HID Aero is said to extend flexibility and access control choices to a wide range of businesses, while future-proofing an organization’s investment as requirements change.

“HID Aero is providing features to a broader market that were generally available only in solutions for larger organizations while eliminating the ongoing cost and complexity of designing, manufacturing and maintaining panel hardware at the same time,” states Stephen Carney, vice president of product marketing, physical access control solutions, HID Global.

“It also brings end-to-end security to everyday applications with encrypted communication and threat detection, and its robust features to meet corporate compliance.”

HID’s open-architecture controller portfolio is said to provide original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), channel partners and end customers an array of solutions for deploying a broad range of physical access control systems.

An announcement lists the company’s range of standard-based controllers:

• HID Aero platform controllers that fit in the same footprint as earlier HID VertX® controllers and are backward compatible with HID VertX modules to simplify upgrades. The controllers include hardware, firmware, software and tools that speed development time, as well as host and controller authentication, and encryption to protect keys. HID Aero enables remote management capabilities with HID Signo and other HID readers supporting Open Supervised Device Protocol (OSDP), minimizing the need for field inspection and reconfiguration.
• Mercury LP Linux intelligent controllers and MR Series 3 SIO modules bring a game-changing level of extensibility, flexibility and value to security and IT departments seeking to stay ahead of the vast changes in technology. The controller’s multi-device and third-party application integration capabilities enable easy integration of wireless locks and other devices, as well as destination control and dispatch, intelligent power supply analytics, FICAM authentication and numerous other advanced applications.
• Mercury MR Series 3 SIO modules are a diverse subset of controllers that are specifically dedicated to point control and monitoring as well as individual door oversight for system expansion of Mercury LP Linux controllers. The modules provide the flexibility to choose the controller configuration that best meets customer needs.

With all controllers based on HID’s Mercury hardware platform, users can choose from a large variety of access control software providers over time without any re-investment in hardware.

Systems are also easy to migrate to new software and highly configurable to dynamically enhance situational awareness.

Related: How Meeting Notes Software Can Make Remote Work Easier

“With over 25 years in the market and used in more than four million panels shipped globally, HID’s Mercury open platform hardware addresses the full spectrum of access control requirements,” says Matt Barnette, vice president of global accounts and Mercury, physical access control solutions with HID Global.

“This ensures OEM partners, installers and end customers spanning virtually all vertical markets can select from a variety of controller solutions to meet their needs.”

This article premiered on our sister site, Campus Safety.

The post HID Aero Added to Open-Architecture Controller Line appeared first on My TechDecisions.

The data illustrates that IoT/ICS networks and unmanaged devices are soft targets for adversaries, increasing the risk of costly downtime, catastrophic safety and environmental incidents, and theft of sensitive intellectual property, the company says.

Report findings

Some of the top findings noted that these networks have outdated operating systems (71 percent of sites), use unencrypted passwords (64 percent) and lack automatic antivirus updates (66 percent).

Energy utilities and oil and gas firms, which are generally subject to stricter regulations, fared better than other sectors such as manufacturing, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, mining, transportation and building management systems (CCTV, HVAC, etc.).

Now in its third year, CyberX’s “Global IoT/ICS Risk Report” is based on analyzing real-world traffic from more than 1,800 production IoT/ICS networks across a range of sectors worldwide.

Including the data presented in previous reports, CyberX has now analyzed over 3,000 IoT/ICS networks worldwide using its patented M2M-aware behavioral analytics and non-invasive agentless monitoring technology.

How to lessen control system vulnerabilities

The report concludes with a practical seven step process for mitigating IoT/ICS cyber risk based on recommendations developed by NIST and Idaho National Labs (INL), a global authority on critical infrastructure and ICS security, according to CyberX.

More from the report: 

“Experts agree that organizations can’t fully prevent determined attackers from compromising their networks.

As a result, they recommend prioritizing vulnerability remediation for “crown jewel” assets — critical assets whose compromise would cause a major revenue or safety impact — while implementing compensating controls such as continuous monitoring and behavioral anomaly detection (BAD) to quickly spot intruders before they can cause real damage to operations.”

