Sunlight.io launch beta programme to make edge AI deployable
Edge infrastructure company, Sunlight.io has launched its beta programme, Project Rosie, to help customers test their artificial intelligence (AI) applications.
The company provides reliable, secure, zero-touch and economic infrastructure that helps turn customers’ critical edge data into real-time insight and action across retail stores, manufacturing lines and smart cities.
Sunlight’s NexVisor is the first full hyperconverged stack to support the Arm-CPU-based NVIDIA Jetson. Coupled with the Lenovo SE70, Sunlight NexVisor makes it easy to deploy AI applications anywhere at the edge.
With this new beta programme, application developers can be the first to access the technology and test their applications through an application process.
“We are excited to launch this exclusive beta programme for users who need to run efficient, manageable AI out where the data is generated — at the edge,” said Julian Chesterfield, Founder and CEO of Sunlight.
“Sunlight already offers full support for the Lenovo ThinkEdge and ThinkSystem range, including the Intel-based SE30, SE50, SE350 and SE450. Together, we’ve been able to produce a truly industry-first solution by combining Sunlight’s turn-key, edge-as-a-service offering with Lenovo’s leading AI edge platform powered by NVIDIA Jetson. Sunlight was born out of a collaboration with Arm back in 2013 to build a lightweight hypervisor, and we’re seeing huge demand for the use of Arm-based servers at the edge due to their performance and power-efficiency.”
Sunlight: Creating environments for effective edge applications
A number of AI applications need high levels of processing power with low latency and reliable networking to give real-time results. This includes computer vision for example, where it is being implemented at drive-thrus nationwide for faster and more personalised food ordering; on manufacturing production lines to instantly identify and remove faulty items; and across smart cities to enhance population and crowd security.
To implement this effectively enterprises are now looking to replicate the simplicity of the hyperconverged infrastructure they enjoy in their core data centres for their edge AI applications.
At present, data centre HCI isn’t able to run in the constrained environments that exist at the edge due to their large RAM and CPU overhead and lack of edge management capabilities. As a result, edge deployments are extremely resource-intensive to manage and hard to scale.
Providing a solution, Sunlight NexVisor is the only hyperconverged stack that is able to run on both x86 and Arm architectures and with a tiny footprint suitable for constrained edge environments.
Scott Tease, Lenovo’s VP for HPC and AI said: "Our customers realise the advantages of edge AI and deploying solutions closer to the point of data capture to run real-time inferencing. That is why we are so excited to be partnering up with Sunlight as they support our edge portfolio to significantly improve the efficiency and economics of AI deployments for customers worldwide."
The stack includes centralised management and application deployment capabilities. Combining this with NVIDIA Jetson-powered Lenovo ThinkEdge SE70, it is now possible to run demanding edge AI applications in harsh environments that span hundreds or thousands of sites with easy single-pane-of-glass management, low TCO and tiny power and space requirements.
Sunlight is also a member of NVIDIA Inception, a global program designed to nurture cutting-edge startups.