Tag: AWS

Categories
Business Economy Tech Lite

Cloud Giants AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Grow 24%

Tech giant Microsoft outpaced both AWS and Google Cloud, with sales rising by 31 per cent (year-on-year)…reports Asian Lite News

As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes a key demand driver for cloud investment, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud collectively grew by 24 per cent, accounting for 66 per cent of total spending in the first quarter (January-March) period.

Tech giant Microsoft outpaced both AWS and Google Cloud, with sales rising by 31 per cent (year-on-year), nearly double the AWS’s growth rate of 17 per cent, while Google Cloud grew 28 per cent YoY, according to global market research firm Canalys.

The report mentioned that despite holding the largest market share at 31 per cent, AWS faces increasing competition from its fast-growing competitors.

Microsoft Azure was second with a market share of 25 per cent and Google Cloud was third, with a market share of 10 per cent in the first quarter this year,

Earlier this month, the Amazon-run company announced the departure of its CEO Adam Selipsky after three years in the role. Matt Garman will become CEO of AWS, effective June 3.

Yi Zhang, an analyst at Canalys, said that Microsoft’s end-to-end portfolio is proving to be a strong “competitive moat”, while Google’s strength in AI is giving it a strong tailwind.

As enterprises embrace AI-driven initiatives, there is a potential need to transfer their workloads and data to cloud platforms to avail themselves of essential computing and storage capacities, the report mentioned.

Meanwhile, global cloud infrastructure services expenditure grew by 21 per cent in the first quarter to reach $79.8 billion, an increase of $13.4 billion YoY.

S. Korea Leads AI Regulation Talks with OECD

A digital society initiative, jointly led by South Korea and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), will officially kick off next week to discuss global governance on artificial intelligence (AI) and digital technologies, the Science Ministry said on Sunday.

The initiative, set to open on Monday, will function as a global policy platform aimed at helping OECD members form a digital society for shared prosperity, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT.

The Ministry said it plans to introduce the ‘Digital Bill of Rights’, which revolves around the five principles of freedom, fairness, safety, innovation and solidarity for the establishment of a new digital order, to OECD members of the initiative, reports Yonhap news agency.

The digital bill of rights was proposed by the South Korean government last year as part of efforts to build an appropriate regulatory system to respond to possible risks deriving from the evolution of AI and digital technologies.

“President Yoon Suk Yeol has led the international society’s discussion on digital regulations through his New York Initiative, Paris Initiative and the New York Digital Vision Forum,” said Song Sang-hoon, Deputy Minister of the office of ICT policy at the Science Ministry. “The OECD Digital Society Initiative will expand the discussion on the OECD level.”

ALSO READ: Elon Musk Brings Starlink to Indonesia

Categories
Business Tech Lite Technology

AWS bets big on GenAI

AWS currently offers more than 150 different Graviton-powered Amazon EC2 instance types globally at scale, has built more than 2 million Graviton processors…reports Asian Lite News

Amazon Web Services (AWS) CEO Adam Selipsky on Tuesday unveiled a slew of new offerings, including a purpose-built chip for generative AI and ML training to boost GenAI adoption among enterprises of all sizes.

The AWS CEO said that 80 per cent of unicorns (companies with a valuation of $1 billion and above) run on their cloud globally and with GenAI, the innovation will only grow across companies of all sizes. The Cloud giant has been working with AI and ML offerings for more than 25 years.

Delivering the keynote at the company’s annual flagship ‘re: Invent’ conference here, Selipsky said that innovators across the world are relying on AWS to drive their businesses, including leading enterprises from leading financial service providers to automotive giants.

“We are constantly reinventing with GenAI. Companies of all sizes are in the early experimental stages with GenAI and are innovating for early-use cases with large language models (LLMs). We are offering a generative AI stack for enterprises,” he told a packed house here.

Selipsky unveiled the next generation of two AWS-designed chips — AWS Graviton4 and AWS Trainium2 — for a broad range of customer workloads, including machine learning (ML) training and generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications.