More key findings on IoT & industrial control system vulnerabilities

• Broken Windows: Outdated Operating Systems. 62 percent of sites have unsupported Microsoft Windows boxes such as Windows XP and Windows 2000 that no longer receive regular security patches from Microsoft, making them especially vulnerable to ransomware and destructive malware. The figure rises to 71 percent with Windows 7 included, which reaches end-of-support status in January 2020.
• Hiding in Plain Sight: Unencrypted Passwords. 64 percent of sites have unencrypted passwords traversing their networks, making it easy for adversaries to compromise additional systems simply by sniffing the network traffic.

• Excessive Access: Remotely Accessible Devices. 54 percent of sites have devices that can be remotely accessed using standard management protocols such as RDP, SSH and VNC, enabling attackers to pivot undetected from initial footholds to other critical assets.

• Clear and Present Danger: Indicators of Threats. 22 percent of sites exhibited indicators of threats, including suspicious activity such as scan traffic, malicious DNS queries, abnormal HTTP headers, excessive number of connections between devices and malware such as LockerGoga and EternalBlue.
• Not Minding the Gap: Direct Internet Connections. 27 percent of sites analyzed have a direct connection to the internet. Security professionals and bad actors alike know that it takes only one internet-connected device to provide a gateway into IoT/ICS networks for malware and targeted attacks, enabling the subsequent compromise of many more systems across the enterprise.
• Stale Signatures: No Automatic Antivirus Updates: 66 percent of sites are not automatically updating Windows systems with the latest antivirus definitions. Antivirus is the very first layer of defense against known malware — and the lack of antivirus is one reason why CyberX routinely finds older malware such as WannaCry and Conficker in IoT/ICS networks.

The post ‘Alarming’ Prevalence of IoT and Industrial Control System Vulnerabilities in Real-World Network Study appeared first on My TechDecisions.

Similar to other industries, banking is facing job cuts due to automation, from artificial intelligence to developing technology “to replace menial jobs.” One of the main ideas behind banks investing in automation is to make their services cheaper and more efficient. For example, “artificial intelligence could reduce mortgage processing costs by 10 to 20 percent, and cloud solutions as well as telemetry-based marketing could provide more savings on top of that,” TechSpot reports.

Banks are also investing in automated solutions in order to remain competitive. Experts, including Wall Street analysts, say that banks have entered into a race to automate operations, and stay ahead of the pack. The industry “has the highest spending in technology upgrades of all industries,” which is measured to be about $150 billion a year. Common technology investments to beat out competitors include ATMs, chatbots, and software that “assist in the decision-making process,” TechSpot says; this could cut back on human jobs in back offices, call centers, front offices, and branches.

Good for Business, Bad for People

While the banking industry is making strides in cutting costs and boosting business with technology, people are taking a hit: “there’s a workforce the size of a small city that will lose their jobs,” TechSpot says. For example, Citigroup is considering slashing “tens of thousands” of jobs, and Deutsche Bank might be replacing around 48,000 employees with technology.

However, workers in the banking business aren’t the only ones facing the risk of being replaced by technology. The fast-food industry is replacing human employees with robots and digital kiosks; factory workers are replaced with robots. Even lower-income workers, who “perform tasks that are still rather mundane but require some sort of cognitive function,” are replaced by automation.

As a result, decision makers in baking – and other industries – shouldn’t be surprised to see more machines than people at work. Their jobs might be impacted by automation, too.

The post Banks Are Spending Big Bucks on Automation – Here’s Why appeared first on My TechDecisions.

The Tech Decision

John Nunez, Global Audio-Visual Manager at White & Case, and his team, were charged with integrating solutions that would make it simple to book and release conference rooms, automate environmental settings to maximize productivity, and enable easy wired and wireless presentation within them. It was critical to empower the AV team to resolve any technical issues remotely to minimize downtime.

AVI-SPL worked with John Nunez and his team to create a workplace filled with the most advanced and reliable room scheduling, presentation, room control, and collaboration tools available.

