AI Magazine - June 2021 by ai-magazine

June 2021 | aimagazine.com

AI Platforms atNorth: Sustainability in modern colocation data centres

How AI is multiplying the impact of IOT

NASCAR: Driving tech for ultimate FX Esri: The power of spatial analysis AI Strategy: A new frontier for business

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The AI Team EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

PADDY SMITH

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

SCOTT BIRCH CREATIVE TEAM

OSCAR HATHAWAY SOPHIA FORTE SOPHIE-ANN PINNELL HECTOR PENROSE SAM HUBBARD MIMI GUNN JUSTIN SMITH

PRODUCTION DIRECTORS

GEORGIA ALLEN DANIELA KIANICKOVÁ PRODUCTION MANAGERS

OWEN MARTIN PHILLINE VICENTE JENNIFER SMITH PRODUCTION EDITOR

JENNIFER SMITH

VIDEO PRODUCTION MANAGER

MEDIA SALES DIRECTOR

DIGITAL VIDEO PRODUCERS

SALES AND MARKETING DIRECTOR

KIERAN WAITE

SAM KEMP EVELYN HUANG MATTHEW EVANS TYLER LIVINGSTONE MARKETING MANAGER

ANDREW STUBBINGS PROJECT DIRECTORS

KRIS PALMER MIKE SADR BEN MALTBY TOM VENTURO CRAIG KILLINGBACK

JAMES WHITE

JASON WESTGATE MANAGING DIRECTOR

LEWIS VAUGHAN

CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER

STACY NORMAN PRESIDENT & CEO

GLEN WHITE

EDITORS LETTER

AI: do we have an understanding?

AI is going mainstream, or so we keep being told. But where’s the memo?

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AI is big business. And it’s big for business. It has gone from being a niche area of research to a giant industry capable of all sorts of sci-fi-esque applications – self-driving cars, self-reporting plant machinery… self-reporting plants, even (remember that emailing spinach?). But in the heady rush to chase after these exciting new things, a couple of details have been forgotten. One is a proper explanation of what AI is. And the other is a proper explanation – to the lay employee – of what it does. A few things I think could be clearer: What we have taken to calling artificial intelligence is machine learning. ML is clever, but it’s not intelligent; it does what it’s told. It is there to help people, not to take your job. These are things that people working in technology implicitly understand, but often fail to transmit to employees who may be skittish about the prospect of working alongside – or not, as the case may be – these new robotic interlopers. With a little bit of (yes, rather old-fashioned) communication, we could excite the workforce of the future about ‘AI’, rather than having talented, but worried, employees scanning the recruitment boards.

PADDY SMITH

paddy.smith@bizclikmedia.com

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CONTENTS

Our Regular Upfront Section: 8

Big Picture

10 The Brief 12 Global News 14 People Moves 16 Timeline: Natural Language Processing (NLP) 18 Legend: Andrew Ng

AI Strategy

Artificial Intelligence: Future Enterprise

atNorth

Foregrounding Sustainability in Modern Colocation Data Centers

NASCAR

Driving Technology at NASCAR for Ultimate FX

The cybersecurity needed to fight state-sponsored attackers

How AI is multiplying the impact of the internet of things

AI Disruptors

74 Esri

Unlocking the power of spatial analysis

Data Analytics

Top 10

AI Platforms

BIG PICTURE

Terradepth

June 2021

Terradepth Texas, US

Terradepth amasses a fleet of autonomous deep ocean data collection submarines. After collecting an array of chemical, environmental, and optical data, the company intends to use a combination of artificial intelligence and machine learning to finish what Google Earth started: charting the world’s oceans. aimagazine.com

THE BRIEF “AI IS CAPABLE OF SAVING ORGANISATIONS THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS WHEN IT COMES TO DOWNTIME”

BY THE NUMBERS

What is the percentage of people who are seriously concerned about a data breach while working remotely?

Sacha Giese

Head Geek, EMEA, SolarWinds  READ MORE

41% Yes

“CORRECTING INACCURATE RECORDS WITH THE APPROPRIATE METADATA CAN HELP DISCOVER ASSOCIATIONS WITHIN A BUSINESS AND UNRAVEL PATHS TO SUCCESSFUL TEAMS” RAJ KRISHNAMURTHY CEO, Freespace  READ MORE

“IT’S NO SURPRISE THE DEMAND FOR AI EXPERTISE HAS EXCEEDED THE SUPPLY” Mike Loukides

VP of Content Strategy, O’Reilly Media  READ MORE

June 2021

58% No

What is Tiny AI? Also known as Tiny ML, the technology is a big focus for AI researchers at the moment. The aim of it is to reduce the size of artificial intelligence algorithms, especially those that use large quantities of data and computational power, such as natural language processing (NLP) models like Google’s BERT. Why do we need it? For greener technology. Training sophisticated AI takes up a huge amount of energy and leaves a big carbon footprint, so as AI adoption grows, it has become clear that the technology needs to be less polluting. Another factor is the need to run inference models at the edge, for use cases like robotics, automated video security and anomaly detection in manufacturing. AI needs to run on much smaller microprocessors, often powered by batteries. What’s happening in the field? As well as academics, the tech giants such as Google, IBM, Amazon and Apple are undertaking research around the technology. There have also been commercial moves by cloud providers, for example Amazon Web Services’ Sagemaker Neo launch. There are also collaborations between big tech and academia such as the development of TinyBERT, developed by Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Huawei Noah’s Ark Lab.

 QUALCOMM Qualcomm couples 5G and AI. According to the president of their Europe division, Enrico Salvatori, the combination will soon transform the automotive industry: 5G will provide critical connectivity infrastructure, while AI will allow cars to make autonomous decisions in real time.  FACEBOOK Facebook’s Expire-Span technology predicts which information is relevant to a |task at hand and helps its AI systems forget the rest. This added context assists language modeling and mitigates overload.

W A Y U P

JUN21

 ESTATE AGENT COPYWRITERS Canadian startup Listing AI uses cutting-edge artificial intelligence to write computer-generated real estate descriptions. Users simply need to give it a few details about their home, and the program turns it into wellwritten copy.  CELEBRITY IMPERSONATORS Veritone launches Marvel.AI, a deepfake platform that lets celebrities generate clones of their voice. While influencers sleep, their AI impersonators record radio segments, read audiobooks, and even sponsor ads.

W A Y D O W N

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GLOBAL NEWS 5

SEATTLE, US

Microsoft tackles AI threat via GitHub Microsoft, traditionally one of the more protective Big Tech companies, has released an open-source tool on GitHub to prevent cyberattacks against AI systems. In a statement, the company said: “This tool is part of broader efforts at Microsoft to empower engineers to securely develop and deploy AI systems.”

UNITED STATES

Global AI talent A new AI study says the US has almost 40% of the global AI talent, while Israel and Singapore have the highest scores for AI workforce and talent development from a tertiary education perspective. Countries such as Germany, the US, and Canada have been able to attract new AI talent into their economies over the last few years, while China, Israel, and Singapore have been unable to retain and grow their talent pools.

June 2021

UNITED KINGDOM

NHS AI Lab report A report from the NHS AI Lab has found diagnostics is the most popular area for AI in health and care, followed by remote monitoring, triage and population health. The authors conceded that AI products were far from mature, with almost 90 per cent of respondents suggesting large-scale use was five years away.

Darktrace to bring AI cloud security Microsoft has partnered with Cambridge-based AI startup Darktrace and aims to provide AI-enhanced cyber security to organisations transitioning to the cloud. The partnership provides mutual customers with enterprise-scale, self-learning AI that detects and autonomously responds to cyber-threats.

INDIA

Parking smart L&T Technology Services has worked with Intel Corporation to develop AI to help find parking spaces. It has four key components: an operator portal that hosts user information; a mobile application for enduser interface; a digital signage module to ensure safe and secured access; and a digital camera – all connected by the AWS cloud platform.

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PEOPLE MOVES GILAD BERENSTEIN FROM: UTRIP TO: BROOK BAY CAPITAL WAS: CEO NOW: FOUNDER A GeekWire Entrepreneur of the Year, Gilad Berenstein recently founded Brook Bay Capital, an early stage investment firm. At 23, Berenstein started Utrip, a travel itinerary startup. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master’s in taxation from the University of Washington. Recently, he spent a year at the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI2). Says David S., Lead Test Engineer at Boston Scientific, “Gilad has an outstanding ability to foresee issues and solve problems in an effective and efficient manner.” In his latest venture, Berenstein intends to support promising entrepreneurs and startups that focus on AI and machine learning, as well as technology for travel, retail, and hospitality.

June 2021

“For me, one of the best parts of 2020 was the opportunity to support and engage with so many incredible businesses and entrepreneurs. Most found innovative ways to utilise the disruption to reimagine and re-engineer their organisations for the decade ahead”

CHETNA MAHAJAN FROM: CONGA TO: ZOOMINFO WAS: VP OF BUSINESS SYSTEMS AND ANALYTICS NOW: CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER Machine-learning company ZoomInfo, which helps customers drive sales and marketing programs, recently appointed Chetna Mahajan as their Chief Information Officer. Mahajan is accomplished at managing $200mil+ budgets and is widely recognised for her expertise in strategy development and agile execution.

RAJIV ARUNKUNDRAM FROM: SMARTSHEET TO: ALLY.IO WAS: SENIOR DIRECTOR OF PRODUCT MANAGEMENT NOW: HEAD OF PRODUCT MANAGEMENT Startup Ally.io, which builds goal-setting software, added Rajiv Arunkundram to their executive team. The company recently closed a $50mil Series C round, perfect for Arunkundram, who “excels in a fast-paced environment.”

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TIMELINE NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING ( NLP ) Where we’re at in helping machines recognise, translate, and communicate with humans.

1950

1980s

The Turing Test

Machine Learning

Alan Turing publishes “Computing Machinery and Intelligence,” in which he proposes that the true test of a machine’s intelligence is its ability to imitate human behavior. Man or machine? By Turing’s logic, one shouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

Up until this point, most NLP systems exist as convoluted, hand-written rules. But as computational power increases and Chomskyan linguistic theories fade in influence, NLP starts to rely on computing power.

