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DIGITIMES Biz Focus - Computex Taipei 2019
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Computex Taipei 2019
Computex 2019 tradeshow to be held from May 28-June 1, gathers together 1,685 exhibitors.
IN THE NEWS
Tuesday 28 May 2019
Liyitec showcases competitiveness in surface coating for large-size products
Liyitec has advanced its products' competitiveness with various kind of surface treatments, such as anti-glare (AG), anti-reflection (AR), anti-fingerprint (AF), anti-bacteria (AB) and anti-condensation features to meet customer's diversified needs for new product development.At the same time, in response to customer's expectation for large-size products, Liyitec is expanding its production facility to accommodate large-size product manufacturing. Dedicated to touch screen and cover glass for industrial applications, Liyitec is headquartered in Guishan Industrial District with two factories to satisfy customer's one-stop shopping requirement, from front-end process such as glass cutting, polishing, surface treatment to rear-end process such as touch screen module manufacturing and lamination.Liyitec currently serves customers from Japan, Europe, the US and Taiwan, covering areas of industrial, automotive, aviation, marine navigation, medical, education, outdoor digital signage and gaming applications. The company is capable of satisfying various kinds of applications with diverse specifications and quantities. This competitiveness is a result of Liyitec's commitment and extensive experiences in serving highly-customized and fragmented customers. The development of industrial products is different from that of consumer products. In order to ensure the reliability and quality of industrial products, the design, manufacturing and approval of industrial products are much more complicated, taking much more time than consumer products. All these efforts ensure that once the product is designed-in, it will be less likely to be replaced by other competitors. Although the characteristics of industrial products normally see lower quantities than consumer products, they are long-term and stable. Being able to provide long-term support and reliable products are key factors for building persistent customer relationship especially in the industrial supply chain. Liyitec's 30 years of track records has inevitably proved its enduring commitment to this principle.Liyitec products are touch screen modules and cover glass. They can be further divided into flat type, curve type and shaped type sized from 5-inch for handheld device to 65-inch for outdoor digital signage or white board applications. Liyitec is the market leader of curved type touch screen and cover glass. The curved type products can be single or multi-curvature according to customer's design. Besides, to satisfy customer's anti-explosive and anti-shatter requirement, Liyitec also offers laminated safety glass like automotive windshield to avoid glass shattering into sharp pieces hurting users under tremendous external impact. The laminated safety glass also has anti-UV and anti-IR property which is essential for outdoor applications.As the touch technology is gradually entering its mature stage, Liyitec, in addition to continuously penetrating the touch screen market, has further expanded its product lines into cover glass and surface treatment segment in the past few years. Via building in-house coating capability, Liyitec can now provide touch screen and cover glass products with anti-glare, anti-reflection, anti-fingerprint, anti-bacteria, and anti-condensation features. This strategic move further enhances Liyitec's competitiveness and irreplaceability by satisfying customers' one-stop shopping demand.Liyitec will exhibit its products at Computex 2019, Nangang Exhibition Center, Hall 2, booth#S0224, including medium- to large-size flat, curved, shaped, surface-coated, and anti-explosive touchscreen as well as cover glass to satisfy all kind of customization needs.Liyitec website: www.liyitec.com65 inch large size touch screen and surface treatment43 inch curved touch screen
Tuesday 28 May 2019
Leadtek AI solutions fully upgraded
Leadtek, a leading brand of global AI solutions, has completely upgraded its AI solution lineup this year, focusing on smart manufacturing, smart healthcare and health ecosystems. A wide array of top AI workstation solutions, server for data center solutions, VDI products, professional graphics cards and eSports graphics cards will be on display at the SmartTex AI & Robotics Zone - S0813 booth.WinFast RTX data science and deep learning workstationLeadtek exhibits workstations tailored for AI, data analysis, machine learning and deep learning. Powered by the Nvidia Turing-based Quadro RTX GPU, WinFast RTX Data Science Workstation series leads AI and data science workflows to a new level. Certified by Nvidia and designed for high-end market, WinFast RTX Data Science Workstation series carry Nvidia Quadro RTX 8000, RTX 6000 or GV100 professional graphics cards with up to 96GB GDDR6 memory, and NVIDIA CUDA-X AI software to accelerate deep learning frameworks such as RAPIDS, TensorFlow, PyTorch and Caffe, which can handle the largest data sets and compute-intensive workloads.In addition, to satisfy different demand in each country and assist small and medium-sized enterprises to adopt AI application easily, Leadtek has launched the WinFast RTX Deep Learning Workstation series which is suitable for entry, medium and high-level use. Its high efficiency and stable computing performance are essential tools for data processing and AI model training. With very high compatibility and stability, WinFast workstations series have been extensively tuned for software and hardware development, allowing developers to start AI development as soon as they get the workstation, eliminating the complex works for environment preparation and debugging.AI development environment with multiple information security protectionIn order to fully utilize centralized server resources and collaborate and share communication through various networks, organizations must strictly protect all kinds of highly sensitive and confidential information stored in the data center. Leadtek's desktop virtualization solution, which combines Zero Client and Thin/Ultra-Thin Client multi-security protection mechanisms, has emerged to help users efficiently build highly secure AI development environments, such as built-in smart card verification, non-replaceable soldered memory, etc.Build smart health + smart medical + smart care ecosystem with AIoTRecognized by Taiwan Excellence Award, Leadtek continues to push the limit by introducing two next-generation health bands, amor H2 Pro and amor H2+. Amor H2 Pro inherits all of H2 features and adds eBP index. Different