White & Case selected Crestron as the backbone for audio and video distribution as they felt it was the best in the industry. With this installation, the firm wanted to create a simple and unified solution where employees could have the same experience walking into an office in New York or an office in London.

Elegantly appointed, the space is designed to help foster creativity and collaboration. The firm was committed to deploying the latest workplace technology to aid in that effort.

The Solution

Crestron room scheduling solutions feature an easy-to-use user interface, enabling employees to book meeting spaces easier and faster than ever before. Since implementing Crestron room scheduling and creating a more simplified solution for their employees, room utilization continues to grow over 20% annually.

With AirMedia, employees can walk into a room and instantly connect their laptops and tablets to the display and start presenting. Many times when clients come into the space, they do not have the right adapters or cables to connect. AirMedia resolves this dilemma to provide users with an IP address that allows them to connect seamlessly.

Each meeting space features a preset mode that’s automatically activated when someone enters. Immediately, and all at once, the room displays power on, and lighting and shades adjust according to the amount of ambient light to create the optimal environment for every meeting.

Using Crestron Fusion, system managers in the Global Technology Services group are immediately aware of any technical issues in the meeting spaces and can remotely resolve them, minimizing disruptions and maximizing productivity. Additionally, the group has initiated lunch-and-learn sessions to ensure all employees are completely comfortable with how to use the meeting room technology.

The Impact

Management is so pleased with the Crestron solutions that they’ve even opened their meeting spaces for use by clients, further maximizing room utilization. With the most advanced and reliable collaboration tools available, allowing for a seamless experience.

“We’ve gotten rave reviews. The clients that we have come in, when they come in with their presentations absolutely adore the fact that we have this technology,” says Nelson Martino, Audio Visual Support Specialist at White & Case LLP.

Fueled by the universal enthusiasm for the meeting spaces in the New York office, John and his team are updating over forty other spaces with Crestron technology each year. In fact, the New York meeting spaces now serve as the global standard for build-outs and expansions. More than 280 such spaces are already in use, with more to come.

“Conference room technology plays an important role in enabling our lawyers and clients to collaborate from all over the world. Crestron has enabled us to raise the bar on standardization, operation, and support of our conference rooms globally,” says Joe Nunez.

The post White & Case Meeting Room appeared first on My TechDecisions.

In order to accommodate those changes, CHW Consulting was engaged by Queensland Health as the State ICT Advisor.

Planning for Such Large Scope

A full array of AMX by HARMAN AV control and automation solutions was installed across the hospital, including:

• meeting rooms
• training conference centers
• control rooms
• simulation rooms
• auditorium
• general areas
• hybrid MDT rooms
• autopsy labs
• multi-purpose teaching rooms
• procedure labs

“We aimed to provide an AV system that wouldn’t let them down during key components of surgery,” said Andrew Harper, CHW: AV Design Consultant. “The reliability of AMX solutions was the key to achieving that goal. ”

Breaks A Record, to Boot

One of the standout features of the hospital is that it hosts the southern hemisphere’s first hybrid operating theater, consisting of ultrasound, CT and X-ray equipment in a surgical operating theater, according to the facility.

To support procedural operations and medical requirements in the theater, a NetLinx-based AMX control and videoconferencing system was installed to act as a single point of control for designated medical equipment and AV systems within sterile and non-sterile zones.

“Our hospital’s vision is to provide excellent care,” said Peter Sanderson, SCUH Manager, PPP Contracts Operations. “To achieve this, we’ve put a significant amount of effort into designing the flow that occurs within the facility. We rely on the AMX control systems to give the staff the technology they need to create positive health outcomes.”

Read Next: How Voice Assistant Will Take Over Workspace Control and Automation

More Info: Deciding on Control Solutions

The current hot topic in the realm of property ownership and management is building controls and automation, also commonly referred to as “smart buildings” or building automation systems (BAS). This concept encompasses the use of automated processes to control a building’s operations including heating, ventilation, air conditioning, lighting, security and other electronically addressed systems.