June 2021

2010

2013

2018

Deep Learning

Neural Networks

Deep learning (DL) algorithms use multiple layers to extract information from raw input. This improves language modeling, parsing, and question answering. New techniques process text, time series, and sequence data, and innovators start to use recurrent neural networks and 1D converts.

Recurrent neural networks, convolutional neural networks, and recursive neural networks take the world by storm. Known as RNNs, recurrent neural networks allow coders to use previous outputs as hiddenstate inputs. The benefits? Model size doesn’t increase with the size of input, allowing programs to process input of any length.

Unsupervised Learning Algorithms Pre-trained language models require little more than unlabelled text, since they can learn from data that hasn’t been hand-annotated by humans. Though the results are still less accurate than supervised training, we can now train algorithms with a vast amount of raw Web data.

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LEGEND

Andrew Ng Founder and CEO, Landing AI

o Andrew Ng, technology and AI remain on track to improve life for individuals across the world. A British-born American computer scientist and tech entrepreneur, Ng earned his undergraduate degree from Carnegie Mellon University in 1997 and hasn’t looked back. With his triple major in computer science, statistics, and economics, he co-founded and led Google Brain, building large-scale artificial neural networks using distributed infrastructure. Following his Google experiments, Ng took over as Chief Scientist at Chinese multinational company Baidu. During his time at the company, he expanded their AI team to well over two thousand employees. In 2012, Time Magazine named him to their 100 Most Influential People list, and in 2014, Fast Company acknowledged him as one of their Most Creative People. One could also mention his numerous accolades: an Innovator Under 35, a Sloan Research Fellowship, and an IJCAI Computers and Thought Award. But one of the most impressive aspects of Ng’s career is his dedication to widening the field of AI to anyone who wants to work in

June 2021

100k+

Students registered for Ng’s initial CS229A course on Coursera

it. To him, the path forward is clear: “Education is knowledge. And knowledge is human progress.” In 2012, Ng co-founded Coursera, an online education company that allows students to take classes from top universities from anywhere in the world. Almost a decade after its inception, three of Coursera’s most popular courses are still Ng’s: Machine Learning, AI for Everyone, and Neural Networks and Deep Learning. After teaching over 2.5mn students through his in-person and online courses, Ng maintains a deep commitment to democratising deep learning. “As leaders,” he said, “it is incumbent on all of us to make sure we are building a world in which every individual has an opportunity to thrive. Understanding what AI can do and how it fits into your strategy is the beginning, not the end, of that process.” Of course, Ng continues to lead the field in implementing the latest developments in artificial intelligence. In 2018, he launched AI Fund, a $175mn artificial intelligence investment fund; as of April 2021, his company Landing AI claimed the fifth spot on CB Insights’ Top 100 list. At Landing AI, Ng aims to examine unique domain knowledge, business goals, and historical data to personalise AI transformation for specific businesses. After all, as a lifelong teacher, he’s well-versed in a fundamental lesson: that tech, just like education, isn’t one-sizefits-all.

“When I think about what we can do to build a brighter future for our children, the most important thing is to create a foundation for education. Because education is knowledge. And knowledge is human progress” aimagazine.com

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ATNORTH

Foregrounding Sustainability in Modern Colocation Data Centers WRITTEN BY: WILLIAM SMITH

PRODUCED BY: LEWIS VAUGHAN 22

June 2021

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ATNORTH

atNorth CEO Eyjólfur Magnús Kristinsson expands on the data centre company’s support for high-density computing with 100% renewable energy

celandic high-density computing firm atNorth is leading the charge for carbonneutral colocation data centres. CEO Eyjólfur Magnús Kristinsson, previously Managing Director at Advania, which acquired the company as a smaller side project in 2011, has been CEO since that point, but devoted himself full-time to the role in 2018 as the company rapidly picked up the pace. “The reason for that is the exponential growth of data,” he explains. “And with that comes the need for computational work to crunch that data. That’s why we’re seeing the data centre industry growing by around 16% annually at the moment, which I expect to continue for at least the next five years.” Within the data centre industry, atNorth focuses on a specific part of the market particularly suited to the infrastructure it provides across its facilities in Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium and the UK. “We specialise in energy-hungry workloads that require a lot of cooling - typically these workloads include things like high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, deep learning, big data and so on. We take care of everything within the high-performance computing arena with on-demand computational resources.” A key part of atNorth’s offering is its commitment to using 100% sustainable energy in its operations, and reducing energy use in general with initiatives such as using the naturally colder air of its

June 2021

Eyjólfur Magnús, Chief Executive Officer

ATNORTH

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ATNORTH

“ We’re seeing the data centre industry growing by around 16% annually at the moment” EYJÓLFUR MAGNÚS KRISTINSSON CEO, ATNORTH

June 2021

northerly locations for cooling purposes. “Sustainability is a fundamental strategy and the company's mission is providing sustainable and energy-efficient solutions to its customers. As we provide a home for energy-intensive workloads, it’s important to use energy from renewable resources, but we've also designed our data centres from the ground up so we can use less energy in general. We offer customers flexible solutions to minimise their carbon footprint - not only in terms of energy but also in terms of space and infrastructure needed.” That focus on sustainability is not only to the benefit of its customers. “For our newest project in Sweden, we are working with the

ATNORTH

EYJÓLFUR MAGNÚS TITLE: CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

local district heating company, and using the excess of heat from the data centres to warm local residents.” That new data centre is located in Kista, Stockholm, and complements atNorth’s existing offering. “We are catering to both the local market in Stockholm, which is extremely rich in high-tech companies working within our focus area of highintensity workloads, but also the wider European market of similar companies that are looking for international colocation,” says Kristinsson. The location also represents another rich resource of renewable energy access, though the company goes further with its own innovative techniques. “For

EXECUTIVE BIO

COMPANY: ATNORTH Chief Executive Officer of atNorth December 2017, Eyjólfur Magnús, most often called Magnus is a data centre veteran. Magnus’s data centre journey did not start by taking over as CEO of atNorth in 2017 as his previous role as the managing director of infrastructure, hosting and core services at Advania since 2010 and was responsible for the Advania acquisition of Thor Data Center in 2011. Advania’s data centre business thrived well under Magnus’s leadership as a division of Advania until its demerger from the Advania Group in 2017, then named Advania Data Centers the company grew to become among the fastest-growing data centre companies in Europe. Advania Data Centers became atNorth in 2021. Prior to joining Advania, Magnus has served in leadership roles at technology companies such as Vodafone. Magnus studied engineering at the University of Iceland and did his master’s in engineering at DTU, the Technical University of Denmark.

Sustainability Performance

Customized Turnkey Infrastructure Containment Solutions Through a Single Provider Providing Quick Installation and Full Support Across EMEA

Visit www.subzeroeng.com

Subzero Engineering: Sustainable solutions for data centres Consultancy and customised containment - which complement the dynamic data centres they work with - is the global calling card of Subzero Engineering Subzero Engineering recognises data centres are dynamic environments, so they have created customised containment solutions which make energy-efficient savings for their customers. Subzero Engineering is the industry leader in bespoke containment solutions using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to show measurable results for their customers which includes the following savings; $300 million in energy costs, 1.5 billion gallons of water, and three million tonnes in the reduction of carbon dioxide since 2015. “We believe that a data-driven approach is essential to drive data centre performance and efficiency,” commented Andy Connor, Director EMEA Channel, who points out they offer CFD checks for free. “We help our customers do this with our customised, streamlined and energy efficient containment solutions which result in a lower total cost of ownership and reduced carbon emissions.” Subzero Engineering has manufacturing facilities in Salt Lake City, US, where they were founded in 2005 (starting out as a data centre airflow consulting company), and in Dublin, Ireland.

They are now partnering with atNorth in Iceland to provide their hot and cold aisle containment solutions. “We have a large team of leading industry experts that help us operate globally, and at speed, and we work with customers ranging from the hyperscalers and colocation communities through to well-known brands in sports, retail, HPC, and AI,” said Connor.

Balance performance and efficiency “We started life back in 2005 as a CFD consultancy when data centres were using raised floors and experiencing issues with leakages. Our software solution showed customers how they could analyse the infrastructure and improve efficiency. “Fast forward 16 years and that approach has stayed with us. We’re an engineeringled solutions provider who helps businesses reduce their carbon footprint and operating costs - but it all starts with the data we produce from our CFD reports.”

Video Screenshot Here

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ATNORTH

“ The company's mission is providing sustainable and energy efficient solutions to its customers” EYJÓLFUR MAGNÚS KRISTINSSON CEO, ATNORTH

June 2021

ATNORTH

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ATNORTH

instance, we will reuse the heat generated in the data centre and transfer it to a different facility approximately 100 meters away. This obviously provides our environmentally conscious customers with best of class running on real renewables only, high energy efficiency and we are also contributing to Stockholm's goal of full carbon neutrality before 2040.” The company’s operations are supported by the work of a number of key partners. “Our partner ecosystem is critical,” says Kristinsson. “HPE and Intel, for instance, have been working with us on the customer end, supporting us in various cases to provide on-demand solutions. We have had access to their newest technology, and support them in turn with testing. They have certainly become very valuable and strategic partners for us.” atNorth also works with valued partners on the infrastructure end of the equation. “Subzero and Systemair provide

“ I'm sure that the pandemic has imposed irreversible changes on our business - both in terms of customer service but also how we approach our customers” EYJÓLFUR MAGNÚS KRISTINSSON CEO, ATNORTH

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ATNORTH

“ We are specifically catering to this fastest-growing segment within the tech sector” EYJÓLFUR MAGNÚS KRISTINSSON CEO, ATNORTH

us with cooling technologies. We've tried several solutions in cooling, and when it comes to natural airflow cooling, Systemair and Subzero have proven to be the most reliable providers.” Like all companies worldwide, atNorth has had to reckon with the ongoing COVID19 pandemic. “Last year we needed to adapt to a new reality and we will continue to do so. For us, this has meant finding new ways of providing the services we do. Strict travel restrictions meant that we needed to find new ways of meeting with our potential and existing customers, who rely on us to service the equipment they 34

June 2021

host with us.” Kristinsson expects some of the changes the pandemic has wrought to become permanent fixtures. “I think it’s strengthened the relationship that we have with our customers. I doubt that many will revert to the old mode of flying in their own technicians. I'm sure that the pandemic has imposed irreversible changes on our business - both in terms of customer service but also how we approach our customers.” Partly to thank for its resistance to the pandemic is the culture present at the organisation. “I like to empower my employees and listen very carefully to everyone's ideas and thoughts,” says

ATNORTH

2009

Year Founded

50+

Number of Employees

$38m

Revenue in USD

Kristinsson. “We have incredible talent in our company among our employees, and I basically see my role as being to nurture that talent. It’s a very Nordic leadership style, which works particularly well in a small company like atNorth. It's very important to enhance the dynamics of a flat structure with openness and transparency, so everyone can know how important they are to executing our strategy.” Looking to the future, Kristinsson expects high-density workloads to continue to play a vital role in powering the rapid growth of the data centre sector. “It’s all derived from emerging technologies such as 5G,

IoT, AI, deep learning and more. We are specifically catering to this fastest-growing segment within the tech sector.” He’s clear that atNorth will continue to ensure that sustainability remains at the heart of the conversation through its sector-leading solutions. “We want to provide the best service to our customers in this space, while obviously using renewable energy only to do, and give them higher energy efficiency than competitors.”

