In his keynote address at the GPU Technology Conference (GTC), Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang stated that the company shipped more than one billion GPUs and its CUDA software development kit had six million downloads thus far in 2020. He revealed 80 new SDKs and 1,800 GPU-accelerated applications are available. The company also unveiled its BlueField-2, a powerful data center services accelerator. GTC was expected to draw 30,000 global attendees this week for more than 1,000 sessions and coincides with the Arm DevSummit, which features a chat between Huang and Arm chief executive Simon Segars. Continue reading BlueField-2: Nvidia Debuts Data Center Services Accelerator

“How will advances in network technology over the next 36 months impact the way we watch movies, play video games, and create and produce immersive and engaging experiences?” was addressed during the first “ETC Executive Coffee with…” Zoom session. The September 23rd meeting was hosted by Albert Lao, executive director of solutions architecture for the Americas, Verizon Business Group, who took time to speak with a group of USC students. After a short video describing Verizon’s plans for 5G and edge computing, Lao led a discussion on the future of streaming media, the post-pandemic theatrical experience, immersive media, and other topics related to entertainment and technology. You can watch a 22-minute highlight reel of the one hour discussion or start with a 4-minute preview video. Continue reading ETC Executive Coffee: Verizon’s Albert Lao & USC Students

Moore’s Law — Intel co-founder Gordon Moore’s prediction that the number of transistors on a chip doubles about every two years — has been the foundation of the semiconductor industry. But, as the industry nears the limits of circuitry and physics of electronics, it’s being replaced by another one: that silicon chips powering AI more than double in power every two years, due to hardware and software. As Moore’s Law was the foundation for improvements in computers, this new law will power the Internet of Things. With its $40 billion acquisition of Arm Holdings, Nvidia could be positioned for a new type of evolution.  Continue reading With Arm Purchase, Nvidia May Dominate AI Edge Computing

If Nvidia acquires Arm Ltd. in the next few weeks, which many experts predict will happen, the company may be in the position to dominate the next computing ecosystem. Jefferies semiconductor analyst Mark Lipacis notes that, the computer industry goes through a “strategic inflection point” every 15 years, with research showing that dominant players in each era account for 80 percent of the profits. Different ecosystems are the result of “multi-pronged” strategy by those companies that come out on top. Continue reading Nvidia Purchase of Arm Signals Inflection Point in Computing

Ampere introduced the industry’s first-ever 80-core ARM-based 64-bit server processor — the Ampere Altra processor — for use in cloud and edge computing data centers. The move puts the company in direct competition with Intel and Advanced Micro Devices. Intel currently has 95.5 percent of the server chip market, with AMD taking the rest. The Ampere Altra, which runs on 210 watts, is aimed at artificial intelligence, cloud-native applications, data analytics, database, edge computing, storage, telco stacks and web hosting. Continue reading Ampere Debuts High-Performance 80-Core ARM-Based Chip

AI can enable many important tasks from manufacturing to medicine, but only if the applications are speedy and secure. Communication via the cloud adds latency and risks privacy, which is why Google worked on a solution — dubbed Coral — that avoids centralized data centers. Coral product manager Vikram Tank described Coral as a “platform of [Google] hardware and software components … that help you build devices with local AI — providing hardware acceleration for neural networks … right on the edge device.” Continue reading Google Bypasses Cloud to Offer AI to Enterprise Customers

The display of Sony’s 360 Reality Audio at CES 2020 just might summarize the entire show: a personalized experience in a 360-degree spherical sound field, exactly as intended by artists and creators. Listeners optimize Sony’s object-based spatial audio technology with an app that captures an image and then analyzes their ears. With the app connected to one of the select new Sony headphones and a premium music service such as Deezer, nugs.net, and TIDAL they will hear individual instruments, vocals, and even the audience placed in the sound field. Continue reading All About You: CES Products Highlight Personal Experiences

