• About 42% of enterprise-scale companies surveyed (> 1,000 employees) report having actively deployed AI in their business. 

• An additional 40% are currently exploring or experimenting with AI but have not deployed their models. 

• However, 59% of those companies surveyed already exploring or deploying AI say they have accelerated their rollout or investments in the technology. 

• The top barriers preventing deployment include limited AI skills and expertise (33%), too much data complexity (25%), and ethical concerns (23%). 

New research commissioned by IBM found that about 42% of enterprise-scale organizations (over 1,000 employees) surveyed have AI actively in use in their businesses. Early adopters are leading the way, with 59% of responding enterprises already working with AI intending to accelerate and increase investment in the technology. Ongoing challenges for AI adoption in enterprises remain, including hiring employees with the right skillsets, data complexity, and ethical concerns continue to inhibit businesses from adopting AI technologies into their operations.

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“We’re seeing that the early adopters who overcame barriers to deploy AI are making further investments, proving to me that they are already experiencing the benefits from AI. More accessible AI tools, the drive for automation of key processes, and increasing amounts of AI embedded into off-the-shelf business applications are top factors driving the expansion of AI at the enterprise level,” said Rob Thomas, Senior Vice President, IBM Software. “We see organizations leveraging AI for use cases where I believe the technology can most quickly have a profound impact like IT automation, digital labor, and customer care. For the 40% of companies surveyed stuck in the sandbox, I am confident 2024 will be the year of tackling and overcoming barriers to entry like the skills gap and data complexity.”

Highlights from the “IBM Global AI Adoption Index 2023,” conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of IBM, include:

Over the last several years, AI adoption has remained steady at large organizations surveyed:

• Today, 42% of IT professionals at large organizations report that they have actively deployed AI while an additional 40% are actively exploring using the technology.
• Additionally, 38% of IT professionals at enterprises report that their company is actively implementing generative AI and another 42% are exploring it.
• Organizations in India (59%), the UAE (58%), Singapore (53%), and China (50%) are leading the way in active use of AI, compared with lagging markets like Spain (28%), Australia (29%), and France (26%).
• Companies within the financial services industry are most likely to be using AI, with about half of IT professionals within that industry reporting their company has actively deployed AI. 37% of IT professionals within the telecommunications industry state that their company is also deploying AI.

The majority of surveyed companies actively deploying or exploring AI have accelerated their rollout or investments in the past 24 months: 

• 59% of IT professionals at companies deploying or exploring AI indicate that their company has accelerated their investments in or rollout of AI in the past 24 months.
• China (85%), India (74%), and the UAE (72%) are the markets most likely to be accelerating AI rollout, while businesses in the UK (40%), Australia (38%) and Canada (35%) were the least likely to accelerate the rollout.
• Research and development (44%) and reskilling/workforce development (39%) are the top AI investments at organizations exploring or deploying AI.

Easier to use AI tools and the need to reduce costs and automate processes are driving AI adoption among surveyed companies:

• Advances in AI tools that make them more accessible (45%), the need to reduce costs and automate key processes (42%), and the increasing amount of AI embedded into standard off the shelf business applications (37%) are the top factors driving AI adoption.
• For IT professionals, the two most important changes to AI in recent years are solutions that are easier to deploy (43%) and the increased prevalence of data, AI, and automation skills (42%).
• The AI use cases driving adoption for surveyed companies currently exploring or deploying AI are not limited, but cut across many key areas of business operations:
  • Automation of IT processes (33%)
  • Security and threat detection (26%)
  • AI monitoring or governance (25%)
  • Business analytics or intelligence (24%)
  • Automating processing, understanding, and flow of documents (24%)
  • Automating customer or employee self-service answers and actions (23%)
  • Automation of business processes (22%)
  • Automation of network processes (22%)
  • Digital labor (22%)
  • Marketing and sales (22%)
  • Fraud detection (22%)
  • Search and knowledge discovery (21%)
  • Human resources and talent acquisition (19%)
  • Financial planning and analysis (18%)
  • Supply chain intelligence (18%)

The same set of barriers are keeping the next wave of surveyed companies from benefiting from AI:

• The top barriers hindering successful AI adoption at enterprises both exploring or deploying AI are limited AI skills and expertise (33%), too much data complexity (25%), ethical concerns (23%), AI projects that are too difficult to integrate and scale (22%), high price (21%), and lack of tools for AI model development (21%).

Generative AI poses different barriers to entry from traditional AI models:

• Data privacy (57%) and trust and transparency (43%) concerns are the biggest inhibitors of generative AI according to IT professionals at surveyed organizations not exploring or implementing generative AI.
• 35% also say that lack of skills for implementation are a big inhibitor.