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AI STRATEGY

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: FUTURE ENTERPRISE AI is becoming a staple of industry technology, emerging as a new frontier to makes business more efficient and smarter. Here’s how WRITTEN BY: LAURA BERRILL

I promises many and varied contributions and opportunities for the enterprise in both the imminent and far future. In that respect it’s important to understand where businesses are now with the technology and what is changing for them. This will impact how both employers and employees embrace and handle emerging technologies, prepare for the future and for Industry 4.0. AI can be applied industry-wide and is relevant to every sector in an economy, so how can certain businesses, such as those particularly affected by the last year, use it to their advantage? The now infamous ‘eat out to help out’ One of the biggest bugbears of recent times has been the row over the country’s hospitality industry (or lack of, as one of the biggest contributors to the economy). But as the sector starts to look at opening up fully once more, there has been a warning from AI-driven workforce management software company, Quinyx UK, that not embracing 36

June 2021

the technology means manual workforce scheduling could result in reduced capacity due to unpredictable demand. “Peaks and troughs in customer demand, based on variables out of everyone’s control, means there’s no trend to draw from when it comes to planning necessary staff cover,” says Daniel Homberg, Quinyx’s Country Manager, who urged the industry to invest in AI-based solutions when it comes to workforce management. “There’s an understandable excitement to opening, but the business landscape now means there’s a risk of mismanaging staff if too much trust is placed on slow and labourintensive manual scheduling,” he adds. There are many such tools and platforms utilising AI in the form of both IOS and Android mobile apps, whereby employers and employees can create and update automated work schedules on the go. They can also be used to respond to fast-changing demand for bookings and any extra staff requirements, as well as handle absences and find replacement support when needed.

AI STRATEGY

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AI STRATEGY

“ PEAKS AND TROUGHS IN CUSTOMER DEMAND, BASED ON VARIABLES OUT OF EVERYONE’S CONTROL, MEANS THERE’S NO TREND TO DRAW FROM WHEN IT COMES TO PLANNING NECESSARY STAFF COVER” DANIEL HOMBERG QUINYX

Digitalising manufacturing and utilities The impact of the past 12 months has, as in other industries, sent ripples through mainstays like manufacturing and utilities. Overall investment in, and adoption of AI in manufacturing is expected to boost production by billions in just the next few years, according to Nick Wright, Head of Manufacturing Industries at Digital Catapult. He believes ‘factories of the future’ – those utilising AI and IoT technology, among others such as 5G and digital twins – will

enable manufacturers to predict downtime, optimise delivery schedules and improve customer service. This will be achieved via the use of mobile IoT, connectivity between workers, the machinery and the product and enable full life-cycles, from incoming raw materials to recycling them for new business models and sustainable services. In the utility sector there are real life applications emerging and what were concepts have become live commercial deployments. One example is vegetation management, according to Jaro Ulijanovs at utilities automation inspection specialist, Sharper Shape. aimagazine.com

AI STRATEGY

What is Quinyx? - Workforce Management in the Cloud

” CORRECTING INACCURATE RECORDS WITH THE APPROPRIATE METADATA CAN HELP DISCOVER ASSOCIATIONS WITHIN A BUSINESS AND UNRAVEL PATHS TO SUCCESSFUL TEAMS” RAJ KRISHNAMURTHY FREESPACE

June 2021

“Imagine a tree branch overhanging a power line that falls, which could cause blackouts or fires. That would have to have manual crews deployed which is both risky and labour-intensive. We have developed AI tools combining LiDAR, RGB imagery and hyperspectral imagery data collected by drone or helicopter that can identify when a branch is near a line, its species and health and therefore growth rate, then consequent threat of overgrowing the line. That's just one way how AI, fed with the right data, can revolutionise a previously manual task.” Ulijanos believes one of the main benefits in the sector is human safety, not replacement of jobs and give the example of a linesman having to inspect millions of images and their attention faltering,

compromising safety. But when the number of images can be more than decimated, work quality improves and more time and be spent on each component, improving the overall safety and quality of work. Automating the retail environment Aside from manufacturing, retail organisations have also witnessed how AI can be leveraged via robotics and automation in warehouses. Where before a human would pick items for customers, increasingly now these picks are being done by machines which can work 24/7 with no breaks. This may understandably worry workers, however Paul Boyle, CEO at Retail insight, insists: “The reality is far more nuanced. If we only see AI as a replacement, then

we’re missing the point. We should view it as a partnership balancing the unique capabilities of human and advanced AI working together to go beyond robotic process automation and become a force multiplier in our effectiveness and execution. In retail we will see this collaborative approach enable organisations to use AI to read all of the signals and conditions affecting supply and demand to then direct a team of people who can change things dynamically to seize on opportunities. “For example, store conditions change, weather changes, customers change, footfall changes – what should I do now to maximise sales and profitability? All of this is possible when working to augment, not just automate.” aimagazine.com

AI STRATEGY

Back to work This has changed beyond measure in little over a year and AI is increasingly now involved in assessing how different workspaces are laid out, movement of staff and for the time being, social distancing. Raj Krishnamurthy, CEO of workplace technology solutions provider, Freespace, says the impact of home working has given AI a huge opportunity to step up and provide decision makers with the data needed to make critical decisions about their workplace and workforce. But, he warns, bad data can send some companies in the wrong direction and stressed the importance of having the deep skills in machine learning and AI in order to build a useful system to harness the data. “Gathering accurate data generates a lot of value. Correcting inaccurate records with the appropriate metadata can help discover associations within a business and unravel paths to successful teams. Good property performance information can also be the foundation to the intelligent design of buildings for the future,” he comments. Another established technology which can shape the future of the enterprise employee experience, according to Michael van der Berg, GM EMEIA Jamf, is Apple’s Siri. He thinks remote working has encouraged business owners to rethink their investments in technology which better supports employees and their working environment. “Using Siri as a digital voice assistant means employees can multitask and move through workflows quickly such as switching between apps, confirming meetings, booking flights and searching for information. As Apple builds functionality into Siri with the anticipation of AI integration, more AI automated workflows can be achieved. For example, soon, users could replace monthly 42

June 2021

Excel spreadsheets with a HomePod for faster and more accessible data recollection, ‘Hey Siri, what is our expected revenue projection for Q3?’ Or: ‘Hey Siri, what do I need to know for my staff meeting?’” Challenges remaining Whereas the enterprise race to adopt AI technology gathers pace, advancements cannot be adequately realised unless the personnel skills are also in place. This has been found to be a sticking point according to a report in April from online learning platform, O’Reilly, which looked at annual

AI STRATEGY

“AI IS CAPABLE OF SAVING ORGANISATIONS THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS WHEN IT COMES TO DOWNTIME” SACHA GIESE SOLARWINDS

AI Adoption in the Enterprise to better understand how artificial intelligence has evolved over the past year. Topping the list in 2021 so far was a lack of skilled people and difficulty hiring, with the skills shortage being felt most acutely in the areas of machine learning modelling and data science. As Mike Loukides, VP of content strategy and report author states: “It’s no surprise the demand for AI expertise has exceeded the supply – that’s been predicted for years – but it’s important to realise that it’s becoming the biggest bar to wider adoption.”

Adding to this view, James McLeod, VP EMEA at SaaS platform, Faethm AI, says: “Employers’ focus shouldn’t be on intelligent technologies replacing workers but invest in targeted reskilling processes that help employees to develop in-demand skills. This will allow them to move from ‘expendable’ to indispensable roles and enhance their employability, while generating savings for employers on the costly and timeconsuming process of redundancies and new hires. It’s about how existing roles evolve so they work alongside AI and add value on top of it.” aimagazine.com

AI STRATEGY

“ IT’S NO SURPRISE THE DEMAND FOR AI EXPERTISE HAS EXCEEDED THE SUPPLY” MIKE LOUKIDES O’REILLY

June 2021

AI STRATEGY

It's complementary Of course it’s not all about the technology, there will have to be more of what Mathias Golombek, CTO at analytics database management software company, Exasol, terms ‘collaborative intelligence’ – the combination of human expertise and AI. “While the concept of machines augmenting human activity has been around for some time, the significant change in working patterns and rapidly moving situations of today means we expect further experimentation and investment in this area. However, where AI will not only alter how work is done and who does it, it will compliment human activity. This will impact highly in employee and customer interactions, optimising customer communications in high value areas such as fraud detection and issue handling,” he says. Sacha Giese, of IT infrastructure management software business SolarWinds, adds: “AI is capable of saving organisations thousands of dollars when it comes to downtime.Be it server or network outages, emergency changes, new releases or, of course, human error. It can be used to assess data, helping service providers make informed choices without having to manually look through downstream impacts, significantly reducing risks. And with IT professionals no longer having to spend time carrying out manual and repetitive tasks, they can concentrate more on better user experience for the business as a whole. Conclusively, Ingrid Verschuren, Head of Data at Dow Jones states: “Ultimately, AI is only as smart as the humans behind it and their systems are only as good as the data we put into them. That’s where human expertise is so crucial. AI and Machine Learning alone cannot determine which sources to leverage and how to access them. Subject matter experts determine which sources to screen against – AI can take it from there.” aimagazine.com