Graviton4 provides up to 30 per cent better compute performance, 50 per cent more cores, and 75 per cent more memory bandwidth than current generation Graviton3 processors, delivering the best price performance and energy efficiency for a broad range of workloads running on Amazon EC2.

AWS currently offers more than 150 different Graviton-powered Amazon EC2 instance types globally at scale, has built more than 2 million Graviton processors, and has more than 50,000 customers—including the top 100 EC2 customers—using Graviton-based instances to achieve the best price performance for their applications.

At the event, the company announced three new serverless innovations across its database and analytics portfolio that make it faster and easier for customers to scale their data infrastructure to support their most demanding use cases.

Dr Swami Sivasubramanian, vice president of Data and Artificial Intelligence at AWS, said that the new serverless innovations “build on the foundation to make it easier for customers to scale to millions of transactions per second, quickly add capacity at a moment’s notice, and dynamically adapt workload patterns to optimize for performance and cost.”

The company also announced a new palm-scanning identity service that will allow companies to authenticate people when entering physical premises.

Called ‘Amazon One Enterprise,’ the service eliminates operational overhead associated with the management of traditional enterprise authentication methods, like badges and PINs, the company said during its ‘AWS re:Invent 2023’ event here.

The palm-recognition technology uses advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning to create a palm signature that is associated with identification credentials like a badge, employee ID, or PIN.

“Amazon One Enterprise’s palm recognition technology is designed to deliver a highly accurate identification service that increases an organisation’s overall security, while offering seamless authentication management with lower operational overhead,” said Dilip Kumar, vice president of AWS Applications.

Amazon launched a new $195 devices that allow enterprise users to access virtual desktop environments, like Amazon WorkSpaces, over the internet. The devices are housed in Fire TV Cube hardware.

ALSO READ: Saudi Extends Term of $3B Deposit to Pakistan

Categories
Business India News Tech Lite

AWS Applauds India’s Space Sector Surge

The Indian space economy is currently valued at around Rs 6,700 crore ($8.4 billion) with a 2 per cent share in the global space economy….reports Asian Lite News

The friendly government policies and timely investments have given a much-needed boost to startups in the aerospace sector compared to other countries and the country is ripe for tremendous growth in the space industry over the next decade, a top AWS executive has said.

The Indian space economy is currently valued at around Rs 6,700 crore ($8.4 billion) with a 2 per cent share in the global space economy.

As per estimates by the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), the country’s space economy is poised to reach Rs 35,200 crore ($44 billion) by 2033 with nearly 8 per cent of the global share.

Clint Crosier, Director, Aerospace and Satellite, AWS, told IANS during the sidelines of the ‘AWS re: Invent 2023’ conference here that he is very bullish on India and is witnessing a faster rate of space startups being created in the country over the last year.

“We have seen dozens and dozens of new space startups being established in India. This is because of the new government policies and investments, and the goal to increase by 4 times the amount of its share of the global space industry,” Crosier emphasised.

In September, AWS signed a strategic MoU with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and IN-SPACe to support space-tech innovations through cloud computing. This collaboration will give space startups, research institutes and students access to cutting edge cloud technologies that accelerate the development of new solutions in the space sector.

“We look forward to helping customers in India build space-tech solutions to make life on Earth better,” Shalini Kapoor, Director and Chief Technologist, Public Sector, AWS India and South Asia, had said.

The three-way collaboration follows the recent approval of the Indian Space Policy, 2023 which provides a strategic roadmap for the growth and development of India’s space programme and ambitions.

Crosier said that the company is working from the smallest startups all the way up to the government organisations to help them improve their capabilities in the space sector.

“We’re supporting and working with a company called SatSure in India, which is using space-based data, and geospatial analytics to help with climate management decisions within the government in the country,” he told IANS.

SatSure is able to process those volumes of data, and turn large data into real-time, knowledge and insights by operating at the scope and speed of high performance compute and artificial intelligence and machine learning on AWS cloud.

With at least 140 registered space-tech startups, India stands to transform the planet’s connection to the final frontier.

According to a latest report by The New York Times, startups in India have ambitious plans for capitalising on the burgeoning demand of small satellites in low-earth orbits.

