There are a number of efforts involving artificial intelligence (AI) and neural network-oriented processors from vendors such as IBM, Qualcomm and Google. Now, you can add Intel to that list. The company has formally introduced the Nervana Neural Network processor (NNP) for AI projects and tasks. This isn’t a new Intel design. The chips come out of Intel’s $400 million acquisition of a deep learning startup called Nervana Systems last year. After the acquisition, Nervana CEO Naveen Rao was put in charge of Intel’s AI products group. RELATED: Artificial intelligence in the enterprise: It’s on “The Intel Nervana NNP is a purpose-built architecture for deep learning,” Rao said in a blog post formally announcing the chip. “The goal of this new architecture is to provide the needed flexibility to support all deep learning primitives while making core hardware components as efficient as possible.” To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
As IBM’s general manager of analytics, Rob Thomas’s job is to understand how big data can benefit industries all around the world. In his book The End of Tech Companies, Thomas reported findings from Siemens AG that hold that by 2020, over 50 billion connected devices worldwide will produce 43 zettabytes of digital data. He also discusses how non-IT companies are becoming as well-versed at analytics as their IT peers.With so many connected devices “phoning home” and so much of what we do in our daily lives being tracked by someone somewhere in the ether, it’s no wonder our data centers are bursting at the seams. But do companies need to back up all of that data? Does every last byte of chatter need to become part of our disaster recovery (DR) strategy?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification. Say that five times fast.Thankfully, we call it DOCSIS. But unless you follow the rise, fall and rise again of cable, DOCSIS sounds like just another tech industry acronym. DOCSIS 3.1 is the latest standard in the CATV industry, enabling higher data speeds for high-definition television (HDTV) and video on demand (VOD) services. The latest flavor of DOCSIS increases effective downstream data rates from 160 Megabits per second (Mbps) to 10 Gigabits per second (Gbps), and upstream data rates from 120 Mbps to 1 Gbps when compared to DOCSIS 3.0.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The Internet of Thing’s dirty little secret is the cost of deployment. For example, adding a low-cost motion sensor and radio to a traffic light to count passing vehicles before it leaves the factory is easy and inexpensive. The incremental cost of deployment is near zero, especially if low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) coverage or other low-cost communications coverage is available. But retrofitting the traffic light with sensors and radios will cost the municipality a public works truck roll, a crew, an electrician and a police traffic detail. Retrofits are expensive.Also on Network World: IoT standards battles could get messy Retrofitting the world for IoT is a data science and a sensor engineering task to study the IoT problem and find the simplest way to acquire the data. The question for the data scientist is what minimum data resolution will provide the desired result: How many sensors per unit of area and how many readings per time interval are necessary to solve the problem? The engineer must trade off sensor costs, radio costs and network availability, and power consumption versus available power sources.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Cisco today announced plans to acquire San Jose-based startup Perspica, a company that specializes in using machine learning to analyze streams of data.Cisco says it will integrate the Perspica technology into its AppDynamics product, which provides network and application monitoring and analytics.One of the reasons it was attracted to Perspica is because of the company’s ability to monitor data in real-time, Cisco says. Being able to process data as it's created or very soon afterwards can speed the time that end users are able to gain insights from the data, the company says. “Perspica is known for its stream-based processing with the unique ability to apply machine learning to data as it comes in instead of waiting until it’s neatly stored,” says Bhaskar Sunkara, VP of Engineering at AppDynamics.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The powerful, portable and wire-free Dyson V6 Motorhead vacuum is currently discounted by a generous $100 on Amazon, where it averages 4.5 out of 5 stars from over 1,000 reviewers. The Dyson V6 Motorhead cordless vacuum has an overall cleaning performance that beats most full-size corded vacuums -- without the hassle of a cord. Compared to the upright market, the Dyson V6 Motorhead vacuum has one of the highest geometric average pickup performances, dust loaded, when hard floor, creviced hard floor, and carpet results are combined. Its Direct-drive cleaner head provides 75% more power on carpets than the Dyson V6 vacuum. The V6 Motorhead's typical list price has been reduced 25%, or $100, so you can pick it up for $299. See this deal on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Canonical founder and CEO Mark Shuttleworth is one of the most prominent people in open source software.Ubuntu, the GNU/Linux-based operating system that he helped birth in 2004 is now one of the best-known open source projects in the world, accounting for a vast proportion of the Linux VMs in the public cloud and huge numbers of connected devices.He sat down with Network World Senior Writer Jon Gold to talk about the future of IoT and the evolution of technology.NW: One thing that’s interesting about IoT is that new tech is coming from companies that you wouldn’t consider traditional IT vendors.MS: The thing I personally love about IoT is that it’s genuine entrepreneurship – but the thing about IoT is that literally anybody that finds themselves in a particular situation is able to see how taking a small piece of electronics and some software in a particular context to make something better. So that makes it just a lot of fun from an entrepreneurial point of view.