Category: Artificial Intelligence

Digital Twins Q&A

Michael Hoard
A digital twin (DT) is a virtual representation of an object, system or process that spans its lifecycle, is updated from real-time data, and uses simulation, machine learning and reasoning to help decision-making. Digital twins can be used to help answer what-if AI-analytics questions, yield insights on business objectives and make recommendations on how to control or improve outcomes. It’s a fascinating technology that the SNIA Cloud Storage Technologies Initiative (CSTI) discussed at our live webcast “Journey to the Center of Massive Data: Digital Twins.” If you missed the presentation, you can watch it on-demand and access a PDF of the slides at the SNIA Educational Library. Our audience asked several interesting questions which are answered here in this blog. Q. Will a digital twin make the physical twin more or less secure? Read More

You’ve Been Framed! An Overview of Programming Frameworks

Alex McDonald
With the emergence of GPUs, xPUs (DPU, IPU, FAC, NAPU, etc.) and computational storage devices for host offload and accelerated processing, a panoramic wild west of frameworks is emerging, all vying to be one of the preferred programming software stacks that best integrates the application layer with these underlying processing units. On October 26, 2022, the SNIA Networking Storage Forum will break down what’s happening in the world of frameworks in our live webcast, “You’ve Been Framed! An Overview of Programming Frameworks for xPU, GPU & Computational Storage Programming Frameworks.” We’ve convened an impressive group of experts that will provide an overview of programming frameworks that support: Read More

5G Industrial Private Networks and Edge Data Pipelines

Alex McDonald
The convergence of 5G, Edge Compute and Artificial Intelligence (AI) promise to be catalyst for continued digital transformation. For many industries, it will be a game-changer in term of how business in conducted. On January 27, 202, the SNIA Cloud Storage Technologies Initiative (CSTI) will take on this topic at our live webcast “5G Industrial Private Networks and Edge Data Pipelines.” Advanced 5G is specifically designed to address the needs of verticals with capabilities like enhanced mobile broadband (emBB), ultra-reliable low latency communications (urLLC), and massive machine type communications (mMTC), to enable near real-time distributed intelligence applications. For example, automated guided vehicle and autonomous mobile robots (AGV/AMRs), wireless cameras, augmented reality for connected workers, and smart sensors across many verticals ranging from healthcare and immersive media, to factory automation. Read More

Storage for AI Q&A

Tom Friend
What types of storage are needed for different aspects of AI? That was one of the many topics covered in our SNIA Networking Storage Forum (NSF) webcast “Storage for AI Applications.” It was a fascinating discussion and I encourage you to check it out on-demand. Our panel of experts answered many questions during the live roundtable Q&A. Here are answers to those questions, as well as the ones we didn’t have time to address. Q. What are the different data set sizes and workloads in AI/ML in terms of data set size, sequential/ random, write/read mix? A. Data sets will vary incredibly from use case to use case. They may be GBs to possibly 100s of PB. In general, the workloads are very heavily reads maybe 95%+. While it would be better to have sequential reads, in general the patterns tend to be closer to random. In addition, different use cases will have very different data sizes. Some may be GBs large, while others may be <1 KB. The different sizes have a direct impact on performance in storage and may change how you decide to store the data. Read More

Storage for Applications Webcast Series

John Kim
Everyone enjoys having storage that is fast, reliable, scalable, and affordable. But it turns out different applications have different storage needs in terms of I/O requirements, capacity, data sharing, and security.  Some need local storage, some need a centralized storage array, and others need distributed storage—which itself could be local or networked. One application might excel with block storage while another with file or object storage. For example, an OLTP database might require small amounts of very fast flash storage; a media or streaming application might need vast quantities of inexpensive disk storage with extra security safeguards; while a third application might require a mix of different storage tiers with multiple servers sharing the same data. This SNIA Networking Storage Forum “Storage for Applications” webcast series will cover the storage requirements for specific uses such as artificial intelligence (AI), database, cloud, media & entertainment, automotive, edge, and more. With limited resources, it’s important to understand the storage intent of the applications in order to choose the right storage and storage networking strategy, rather than discovering the hard way that you’ve chosen the wrong solution for your application. We kick off this series on October 5, 2020 with “Storage for AI Applications.” AI is a technology which itself encompasses a broad range of use cases, largely divided into training and inference. Read More

Can Cloud Storage and Big Data Live Happily Ever After?