The startups like Skyroot Aerospace, Dhruva Space and Pixxel are among a cluster of startups that have been actively and closely working with the ISRO. The government has opened up the space sector for private players.

In June during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the US, the White House said that Modi and American President Joe Biden “called for enhanced commercial collaboration between the US and Indian private sectors in the entire value chain of the space economy”.

Crosier was recently in India and saw a great momentum going on in the spacetech sector.

“We continue to sit down with the Indian startups. We continue to meet with them and understand their problems, looking at Cloud-based tools and capabilities and figure out where Ccloud can solve some of their problems,” he noted.

ALSO READ: Tata Targets Africa

Categories
Business Tech Lite Technology

IBM Teams Up With AWS

AI expertise and a deep understanding of AWS capabilities are critical for clients looking to implement generative AI, and IBM is already providing mutual clients with access to professionals….reports Asian Lite News

IT major IBM on Tuesday announced expansion of its relationship with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to help more mutual clients operationalise and derive value from the latest technologies, including generative artificial intelligence (AI) and launched a new Innovation Lab at the IBM Client Experience Centre in Bengaluru.

According to the company, the lab is open to clients from around the world to explore joint IBM-AWS solutions and test prototypes and proofs of value that aim to help accelerate innovation across industries such as Banking and Financial Services, Automotive, Manufacturing, Energy and Utilities, Travel and Transportation, and Healthcare, among others.

The lab is divided into experience zones that focus on different technology areas underpinned by generative AI and machine learning.

“Clients can now experiment with the latest cloud-enabled technologies including generative AI in our lab, before actually implementing and scaling solutions on AWS,” Anuj Malhotra, Vice President and Senior Partner, Growth Platforms, IBM India Client Innovation Centre for IBM Consulting, said in a statement.

“Our teams at the lab, consisting of technology and industry experts from IBM and AWS, will help build rapid prototypes that address client business and technology challenges,” he added.

Moreover, the company said IBM has already built extensive expertise with AWS’s generative AI services, including Amazon SageMaker and Amazon CodeWhisperer, and is one of the first AWS Partners to use Amazon Bedrock.

AI expertise and a deep understanding of AWS capabilities are critical for clients looking to implement generative AI, and IBM is already providing mutual clients with access to professionals.

With this announcement, IBM Consulting plans to train and skill 10,000 consultants on AWS generative AI services by the end of 2024.

They will have access to an exclusive, partner-only programme that provides training on the top use cases and best practices for client engagement with AWS generative AI services.

“Our customers are increasingly looking for the technical support and AI expertise they need to build and implement a generative AI strategy that drives business value from their entire cloud value chain,” said Chris Niederman, Managing Director, Global Systems Integrators at AWS.

ALSO READ: Palo Alto Networks Acquires Talon for $625M

Categories
Business Tech Lite Technology

AWS, ISRO, IN-SPACe Join Forces for Space Innovation

AWS expands access to free computing skills training

Amazon’s Cloud subsidiary collaborates to accelerate space sector innovation….reports Asian Lite News

Amazon Web Services (AWS) India on Wednesday said it has signed a strategic MoU with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) to support space-tech innovations through cloud computing.

The collaboration, said the Amazon’s Cloud subsidiary, will give space startups, research institutes and students access to cutting edge cloud technologies that accelerate the development of new solutions in the space sector.

“We are at a pivotal time in India’s space journey as the Indian government focuses on broadening and strengthening the country’s capabilities in the aerospace and satellite industry,” said,” Shalini Kapoor, Director and Chief Technologist, Public Sector, AWS India and South Asia.

“We look forward to helping customers in India build space-tech solutions to make life on Earth better,” Kapoor added.

AWS’s educational programmes on cloud computing in combination with ISRO’s space-tech expertise will inspire future generations to pursue a career in India’s growing space sector.

“Advancing innovation in the space sector is a top priority for our nation as geospatial solutions have the power to deliver high quality services for the good governance for citizens and add value to the stakeholders,” said Sudheer Kumar N, Director, Capacity Building and Public Outreach, ISRO.

