Connecting everything: news bytes for 11/18
1. Samsung will manufacture Qualcomm’s newest processor, the Snapdragon 835. Samsung says it will be the first chipmaker to enter mass production of 10 nanometer FinFET technology. FinFET is a 3D chip manufacturing technology expected to become a new industry standard. While Samsung may be first to market with 10 nm FinFET, Apple supplier Global Foundries is already at work on 7 nm manufacturing.
Qualcomm said Samsung’s super-small process will enable it to add a number of new capabilities to improve the user experience of mobile devices and will be even smaller than today’s tiny processors. Snapdragon 835 is in production now and expected to ship in commercial devices in the first half of 2017, Qualcomm said.
2. Intel announced a new suite of artificial intelligence solutions. The new portfolio, called Nervana, spans the network from the data center to the edge. Intel CEO Brian Krzanich said “Intel is uniquely capable of enabling and accelerating the promise of AI.”
Intel said it already powers 97% of data center servers running AI workloads. Now the company wants to drive an exponential reduction in the time needed to train a deep learning model.
Artificial intelligence is seen as key to scalability for “internet of things” applications and is also expected to become a bigger part of carrier network functionality. Just yesterday, Nokia announced new machine learning capabilities for its customer care solution, noting AI will be important as carriers evolve to serve customers who are not people.
3. Intel and Disney are launching a drone light show for the holidays at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. The show will use 300 Intel drones, each of which can create billions of color combinations. All the drones can be controlled from one computer.
4. Silver Spring Networks signed an agreement with smart meter provider Kamstrup A/S, owned by Danish energy company OK. The two companies plan to integrate Silver Spring’s standards-based IPv6 Gen5 platform and Kamstrup’s OmniPower electric meter series. Silver Spring said it has now delivered almost 25 million IoT devices to the market.
5. Huawei is outpacing the market with its strong sales of videoconferencing solutions in Europe, according to Frost & Sullivan. The analyst firm said the market for videoconferencing endpoints is now growing less than 10% per year, but Huawei’s portfolio posted a sales increase of more than 22% last year.
