The theme for this year’s Microsoft Future Decoded is AI, and specifically, how it can transform your business faster than any technology before it.

But artificial intelligence is not new; It’s been around since Alan Turing was cracking codes in World War II. So, what is actually accelerating this revolution?

According to Cindy Rose, Microsoft’s UK CEO, there are three reasons why and she outlined them on stage during her keynote speech to open this year’s event.

“Firstly, it’s the explosive growth of data,” she said. “These connected consumer devices and IoT [internet of things] sensors are producing more data today then humans can possibly make sense out of.”

Indeed, using AI for data processing is a necessity as she gave an estimate that 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are being created every day. That’s more than 15 million text messages and 100 million spam emails every minute.

“It is also the power and pervasiveness of cloud,” she added. “Cloud is what enables the efficient and rapid analysis of all this data. Microsoft is investing billions of dollars in a global cloud infrastructure to make sure we can deploy AI, quickly and at scale.

This “explosive” growth of data and the capabilities within cloud computing, combined, are enabling the development of increasingly powerful algorithms — ones “we’ve never seen before”, according to Rose. It’s indisputable, the two need to be combined because the sheer volume of data we now generate cannot be processed by a human.

This speed of processing is Rose’s third reason for the sharp rise in the AI revolution. This is what makes it a far more game-changing technology than anything that has gone before it.

“It’s taken us nearly four decades to put a PC on every desk and a smartphone in every pocket,” added Rose. “But the pace of AI deployment will be much faster and its impact more profound.

“And the pace the of change of these dynamics is why we believe that the time to embrace AI in your organisation is right now.”

Microsoft has responded to criticism for its decision to continue selling technology to the US military, which has been opposed by its own employees.

Brad Smith, Redmond’s president and chief legal officer, also defended its bid for the $10 billion cloud computing contract with the Pentagon, calling it “an example of the kind of work we are committed to doing”.

The contract is being offered to one cloud computing specialist and has been widely criticised, both for seeking only one cloud provider and its ethical basis. 

Despite rival firms like Google removing its bid for the contract sighting its morality, Microsoft has reaffirmed its commitment to providing technology to the military. 

“Artificial intelligence, augmented reality and other technologies are raising new and profoundly important issues, including the ability of weapons to act autonomously,” he wrote. “As we have discussed these issues with governments, we’ve appreciated that no military in the world wants to wake up to discover that machines have started a war.

“But we can’t expect these new developments to be addressed wisely if the people in the tech sector who know the most about technology withdraw from the conversation.”

Part of this conversation took place during a Q&A session with Microsoft employees. Smith, along with CEO Satya Nadella, laid out the company’s three convictions for offering its services to the military.

Firstly, Microsoft said it believes in the strong defence of the United States and that it wants the people who defend it to have access to the nation’s best technology, including its own.

Secondly, Redmond said it appreciates the important ethical and policy issues that AI is creating for weapons and warfare. Adding that it will use its knowledge and voice as a corporate citizen to address these in a responsible way through the country’s civic and democratic processes.

Third, and most crucially given where some of its criticism has come from, Microsoft said it understood that some of its employees had different views.

“We don’t ask or expect everyone who works at Microsoft to support every position the company takes,” added Smith. “We also respect the fact that some employees work in, or may be citizens of other countries, and they may not want to work on certain projects.”

The tech giant stressed that it gives the US military access to the best technology because it wants those who serve the country to know it “has their backs” but at the moment it’s own employees don’t seem to have Microsoft’s back.

Microsoft has responded to criticism for its decision to continue selling technology to the US military, which has been opposed by its own employees.

Brad Smith, Redmond’s president and chief legal officer, also defended its bid for the $10 billion cloud computing contract with the Pentagon, calling it “an example of the kind of work we are committed to doing”.

The contract is being offered to one cloud computing specialist and has been widely criticised, both for seeking only one cloud provider and its ethical basis. 

Despite rival firms like Google removing its bid for the contract sighting its morality, Microsoft has reaffirmed its commitment to providing technology to the military. 

“Artificial intelligence, augmented reality and other technologies are raising new and profoundly important issues, including the ability of weapons to act autonomously,” he wrote. “As we have discussed these issues with governments, we’ve appreciated that no military in the world wants to wake up to discover that machines have started a war.

“But we can’t expect these new developments to be addressed wisely if the people in the tech sector who know the most about technology withdraw from the conversation.”

Part of this conversation took place during a Q&A session with Microsoft employees. Smith, along with CEO Satya Nadella, laid out the company’s three convictions for offering its services to the military.

Firstly, Microsoft said it believes in the strong defence of the United States and that it wants the people who defend it to have access to the nation’s best technology, including its own.

