Covering Scientific & Technical AI | Tuesday, June 30, 2026
Low Code App Modernization Renews Software Running out of Steam
Any enterprise that got its start before the dawn of the internet era comes equipped with a legacy in its systems of records that are several decades old.  These systems have been through multiple patch and upgrade cycles over time, making them inflexible to change. Simply put, these systems may create more problems than they ... Full article
Microsoft Launches Submersible Datacenter
The hotspots and energy hogs that are enterprise datacenters are increasingly located in northern climes. As demand for cooling intensifies, and datacenter power usage maxes out, some have even proposed floating datacenters that can tap sea water for cooling. Now, Microsoft Research is floating a green concept for a “self-sustaining underwater datacenter” as a way ... Full article
Investors High on Low-Code Developers
As the low-code approach to rapid application development gathers steam, new investors are pumping huge sums into the sector designed to speed delivery of distributed applications with minimum hand coding or upfront investment in training. The latest example came this week when Wall Street powerhouses Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) and KKR (NYSE: KKR) committed a ... Full article
HPE’s New Round of Multi-Platform Storage Networking Products
HPE announced several storage networking-related products today, along with the global expansion of its “Complete” reseller model for virtually engineered third-party solutions. Designed to support multiple network protocols and multiple vendor partners, the combined announcements encompass some of the data storage industry’s leading lights, including Qumulo, Cohesity, Cloudian and Hedvig – along with HPE’s own ... Full article
Startup Expands Deep Learning CPU Development
An Israeli chip startup developing a new processor architecture for embedded AI applications has lined up another group of investors as it seeks to add intelligence to embedded devices at the network edge. Tel Aviv-based Hailo announced this week it raised $12 million in a Series A funding round that included Ourcrowd.com, Maniv Mobility, NextGear ... Full article
Machine Learning: Scaling Past the Pilot Phase
In a world of cars that drive themselves and robots that do back flips, the fully automated industrial operation remains an aspiration. Limitations in real-time computing, AI and robotics slow progress, regardless of how advanced a company is or the size of its data science team. Even Elon Musk, who has some of the biggest ... Full article
Microsoft ‘All In’ For Open Source with GitHub Deal
GitHub, the well-heeled and vibrant project collaboration platform for programmers, is being acquired by Microsoft as the software giant seeks to push deeper into enterprise software development. Microsoft said Monday (June 4) the all-stock deal for GitHub, which is currently used by more than 1.5 million companies, is valued at $7.5 billion. The acquisition is ... Full article
Facebook to Build 970,000 Square Foot, 100% Energy Renewable Data Center
Pop Quiz:  What type of building is essential to the daily operations of a global business, is nearly a million square feet in size, but has only a few dozen cars in its employee parking lot? A data center of course. In this case, we’re talking about Facebook’s plan to build the mother of all ... Full article
Exascale for the Rest of Us: exaFLOPS Systems Capable for Industry
Enterprise advanced scale computing – or HPC in the enterprise – is an entity unto itself, situated between (and with characteristics of) conventional enterprise IT, on one side, and traditional HPC at supercomputing centers, on the other. When these three groups rub against each other, conflict is natural – conflict in outlook, requirements, aspirations and ... Full article
Cyber Insurance, Security and the Enterprise Challenge
In the evolving world of cybersecurity, enterprises need access to cyber insurance that accurately reflects their current security posture and that covers both direct and indirect expenses. The same challenge, of course, applies to the insurers issuing the policies. Unfortunately, the evolving threat landscape and rising incidents of attacks has created difficulty in matching packages ... Full article
Nvidia Unifies AI, HPC Workloads in Datacenters
Nvidia’s latest cloud server platform is intended as a “building block,” in the reference design sense, to support AI training and inference along with HPC workloads such as simulations. The GPU vendor (NASDAQ: NVDA) introduced its latest server platform dubbed HGX-2 on Wednesday (May 30) during a company roadshow in Taipei, Taiwan. Nvidia said the ... Full article
App Containers Begin to Scale
Real-world assessments about the adoption of Docker application containers in production are surfacing as users deploy the technology to boost utilization of datacenter resources and accelerate delivery of a range of enterprise applications. According to a Docker usage report released this week, the median number of containers per server has jumped 50 percent to 15 ... Full article
Debate Intensifies on Algorithm Accountability
The accelerating deployment of AI is prompting closer scrutiny of the underlying algorithms many observers fear could embed bias or worse as into a growing number of everyday applications. Concerns about the rise of automation via the “Algorithmic Economy” prompted a Washington-based technology think tank to initiate further discussion of the need to hold the ... Full article
AI Healthcare Revolution: Doctors and Data Fight Chronic Challenges
Data has been declared the world’s most valuable commodity, the new oil of the global economy, the new gold, the new diamonds and rubies, and this holds particularly true in healthcare, where data and AI are combining to save operational and treatment costs, and – oh yes – lives. At the recent World Medical Innovation ... Full article
Another GDPR Issue: Impact on Scientific Research
Amid the angst over preparations—or lack thereof—for new European Union data protections entering into force at week’s end is the equally worrisome issue of the rules’ impact on scientific research. Among the concerns for the research community as the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) takes effect is the issue of consent. As stakeholders such ... Full article
Cloud Uncertainty Fuels Hybrid Approach
Unexpectedly high transition costs and a lack of transparency into cloud resource usage have tempered enthusiasm about cloud transitions, prompting organizations to continue investing in on-premises infrastructure while hedging their bets by embracing a hybrid IT approach, a new cloud survey finds. “A hybrid approach to IT is the new norm,” concludes a survey of ... Full article
First Xeon-FPGA Integration Launched by Intel
Ever since Intel’s acquisition of FPGA specialist Altera in 2015 for $16.7 billion, it’s been widely acknowledged that some day, Intel would release a processor that integrates its mainstream Xeon CPU server chip with lightning-fast FPGAs. That day has arrived. Available now for “select” customers, Intel’s Xeon Scalable 6138P processor with integrated Intel Arria 10 ... Full article
Intel, Micron Up the Ante for Flash Memory
Chip makers continue to gear designs toward AI and other demanding cloud workloads that take advantage of datacenter flash storage capacity. To that end, memory specialist Micron Technology Inc. began shipping compact solid-state drives this week based on its quad-level cell (QLC) NAND technology that addresses enterprise markets currently relying on hard-disk storage. Separately, Micron ... Full article
Google Adds TPUs to ML Engine, Updates Kubernetes
As the amount of machine learning training data soars, so too does demand for new tools that will accelerate the process. With that in mind, Google Cloud announced the beta release of a new feature that allows users to speed training by running Tensor processing units (TPU) on its machine learning engine. The company also ... Full article
Public vs. Private Blockchains – Which One’s Right for You?
While blockchain is currently one of the most trumpeted technologies, some dismiss it as a fad related to cryptocurrency. The reality, however, is that companies across industries are looking at how blockchain can address major business issues, particularly with respect to speeding supply chain and reducing friction. Ignoring enterprise applications of this technology could damage ... Full article