from the traditional sales model that only targets at end users, amor health band also provides a business system solution, including health promotion management services for members of different groups, which can be managed and actions recommended with the use of cloud platform. Amor H2+ is positioned for professional medical use. It has ECG record and AF detection (atrial fibrillation) functions, which is an essential preventive tool for people who care about cardiovascular health.From the perspective of the overall product development strategy, Leadtek combines artificial intelligence and Internet of Things technology (AIoT + Medical + Health) to provide solutions for operators in smart health, smart healthcare and eco-systems. In response to demand by clinics, health centers, hospitals, remote care centers, health maintenance centers, community care bases, corporate workplaces and homes, Leadtek has developed terminal equipment such as DxPatch ECG Electrocardiograph/Phono Recorder, autonomic nerve detector, oximeter, health band, medical band, health station kiosk and wireless physiological measurer, plus cloud member health management app, health management platform web, video diagnosis and treatment platform app, providing end users with one-stop service of hardware and software cloud and big data, including health examination, disease diagnosis, precision medicine and long-term care.In Taiwan, half of medical centers have been working with Leadtek on smart medical programs; there are successful cases from the initial screening of health examination, outpatient diagnosis, and even to post-discharge remote care. In terms of smart care, it has helped health care institutions, remote areas, and outlying islands to successfully adopt scientific care. Next, Leadtek will replicate Taiwan's experience in China, the UK, Thailand and other countries.The world's best 8K glasses-free 3D TV displayLeadtek and partner Stream TV have launched new 8K Glasses-Free 3D products at Computex. At the exhibition, StreamTV's proprietary Seecube 3D technology delivers virtually no loss of brightness and resolution, while Seecube 3D technology enables instant conversion, instantly converting 2D or 3D images into Glasses-Free 3D effects, which is easy for consumers to use Seecube 3D technology to instantly convert all TV shows, Blu-Ray, photos, iPad, smart phones, Xbox, PS4 games, or even home videos, set-top boxes and more into stunning Glasses-Free 3D effects, meaning that consumers can fully enjoy the new viewing experience in glasses-free 3D without any restrictions on contents.WinFast RTX data science and deep learning workstation
Tuesday 28 May 2019
Clientron showcases the latest POS system and IoV intelligent in-vehicle driving solution
Clientron Corp., a global leading provider of thin client, POS, automotive electronics and embedded systems, is introducing its latest product innovations at Computex Taipei 2019.The products demonstration include the latest POS terminals and self-service kiosk for the retail and hospitality industries and industrial panel PC with IP69K protection to against high temperature, dust and water.In addition, Clientron will debut the brand new IoV intelligent in-vehicle driving solution, which refers to the intelligent driving center console as the core system, and functionality is fully integrated with the in-vehicle infotainment system, the digital driving instrument display, the digital console control, the advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), augmented reality display (ARD) and IoV interactive functions.It shows the innovative technology and system integration capabilities of the tier-1 professional automotives electronics supplier. The complete product series of Clientron are on exhibition at booth R0827 in TWTC Nangang Exhibition Hall 2.Intelligent in-vehicle driving platform: Yulon Luxgen Think in-vehicle center console solution"Seizing the trend of the Internet of Vehicles, Clientron has made great achievements in the development of the automotive electronics industry," Kelly Wu, pesident and CEO of Clientron, states. "Bcom Technology, the subsidiary of Clientron, has been deeply involved in the Great China market for many years. It is a professional tier-1 supplier of automotive electronics. In addition to driving the infotainment system in the commercial vehicle market in China, its solution also covers the passenger vehicle market with original equipment of automotive electronics. Based on years of design know-how and integrated resources in automotive electronics industry, we create the opportunity to work with the Hua-chuang Automobile Information Technical Center (HAITEC) and design the brand new Think in-vehicle center console solution for Yulon Motor(Luxgen), the leading Taiwanese automobile. It tells that Clientron is the core-player in automotive electronics design, manufacture and system integration. In the meantime, we welcome all alliance partners and customized projects." The automotive electronics product line includes the latest Luxgen Think in-vehicle center console solution, the new technology leveraged and close integration with the in-vehicle infotainment, digital driving instrument display, digital control system, ADAS, augmented reality display (ARD) and IoV functions, enhance driving experience with the new generation of IoV intelligent driving platform.Smart retail solution: Self-ordering kiosk and multi-function POS terminalWith more than 20 years of experience in embedded system design, Clientron is going to demonstrate the self-service kiosk, featuring a 32-inch multi-touch display and supporting a variety of payment mechanisms, and peripherals including NFC, barcode scanner and receipt printer for self-ordering kiosk applications. Design with flexible I/O expansion, it can provide customized services according to demands. Moreover, Clientron will display its entire POS product portfolio, including multi-function all-in-one POS terminal PSL540, which integrated thermal printer and peripherals with a compact and low-profile enclosure for small stores and price checking machines. Another tower-type all-in-one POS terminal PST650 and high-performance PST750 features flexible mechanism design, supporting a number of well-known printer brands, such as Seiko and Epson. The PST series feature printer foot stand with lightweight design, saving counter space, especially suitable for catering services and more smart retail applications. Another focus on the show is PT2000 series POS terminal, offering from entry-level to high-end Intel Core i platform with fanless design, aiming at mainstream product segment with valuable cost-effective benefits and multiple peripheral solutions to enhance user experience.Industrial embedded platform - IP65/IP69K all-in-one panel PCAs a leading ODM/OEM