Public Cloud computing is a large part of enterprise IT alongside on-premises computing. Many organizations that had a cloud-first approach and are now gaining value from on-premises private clouds and seeing their changing business needs leading to changing cloud use. This episode of the Tech Field Day podcast delves into the complexity of multiple cloud providers and features Maciej Lelusz, Jack Poller, Justin Warren, and host Alastair Cooke, all attendees at Cloud Field Day. The awareness of changing business needs is causing some re-thinking of how businesses use cloud platforms, possibly moving away from using cloud vendor specific services to bare VMs. VMs are far simpler to move from one cloud to another, or between public cloud and private cloud platforms. Over time, the market will speak and if there are too many cloud providers, we will see mergers, acquisitions or failures of smaller specialized cloud providers. In the meantime, choosing where to put which application for the best outcome can be a challenge for businesses.
AI Data Infrastructure Field Days – What We Can Take Away
In this research note, Camberley Bates shares insights from the AI Data Infrastructure Field Day event, highlighting significant takeaways that can transform our approach to managing AI data infrastructure. The discussion focused on innovative solutions and strategies that are shaping the future of AI deployments, stressing the importance of adapting to rapidly evolving technological landscapes. These events serve as a crucial platform for IT professionals to gain knowledge on optimizing infrastructure to effectively support AI functions and applications. This note was written for The Futurum Group following AI Data Infrastructure Field Day 1.
Nokia Unleashes EDA to Automate AI Era Data Centers
Nokia is leading the charge in next-generation data center solutions with the launch of its Extreme Data Automation (EDA) platform, which is designed to meet the demands of the AI era. The EDA platform streamlines operations through advanced automation tools, enhancing efficiency and reducing the operational complexities and costs associated with large-scale data center management. This innovation underscores Nokia’s commitment to supporting the infrastructure needs of data-intensive industries, facilitating improved performance and sustainability in enterprise IT environments. Read more in this research note from Ron Westfall of The Futurum Group following our Networking Field Day Exclusive event with Nokia.
Edgy Hardware Matters – Orange boxes from OnLogic
Alastair Cooke discusses the significance of OnLogic’s new rugged hardware, highlighting its capability to perform consistently in challenging environments. He emphasizes the critical role such robust systems play in industries requiring reliable operation despite physical stresses. By blending modern design with industrial strength, OnLogic’s solutions ensure uninterrupted productivity and efficiency. This article was inspired by the OnLogic presentation at Edge Field Day 3.
The Futurum Group
The Futurum Group is a family of companies with leading tech analysts offering insights + market research to the C-Suite.
Elastic Improves Search Experience With Additions to Its Vector Database
Sulagna Saha recently covered Elastic’s enhancement to its vector database, aimed at improving search experiences for users. The update includes new features that streamline the integration of machine learning models with vector-based search capabilities. This advancement promises to refine accuracy and speed in retrieving search results, potentially transforming data retrieval processes across various industries. Read more in this Techstrong AI article inspired by the Elastic presentation at AI Field Day 5.
Massively scalable, highly available, applications at the edge with Avassa
Alastair Cooke considers the significance of deploying applications at the edge, emphasizing the necessity for massive scalability and high availability provided by Avassa’s platform. He highlights how Avassa facilitates the management of applications directly at the edge, enhancing performance and resilience. Cooke’s analysis showcases the potential benefits in operational efficiency and user experience improvements in distributed computing environments. Read more in this LinkedIn Pulse article inspired by Avassa’s Edge Field Day 3 presentation.
GitOps at the VMware Software Defined Edge
Alastair Cooke highlights the integration of GitOps practices at VMware’s Software Defined Edge, focusing on enhancing operational efficiency and deployability. By leveraging GitOps, VMware aims to streamline the management of edge computing resources, ensuring more consistent, secure, and automated deployments. The approach underscores the company’s commitment to adopting modern development practices to optimize and secure edge computing environments. Read more in this LinkedIn Pulse article by Alastair Cooke following VMware’s presentation at AI Field Day 5.
Exploring the Importance of Data Infrastructure at AI Data Infrastructure Field Day 1
At next week’s AI Data Infrastructure Field Day, our panel of delegates will explore the critical role of robust data architectures in powering AI applications. Tune in Wednesday and Thursday as we learn about the latest data infrastructure solutions from Solidigm, Google Cloud, Pure Storage, HPE, MinIO, and Infinidat. The sessions will be live-streamed on LinkedIn and Techstrong TV and posted to YouTube afterward.
Hyperscale AI networks with Arista at AI Field Day
Arista Networks highlighted the need for enhanced network infrastructures at AI Field Day, focusing on the challenges of supporting complex AI models with higher bandwidth and lower power consumption. They introduced innovative solutions like Distributed Etherlink Switches to manage congestion and low-power optics to boost bandwidth, aimed at large-scale AI networks prevalent in heavy GPU environments. Additionally, Arista showcased their Cloud Vision management system, which leverages AI to simplify network operations, proving their dedication to evolving network technologies in accordance with the growing demands of AI workloads. Read more in this LinkedIn Pulse article by Alastair Cooke, who attended the Arista presentation at AI Field Day 5.
Enfabrica SuperNIC for massive clusters at AI Field Day
At AI Field Day, Enfabrica introduced its Accelerated Compute Fabric SuperNIC (ACF-S), aimed at enhancing connectivity in large compute clusters. The ACF-S features innovative integration with hardware accelerators like GPUs, supporting high bandwidths with a multi-layer crossbar switch capable of handling 5Tbps for PCIe and 3.2Tbps for Ethernet. This technology is set to boost load balancing, fault tolerance, and scalability, crucial for training complex language models, and is expected to transition into a more adaptable PCIe card format. Read more in this LinkedIn Pulse article by Alastair Cooke, who attended the Enfabrica presentation at AI Field Day 5.
