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CES 2018: Intel partners with BMW, Nissan, SAIC Motor, Volkswagen, Paramount Pictures and Ferrari North America
NEW DELHI: In the opening keynote for Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2018) Intel CEO Brian Krzanich highlighted how data is transforming the world around us and driving the next great wave of technology innovation, from autonomous driving to artificial intelligence (AI) to virtual reality (VR) and other forms of immersive media.
In a keynote packed with glimpses into future technologies, Krzanich treated the audience to a dazzling array of data-driven innovations.
In autonomous driving, he unveiled Intel’s first autonomous vehicle in its 100-car test fleet; disclosed that BMW, Nissan, and Volkswagen are moving their Mobileye-based mapping design wins to actual deployments; and announced new collaborations with SAIC Motor and NavInfo to extend crowdsourced map building to China.
Focused on the future of AI, Krzanich announced a partnership with Ferrari* North America to use Intel’s AI technologies to apply data from the racetrack to enhance the experience for fans and drivers.
In immersive media, he introduced the newly established Intel Studios and announced Paramount Pictures will be the first major Hollywood studio to explore this technology in tandem with Intel to see where this will lead for the next generation of visual storytelling.
“Data is going to introduce social and economic changes that we see perhaps once or twice in a century,” Krzanich said.
“We not only find data everywhere today, but it will be the creative force behind the innovations of the future. Data is going to redefine how we experience life – in our work, in our homes, how we travel, and how we enjoy sports and entertainment,” added Krzanich.
Krzanich’s keynote marked the start of CES for Intel and provided tangible examples for how the company and its partners are unlocking the power of data to transform businesses and our daily lives.
Building the Autonomous Future
In autonomous driving, Krzanich announced that 2 million vehicles from BMW, Nissan and Volkswagen will use Mobileye Road Experience Management (REM) technology to crowdsource data to build and rapidly update low-cost, scalable high-definition maps throughout this year.
For the China market, Krzanich disclosed two critical partnerships with leading automotive manufacturer SAIC Motor and digital mapping company NavInfo. In addition, SAIC will develop Level 3, 4 and 5 cars in China based on Mobileye technology. Levels are assigned based on capacity for autonomy – a Level 4 vehicle can drive itself almost exclusively without any human interaction, and a Level 5 vehicle can drive itself without human interaction on any road.
Krzanich also disclosed details for the company’s new automated driving platform, which combines automotive-grade Intel Atom® processors with Mobileye EyeQ5® chips to deliver a platform with industry-leading scalability and versatility for L3 (Level 3) to L5 (Level 5) autonomous driving.
Intel Senior Vice President and CEO/CTO of Mobileye Professor Amnon Shashua will share more details about the company’s autonomous driving strategy during an Intel press conference at CES on Tuesday, Jan. 9, at 10:00 a.m. (LVCC room #228).
Driving Insights with Intel AI and Exploring Technology of Tomorrow
Addressing artificial intelligence, Krzanich showcased how companies are using Intel’s technology to transform their businesses through AI.
He announced Intel is partnering with Ferrari North America to bring the power of AI to the Ferrari Challenge North America Series that will take place on six courses in the U.S. this year. The Ferrari Challenge broadcast will use the processing power of Intel Xeon Scalable processors and the neon framework for deep learning not only to transcode, identify objects and events, and stream the experience to viewers online, but also to mine the resulting data for further insights for drivers and fans.
Looking ahead to the future of computing, Krzanich noted Intel’s promising research into neuromorphic computing, a new type of computing architecture that mimics the way brains observe, learn and understand. Intel’s neuromorphic research prototype chip (“Loihi”) is now fully functioning and will be shared with research partners this year.
Krzanich also announced the next milestone in Intel’s efforts to develop a quantum computing system. Intel shipped its first 49-qubit quantum computing test chip (“Tangle Lake”) to research partner QuTech. Quantum computing is the ultimate in parallel processing, and Krzanich noted it has the potential to compute at a far greater speed than anything ever achieved before.
In addition to enabling AI and the autonomous future, Krzanich discussed how data can transform other everyday experiences, such as entertainment and media. He announced the debut of Intel Studios, a newly constructed, state-of-the-art studio dedicated to the production of large-scale, volumetric content – using Intel True View technology – that will create new forms of visual storytelling with and without VR.
