News
Intel, Alibaba Partner on AI-Based Edge Computing Platform for IoT
Intel Corp. and the cloud division within Alibaba on Thursday announced the Joint Edge Computing Platform, a new artificial intelligence-based "open" architecture for Internet of Things (IoT) projects focused on edge computing.
According to the companies, Joint Edge Computing Platform will be a device-to-cloud platform for industrial, enterprise and smart building IoT use cases that brings together Intel software and hardware, as well as Alibaba Cloud IoT products.
"Combining the prominent strengths of Intel and Alibaba Cloud IoT, this platform provides best-in-class computing capabilities, including AI," commented Thomas Lantzsch, Intel's senior vice president and general manager of the Internet of Things Group, in a prepared statement announcing the release (PDF). "Its compelling success story in the industrial sector reaffirms our conviction that the intersection of cloud and edge computing will enable more enterprises to achieve efficiency improvements, to gain actionable insights and to capture market opportunities ahead of their competition."
The solution will featureAlibaba's Link Edge solution -- for "edge-to-IoT device" communication connection, according to the announcement -- as well as its AliOS Things operating system. Intel's portion includes the OpenVino AI-based surveillance toolkit, announced in May, as well as its processors and other hardware.
"Alibaba Cloud IoT has since day one, been committed to driving innovation in industries with leading solutions," commented Ku Wei, general manager of the IoT business unit of Alibaba Cloud Computing, also in a prepared statement. "This win-win cooperation with Intel will provide a strong backing for the IoT-driven development and smart upgrading of Chinese enterprises."
The companies also announced a second partnership at the same time: "Intel and Alibaba will jointly explore v2x usage model with respect to 5G communication and edge computing based on the Intel Network Edge Virtualization Software Development Kit."
While the solution is currently being used by several partners, a general release date for the platform was not provided.
About the Author
Becky Nagel serves as vice president of AI for 1105 Media specializing in developing media, events and training for companies around AI and generative AI technology. She also regularly writes and reports on AI news, and is the founding editor of PureAI.com. She's the author of "ChatGPT Prompt 101 Guide for Business Users" and other popular AI resources with a real-world business perspective. She regularly speaks, writes and develops content around AI, generative AI and other business tech. She has a background in Web technology and B2B enterprise technology journalism.