TL;DR:
- VMware teams up with Intel and IBM for its private AI initiative.
- Private AI empowers users to utilize data within their enterprise environments for LLM training without third-party data sharing.
- VMware previously partnered with NVIDIA for the VMware Private AI Foundation.
- The expanded collaboration with Intel offers Max Series GPUs and Xeon processors as alternatives to NVIDIA’s offerings.
- VMware and Intel are jointly developing a reference architecture to reduce TCO.
- VMware’s partnership with IBM introduces Watsonx AI framework for comprehensive data management and machine learning tasks.
- Access to IBM-selected open-source models and third-party resources enhances generative AI use cases.
- VMware faces customer base challenges amid an impending acquisition by Broadcom.
Main AI News:
VMware, a prominent player in the tech industry, has forged strategic partnerships with industry giants Intel and IBM to bolster its private AI initiative. These collaborations are poised to usher in cutting-edge architectures, enhancing generative AI training data capabilities while introducing novel features to the market.
The concept of Private AI, as articulated by VMware, represents a transformative generative AI framework, empowering customers to leverage their data within their own enterprise ecosystems—be it public cloud, private cloud, or on-premises infrastructure—for large language model (LLM) training purposes, all while safeguarding sensitive data from third-party access. In August, VMware made headlines by unveiling the VMware Private AI Foundation, developed in collaboration with NVIDIA. This groundbreaking platform amalgamates VMware Cloud Foundation’s versatile multi-cloud architecture with NVIDIA’s AI Enterprise software, delivering on-premises AI capabilities through hardware systems from industry leaders such as Dell, HPE, and Lenovo.
Recent developments at the VMware Explore event in Barcelona have shed light on the company’s extended partnership with Intel. This collaboration will see Intel’s Max Series GPUs, Xeon processors, and AI software tools introduced as a compelling alternative to NVIDIA’s offerings. The Max Series GPU, notable for housing 128 advanced AI-focused cores on a single chip, and Intel’s latest Xeon CPUs, enhanced with the Intel Advanced Matrix Extension additions to their x86 instruction set, collectively maximize performance for AI and machine learning tasks.
VMware and Intel are actively developing a VMware Private AI reference architecture, tailored to empower customers in constructing and deploying Private AI models. By harnessing the Intel AI software kit, processors, and hardware accelerators in conjunction with VMware Cloud Foundation, this initiative aims to reduce Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).
Furthermore, VMware has inked a significant partnership with IBM, introducing the Watsonx AI framework to VMware’s esteemed clientele. Leveraging the power of Cloud Foundation and Red Hat’s OpenShift containerization platform, this collaboration offers a comprehensive, end-to-end architecture for data management, governance, and operational machine learning tasks.
The blog post announcing this collaboration highlights an added advantage for organizations—a repository of IBM-selected open-source models from Hugging Face, along with third-party models and a suite of IBM-trained foundation models. These resources are poised to bolster a range of generative AI (GenAI) use cases.
It’s worth noting that VMware, currently in the midst of a landmark $61 billion acquisition by Broadcom, has encountered substantial challenges in recent years. Escalating prices and declining support have led to an erosion of its customer base. As per analysts from Forrester Research, VMware may experience a decline of up to 20 percent in its customer base by the year 2024.
Conclusion:
VMware’s strategic alliances with Intel and IBM signify a pivotal moment in the evolution of private AI solutions, promising cutting-edge technology and innovative capabilities for businesses seeking to harness the power of AI within their own secure environments. These partnerships exemplify VMware’s commitment to remaining at the forefront of technological innovation in an ever-evolving landscape.