Our new download “RFP Template: Building Control & Automation” can help you to:

• Define your building’s control and automation requirements
• Choose the best technology to meet your needs
• Determine the information you will need to select the best solution
• Write an effective request for proposal (RFP)

Download your copy here.

The post Sunshine Coast University Hospital’s Huge Design is Fully Automated with AMX by HARMAN appeared first on My TechDecisions.

The Tech Decision

The manor house and other historical landmarks on the site have been lovingly restored and protected, including the complete removal, repair, and replacement of the roof. A whole new wing was added in keeping with the original style, more than doubling the number of guest rooms as well as housing the new suites, ballrooms, and cinema.

Billionaire businessman and Ireland’s most successful racehorse owner JP McManus snapped up Adare Manor with a view of transforming it into something really special. McManus was eager to invest in the local economy of an area so close to his heart, and he had already hosted several pro-am golf tournaments on the estate. The past three years have witnessed a transformation, where the old golf course was leveled and replaced with an 18-hole championship course designed by one of the world’s top golf course designers, along with a new luxury clubhouse and restaurant. This was a gargantuan effort that involved bringing in tens of thousands of tons of sand and almost 700 construction workers.

For the interiors, McManus wanted to recreate the homely but luxurious feel of the original Manor House while simultaneously including all the high-tech features that demanding guests paying top dollar expect. So, he called smart technology specialist Velocity, who had already kitted out his house in the Caribbean and his home in Ireland 10 years ago.

The Solution

The key was to give guests various ways to control the smart features powered by Control4. A simple rocker switch activates four or five different lighting scenes based on the time of day or year; guests can also shut the curtains using a bedside switch or press a button for “do not disturb,” which disables the room’s doorbell, informs reception not to enter, and lights a red LED outside the room.

There are a few control methods to suit different guest demographics: an easy-to-use app specially created by Velocity, a Samsung Galaxy tablet placed in their room, or the room’s smart, networked TV (IPTV) via the remote control.

A Control4 Pakedge network ensures there’s excellent WiFi coverage across the hotel and estate. Guests can stream content from their own mobile devices wirelessly to the IPTV in their room, or, indeed, vice-versa—stream what’s showing on IPTV to their mobile device and watch it elsewhere on the site, perhaps while having a drink on the terrace or a stroll round the gardens. Alternatively, they might prefer to book the cinema, where an individual touch screen gives them full control of the space so they can watch a movie of their choice, some live horse racing, or a golf championship.

Technology doesn’t stop at the guest rooms, however. The resort has around 350 staff, and Control4 technology is also helping them be more productive and attentive to the needs of guests by automating all the lighting and music across the hotel and golf club. The lights transition into an evening scene when sunset approaches, each room tweaked to provide the right ambiance throughout the day. There’s also a dashboard that hotel management uses to see room data to manage the temperature or create a maintenance schedule.

Control4 automation for the music, lighting, and temperature is hidden across the estate and the guestrooms, to allow guests to customize their room to their liking, as well as set a digital “do not disturb.” The ambiance of the estate shifts based on the time of day and season, with lighting scenes created by professional lighting designers. As the sun sets, the East-facing rooms will begin lighting up sooner for the right levels for dinner or a quiet afternoon reading. Staff also use the automation system with data from the room systems for maintenance schedules, and to keep everything operating at the right temperature.

The Impact

Velocity found the typical guest of Adare Manor was wealthy and over 40, but with varying levels of experience with, and expectations of, new technology — everyone from tech-savvy golfing businessmen to retired couples seeking an escape from the tech-saturated trappings of modernity. That meant the technology had to be highly functional, but at the same time completely unobtrusive and extremely easy-to-use.

The key was to give guests various ways to control the smart features powered by Control4, without seeing any of it. There’s a simple rocker switch with four or five different lighting scenes based on the time of day or year, all pre-programmed by professional lighting designers. And guests can also shut the curtains using a bedside switch or press a button for “do not disturb,” which disables the room’s doorbell, informs reception not to enter, and lights a red LED outside the room.

