Nvidia this week expanded its hypervisor support through a partnership with SUSE Enterprise Server and unveiled new capabilities coming to its virtual GPU software. Through the partnership, Nvidia will provide virtual GPU support on SUSE's kernel-based virtual machine platform.

The initial offering will be supported with the Nvidia vComputerServer software and enable GPU virtualization for artificial intelligence (AI) and data center workloads.

“Demand for accelerated computing has grown beyond specialized HPC environments into virtualized data centers,” said Brent Schroeder, global CTO at SUSE, in a statement. “To ensure the needs of business leaders are met, SUSE and Nvidia have worked to simplify the use of Nvidia virtual GPUs in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server."

According to Schroeder, Nvidia vGPU support will not only help to modernize IT infrastructure but also accelerate AI and machine learning applications, thus speeding up time-sensitive workloads for SUSE customers.

The partnership comes alongside Nvidia's July vGPU update, which adds support for a wider array of workloads and will be publicly available later this month.

Much of the update focuses on making it easier for customers that rely on GPU acceleration to be able to use it from anywhere.

New features range from cross-branch support, which allows the host and guess vGPU software to work even if they are on different versions; support for the latest hypervisors; and improved vGPU management and resource scheduling for data centers running VMware vSphere.

According to Nvidia, vGPU support is increasingly in demand. In an IDC report cited by the GPU vendor, the research firm found that of the Nvidia customers that rely on virtual desktops, organizations with 500 to 1,000 users experienced a 13% increase in productivity when taking advantage of vGPU technology.

According to Alex Herrera, an analyst with Jon Peddie Research and Cadalyst who is also cited by Nvidia, advancements in virtual desktop and vGPU mean users are no longer tethered to their workstations. This is something that Nvidia claims is critical as organizations attempt to restructure under the new realities imposed by COVID-19.