The AI market is booming with innovation, yet a significant and costly gap exists between the proof-of-concept phase and successful production deployment. A staggering number of AI projects fail to deliver on their promise, often stalling in “pilot purgatory” due to fragmented tools, unpredictable costs, and a lack of scalable infrastructure. In this session, we’ll examine why so many promising AI initiatives fall short and detail the key friction points—from data pipeline complexity and integration issues to governance and security concerns—that prevent organizations from translating AI ambition into measurable business value.

Mark Seither from HPE discusses the challenges organizations face in moving AI projects from pilot to production. He highlights the rapid pace of innovation in foundation models and AI services, making it difficult for companies to keep up and choose the right tools. A major concern is data security, with companies fearing data exposure when using AI models. The time and effort required to coordinate different teams and make decisions on building AI solutions also contributes to the delays.

Seither emphasizes that hardware alone is insufficient for successful AI implementation, and the conversation must center on business objectives. HPE offers a composable and extensible platform with a pre-validated stack of tools for data connectivity, analytics, workflow automation, and data science. Customers can also integrate their own preferred tools via Helm charts, though they are responsible for the lifecycle of those tools. The HPE platform is a co-engineered system with NVIDIA, meaning hardware choices are optimized for cost and performance and that the platform isn't a reference architecture. 

The HPE Data Lakehouse Gateway provides a single namespace for accessing and managing data assets, regardless of their location. HPE also has an Unleash AI program with validated ISV partners and supports NVIDIA Blueprints for end-to-end customizable reference architectures. Furthermore, HPE offers a private cloud solution with cost savings compared to public cloud alternatives, emphasizing faster time to value, complete control over security and data sovereignty, and predictable costs through both CapEx and OpEx models, including flexible capacity with GreenLake.

Presented by Mark Seither, Solutions Architect, Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Recorded live on September 11, 2025, at AI Infrastructure Field Day 3 in Santa Clara, California. Watch the entire presentation at https://techfieldday.com/appearance/hpe-presents-at-ai-infrastructure-field-day-3/ or visit https://hpe.com/private-cloud-ai or https://techfieldday.com/event/aiifd3/ for more information.