IO-SEA aims to provide a novel data management and storage platform for exascale computing based on hierarchical storage management (HSM) and on-demand provisioning of storage services. The platform will efficiently make use of storage tiers spanning NVMe and NVRAM at the top all the way down to tape-based technologies. Advanced IO instrumentation and monitoring features will be developed in the IO-SEA project leveraging the latest advancements in AI and machine learning to systematically analyze the telemetry records to make smart decisions on data placement.