“In the past, when applying artificial intelligence, you first needed a basic algorithm model, then used specific data to process it, and finally added it to the application... But obviously, every step here involves legal and Privacy issues: intellectual property rights of algorithmic models, legal risks of private data, and access to and control of the models themselves. So more than a year ago, we established a department of AI Labs dedicated to solving these issues. Ultimately, we Found the answer: Private AI.” VMware CEO Raghu Raghuram said this at VMware Explore 2023 Las Vegas.
(VMware CEO Raghu Raghuram launches Private AI at VMware Explore 2023 Las Vegas)
The obvious point is: with Raghu Raghuram announcing the launch of Private AI (Private AI), AI is destined to become the most eye-catching label of this conference - just like VMware once launched Tanzu in 2019 - this is somewhat similar to private cloud The concept indicates that VMware will invest more attention in the field of large-scale enterprise-level applications of AI. At the same time, it will inevitably have a subtle and profound impact on VMware's original product structure and business logic, and even its business layout.
To understand the impact of this focus on AI on VMware, we need to first understand how IT technology itself plays a role in the value path of enterprise users.
Private AI: VMware’s AI strategy
In the traditional IT field, if we must draw a capability dividing line for all technologies and products in the entire IT industry: then one side can be called IT infrastructure, and the other side is business value. The former serves enterprise IT personnel. Its value lies in providing IT capabilities to enterprises and providing full possibilities for the enterprise's actual business growth, but it does not directly affect the business, such as cloud computing or virtualization of VMware's traditional advantages. They all fall into this category; the latter directly affects the actual business of the enterprise, such as CAD software used for design, ERP software used for production, or VMware's WORKSPACE ONE, which are all directly used in the actual business of the enterprise.
What breaks this traditional capability dividing line is the rise of cloud computing, which has challenged the software industry that directly affects the actual business of enterprises in the traditional sense: the emergence of cloud native and microservices has allowed enterprises to find another, more powerful Efficiency and a more direct way to use IT means to intervene in real business - this is the value of VMware's launch of Tanzu in 2019: VMware, which used to focus on IT infrastructure, broke through the capability boundaries of the traditional IT system through Tanzu. , by providing enterprises with tools to create applications, the capabilities from the underlying infrastructure are directly transformed into improvements in enterprise business capabilities.
“Generally speaking, AI works on data, and today’s customer data is mostly distributed across multiple cloud environments. So our goal in launching AI solutions is to help our customers solve two main problems: How can we innovatively Generative artificial intelligence builds their own applications and how to ensure that their infrastructure is truly multi-cloud." Sumit Dhawan, President of VMware, emphasized in response to questions that VMware's focus is to solve the problems of enterprise users: reducing enterprise user management and the complexity of applying multi-cloud environments, as well as building more new types of applications for real-world businesses.
(Sumit Dhawan, President of VMware)
Therefore, it can be said that the proposal of private AI actually has a close causal relationship with VMware's "traditional" multi-cloud strategy: with the growth of applications, enterprise users have a constant demand for building new applications based on generative artificial intelligence. As a result, there are higher requirements for the capabilities of multi-cloud solutions. As a result, the launch of private AI actually runs through the two levels of traditional "IT infrastructure" and emerging "business value", that is, it also provides a greater degree of integration and respective upgrades for VMware's multi-cloud strategy and application delivery. possibility.
When answering the author's question, Sumit Dhawan emphasized: "Private AI is actually a method to ensure the privacy and control of enterprise data. It is a technical standard and structural system that helps users adopt generative AI technology more safely, and truly practices this The standards and systems are the Private AI Foundation.”
In Sumit Dhawan’s view, the first priority for private AI is not only data security, but also privacy and confidentiality. In his view, data is the key to training and applying generative AI. Therefore, VMware’s way to solve the problem through private AI is to choose the language model and control the location of the data: “First of all, for enterprise users, they have full choice over the language model: unlike AI from the public cloud, In the process of private AI application, enterprise users can choose data with less risk and have better control over the AI training method. Secondly, enterprise users can choose to train and apply AI models on the infrastructure under their control. ——Whether it is in a public cloud, a partner's cloud, or an enterprise user's private cloud, enterprise users always know clearly where the data is being used. "Such a fully controllable AI training and application environment," only private AI can provide it,” said Sumit Dhawan.
According to information provided by VMware, while launching private AI, VMware also released: VMware Private AI Foundation with NVIDIA and VMware Private AI Reference Architecture for Open Source. The former is a set of integrated AI tools that help enterprises cost-effectively run models trained on their private data and enable these models to be deployed in data centers, leading public clouds and edges; the latter is It integrates innovative open source software technologies and provides an open reference architecture, a set of open source solutions, for building and running open source software models on VMware Cloud Foundation.