NASCAR

DRIVING TECHNOLOGY AT NASCAR FOR ULTIMATE FX

June 2021

NASCAR

NASCAR is in the fast lane of its digital journey following a US$2bn merger with ISC and Christine Stoffel-Moffett, VP of Enterprise Technology, is in the driving seat

WRITTEN BY: JANET BRICE PRODUCED BY: MIKE SADR

o be the most innovative and technology advanced organisation across the sports entertainment industry within three years” is the message from Christine StoffelMoffett, who is driving the cloud and digital transformation at The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing – known around the world as NASCAR. Stoffel-Moffett, Vice President of Enterprise Technology at NASCAR, gives us an exclusive glimpse into the glamorous world of stock car racing epitomised by Hollywood actorturned-driver Tom Cruise, who put the iconic Daytona racetrack on the big screen in Days of Thunder. Founded by Bill France in 1948 and still owned by the France Family today, each year, NASCAR sanctions more than 1,200 races in more than 30 US states, Canada, Mexico and Europe. It is the sanctioning body for the number one form of motorsports in the US and owner of 16 of the nation’s major motorsports entertainment facilities. In the first of a three-part special, Stoffel-Moffett focuses on how she is leading NASCAR’s digital technology journey to improve operational efficiencies and enhance the fan experience (FX) as the sport navigates its way through a US$2bn merger with International Speedway Corporation (ISC) and challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. aimagazine.com

NASCAR

Christine Stoffel-Moffett | NASCAR

“My goal is to become the most technology advanced organisation across sports and entertainment within the next three years”

“When I came a growth mindset to NASCAR, I knew across the enterprise that not only were technology organisation we merging two and stretching into organisations, but we the business,” said really had to reposition Stoffel-Moffett who is our business with a recognised across the thoughtful and mindful sports industry from technology mindset her industry peers as and strive to be besta “transformational in-class through a deep leader” and she is clearly evaluation of how we're bringing this front and leveraging the right centre to NASCAR. technology, solutions For a sport that can and technology partners accommodate upwards for our business,” said of 190,000 spectators Stoffel-Moffett from her – far larger than any CHRISTINE STOFFEL-MOFFETT HEAD OF ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY, office in Daytona. non-motorsport venue NASCAR “Through the merger in North America – the of two very different FX is the lifeblood of businesses, we are now building a new stock car racing – which started with a 250culture of transparency, collaboration, mile race along Daytona Beach, Florida, US passion, adaptiveness and encouraging on 8 March 1936. 48

June 2021

NASCAR

CHRISTINE STOFFEL-MOFFETT TITLE: HEAD OF ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY

1948

INDUSTRY: MOTOR TECHNOLOGY

The year NASCAR was founded by Bill France Snr following an unofficial car race 12 years earlier on Daytona Beach, Florida

LOCATION: FLORIDA, UNITED STATES Christine Stoffel-Moffett is well recognised as a deeply technical, inspirational, transformational executive, passionate sport and entertainment executive, operations and strategy leader. Stoffel-Moffett joined NASCAR in March 2020, just before COVID19 took hold and just after a $2 billion merger with International Speedway Corporation (ISC). She is known as a mindful, visionary, strategic, transformational, and innovative C-level executive with an impressive track record of being a transformational change agent and influencer. StoffelMoffett is an award winner for her innovative growth of multi million to billion-dollar sports, entertainment, sales, operations, and technology environments.

2,250

A total of 27 drivers competed in coupes, convertibles and sports cars, but only 10 navigated their way through the sand and completed the race 10 miles shy of the finishing line. The winner was Milt Marian, and a young Bill France came fifth – the man who went on to be the founder of NASCAR in 1948 as he saw the potential for a unified series of racing competitions on a proper track. More than 70 years later, the power of NASCAR and ISC looks set to create a new FX following the multi-billion dollar merger. According to Stoffel-Moffett, they are now moving forward as one company to re-invent the experience for fans and shareholders with the use of technology in every corner of the business from HR, accounting, finance, network infrastructure, Internet, cloud, computers, servers, storage, applications, to new website, social media, virtual experiences, digital ticketing and simulated racing. “In 2020, I launched an external mission statement for enterprise technology to become looked upon as the most inspiring future-forward, innovative and technology advanced organisation across the sports entertainment industry. This is a bold statement, but with the support of the France family, NASCAR Board and senior leadership behind us, this is our driving force and vision every day.

EXECUTIVE BIO

Number of employees

WE GET ADAPTING TO CHANGE EVEN AT 200 MPH.

CDW Amplified™ Services helps organizations react quickly to changing scenarios. Our experts understand your challenges and can orchestrate solutions that improve everything from business operations and workflows to data analytics and customer experience. Learn more at CDW.com/services © 2021 CDW®, CDW•G® and PEOPLE WHO GET IT® are registered trademarks of CDW LLC.

GIVING EFFICIENCY THE FULL THROTTLE AT NASCAR CDW IS A LEADING PROVIDER OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, OPTIMIZED BUSINESS WORKFLOW AND DATA CAPTURE SYSTEMS FOR THE AUTO RACING COMPANY. The NASCAR organization has long been synonymous with speed, agility and innovation. And so by extension, partnerships at NASCAR hold a similar reputation. One such partner for the organization has been CDW – a leading provider of information technology solutions to businesses, government, education and healthcare customers in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. CDW provides an array of products and services ranging from hardware and software to integrated IT solutions such as security, cloud hybrid infrastructure and digital experience. Customer need is the driving force at CDW, and the company helps clients by delivering integrated services and solutions that maximize their technology investment. So how does CDW help their customers achieve their business goals? Troy Okerberg, Field Sales Manager - North Florida at CDW adds “We strive to provide our customers with full stack expertise, helping them design, orchestrate and manage technologies that drive their business outcomes.”

NASCAR acquired International Speedway Corporation (ISC) in 2019, merging its operations into one, new company moving forward. CDW has been instrumental in bringing the two technology environments together to enable collaboration and efficiency as one organization. With the onset of COVID-19, CDW’s distribution team worked tirelessly to ensure that all customers could still access the products that they were purchasing and needed for their organizations throughout the pandemic. Okerberg adds that today, CDW continues to optimise their offering by hyper-localizing resources as well as providing need-based support based on the size and complexity of their accounts. CDW further helps identify and provide the best solution from a consolidation standpoint of both hardware and software clients so that the new merged organization is equipped with the best of what the industry has to offer.

NASCAR

“ There are so many advantages to this merger, as we're now one comprehensive company under one brand that can really be dynamic for our customer and our fans. CHRISTINE STOFFEL-MOFFETT

HEAD OF ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY, NASCAR

June 2021

NASCAR

“I put a line in the sand and said, here's our statement,” said Stoffel-Moffett. “In order to achieve this, we have to align with best-inclass technology partners. I believe I have a best-in-class technology organisation and for the last year we have been aligning ourselves with the best-in-class technology solutions, service providers and partners. Everyday we get closer to the realisation of this mission statement. We stay focused on our vision, our deliverables to the business and strive to make the fan experience the best we can, one race at a time.”

$2 billion

merger with the International Speedway Corporation (ISC)

1,200

races are sanctioned by NASCAR each year in more than 30 US states, Canada, Mexico and Europe

race tracks that were owned by ISC and that can now be used by NASCAR following the merger

IT projects and initiatives for 2021

Focus on the FX As NASCAR moves out of the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, it will be focusing on technology even more to give fans the ultimate experience. NASCAR’s purchase of ISC now means it is all privately owned, enabling NASCAR to reinvest money into both tracks and technology, which will improve the experience for the fans even further. “There are so many advantages to this merger, as we're now one comprehensive company under one brand that can really be dynamic for our customers, corporate partners, consumers and our fans,” said Stoffel-Moffett. “NASCAR has evolved over the last year and has truly transcended as a global brand and a world-class organisation. When COVID affected the sports industry, we took that opportunity and launched the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series when no other sport was taking place as we wanted to entertain people while they were locked in their homes. “NASCAR is not just about car, IMSA road races or truck racing, there are so many different facets – with NASCAR’s 73-yearhistory it's really an experience whether you’re watching it live, on TV or virtually, it’s aimagazine.com

DIGITA TRANSFORMA

SEES RENEWED VIGOR

LEARN MORE

AL ATION

R IN 2021

ork, life, health, safety and well-being are all inextricably linked. Work has become much more dynamic, meaning the workspace itself needs to change. The physical office will remain, but people may not go every day, and may not have fixed hours. Organizations need to look deeply into the fundamentals with a common denominator in mind – people. Cultural transformation in concert with technological transformation will be critical to success in this new workstyle, enabling a more resilient and adaptable organization that better serves its stakeholders. A DIGITAL-FIRST APPROACH The future of work is about better connecting people, spaces and technology to drive transformation. Technologies are rapidly changing all facets of work. But, it’s never just about the technology. The accelerated digital work environment is requiring more emphasis on the human-to-human experience. According to IDC, by 2022, 70% of all organizations will have accelerated use of digital technologies, transforming current processes to drive productivity, employee-employer relations, customer engagement and business resiliency. With all of that in mind, data is at the center of how to operate a smoothrunning business on the cutting edge of digital transformation. At its most basic level, access to data enables people to do their jobs effectively and efficiently. To harness the value of data, businesses need platforms that allow data-sharing. And to support collaboration in a world where work practices will continue to be increasingly dynamic – be it remote or in-office – embracing the cloud will be key. An ERP system does the complex job of connecting an entire business, enabling companies to offer the benefits of mobile apps and cloud-based solutions to employees and stakeholders. This software implementation can simplify key business functions that are crucial to managing day-to-day operations. According to IDC, cloud adoption will rise by 15-20% in the next six months. Hand-in-hand with investing in the cloud, businesses need a robust security strategy in order to avoid the recent deluge of security threats.

