Larik-Jan visits VMware, NVIDIA, Equinix and Google in Silicon Valley

VMware

‘My journey began at VMware. The common thread of this visit is the message that every organisation is in the process of Cloud transformation. An important point in this is: keep it simple and above all look at which Cloud fits best. For example, is it a local (sovereign Cloud) or one of the Public Clouds? If you choose a Public Cloud, it is subsequently also important to check which one you choose, especially if you want to purchase additional services (later). For example, Google is hugely strong in Kubernetes, the integration of AI and machine learning. For VMware, it is important to always be able to support this. In 99% of the technology we touch in our lives lies VMware. If you want to add a Public Cloud to it, you need a VMware solution for that, such as VMware Cloud on Google/AWS/Azure or, of course, Fundaments‘ Sovereign Cloud.’

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NVIDIA

‘At NVIDIA, I was particularly struck by the fact that we truly are at the beginning of integrating AI. In fact, here I got to hold the computer for level 5 autonomous driving (almost 10 kg of chips with a computing power of 150 laptops). I also learned how NVIDIA has made the journey from 3D rendering images to building a computer that can do parallel computing well. A new CPU with 72 cores was right there on the shelf: and that very parallel computing is why AI has now become big. NVIDIA is a driving force in supporting the training of artificial intelligence and with that, for example, ChatGPT's language models are now developing very hard: a lot of it runs with NVIDIA's hardware. If you then take that further, you see that the applications are huge: for example, making sure you are always looking straight into the camera in a video call in addition to being able to translate live from a participant in a conversation in an international group of people. In these kinds of applications, we are really at the forefront. And as for the computer for autonomous driving, it is already driving around at night!

The next chapter in this will therefore be ethics: who is this AI and what if it does something wrong? Who do you hold responsible and how do you check whether the choices and outcomes are correct? I predict we are going to hear a lot about that...’

Google

‘Visiting the Google Campus was also mindblowing: working there is something just really different. For example, during a FaceTime session, my daughter Nele said: ‘Are you in a hotel dad?’ The facilities there, at least, were like that. A swimming pool, complete wellness, sports trainers and so on. Nothing is too crazy.

As for the developments in AI, I find that Google is a bit more defensive about this. As they have been using AI for their search algorithms for a long time, they know this technology very well and also know the drawbacks, but forces from Microsoft with investment in Open AI has forced them to accelerate as well.

Coming from the product managers we spoke to on infrastructure, we see that they are looking closely at integration to the VMware Ecosystem, VMware on GCP is an example of this and that is exactly what brings the new and more traditional worlds together. Therefore, when it comes to transforming, don't think too hard: do not immediately put everything in 1 Cloud, not with all kinds of new concepts. This is a recipe for delay and failure, make sure you lift and shift and only then start transforming.

I also learnt a lot from the other participants of this study trip. What exactly? That will be continued! I can already reveal that we are going to do some things differently. Are you curious and want a sneak peek? While enjoying a cup of coffee in real life, I will take you on a Cloud journey.’ Contact Larik-Jan here.

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