Chip Maurer
“Big Data” has pushed the storage envelope, creating a seemingly perfect relationship with Cloud Storage. But local storage is the third wheel in this relationship, and won’t go down easy. Can this marriage survive when Big Data is being pulled in two directions? Should Big Data pick one, or can the three of them live happily ever after? This will be the topic of discussion on October 21, 2021 at our live SNIA Cloud Storage Technologies webcast, “Cloud Storage and Big Data, A Marriage Made in the Clouds.” Join us as our SNIA experts will cover: Read More

Q&A on the Ethics of AI

Jim Fister
Earlier this month, the SNIA Cloud Storage Technologies Initiative (CSTI) hosted an intriguing discussion on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Our expert, Rob Enderle, Founder of The Enderle Group, and Eric Hibbard, Chair of the SNIA Security Technical Work Group, shared their experiences and insights on what it takes to keep AI ethical. If you missed the live event, it Is available on-demand along with the presentation slides at the SNIA Educational Library. As promised during the live event, our experts have provided written answers to the questions from this session, many of which we did not have time to get to. Q. The webcast cited a few areas where AI as an attacker could make a potential cyber breach worse, are there also some areas where AI as a defender could make cybersecurity or general welfare more dangerous for humans? Read More

Cloud Analytics Drives Airplanes-as-a-Service Business

Jim Fister
On-demand flying through an app sounds like something for only the rich and famous, yet the use of cloud analytics is making flexible flying a reality at start-up airline, KinectAir.  On April 7, 2021, The CTO of KinectAir, Ben Howard, will join the SNIA Cloud Storage Technologies Initiative (CSTI) for a fascinating discussion on first-hand experiences of leveraging cloud analytics methods to bring new business models to life that are competitive and profitable. And since start-up companies may not have legacy data and analytics to consider, we’ll also explore what established businesses using traditional analytics methods can learn from this use case. Join us on April 7th for our live webcast “Adapting Cloud Analytics for Practical Business Use” for views from both start-up and established companies on how to revisit the analytics decision process with a discussion on: Read More

The Effort to Keep Artificial Intelligence Ethical

Jim Fister
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies are possibly the most substantive and meaningful change to modern business. The ability to process large amounts of data with varying degrees of structure and form enables giant leaps in insight to drive revenue and profit. Likewise, governments and society have significant opportunity for improvement of the lives of the populace through AI. However, with the power that AI brings comes the risks of any technology innovation. The SNIA Cloud Storage Technologies Initiative (CSTI) will explore some of the ethical issues that can arise from AI at our live webcast on March 16, 2021 “The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence.” Our expert speakers, Rob Enderle, President and Principal Analyst at The Enderle Group and Eric Hibbard, Chair of the SNIA Security Technical Work Group, will join me for an interactive discussion on: Read More

5G Streaming Questions Answered

Michael Hoard

The broad adoption of 5G, internet of things (IOT) and edge computing are reshaping the nature and role of enterprise and cloud storage. Preparing for this significant disruption is important. It’s a topic the SNIA Cloud Storage Technologies Initiative covered in our recent webcast “Storage Implications at the Velocity of 5G Streaming,” where my colleagues, Steve Adams and Chip Maurer, took a deep dive into the 5G journey, streaming data and real-time edge AI, 5G use cases and much more. If you missed the webcast, it’s available on-demand along with a copy of the webcast slides.

As you might expect, this discussion generated some intriguing questions. As promised during the live presentation, our experts have answered them all here.

Q. What kind of transport do you see that is going to be used for those (5G) use-cases?

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