Intel Xeon CPUs on VMware vSphere – A Powerful and Cost-Effective Twosome for AI/ML Workloads
With AI ingrained in our daily routines, Forward Networks delivered a strategic approach at Networking Field Day, demonstrating how even complex networking data can be made manageable through AI integration. Their platform uses a data-first principle, enabling AI to interact effectively with a digital twin of network infrastructure, simplifying tasks for network engineers. The innovative AI Assistant within Forward Networks’ ecosystem assists in constructing queries for the Network Query Engine, fostering trust through verifiable, human-readable outputs, and providing a gateway for more intuitive network management. Read more in this article by Sulagna Saha on Gestalt IT.
Read More:
Intel Xeon CPUs on VMware vSphere - A Powerful and Cost-Effective Twosome for AI/ML Workloads
Forward Networks Now With More AI
Amidst the ubiquitous influence of artificial intelligence in our daily lives, Forward Networks stood out to Josh Warcop by integrating AI with a robust data-first approach, as showcased at Networking Field Day. Their creation of a digital twin for network infrastructure ensures precise data, allowing AI to effectively communicate with it, bypassing the challenges of manual data modeling. Forward Networks’ Network Query Engine, equipped with an AI Assistant, generates human-readable queries, bridging the gap between complex data systems and operator expertise and fostering trust in AI’s capabilities within network management.
Read More:
Forward Networks Now With More AI
Let Someone Else Install Your Campus Network
As Aaron Conaway posted, Nile showcased their comprehensive campus network solutions at Networking Field Day, emphasizing their end-to-end service that extends beyond hardware delivery to include detailed network planning and on-site evaluations. Their approach ensures not only installation but also up-to-date firmware and secure configurations managed via a cloud-based system, challenging the traditional “install now, secure later” methodology. Nile further distinguishes itself with ongoing management, monitoring, and proactive problem and replacement services, offering an innovative model for organizations lacking significant capital expenditure budgets.
Read More:
Let Someone Else Install Your Campus Network
Nile – Network as a Service – Considerations for Adoption
Attending Network Field Day gave Ryan Lambert a first-hand look at Nile’s innovative Network as a Service (NaaS) offering, a service model that manages and maintains a customer’s network infrastructure. Nile stands out by not only managing and monitoring networking equipment but also engaging with partners for on-site surveys to ensure top-notch performance, guaranteeing service levels for the hassle-free operation of customer networks. However, it’s important for customers to understand the shared responsibility in such managed solutions, particularly regarding the physical environment and specific requirements, ensuring Nile’s service guarantee aligns with their needs.
Read More:
Nile - Network as a Service - Considerations for Adoption
No Inventory, No Proper Management
At Networking Field Day 34, Forward Networks, Inc. showcased the substantial advantages of implementing a digital twin for network management. The digital twin provides a dynamic and thorough inventory by constantly analyzing the network to reflect its current state, automatically updating documentation, and enhancing compliance and automation efforts. Aaron Conaway emphasized the crucial need for up-to-date network visibility, asserting that reliable network management is impossible without a comprehensive and current understanding of one’s network infrastructure.
Read More:
No Inventory, No Proper Management
Defeating Data Gravity? – Hammerspace
According to Keith Townsend, Hammerspace presented a compelling argument for a shift in overcoming data gravity by moving data closer to accelerated computing resources at AI Field Day. Their solution, a parallel file system, acts as a bridge between dispersed data sources, offering a unified metadata view that streamlines data preparation for AI tasks. While Hammerspace’s technology appears to enhance user experience, it also requires strategic GPU placement and considerations around data governance and movement across geopolitical boundaries.
Read More:
Defeating Data Gravity? - Hammerspace
Forward Networks – The Tale of an Aptly Named Company
In Ryan Lambert’s LinkedIn Pulse article he delves into the capabilities of Forward Networks, a company he says lives up to its name. The company creates a Digital Twin of network data, encompassing router configurations, route tables, and firewall policies. Lambert emphasizes the practicality of this approach, enabling users to gain insights into network behavior, potential vulnerabilities, and operational breakdowns.
