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Microsoft rolls out Azure Perfect to bring AI services to the edge

Microsoft rolls out Azure Perfect to bring AI services to the edge

Microsoft has reportedly announced the launch of Azure Percept, the company’s new software and hardware platform, for bringing more of its Azure AI services to the edge. Percept integrates Azure cloud tools for the effective management of devices and the creation of artificial intelligence models with hardware from the device partners of Microsoft.

The general idea is to make it easier for every kind of enterprise to implement and build AI for things such as anomaly detections, keyword spotting, object detection, and shelf analytics by furnishing them with an end-to-end solution that takes them from the development of AI models to their deployment on compatible hardware.

According to Roanne Sones, Microsoft’s Edge and Platform Group’s Corporate Vice President, the company began with the two most commonplace AI workloads, sight and sound, vision and voice. Sones further stated that the company has disclosed that blueprint so that industry players can take up the basics of the initiative. But this can be envisioned by them in any kind of responsible form factor for covering a pattern of the world, added Sones.

As per sources, Microsoft has also rolled out a hardware developmental kit with the aid of Azure Percept Vision, an intelligent camera designed for vision use cases. The kit comprises hardware-enabled AI modules for the purpose of running models at the edge, however it can also be connected to the cloud. As the development kit conforms to the extensively utilized 80/20 T-slot framing architecture, users will be capable of testing their proofs-of-concept in the real world.

Christa St. Pierre, Product Manager, Azure Edge and Platform Group, Microsoft, stated that anyone who develops a prototype by utilizing one of the development kits of the company will not have to proceed with any additional work, if they purchase a certified device.

St. Pierre also commented that all of the components of the platform will have to conform to the responsible AI principles of Microsoft and go via extensive security testing.

Source credit: https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/02/microsoft-launches-azure-percept-its-new- hardware-and-software-platform-to-bring-ai-to-the-edge/

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Sunil Jha

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