Axiado Rethinks Server Security, Control

Axiado combined server security and management functions into a single chip to which it added AI acceleration to thwart ransomware.

Joseph Byrne

Axiado has developed a unique approach to managing and securing servers. Calling it a trusted control/computer unit, the company’s design merges functions provided today in separate chips with AI accelerators to enable new techniques to monitor server health.

The company plans to sample its first chips, the AX3000 and AX2000, in June. They combine in one chip the functions of a baseboard management controller (BMC), a Trusted Platform Module (TPM), a dedicated hardware root of trust (RoT), and additional Ethernet and USB controllers. BMC and TPM functions have historically come from separate vendors, and Axiado is unusual in combining the two.

Accelerating AI functions, the AX3000 is unique among security and management chips. Software can employ these accelerators to analyze system-status data. The marquee application is to infer from system operating parameters a ransomware or other malware infection, but data-center companies could employ such anomaly detection to monitor a server’s general health.

Supporting an AI engine by supplying models or enabling customers to run their own can be a burden for a small company. If Axiado can surmount this challenge, the company could carve out a niche. Data-center operators managing million-unit server fleets must keep them up, running, and secure. Existing BMC, RoT, and TPM chips are old technology, consume more space, and offer little capability for hosting custom software and none for AI models. Axiado offers a more powerful processor, delivering a unique approach to an unglamorous side of cloud computing.