NTT Data Unveils Edge AI Platform to Accelerate Real-Time Decision-Making Across Industries

NTT Data, the IT infrastructure and services subsidiary of Japan’s NTT, has unveiled its new Edge AI platform to accelerate AI processing at the edge, enabling real-time decision-making and enhanced operational efficiencies across industries.

Key features and benefits of NTT Data’s Edge AI platform: The fully managed solution processes data where it is generated, unifying diverse IoT devices, systems, and data into a single data plane:

• It addresses the challenge of processing massive data sets on compact computing platforms by using smaller, more efficient machine learning models to deliver real-time AI insights.
• The platform includes all the necessary systems, tools, and capabilities for AI at the edge, such as data discovery, collection, integration, computation power, seamless connectivity, and AI model management.
• It is designed to support industry-specific requirements and can perform tasks like predictive maintenance, energy consumption monitoring, and optimization.

Capturing the growing edge computing market: NTT Data aims to seize a significant share of the $232 billion edge computing market opportunity:

• The company brings together 1,000 industry experts, hundreds of use cases, and has trained over 500 sales experts globally to accelerate its Edge AI go-to-market efforts.
• NTT Data’s Edge AI deployment approach allows clients to take advantage of a free 30-day discovery and diagnostic of their IT and OT environment, generating a comprehensive report that inventories assets and data streams, and identifies security risks and vulnerabilities.

Simplifying AI adoption with a fully managed service: As the industry’s first fully managed IT/OT convergence platform, Edge AI transforms physical assets into software assets for data-driven insights:

• The managed services offer a unified view and management of devices, sensors, and assets, helping businesses simplify complex processes, drive cost savings, and enhance performance.
• The platform integrates OT assets with IT applications, boosting operational efficiency, and provides a view of the firmware version of all connected devices to promote vulnerability patching and overall device security.

Industry expert perspectives: Analysts from IDC and Omdia highlight the significance of NTT Data’s Edge AI platform in addressing key challenges and driving AI adoption:

• Alejandro Cadenas from IDC Europe notes that the platform “addresses these issues and simplifies the deployment and adoption of a data-driven enterprise strategy, reducing risks and timelines and optimizing total cost of ownership and value for the enterprise.”
• Pablo Tomasi from Omdia states that “using task-specific small AI models will help drive AI democratization by making it easier for the enterprise to introduce AI where and when is needed, without the need for an extensive overhaul of their whole infrastructure.”

Broader implications: NTT Data’s Edge AI platform represents a significant step forward in driving secure and cost-effective AI adoption at the edge, with the potential to transform various industries through real-time, data-driven insights. As part of NTT Data’s comprehensive Edge as a Service portfolio, the platform complements the company’s offerings in Enterprise IoT, Edge Compute, Private 5G, and Device as a Service, positioning it to capture a substantial share of the growing edge computing market.