RETHINK THE FUTURE OF WORK

NASCAR

NASCAR IN FOCUS

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR), based in Daytona Beach, Florida, is the sanctioning body for the Number one form of motorsports in the United States and owner of 16 of the nation’s major motorsports entertainment facilities.

announced that NASCAR would purchase ISC and inherit 13 tracks.

The privately-owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and his son, Jim France, has been Chairman and CEO since August 6, 2018. The company is headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida. Each year, NASCAR sanctions over 1,200 races in more than 30 US states as well as in Canada, Mexico, and Europe. While originally not officially connected to NASCAR, ISC was also founded by Bill France Sr. in 1953 to construct and manage tracks at which NASCAR could hold competitions. In May 2019, it was

•

June 2021

NASCAR consists: •

•

Three national series (NASCAR Cup Series™, NASCAR Xfinity Series™, and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series™) Three regional series (ARCA Menards Series, ARCA Menards Series East & West and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour), one local grassroots series and three international series. The International Motor Sports Association™ (IMSA®) governs the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship™, the premier US sports car series. NASCAR also owns Motor Racing Network, Racing Electronics, Americrown Service and ONE DAYTONA.

NASCAR

“ Through the merger of two very different businesses, we are now building a new culture of transparency, collaboration, passion, adaptiveness and encouraging a growth mindset” CHRISTINE STOFFEL-MOFFETT

HEAD OF ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY, NASCAR

an incredible experience everyone needs to try. Attending a NASCAR event is an affordable, fun family experience and with our racing electronics headsets, these make it THE ultimate, intimate experience listening to your favourite driver, the pits and becoming fully immersed in the full racing experience,” said Stoffel-Moffett.

“We've put a lot of emphases and focus over the last year to digitalise and cloudenable our work environment and to reimagine the FX, and so it's really exciting to see where NASCAR is headed in the future, said Stoffel-Moffett, who joined NASCAR in March 2020 just before COVID-19 took hold and “the world changed”. She was immediately asked to focus on the merger between privately-owned NASCAR and publicly-owned ISC but then had to quickly pivot and focus on getting 2,000-plus employees working remotely, working with her IT organisations in implementing network secure protocols, as well as, providing as many tools and applications remotely to the NASCAR employees across the US with impromptu training and educating the workforce of how

aimagazine.com

NASCAR puts fans in the race with AWS Media Services NASCAR Digital uses AWS Media Services to power its NASCAR Drive mobile app, and to deliver broadcast-quality content for more than 80 million fans worldwide across a wide range of delivery formats and device platforms.

See how

How AWS helps NASCAR delight its fans Customer obsession and working backwards from the customer is a mantra of Amazon Web Services (AWS), epitomizing its partnership with NASCAR AWS needs no introduction to readers of Technology Magazine but we rarely get an opportunity to look closely at how it serves the sports sector. All major sports draw in a huge supporter base that they want to nurture and support. Technology is the key to every major sports organization and enabling this is the driving force for AWS, says Matt Hurst, Head of Global Sports Marketing and Communications for AWS. “In sports, as in every industry, machine learning and artificial intelligence and high performance computing are helping to usher in the next wave of technical sports innovation.” AWS approaches sports in three principal areas. “The first is unlocking data potential: leagues and teams hold vast amounts of data and AWS is enabling them to analyze that data at scale and make better, more informed decisions. The second is engaging and delighting fans: with AWS fans are getting deeper insights through visually compelling on-screen graphics and interactive Second Screen experiences. And the third is rapidly improving sports performance: leagues and teams are using AWS to innovate like never before!”

Among the many global brands that partner with AWS are Germany’s Bundesliga, the NFL, F1, the PGA Tour and of course NASCAR. NASCAR has worked with AWS on its digital transformation (migrating it’s 18 petabyte video archive containing 70 years of historical footage to AWS), to optimize its cloud data center operations and to enable its global brand expansion. AWS Media Services powers the NASCAR Drive mobile app, delivering broadcast-quality content for more than 80 million fans worldwide . The platform, including AWS Elemental MediaLive and AWS Elemental MediaStore, helps NASCAR provide fans instant access to the driver’s view of the race track during races, augmented by audio and a continually updated leaderboard. “And NASCAR will use our flagship machine learning service Facemaker to train deep learning models to enhance metadata and video analytics.”

See how

NASCAR

“ Last year, we re-architected and redesigned our data warehouse, and we have now been executing that – it's been an amazing process, we now have Title of theand video a brand new data warehouse”

to work remotely, effectively, efficiently and effortlessly. “One of the big challenges we had, when I joined the organisation, was assessing all technology because NASCAR and ISC were still merging its culture and technology solutions. We had to look at our enterprise applications, systems, network, core infrastructure across our entire company – not just siloed applications, systems and technologies. “Last year became a very tactical year and reviewing, assessing and analysing everything we do as a company from a technology perspective, said Stoffel-Moffet, who oversees all technology from desktop engineering, help desk service desk, network engineering and architecture, enterprise applications and systems, servers, storage, cloud architecture, CRM, analytics, data engineering and architecture, ticketing technology and security. Her role is to now improve business operations and business optimisation through enterprise-wide technology solutions, implement digital transformation through cloud and digital applications, effective collaboration tools, data capture improve workflow efficiency, improve data capture, data accuracy and rolling out reporting dashboards through implementing a formal data strategy and building efficiencies across the NASCAR enterprise organisation. Digital data lake NASCAR is aiming to have created a digital lake by the end of 2022 – pulling together all the historical data from NASCAR and ISC. When Stoffel-Moffett took over she focused on the data warehouse of both companies and saw they did not mesh as each had its own working practices. 60

June 2021

CHRISTINE STOFFEL-MOFFETT

HEAD OF ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY, NASCAR

“Last year, we re-architected and redesigned our data warehouse and we have now been executing this new architecture – it's been an amazing process and we now have a brand new enterprise-wide consumer data warehouse. Ticketing, sales, corporate partnerships and sponsors are now able to capture data and become empowered with relevant reports that are meaningful to the business KPIs. “Simultaneously we're implementing bi-directional CRM, partnering with the internal sales organisations to implement new sales workflows and business process for the ticket sales and partnership marketing teams, finishing the build of a new MDM and pivoting NASCAR toward becoming a data-driven organisation by delivering the first version of executive dashboards in the coming weeks.

NASCAR

These are exciting and transformational times for NASCAR. “The media productions team is migrating 73-year history over 100 Pedabytes of video and picture archives to our AWS Cloud Media Archive Warehouse. “We have a comprehensive plan around our data strategy. One piece is the analytics that we're capturing around our fan engagement, ticket sales and revenue to our corporate partners and how we're partnering with our corporate partners and the analytics that we can provide them as well as our historical data warehouse,” she said. “Through all of these moving pieces, we have begun to start putting together a framework for our future data lake. This will enable us to connect our historical NASCAR archive to our consumer data warehouse for an incredible opportunity. We are excited to give our marketing teams the opportunity to share the NASCAR story in new and immersive ways to our global fans through every marketing campaign, every email, every social media post.”

Digital marketing NASCAR is looking to improve the fan experience with the following: • New website (for all the tracks) • Social media channels • Digital apps • Loyalty programs “Our digital marketing team is working on rolling out a new website and mobile app that will completely change the way that our fans engage with us through a web and digital media platform,” said Stoffel-Moffett. “Previously, we had lots of mobile apps because all the tracks had their own, but now we're consolidating that and having a seamless experience for the fan. “A more comprehensive loyalty program is in development over the next year that will all intersect between FX at the venue and through the mobile app, website, WiFi, fan engagement experiences and our social media. We're really focused on improving the FX. aimagazine.com

Security

When less is more, security is innovation Close gaps between point solutions and get coverage across your entire multiplatform, multicloud environment. Learn more

Building a secure foundation to drive NASCAR Racing fans can expect the ultimate virtual experience as a result of the partnership with Microsoft and NASCAR Microsoft is a key partner of The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) and together they are driving ahead to create an inclusive and immersive new fan experience (FX). These long-term partners have not only navigated the challenges posed by the pandemic with the use of Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365, but are now looking to a future packed with virtual events to enhance the FX, well beyond NASCAR’S famous Daytona racetrack. “Together, we’ve created a secure environment that’s allowed for collaboration, but the future is all about the fans”, said Melinda Cook, General Manager for Microsoft, South USA Commercial Business, who cited a culture of transparency, passion, adaptiveness, and a growth mindset as to why this alignment is so successful. “We’ve partnered to create a fluid, immersive experience for the users that is supported by a secure foundation with Microsoft. We are focused on empowering customers, like NASCAR, to reach their full potential. We do this with our cloud platform which provides data insights and security.”

“Our cloud environment allows NASCAR to move forward with their digital transformation journey while we are in the background,” said Cook who highlights that Microsoft is helping NASCAR • Empower employees productivity and collaboration • Improve fan engagement and experience • Improve environment security and IT productivity • Improve racing operations Microsoft Teams, which is part of the Microsoft 365 suite, enabled employees to work remotely, while staying productive, during the pandemic. “This allowed people to provide the same level of productivity with video conference and instant messaging to collaborate on documents. Increased automation also allows pit crews, IT, and the business to focus on safety, racing operations, and the fan experience. “We will continue to improve automation with machine learning and artificial intelligence, from marketing to IT operations to finance to racing operations,” said Cook.

Learn more

KEY PARTNERSHIPS

NASCAR

“ We have more than 91 projects and initiatives for 2021 to get accomplished, and there are so many of these that we can't do without our technology partners at our side” CHRISTINE STOFFEL-MOFFETT

HEAD OF ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY, NASCAR

CDW

AWS

“CDW came to our rescue when we needed to move our staff to work remotely,” said Stoffel-Moffett. “We needed additional monitors, computers, printers and additional licensing for a video conferencing solution. CDW was there with us the whole way to ensure we had the inventory as any superior partner would. “CDW helped us to quickly pivot our software solutions, enabled us to implement hardware, backup, storage needs and kept us nimble and dynamic through 2020 “Without CDW, we would not have been able to be agile for our business leaders, employees and fans. CDW has been an incredible partner.

