IBM Expands its AI Accelerator Offerings; Announces Collaboration with AMD

IBM Cloud to Deploy AMD Instinct™ MI300X Accelerators to Support Performance for Generative AI Workloads and HPC Applications

November 18, 2024 – Armonk, NY – IBM and AMD have announced a collaboration to deploy AMD Instinct MI300X accelerators as a service on IBM Cloud. This offering, which is expected to be available in the first half of 2025, aims to enhance performance and power efficiency for Gen AI models such as and high-performance computing (HPC) applications for enterprise clients. This collaboration will also enable support for AMD Instinct MI300X accelerators within IBM’s watsonx AI and data platform, as well as Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® AI inferencing support.

“As enterprises continue adopting larger AI models and datasets, it is critical that the accelerators within the system can process compute-intensive workloads with high performance and flexibility to scale,” said Philip Guido, executive vice president and chief commercial officer, AMD. “AMD Instinct accelerators combined with AMD ROCm software offer wide support including IBM watsonx AI, Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI and Red Hat OpenShift AI platforms to build leading frameworks using these powerful open ecosystem tools. Our collaboration with IBM Cloud will aim to allow customers to execute and scale Gen AI inferencing without hindering cost, performance or efficiency.”

“AMD and IBM Cloud share the same vision around bringing AI to enterprises. We’re committed to bringing the power of AI to enterprise clients, helping them prioritize their outcomes and ensuring they have the power of choice when it comes to their AI deployments,” said Alan Peacock, General Manager of IBM Cloud. “Leveraging AMD’s accelerators on IBM Cloud will give our enterprise clients another option to scale to meet their enterprise AI needs, while also aiming to help them optimize cost and performance.”

IBM and AMD are collaborating to deliver MI300X accelerators as a service on IBM Cloud to support enterprise clients leveraging AI. To help enterprise clients across industries, including those that are heavily regulated, IBM and AMD intend to leverage IBM Cloud’s security and compliance capabilities.

  • Support for Large Model Inferencing: Equipped with 192GB of high-bandwidth memory (HBM3), AMD Instinct MI300X accelerators offer support for the largest model inferencing and fine tuning. The large memory capacity can also help customers run larger models with fewer GPUs, potentially lowering costs for inferencing.
  • Enhanced Performance and Security: Offering AMD Instinct MI300X accelerators as a service on IBM Cloud Virtual Servers for VPC, as well as through container support with IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service and IBM Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud, can help optimize performance for enterprises running AI applications.

For generative AI inferencing workloads, IBM plans to enable support for AMD Instinct MI300X accelerators within IBM’s watsonx AI and data platform, providing watsonx clients with additional AI infrastructure resources for scaling their AI workloads across hybrid cloud environments. Additionally, Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI and Red Hat OpenShift AI platforms can run Granite family large language models (LLMs) with alignment tooling using InstructLab on MI300X accelerators.

IBM Cloud with AMD Instinct MI300X accelerators are expected to be generally available in the first half of 2025. Stay tuned for more updates from AMD and IBM in the coming months.

To learn more about IBM’s GPU and Accelerator offerings, visit: https://www.ibm.com/cloud/gpu

Statements regarding IBM’s future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice and represent goals and objectives only.

IBM “AI in Action” Report Identifies Key Characteristics of Businesses That Consider Themselves Leaders in AI

NEW YORK, Nov. 8, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — IBM (NYSE: IBM) released a new report called AI in Action that highlights artificial intelligence strategies of businesses considered “AI Leaders.” The report is based on a survey, conducted on behalf of IBM by Harris Poll, of 2,000 companies across the U.S., U.K., India, Japan and Germany.

According to the findings, of the 2,000 businesses surveyed, 15% reported being far ahead of their peers when it comes to leveraging AI to maximize value across their business. The report defines these businesses as “AI Leaders.” The remaining 85% of respondents were classified as “Learners.”

“Of the organizations that were considered AI Leaders, two-thirds reported that AI has already driven 25% or greater improvement in their revenue growth rate,” said Shobhit Varshney, VP & Sr. Partner, Americas AI Leader, IBM Consulting. “We dove into the data to uncover how these AI Leaders were implementing AI within their businesses that could help others learn from their success.”

The report identified four key findings that may explain the outcomes achieved by AI Leaders:

Investment: 71% of AI Leaders describe their organizations as being very aggressive with respect to making investments in AI, compared to 19% of Learners.
AI Data Management: AI Leaders were far more likely to express confidence in their ability to access and effectively manage their organization’s data to support AI initiatives (61% vs. 11% of Learners).
Strategic Focus & Alignment: AI Leaders were more likely to report that their C-suite was fully aligned with IT leadership on what it would take to achieve AI maturity (72% vs. 36% of Learners). Further, data found that AI Leaders were 80% more likely to invest in four use cases: customer experience, IT operations and automation, virtual assistants and cybersecurity.
Ability to Customize: AI Leaders were more than twice as likely to express confidence in their ability to customize their AI efforts to achieve optimal value. (72% of Leaders vs. 33% of Learners) In practice, 61% of Leaders reported using APIs to create their own solutions (vs. 28% of Learners).
For the full report, including country-specific data, visit https://www.ibm.com/think/reports/ai-in-action. Is your company an AI Leader? Click HERE to take the quiz and find out.