supplier of embedded system, Clientron is capable of providing high-end industrial embedded platform with wide temperature and voltage ranges, water- and dust-proof as well as ability to maintain long-term operation under critical environment. Clientron industrial embedded systems include single board computer (SBC), embedded system and industrial panel PC to accommodate different customers and vertical market demands. At the show, Clientron's Pike-AL-1500SP, built with 304 stainless steel casing and supporting IP65/IP69K to enable protection against heat and corrosion, thereby guaranteeing safe and sanitary operation in a food & beverage processing plant as well as hot and humid kitchen environment.Moreover, thin client is the main product line of Clientron, and its product segments range from entry, high-end, standalone, all-in-one to industry thin client for selections. For more product information on POS system, self-service kiosk, industrial panel PC, thin client and IoV intelligent driving platform solutions, please visit Clientron at Booth R0827, TWTC Nangang Exhibition Hall 2, Computex 2019. Clientron website: www.clientron.comVisit Clientron at Booth R0827
Tuesday 28 May 2019
ECS to present IoT and AI solutions capabilities, featuring LIVA Mini PC live demo for multiple smart applications
Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) is showcasing its products at Computex 2019 at Nangang Exhibition Center Hall 1, L0118 (4F), from May 28 to June 1. ECS will present its advanced IoT and AI solutions and new LIVA mini PC to provide a preview of the total solution.LIVA mini PCThe energy efficient multi-functional mini PCs are designed for various smart solutions. The mini PC family includes mini-size Q series, cost-efficient X series, energy saving Z series, AI built-in M series and high-performance LIVA One series for different applications, such as smart retail with facial recognition for digital signage, smart conferencing for business intelligent, edge computing for AI solutions and home entertainment for light gaming demands.The new LIVA SF-110 A320 is designed for home entertainment and light gaming. Moreover, as digital signage is a fundamental component of corporate relations and business in the workplace, LIVA offers a wide range of 4K display solutions to meet the needs of applications that require the high pixel density. It can integrate with digital signage, and used in smart retail solution, transportation, warehouse, and others.The LIVA edge computing PC with Intel OpenVINOECS will also present multiple LIVA mini PC smart solutions. LIVA mini PC features an environmentally friendly design that improves energy savings. The new generation of LIVA PC with AI engine Intel OpenVINO built-in features low power consumption design, 802.11ac Wi-Fi connectivity to provide the live-streaming analytics solution through real-time artificial intelligence. It supports CNN-based deep learning inference at the edge and data execution across computer vision accelerators.LIVA Mini PC-Z3 plus with Amazon AlexaECS will also launch its first Amazon Alexa built-in mini PC Z3 plus with premium voice activated experience. It comes with ECS Sirocco, a battery-powered voice access point that wirelessly extends voice in entire space. Sirocco will respond to users instantly by connecting Amazon Alexa. It allows the user to instantly play music, get practical information such as the personal calendar, news, radio, and weather. Through the smart connection, the voice smart device can control the lights, home automation systems and smart devices.ECS smart charging solutionsWith the electric vehicle market growing fast, how to satisfy the increasing need of EV charging is also a focus of ECS's services. ECS will showcase its LIVA Smart Charger, which can be deployed as a standalone unit or in a cluster of many chargers sharing the same power source with intelligent load management via IoT. LIVA Smart AC Charger features plug-n-charge, and secured payment via multiple truncation methods, central management for a range of advanced features for the site or fleet owners, and integration with renewable energy sources.AIoT intelligent edge in logistics and energyFrom increasing fleet productivity and sustainability to improving the efficiency of operations and optimizing energy utilization, ECS offers AIoT intelligent edge solutions in logistics and energy domain.ECS's solutions include smart edge gateways which fetch the IoT data and communicate with its cloud system. Moreover, the pre-installed industrial ECS Edge Builder enables the customized industrial microservices. Digital twins' technologies are helping overcome vertical adoption challenges and deliver new benefits.ECS will showcase two main applications: one is Real-time Asset tracking solution in collaboration with Intel connected Logistics Platform. This monitoring could involve knowing if perishable goods - such as food and flowers - or pharmaceuticals were exposed to heat that could spoil the product, or if excessive vibration on the road has damaged sensitive equipment. Another is Solar Management System which can monitor the renewable status and visualize the energy consumption which can help site owners allocate the sustainable power with existing power source.ECS connected mobility solutions for EVsECS offers various connected mobility solutions to optimize the driving experience and safety of the EV with more efficiency, sustainability and cost-effectiveness. Smart Cockpit Solution integrates the advanced technologies and driver oriented human machine interface to create a seamless connection between the human (driver and passenger), vehicle and road with much consideration about safety, connectivity, information and entertainment while on the road. ADAS Solution is a camera-based passive driver assistance system solution which includes basic wide-angle HD 6ch BSV camera box to 360 surround view with DVR system, FCW/LDW/PCW also available.Smart classroom solutionECS's smart classroom solutions combine collaborative learning technology with diverse mobile devices, which promote interactive exploration of learning concepts and foster critical thinking and deeper understanding. The smart classroom solutions include student devices, teacher devices, wireless access points and interactive whiteboards for deploying intuitive and technology enhanced learning spaces that ensure more streamlined planning and efficient reform. With purpose-built education features of student devices, 76cm drop resistance, IP52 dust/water resistant, retractable carry handle, rotational camera and stylus, ECS's smart classroom solutions help students improve their active learning.ECS will also present its CMAP (Content Management Access Point), a WiFi storage device that allows up to 50 simultaneous connections in classroom to stream huge numbers of video files, documents and data, allowing students to access them anywhere, anytime before class, so they can have more time to do hands-on activities in class.ECS at Computex