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Artificial intelligence is all the rage these days. There’s broad consensus that AI is the next game-changing technology, poised to impact virtually every aspect of our lives in the coming years, from transportation to medical care to financial services. Gartner predicts that by 2020, AI will be pervasive in almost every new software product and service and the technology will be a top five investment priority for more than 30 percent of CIOs.An area where AI is already showing enormous value is wireless networking. The use of machine learning can transform WLANs into neural networks that simplify operations, expedite troubleshooting and provide unprecedented visibility into the user experience.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Hard disk makers are using capacity as their chief bulwark against the rise of solid-state drives (SSDs), since they certainly can’t argue on performance, and Western Digital — the king of the hard drive vendors — has shown off a new technology that could lead to 40TB drives.Western Digital already has the largest-capacity drive on the market. It recently introduced a 14TB drive, filled with helium to reduce drag on the spinning platters. But thanks to a new technology called microwave-assisted magnetic recording (MAMR), the company hopes to reach 40TB by 2025. The company promised engineering samples of drive by mid-2018.Also on Network World: Get ready for new storage technologies and media MAMR technology is a new method of cramming more data onto the disk. Western Digital’s chief rival, Seagate, is working on a competitive product called HAMR, or heat-assisted magnetic recording. I’ll leave it to propeller heads like AnandTech to explain the electrical engineering of it all. What matters to the end user is that it should ship sometime in 2019, and that’s after 13 years of research and development. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Hybrid cloud: Many believe it’s the eventual state that most businesses will operate in – some infrastructure resources on premises, others in the public cloud. Others believe it's a term that has been muddled by varied definitions from a range of vendors, diminishing the term to now be vague and nebulous.So, what does hybrid cloud really mean and how can users implement it?What is hybrid cloud computing? While there is no one single agreed-upon definition of hybrid cloud computing, perhaps the closest we have is from the National Institutes for Standards in Technology (NIST):(Hybrid) cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or more distinct cloud infrastructures (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities, but are bound together by standardized or proprietary technology that enables data and application portability.. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
My wife is an architect, and she sometimes wears a hardhat to job sites. I’ve always thought her bright white hardhat was super cool, but it turns out her model is hopelessly behind the times.When is a hat more than just a hat? That’s because the latest hardhats are no longer just simple combinations of hard plastic and a shock-absorbing suspension so you don’t get knocked out if you walk into an exposed beam or something. The once-humble hardhat has now been upgraded to include Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities.Also on Network World: 5 things to think about for industrial IoT readiness Michigan-based startup GuardHat Inc. has created an IoT hardhat that includes a beacon designed to continuously transmit data to a safety control center. The idea is for the system to use Wi-Fi or cellular connectivity to track each worker’s location for safety and worker management issues. Most important, GuardHat is built to be able to send alerts to the control center with the hat’s (and hopefully the worker’s) precise location — within 1 meter — after a fall or other safety incident. (A built-in accelerometer can detect falls, and there’s also an SOS button to summon Continue reading
Here's something you probably didn't know existed. With SanDisk's iXpand iPhone base, you'll never have to worry about losing your memories again. Every time you charge your iPhone with the iXpand Base, it automatically backs up your photos, videos and contacts. The iXpand Base offers plenty of room to save your files in their original quality with no worry about recurring monthly fees for Internet-based storage. Designed for everyday use with a soft rubber top, a sturdy base, and a wrap-around groove to keep your Apple Lightning to USB cable tidy. Its typical list price has been discounted, for now, to $129.99. See this deal on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
By Kevin Jackson In a recent post, titled “10 Surprising Facts About Cloud Computing and What It Really Is”, Zac Johnson highlighted some interesting facts about cloud computing in the SMB marketplace: Cloud Computing is up to 40 times more cost-effective for an SMB, compared to running its own IT system. 94% of SMBs have experienced security benefits in the cloud that they didn’t have with their on-premises service Recovery times for SMB are four times faster for businesses using cloud computing when compared to those not utilizing cloud services. For SMB, energy use and carbon emissions could be cut by 90% by using cloud computing, saving the environment and energy costs. These advantages show a strong indication that SMB information technology should be dominated by the adoption of cloud computing services. Although one of the most prominent of these cloud services is Microsoft’s Office 365 (O365), a recent survey cited by CIO.com suggests that 83% of U.S. small and medium businesses (SMBs) have yet to use any form of O365. If cloud services can deliver such remarkable improvements, why are SMBs holding back?According to the survey, part of the reason is that SMBs often Continue reading