Secondly, Redmond said it appreciates the important ethical and policy issues that AI is creating for weapons and warfare. Adding that it will use its knowledge and voice as a corporate citizen to address these in a responsible way through the country’s civic and democratic processes.

Third, and most crucially given where some of its criticism has come from, Microsoft said it understood that some of its employees had different views.

“We don’t ask or expect everyone who works at Microsoft to support every position the company takes,” added Smith. “We also respect the fact that some employees work in, or may be citizens of other countries, and they may not want to work on certain projects.”

The tech giant stressed that it gives the US military access to the best technology because it wants those who serve the country to know it “has their backs” but at the moment it’s own employees don’t seem to have Microsoft’s back.

IBM and Red Hat have reached an agreement under which Big Blue will acquire open source cloud software provider Red Hat for approximately $34 billion.

In a joint statement, IBM chairman and CEO Ginni Rometty called the acquisition of Red Hat a “game-changer” for the cloud market.

According to Big Blue, the market is “proprietary” by nature and, as a result, often prevents data from being more portable, thus holds back business workloads from being placed on hybrid cloud systems.

By purchasing Red Hat, Rometty said that IBM could become the world’s number one hybrid cloud provider by helping businesses migrate to its cloud systems.

“Most companies today are only 20% along their cloud journey, renting compute power to cut costs,” said Rometty. “The next 80% is about unlocking real business value and driving growth.” 

“This is the next chapter of the cloud. It requires shifting business applications to hybrid cloud, extracting more data and optimising every part of the business, from supply chains to sales.”

The two companies have enjoyed a 20-year partnership, with IBM serving as an early supporter of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux and, more recently, with its work bringing Kubernetes to hybrid cloud customers.

Within the terms of the deal, IBM has said it will remain committed to Red Hat’s open source community and its developer ecosystem. The company will also sit as a distinct unit within Big Blue, keeping the independence and neutrality of Red Hat’s open source development heritage and CEO Jim Whitehurst and its current management team will also stay at the helm.

“Open source is the default choice for modern IT solutions and I’m incredibly proud of the role Red Hat has played in making that a reality in the enterprise,” said Whitehurst.

“Joining forces with IBM will provide us with a greater level of scale, resources and capabilities to accelerate the impact of open source as the basis for digital transformation and bring Red Hat to an even wider audience – all while preserving our unique culture and unwavering commitment to open source innovation.”

IBM and Red Hat have reached an agreement under which Big Blue will acquire open source cloud software provider Red Hat for approximately $34 billion.

In a joint statement, IBM chairman and CEO Ginni Rometty called the acquisition of Red Hat a “game-changer” for the cloud market.

According to Big Blue, the market is “proprietary” by nature and, as a result, often prevents data from being more portable, thus holds back business workloads from being placed on hybrid cloud systems.

By purchasing Red Hat, Rometty said that IBM could become the world’s number one hybrid cloud provider by helping businesses migrate to its cloud systems.

“Most companies today are only 20% along their cloud journey, renting compute power to cut costs,” said Rometty. “The next 80% is about unlocking real business value and driving growth.” 

“This is the next chapter of the cloud. It requires shifting business applications to hybrid cloud, extracting more data and optimising every part of the business, from supply chains to sales.”

The two companies have enjoyed a 20-year partnership, with IBM serving as an early supporter of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux and, more recently, with its work bringing Kubernetes to hybrid cloud customers.

Within the terms of the deal, IBM has said it will remain committed to Red Hat’s open source community and its developer ecosystem. The company will also sit as a distinct unit within Big Blue, keeping the independence and neutrality of Red Hat’s open source development heritage and CEO Jim Whitehurst and its current management team will also stay at the helm.

“Open source is the default choice for modern IT solutions and I’m incredibly proud of the role Red Hat has played in making that a reality in the enterprise,” said Whitehurst.

“Joining forces with IBM will provide us with a greater level of scale, resources and capabilities to accelerate the impact of open source as the basis for digital transformation and bring Red Hat to an even wider audience – all while preserving our unique culture and unwavering commitment to open source innovation.”

Alibaba Group has continued its expansion into Europe by opening a London data centre, where it said it will mix Chinese technology with local know-how.

The cloud computing arm of the Chinese tech giant said it highlights the provider’s ongoing commitment to the region and its ambitions to focus on retail and financial sectors.

“Our expansion into the United Kingdom, and by extension into Europe, is in direct response to the rapidly increasing demands we have seen for local facilities within the region,” said Yeming Wang, general manager of Alibaba Cloud EMEA.

“Using AI-powered and data-driven technology, our latest data centres will offer customers complete access to our wide range of cloud services from machine learning capabilities to predictive data analytics, ensuring that we continue to offer an unparalleled level of service.”

So far, that service has been mainly restricted to Asia, where Alibaba Group reigns supreme. But the company is attempting to push its services into areas where Amazon and its cloud computing giant AWS are the dominant force. In 2016 the company made its first venture to Europe with a data centre in Frankfurt, Germany, and now it has a footprint in London.