Tuesday 28 May 2019
Synaptics now delivering secure edge processing SoCs with AI to help widen adoption of smart home devices
Synaptics Incorporated develops Human Machine Interface solutions for smartphones, PCs, automotive and a variety of smart home devices such as speakers that are increasingly being adopted by consumers to simplify their daily lives. The company creates the silicon chips featuring touch, display, audio and video technologies that enable products to enhance the user experience and help make our digital lives more productive, secure and enjoyable.While combining Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies usually implies connectivity to the Internet or cloud, there is an increasing demand for more local, or edge-based processing capability to enable Consumer IoT devices to help improve performance, usability and security, as well as complement cloud-based functions or services.This Smart Edge technology extends powerful data processing and machine learning to billions of edge devices, so they can act on the data from their sensors in real time and predict outcomes locally. The current hybrid cloud and edge IoT infrastructure is optimally decentralized where a percentage of the data is processed locally. This saves on bandwidth between edge devices and cloud servers, as well as acts to shorten latency where possible. It also reduces the issue of digital packet loss during data transmission and enhances data security.At Computex Taipei 2019, Synaptics is showcasing a new product family that includes single silicon chip solutions and software stacks intended to widen the adoption of Consumer IoT products by enabling secure inferencing capability at the edge. Synaptics calls its technology platform Smart Edge AI which is an umbrella term for its AudioSmart and VideoSmart SoC families, software stacks, AI models, data encryption algorithm and inferencing engines. Smart Edge AI provides AI driven neural networks, processed at the edge, addressing all the key challenges in performance, robustness and privacy concerns, that stand in the way of wider adoption of Consumer IoT.Smart Edge AI for wider adaption of Consumer IoT devicesIn this interview with Synaptics, Mr. Saleel Awsare, Senior Vice President & General Manager of IoT Division, Corporate Marketing & Investor Relations, and Mr. Vineet Ganju, Vice President of Voice & Audio Marketing, talk about Synaptics Smart Edge AI technology and their unique product portfolio. These HMI technologies enable edge devices that can understand and respond to what we do, speak, or touch without a constant connection to cloud, Awsare highlighted. At Synaptics, the concept of Smart Edge AI will become an increasing important aspect of Consumer IoT in environments such as the smart home, automotive, smart cities and beyond, said Awsare.Smart Edge AI is well-positioned for voice-enabled Consumer IoT devices such as smart hubs, smart speakers, TV set-top-boxes, home appliances, Wi-Fi routers and sound bars and is a necessity for other mainstream use cases like autonomous vehicles. However, with the continuing improvement of Smart Edge AI processing capabilities and growing spread of applications, new use-cases and services have been growing in the electronics industry.AudioSmart SoC building secure Intelligence and superior user experience at the edgeThe first key product showcase of Synaptics in Computex is the Smart Edge AI AudioSmart family. The new AS3xx SoC chip solution's fully integrated neural network acceleration provides features to support customized wake words and highly-advanced far-field voice processing.The new AS3xx AudioSmart family is the introduction of fully integrated and purpose-built far-field voice processing and wake word technology. Having been used in a variety of global retail products for years, Synaptics continues to be well-positioned as a leader in voice processing solution to further improve voice pick-up in noisy, real-world conditions and barge-in capabilities even during very loud playback. These features help system makers benefit from the rapidly growing demand for voice assistant devices.For supporting even more advanced enhanced user experience through better response times and robustness, Synaptics uses a new machine learning engine with its own Neural Network Acceleration and Processing engine. Features such as performing Automated Speech Recognition (ASR) and Natural Language Understanding (NLU) locally on-device provides a powerful value-add for OEM/ODM vendors or system integrators to build high performance voice control for consumer devices even when there is no internet connectivity.Furthermore, by providing the complete solution including acoustics system expertise, Synaptics greatly reduces the time-to-market for smart home product manufacturers and allows them to add an excellent voice-first experience while maintaining focus on their core expertise.In addition, the AudioSmart Smart Edge AI SoCs fully support existing voice assistants from global brands, such as the Line, Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, Google, Amazon and other voice assistant platforms or service providers in different regions or countries. The AudioSmart Smart Edge AI SoCs are now shipping in millions of units to Synaptics customers and will be available on well-known consumer brands before the end of the year.Meanwhile, in Taiwan, the recent promotion of a smart speaker project which responds to Mandarin speech by Chunghwa Telecom is one of major use cases leveraging Synaptics technologies, Ganju noted. With several voice control speakers starting to push strong sales in China and Taiwan via their own voice-controlled speakers, there will be explosive growth in demand from Chinese-speaking communities.VideoSmart VS-550 SoC demonstrating AI fast tracking video contents scenariosThe VideoSmart Smart Edge AI VS550 SoC solution is the latest offering and features the integrated AudioSmart Far-Field Voice function and AI enabled capability for smart home devices. One of the major products in the market to leverage the VS550 SoC is the new set-top-box of SK Broadband services in South Korea. The product is introducing new values of streaming video services by SK Broadband that deployed Synaptics-enabled voice command control.An example of VideoSmart products using Smart Edge AI on a set-top-box includes machine learning to train the device to fast forward to specific events in a sports game such as soccer goals, or baseball pitches. This can be done during a live broadcast to catch up, or for playback while viewing the pre-recordings of sports event. This