FutureNet 2024: AI and the Future of Telecoms
In this blog
From Silicon Valley heavyweights to emerging tech players, organizations of every scale are developing their AI posture in 2024. At WWT, we're proud to support innovative partners with our expertise in AI, cloud, cybersecurity, automation and more. While the recent popularity of Generative AI (GenAI) has catapulted AI into the spotlight, we've been helping our clients and partners realize their AI-related goals for over a decade.
We attended FutureNet 2024 to discuss how we can collaborate on groundbreaking solutions at the forefront of network automation and AI.
At the conference, we explored what's happening in AI and some of the exciting partnership opportunities that are possible with WWT. Let's unpack a few of the highlights.
The rise of AI in telecoms
The story of AI is one of remarkable progress, punctuated by challenges and breakthroughs. Ever since Alan Turing made the first visionary steps toward testing for machine intelligence, it's touched virtually every industry on the planet.
Recent developments like OpenAI's ChatGPT, with its pioneering language processing abilities, saw overnight success.
Meanwhile, tools like Microsoft Copilot are transforming coding by assisting developers, while the quest for Explainable AI (XAI) promises to make AI models more transparent and trustworthy. Advancements in diffusion models, foundation models, and natural language inference hold immense potential, while the burgeoning field of robotics stands poised to transform operations.
The future of AI seems boundless. And as telcos and service providers seek to bolster their competitive advantage, AI technologies are increasingly being implemented across various telecom business functions.
From predictive analytics enhancing network performance to AI-driven chatbots streamlining customer support, many implementations take a two-pronged approach to optimize both operations and customer experiences. With its powerful ability to adapt, learn, and automate processes, AI is fast becoming an indispensable tool for keeping ahead in the telecoms market.
Organizations are facing new AI challenges
But as AI technology continues to advance, organizations face challenges. It's a complex task to build, test and validate an AI solution. Parties must plan how to best implement AI technology in a way that provides maximum customer value and ensures seamless integration with existing infrastructure.
For service providers, this will involve devising an action plan to support their customers in fulfilling their own AI ambitions – and delivering AI projects with speed, agility and scale. Plus, they will need to consider AI's implications for cybersecurity and ethics.
At FutureNet MENA, we drew on over a decade of experience in AI. To name a few milestones, we've been NVIDIA's AI Solution Partner for seven consecutive years; we successfully engineered and deployed the first LLM supercomputing platform for the BERT language model, BERTLARGE and GPT training; and we installed the first DGX SuperPOD at Argonne National Laboratory to support COVID-19 research.
On the conference floor, we showcased how WWT helps organizations navigate complex technological challenges and develop their competitive edge.
How WWT supports AI progress
From strategy to execution, we help businesses solve their most pressing challenges through innovative technology solutions. We've built an ecosystem of partners and labs that enable organizations to test and validate their AI solutions. Our practical approach to AI project delivery has been stress-tested and refined to accelerate the adoption of these game-changing technologies.
Our $1 billion Advanced Technology Center (ATC) is a robust, physical lab environment – accessible digitally – that enables our clients and partners to make technology decisions faster and without risk.
The ATC powers our AI Proving Ground, offering unrivaled access to the world's leading AI technologies. The AI Proving Ground solves many of the common obstacles organizations face when developing their AI solutions – including hardware availability, connectivity challenges, high costs, and power and cooling concerns.
Across 13 diverse environments, spanning reference architectures to automated component setups, our partners and clients can test, train and implement innovative AI use cases. This is how we enable them to quickly, confidently and safely develop transformational AI solutions – those that can deliver real business results in just a fraction of the time and expense it would take to achieve them independently.
One application on the leading edge is AIOps. AIOps platforms generate insights and recommendations based on historical data and predefined algorithms. By incorporating GenAI capabilities, these insights can be tailored to specific user needs for maximum relevance and effectiveness.
GenAI algorithms also enable systems to continuously learn and adapt to changing requirements. With integration into AIOps platforms, organizations can ensure that their IT operations remain agile and responsive to emerging challenges and opportunities, such as by optimizing network resources based on dynamic demand patterns in Network-as-a-Service (NaaS).
It was a pleasure to see so many of you at FutureNet MENA to discuss the AI opportunities at your organization – and explore how WWT can support you with applied AI experience and the latest infrastructure.