ISRO, IN-SPACe and AWS will work collaboratively to nurture and grow the startup community in the space-tech sector.

AWS will provide eligible space startups tools, resources, and expert technical support at no cost through the AWS Activate programme.

Startups will also benefit from access to AWS and its global experience of building aerospace and satellite solutions through the AWS Space Accelerator programme, said the company.

“After the Chandrayaan-3 moon landing and Aditya L-1 mission, it is time we leverage the limitless potential of space technology and cloud computing to propel India’s space sector to new heights. IN-SPACe has continuously been striving to empower and facilitate the private space sector,” said Dr Vinod Kumar, Director, Promotion Directorate, IN-SPACe.

Cloud computing enables the speedy management of large volumes of raw space data, besides running AI, ML and analytics workloads to achieve meaningful outcomes in a highly cost-effective manner.

ALSO READ: REMEX KA-6 Set to Transform Radiology in India

Categories
Business Tech Lite Technology

AWS bets big on generative AI solutions

The programme will connect AWS AI and machine learning (ML) experts with customers around the globe…reports Asian Lite News

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is investing $100 million in a generative AI innovation centre to help customers build and deploy generative artificial intelligence (AI) solutions.

The programme will connect AWS AI and machine learning (ML) experts with customers around the globe to help them envision, design, and launch new generative AI products, services, and processes.

“The Generative AI Innovation Centre is part of our goal to help every organisation leverage AI by providing flexible and cost-effective generative AI services for the enterprise, alongside our team of generative AI experts to take advantage of all this new technology has to offer,” said Matt Garman, senior vice president of sales, marketing and global services at AWS.

The AI innovation centre team of strategists, data scientists, engineers, and solutions architects will work step-by-step with customers to build bespoke solutions that harness the power of generative AI.

Customers will work closely with generative AI experts from AWS and the AWS Partner Network to select the right models, define paths to navigate technical or business challenges, develop proofs of concepts, and make plans for launching solutions at scale, said the company.

Highspot, Lonely Planet, Ryanair, and Twilio are engaging with the Innovation Center to explore developing generative AI solutions.

“We look forward to seeing the impact of the Generative AI Innovation Center and its mission to nurture new ideas and capabilities in the AI space,” said Kathryn Murphy, senior vice president of product management at Twilio.

ALSO READ: PRCA MENA unites industry leaders for networking opportunities

Categories
Business

AWS vows to extend data residency across India

Amazon Web Services.(photo:ians twitter)

The company said that its approach to delivering on this pledge is to continue to make the AWS Cloud sovereign-by-design — as it has been from day one…writes NISHANT ARORA

As the Indian government asks Big Tech and enterprises to store the residents’ data locally, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has said that it will continue to expand its existing capabilities in the country to provide even more fine-grained data residency controls and transparency.

The Amazon’s Cloud subsidiary, during its annual flagship conference ‘AWS: Reinvent 2022’, announced last week introduced the ‘Digital Sovereignty Pledge’ — a commitment to offer its customers the most advanced set of sovereignty controls and features available in the cloud.

The company said that its approach to delivering on this pledge is to continue to make the AWS Cloud sovereign-by-design — as it has been from day one.

“The launch of the AWS Asia Pacific (Hyderabad) Region and our AWS Asia Pacific (Mumbai) Region will support this by enabling local customers with data residency preferences to store data securely in India, while providing customers with even lower latency across the country,” Puneet Chandok, President, Commercial Business, AWS India, and South Asia, AISPL, told IANS.

“We have also designed and delivered first-of-a-kind innovation to restrict access to customer data,” he added.

AWS recently announced the launch of its second infrastructure region in the country in Hyderabad.

Through this, it is planning to invest an estimated $4.4 billion (about Rs 36,300 crore) in India by 2030, which includes capital expenditures on the construction of data centres, operational expenses related to ongoing utilities and facility costs, and purchases of goods and services from regional businesses.

The investment is also estimated to support an average of more than 48,000 full-time jobs annually at external businesses during this time.