Among surveyed organizations, AI is already having an impact on the workforce: 

• One-in-five organizations report they do not have employees with the right skills in place to use new AI or automation tools and 16% cannot find new hires with the skills to address that gap.
• Among companies citing AI’s use to address labor or skills shortages, they are tapping AI to do things like reduce manual or repetitive tasks with automation tools (55%) or automate customer self-service answers and actions (47%).
• Only 34% are currently training or reskilling employees to work together with new automation and AI tools.

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The need for trustworthy and governed AI is understood by IT professionals, but barriers are making it difficult for surveyed companies to put into practice:

• IT professionals are largely in agreement that consumers are more likely to choose services from companies with transparent and ethical AI practices (85% strongly or somewhat agree) and say being able to explain how their AI reached a decision is important to their business (83% among companies exploring or deploying AI).
• But, with many companies already deploying AI facing multiple barriers in the process, well under half report they are taking key steps towards trustworthy AI like reducing bias (27%), tracking data provenance (37%), making sure they can explain the decisions of their AI models (41%), or developing ethical AI policies (44%).

Methodology:

This survey was conducted in November 2023 among a representative sample of 8,584 IT Professionals in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, UAE, UK, US and LATAM (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru). To qualify for the survey, participants must be employed full-time, work at companies with more than 1 employee, work in a manager or higher-level role, and have at least some knowledge about how IT operates and is used by their company. The global results have a margin of error of +/- 1 percentage point.

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 [To share your insights with us, please write to sghosh@martechseries.com] 

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Company Unveils Industry-Leading YOLO Performance for Edge AI Video Analytics at CES 2024

Axelera AI, provider of the world’s most powerful and advanced solutions for AI at the Edge, announced significant technology advancement and customer adoption. Following the unveiling of the company’s Early Access Program and first product shipment, Axelera AI customers can soon use state-of-the-art AI inference processing with YOLO (“You Only Look Once”) Neural Networks for Edge AI Computer Vision applications, with unmatched performance, opening up unprecedented opportunities for Edge deployment with the industry-defining Metis™ AI Platform. The solution was recently named a CES 2024 Innovation Awards Honoree and is being showcased this week at CES 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The acceleration of AI technologies has brought with it the opportunity for innovation across a range of vertical markets. The Metis AI Platform provides customers with advanced Edge AI-native hardware and software solutions for companies of all sizes across a multitude of industries. Early Access Program customers System Electronics/Coesia Group, XXII, Relay2 among others are currently utilizing the Metis AI platform within their cutting-edge products to differentiate the unique offerings they bring to their respective industries.

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“The exceptional performance and accuracy of the Axelera AI Acceleration platform have significantly fueled our collaborative efforts. Its unmatched performance-to-price ratio, surpassing traditional GPUs and dedicated AI Processing units, has been critical in our selection process. We are confident that leveraging their state-of-the-art YOLO performances will empower us to tackle new challenges in our current and future video analysis applications,” said Alexandre Perez, R&D Director at XXII.

“Better performance and accuracy at a similar price point compared to alternative AI accelerators in the market brought us to select Axelera AI as our partner in the Edge AI space. Our group is committed to providing cutting-edge solutions to our customers in the industrial automation space. Our partnership with Axelera AI not only ensures that we meet customers’ current needs but also helps future-proof their deployment at the Edge by providing a best-in-class solution,” added Andrea Gozzi, General Manager of System Electronics/Coesia Group.

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“Relay2’s Wi-Fi enabled Edge Computing solution with embedded Axelera Metis AIPU allows our surveillance solution customers to take full advantage of edge computing,” said Eric Chen, CEO of Relay2, Inc. “With Axelera Metis AIPU’s low power consumption and high inference accuracy, Relay2’s Service Point is able to process the surveillance videos onsite and generate instant analytics. This integrated solution facilitates immediate responses to onsite incidents, and reduces CAPEX and OPEX for our retail and industrial customers.”

The Metis AI Platform combined with the YOLOv5s network offers a full multi-channel video analytics pipeline with high-accuracy object detection, running at 480 frames per second (16 Full HD resolution streams at 30 FPS). The demonstration at CES showcases the Metis AI platform’s pre-release, which has been in the hands of select Axelera AI customers through an Early Access Program since last September and is now available for evaluation. The full production-ready platform will be available in mid-2024 and has a projected performance up to 800 frames per second. Axelera AI matches 99% of the original model’s precision, indistinguishable from GPU-based inference models, while offering 4-5 times the energy efficiency and cost savings, opening up unprecedented opportunities for Edge deployment. The Metis PCIe and M.2 Edge AI accelerator cards are sampling now.