“Our AWS team, led by John Dwyer, is closely aligned with NASCAR tech teams on multiple initiatives. AWS cloud helped NASCAR bridge the historical gap between the legacy architecture and new technology,” said Stoffel-Moffett. “This has led to a new digital library with 73 years of NASCAR history media assets. AWS offers the cloud platform supporting the re-architecture of our consumer data warehouse. AWS’s platforms are critical to NASCAR’s journey to becoming more cloudcentric. Our cloud strategy is expansive – we are collaborating with AWS on building a Cloud Centre of Excellence and moving NASCAR to a data-driven business model.”

June 2021

NASCAR

MICROSOFT “Microsoft is one of NASCAR’s key partners when it comes to the cornerstone of our business applications, collaboration tools, solution deployment and desktop security. NASCAR acquired E5 Microsoft licenses providing additional support to move them on their digital transformation journey. Our Microsoft partnership team, led by David Olivares, has been instrumental in helping the NASCAR enterprise technology team re-architect our Microsoft systems to ensure an advanced level of security across our environment. We have weekly collaboration meetings discussing our KPI’s, goals and future forward strategies, implementing best practices across our entire suite of Microsoft solutions. Through this collaboration, we are enabling our employees to work seamlessly.

KONICA MINOLTA “Konica Minolta has brought us innovative partners in the video and conference room solution space, helping us through our pilot evaluations to ensure we are selecting best in class for our new business optimisation vision. “Our KM partners are also assisting us in an evaluation of our enterprise-wide copier and printing strategy. We drive toward green initiatives, less paper consumption and enabling our workforce to be as digital as possible. KM is known to be a market leader in managed print services, but they are so much more than this to NASCAR. KM is a technology partner with insightful vision.”

“The fan and customer experience is based on how much data we’re gathering from them. To understand our fan and event guests better, we want to be able to hear from them, to listen to them. Surveys, fan feedback, mobile apps, web portals provide us insights to build better relationships with our current fans, new fans, virtual fans and future fans. We are building more engaging methods for our fans to communicate with us so we can ask the questions and gather relevant and insightful information to ensure we can provide them a better experience. How can we learn from our fans? And what mediums do they want to engage with us? “I'm a big Instagram person, and obviously, I follow NASCAR on Instagram, but the engagement we have had on our social media platforms since leveraging the archive images has been amazing. It’s fun, fascinating and kudos to our NASCAR digital marketing team whom do a remarkable job in taking pictures of a current race event and an archived picture of the same race 20-30 years ago and sharing this story of evolution of our sport through social media” Next time Stoffel-Moffett will be taking a deep dive into security and reveal how NASCAR has become a ‘best-in-class’ technology partner in security. “Our goal is to become a zero-trust environment, and we are marching towards this mission for NASCAR,” she said. Looking to the future, NASCAR is developing the Next-Gen car — expected to hit the track in 2021. The new car is going to feature a redesigned body and under-thehood enhancements to make NASCAR stock cars even more like the cars in showrooms across America.

aimagazine.com

AI DISRUPTORS

THE CYBERSECURITY NEEDED TO FIGHT STATE-SPONSORED ATTACKERS Even as COVID-19-inspired remote working has brought headaches for cybersecurity professionals, they are having to face up to new threats

WRITTEN BY: WILLIAM SMITH

June 2021

recent spate of state-sponsored security breaches has put even more focus on the need for cybersecurity, but in the face of such sophisticated attackers, what can ordinary businesses do? According to Paul Baird, Chief Technology Security Officer, UK, Qualys, “Statesponsored attacks have a single and specific end goal of breaching a target’s network and they often won't stop until they succeed, regardless of what defences are in place. This is vastly different compared to your ‘everyday’ hacker who is less fussy and will exploit any weak spot if it presents a money-making opportunity. In an effort to combat this, companies should consider their security strategies in great depth, although this is often easier said than done.” Of course, the ideal response is hampered by the reality of budgets, so measures must be chosen intelligently. “CISOs would love to utilise every technology possible to ensure protection from the perimeter, through to each endpoint and everything in between,” says Baird. “Sadly, company resources are

AI DISRUPTORS

“ STATE-SPONSORED ATTACKS HAVE A SINGLE AND SPECIFIC END GOAL OF BREACHING A TARGET’S NETWORK” PAUL BAIRD

CHIEF TECHNOLOGY SECURITY OFFICER, UK, QUALYS aimagazine.com

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AI DISRUPTORS

“ ATTACKERS WILL ALWAYS DEVELOP THEIR METHODS TO FIT THE TARGET” DAVID WARBURTON

PRINCIPAL THREAT RESEARCH EVANGELIST, F5

finite and hard choices have to be made as to which areas to defend.” With such attackers able to rapidly evolve their methods, companies need to adapt their own defences at the same speed, as David Warburton, Principal Threat Research Evangelist, F5, explains: “Attackers will always develop their methods to fit the target. That said, one concept that would make a massive difference for companies targeted for state-sponsored attacks, is the idea of ‘shifting security left.’ Shifting security left refers to the idea of introducing security controls closer to the beginning of the software development process. It is no new concept, and one many understand at a top level. But the public discussion focuses too much on tools for code scanning and automated patching. Legacy tools such as web application firewall (WAF) are often ignored and perhaps seen as outdated now, but in fact, they still have their uses when adapted for the function. Combatting advanced nation-state attacks requires a multi-layered approach.” It’s not just about technology, but also approach. “Ensuring organisations know who is accessing what data and that systems are patched and monitored, are just some of the key processes that are sometimes not followed,” says Manoj Bhatt, Head of Cybersecurity and Advisory at Telstra Purple.

“This can leave organisations vulnerable to basic security attacks. Technical security controls are a great start; however, security awareness and cultural investment is key.” Keeping up with the pace of such threats is an inhuman task. Luckily, AI is there to pick up the slack. One such example is “AI’s automation of mundane security tasks such as vulnerability management, antivirus, identity management, and mail hygiene,” says Warburton. “Google did this to good effect by employing AI to block an additional 100 million spam messages per day. Another example of AI’s use is its ability to analyse high volumes of signals to identify and block seemingly legitimate transactions generated by bots. This is something humans could never achieve without a considerable investment in time and money.” AI’s capacity to trawl through vast reserves of data means it can also spot patterns outside the reach of humans. “AI and Machine Learning can help in the fight against cyber-crime, by learning

aimagazine.com

AI DISRUPTORS

What are State-Sponsored Cyber Attacks? Experts Answer!

to recognise certain patterns based on past data analysis and reduce incident response times,” says Marcin Hejka, Co-Founder and General Partner of OTB Ventures. “Traditional cyber security prevention techniques are based on using signatures to identify threats. This works well for previously known threats but is not effective for threats that have not been discovered yet.” It’s not a question of AI totally replacing the human role in cybersecurity, however. “Ultimately, AI is programmable logic that looks for anomalies and behaviours,” says Baird. “Once correlated, it can show an attack vector faster than a human ever could. However, AI will never replace humans entirely as SOC analysts remain the cornerstone of a defence strategy. AI can catch 90% of potential issues, but human intervention is required to work towards achieving 100% coverage.” Furthermore, 70

June 2021

AI DISRUPTORS

“ TECHNICAL SECURITY CONTROLS ARE A GREAT START; HOWEVER, SECURITY AWARENESS AND CULTURAL INVESTMENT IS KEY” MANOJ BHATT

HEAD OF CYBERSECURITY AND ADVISORY, TELSTRA PURPLE

Bhatt warns about putting the AI cart before the horse. “Many organisations try and implement artificial intelligence as a technology driver and this can lead to failures,” says Bhatt. “Planning and understanding the processes that artificial intelligence systems need to be embedded into a business is key. A growing number of systems are utilising artificial intelligence within their operations and this is predicted to increase.” Going forwards, the cybersecurity threats facing businesses are only set to multiply. “Threat trends are likely to continue to target the remote workforce as many employees have become less vigilant outside of the professional office environment,” says Baird. “CISOs can’t rely solely on technology to guard the perimeter, and so continued investment in staff training is vital to uphold standard security practices.” Overcoming such challenges will require flexibility. “Covering the basics will become ever more challenging as the way that we do business will continue to evolve and become more flexible,” says Bhatt. “Businesses want the flexibility to pick and choose technologies, along with changing the way that business is carried out from anywhere in the world. These demands will mean that the security team will need to ensure that it is staying close to the business to embed security by design principles along with supporting and enabling the innovation of businesses.” Businesses’ cybersecurity efforts will aimagazine.com

AI DISRUPTORS

“ AI AND MACHINE LEARNING CAN HELP IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CYBER-CRIME, BY LEARNING TO RECOGNIZE CERTAIN PATTERNS BASED ON PAST DATA ANALYSIS” MARCIN HEJKA

CO-FOUNDER AND GENERAL PARTNER, OTB VENTURES

June 2021

AI DISRUPTORS

also have to be retooled for the postCOVID-19 landscape. “As remote work and online collaboration are becoming a norm in the post-COVID world we have seen accelerated migration of companies to the cloud, which creates new vectors of potential attacks, for instance through vulnerable cloud applications, unauthorized remote access, unsecured networks or even weak passwords. The dynamic growth of IoT (Internet of Things) and the growing number of connected devices and sensors will also

create new potential vulnerabilities that will certainly be explored by hackers. We may see the rise of automotive hacking as cars are becoming connected devices. Gaining control of vehicles by hackers may become a serious threat and autonomous vehicles will need to apply strict security measures.” With emerging threats stemming from geopolitical strife and new ways of working, cybersecurity teams will need to draw on all the tools available to them, from AI to new strategies and approaches. aimagazine.com

ESRI

UNLOCKING THE POWER OF

SPATIAL ANALYSIS WRITTEN BY: WILLIAM SMITH

June 2021

PRODUCED BY: TOM VENTURO

ESRI

aimagazine.com

ESRI

Esri’s Arthur Haddad, Chief Technology Officer, Location Analytics, runs through the GIS pioneer’s offering and how it is revolutionising access to the technology

“ IT’S ABOUT EASE OF USE AND MAKING GIS TOOLS ACCESSIBLE TO MANY MORE PEOPLE” ARTHUR HADDAD

CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER, LOCATION ANALYTICS, ESRI

June 2021

rthur Haddad’s 25-year career at geographic information system (GIS) leader Esri has seen him rise to the position of Chief Technology Officer, Location Analytics. “I started off as a professional services consultant and I immediately started working with CEO Jack Dangermond himself on the front lines, out there writing code and solving our users’ problems. Soon that translated into working on the team that created the GIS Data Server, an internet-based server that evolved into today’s ArcGIS Enterprise and ArcGIS Online SaaS offering.” That project (among others) was one of the efforts that cemented Esri’s status as a GIS pioneer, with the company today offering on-premise GIS infrastructure as well as software-as-a-service (SaaS) implementations to cater to the differing demands of its various customers. “We're the world leader in GIS software,” says Haddad. “We pioneered it and our innovations have led to advances within the geographical sciences towards solving problems around the world.” Haddad emphasises that Esri’s solutions unlock a whole new realm of data with potentially huge ramifications. “GIS software is really a superset of everything that everyone does today. People work with qualitative, quantitative and temporal aspects of information to make critical decisions around the world. What about that fourth spatial or location data type?”

