IBM bets big on artificial intelligence for server business

Tech giant IBM has unveiled a new line of power system servers that can handle intensive computing workloads at organisations using new-age technologies like artificial intelligence (AI).

"The next-generation power systems servers incorporate a newly designed POWER9 processor. This has been built specifically for compute-intensive AI workloads... Using this, enterprises can over a period of time build more accurate AI applications, faster," Satya Sharma, IBM Fellow and Cognitive Systems CTO (IBM Systems), said.

He added that data scientists can build applications faster, ranging from deep learning insights in scientific research, real-time fraud detection and credit risk analysis.

IBM Director (Systems) India/South Asia Viswanath Ramaswamy said over the next 2-5 years, AI will become embedded in enterprises across sectors retail and financial services.

He explained that IBM is already running projects with some banks in India, where the organisations are looking at using AI for fraud and risk detection. As part of another project, a bike maker is exploring how Internet of Things (IoT) can be leveraged.

Talking about POWER9, Sharma said the processor is at the heart the US Department of Energy's 'Summit' and 'Sierra' supercomputers.

"IT infrastructure needs to be re-designed for the AI era, which lets companies analyse data in milliseconds and make decisions driven by data. AI workloads demand new hardware and software paradigms and the infrastructure to deliver data-driven workloads," Sharma said.

The Power9 architecture aims to transform computing across every industry and profession, turning client data into faster insights where inferences can be drawn quicker and faster to market, he added.