Intel Studios features the world’s largest volumetric video stage and a comprehensive post-production and control facility that will enable companies to create lifelike immersive media experiences like never before. Paramount Pictures is the first major Hollywood studio to explore this technology in tandem with Intel.
In sports, Krzanich announced that Intel will enable the largest scale virtual reality event to date with the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 using Intel® True VR technology. Intel, together with the official Rights Holding Broadcasters, will capture a record 30 Olympic events, with both live and video-on-demand content available. This marks the first-ever live virtual reality broadcast of the Olympic Winter Games and will be available in the U.S. via a forthcoming NBC Sports VR app.
Krzanich also showcased how Intel is helping bring the future of 5G to the Olympics Winter Games to enable other new realistic, immersive and responsive sports and entertainment experiences with VR and 360-degree video.
Finally, Intel achieved a new Guinness World Records* title for the most UAVs airborne simultaneously from a single computer indoors when Krzanich presented a spectacular indoor light show performed by 100 Intel® Shooting Star™ Mini drones, or UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles).
“If you are impressed by what you see at CES this week, stay tuned,” Krzanich stated in his closing remarks.
“We are still discovering new ways to apply the power of AI and data. These discoveries will impact nearly every sector of innovation, and Intel is at the forefront of this revolution, bringing to life the promise of data-driven experiences through autonomous driving, AI, 5G and VR. At Intel, we not only see a world of infinite possibilities where technology makes our lives easier, we see a future where technology makes the world a better place,” added Krzanich.
NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel, India’s telecommunications services provider, today announced the launch of its ultra-fast 5G services in 125 cities. Airtel 5G Plus service is now available to customers in over 265 cities in the country.
Airtel 5G Plus has three compelling advantages for customers. First, it runs on a technology that has the widest acceptance in the world with the most developed ecosystem. This ensures that all 5G smartphones in India seamlessly work on the Airtel network. Second, the company promises to deliver the best experience – between 20 to 30 times higher speeds than today coupled with brilliant voice experience and super-fast call connect. Finally, Airtel 5G Plus network will also be kinder to the environment with its special power reduction solution. Powered by the reliable Airtel network infrastructure, Airtel 5G Plus will provide superfast access to High-Definition video streaming, gaming, multiple chatting, instant uploading of photos et all.
Commenting on the launch, Randeep Sekhon, CTO, Bharti Airtel said, “5G has revolutionized the world of internet, ushering new era of connectivity and communications that will prove to be a game-changer for the country. At Airtel, we remain committed to delivering the highest quality of network and service to our customers as we roll-out 125 more cities today. Airtel was the first in the country to offer 5G services in October 2022, and today’s mega launch is our promise to connect every Airtel customer in the country with ultra-fast Airtel 5G Plus. Our 5G rollout is on track to cover all towns and key rural areas by March 2024.”
Airtel 5G Plus service availability will continue to rapidly expand – including service in all towns and villages in the country soon – as the company is working towards offering nationwide coverage. Airtel is now offering its 5G services in every major city from the upper northern city of Jammu to the southern tip of Kanyakumari.
In the last one year, Airtel has demonstrated the power of 5G with a host of powerful use cases that will change the way customers lead their lives and do business. From India’s first live 5G network in Hyderabad to India’s first private 5G network at the BOSCH facility in Bengaluru to partnering with Mahindra & Mahindra to make its Chakan manufacturing facility, India’s first 5G enabled auto manufacturing unit, Airtel has been at the forefront of 5G innovation.
NEW DELHI: Comviva, a global leader in customer experience and data monetization solutions today announced the launch of its 5G compatible Application Driven Network Platform, ADriN to offer a unified, simplified, secured experience to the B2B2X value chain of Digital Service Providers, Enterprises, Hyperscalers, application developers and the smart device ecosystem.
Comviva’s ADriN platform boasts dynamic capabilities that allow it to understand the behavior of connected devices in real-time. This enables the platform to orchestrate and deliver personalized, intent-driven experiences in a secured and controlled environment, regardless of the underlying experience providers – DSPs, Enterprises and Hyperscalers.