ESRI

Arthur Haddad Chief Technology Officer, Location Analytics, Esri aimagazine.com

ESRI

See The World with Esri Location Technology | See What Others Can’t

It’s often only with that spatial dimension in mind that the true contextual value of data can be realised. “80% of the challenge is data wrangling - trying to find data that will augment analyses and provide more context towards information, whether that’s spatial data or any other type. ArcGIS provides the largest authoritative living atlas of the world, and a lot of it is publicly accessible, curated by the organisations that put it out. We augment their analysis and on top of that, we have a team of demographers, cartographers and data engineers dealing with information from over 120 countries around the world.” Having that context can lead to measurable real-world impact, as Haddad explains. “Informed stakeholders and executives make better decisions and save money. My Location Analytics group created a product called ArcGIS Insights. And one of the first customers that picked it up realised $30,000 78

June 2021

“ 80% OF THE CHALLENGE IS DATA WRANGLING - TRYING TO FIND DATA THAT WILL AUGMENT ANALYSES AND PROVIDE MORE CONTEXT TOWARDS INFORMATION” ARTHUR HADDAD

CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER, LOCATION ANALYTICS, ESRI

ESRI

ARTHUR HADDAD TITLE: CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER, LOCATION ANALYTICS INDUSTRY: COMPUTER SOFTWARE LOCATION: UNITED STATES

EXECUTIVE BIO

in savings a month within the first few hours of implementing it.” Haddad’s Location Analytics department is enabling everyone to leverage the power of ArcGIS, the most powerful GIS system, with capabilities included in over 100 products. “That’s anything from field collection to dashboarding, interactive reporting, mapping location intelligence and integrations as well.” On that last point, the company’s offering meshes with Microsoft 365, enabling users to make use of mapping capabilities in environments such as Excel, Powerpoint, Teams and Microsoft Power BI. Another of the company’s endeavours is in making mapping accessible to more users within an organisation - enabling even GIS non-experts to make use of its tools. “Creating a map is a complex process,” says Haddad. “People earn PhDs in cartography for a reason, and it's a lifetime of creative

Arthur (Art) Haddad is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Esri in the area of Location Analytics. He has worked in the computer industry for over 35 years with years dedicated to the field of GIS. Art is a Computer Scientist with a strong passion for GIS and all technologies. With many years in the Computer industry, Art has worked at Esri for more than 25 years and has a deep technical knowledge of the ArcGIS platform and the latest in enterprise and SaaS computing and technologies. He takes great pride in working with people to define, build, and deploy practical and sound business solutions applying geographic science and GIS technologies.

Find clarity when you need it most Enable everyone at every level of your organization to make confident decisions using up-to-the-minute analytics. Start discovering Power BI and Esri ArcGIS: aka.ms/PBIEsri.

Enabling data culture through innovation

A peek into Microsoft Power BI’s roadmap revealing exciting capabilities like real-time analytics and organisational goals tracking Today, data comes from the real world – whether it is the devices people use, to everyday human interaction. Power BI’s mission is to make access to data paramount to every business operation through its solutions and empowers individuals, teams and organizations to drive a data culture. Some of the latest innovations include bringing performance management to Power BI for the first time with the introduction of Goals and low-code real-time data analysis with Streaming Data Flows. Power BI helps make tracking business goals accessible and personalised. It is also worth noting that Goals is natively integrated into the Microsoft Teams experience. The goals algorithm is also AI assisted so organisations can better understand how they’re doing and where are the opportunities for improvement. Finally, Microsoft is working towards

integrating it with Power Automate, so organisations can define business processes that get automatically triggered as the goals change status. Goals will soon be available as a mobile experience too, so teams can stay up to date and take action in real-time. On that note, another major announcement from Microsoft features real-time analytics. Power BI has been a pioneer in real time analytics from the start with a simple vision – that the distinctions between batch, real time, and streaming data today will disappear over time. Power BI will launch Streaming Data Flows soon, allowing a low-code approach to working with real-time data for every business. Arun Ulagarathchagan, Corporate Vice President of the Power BI team says that the business analytics tool has a clear, data-driven purpose, adding “Our vision here in the Power BI team is to help you drive a data culture where everyone can make every decision with data.”

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ESRI

“ OUR INNOVATIONS HAVE LED TO ADVANCES WITHIN THE GEOGRAPHIC SCIENCES TOWARDS SOLVING PROBLEMS AROUND THE WORLD” ARTHUR HADDAD

CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER, LOCATION ANALYTICS, ESRI

inspiration to create maps that actually tell a story.” The answer, in part, is the company’s smart mapping solution as part of ArcGIS. “Smart mapping takes a statistical representation of your data, interrogates it, understands what the categories are and provides you with options. We then go a step further and provide intelligent defaults so that right off the bat you can automatically have a correct representation of your data. It means that you don’t have to know much about cartography to create the proper map.” Along the same lines, the company is expanding access via its ArcGIS Online platform, which enables individuals to work with its GIS via a simple browser. “After signing up for an ArcGIS online subscription, you can get working immediately,” says Haddad. “At the same time, administrators can add additional capabilities as they need to, whether creating maps, organising teams and groups and enabling specific essential app bundles. Even the Microsoft bundles directly inside of ArcGIS online are simply a matter of configuration. Think of it as a no-coding approach to working with geographic information systems.” Naturally, the online experience has parity with other 82

June 2021

versions. “Everything that’s online is also available on premises - so you don't have to leave your company structure if you don’t want to. It’s about ease of use and making GIS tools accessible to many more people via SaaS or on-premises offerings.” As with all companies around the globe, Esri has had to adapt to the ongoing COVID19 pandemic. “We've had to quickly shift from our traditional ways of working - from the hallway conversations, gathering in meeting rooms and going out to the pub

ESRI

1969

YEAR FOUNDED

1,001 - 5,000 NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES

Computer Software INDUSTRY

afterwards to a virtual place. Of course, we already had people from around the world working with us, so in a lot of cases, we already dealt with time zones and communicated via Teams.” Vital to managing that transition successfully was the company’s culture. “It wasn't easy at first, but people started getting the hang of things. The culture here is such that we're a very passionate bunch, very smart - not just academically but in terms of common sense. Everyone managed to adjust because of the aimagazine.com

ESRI

“ PEOPLE EARN PhDS IN CARTOGRAPHY FOR A REASON, AND IT'S A LIFETIME OF CREATIVE INSPIRATION TO CREATE MAPS THAT ACTUALLY TELL A STORY” ARTHUR HADDAD

CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER, LOCATION ANALYTICS, ESRI

June 2021

ESRI

diverse and multinational types of people that Esri is made up of and the passion that they have.” That culture has not only been crucial for getting through the pandemic, but for the company’s overall success since its foundation by CEO Jack Dangermond in 1969. “Jack's vision for Esri is tremendous: use the power of GIS to make the world a better place. Who wouldn't want to be a part of that culture?” Such ambition demands space to learn from mistakes, and Haddad is clear that is an approach he promotes. “Failure is not failure to me. Failure is: you tried your best, but for all kinds of reasons, it didn't work out. That's okay. You can learn from it and come back. Failure is experience. And we want to enable a place where failure isn't viewed as a negative but is viewed as an opportunity to grow.” The future of Esri and GIS at large is bright, with new AI techniques only further improving its offering. “AI, machine learning and data science as a whole are coming into play. We have a whole initiative around spatial analysis and data science. ArcGIS Insights has a model where you can connect to your existing open data science world and start coding into an analytics workbench, for instance.” That’s very much in line with Esri’s broader mission to continue innovating and create solutions for all users and industries. “We want to give everybody the power to succeed through the use of the geographic sciences and GIS, even if they’re not experts. We want to advance the world of spatial analysis and data science and allow the creation of authoritative mapping products that the world needs.”

aimagazine.com

DATA ANALYTICS

June 2021

How AI is multiplying the impact of the INTERNET OF THINGS The utility of two emerging technologies in the form of AI and IoT is self-evident, but their combination is unlocking even more value from data

he internet of things (IoT) is revolutionising businesses from manufacturing to customer service to telecommunications. As the place where physical and digital means interact, the technology is hugely important to those looking for real-world impact from digital transformation. Simply put, the technology is a broad house encompassing all physical objects with embedded digital means of communication and sensing. One does not need to look far to see examples of the technology in use today. “The smart home is perhaps the most advanced example of real-world IoT implementations at this stage,” says Mark Lippett, CEO, XMOS, which develops processors and applications for the artificial intelligence of things. “Voice assistants are the best example, with Statista finding that 23% of UK adults under 55 own a smart speaker of some kind. There will come a point where smart devices are assimilated into our everyday lives, from navigating smart cities, to personal healthcare, to putting the ‘smart’ into smart manufacturing and