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“Integrating YOLO into our Metis AI Platform marks a significant milestone in Edge AI inference,” said Fabrizio Del Maffeo, CEO and Co-Founder of Axelera AI. “As more and more customers harness the advantages of AI, computer vision models like YOLO and the Metis AI Platform enable applications previously constrained by computational power. Our platform’s enhanced capabilities demonstrate our commitment to providing the best performance and usability, at a fraction of the price and power consumption of other solutions available today. Axelera AI is committed to not only making current solution designs ready for the future, but also to looking ahead and getting ready for the next wave of technological innovations.”

[To share your insights with us, please write to sghosh@martechseries.com]

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The month-long program has two levels that developers need to complete for a chance to win VIP passes to Microsoft’s upcoming AI Tour

Microsoft announced the launch of an initiative that aims to skill 100,000 developers in India in the latest AI technologies and tools. The program offers comprehensive learning experience that helps developers acquire and demonstrate the relevant skills needed to execute critical projects using AI technologies that align with business goals and outcomes. With AI revolutionizing the way we work and live, India needs a skilled workforce that can use AI to solve complex problems and create value. Through programs like AI Odyssey, Microsoft is offering opportunities for developers to build solutions for India’s growth and showcase their talent to solve real-world problems. To participate in the AI Odyssey, developers need to register on aka.ms/AIOdyssey and access the learning modules and resources. The month-long program is open to all AI enthusiasts in India, regardless of experience level or background. The program has two levels that participants need to complete by January 31, 2024. The first level of the program educates participants on how to use Azure AI services to create and deploy AI solutions for different scenarios. This will give them access to useful resources, code samples, and guides to master practical AI skills.

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The second level of the program challenges participants to prove their AI skills by completing an online assessment with interactive lab tasks that earns them Microsoft Applied Skills credentials, a new verifiable credential that validates their ability to solve real world problems with AI. Participants completing both the levels of challenges will also stand a chance to win a VIP Pass to attend the Microsoft AI Tour in Bangalore on February 8, 2024, and witness the revolutionary impact of generative AI. The AI Tour is a one-of-a-kind event that showcases how generative AI can enable new forms of creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving. The tour features keynote sessions, demos, and workshops, where developers can learn from Microsoft experts and partners, as well as network with peers.

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Irina Ghose, managing director, Microsoft India, said, “AI is the future of innovation and India is leading the way with its tech talent. The Microsoft Applied Skills credential will help developers demonstrate their competence and creativity in the most in-demand AI skills and scenarios. We welcome all developers to join us in creating meaningful AI solutions that will contribute to India’s economy.”

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[To share your insights with us, please write to sghosh@martechseries.com]

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• Only 9% of respondents say they are satisfied with the in-store shopping experience; only 14% say the same for online shopping.

• Roughly 80% of consumers surveyed who haven’t used AI for shopping expressed an interest in using the technology for various aspects of their shopping journey.

As the retail landscape faces mounting pressure from evolving consumer expectations and economic headwinds, a new global study from the IBM Institute for Business Value, reveals a widening gap between shopper demands and the current retail offering.

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The third biennial consumer study*, “Revolutionize retail with AI everywhere: Customers won’t wait,” surveyed nearly 20,000 global consumers and reveals a dissatisfaction with retail experiences, with only 9% of consumers surveyed saying they are content with in-store and 14% content with online shopping.  Yet technology could play an important role in enhancing the overall shopping experience, with over half of the respondents indicating they are eager for AI enhancements like virtual assistants (55%) and AI applications (59%) as they shop. Influenced by inflation, six in ten consumers surveyed also say inflation has impacted how they shop, with 62% saying that price is a top reason they switch stores or brands.

“In the face of rapidly shifting consumer expectations and the stark realities of today’s economic picture for households, the retail sector is presented with an ongoing challenge—and an unprecedented opportunity,” said Luq Niazi, Global Managing Director at IBM. “We are seeing that today’s consumers, faced with more choices and channels than ever, are increasingly making their purchasing decisions based on the cost and the quality of experiences that retailers provide. The IBM IBV Consumer 2024 Study underscores an opportunity for retailers to integrate AI and other technologies into both digital and physical shopping experiences to meet these changing consumer demands and their economic challenges. Leveraging advances in AI technologies, retailers can forge ahead into a new era of commerce and fulfilment, leading with innovation to create shopping experiences that are intuitive, unified, personalized and efficient.”

