NVIDIA Extends Their Datacenter Performance Lead In Neural Network Computing at #GTC16

At NVIDIA NVDA +0.62%’s GPU Technology Conference (GTC) 2016 in San Jose, California the company announced products based on their latest GPU architecture, code-named Pascal. This conference is traditionally attended by some of the leading researchers in GPU-accelerated compute technologies and over the past few years has become increasingly focused on Deep Neural Networks (DNN). DNNs are the latest key to artificial intelligence (AI) and cognitive computing. Incredible strides have been made over the last three years in AI thanks to Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). Companies like Google GOOGL -0.20%, Microsoft MSFT -0.17%, IBM IBM -0.07%, Toyota, Baidu and others are looking at deep neural networks to help solve many of their complex analytical and data-rich problems. NVIDIA is helping these companies  to harness the power of their GPUs to accelerate the deep learning these systems need to do. Thanks to NVIDIA’s early involvement in deep neural networks research and their latest GPU hardware, the company is in the driver’s seat right now when it comes to delivering silicon to accelerate deep neural networks.

Tackling Data Theft With Managed Security Services

While organizations across the world have begun to appreciate the criticality of data security, the cost and sophistication of data breaches have increased simultaneously, posing a serious threat to governments and businesses alike. The situation becomes even more dire if companies lack the required security talent to deal with such cyber menaces.

Statistics and facts about Big Data

Big data has been a buzz word for a while now, although many are still uncertain as to exactly what kind of impact big data can and will have in the future. This is certainly an area that many businesses and even governments are exploring though and it is predicted that the industry will see rapid growth in the next few years. Market value forecasts from various experts also estimate that this industry will grow to a multi-billion dollar industry in the near future. A number of companies, including IBM, HP, Dell and SAP have already been generating generous revenue figures from their big data related products and services.

While many market forecasts are predicting highly lucrative potential for the big data market, a range of market research amongst IT and business professionals has identified a number of concerns and shortfalls with regards to implementing big data projects. Lack of budget and lack of time to invest, are among the leading concerns of IT professionals. Another concern is the lack of expertise in the field with a significant gap forecast between demand and supply of qualified professionals.

Read More: http://www.statista.com/topics/1464/big-data/

AT&T to launch smart cities initiative in Chicago

Chicago, Atlanta and Dallas will get an AT&T smart cities network of free services that could help city officials more efficiently manage and give tools to residents to avoid some common hassles, the communications company said Tuesday.

It's part of an effort to build more connected communities thanks to the Internet of Things and alliances of big tech names like Cisco, Deloitte, Ericsson, GE, IBM, Intel, Qualcomm Technologies, AT&T's Smart Cities general manager, Mike Zeto said during a developers summit during international tech show CES.

AT&T chose Chicago to participate in its smart cities framework that could allow law enforcement officials to detect gunfire and determine how many people were involved; help city officials better manage operations by remotely monitoring conditions of roads, buildings parks; and let commuters know if traffic lights are out along their routes and remotely view parking meters.

Chicago will focus on improving resident engagement, using sensors to maintain infrastructure and making buildings smarter and more energy efficient, said Brenna Berman, the city's chief information officer.

"The goal is to better service our residents and to get more out of the budget that we use to deliver those services," she said.

Zeto said the program could involve local startups working with the larger companies as well.

"We chose the cities based on their propensity to embrace new technology and to have innovative thought leaders within their government, along with the research universities and education systems," Zeto said.

Read More: http://www.chicagotribune.com/bluesky/originals/ct-att-smart-cities-bsi-20160106-story.html

Sound waves could power hard disk drives of the future

Our need to store data is growing at an astonishing rate. An estimated 2.7 zettabytes (2.721) of data are currently held worldwide, equivalent to several trillion bytes for every one of the 7 billion people on Earth. Accessing this data quickly and reliably is essential for us to do useful things with it – the problem is, all our current methods of doing so are far too slow.

Conventional hard-disk drives encode data magnetically on spinning discs, from which the data is read by a sensor that scans over its surface as it rapidly rotates. Their moving parts introduce the potential for mechanical failures, and limits the speeds possible. This slows everything down.

Much faster are solid-state storage devices, which have no mechanical parts and store data as tiny electrical charges. Most modern laptops, all modern smartphones and digital cameras, and many other devices use this technology – also known as flash memory. However, while solid-state devices are much faster they have a much shorter lifespan than hard disks before becoming unreliable, and are much more expensive. And despite their speed, they're still far slower than the speed at which data travels between other components of a computer, and so still act as a brake on the system as a whole.

A solid-state drive that encodes data magnetically would be ideal. IBM is developing one variation, known as racetrack memory. This uses collections of tiny nanowires hundreds of times thinner than a human hair. Data is magnetically encoded as strings of ones and zeros along the nanowire, but although it can move data through it far faster than typical hard disks, a key challenge is to find ways to make the data "flow" through the nanowires in order to pass it across the sensors that read and write data to the wire. This can be achieved by applying magnetic fields or electric currents, but this generates heat and reduces power efficiency, affecting battery life.

Read More: http://phys.org/news/2015-11-technology-metal-wires-solar-cells.html

IBM vs. Intel Corporation: The Data Center Battle Escalates

IBM (NYSE:IBM) used to sell Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) -powered low to mid-range servers. But last year, IBM sold that unit to Lenovo to focus on selling high-end servers and mainframes powered by its own Power processors instead.

Since then, IBM has positioned its remaining data center businesses directly against Intel, which holds a formidable 99% market share in server chips. In July, it announced the creation of a 7nm chip, which seemingly targeted Intel's plans to launch 10nm chips in 2017. It also expanded its "Open Power" initiative, which shares processor specs, firmware, and software with partners to fuel the third-party production of Power-based servers.

That's why it wasn't surprising when IBM recently partnered with Xilinx (NASDAQ:XLNX), a maker of FPGAs (field-programmable gate arrays), to counter Intel's acquisition of FPGA maker Altera. FPGAs are less powerful than IBM's or Intel's server chips, but they can be reprogrammed, making them well-suited for custom uses in connected cars, consumer devices, and airplanes. IBM and Intel are both using FPGAs to complement their server chips by accelerating workloads.

What Big Blue wants
IBM's revenue has fallen for 14 consecutive quarters, due to sluggish demand for its core IT services, software, and hardware. Big Blue wants investors to focus on the growth of its "strategic imperatives" -- cloud, analytics, mobile, social, and security -- which posted 17% annual sales growth last quarter, or 27% on a constant-currency basis excluding its divested System x (Intel-powered server) business. That growth was solid, but it wasn't enough to offset the steep declines in its other aging businesses.

Last quarter, IBM's hardware revenues plunged 39% annually and accounted for less than 8% of its top line. Power Systems revenues slipped 3% and system storage revenues fell 19%, but z Systems mainframe revenues rose 15%. The decline in Power Systems revenue was expected, due to Intel's dominance of the data center market. But the growth in mainframes was surprising, since analysts had predicted the death of fridge-sized mainframes for decades.

Read More: http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/11/24/ibm-vs-intel-corporation-the-data-center-battle-es.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004