A session on 5G and robotics, moderated by Eugene Demaitre, senior editor of WTWH Media’s The Robot Report, drew a substantial crowd at CES 2020, although few in the audience raised their hands when asked who was involved in robotics. The panelists drilled down into how the advent of 5G is already and will further impact their industries, including manufacturing, agriculture and automotive. Produce Marketing Association vice president, technology Vonnie Estes noted that more and more farmers are adopting the new technology. Continue reading CES 2020: 5G and Robotics Come to Cars, Factories, Farms

Moderated by Deloitte Consulting chief cloud strategy officer David Linthicum, a group of experts gathered at CES to address the issues surrounding IoT at the edge of the cloud. Linthicum asked panelists what they think the big announcements of CES 2020 will be. Sikorsky Innovations flight control technical lead Derek Geiger echoed many of them when he said, “I don’t think there will be one major announcement.” “It will be little pieces of technology coming together,” he said. “It won’t be one company solving the problem.” Continue reading CES 2020: A Look at Improving IoT at the Edge of the Cloud

A conference on “Robots for Good” sought to allay increased fears that robot overlords will soon rule the world and make humans redundant in the workforce. UC Berkeley professor Ken Goldberg, who heads a robotics lab there, spoke about his “radically hopeful vision of the future.” Robots will not replace humans, he said, but rather enable people to focus on what they do best: creativity, innovation, empathy and other inherent human traits. Goldberg also put the fear of robots in historical perspective. Continue reading CES 2020: ‘Robots for Good’ Advocates See Hopeful Future

Apple inked a multi-year licensing agreement with U.K. company Imagination Technologies, giving it “wider range” access to that company’s IP including a new ray-tracing technology. Observers believe the move signals that Apple plans on adding ray tracing to its chips “in the foreseeable future.” Ray tracing is a graphics technology that enables imagery to be created with real-world lighting, reflections and shadows, creating a much more photorealistic result. Nvidia first brought ray tracing to PC GPUs in August 2018. Continue reading Apple Inks Deal with Imagination for Ray-Tracing Chip Tech

On December 10, the Entertainment Technology Center at USC will hold a symposium on “5G: Planning and Piloting First M&E Services.” Digital Town Square producer Rochelle Winters said the event will highlight 5G’s transformative potential, the first tests and trials of 5G-enabled enhancements such as AR overlays and immersive content, the benefits of edge computing, and the build-out of private and site-specific 5G networks. The symposium will also look into the future of 5G capture, content and services. Continue reading ETC Digital Town Square Explores the Impact of 5G on M&E

On December 10, the Entertainment Technology Center at USC will hold a symposium on “5G: Planning and Piloting First M&E Services.” Digital Town Square producer Rochelle Winters said the event will highlight 5G’s transformative potential, the first tests and trials of 5G-enabled enhancements such as AR overlays and immersive content, the benefits of edge computing, and the build-out of private and site-specific 5G networks. The symposium will also look into the future of 5G capture, content and services. Continue reading ETC Digital Town Square Explores the Impact of 5G on M&E

At Qualcomm’s Analyst Day in New York City, Qualcomm president Cristiano Amon presented a visual roadmap projecting the global rollout of 5G networks in 2020, stating that mid-band (sub-6GHz) 5G will spread broadly, first in major cities and then, in 2021, in developing countries. The deployment of 5G is important for Qualcomm, which is expected to be a major provider of 5G chips and IP to global carriers and OEMs. The deployment projected by Amon is subject to change based on potential regulatory changes. Continue reading Qualcomm Offers Roadmap of Global 5G Networks Rollout

Nvidia’s new EGX Platform will bring AI computing to the edge, meaning it will take place at the sensors, before being sent to cloud-based data centers. The platform is intended to handle the immense growth in sensors embedded in Internet of Things devices and wearables, which has resulted in a massive amount of raw data. According to Nvidia senior director of enterprise and edge computing Justin Boitano, “we will soon hit a crossover point where there is more computing power at the edge than in data centers.” Continue reading Nvidia EGX Brings AI Computing to the Edge, Enabling IoT