AI enabled content searching capability is delivering a compelling TV service with more intuitive, exciting entertainment experience for subscribers.This VS550 SoC is designed for Android TV-based set-top boxes and other consumer IoT devices like smart doorbell systems. As more camera devices go into edge devices, and most people are talking to devices and not touching them as much anymore, the AI driven technologies like voice, audio, video and biometric recognition technology get more attention and become the most exciting and fastest growing human interface modalities today.Consumer IoT HMI technologies become multimodalToday, Synaptics offers a range of HMI capabilities from touch, voice, audio and video, expanding far beyond the company's traditional strengths in touch. With notable security features at the edge, Synaptics Smart Edge AI product offerings are more advanced technology with secure inferencing and enterprise grade encryption for edge systems. These technologies use encrypted data in which the privacy data is stored at the edge. The most significant value of this approach is that it could allow user's data to only be processed by application processors and the accelerator and not in the cloud.Awsare claimed that with its near-term product deployments and highly integrated AI solutions at the edge, Synaptics is ushering in a new age for Consumer IoT sectors and looking to expand market share and business opportunities. As the global leader of HMI SoCs and with more than 35 years providing the solutions in Taiwan OEM/ODM and ecosystem, Synaptics has a strong presence in this important market.For further exploring Synaptics Smart Edge AI product series, please join Computex Taipei 2019 Exhibition, where Synaptics will be showcasing latest technologies. Contact your local Synaptics sales representative for a demonstration.Mr. Saleel Awsare, senior vice president & general manager of IoT division, corporate marketing & investor relations
Tuesday 28 May 2019
Edge-based inference acceleration
AI is on the edge; or to be more precise, neural network acceleration is moving to the edge at a rapid pace. What used to require racks of cloud-based compute to run neural network inferencing can now be run on embedded devices such as cameras, smartphones and within vehicles.With the evolution of dedicated hardware bringing greater compute power, networks are increasingly being optimized to run specifically at the edge. Markets such as smart camera surveillance, advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), autonomous vehicles, and mobile all have a need for data-driven decision making, based on input from real-time events. An autonomous vehicle has multiple cameras for computer vision, object recognition, lane warning, driver monitoring for fatigue as well as other sensors (e.g. thermal imaging, radar and LiDAR) for sensor fusion. By processing at the edge, this minimizes the bandwidth required to move data around the vehicle.The advantage of dedicated IP for edge devices is in its compute density, exponentially more than other less specialized offerings. Neural networks have high bandwidth and computation requirements, but specialized design allows for optimal power, performance and area (PPA), maximizing inferences per second with minimal silicon area. This has the benefits of reduced latency and increased privacy (only sending relevant information through and not that of bystanders), with low power and bandwidth requirements thanks to the experience gained from the exacting PPA demands for the mobile space.To deploy neural networks at the edge requires an understanding of the hardware on which they will run and the software frameworks that need to be extended, converted or designed for these edge-based deep learning accelerators. Converting to a fixed-point format offers a reduction in model sizes, compute and bandwidth. Tensorflow Lite is an example of this. Neural networks originally ran on CPU only. Some companies have used DSPs or FPGAs whilst others have focused on GPUs.Pros and cons of deep learning inference-based computer vision processingAlthough GPU acceleration can be 10 or more times faster than a CPU, the compute density offered by a dedicated accelerator in hardware can be exponentially faster than CPU and GPU.Pros:- Small but powerful, reaching the performance of cloud - High performance per area and therefore lower silicon cost - Low incremental cost for density making it ubiquitous for IoT devices - Does not necessarily require connectivity, making it ideal for standalone devices, or low power, low bandwidthCons:- Can execute tasks but models must be compiled for target hardware - Not suitable for training - May still require significant power depending on configuration - Flexibility of task-specific solutionsWhat processing role does 'the cloud' play in such a scheme?The cloud plays a complementary role to embedded edge processing - indeed they are symbiotic. Training, validation and retraining are often best run in the cloud as these are "big tin" tasks, requiring thousands of processing units. Meanwhile, the edge can run a network that is task-specific, or multiple devices can run a series of neural networks - for sensor fusion for example. So, it's not "either or"; it's "both and."Whenever there are challenges to be overcome about latency, transmission, security or cost, edge devices can help. By running inferencing on a device with a neural network accelerator smaller than a pinhead, these tiny devices have big applications across the entire world of markets - including, but not limited to, security, retail, connected homes, education, agriculture and health.Looking to the futureLooking ahead, requirements for edge device capability are likely to increase. This will be complemented by the 5G rollout, enabling devices to "phone home" to update their neural network models and of course, to transfer important findings to the central computer - vital for effective ambient/pervasive computing.Performance, power consumption and memory implications are all the focus of ongoing work, with companies vying to produce the optimal device at the lowest possible area cost. We are on the edge of a future in which devices "see" and importantly "recognize" - as a step forward towards a data-driven future. So, the fourth industrial revolution won't be in the datacenters; it'll be in the streets, the fields, the shopping malls and the factories, in devices, robots and vehicles. It will be all pervasive and all but invisible - but it will be ubiquitous.(Andrew Grant is senior director, PowerVR AI, Imagination Technologies)Compute densityExample neural networks
Tuesday 28 May 2019
New business model to build IoT-ready solutions, SECO accelerating smart edge computing development