Read More:
Forward Networks - The Tale of an Aptly Named Company
Taking on AI Inferencing With 5th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable Processors
Intel’s 5th Generation Xeon Scalable Processor, known as Emerald Rapids, offers an advantageous solution for AI inferencing, providing a compelling alternative to GPUs in certain applications. Highlighted during the AI Field Day event, Intel showcased the processor’s suitability for general-purpose AI workloads, especially for private AI deployments requiring lower latency and mixed workloads. In his presentation, Ro Shah illustrated that Xeon CPUs are well-equipped to handle AI models with fewer than 20 billion parameters, making them a cost-effective and efficient choice for many enterprises. Read more in this article from Gestalt IT.
Read More:
Taking on AI Inferencing With 5th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable Processors
Replacing Human-Driven Automation With One That Is Event-Driven, With Cisco
In a move to enhance network management efficiency, Cisco is replacing the existing human-driven automation with an innovative event-driven approach. Network controllers centralize operations by maintaining an inventory of network states, and event-driven automation streamlines this further by automating responses to network changes, reducing manual intervention and speeding up the resolution process. Cisco’s event-driven solutions were explored in detail at Tech Field Day Extra at Cisco Live EMEA 2024, promising elevated operational capabilities with a focus on observability and swift auto-configuration. Read more in this article from Gestalt IT.
Read More:
Replacing Human-Driven Automation With One That Is Event-Driven, With Cisco
Policy Management Gets Easier With Cisco AI Assistant
Cisco’s AI Assistant, unveiled at Tech Field Day Extra at Cisco Live EMEA 2024, promises to revolutionize policy management within Secure Access, offering swift and reliable creation and enforcement of security policies. Emphasizing simplicity and risk reduction, the AI tool handles English language prompts to generate comprehensive policies, demonstrating its capability to securely augment and automate IT administrator tasks. Showcasing AI’s monitoring role, Cisco Secure Access also ensures protected use of AI tools within organizations, preventing sensitive data breaches and incorporating intelligent user access control.
Read More:
Policy Management Gets Easier With Cisco AI Assistant
Insights From the AI Field Day: A Futurum Group Overview
In this LinkedIn Pulse article, Paul Nashawaty of The Futurum Group summarizes all of the AI Field Day presentations, highlighting VMware’s deep dive into Private AI in collaboration with industry giants like NVIDIA and IBM, and Intel’s focus on deploying AI inference models with Xeon CPUs across diverse environments. Next-generation AI-infused storage solutions from Solidigm and SuperMicro underscored the critical role of optimized storage in AI, while Vast Data focused on addressing the growing data demands of AI and HPC workloads. Google Cloud’s session on AI platforms and infrastructures showcased innovative approaches with Kubernetes at the core, paving the way for accessible and powerful AI development and deployment.
Read More:
Insights From the AI Field Day: A Futurum Group Overview
“AI Assist” Is Better Than “AI Do It for Me”
John Herbert feels cautious towards AI, particularly when entrusting it with network control, advocating for human oversight to validate AI-generated solutions. But he appreciates Forward Networks’ AI Assist feature for creating natural language queries that help users engage with the company’s Network Query Engine (NQE), while retaining the option for manual evaluation and tweaking. Furthermore, Herbert finds value in the Summary Assist tool, which provides natural language explanations of NQE queries, enhancing user understanding and trust in the AI’s output.
Read More:
“AI Assist” Is Better Than “AI Do It for Me”
From Server Farm to Table: How Nature Fresh Uses AI and CPUs to Improve Crop Yields
At AI Field Day 4, Keith Bradley from Nature Fresh Farms highlighted the practical application of AI in agriculture, revealing how the company utilizes AI models and data from IoT devices to boost crop yields significantly. As Jim Davis writes, Nature Fresh Farms’ unique approach relies heavily on edge computing with Intel Xeon CPUs for AI inferencing, debunking common misconceptions that AI always requires cloud connectivity or GPU resources. Bradley’s presentation emphasized the critical importance of IT system reliability in the agricultural sector, where even brief periods of downtime can result in substantial losses.