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Noteworthy findings from the study include:

• In-Store Experience Lacks Luster: Despite a preference for physical stores by 73% of those surveyed, only 9% are satisfied with the in-store experience. Consumers surveyed want greater variety of products available (37%), more information about products (26%), and faster checkout (26%) in stores. Most consumers surveyed (65%) are supplementing their in-store experience by using mobile apps while shopping — demonstrating a trend toward a digitally integrated in-store experience.
• Online Shopping Shortcomings: Online retail isn’t immune to criticism; two-thirds of consumers surveyed discover new products via the web, yet many have expressed dissatisfaction with their online shopping journey, citing challenges finding the products they want (36%), not enough information about products (33%), and a cumbersome return process (33%).
• Consumers Desire Digital Integration: Consumers surveyed showed a strong interest in using AI technology to enhance various aspects of their shopping. Most consumers (59%) said they would like to use AI applications as they shop and 4 in 5 consumers who haven’t used the technology for shopping reported an interest in trying it. Personalization and targeted offerings are in demand, with 52% of consumers surveyed interested in receiving information, advertisements, and offerings from stores that are relevant to their specific interests. Yet there remains a stark satisfaction gap for current AI assistant users surveyed. Only about one-third of responding consumers who have used virtual assistants are satisfied with the experience and nearly 20% were so disappointed that they don’t want to use virtual assistants again, signaling a mismatch between current tech offerings and shopper expectations.
• Economic Forces at Play: Economic challenges, particularly inflation, are influencing shopping behaviors. Consumers surveyed are seeking flexible payment options, with 55% desiring more varied payment options and 46% reporting they would like to pay for their purchase in installments. As inflation and economic uncertainty pinch pocketbooks, 62% of consumers surveyed also say price is a top reason they would switch stores or brands.

Revolutionize retail with AI everywhere: Customers won’t wait underscores the urgent need for retailers to innovate and integrate advanced technologies, such as AI, to elevate the shopping experience. The study also serves as a resource for retailers, outlining actionable strategies to help these businesses meet changing consumer demands.

Connect with IBM at NRF 2024: Generative AI is taking center stage for IBM at NRF’24. Join us as we delve into how the technology is enhancing everything from customer engagement and personalization to operational efficiency. We’ll share innovative examples in marketing, supply chain management, and sustainability. IBM industry experts will be at Booth #5006. Stay updated via our NRF webpage. #NRF2024

*Study Methodology:
The IBM Institute for Business Value surveyed 20,000 consumers across 26 countries on their digital habits, their use of AI and generative AI, and their expectations for brands. Responses were analyzed by age group, income and purchasing habits across product categories.

The IBM Institute for Business Value, IBM’s thought leadership think tank, combines global research and performance data with expertise from industry thinkers and leading academics to deliver insights that make business leaders smarter. For more world-class thought leadership,

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[To share your insights with us, please write to sghosh@martechseries.com]

The post IBM Study Retail Experiences Widely Dissatisfied, Consumers Want AI-Driven Shopping During Economic Struggle appeared first on AiThority.

New Partnership to Boost AONDevices’ Technology in Everyday Devices

AONDevices, a leading innovator in super low-power, high-accuracy edge AI solutions, is excited to announce strategic partnership Insight Demand Creation for Mexico and Latin America regions. This representation alliance aims to significantly expand AONDevices’ reach and impact with its advanced super low-power edge AI technologies.

Insight Demand Creation: Driving Market Expansion

Insight’s collaboration will be key in broadening the adoption of AONDevices’ technologies across various industries, leveraging their expertise to widen AONDevices’ market presence.

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“Our partnership with AONDevices is a strategic step towards introducing innovative technology solutions globally. We’re eager to incorporate their super low-power edge AI technologies in our offerings,” said Gerardo Martinez, VP Sales & Operations at Insight Demand Creation.

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Forward Outlook

“This partnership is pivotal in our mission to lead in super low-power edge AI solutions,” said Mouna Elkhatib, CEO of AONDevices. “Together with Insight Demand Creation, we’re set to broaden our reach and enhance user experiences in Mexico and Latin America.”

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Meet AONDevices at CES 2024

Join AONDevices at CES 2024 to explore their super low-power edge AI technologies. Attendees can schedule meetings through AONDevices’ CES 2024 page for potential collaborations.

[To share your insights with us, please write to sghosh@martechseries.com]

The post AONDevices Boosts Edge AI Global Presence With Insightful Partnership appeared first on AiThority.

The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), in partnership with Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks (HKSTP) and the Hong Kong Electronic Industries Association (HKEIA) Ltd, is delighted to announce the strong comeback of the Hong Kong delegation at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2024. Showcasing Hong Kong’s innovation and technological prowess, a remarkable assembly of 33 exhibitors will populate the Hong Kong Tech Pavilions at Design & Source and Eureka Park.