With the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) applications, the smart edge technology will be a major enabler for the evolution of the digital business, creating new business model and value through dynamic interactions between people, business and things. The smart edge systems will complement cloud computing by providing services with faster response, greater quality, more immersive interactions and more intelligence at the front end, closer to where people and things exist. The impressive use cases include autonomous vehicle, autonomous retail store and more factory automation systems.Founded in 1979, SECO is an Italy-based leading embedded system and industrial solution provider with complete control over the entire design cycle to mass production of embedded solutions. For a strong brand presence in European market, the company has successfully introduced various medical solutions covering the computation modules of ultrasound equipment to complete healthcare tablets in recent business development. The Computer on Module (COM) is one of the most popular product series of SECO. It offers cross-platform features with a modular design aiming to provide flexibility to switch different CPUs between X86, ARM and FPGA-based architectures with the same form factor standards. SECO maintains long-term partnerships and offers product lines powered by AMD, Intel, NXP, Nvidia, Qualcomm and TI embedded processors.Gianluca Venere, SECO SVP Strategy & Business Development, explained the company's new business model and global strategies for developing embedded system market sectors. Venere is very positive about the smart edge technology development. Because at the end devices with the evolution of the AI on an energy efficient hardware, people will see more and more autonomous things that proactively create new business opportunities through immersive interactions with people. Edge computing brings massive compute to the data locally and only forwarding analytic data or metadata that makes sense to the cloud data center. The machine learning technology and trained algorithm to the edge enables business automation to generate the value, especially when the algorithms and data are very location-specific.In the consumer electronics sectors, the AI-enabled devices get more attention including smartphones, smart speakers and smart earbuds. These smart devices are leveraging the improvement of photo quality or manage the acoustic beam-forming to optimize the noise cancelling for sounding effects. Meanwhile, in the embedded market, there is a big adoption of machine learning algorithms to do predictive maintenance, object recognition and manage sensors to prevent machine down time or accident.The embedded systems and industrial PC industries are looking at various vertical solutions and technologies to increase manufacturing productivity and foster industrial growth. SECO, in particular, has developed an ad hoc software suite to optimize and guarantee the maximum performance of a low power and energy efficient hardware integrated in its modular single board embedded systems. Taking computer vision for example. SECO has developed optimized edge solutions with dedicated accelerators leveraging OpenCV for convolutional neuronal networks and inferential methods.New Edgehog platform helping customers to build IoT-ready solutionsFor predictive maintenance, SECO is releasing a dedicated firmware that runs in the background in dedicated edge gateway acting like an immune system of human body for detecting system failure to isolate the extraneous processes in the CPU and RAM, sending an alert to the IIoT cloud service created by SECO product development teams. SECO names these software stacks and cloud services as Edgehog platform. With the unique strength of cross-platform technology to provide customers with flexible and fast time-to-market solutions, SECO has been servicing the fast growing embedded system markets for 40 years. Through Edgehog platform support, SECO creates an innovative business model transforming the product into a service and helps customers with its design efforts to be a market leader in the Industrial IoT (IIoT) sector.Venere noted that the IIoT trend enables new business models transforming products into services, but that requires a deep process of transformation and innovation in the company. For achieving this challenging objective, SECO needs a completely new approach to the embedded market. That's why it is designing its products with a customer-centric approach applying agile methods moving the attention to the software and firmware development and implementation.SECO built its innovation center - separate from its hardware R&D unit - many years ago in order to have the freedom to create an innovative use case without any sales and financial pressure. After several years of development, SECO has launched Edgehog platform and is able to provide the services of "hardware as a solution", with which customers can get the benefits of its technology as a service, Venere added.The commercial offerings of Edgehog platform will be divided into three service models. In the first model, which is in the product prototyping phase, there is a fast and free of charge access to the Edgehog portal allowing customers to setup their proof of concept. It is very critical when the customer has first developed a business use case and identified ecosystem partners who will be capable of building solutions in time. So providing zero cost and fast access service will be the key for this service model.The second model is "pay-per-use" helping customers minimize the risks of smart solution deployment and early stage services. SECO's software, firmware and hardware-based services enable customers to bundle product offerings, services and feature sets in new and creative ways that generate incremental revenue streams in the form of pay-per-use models.In the third model, SECO provides "solution-as-a-service" to help customers quickly scale up the services and accelerate operator revenue. These three unique value propositions enable customers to differentiate their products and services in the market leveraging an ad-hoc design through a standard and flexible platform of SECO product offerings.During Computex 2019, SECO will showcase at its booth a full range of products at Nangang Exhibition Hall 1, booth no K1015. The live demonstration will include the solution of Qseven, COM Express and SMARC product lines to allow visitors to have a good chance to have real experience to see the advanced solutions powered by a leading European embedded solution provider.Gianluca Venere, director of global sales & chief strategy officer, SECO
Tuesday 28 May 2019
Starting with information security certification services, Bureau Veritas brings added value to 5G/IoT customers
