Professional services outfit Ernst & Young (EY) is to open an edge technologies lab (EY Edge Technologies Lab) in London with US-based Dell Technologies to demonstrate and develop edge-based “ecosystem technologies” to help enterprises with digital transformation. The venue will focus on industry-specific use cases and prototypes, said EY. A statement talked generally about the “value of data” and “real-time insights”, but was quick to mention generative AI, among all the different edge-based systems and applications to support fancy data-driven enterprise analytics.
It also talked about the importance of local edge-based computing systems, versus central cloud ones, for purposes of speed, performance, security, reliability, and resilience. EY will use Dell’s NativeEdge operations software platform, plus various edge computing hardware (gateways, servers, desktops) from the firm. It cited Microsoft, PTC, GE Digital, Snowflake, among others, as collaborators on the project, also. The AI angle centres on the London firm’s own AI hub (called EY.ai), presented as a “unifying platform” to make business processes smarter and AI simpler.
Noting the noisy hard-nosed Industry 4.0 end of the digital transformation game, EY said of the project: “The Lab helps demonstrate the competitive advantages of embedding AI at the edge. Through the Lab, clients can quickly address issues within their multi-tiered environments and data solutions that impact the bottom line. The Lab will also help leaders understand how having the right edge and data strategy impacts the convergence of IT and OT – a trend that’s helping to drive rapid adoption of edge computing.”
EY is pitching initially to enterprises in the manufacturing, life sciences, healthcare, consumer products, and utilities sectors. It said: “The Lab can bridge the gap between data transformation and management by helping create edge-centric use cases, like deploying an IoT solution for a client’s manufacturing process.” It said its “tech strategy and transformation” teams will offer “virtual interactions with clients”. EY is working with Dell, plus PTC, separately to to streamline the digitalisation of production workflows with a manufacturing throughput-as-a-service (MTaaS) offer.
Greg Cudahy, global tech-and-telecoms market leader at EY, said: “The EY Edge Technologies Lab reflects our commitment to providing innovative solutions that help empower EY clients to stay at the forefront of technology and gain a competitive advantage. With the Lab, we’re putting the power of edge directly into the hands of leaders, offering them the opportunity to explore, experiment, and harness live data insights in unexpected ways that will have a substantial impact on their business growth.”
Gil Shneorson, senior vice president of edge solutions at Dell, said: “Through our collaboration with the EY organisation, businesses will be able to harness the power of edge technology with a transformative platform approach. The Dell NativeEdge software platform, coupled with market-leading solutions and EY industry and AI knowledge, will empower organisations to achieve their business objectives.”