Specifically, VMware Private AI Foundation with NVIDIA integrates the VMware Private AI architecture built on VMware Cloud Foundation with NVIDIA AI Enterprise software and accelerated computing, providing customers with a series of capabilities to customize models and run generative AI applications, such as Accelerated computing infrastructure and cloud infrastructure software required for intelligent chatbots, assistants, search, summarization and more are now supported by Dell, HPE and Lenovo.
The open source ecosystem built by VMware for AI already includes Anyscale, Domino Data Lab, and leading global system integrators such as Wipro and HCL. It builds and delivers turnkey solutions that combine VMware Cloud with AI partner ecosystem solutions. Solutions to help enterprise users take advantage of Private AI. Among them, the conference site specifically mentioned that VMware and Hugging Face jointly released SafeCoder. This is a complete commercial code assistant solution for enterprise applications, including services, software and support. VMware is currently using SafeCoder internally and released a reference architecture containing code samples at the conference to guide and help enterprise users realize value as quickly as possible when deploying and running SafeCoder on VMware infrastructure.
The ecosystem built based on AI is obviously larger than ever before, and covers a wider range of IT fields and categories. This obviously means more markets for any IT company. Chance.
“When we talk to customers, private AI is really resonating more as an architectural approach. We’re also hearing a lot of promises that it will become a business for us, but the bottom line is: we are convinced that this It will become a market," said Sumit Dhawan.
Infrastructure: simultaneous upgrade of traditional businesses
“Our strategy: The focus on generative AI is focused solely on infrastructure, we don’t provide language models, consulting services or solutions for data scientists – we only provide what we do best: as the middle layer, we provide enterprise Users are provided with a complete stack, thereby essentially hiding the complexity of all the setup required to introduce newly generated artificial intelligence applications in a multi-cloud world." Sumit Dhawan emphasized: Although VMware's cross-cloud platform and the integration of AI platforms , will become the core focus and key investment area of VMware in the future. VMware’s ultimate goal will also be to enable intelligent application of cloud capabilities for enterprise users in a multi-cloud world, but VMware will still focus on upgrading previous solutions. .
Therefore, we can see that with the release of Private AI Foundation, although VMware's various business lines have begun to more or less incorporate AI-related technologies and applications, the overall direction has not been significantly adjusted and has remained the same. A state of orderly and stable upgrade.
In terms of infrastructure. On the day of the conference, VMware released a new generation of VMware Cloud - which integrates VMware Cloud Foundation software and VMware Cloud services: VMware Cloud Foundation integrates the innovative essence of VMware's local and public cloud software products into a unified stack, providing an A consistent environment on-premises, hyperscale cloud or partner cloud environments; VMware Cloud services simplify the deployment and operation of VMware Cloud Foundation environments across any cloud or on-premises environment. Customers can take advantage of VMware Cloud services to more securely run enterprise workloads at scale with advanced data protection, cloud disaster recovery and ransomware recovery, and multi-cloud networking and security. In addition, VMware also released VMware NSX+, a new NSX (formerly known as Project NorthStar) cloud hosting service product delivered as SaaS for multi-cloud environments, which implements zero electronic work orders, zero custom security or load balancing hardware devices and zero trust. A single cloud operating model standardizes the network and security of the entire VMware Cloud environment, providing consistent network and security operations, centralized security policy creation and execution, comprehensive network and application visibility, and network detection and response (NDR) defense in depth as a service.
"I think artificial intelligence can help us produce better products." John Gilmartin, VMware senior vice president and general manager of the infrastructure cloud division, emphasized in response to the author's question that the addition of AI capabilities will not affect traditional infrastructure. There will be no impact on VMware's product business, but the addition of AI technology can truly improve the experience of enterprise users.
(John Gilmartin, senior vice president and general manager of the Infrastructure Cloud Division at VMware)
John Gilmartin particularly emphasized the series of Intelligent Assist launched at this conference based on generative AI. The one related to infrastructure is NSX+ with Intelligent Assist, which can help security analysts quickly and accurately determine the relevance of security investigation results. , and effectively remediate threats. "The solution we announced today about the intelligent assistant assistant is just the first step. We are now exploring more possibilities internally around using generative AI, hoping to help our IT developers improve their work efficiency. "
Also released at the same time as NSX+ with Intelligent Assist are VMware Tanzu with Intelligent Assist and Workspace ONE with Intelligent Assist: the former will allow users to conversationally request and refine changes to their enterprise cloud infrastructure to address multi-cloud visibility and configuration challenges; the latter will help users create high-quality scripts using natural language prompts and obtain a faster and more efficient scripting experience.