The Economist has a series of articles right now on the impact of data on business, and pointing out how new data driven companies are rapidly not simply transforming sectors but eliminating competitors. Their argument is that these internet giants are going to require regulators to look at new ways to avoid monopolies and anti-competitive practices. It describes data as a more valuable resource than oil in the modern world.When we look at firms like Amazon, Lyft, Google and what they have done to retail, taxi firms and advertising it is hard to understate just what a dramatic impact these firms have had. Yet fifteen years ago the idea that Amazon would be one of the world’s largest data center service providers would have seemed ridiculous, Amazon are a retailer, what has that to do with data centers? Google are a search engine with some adverts, what have they to do with mobile phones? Apple make some shiny laptops and computers, but mobile phones and speech recognition? Not their thing.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Network-based firewalls have become almost ubiquitous across US enterprises for their proven defense against an ever-increasing array of threats.A recent study by network testing firm NSS Labs found that up to 80% of US large businesses run a next-generation firewall. Research firm IDC estimates the firewall and related unified threat management market was a $7.6 billion industry in 2015 and expected to reach $12.7 billion by 2020.What is a firewall? Firewalls act as a perimeter defense tool that monitor traffic and either allow it or block it. Over the years functionality of firewalls has increased, and now most firewalls can not only block a set of known threats and enforce advanced access control list policies, but they can also deeply inspect individual packets of traffic and test packets to determine if they’re safe. Most firewalls are deployed as network hardware that processes traffic and software that allow end users to configure and manage the system. Increasingly, software-only versions of firewalls are being deployed in highly virtualized environments to enforce policies on segmented networks or in the IaaS public cloud.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
We’ve reached the sharp part of the adoption curve for IoT, as a recent study shows skyrocketing adoption of the technology across all business sectors for a huge range of different purposes.Vodafone’s annual IoT barometer this month found that 84% of the 1,278 senior IT decision-makers who responded had increased their adoption and use of IoT solutions in the past year. 12% of the respondents had at least 10,000 connected devices in use at their company, while 6% had more than 50,000 in operation.+ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD: Forrester: 3 ways IoT can drive business value + FAQ: What is NB-IoT?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Smart cities, which were once confined to the realms of science fiction books, are rapidly becoming a reality all around the globe. Unfortunately, like all revolutionizing innovations, smart cities are developing their own unique challenges alongside of their perks. So what are industry insiders and tomorrow’s city planners doing to face these challenges?The security issues facing smart cities are unlike anything ever before seen, and solutions to these problems haven’t yet sprung up en masse, meaning many different interest groups have proposed their own respective plans. By combing through some of today’s proposed solutions, we can identify some of the leading trends that will come to dominate the future of smart city security.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Oracle is not the first company that comes to mind when you think of enterprise security, but the company announced at its recent OpenWorld conference new products with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning capabilities to quickly identify security threats.The company introduced two new sets of integrated suites called Oracle Identity Security Operations Center (SOC) and Oracle Management Cloud. It claims they will help enterprises forecast, reduce, detect and resolve cybersecurity threats in minutes rather than days and assist remediation of application and infrastructure performance issues.It makes sense for Oracle to jump into this field even if it is full of established players like Symantec, Sophos, Tripwire and far more. Since Oracle’s databases are often a target of hacker attacks, who better to secure an Oracle database than Oracle? To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Over the past few weeks, Nvidia has been holding a series of regional GPU Technology Conferences (GTC) in different parts of the globe. In September, Nvidia showed off its new Tensor3 GPU made for artificial intelligence (AI) inferencing in China. This week, the company took its show to Munich to host GTC Europe where it made a couple of announcements in the advancements of self-driving vehicles.The quest for the fully autonomous car has been somewhat of a “holy grail” and one of the best examples of what’s possible when discussing advanced technologies such as machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IoT).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Over a half of worldwide Internet of Things (IoT) adopters say they’re making money out of the technology, according to a new report from Vodafone. Hiked revenue and a burgeoning return on investment (ROI) is becoming widespread, the telecommunications company says.In Vodafone's fifth annual IoT report, the company says the share of companies with over 50,000 devices has doubled in the past year and that 51 percent of adopters are experiencing “increasing revenues and [IoT is] opening up new revenue streams.”In the Americas, that jumps to a whopping 64 percent that are seeing significant action.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here