Backblaze to Present at AI Infra Summit 2026: Architecting the AI Data Plane

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Backblaze, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLZE), the high-performance capacity storage layer for AI, will exhibit and present as a sponsor at AI Infra Summit 2026, Sept. 15–17 at the Santa Clara Convention Center. AI infrastructure teams are facing an existential challenge as their datasets outgrow what premium flash can affordably hold. Backblaze AI workflow expert Kamren Mahaney will explain a framework for architecting the AI data plane to achieve strong storage economics while maintaining the performance needed to keep GPUs productive at scale.

Additionally, at Booth #1256, Backblaze will showcase how its capacity storage layer serves multi-petabyte and multi-exabyte AI workloads in the cloud and as managed storage on-premises for companies ranging from top AI clouds to leading GenAI businesses.

Expert Speaking Session: Architecting the AI Data Plane: Pack, Place, Prefetch

Backblaze Solutions Engineer Kamren Mahaney will present on Tuesday, Sept. 15 at 1:00 p.m. PT in Expo Theater 1.

Mahaney's session will cover three techniques:

1. Packing many small acquisition files into training-friendly shards to reduce request overhead
2. Placing durable data and active working sets across object storage and flash
3. Prefetching to keep data moving ahead of GPU consumption

Attendees will leave with a practical framework for designing storage and data-movement architectures that keep compute fed while allowing data to scale efficiently.

"Most teams hit the same wall. They start by putting everything on flash because that's what keeps GPUs busy, and then the dataset grows and the math stops working,” said Mahaney. “But tiering only helps if the data moves well. Most pipelines are pulling millions of small files individually, and that costs you throughput on every epoch. By packing them into training-friendly shards, placing the working set close to compute, and prefetching ahead of consumption, you change what your pipeline can do without changing what you spend."

Validated with WEKA

The event comes one week after Backblaze's announcement of a collaboration with WEKA, the AI data and memory infrastructure company, giving customers a validated way to keep performance-sensitive workloads on WEKA NeuralMesh while retaining large datasets, checkpoints, and outputs in Backblaze B2. Certification of B2 Cloud Storage for NeuralMesh is underway.

Attendees can visit Booth 1256 or book a meeting with the Backblaze team at the show.

About Backblaze

Backblaze (NASDAQ: BLZE) is the high-performance capacity storage layer for AI. Built over two decades, the company has turned hardware, software, and operational innovation into a platform that delivers the performance and economics the AI era demands — without lock-in. Today, more than 500,000 customers trust Backblaze to move and store the data powering their businesses, reaching hundreds of millions of end users across 175 countries. For more information, visit www.backblaze.com.