CES 2024, running from January 9 to 12 in Las Vegas, stands as the world’s largest consumer electronics show, attracting top tech companies from across the globe. With an impressive lineup of 5,000 exhibitors and over 180,000 expected participants, including top-level executives, CES sets the stage for the latest industry trends. The event will also garner the attention of nearly 7,000 media representatives, ensuring extensive coverage and in-depth analysis of emerging tech trends.

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As one of the world’s biggest exporters of electronic goods, Hong Kong has long had a presence at CES. In fact, ours was the first-ever international pavilion and we have been a keen supporter of the show for more than 40 years. This year’s CES 2024 marks the much-awaited return of the full physical exhibition following the pandemic. The overwhelming industry demand for joining the show is the proof of market resilience and Hong Kong’s competitiveness in the global context. The participation of numerous Hong Kong SMEs and start-ups, showcasing their latest products and solutions at this significant global exhibition, serves as a testament to their remarkable potential, solidifying Hong Kong’s position as a pivotal innovation powerhouse in Asia.

To facilitate SMEs in exploring global market opportunities, HKTDC will lead 13 Hong Kong companies to showcase their innovative products and technologies at the Design & Source in Westgate. These exhibitors will present a diverse range of offerings, including health monitoring wearables, smart living products, high-tech home appliances, car audio electronics, transmitter batteries, smart speakers for hearing impaired, cutting-edge Wrt-based networking devices, electric scooters, etc.

One prominent participant, Nano and Advanced Materials Institute (NAMI), a regular exhibitor of Hong Kong pavilion in CES since 2018, has been honored 27 prestigious “R&D 100 Awards” (known as “the Oscars of Invention”) for its pioneering research in nano and advanced materials. In CES 2024, NAMI’s “Wrinkleless TriClarity nScreen” has been named Innovation Awards Honoree under the category of Mobile Devices, Accessories & Apps. It is the sixth consecutive year NAMI wins the privileged awards, adding up to a total of 11 Innovation Awards from CES since 2019.

Making their debut at the Design and Source at CES, two exhibitors are poised to make a lasting impression. Leading the way is the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI), a dedicated force in applied research with core R&D competence in Trust and AI Technologies, Communication Technologies, IoT Sensing and AI Technologies, as well as Integrated Circuits and Systems. Alongside is Paraverse Technology which aims to revolutionize the industry with their decentralized real-time cloud rendering platform and Web3 transaction platform specifically tailored for XR applications and 3D digital assets.

Hong Kong has a vibrant startup ecosystem and its growth momentum continued in 2023 despite various external challenges. To feature and demonstrate Hong Kong’s outstanding R&D strengths and potentials in innovation and technology sector, 20 start-ups will exhibit in Hong Kong Tech pavilion at Eureka Park, showcasing a diverse range of achievements across four innovative sectors: AI and Data, Advanced Manufacturing, Life & Health, and Sustainability. Eureka Park, situated in Venetian Expo, is the global stage for future-forward innovations and the most sought-after location at CES packed with investors and global media.

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Among the 20 Hong Kong start-ups showcasing at Eureka Park, two companies, AI Guided and Sitan Semiconductor International, have received prestigious “CES Innovation Awards” at CES 2024. AI Guided Ltd. was recognised in the “Accessibility and Aging Tech” category for its groundbreaking “GUIDi™ Smart Belt,” while Sitan Semiconductor International was honored in the “XR Technologies and Accessories” category for its exceptional “0.13” micro-LED Display Module.”

HKTDC’s initiative to lead the Hong Kong delegation at CES demonstrates its commitment to facilitating business opportunities for Hong Kong companies. The delegation will not only gain invaluable insights into the latest tech innovative trends, but also pave the way for exciting collaborations, propelling Hong Kong’s position as a trailblazer in the global tech arena.

[To share your insights with us, please write to sghosh@martechseries.com]

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The company forecasts significant advancements in key areas such as performance portability, artificial intelligence (AI) and AIOps workload management, adherence to FAIR principles, confidential computing, and container security.

Sylabs, a global leader in providing tools and services for performance-intensive container technology, has released its predictions for the industry’s landscape in 2024. The company forecasts significant advancements in key areas such as performance portability, artificial intelligence (AI) and AIOps workload management, adherence to FAIR principles, confidential computing, and container security.

Adapting DevOps to the AI Revolution: The Performance Portability Paradigm

With the rapid evolution of AI and machine learning (ML), performance portability will become increasingly crucial for DevOps teams. The main driver is maintaining application efficiency across diverse hardware, particularly as workloads extend from cloud to edge and high-performance computing (HPC) environments. This strategic imperative becomes pivotal as DevOps teams navigate the rise of specialized AI hardware from industry leaders and startups, further complicating this landscape for DevOps managers.