With 5G communication increasingly catching public attention in recent years, a small number of 5G-ready phones are finally making debut on the market beginning in 2019. However, in general, there are still quite a few issues and challenges to be overcome as the world ushers in the 5G era.As a matter of fact, for 5G communication to become widely available, it not only requires joint efforts on the part of IC developers, telecom operators and OEM manufacturers but testing and certification labs also play an essential role. Spectrum allocation by governments around the globe and device certification mechanisms for regional markets worldwide are fundamental work amid the imminent advent of the 5G era. To the Taiwan high-tech industry that focuses on exports, testing and certification labs serve as the critical final checkpoint ensuring their products meet the requirements of different countries.Information security problems may be hidden in a diversity of 5G challengesCommenting on 5G developments and challenges, Pascal Le Ray, General Manager of Bureau Veritas Consumer Products Services, Electrical & Electronic/Automotive/Wireless in Taiwan, notes 5G communication aims to satisfy a wide range of applications, wherein complexity is one of the major challenges. As 5G enables a platform for multiple wireless technologies to cooperate, suppliers of 5G technologies have to overcome a myriad of challenges including signal spectrum, transmission protocol, network compatibility, MIMO technology, device-to-device communication and potential network security and privacy issues that may arise.To meet the strong demand for smart network communication, 5G development is advancing faster than previously anticipated. According to market analysts, fully operational 5G network will come in 2020.Le Ray further comments 5G development will advance in three major directions - enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) and ultra Reliability and Low Latency Communication (uRLLC). With 4G network already up and running, 5G development will run into plenty of challenges, as mentioned above.Data encryption technologies become critical with IoT connecting millions of nodes5G communication supports a wide range of applications with IoT being one of the major use cases addressed by mMTC. As to the challenges, Le Ray points out IoT and 5G both face information security issues. Hackers can break into the central system from an edge node to steal or tamper with data. IoT uses diverse networking technologies, encompassing Bluetooth Low Energy, Wi-Fi, LoRa WAN and ZigBee among others. A single edge node may not be equipped with strong computing power but the network as a whole must be able to simultaneously handle multiple technologies and issues such as gateway and network compatibility and have adequate computing power to process massive amounts of data. To address information security concerns mentioned above, data transmitted from millions of devices across the cloud need to be encrypted with robust algorithms to guarantee secure data exchange between edge nodes and the central system.Going forward, the market will see more devices and sensors supporting a variety of new wireless communication standards every year. Network expandability will be an innovation that is instrumental for IoT to accommodate massive add-on devices and emerging technologies.Starting with information security, Bureau Veritas brings more added values to customersAccumulating years of experiences in testing and certification services, Bureau Veritas focuses on solutions targeting electric and electronic devices, automotive electronics and wireless technologies. Bureau Veritas' services and solutions cover wireless communication standards including NFC, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, DSRC, CBRS, LoRa, Sigfox and 2G/3G/4G, a lot more than what its competitors can offer. For 5G testing and certification, Bureau Veritas assists customers with 5G NR conformance testing and operator network acceptance tests as well as 5G NR mmWave power density testing using DASY, notes Le Ray. He has also observed that Taiwan is engaged in eMBB, automotive electronics and IoT development. As an export-oriented economy, Taiwan needs its products to meet wide-ranging certification standards implemented by regional markets around the world, which is exactly Bureau Veritas' expertise.To help address information security concerns, Bureau Veritas offers IEC-62443 and IEC-27001 testing, a unique service that distinguishes Bureau Veritas from other testing and certification labs. Bureau Veritas strives to bring added values to Taiwan customers on top of its existing services and solutions.Pascal Le Ray, general manager of Bureau Veritas consumer products services, electrical & electronic/automotive/wireless in Taiwan
Friday 24 May 2019
Gigabyte will enable your solutions of tomorrow and bring smart to life
Gigabyte has been dedicated to pioneering computer innovations and making breathtaking technology advancements. This year at Computex, Gigabyte has brought along its partners to form a smart ecosystem together, to demonstrate solutions that will inspire buyers and real life applications that will enlighten visitors.Smart server solutionsGigabyte has teamed up with several industry partners to demonstrate how hardware infrastructure, coupled with software integration, can create ideal system solutions that initiate smarter technologies.A partnership with ITRI has brought to the show an iMEC that can integrate networking & cloud virtualization technologies into the next generation of 5G networks, and an on-premise AI development platform that can improve the accuracy and reduce the time required for DNN training. And cooperation with InfinitiesSoft has brought to life a hybrid cloud management platform that integrates sophisticated container management and software defined storage, allowing businesses to achieve the possibility of an on-premises self-built AI cloud.Smart lifeOn-premise IoT scenarios exemplify both Gigabyte's hardware expertise and solution know-how. Utilizing Big Data, AI, and edge computing, an IoT Eco Box can gather necessary information from the cloud and control variables that are vital to a crop's growth in order to increase yield; digital signage can use a flying face recognition system and a 3D lens to analyze and judge the gender and age of the audience to display appropriate and effective advertisements; and cameras are able to capture faces of the customers in a retail environment to provide security and generate useful data for marketing analysis.World's first PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSD and AMOLED 4K laptopsGigabyte also releases the world's first PCIe 4.0 interface M.2 SSD on the latest AMD platform to provide video editors with 5000 MB/s read/write speeds in low temperatures. And lead the industry by being the first to offer a 4K Samsung AMOLED display on its highly-praised AERO series laptops.At the forefront of innovation, Gigabyte echoes the show's main themes to showcase key solutions for the intelligent generation. As the show gets underway, Gigabyte is primed and ready to exhibit its smart solutions that will propel 5G technology advancement and uphold its capability to "Upgrade Your Life". From May 28th to June 1st Gigabyte expects to share technology insights and explore future endeavors with innovators from around the globe at Nangang Exhibition Center Hall 2.Gigabyte at Computex 2019
