Kapil Karkra

Kapil Karkra is a Sr. Principal Engineer at Solidigm responsible for software and solutions pathfinding for next-generation storage solutions supporting AI infrastructure. His work focuses on evolving Cloud Storage Acceleration Layer (CSAL), a host-based FTL with RAID and Caching, bringing technologies such as Mixed Media (MM) and Flexible Data Placement (FDP) to market, and defining turnkey reference architectures that integrate hardware and software to accelerate adoption of high-density NAND SSDs (QLC, PLC, and HLC) for AI workloads. Over his 25+ year career, he has advanced storage systems ranging from RAID, caching, and FTLs to distributed storage stacks at IBM, Intel, and Solidigm. Recently, he helped build AI cloud storage services at Intel, integrating technologies such as VAST Data Platform and MinIO AIStor. He has 35+ patent filings and 20+ issued patents, has authored numerous industry publications, and has contributed to industry standards including NVMe (e.g., Multiple Atomicity) and PCIe (e.g., Native PCIe Enclosure Management, NPEM). Kapil holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the National Institute of Technology (NIT), India, and an MBA from Arizona State University.