Excited at this development, Comviva CEO, Manoranjan (Mao) Mohapatra said, “At Comviva, we prioritize creating unique experiences for our customers’ end-users to remain relevant. Our commitment to deeper customer engagement and significant investments has led to the development of ADriN, a platform that simplifies the user experience in the untapped B2B2X segment. With new engagement models centered around ARR and Network-as-a-Service, ADriN is positioned to become a critical contributor to any experience provider’s top-line growth.”
ADriN simplifies the process of capturing and understanding the intentions of end customers of enterprises and digital service providers. It offers an easy-to-use interface that delivers a trusted and secure service experience. Using ADriN, intentions are captured and processed through machine learning applications across various devices, which in turn creates a real-time service catalogue. This enables networks and infrastructures to respond in a specific manner to ever-changing intentions.
This creates lucrative monetization opportunity for the custodians of the B2B2X value chain with the adoption of ARR models, such as Network-as-a-Service. The monetization opportunity is highly attributed to the intents captured from the end consumer’s devices or machines or interface through their simple native language. ADriN effectively processes and converts this intent into open call models and open APIs, which seamlessly integrate into the ecosystem. This orchestration results in a personalized experience for the consumer, without the need to worry about the network custodians they are connected to, be it G network or other networks.,
Speaking at the launch, Swapnil Shah, Vice President for 5G and Edge Business Group at Comviva said, “ADriN has received strong validation in recent time from niche ecosystem players like digital service providers, enterprises and hyperscalers. With the growing popularity of AI-based operations, ML-driven devices, and application developer communities, ADriN is poised to make a distinct impact on the B2X and B2B2X value chains in the coming years. The collaborative efforts of CAMARA, 5G PPP, ORAN, TIP, 5G ACIA, GSMA Op, ETSI, 3GPP, VEPP, and DSPs have also contributed to democratizing organic networks for developers, while government-driven initiatives have paved the way for an intent-driven future.”
ADriN utilizes an ecosystem agnostic platform approach to comprehensively understand the intention of devices. It dynamically creates policy configurations, marketplace operations, generates slices, and performs numerous other functions over a nimble service engine that seamlessly interacts with infrastructure, hyperscaler, and network functions. The platform is highly flexible, enabling it to meet the unique needs of diverse ecosystems.
NEW DELHI: Apple Inc has rolled out a beta programme to enable 5G on Apple devices as the upgrade lets users try out pre-release software.
This software upgrade enables 5G access on Apple devices, as and when service providers Jio, Airtel and Vodafone enable 5G network access, sources said.
Apple Users have to enrol for the Beta Programme on the website, install a profile and download the software.
Jio users using iPhone 12 and above, in cities where JioTrue5G has been rolled out, will be invited to the Jio Welcome Offer. Jio Welcome Offer provides unlimited 5G data at up to 1 Gbps speed to users at no additional cost. However, there is a condition that prepaid users must be on active Rs 239 and above plan. All Postpaid users are eligible for this trial.
Airtel is not providing any special 5G offer like Jio to their users. In the cities/areas in which the Airtel 5G network has been launched, users can trial 5G services as a part of their existing plan, once they have updated the latest Apple Beta software.
While an email sent to Apple did not solicit an immediate response, the firm had last month stated: “We are working with our carrier partners in India to bring the best 5G experience to iPhone users as soon as network validation and testing for quality and performance is completed. 5G will be enabled via a software update and will start rolling out to iPhone users in December”.
Airtel and Jio customers on iPhone 14, iPhone 13, iPhone 12 and iPhone SE (3rd generation) models can experience 5G as part of Apple’s iOS 16 Beta Software Program. The Apple Beta Software Program is open to anyone with a valid Apple ID who accepts the Apple Beta Software Program Agreement during the sign-up process.
If a user has an iCloud account, that is an Apple ID, it is recommended they use that. If they do not have an iCloud account or any other Apple ID, they can create one.
Customers who want to try the beta software should back up their iPhones before installing the beta software. It is recommended to install the beta software only on non-production devices that are not business-critical. Users can also provide feedback to Apple on quality and usability, which helps Apple identify issues, fix them, and make Apple software even better.
The iOS beta comes with the built-in Feedback Assistant app, which can be opened from the Home screen on the iPhone or iPad or from the Dock on the Mac.
Source: Press Trust of India
