Hardware from the PC and smartphone giants gets software support from AI pioneers in the Gulf
nybl, the science-based artificial intelligence (AI) pioneer, and Lenovo, the world’s fourth-largest PC maker, announced their global partnership at the Gitex Global that will marry software of the former with the hardware of the latter.
The 42nd edition of Gitex, touted as the world’s largest tech show, kicked off at the Dubai World Trade Centre on Monday and will run until Friday with a slate of major announcements happening on the first day of the event.
The agreement will ensure Lenovo’s Edge AI servers with hardware being complemented by software from the rising AI giant nybl. It marks the latest development in nybl building a comprehensive end-to-end AI ecosystem that enables anyone to connect to and analyze vast data sets in real-time without writing any code or relying on historical training data. It’s what nybl refers to as the democratization of AI, and it aligns perfectly with Lenovo’s vision of ‘Smarter technology for all.’
The partnership is aligned with efforts to support Lenovo AI Innovators – an ecosystem of AI partners focused on providing a one-stop shop for customers looking to deploy AI with confidence, and even more importantly, to scale AI in their businesses.
The partnership will allow Lenovo and nybl to create customised solutions in a customer-first approach, creating advanced AI ecosystems for a variety of use-case scenarios.
Lenovo comprises the biggest AI-hardware portfolio on the market – from workstations for data scientists to gateways for IoT, to powerful GPU-accelerated Edge servers all the way to high-performance computing. Lenovo has the highest number of supercomputers in the Fortune Global 500 list.
Nicholas Borsotto, Worldwide Manager for AI alliances at Lenovo, said: “Our focus is to assemble best-of-breed AI partners from around the world, supporting them in their journey to scale and collaborating to support our clients’ journey to scale AI in their companies. nybl stood out for the strength of their bespoke AI services, their level of expertise with Edge technology and real-life deployment, and the scale of their ambition to tackle global challenges using end-to-end AI solutions.”
Noor Alnahhas, CEO of nybl, said: “We want to be world leaders in AI platforms, tools and solutions. Having the right partners who are aligned is crucial. We fit exceptionally well with Lenovo across all three pillars. We see eye-to-eye on our vision for the industry and, as a result, we’ve hit the ground running, which has been very exciting. Lenovo’s Edge AI servers and our AI tools are a match made in heaven in terms of enabling robust, cost-effective performance.”
Nybl’s offerings focus on industries (including oil and gas; healthcare; physical and cyber-security; fintech; and retail) that have stringent data security and compliance requirements, meaning that many prefer not to deploy on cloud. The partnership between nybl and Lenovo allows for the on-premise deployment of AI solutions, providing a distinct competitive advantage.
The partnership will also provide opportunities for nybl to expand their AI ecosystem from a solutions perspective, as Alnahhas explains: “Through the partnership with Lenovo, we have been introduced to class-leading AI providers with whom we can partner to increase the capabilities of our ecosystem. We have perfected our platform-as-a-service and solution components, and adding functionality in a modular fashion allows us to give our customers the best-available AI ecosystem through a cost-effective model.”
The partnership has already begun to bear fruit, supporting the deployment of an oil and gas solution on Lenovo Edge servers, and a comprehensive AI-enabled security solution for facilities totalling 750,000m2.
In line with its work to support the UN SDG goals, nybl has also leveraged its AI using Lenovo Edge AI servers, managing air quality, energy usage and security to promote healthier, safer and more efficient facilities. Lenovo Edge AI is used to adapt the final product to the area-specific conditions of the individual user and to lower power consumption. Lenovo’s Edge servers are packaged as a full plug-and-play solution – which removes the need for a rack and auxiliary system setup.
Without Lenovo Edge, the end-user would have to install and configure every device to communicate and rely on cloud communication. Edge allows clients to deploy a self-configuring self-connecting system. This removes the need for security and technical deployment issues, thus allowing for cost savings on cloud, infrastructure and manpower.