“AWS’s current Region in Mumbai, together with our newly launched second Region in Hyderabad will provide customers with more flexibility and choice,” said Chandok.

The construction and operation of the AWS Asia Pacific (Hyderabad) Region is also estimated to add approximately $7.6 billion (nearly Rs 63,600 crore) to India’s gross domestic product by 2030.

Hundreds of thousands of customers in India, including Acko General Insurance, Axis Bank, Clevertap, Digital India Corporation (MeitY), Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Government of Telangana, HDFC Life, Jupiter, Lendingkart, National Skill Development Corporation, PhysicsWallah, and Tata Elxsi are innovating on AWS.

“AWS is powering small-and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) of every size and across every industry in India with the world’s leading cloud,” Chandok said.

Chandok said that they have heard from many customers in the last 18 months regarding concerns of having to choose between the full power of AWS and a feature-limited sovereign cloud solution that could hamper their ability to innovate, transform, and grow.

“We firmly believe that customers shouldn’t have to make this choice.

AWS has always believed that for the cloud to realise its full potential it would be essential that customers have control over their data,” he added.

ALSO READ: Mozilla acquires active replica to fuel metaverse strategy

Categories
Abu Dhabi UAE News

Abu Dhabi boosts digital economy capabilities with AWS launch

The arrival of the AWS Middle East (UAE) Region in the first half of 2022 will accelerate cloud adoption and empower organisations to innovate faster…reports Asian Lite News

Abu Dhabi’s digital economy is set to get a booster with the launch of Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) cloud infrastructure region in the UAE, as part of the Abu Dhabi Investment Office’s (ADIO) efforts to attract investments that build technology capabilities.

The arrival of the AWS Middle East (UAE) Region in the first half of 2022 will accelerate cloud adoption and empower organisations to innovate faster. It will further enhance the access organisations have to advanced technologies from the world’s leading cloud services provider, helping them to innovate and digitally transform across Abu Dhabi and the wider UAE.

The collaboration highlights the growing partnership between the public and private sectors in Abu Dhabi, which is accelerating breakthroughs and advancing large-scale digital transformation, strengthening the emirate’s position as a global hub for innovation.

As part of its investment, AWS will be collaborating with ADIO across Abu Dhabi’s knowledge economy on various ecosystem and education initiatives, training and startup enablement programmes.

Earlier this year, ADIO partnered with ICT leaders, music streaming service Anghami and cloud technology consulting and management company Bespin, under its Innovation Programme. Underscoring Abu Dhabi’s role as a launchpad for innovators, Anghami is set to list on the Nasdaq via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).

In 2021 alone, ADIO has provided more than AED 735 million (USD 200 million) of support to ICT companies based in or setting up in Abu Dhabi to help them innovate, while also providing them with a raft of other non-financial incentives including immigration and licensing support, connections with education providers and dedicated investor care services.

Dr. Tariq Bin Hendi, Director General of ADIO, commented, “Abu Dhabi is leading the region’s digital transformation, with the emirate’s robust infrastructure and connectivity powering its thriving business ecosystem and cementing its status as the smartest city in the Middle East.”

“Through our ICT partnerships, we are executing on our mission to ‘turn sand into silicon’ by driving improved capacities and capabilities that deliver opportunities for businesses across Abu Dhabi, the UAE and the region,” he added.

The new AWS Middle East (UAE) Region will enable local customers with data residency requirements to store their data in the UAE while also providing even lower latency across the country.

This will also increase access for local organisations to advanced technologies and a full suite of cloud services including analytics, artificial intelligence, computing, database, Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning, mobile services, serverless technologies, storage and more to drive innovation.

Vinod Krishnan, Head of the Middle East and North Africa, AWS, said, “The new AWS Region will give organisations in the UAE local access to the most advanced cloud technology, empowering them with tools to build innovative solutions that accelerate digital transformation. Critical to realising the full potential of cloud computing is having the right skills. In addition to infrastructure, AWS is making investments in cloud skills training and education programs for people in the UAE. “

ALSO READ: UAE-Netherlands Week to strengthen ties