Read More:
From Server Farm to Table: How Nature Fresh Uses AI and CPUs to Improve Crop Yields
Transforming Enterprise AI: A Deep Dive Into VMware’s Private AI by Broadcom
At AI Field Day 4, VMware demonstrated a significant shift towards Private AI, emphasizing the need for balance between AI innovation and stringent data privacy in enterprise environments. As Ken Collins writes, the introduction of VMware’s Private AI Foundation showcases an ecosystem developed for flexibility, enabling companies to bring AI closer to their data across different environments. As the enterprise AI landscape evolves, VMware’s strategic partnership with NVIDIA and emphasis on internal AI applications position the company as a key player in an era where data privacy, choice, and performance are paramount.
Read More:
Transforming Enterprise AI: A Deep Dive Into VMware's Private AI by Broadcom
Qlik Presents About AI on AIFD4
At AI Field Day, Qlik unveiled their comprehensive AI strategy, focusing on enabling customers to tackle the complexity and scale of AI integration into their operations with solutions like predictive analytics, AutoML, and their 170K-strong model portfolio. With initiatives like Qlik Staige, the company facilitates the use of AI for those new to the field, using established algorithms and bringing structured and unstructured data together for added value. Read more about the Qlik presentation in this LinkedIn Pulse article by Gina Rosenthal!
Read More:
Qlik Presents About AI on AIFD4
VAST Data Upends Storage in the AI Era
Allyson Klein offers an insightful look at VAST Data’s innovative approach to the AI data pipeline, a process crucial for preparing data for AI training, through their advanced NAS solution spotlighted at AI Field Day. VAST Data’s platform addresses the challenges organizations face with data prep and movement in AI, proven by their success in the HPC sphere and their natural progression into supporting AI training clusters.
Read More:
VAST Data Upends Storage in the AI Era
Google Cloud Talks AI Trends at AIFD4
During AI Field Day 4, Google Cloud positioned AI as the next major platform shift, emphasizing its role following the internet and mobile, and highlighted their impressive data store capabilities including every search query since the inception of their browser. Google Cloud’s adoption of generative AI and the introduction of Google Gemini and DeepMind’s open model Gemma signal a strong continuation of their open-source ethos, enhancing AI scalability and accessibility. As noted by Allyson Klein in this article, the presentation also underscored Google’s commitment to supporting a diverse AI ecosystem, showcasing extensive compatibility across major silicon platforms, even as the event focused on Intel’s technology.
Read More:
Google Cloud Talks AI Trends at AIFD4
VAST Data Operationalizing AI
At AI Field Day 4, Keith Townsend engaged with VAST Data’s John Mao and Neeloy Bhattacharyya to discuss the company’s innovative architecture that separates the persistent data layer from stateless logic, optimizing access patterns and improving data preparation efficiency for AI applications. Gina Rosenthal highlights their global namespace approach and the unique “VAST DataBase” system, they are streamlining data availability and scalability across the pipeline.
Read More:
New Networking Ideas at Networking Field Day 34
Networking Field Day 34 is February 28! It promises to showcase Forward Networks’ AI-driven network operations tools, Aviz Networks’ SONiC-based enterprise solutions, and NaaS insights from Nile. With a blend of newcomer energy and returning expertise, the event offers live presentations, interactive delegate discussions on pressing industry topics, and opportunities for the audience to engage with innovative network technologies. Tune into the live stream on the event page or the Tech Field Day LinkedIn page, engage with the conversation using the event hashtag, and catch up on sessions afterward on the Tech Field Day YouTube channel.
Read More:
New Networking Ideas at Networking Field Day 34
Google Cloud at Intel Day @ #AIFD4
At AI Field Day, Google Cloud’s Brandon Royal presented insights into AI platforms and infrastructure, emphasizing the shift from the internet to mobile and AI. He introduced Gemini, Google’s multi-modal model, and unveiled Gemma, a family of lightweight models. Royal discussed safety measures and highlighted GKE’s role in AI, covering CPUs, GPUs, and TPUs. A demo showcased Gemma on GKE supporting 8K tokens. Ameer Abbas, Senior Product Manager at Google Cloud, focused on Developer and Operational Productivity with Duet AI, demonstrating code development and transformation capabilities for enterprise builders and developers. Read more in this LinkedIn Pulse article by Gina Rosenthal.
Read More:
