Launching the era of accessible, deployable and scalable AI today

In this seemingly "new" era of artificial intelligence (AI), astonishing applications like ChatGPT and DeepMind are introduced almost daily.

But this moment in the evolution of AI did not arrive suddenly out of nowhere. In fact, many aspects of AI – machine learning, deep learning, inference, computer vision and more – have been quietly at work in your business and personal life for several years: unlocking devices via facial recognition and fingerprints, speeding written composition with predictive text autofill, and making personalized recommendations from streaming platforms and e-tailers. 

Far from being a fad or buzzword, AI will continue to have an increasingly pervasive impact on our world moving forward, with possibilities that even most experts have scarcely begun to imagine. Every networking device, storage / backup solution, and application will contain greater elements of AI. Even as it grows, implementing AI technology can be costly, complex and challenging, with a host of critical choices to consider. 

To help simplify, deploy and scale AI solutions for our customers today, World Wide Technology (WWT) and longtime technology ally Intel have a history of collaboration optimizing real-world AI solutions. Together, WWT and Intel combine a unique approach, in-depth AI expertise, and dedicated AI processes supported by Intel® technology to bring "AI everywhere" – making AI accessible at scale, and deployable today for a diversity of workloads.

Helping to navigate the complexities and challenges of AI

The reality is, bringing AI solutions online effectively to drive value requires teams to overcome myriad challenges as they advance from proof of concept (PoC) to full production. Enterprise customers often find that they must quickly understand, secure and manage new AI models, all on limited budgets and resources.

In its AI approach, WWT is mindful of these principles:

• Each AI use case and solution is unique – Driving the complexity is the fact that no two AI-based solutions are identical. Each brings its own size, parameters and use cases, along with a growing number of methods, capabilities and infrastructure requirements to run AI effectively.
• Understanding and curating data is foundational – Every AI solution is driven by data and comprehending that data is critical to success. WWT conducts this essential work with customers to identify what data to collect, how to prepare and ingest it, and where it should reside.
• Ensuring security is paramount -- Protecting those digital assets drives a constant need for compliance with data security and privacy protocols, often across a global threat-scape.
• HPA design and MLOps/ML platform are a necessity - High-Performance Architecture (HPA) design elements are critical as lines of business need to align with the organizations that will help bring use cases to production. In addition, your solution must include the right MLOps/ML platform layer to bring all the components of an Enterprise AI environment together, including models, data, data scientists, IT operations, governance, hardware allocation, job scheduler, and more. And, your MLOps solution should work within the existing IT software stack, orchestration and platforms – not standalone – to provide a public cloud-like access component where models, data and dedicated computing space are secure.
• Assembling the right infrastructure is key to optimizing ROI and TCO -- It's essential to determine, specify, acquire and configure the ideal mix of hardware, software and networking infrastructure to achieve desired performance outcome – managing costs, maximizing ROI and minimizing TCO.
• Ongoing success requires updating processes and supporting continuing education – Just as AI is transforming the user experience across all aspects of life, it's also having the same disruptive effect "behind the curtain" in the technology ecosystem: requiring IT professionals to continually recertify their skillsets, rethink outmoded assumptions, and accelerate data center refresh cycles beyond the traditional seven years. And those things are just the bare minimum needed to keep up in a dynamic marketplace.

WWT and Intel bring a thorough and unique approach to AI  

Together we work with customers at every stage to build, deploy, scale and support their distinctive AI solution, following our proven processes:

• Expert consulting focused on business outcomes – Working together consultatively to design solutions, teams of data scientists and engineers from WWT and Intel start by identifying the desired business outcomes, and then work backward to craft the elements for each unique solution. Rather than trying to tackle a long list of AI capabilities all at once, we work with customers to identify the most viable opportunities, starting small and scaling incrementally, refining as we grow. And, we work with customers to build a Center of Excellence that drives AI programs, letting the desired outcome inform the design of the supporting data center architecture.
• Utilizing WWT's Practical AI proven methodology – A foundational piece of our joint process is to bring together a holistic viewpoint that we call Practical AI, an approach that's crucial to long-term success. It starts with articulating desired business outcomes, identifying strengths and weaknesses, and planning for resilience and scalability across platforms. Although AI models are trained in the data center, they run at the edge, on the PC, in the data center and the cloud. Our methodology creates AI solutions that address this multi-platform approach, working within existing infrastructure and accommodating future demands. By following these steps, we enable customers to separate fact from hype, avoid overanalyzing, and position themselves for scalable AI success that's consistent with business goals.
• Accelerating solutions with the AI Proving Ground – In pursuit of this ideas-to-outcome approach, WWT has created an AI Proving Ground, a state-of-the-art lab environment within our Advanced Technology Center (ATC) multi-campus R&D ecosystem. This secure proving ground is where customers and technology allies can assemble, evaluate and refine promising innovations with hands-on access to new AI hardware, software and reference architectures. In the AI Proving Ground, WWT and Intel educate customers about technology capabilities as they integrate, optimize and deploy new AI applications.
• Supporting every step of the AI maturity transformation path – Embracing artificial intelligence is not a single checklist item but rather a continuum: envisioning, creating, deploying, scaling and ultimately evolving in a never-ending cycle of refinement. WWT and Intel can provide guidance reaching every milestone on your multi-year AI maturity transformation journey:

Phase 1 – Proof of concept establishing and validating use cases.

Phase 2 – Focus on refining the solution through cycles of iterative learning and improvement.

Phase 3 – Steady scaling out to increasing numbers of users.

Phase 4 – Mature, fully functional AI is in place and delivering reliable results and competitive value.

Our mutual alignment is accelerating AI everywhere

Through its broad ecosystem, support for open standards and embedded technology, Intel is making AI widely available. Besides being a leading producer of GPUs and CPUs for artificial intelligence, Intel offers built-in AI acceleration in its latest generation of Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors.

As AI becomes even more pervasive, the need to run some workloads on PCs increases. Intel has built AI features and functionality into Intel® Core™ processors and is building an ISV ecosystem to support the era of the AI PC, making workloads portable across hardware for accessibility to a broader market.

WWT works closely with Intel to optimize today's AI solutions. Together we help set the direction for new possibilities that improve and enrich lives, maintain public trust in institutions, resist illegal or unethical applications, and support sustainability.

WWT and Intel can help unlock the opportunities in AI everywhere

It is important to recognize that deploying and scaling an AI solution, going from POC to production, is a journey that takes time, investment and patience. It requires a thoughtful strategy tied to business outcomes and diligent execution. And, AI must be deployed in a way that takes into account the customer's process and people skills, minimizes adverse human impact, and realizes tangible benefits for the greater good.

AI is well on its way to ubiquity, and it's only a matter of time before we stop calling out "AI-powered" – because everything will be connected, scaled and intelligent. As industry leaders, WWT and Intel have the expertise and resources to help you realize the promise of AI and the possibilities for your operation.