Wednesday 22 May 2019
MSI wins 5 Best Choice Awards at Computex 2019
The 2019 Computex Best Choice Awards winners have been announced. Winning five honorable awards, MSI apparently stood out as the solid winner over more than 300 respectable competitors: MSI GT76 Titan Gaming Laptop receives "Golden Award"; MSI Trident X Plus Gaming Desktop, MSI Optix MPG341CQR Gaming Monitor, MSI Prestige P100 Series Desktop, and MS-9A95 AIoT Edge Computing - CrucialForce Cloud PBX & CrucialForce Contact Center Solution all win "Category Awards.""MSI always knows that the future of PC industry is unlimited, and that the demands for hardware from gamers or creators are no longer just the hardware specification. Now, what is important for a product is whether it can help them to focus on winning or creating without worrying about any other issues. We are pleasant and humble that MSI Trident X Plus Gaming Desktop, MSI Optix MPG341CQR Gaming Monitor, MSI Prestige P100 Series Desktop, and MS-9A95 AIoT Edge Computing - CrucialForce Cloud PBX & CrucialForce Contact Center Solution win 4 Category Awards in Computex 2019. Moreover, MSI GT76 Titan Gaming Laptop, MSI newest flagship laptop, also gets jury's attention and wins the highest honor of Golden Award with its remarkable software and hardware technology integration. With the encouragement from these awards and positive reviews, MSI will keep on challenging its own limits in product design, and bringing gamers more inspiring gaming experiences," said Sam Chern, MSI Marketing vice president.Golden Award: MSI GT76 Titan gaming laptopEvolved from the highly praised predecessor GT75 Titan, MSI assembles all the latest technology from the industry to pursue the perfection into GT76 Titan. Well-equipped and incredibly powerful, the GT76 Titan is the first gaming laptop to ever feature a full desktop Intel Core i9 processors with overclocked eight-core at such performance. The new exclusive MSI Cooler Boost Titan cooling design, now armed with 4 fans and 11 heat pipes, is able to generate 2.25 times the airflow for extreme gaming power; the 8-core 16-thread configuration releases its full potential with extreme overclock performance to remarkably 5.0GHz. Together with GeForce RTX 2080 graphics, the GT76 Titan once again exceeds the laptop performance boundaries.Category Award: MSI Trident X Plus gaming desktopTrident X Plus breaks the established impression of gaming desktop. With the mere 10 liters in volume, Trident X Plus has all the components that are usually found in big tower cases, including Intel 9th K series CPU and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti graphics card. Besides the powerful GPU and graphics card, Trident X also supports up to two 2.5" HDD, 2 M.2 PCIE SSD and 32GB DDR4 memory. The MSI's exclusive Silent Storm Cooling system has become an industrial standard that other brands are trying to achieve. Trident X utilizes Silent Storm Cooling 3 system, separating the hottest component- CPU from VGA and PSA, creating separate airflows to cool down the individual component chamber. The system will always remain in a safe temperature for it to reach its potential while handling gameplays for hours. The door-like tempered glass side panel design let user can upgrade the components in an ease.Category Award: MSI Optix MPG341CQR gaming monitorMSI Optix MPG341CQR provides both the best visual experience and convenient user experience for gamers. With its UWQHD (3440 x 1440) high resolution and 21:9 screen ratio, gamers are able to enjoy their games with a chatting or streaming software together on the screen. MPG341CQR has a curved panel with 1800R curvature that offers incredible immersive experiences for the gamers. For those who enjoy vibrant, dynamic and detailed images of AAA games, MPG341CQR also offers realistic and stunning visuals with its 3000:1 high contrast rate and HDR 400. Additionally, MPG341CQR can perform within 144Hz refresh rates and 1ms response time, allowing gamers to score the game easily. With the integrated mouse bungee, MPG341CQR can help sort gamers' mouse cable and provide comfortable gaming experience. The built-in camera holder also helps those streaming enthusiasts install cameras easily on MPG341CQR.Category Award: MSI Prestige P100 series desktopThe Prestige P100 Series, with its state-of-art technology and a refined design, is the ultimate platform for Creators. This masterpiece designed for the most intense rendering, multitasking for 8K resolution, and the smoothest real-time preview. With the most innovative and sophisticated thermal module for CPU, GPU & PSU which are integrated with independent air flows and unique triangle geometry design to make Prestige P100 look like a galactic nebula on side covers to pair the best thermal solution & aesthetic. Up to the latest 9th generation Intel Core i9-9900K processor, 64GB DDR4 Memory and GeForce RTX 2080 Ti GPU ensure the fastest and smoothest creating experiences. The World's First & Customizable Total solution: MSI Creator Center & Creator OSD. With these two MSI exclusive software, creators can easily customize, allocate, optimize the resources of the CPU cores, Memory & GPU performance to prioritize and boost the performance of those applications which creators work with everyday and enjoy the MSI TrueColor Technology on the MSI Prestige Monitor.Category Award: MS-9A95 AIoT Edge Computing - CrucialForce Cloud PBX & CrucialForce Contact Center SolutionMSI IPC's Edge Computer MS-9A95, slim and fanless design, high performance with low power consumption provide a high cost-performance, carryover Cloud PBX and Call Center CRM system, giving out the total solution based on the Edge Computing technology. Comparing with Centralized Cloud Computing structure, Edge Computing with high scalability allows horizontal expansion, upgrade as you need and lower telephony coat. About the response time, it minimized the latency of data collection as the Edge Computing operates the calculation independently and synchronize the information at the off-peak time, which support an instant global backup and data collection without a worry.Golden Award: MSI GT76 Titan gaming laptopCategory Award: MSI Prestige P100 series desktop