Hardware Still Matters at the Edge
Hardware innovation at the edge is driven by diverse and challenging environments found outside traditional data centers. This episode of the Tech Field Day podcast features Jack Poller, Stephen Foskett, and Alastair Cooke considering the special requirements of hardware in edge computing prior to Edge Field Day this week. Edge locations, including energy, military, retail, and more, demand robust, tamper-resistant hardware that can endure harsh conditions like extreme temperatures and vibrations. This shift is fostering new hardware designs, drawing inspiration from industries like mobile technology, to support real-time data processing and AI applications. As edge computing grows, the interplay between durable hardware and adaptive software, including containerized platforms, will be crucial for maximizing efficiency and unlocking new capabilities in these dynamic environments.
Cisco Ethernet and validated designs at AI Field Day
At AI Field Day, Cisco demonstrated its latest advancements in Ethernet technology and validated designs, underscoring the importance of sturdy network infrastructure for AI applications. Their presentation focused on the improved performance, scalability, and security of their Ethernet solutions, designed to help organizations efficiently utilize AI. This initiative exhibited Cisco’s dedication to innovation in networking and artificial intelligence, ensuring enterprises have the reliable network performance needed to optimize their AI investments. Read more in this LinkedIn Pulse article by Alastair Cooke.
AIFD5 Recap
In this LinkedIn video, Mitch Ashley discussed how major tech vendors like VMware and Elastic are incorporating AI, ML, and GenAI into their business strategies. He highlighted the unique approaches these companies take in integrating advanced technologies into their operational frameworks and products. Ashley’s analysis underscores the rapid pace of technological innovation fueled by advancements in artificial intelligence.
VMware Private AI at AI Field Day
At AI Field Day, VMware focused on private AI solutions, delivering a secure, controlled deployment environments for AI models. VMware’s infrastructure and cloud technologies are leveraged to ensure compliance and security while enabling businesses to capitalize on AI advancements. The presentation underlined the tailored benefits and potential industry-specific solutions offered by VMware’s private AI initiatives. Read more in this LinkedIn Pulse article by Alastair Cooke.
Elastic brings Vectors to Semantic Search at AI Field Day 5
At AI Field Day 5, Elastic introduced an enhancement to its semantic search capabilities by integrating vector search. This new feature not only supports the creation and storage of vector data but also facilitates the use of multiple embedding models, improving memory efficiency through techniques like quantization. These advancements significantly enhance the precision and relevance of search results, positioning Elastic as a crucial player in the development and testing of Large Language Model applications and related technologies. Read more in this LinkedIn Pulse article by Alastair Cooke.
Keysight at AI Field Day
At AI Field Day, Keysight highlighted its AI infrastructure testing solutions which leverage the capabilities from its Ixia acquisition. The company’s innovative test platform helps in optimizing network performance by emulating AI workloads, addressing common issues like data starvation and network congestion which contribute to 20% of AI job failures. This platform, which has evolved to include AresOnce hardware for traffic generation, also offers in-depth customizable settings and analytics through Jupyter Notebooks, enabling precise network tuning and enhanced performance. Read more in this LinkedIn Pulse article by AI Field Day delegate Alastair Cooke of The Futurum Group.
Integrail at AI Field Day 5
At AI Field Day 5, Integrail presented its innovative no-code platform, Integrail Studio, which simplifies the creation of specialized AI agents capable of collaborating to tackle complex challenges. The platform incorporates a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface, allowing the integration of large language models with business data, enhanced by Retrieval Augmented Generation for increased precision. Furthermore, Integrail facilitates advanced agent capabilities, including customizable workflows, output chaining, and the secure management of proprietary data, supported by benchmarking tools to maintain efficient large language model performance. Read more in this LinkedIn Pulse article by AI Field Day delegate Alastair Cooke of The Futurum Group.
AI is Not a Fad
The current hype about building massive generative AI models with massive hardware investment is just one aspect of AI. This episode of the Tech Field Day podcast features Frederic Van Haren, Karen Lopez, Marian Newsome, and host Stephen Foskett taking a different perspective on the larger world of AI. Our last episode suggested that AI as it is currently being hyped is a fad, but the bigger world of AI is absolutely real. Large language models are maturing rapidly and even generative AI is getting better by the month, but we are rapidly seeing the reality of the use cases for this technology. All neural networks use patterns in historical data to infer results, so any AI engine could hallucinate. But traditional AI is much less susceptible to errors than the much-hyped generative AI models that are capturing the headlines today. AI is a tool that augments our knowledge and decision making, but it doesn’t replace human intelligence. There is a whole world of AI applications that are productive, responsible, and practical, and these are most certainly not a fad.
AI as We Know It is Just a Fad
Although AI is certain to transform society, not to mention computing, what we know if it is unlikely to last much longer. This episode of the Tech Field Day podcast brings together Glenn Dekhayser, Alastair Cooke, Allyson Klein, and Stephen Foskett to discuss the real and changing world of AI. Looking at AI infrastructure today, we see massive clusters of GPUs being deployed in the cloud and on-premises to train ever-larger language models, but how much business value do these clusters have long-term? It seems that the true transformation promised by LLM and GenAI will be realized once models are applied across industries with RAG or tuning rather than developing new models. Ultimately AI is a feature of a larger business process or application rather than being a product in itself. We can certainly see that AI-based applications will be transformative, but the vast investment required to build out AI infrastructure to date might never be recouped. Ultimately there is a future for AI, but not the way we have been doing it to date.
