The complexity of artificial intelligence workloads can make them incredibly difficult to deploy. Application teams must set up specialized infrastructure to efficiently support the deep learning neural network algorithms running under the hood, a task that BitFusion.io Inc. is working to ease.

The startup is supported by $5 million in new funding courtesy of Sierra Ventures, Data Collective, Resonant Venture Partners and Geekdom, a Texas-based accelerator. Bitfusion announced the investment today alongside the introduction of the Bitfusion AI Platform, a new evolution of its automation toolkit for deep learning projects.

The software is based on a homegrown virtualization technology that can turn the graphics processing units at a company’s disposal into a single pool of computational power. Once everything is set up, a management console lets users centrally allocate infrastructure to their deep learning applications. Resources are assigned in the form of “virtual GPUs” that Bitfusion claims provide several advantages over their physical counterparts.

The most notable perk is the ability to adjust the amount of memory in each virtual processor, which makes it possible to fit more data inside than on a regular GPU. This removes the need to distribute data-intensive work across multiple nodes, which simplifies the development of AI applications. And less effort spent on coding in turn means that projects can be completed faster.

Bitfusion claims that its platform provides similar benefits once an application is in production. The software can automatically provision more resources for a deep learning algorithm when its computational requirements grow, while a built-in failover mechanism enables deployments to quickly recover from GPU failures. Bitfusion claims that the platform supports practically any type of environment including both on- and off-premises infrastructure.

Today’s funding should help the startup spread the word about the software. Bitfusion is targeting a wide variety of segments, with its website listing the healthcare, finance, manufacturing and retail sectors as some of the areas where the software’s capabilities can be applied.

Image: Bitfusion