Part of its strategy involves enabling the local companies and leveraging local knowledge to help both Alibaba Cloud and its European partners get the most from one another.

“For Alibaba cloud, we are very much looking for local partners, because they know the customer and we are the technology enabler, and we try to give them the operational experience,” added Wang. “We are developing a lot of partners and, of course, we have our steps how to develop a global partner.

“For Europe, especially this year, we are focusing on several sectors. The first is retail. Specifically, retail is facing a challenge to migrate to the next generation, with more and more smart stores for example. From this smart store, they have to push it to be digitised and give better user experience – targeted advertisement for example. They are changing the traditional way.”

This is where Alibaba’s main focus is, enabling digital change and migration, but its decision to open cloud zones in the UK is purely financial, as in the UK’s prominent financial sector, where digital transformations and FinTech are starting to build momentum.

The London location will offer 24-hour on-site support, as well as a wide range of services such as elastic computing, storage and big data analytics.

Speaking as a customer that uses Alibaba to push their business into China, Sean Harley, chief information officer of global information company Ascential said that working with Alibaba had been key to the companies global success. 

“In an increasingly complex and digitally-driven world, we need a service provider who is equally ambitious and has the geographical, vertical and technical know-how to support us, not only in China but eventually across the world, to help us better serve our global customers,” he said.

Alibaba Group has continued its expansion into Europe by opening a London data centre, where it said it will mix Chinese technology with local know-how.

The cloud computing arm of the Chinese tech giant said it highlights the provider’s ongoing commitment to the region and its ambitions to focus on retail and financial sectors.

“Our expansion into the United Kingdom, and by extension into Europe, is in direct response to the rapidly increasing demands we have seen for local facilities within the region,” said Yeming Wang, general manager of Alibaba Cloud EMEA.

“Using AI-powered and data-driven technology, our latest data centres will offer customers complete access to our wide range of cloud services from machine learning capabilities to predictive data analytics, ensuring that we continue to offer an unparalleled level of service.”

So far, that service has been mainly restricted to Asia, where Alibaba Group reigns supreme. But the company is attempting to push its services into areas where Amazon and its cloud computing giant AWS are the dominant force. In 2016 the company made its first venture to Europe with a data centre in Frankfurt, Germany, and now it has a footprint in London.

Part of its strategy involves enabling the local companies and leveraging local knowledge to help both Alibaba Cloud and its European partners get the most from one another.

“For Alibaba cloud, we are very much looking for local partners, because they know the customer and we are the technology enabler, and we try to give them the operational experience,” added Wang. “We are developing a lot of partners and, of course, we have our steps how to develop a global partner.

“For Europe, especially this year, we are focusing on several sectors. The first is retail. Specifically, retail is facing a challenge to migrate to the next generation, with more and more smart stores for example. From this smart store, they have to push it to be digitised and give better user experience – targeted advertisement for example. They are changing the traditional way.”

This is where Alibaba’s main focus is, enabling digital change and migration, but its decision to open cloud zones in the UK is purely financial, as in the UK’s prominent financial sector, where digital transformations and FinTech are starting to build momentum.

The London location will offer 24-hour on-site support, as well as a wide range of services such as elastic computing, storage and big data analytics.

Speaking as a customer that uses Alibaba to push their business into China, Sean Harley, chief information officer of global information company Ascential said that working with Alibaba had been key to the companies global success. 

“In an increasingly complex and digitally-driven world, we need a service provider who is equally ambitious and has the geographical, vertical and technical know-how to support us, not only in China but eventually across the world, to help us better serve our global customers,” he said.

Cloud communication specialist Twilio has agreed on a deal to acquired email API platform SendGrid for $2 billion.

The deal is expected to be finalised in the first half of 2019 and under the terms of the transaction, a Twilio subsidiary will merge with SendGrid, which itself will survive as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Twilio.

“Increasingly, our customers are asking us to solve all of their strategic communications challenges, regardless of channel. Email is a vital communications channel for companies around the world and so it was important to us to include this capability in our platform,” said Jeff Lawson, Twilio’s co-founder.

“The two companies share the same vision, the same model and the same values. We believe this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bring together the two leading developer-focused communications platforms to create the unquestioned platform of choice for all companies looking to transform their customer engagement.”

By joining together, the two companies can offer a single platform to manage multiple communication channels, such as audio, video and text messaging and now email as well. 

Twilio said its mission is to “fuel the future of communications” and that its latest acquisition “brings together the two leading communication platforms for developers”.

Last year the company enabled developers to create multi-user augmented reality content via APIs that could provide information on AR objects over a live video stream. The programmable video service can be used for collaboration on 3D assets with industries such as architecture and engineering, where AR can enable visualising a project while working remotely.