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“Performance portability is increasingly a strategic necessity, especially in AI and ML,” said Keith Cunningham, VP of Strategy at Sylabs. “Developers, faced with diverse hardware, must ensure application efficiency across platforms. Open Container Initiative (OCI)-compliant computing container technologies, like SingularityCE, bridge the gap between HPC and IT DevOps. This integration is key to leveraging AI’s full potential. By harmonizing the power and precision of HPC with the agility and automation of DevOps practices, developers can facilitate a more seamless, efficient, and innovative development process, crucial for adapting to the rapidly evolving technological landscape.”

Charting the AIops Evolution: A Leap Towards Advanced Containerization

Anticipated to progress at a steady 25% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR), the AIops field is undergoing a transformation fueled by diverse factors, notably the modernization of applications through containerized software and the integration of more advanced and sophisticated AI technologies. Within this landscape, the pivotal role played by containerization is evident, as AIops practitioners strive to enhance system scalability, reliability, and efficiency. Advanced container solutions, adept at functioning in diverse environments with significant access and security requirements, are vital for ensuring isolation and consistency. These aspects are critical for efficiently scaling AI operations and ensuring robust failure recovery mechanisms.

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In this evolving scenario, AIops practitioners leverage machine learning (ML) algorithms to link incidents with business impacts, thereby improving predictive analytics. This strategic approach leads to quicker and more effective IT decision-making, enabling the management and automation of complex systems with increased efficacy.

Looking ahead to 2024, a significant milestone is expected with the integration of generative AI by AIops software vendors. This technological advancement in AIops is poised to accelerate its adoption and introduce more sophisticated and responsive operational capabilities, ultimately elevating Service Level Agreement (SLA) adherence. The increasing preference among software developers for containerization in AIops applications reflects a broader industry trend towards secure, scalable, and efficient deployment of AI-driven operations.

“We foresee a revolution in AIOps driven by advanced containerization and AI technologies,” said Cunningham. “This integration is set to transform IT operations, enhancing scalability and security and significantly boosting operational efficiency. Containerization will be a cornerstone in this new era, enabling AIOps to handle the increasing complexity of modern IT systems with greater agility and precision.”

Collaboration and Innovation: FAIR Principles Meet Modern AI Research

Drawing inspiration from scientific computing, AI researchers are poised to align the AI landscape more closely with the principles of Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability. This alignment, driven by advancements in computing container technologies, is anticipated to cultivate heightened collaboration within groups and organizations. The result will substantially improve the distribution and peer review of containerized AI workflows and their associated datasets. Adopting these principles will enhance the efficiency, integration, and transparency of AI research and foster collective improvements and the development of more resilient AI applications.

Furthermore, the standardization of AI workflows through containerization is poised to tackle the pervasive ‘works on my machine’ issue, helping to establish a more consistent experience across diverse computational environments. This move is set to bolster reproducibility and reliability in AI models, mirroring the advancements achieved in FAIR scientific computational workflows. This practice is expected to improve the scalability and efficiency of AI operations, particularly among those leveraging container platforms tailored for performance-intensive environments.

Confidential Computing: The Next Leap in Container Security

Sylabs foresees a growing demand for advanced security measures in containerized environments, with a particular focus on protecting sensitive data during its use within containers. Confidential Computing emerges as a key player in this area, uniquely securing data in use by isolating it within secure areas of the processor’s architecture, designed specifically for heightened data protection. This approach complements traditional security measures for data at rest and in transit and mitigates risks associated with memory access and the execution environments within containers.

“We anticipate a shift towards more secure and efficient container technology, notably through integrating Confidential Computing solutions into existing workflows,” said Cunningham. “These integrations will enhance security while maintaining system accessibility and functionality. Confidential Computing will become a vital, forward-looking component in modern container security strategies.”

Shift Towards Next-Generation Container Solutions for Data-Intensive Computing

In 2024, the industry is set to confront a crucial challenge — traditional enterprise container solutions are often insufficient for the demands of advanced, performance-intensive computing environments, such as AI applications. This is particularly true in shared environments, where security and access become critical, prompting a shift towards container workflows that integrate containers uniquely tailored for large-scale, data-rich environments. These sophisticated environments, characterized by high computational needs and complex data processing, necessitate blending container technologies to overcome some of the technical gaps in traditional offerings.