At the time of this writing, the refurbished resort had only been fully open for a week, but Taylor says early guests have been effusive. “Everyone so far has been very impressed and we’ve also had great feedback from the hotel managers and staff we’ve spoken to,” says Velocity Co-Director Ben Taylor.

Adare Manor’s chief executive Colm Hannon told the media in 2017 that the development is set to give a welcome financial fillip to the region. “It is estimated the resort will contribute in excess of €15 million to the local economy, and we anticipate welcoming over 60,000 visitors to the manor every year,” Hannon says, adding: “The new facilities position this hotel and golf course as one of the very best in Europe and, indeed, the world.”

The post Adare Manor Hotel Control & Automation appeared first on My TechDecisions.

BrainBox AI’s solution leverages AI to predict a building’s thermal load and enables the HVAC system to operate autonomously, in real-time, leading to significant energy and cost savings, a reduction in its carbon footprint and increased occupant comfort, all in less than three months.

“Our technology uses AI to study a building’s behavior, sending more efficient operating instructions to the HVAC system and modulating the building in real-time to resolve issues related to energy consumption, efficiency and occupant comfort,” explains CTO and co-founder Jean-Simon Venne.

“AI-powered autonomous buildings are the next disruptive innovation that will enable significant energy savings in the real estate space,” adds CEO and co-founder, Sean Neely. “BrainBox AI adds an extra layer of intelligence to the existing HVAC control system and enables buildings to move from being reactive to pre-emptive in the way these HVAC systems are managed. We are very excited to be developing our AI technology in collaboration with many partners including the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, IVADO, and Montreal-based universities such as École de technologie supérieure.”

In its pre-commercialization installations, BrainBox AI has demonstrated that it enables a 25-35% reduction a building’s total energy costs in less than 3 months and requires low to no up-front CapEx from property owners. It also improves occupant comfort by 60% and decreases the carbon footprint of a building by 20-40%. BrainBox AI’s system simultaneously delivers predictive HVAC maintenance capabilities including an easy-to-understand diagnostics dashboard that informs building managers ahead of time if a service issue is imminent, saving time and money.

The post BrainBox AI: Making Green, Self-Operated Smart Buildings a Reality? appeared first on My TechDecisions.

If you have any sort of data center in your organization, then you have a need for a critical infrastructure.

A single hour of outage – whether a result of a blackout, faulty tech, or, most likely, human error – can cost a company anywhere from thousands of dollars to hundreds of millions of dollars depending on its size and need for a critical infrastructure space.

With that in mind, its important to ensure that your space has as little risk of outage as possible.

Here are some critical infrastructure best practices to help make sure that you’re setting your critical infrastructure implementation up for success:

Understand Power Needs

From a critical infrastructure standpoint, you need to be able to power the space with pure power. That means it needs to be conditioned – the same way that a water supply needs to be conditioned.

If you can condition your power using the right technology and proper distribution, you won’t run into problems that many will.

When it comes to power in critical infrastructure systems, we’re talking about standby generators, uninterruptible power supplies, automatic or static transmit switchers, high-end cooling systems, and environmental control.

It’s not just about buying the equipment, either. You’ll also need to test and commission it properly.

The challenge – whether a legacy facility or a brand-new build – is to get a consultant that understands the market and the geography of the area. Is your area prone to earthquakes, tornadoes, or hurricanes? That will play a huge part in the power sources and backup sources you need.

Needs change every year – companies acquire new companies, inherit legacy critical infrastructures, they’re run and managed different ways, and consistency is lost. A proper consultant will look at the full lifecycle of care for these spaces, taking into account the past, present, and future of your organization.

Invest in the Right Technology, Not Most Expensive

When you design a new critical infrastructure implementation, you need to start with the basis of design document.

Get every stakeholder in the room to discuss what their needs and requirement are. It’s a vetting process when this occurs. When this document is created, people will become aware of the risk, and the resiliency that the implementation requires.

That process is going to give the installer a tome of valuable information. Each line of business is going to require different capabilities, but that doesn’t mean that everyone needs Tier 4 solutions.

If you don’t have that initial discussion, you might decide to go with all Tier 4 (the highest level of reliability and redundancy) solutions right off the bat.

