March/April 2019 I 43
ready to terminate with reliability
and speed the potentially hundreds
of thousands of connections
and high-count cables required
for smart city and widespread IoT
applications. Likewise, ACE was
a valuable precursor of today’s
software-defined networking (SDN)
and data center infrastructure
management (DCIM) platforms that
when embedded with AI are used
today to reduce energy use, optimize
cooling capacity and improve
uptime, among other important
control functions.
AI, IT, ICT AND MAKING
THE INTELLIGENT
ECOSYSTEM A REALITY
In a TIA video interview with
Arpit Joshipura, GM of networking
and orchestration at the Linux
Foundation and Manish Vyas,
president of communications
business and chief executive of
network services at Tech Mahindra,
the interviewees agree that
although early adopters of AI in
certain enterprise vertical industries,
like manufacturing, are reaping
benefits from the technology,
AI from a real-time decision-making
cognitive standpoint is not ready
to support the trillions of devices
and transactions characterizing
the end-to-end intelligent network
and ecosystem that everyone
is envisioning.11
Encouraged by the baby steps
the industry is continuously making
in that direction, Joshipura and
Vyas assert that in order to make
the intelligent ecosystem a reality,
a community of experts need
to share data. Therefore, the Linux
Foundation has issued Community
Data License Agreements (CDLAs)
that allow both individuals and
groups to share data sets in the
same way they share open source
software code. According to Mike
Dolan, VP of strategic programs at
The Linux Foundation,
communities are forming around
artificial intelligence and machine
learning use cases, autonomous
systems, and connected
infrastructure. The CDLA license
agreements also enable sharing data
openly, embodying best practices
learned over decades. It stands to
reason that this community should
occupy more than the current
drivers, such as IBM, Microsoft,
Intel, and AT&T, with an open
invitation for more ICT
participation as well.
Admitting that the possibilities
enabled by IoT and forthcoming
5G are virtually endless, Vyas
and Joshipura contend that much
is still needed, including reliable
security measures, new business
paradigms, and new optical network
architectures and models.