The company also provides solutions that enable digital transformations, such as the chatbots currently being used by Marks & Spencer within its call centres.

IBM has launched a service for organisations that can integrate hybrid cloud services and on-premise business systems into a simplified interface.

Called ‘Multicloud Manager’ and operated via the IBM Cloud, the service aims to help businesses manage and integrate workloads from other public and private cloud providers, such as Amazon or Microsoft, via an operations console.

Multicloud Manager also makes uses of the Kubernetes container orchestration technology to make it easier to and cheaper to move and manage across both cloud and on-premise environments. An integrated compliance and rules engine helps to ensure those applications remain compliant with security standards.

Prompting this new service, a report from IBM’s Institute for Business Value found that 85% of companies use more than one cloud environment and the hybrid cloud/ on-premise IT model has been a popular choice for many organisations. A report from 451 research suggested that UK firms spent more on the cloud in the past three years than they did on data centres.

“With its open source approach to managing data and apps across multiple clouds, the IBM Multicloud Manager will enable companies to scale their many cloud investments and unleash the full business value of the cloud,” said Arvind Krishna, SVP, IBM Hybrid Cloud.

“In doing so, they will move beyond the productivity economics of renting computing power, to fully leveraging the cloud to invent new business processes and enter new markets.”

IBM expects its new service to be a game-changer for modernising business around the world by integrating multiple cloud services via one simple to use interface.

As an example, if a car rental company uses one cloud for AI services and separate cloud for booking systems, and also financial processes via on-premise computers, ‘Multicloud Manager’ can work across the different computing infrastructures to enable customers to book a car fast via the companies mobile app.

“The old idea that everything would move to the public cloud never happened,” said Stephen Elliot, program vice president, IDC. “Instead, the cloud market has evolved to meet the needs of clients who want to maintain on-premises systems while tapping a multitude of cloud platforms and vendors. The challenge for this approach is integration. Many IT companies have been talking about multi-cloud, but to date, the user experience has been fragmented.”

The rainforest is a wonder of nature that’s fundamental to the preservation of life on the planet, but in the last 40-years, the earth has lost 58% of its wildlife as biodiversity has reduced catastrophically across the world.

Hoping to reduce this horrific trend, the Zoological Society London (ZSL) has been working with Google Cloud, a partnership that has seen the cloud giant provide the hardware and software needed to monitor species around the world.

Speaking at Google Cloud Next, ZSL’s conservation technology lead, Sophie Maxwell shed light on a project known as InstantWild, which the two companies first launched together in 2017.

ZSL’s Sophie Maxwell on stage at Google Next 2018

In the beautiful southern Asian rainforests of Borneo, home to the orangutan, the giant elephant and the clouded leopard, ZSL and Google set up networks of camera traps to collect images of the diverse inhabitants who call it home.

Borneo is one of the oldest rainforests on the planet and these small digital cameras that are deployed in the field have a passive red sensor that detects motion and snaps a picture of wildlife as it walks past. They’re typically deployed in grids of around 30 cameras, to survey wildlife populations in the areas ZSL work.

Male Orangutans photographed by camera traps in Borneo

But technology can fail or be problematic, and in the case of camera traps, they take a large number of empty images and snaps of common species that happen to be walking past. This generates too much data.

“Currently, experts have to label images one by one which can take months,” said Maxwell. “With over 100,000 images coming from each survey and only 5% of them containing the target species, this is really slowing us down.

“And these surveys are happening all over the world. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack and it’s causing a bottleneck. We are wasting our time when we could be out there saving wildlife.”

To tackle this challenge, ZSL used Google Cloud and machine learning to create its own image recognition models to help identify species in camera trap images for greater and faster insights.

“They tell us about the state of nature,” said Maxwell. “Whether the population numbers are going up or whether they are going down, where species are going and what the threats are that they face. We urgently need this information to help us focus and also take conservation action and inform policy change.

“We created our own models without any machine learning expertise, using 35,000 expert labelled images, to create our own advanced model, which we applied to a challenging dataset from Borneo.”

A Sun Bear photographed by a camera trap in Borneo

The models produced surprising results, with 91% classification accuracy for 34 species and according to Maxwell, auto machine learning sped up ZSL’s conservation work from months to just days.

From this promising start, the wildlife conservation charity is hoping to further its work with Google Cloud and create a new platform powered by machine learning that will help conservationists create their own models for niche species and habitats.

This, Maxwell said, will be free and open source so that researchers around the world can share their models and refine them collectively as a community to process their camera track data to reveal new insights.

“Longer-term, we see machine learning playing a key role in giving real-time time view of the pulse of wildlife across the planet to speed up our conservation efforts, because time is running out,” added Maxwell.

Images courtesy of ZSL