That’s going to cost a substantial investment, and you won’t learn until later that you might have overspent in certain areas where specific stakeholders didn’t need the top-of-line coverage you assumed they did.

Identify which sections of your business don’t need to be up 24/7, and which sections do.

Define your requirements, identify the cost of being down for an hour, and make your decisions based on the potential loss. If you do a good job with the basis of design, you’ll end up with the proper implementation.

Understand MGMT Needs & Train Operators

When you buy a new car, it comes with an owner’s manual. You can spend $100 million to build out a critical infrastructure – it doesn’t come with an owner’s manual.

It comes with a trunk of information that sits on the primary stakeholder’s shelf until they move to another company or position.

From the basis of design to the transition of operations, you need to put controls in place that allow you to understand how to manage the facility once you’re handed the keys. Most times, the proper programs aren’t in place.

The key is training, education, and a continued improvement process not just with people, but with equipment in the facility.

The majority of downtime in critical infrastructures occurs as a result of human error. The technology is the technology, but the human element is unpredictable. You need to use education and training as the tool to fight against human error the way you might use maintenance cycles to fight against technological error.

The challenge is a lack of talent. Students often don’t learn to operate critical infrastructure environments – they’ll learn electrical, mechanical, civil, and structural engineering, but not operation.

When a new employee comes in, start with a skills assessment. Identify those skills, strengths and weaknesses. Knowing the weaknesses is most important – once identified, you can put a program together that educates them and turns weaknesses into strengths.

Proper inspections every day, proper response, action, and standard operating procedures, and so on. You shouldn’t only have these in place, but you should have software programs that help educate employees on this.

That way not only does the staff understand how to operate the space, but new employees will, too. An orientation program keeps these spaces consistent and builds culture in the organization.

Keep in mind that the people that are running these spaces now will be retiring sooner than later. You should set up programs for those individuals to set up a transfer of knowledge to newer employees that will one day take over.

It’s people that run these facilities. If the critical infrastructure goes down, it hurts the company. If you don’t properly educate the employees maintaining and operating the facility, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

The Efficiency Factor

Both people and technology work to make a critical infrastructure efficient.

From the technology side, the equipment you buy must be efficient. You have to ensure they’re loaded properly. People are the ones that maintain them, though. You can become inefficient operationally, and in turn not set the proper thresholds, which will affect the technology.

Cooling systems are a great example. It’s an important and costly aspect of any data center. If you don’t have proper thresholds and set points calibrated appropriately, that data center might spend another 10% on cooling.

Over the course of a year that’s a large amount of money for electricity – a cost that could have been avoided by raising the set points to the industry standard. Human and technology work together to make that efficient – the human calibrates and the technology works based off of that set point.

Listen: My TechDecisions Podcast – Episode 64, Peter Curtis of PMC Group One

You need both in tandem to remain efficient and eliminate unnecessary costs.

Let’s say you want to use a fuel cell for your data center, rather than going grid to chip for power. It can provide efficiencies above 65%, while the grid efficiency is only 33%. That becomes a problem. You have to outlay a bit more money, but you’ll see a return on your investment over the life of the building.

What makes a critical infrastructure environment robust is blending alternative energy with conventional energy. When the grid is out, then the alternative energy can provide some capacity to run processing.

Power, people, and processes – put best practices into those three areas and you’ll have an efficient data center.

The post 4 Critical Infrastructure Best Practices for Increased Efficiency appeared first on My TechDecisions.

The Tech Decision

The typical customer of One Way Media Solutions is a house of worship or commercial venue. However, the company is built on a willingness to deploy its expertise wherever it’s needed, and that’s how it happened to be called in to do all the AV work for a government conference room project that had already been undertaken by an electrical contractor.

This particular conference room is located in the heart of the California wine country, in the city and county of Napa, and belongs to the Napa Valley Transportation Authority. Like every government entity, NVTA needs to be accountable for every penny it spends of the taxpayers’ money. So the first thing Masaki Liu and his One Way Media Solutions team did was to take a look at the control solution the electrical contractor had originally in mind for the NVTA conference room. They quickly realized that they could accomplish all the same objectives for “close to five figures less” using RTI instead of the brand originally specified by the contractor.

