Weekly roundup: Lenovo bows edge to cloud solutions; news from Vertiv, Stor-Magic, Brainchip
Lenovo Data Center Group (DCG) has upgraded its IT infrastructure product portfolio with edge to cloud solutions for data insights, the company announced.
“At a time when the speed and agility of processes critically impacts your daily business operations, our customers demand more powerful, secure and flexible solutions,” said Kamran Amini, Vice President and General Manager of Server, Storage and Software Defined Infrastructure at Lenovo DCG, in a prepared statement. “Lenovo’s technology architecture is purpose-built to deliver real-time, valuable insights from edge to core to cloud, enabling a new era of intelligence where customers can fully realize the potential of the data at their disposal.”
Lenovo ThinkAgile MX1021 and ThinkSystem DM7100 for cloud tiering can be integrated by companies that develop Azure-enabled end-to-end applications. Based on ThinkSystem SE350, Lenovo ThinkAgile MX1021 leverages Microsoft’s Azure Stack HCI (hyper-converged infrastructure) at the edge to reduce latency and analyze data. The solution applies to retail, manufacturing, and healthcare where data needs to be collected, monitored and analyzed in real time. ThinkSystem DM7100 All-Flash Array and Hybrid Flash enterprise-class storage solutions provide end-to-end NVMe technology and hybrid cloud capability for Microsoft Azure and other public cloud provider solutions. They accelerate and protect data with integrated Azure cloud tiering and mobility capabilities.
“New business insights and innovation are increasingly dependent on analyzing data ‘at the edge’ and efficiently storing data in the cloud,” said Talal Alqinawi, Senior Director Azure Marketing from Microsoft Corp, in a prepared statement. “That’s why we are collaborating with partners such as Lenovo on platforms and are working together to deliver Microsoft Azure Stack HCI” on Lenovo’s ruggedized, ThinkAgile and ThinkSystem edge computing equipment.
Vertiv Avocent advanced console server with cellular capabilities
Vertiv has released an advanced console server with cellular capabilities for management of equipment in case wired networks are not available, the company announced.
The Vertiv Avocent ACS 8000 cellular models allow data center, IT professionals and network operations center (NOC) personnel to gain remote network access to manage infrastructure assets. Available in the U.S. and Canada, users can gain enhanced visibility and control of uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems, power distribution units (PDUs), KVM switches and other connected equipment through a simple, secure cellular connection.
“As more employees access data from remote locations and home offices, secure remote visibility and control are required for fully functioning and optimized networks,” said Angie McMillin, vice president, and general manager of IT Systems solutions for Vertiv, in a prepared statement. “Healthcare, retail, government, and other data-intensive industries can improve their access with the Avocent ACS 8000 cellular.”
The console can be used to test equipment with or without ethernet connections in remote environments, enterprise, edge, colocation, cloud, and hyperscale applications. It is suitable for edge environments with a single wired internet connection requiring failover resiliency.
Vertiv was named the number one supplier of remote IT management solutions globally by IHS Markit in its KVM Switches and Serial Consoles Report 2019.
StorMagic acquires KeyNexus
Edge storage and security provider StorMagic has purchased encryption key management developer KeyNexus, the company announced.
As a result, SvKMS, the first virtualized key management software solution, now delivers affordable enterprise-grade key management for applications that need encryption at the edge, in a data center or cloud, according to the company.
Following the acquisition, StorMagic has broadened its portfolio to include datacenter and cloud security needs.
KeyNexus CEO and founder Jeff McMillan has been appointed CTO and has joined the board of directors.
“StorMagic is broadening its reach from storage at the edge to now include security which solves a major dilemma for our customers,” said Brian Grainger, StorMagic CRO, and board member, in a prepared statement. “Thanks to the KeyNexus acquisition, we are taking a leadership position in the industry in bringing the edge and the core closer together. Our goal is to eliminate the pain of encryption for customers by delivering enterprise key management solutions, starting with SvKMS, that support any use case – edge, data center or cloud, all at a surprising low cost.”
With its new product portfolio, StorMagic aims to solve edge computing security challenges. It lets users run their key management system as virtual machines anywhere, but securely manage keys for all of their edge sites. SvKMS includes FIPS 140-2 validation, robust cryptographic operators, full key lifecycle management and integrated backup and recovery. It can be customized for datacenter and cloud workflows and can be easily integrated with existing Hardware Security Modules (HSMs).
Brainchip releases neuromorphic AI SoC for wafer fabrication
Brainchip has partnered with Socionext and TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) to release Akida, a neuromorphic AI System-on-Chip (SOC) for wafer fabrication, Brainchip COO Roger Levinson announced in an email update.
“Our neural network processor enables ultra-low power and real-time learning to be implemented effectively in equipment at the Edge,” said Peter AJ van der Made, Brainchip CTO, in a prepared statement. “Edge devices have size, reliability and power consumption constraints that require the Akida technology. The Akida device and licensing of the intellectual property puts BrainChip at the forefront of this high-growth market.”
The chip manufacturing process started on April 8 and the first samples are announced for release in the third quarter of 2020.
By designing the Akida event-domain processor, Brainchip wanted to bring a number of AI technologies such as on-chip learning to the edge. When it designed the chip, the company used the human brain method of processing information as inspiration.
Leveraging each other’s usage and data processed, the Akida chip and intellectual property can perform on-chip learning at the edge. The low-power chip works with a number of edge applications without relying on a host processor or external memory.
“With our intellectual property available for licensing and our integrated circuit moving to the most impactful point in our history, BrainChip has moved well beyond development and into commercialization,” said Louis DiNardo, BrainChip CEO, in a prepared statement. “The company has delivered on its financial obligations as described in the quarter update provided in conjunction with the 4C lodged on 30 January 2020, including payments for services rendered by Socionext for the Akida device development and a pre-payment for the multi-project wafer fabrication.”
Article Topics
AI/ML | Brainchip | edge server | edge storage | Lenovo | Microsoft | processors | Stor-Magic | Vertiv
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