physical Infrastructure, Omdia
  • Michael Maniscalco, EVP of Technology, Applied Blockchain Inc.

Winners will be chosen by the panel based on their presentations on stage, and presentations will be judged on Most Disruptive Technology; Best Chance for Market Success; Best Ability to Gain Additional Capital; and Most Influential Founding Team.

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At WAIC 2026, Graid Technology will join Superhi to showcase how protected local NVMe storage can help accelerate LLM inference through KV Cache offloading. With GPU-accelerated data protection, GPUDirect Storage support, and no extra RAID hardware required, SupremeRAID™ AE helps reduce TTFT and improve inference response stability.
Graid Technology is excited to join the AI Powered Data Centre Conference 2026 as a Silver Partner in Mumbai, India. As AI workloads continue to drive new demands on data centre infrastructure, Graid will showcase how SupremeRAID™ GPU-accelerated NVMe RAID helps reduce storage bottlenecks, improve data protection, and enable higher performance for AI, HPC, and next-generation data centres.
Every NVMe array pays a hidden storage tax — either 12–18% of line rate lost to a hardware RAID controller, or 18–28% of host CPU consumed by software RAID. With enterprise NVMe pricing up ~257% since Q2 2025, that tax now hits a much bigger check. SupremeRAID™ eliminates both halves by running RAID I/O on an NVIDIA GPU: full line-rate throughput, CPU cores returned to your applications, enterprise-grade protection on one card.