The Solution

But there’s more to the story than just saving money. “Any time we need a control system we’re typically using RTI,” says Masaki Liu. “And that’s because RTI allows us to interface with almost every piece of AV gear in commercial installations. We haven’t run into a problem yet.”

That’s pretty impressive considering that gear from more than half a dozen vendors was used in the NVTA conference room alone, including a BSS BLU networked audio system, a Panasonic PT-DZ870 projector and AW-HE40SKPJ9 camera, a Shure DIS-CCU Central Control Unit, a Black Magic Design BMD HyperDeck Studio Pro 2 video recorder, an Alzatex DSP254B-U display, an Atlona AT-UHD-PRO3-88M switcher, and Infocus INF6522 touchscreen

The RTI XP8 control processor and CX10 automation touch panel for the board of directors’ tabletop were selected to exert full control over all of this gear and do so seamlessly for public board meetings and regular staff meetings. In addition, the system needed to interface to Granicus Streaming systems.

According to Masaki Liu, the biggest challenges to interfacing this diverse gear were some discrepancies between published control specs and current firmware for one of the components, which One Way Media Solutions resolved by working directly with the manufacturer. On the other hand, the RTI gear was notable for solving project challenges rather than creating them. For example, Masaki Liu says, “RTI’s development of commercial drivers for BSS has made programming so much easier with access to deeper layer functions that weren’t accessible through RS232 commands.” One more reason RTI was “a clear choice for functionality and value.”

The Impact

That’s how the NVTA sees it as well. With the system in place, a single person can now control video, audio, a 16-microphone discussion system, audio and video capture and streaming systems, and a talk timer, all from one screen (see below).

According to the feedback Masaki Liu has received, the system has been working very smoothly. And he looks back on the project with a sense of satisfaction. “This installation shows that RTI has what it takes to succeed in high-end commercial installations. The drivers they’ve created for various brands of equipment make a huge difference. You could do it all with RS-232 commands, but the programming time is cut by 75 percent because of those drivers that RTI has developed. We’re able to show status, active, level, and quite a bit of other information from the RTI processor. And most people would be afraid to even approach something like that.”

The post Napa Valley Transportation Authority Conference Room appeared first on My TechDecisions.

Improving computing power, declining hardware cost, and the increasing adoption of cloud-based technology are fueling the growth of the deep learning market. Usage in big data analytics and growing AI adoption in customer-centric services are the other key factors driving this market.

Computer and server manufacturer Inventec Enterprise Business Group (Inventec EBG) is taking advantage of the expanding market opportunities by offering its P47G4 server solution, which has been optimized for AMD deep learning technologies. These technologies provide customers with solutions for quick deep learning project deployments.

The P47G4 server is one of four optimized server solutions and features a 2U, single-socket system equipped with AMD EPYC processors and up to four AMD Radeon Instinct MI25 GPU accelerators.

The combination of world-class servers, high-performance AMD Radeon Instinct GPU accelerators and the AMD ROCm open software platform, with its MIOpen deep learning libraries, provides easy-to-deploy, pre-configured solutions for leading deep learning frameworks, enabling researchers, scientists and data analysts to accelerate discovery.

“The Inventec P47G4 is a perfect, compact solution to accelerate machine learning discovery on pre-configured, ready-to-deploy AMD Radeon Instinct GPU-powered servers with the ROCm open software platform and leading deep learning frameworks, including TensorFlow,” says Jack Tsai, General Manager of Inventec Enterprise Business Group.

With the AMD Radeon Instinct MI25 accelerator, the Inventec P47G4 server meets the emerging scale-out demands of datacenters. In addition, with the increasing utilization demands of AI in high performance computing (HPC) markets, it enables organizations to find the right fit for key datacenter/HPC workloads with a low total cost of ownership.

The post Inventec Introduces New Server Equipped with Deep Learning Technology appeared first on My TechDecisions.