WRITTEN BY: WILLIAM SMITH

“ AI enables you to make inferences from that data and use it to guide future plans and initiatives” MARTIN JAMES

VICE PRESIDENT EMEA, PERCONA aimagazine.com

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DATA ANALYTICS

“ Many of the biggest advances have been made around sensor data and how to make it more useful at scale” MARTIN JAMES

VICE PRESIDENT EMEA, PERCONA

industry 4.0. But the smart home is the most immediate opportunity.” A significant area of growth for the industry is in making “dumb” devices smart. “Voice or remote-controlled thermostats, capable of predicting your requests based on previous behaviour and interacting through natural language, are one of many simple introductions that reflect an appetite for AI-driven control over our immediate environment.” Away from the consumer space, industry has also adopted IoT at pace, as Martin James, Vice President EMEA at database software

firm Percona, explains. “Many of the biggest advances have been made around sensor data and how to make it more useful at scale. Several markets have succeeded at this – the oil and gas industries have deployed large scale sensor networks and devices, and the water management sector is an example of where this can have a fast impact.” Another area basking in the IoT glow is the logistics sector. “Having sensors on all the goods you create can be very useful when it comes to tracking deliveries and ensuring products are real rather than counterfeit. For example, tracking medication from initial manufacture through to store delivery can help with supply chain efficiency, but can also be used to prove that goods are legitimate. In an age where vaccines and treatments are invaluable, that is an important use case.” aimagazine.com

DATA ANALYTICS

ACCORDING TO GARTNER :AI-AUGMENTED TECHNOLOGIES WILL CREATE $2.9TRN OF VALUE IN 2021

June 2021

DATA ANALYTICS

However, it’s when IoT is combined with another emerging technology, namely AI, that its true value emerges. That’s mainly because of its use in extracting value from the data IoT produces. “AI enables you to make inferences from that data and use it to guide future plans and initiatives,” says James. “Once you have a data baseline in place, you can start looking for patterns. AI can help with analysis and future modelling.” Lippett concurs, adding that “the combination of IoT sensors and AI has the potential to take [things] much further. A lightbulb with a light sensor can automatically react to existing light levels, but with an audio sensor it can also respond to your voice and acoustic events like fire alarms. Add radar to the mix, and the light could determine

“ The smart home is perhaps the most advanced example of real-world IoT” MARK LIPPETT CEO, XMOS

whether anyone was in the room, and respond accordingly.” Personalisation is another area in which the combination shines, as Lippett explains. “Facial recognition on kitchen appliances or exercise equipment can allow them to implement aimagazine.com

DATA ANALYTICS

personalised settings based on who’s using the machine. Potentially dangerous appliances like an oven could be programmed to limit features available to children for example.” As with all endeavours using personal data, however, attention must be paid to its protection. “It’s not as simple as just implementing AI,” says James. “You need solid and reliable data to be successful, as well as having a robust data infrastructure in place. You have to look at how your algorithms work, and whether they are accurate over time. If your sensor data relates to people you must consider the ethical and moral use of that data, and how your algorithms guide choices that impact upon people’s lives.” With the two technologies operating in unison, future possibilities are potentially

“ We need to be able to minimise the reliance of smart devices on the cloud and begin transitioning towards an IoT model that integrates AI locally” MARK LIPPETT CEO, XMOS

June 2021

transformative, as Lippett explains: “For example, the next generation of smart speakers could support connected healthcare, monitoring biometric data — heart rate, breathing rate, temperature – to predict and prevent an illness before the user is even aware. Smart cities will be capable of delivering you to the only empty parking space in a busy city, redirect traffic to minimise congestion, or conserve energy by turning off streetlights that aren’t needed.” The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has played its part too in accelerating the technology’s development. “The last 12 months has seen the world adopt remote working as the norm, so anything that reduces direct or human interaction is now at the top of corporate and personal agendas,” says James. “In addition there are huge future

DATA ANALYTICS

opportunities around data. No company has ever said they want less data, but they do need to consider the cost and effort of storing and processing it, as well as keeping it safe. IoT devices and sensors will be some of the biggest creators of data.” Challenges remain, however, before the technology is fully realised. “We need to be able to minimise the reliance of smart devices on the cloud and begin transitioning towards an IoT model that integrates AI locally,” says Lippett. “Today’s smart devices are typically dependent on resource-hungry and costly cloud-based compute. This comes marred with challenges around latency, connectivity, privacy and energy consumption. The flaws in cloud networking are well documented, particularly as they’re usually reliant on a

similarly imperfect network, Wi-Fi, to make that connection.” Overcoming that hurdle involves use of edge computing. “We’re now beginning to see processors that allow AI to operate on the edge of the network — locally on the device itself, independent of the cloud. These devices, boasting both a sophisticated suite of IoT sensors (voice identification, imaging capabilities, presence detection etc.) and effective digital signal processing (to interpret the results), no longer need to lean on the cloud to perform.” IoT devices, then, are now an inescapable presence in our lives, whether that’s the smart speakers in our home lives or sensors in a work setting. Thanks to AI, IoT is only becoming more versatile – expect to continue to feel its transformative impact in the coming years.

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TOP 10

AI PLATFORMS We take a closer look at ten of the premier AI platform offerings to better understand what they offer customers 94

June 2021

WRITTEN BY: WILLIAM SMITH

TOP 10

hat artificial intelligence is continuing to have a huge impact on the global economy is undeniable. According to PwC, AI will enhance the economies of North America and China by 14.5% by 2030, encompassing 70% of the global impact of the technology. The question is how can enterprises best ride this wave and unlock the power of AI within their businesses? Perhaps the first and most crucial step is simply in realising the limits of

the technology, and not falling into the trap of seeing it as a panacea. AI’s potential is vast, but real-world deployments work best when limited in scope, for instance via a course of robotic process automation (RPA) to free up workers from mundane tasks. Once that hurdle has been overcome, next up is choosing the right platform. To that end, we’ve assembled a list of ten of the premier AI platform offerings, taking a closer look at their capabilities in different areas.

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TOP 10

INFOSYS NIA Infosys Nia is offered by Indian IT multinational Infosys’ subsidiary EdgeVerve. The product offers enterprises the ability to tap into the potential of AI across the business environment, incorporating features including data management, model development and deployment. One of its specialisations is in the automatic digitising of documents in order to unlock the data contained within. EdgeVerve itself is a leader in robotic and intelligent process automation via its AssistEdge platform.

June 2021

SALESFORCE EINSTEIN Specifically built for Salesforce’s CRM solution, Salesforce Einstein imbues the platform with AI capabilities to enable possibilities such as identifying patterns and trends in customer data. That in turn enables companies to better understand their customers in order to deliver more personalised forms of customer service. San Francisco’s Salesforce is a leader in the customer relationship management space, having been founded in 199 by internet entrepreneur Marc Benioff.

TOP 10

WIPRO HOLMES The Wipro Holmes AI and automation platform promises to cover all aspects of deploying an AI solution, from building to publishing, metering, governing and monetising, and is offered on a software-as-a-service (SaaS) basis. Among its features are digital virtual agents and process automation, as well as support for robotics and drones. The Indian multinational IT firm Wipro was founded in 1945 and is owned by Azim Premji, an Indian technology pioneer and one of the country’s richest people.

DATAROBOT AI platform DataRobot is based in Boston, Massachusetts and specialises in multiple enterprise applications across a range of verticals. It focuses on expanding access to AI within an organisation, from data scientists to software engineers and executives. The firm has received significant venture capital backing, topping $750mn after its latest $50mn Series F in December 2020. That’s only cemented its position as an AI unicorn (a tech startup worth over $1bn), which it first achieved in 2019. aimagazine.com

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IBM WATSON STUDIO

TENSORFLOW TensorFlow is a machine learning platform developed by Google and later released on an open source basis. It makes clear its end-to-end nature, facilitating all stages of machine learning from model building with high-level APIs, deployment whether on the cloud, on-premises, in a browser or device and taking ideas from the conceptual to the code level thanks to its flexible architecture. The platform includes different libraries for its various deployment settings, with a lightweight version for mobile and IOT deployments.

Operating on any cloud system, IBM’s Watson Studio allows for the building and training of AI models. Capabilities include the automation of AI lifecycle management with IBM’s AutoAI solution, the building of models using images and text with IBM’s visual recognition and natural language classifying products, and “one-click” integration with IBM Watson Machine learning. The solution also allows the use of open source frameworks including TensorFlow and PyTorch and notebooks such as Jupyter.

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TOP 10

04 H2O.AI

H2O.ai describes its mission as being the democratisation of AI and machine learning for everyone. With an open source platform, the company claims to be used by hundreds of thousands of data scientists in over 20,000 organisations across the world, in industries such as financial services, healthcare, retail and insurance. The Mountain View, California-based business has raised over $150mn since its 2012 foundation, with its latest Series D in 2019 raising $72.5mn.

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MICROSOFT AZURE Microsoft’s AI platform integrates with its Azure cloud product, which it says is suitable for mission-critical solutions. Enabling features such as image analytics, speech comprehension and prediction, Microsoft’s solution claims to be useful for all developers, from data scientists to app developers and machine learning engineers. Part of its offering is based around an ethical and responsible approach to AI, with systems to mitigate bias as well as ensure confidentiality and compliance.

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AMAZON AI SERVICES Giving the examples of contact centers, automatic content moderation, healthcare analytics and demand forecasting, Amazon touts the capabilities of its advanced machine learning in fields such as video analysis, natural language, virtual assistants and more to enable businesses to get the same level of insight via AI that Amazon itself does.

Amazon emphasises the accessibility of its services, and the potential to add AI to applications without any machine learning skills required. aimagazine.com

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GOOGLE CLOUD AI PLATFORM Google AI Platform allows for the creation of applications that run on both the Google Cloud Platform and on-premises. It targets machine learning developers, data scientists and data engineers with an easier route from the ideas to the production stage, thanks to its flexibility and support for other Google platforms such as Kubeflow. With native support for other Google AI products such as TensorFlow, Google’s solution promises an end-to-end approach, with everything from preparing data to validation and deployment contained under one umbrella.

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