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“There’s a notable surge in interest in Singularity containers from organizations facing the intricate demands of AI and data-intensive computing,” said Cunningham. “Singularity is specifically engineered to tackle the scalability and complexity challenges inherent in modern scale-out computing. It has undergone significant evolution, driven by community-led refinements, and now integrates seamlessly with established OCI workflows, offering scalability, robust security, and enhanced efficiency for demanding applications. Additionally, its enhanced interoperability has elevated performance across diverse computing environments and broadened its adaptability to a wide range of workloads, aligning seamlessly with various high-level orchestration and management systems. We anticipate further growth as more companies turn to Sylabs for solutions that elevate performance and security in their systems, achieving these advancements without the need for disruptive workflow overhauls.”

[To share your insights with us, please write to sghosh@martechseries.com]

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Virtusa Corporation, a global provider of digital strategy, digital engineering, and information technology (IT) services and solutions, announced a multi-year global Strategic Collaboration Agreement (SCA) with Amazon Web Services (AWS). As part of this collaboration, Virtusa has established an artificial intelligence (AI) and data lab, The Generative AI & Data Lab. This venture aims to expedite customers’ data migration to the cloud and facilitate the modernization of their IT services by integrating AI, machine learning (ML), and Generative AI technologies.

As part of the SCA, Virtusa opened four Generative AI Labs (Virtual, New York, London, and Singapore), with New York piloting both life sciences research use cases for a Fortune 50 company as well as quality control for Verint Systems. Together, we are accelerating their data and AI modernization and utilizing Bedrock to accelerate and automate research and quality control.

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The Generative AI & Data Lab provides a variety of offerings, including expediting customers’ initial data and AI/ML launches to AWS and providing a customized approach to scale their competencies and processes for the future on AWS. AWS and Virtusa’s multi-disciplinary experts offer a holistic approach to AI, ML, and cloud-based data. They guide customers through various stages, which include formulating business strategies, creating migration and ML operational roadmaps, optimizing cloud migration, and establishing a modernized platform for continuous data and ML operations. The experts also guide customers through business rationalization and organizational change management and help them overcome technical readiness concerns by providing training and management of data and ML operations. This support, combined with an AI/ML Managed Services Offering, simplifies and speeds up our customers’ AI/ML and Gen AI usage.

“Our SCA with AWS marks a pivotal moment in Virtusa’s commitment to delivering cutting-edge solutions for data migration and IT modernization,” said Ram Meenakshisundaram, Chief Technology Officer, Virtusa. “The Virtusa Generative AI & Data Lab solidifies our dedication to driving efficient business modernization to create value for customers. We are setting the stage for accelerated and effective transformation through our combined expertise and AWS’s generative AI, AI/ML, and data services.”

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Combining Virtusa’s end to end data and AI/ML modernization capabilities with the power of AWS will help customers to leverage key AWS services like Amazon Glue, Amazon CloudFormation, Amazon Identity and Access Management (IAM), Amazon SageMaker, Amazon Bedrock, and Amazon CodeWhisperer to accelerate business modernization. Custom cloud data solutions cover migration, modernization, global cloud strategy, operations, ML modernization, and managed services, targeting a reduction from 36 to 18 months for a swift and efficient transformation. Virtusa and AWS will empower their clients to unlock the transformative power of data, which can fuel innovation and elevate end-customer experience with AWS-specific solutions and Virtusa accelerators. The offerings include the development of a customized approach to scale customer operations on AWS through managed and outsourced services.

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UserWay’s AI-powered accessibility technologies to enhance Level Access’s suite of leading digital accessibility solutions

Level Access, a leading provider of digital accessibility solutions, and UserWay a pioneer in accessibility AI technologies,announced the signing of a definitive agreement for Level Access to acquire UserWay. Together, Level Access and UserWay will create advanced digital accessibility solutions to help more organizations to start, and accelerate, sustainable digital accessibility programs.

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UserWay’s AI-powered software automates the identification and optimization of code to improve digital accessibility for websites, apps, and digital documents. Millions of websites globally trust UserWay’s technology to help improve usability for people with disabilities. The addition of UserWay’s complementary technology and team will enhance Level Access’s full-service digital accessibility solutions, including its market-leading digital accessibility platform, and extend the reach of its deep subject matter expertise to organizations of all sizes.

“Allon and the UserWay team have developed incredible automated remediation technologies that enable organizations to move faster in their digital accessibility programs,” said Tim Springer, CEO and Founder of Level Access. “This combination, with our full-service digital accessibility platform, will enable us to bring powerful new tools to our customers and positions us with a robust solution set for organizations of any size and maturity.”