"Changes are happening, and AI is having a positive impact on enterprises' ability to apply technology." Purnima Padmanabhan, senior vice president and general manager of modern applications at VMware, gave a positive evaluation of the integration of AI.
(Purnima Padmanabhan, senior vice president and general manager of modern applications at VMware)
On the day of the conference, VMware launched a new generation of Tanzu Application Platform and VMware Tanzu Intelligence Services on VMware Tanzu. Among them, VMware Tanzu Application Platform combines the latest innovations in platform engineering and operations with the existing capabilities of Tanzu for Kubernetes Operations to help enterprises create a first-class internal platform and simplify and improve application delivery efficiency. The new Tanzu Intelligence Services includes some features of the VMware Aria product portfolio and a common data platform, which can centrally manage different systems and realize data sharing. This will help eliminate silos and enable teams to respond to problems faster and leverage in-depth information. And actionable insights continuously adapt applications and environments.
Workspace ONE should be the traditional VMware product that is currently most integrated with AI. On the day of the conference, VMware announced the integration of modern AI into the Anywhere Workspace platform - which is part of the VMware Cross-Cloud service portfolio, which can automatically optimize employee experience, support new security vulnerability management application scenarios, and simplify application lifecycle management - VMware Anywhere Workspace has become the only hybrid office platform that integrates digital employee experience (DEX), virtual desktop and application infrastructure (VDI and DaaS), unified endpoint management (UEM) and security to achieve seamless work on any device or location. Connected and safe workspaces.
Shankar Iyer, senior vice president and general manager of end-user computing at VMware, said in a press release: "Last year we launched our Autonomous Workspace vision to help enterprises meet the challenges of hybrid working. We are very excited to provide customers with the latest advanced technology. "These innovative technologies extend data sources and insights, integrate with technology partners to improve security, and unify application delivery strategies across all virtual desktops and applications. This will help us realize our vision of a next-generation digital workspace."
(Shankar Iyer, senior vice president and general manager of end-user computing at VMware)
If VMware's business capabilities, with the launch of Tanzu, have achieved the integration between the "IT world managed by infrastructure" and the "physical world managed by business applications", then the point of integration is actually what is defined by edge computing. Application scenarios.
Therefore, at VMware Explore 2022, VMware is specifically launching a fully integrated edge platform to help customers meet the simplicity and scale needs of the edge by running modern, existing and future edge-native applications. This year, VMware launched the new VMware Edge orchestration function Edge Cloud Orchestrator, a new retail edge industry solution, and announced the upcoming launch of VMware Edge managed connection services.
"Growing demand for edge computing across industries is driving the need for automation and orchestration. VMware Edge Cloud Orchestrator, a powerful new tool, extends our proven network automation and orchestration capabilities to help enterprises be more secure and cost-effective to install, configure, operate and maintain their edge deployments. VMware Edge Cloud Orchestrator is the first true software-defined edge solution for scalable 'end-to-edge' infrastructure." Senior Vice President and President, Service Providers and Edge, VMware Manager Sanjay Uppal said in a press release. It is understood that VMware is currently working hard to implement application scenarios with customers, covering a wide range of industries including manufacturing, retail, energy and medical care.
(Sanjay Uppal, senior vice president and general manager, Service Provider and Edge, VMware)
write at the end
It should be said that the introduction of AI by VMware is, to a certain extent, a comprehensive upgrade of the original business: it not only gives the original business a broader development dimension, but also makes the relationship between the businesses closer, making the original business more comprehensive. The technical logical relationship between businesses is clearer. At the same time, the introduction of the concept of private AI has also given VMware more business opportunities in the future and expanded its space for growth.
During this meeting, Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware also entered a critical period. Broadcom President and CEO Chen Fuyang also appeared at the venue. "The combination of Broadcom and VMware is professional, more competitive, and can provide greater value." Chen Fuyang emphasized in his speech: "Once the transaction is completed, we will focus on investing in VMware products and services. In fact, Broadcom will immediately invest an additional $2 billion per year to better unlock customer value: half of the investment will focus on research and development; the other half will focus on helping the deployment of its solutions through professional services from VMware and partners - Broadcom Investment will be made in growing the partner ecosystem to help them grow their own businesses and better support mutual customers."
Chen Fuyang said: "This transaction will be completed within Broadcom's 2023 fiscal year."
Content source｜Public account: VMware China R&D Center, the article comes from "Digital Business Era", author Ding Haiao
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