“We’ve long admired the Level Access team and their integration of technology, service, and subject matter expertise,” said Allon Mason, CEO and Founder of UserWay. “This transaction delivers compelling value to our shareholders and provides our team with a great opportunity to bring our technology to a broader market. We are unified by a shared mission to make the world more accessible, and we believe this partnership will increase and accelerate what we are able to accomplish.”

As part of Level Access, UserWay will continue to operate under its existing name and brand. Allon Mason will continue to lead UserWay as CEO and will become President of Level Access. The transaction is expected to close in early 2024, subject to approval by UserWay’s shareholders and receipt of customary regulatory approvals. Additional information for UserWay shareholders can be found on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE)’s ‘MAYA’ Website.

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Level Access’s existing investors JMI Equity and funds managed by KKR continue to support the growth of the company.

Nfluence Partners acted as financial advisor and Sullivan & Worcester as legal counsel to UserWay. Latham & Watkins LLP and Herzog, Fox & Neeman served as legal counsel to Level Access.

Level Access has an unparalleled history in helping customers achieve and maintain compliance with the full scope of accessible technology regulations and standards including the ADA, WCAG, CVAA, AODA, EU directives on digital accessibility, and Section 508. Delivered through a comprehensive suite of software, expert services, and training, the company’s solution ensures customers’ websites, desktop and mobile applications, embedded software, gaming software, digital products, and electronic documents are accessible to everyone.

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Deci, the deep learning company harnessing AI to build AI, unveiled the latest addition to its suite of innovative generative AI models, DeciLM-7B, a 7 billion parameter large language model. Building upon the success of its predecessor DeciLM 6B, DeciLM 7B is setting new benchmarks in the large language model (LLM) space, outperforming prominent open-source models such as Llama2 7B and Mistral 7B in both accuracy and efficiency.

DeciLM-7B stands out for its unmatched performance, surpassing open-source language models up to 13 billion parameters in both accuracy and speed with less computational demand. It achieves a 1.83x and 2.39x increase in throughput over Mistral 7B and Llama 2 7B, respectively, which means significantly faster processing speeds compared to competing models. Its compact design is ideal for cost-effective GPUs, striking an unparalleled balance between affordability and high-end performance.

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The remarkable performance of DeciLM-7B can be further accelerated when used in tandem with Infery-LLM, the world’s fastest inference engine, designed to deliver high throughput, low latency and cost effective inference on widely available GPUs. This powerful duo sets a new standard in throughput performance, achieving speeds 4.4 times greater than Mistral 7B with vLLM without sacrificing quality. Leveraging DeciLM-7B in conjunction with Infery-LLM enables teams to drastically reduce their LLM compute expenses, while simultaneously benefiting from quicker inference times. This integration facilitates the efficient scaling of Generative AI workloads and supports the transition to more cost-effective hardware solutions.

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This synergy enables the efficient serving of multiple clients simultaneously without excessive compute costs or latency issues. This is especially crucial in sectors such as telecommunications, online retail, and cloud services, where the ability to respond to a massive influx of concurrent customer inquiries in real time can significantly enhance user experience and operational efficiency.

Licensed under Apache 2.0, DeciLM-7B is available for use and deployment anywhere, including local setups, enabling teams to fine tune for specific industry applications without compromising on data security or privacy. Its versatility allows teams to easily tailor it for unique use cases across a wide range of business applications, including content creation, translation, conversation modeling, data categorization, summarization, sentiment analysis and chatbot development, among others. When fine tuned for specific data sets, DeciLM-7B can deliver similar quality to that of much larger models such as GPT 3.5 at approximately 97% lower cost and better speed.

“With the increasing use of Generative AI in various business sectors, there’s a growing demand for models that are not only highly performant but also operationally cost efficient,” said Yonatan Geifman, CEO and co-founder of Deci. “Our latest innovation, DeciLM-7B, combined with Infery-LLM, is a game-changer in this regard. It’s adaptable to diverse settings, including on-premise solutions, and its exceptional inference efficiency makes high-quality large language models more accessible to a wider range of users.”

DeciLM-7B’s cost-effectiveness and reduced computational demand make advanced AI technologies more accessible to businesses of all sizes, fostering innovation and driving forward the digital transformation across various sectors. With DeciLM-7B, companies can now leverage the full potential of AI without the prohibitive costs or complexities previously associated with high-end language models.

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Deci AI’s introduction of DeciLM-7B builds on its track record of innovative and efficient Generative AI models, including DeciLM 6B, DeciCoder 1B, and DeciDiffusion 1.0. Similar to its other models, DeciLM 7B was generated with Deci’s cutting-edge Automated Neural Architecture Construction (AutoNAC) engine, the most advanced Neural Architecture Search (NAS)-based technology on the market, with its focus on efficiency.

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