The research for this report was conducted online by The Harris Poll on behalf of IBM from 20 February through 24 April 2024. The survey was conducted among IT and business decision-makers in the US, Japan, Germany, the UK and India. The decision-makers had to possess a deep knowledge of their company’s AI-based tools or processes in all their forms and work for large companies with either an annual revenue of more than USD 500 million or a company size of more than 1,000 employees.

About IBM

IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Thousands of government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s long-standing commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

About The Harris Poll

The Harris Poll is one of the longest-running market research firms in the US, tracking public opinion, motivations and social sentiment since 1963. It’s now part of Harris Insights & Analytics, a global consulting and market research firm that strives to reveal the authentic values of modern society to inspire leaders to create a better tomorrow. It works with clients in 3 primary areas: building a 21st-century corporate reputation, crafting brand strategy and performance tracking, and earning organic media through public relations research. Its mission is to provide insights and advisory to help leaders make the best decisions possible.

IBM Selected as Official Fan Engagement and Data Analytics Partner for Scuderia Ferrari HP

ARMONK, N.Y., Nov. 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — IBM (NYSE:IBM) today announced it has entered into a multi-year agreement with Ferrari S.p.A. to become the official Fan Engagement and Data Analytics Partner of Scuderia Ferrari HP, the most renowned Formula 1 team, starting in 2025.

The partnership brings together two iconic and enduring brands, both driven by a passion for innovation and a commitment to progress. IBM and Scuderia Ferrari HP will conceive, develop, and deliver world-class digital experiences to bring racing enthusiasts closer than ever to the racing team.

IBM and Scuderia Ferrari HP will develop a fully reimagined mobile app to be unveiled during the 2025 season. This includes applying IBM’s technology and consulting expertise to analyze and transform Ferrari’s massive volume and variety of data – both current and historical – into custom insights, personalized content, and innovative features designed to supercharge the fan experience. IBM will also provide its new cutting-edge technology and data-driven solutions to increase speed and production.

“In Formula 1, seconds matter whether it’s on or off the track. The ability for Scuderia Ferrari HP to quickly deliver world-class insights from their abundant data will only happen through the benefit of technology,” said Jonathan Adashek, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications at IBM. “Bringing together its passionate fanbase, historic prominence, and the latest innovative data and analytics solutions uniquely positions Scuderia Ferrari HP to grow global engagement while also modernizing and scaling its digital operations.”

“We are proud to launch this partnership with IBM, one of the most prestigious companies in the world offering technology and consulting expertise,” said Lorenzo Giorgetti, Chief Racing Revenue Officer at Ferrari. “Our two companies share values such as the pursuit of excellence and the desire to always keep pushing the boundaries in our respective spheres of activity, as well as combining our technology and skills to pursue the highest quality and cutting-edge technology. IBM, like Ferrari, seeks out talented people to grow its team and it is therefore the perfect partner to bring a new dimension to motorsport enthusiasts and our loyal fans at a time when Formula 1 has never been so popular with youngsters. The collaboration with IBM will see us offering Scuderia Ferrari HP fans unprecedented experiences that will open the doors of the Scuderia to the outside world, as well as collaborating together on many other fronts to create activations that will generate value for both brands.”

For more than 30 years, IBM has partnered with some of the most iconic sporting organizations – including Wimbledon, the US Open, the Masters Tournament and ESPN Fantasy Football – working side-by-side to modernize their digital infrastructure and bring these marquee events to life for millions of fans around the world. These partnerships are powered by the same data and analytics technology used by IBM clients across industries to build enhanced customer experiences, help their employees reach new levels of productivity and make more informed, data-driven business decisions.

Cognizant Launches Global FinOps Center of Excellence, New Solutions Built with IBM Technology to Tackle Enterprise Modernization Challenges

TEANECK, N.J., Nov. 6, 2024 – Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) and IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced the debut of a new FinOps[1] Center of Excellence (CoE), built on IBM’s leading FinOps software and Cognizant’s cloud and developer platforms. The global innovation center harnesses the strengths of Cognizant’s industry and technology expertise, combined with IBM solutions, to help global clients address challenges, including escalating costs, around AI readiness, cloud governance and architecture modernization.

Alongside the CoE announcement, Cognizant launched extensions of its Cognizant® Skygrade™ and Flowsource™ platforms that are designed to integrate with IBM Apptio, Turbonomic, watsonx.governance and watsonx Code Assistant for Z. The solutions bring together Cognizant’s deep engineering capabilities with IBM’s powerful tools to help enterprise clients transition to modern architectures and streamline cloud management operations.

“Modern businesses face significant challenges in managing complexity, operational risks, and cost overhead due to the pervasive impact of technical debt and aging applications,” said Prasad Sankaran, EVP and Global Head, Software and Platform Engineering, Cognizant. “Cognizant and IBM are committed to offering clients the ability to effectively realize cloud and AI-native solutions at enterprise scale.”

Cognizant and IBM aim to help clients operate more efficiently and innovate quickly and responsibly by jointly focusing on the following areas:

Mainframe Modernization: Modernizing mainframe applications designed to increase agility and innovate faster through code modernization leveraging watsonx Code Assistant for Z, and supporting adoption of a hybrid cloud strategy to maximize the value of mainframe investments.
FinOps: Aiming to provide visibility and accountability over cloud costs, optimize usage, and implement real-time production adjustments to eliminate waste in multi-cloud environments.
AI Governance: Aiming to responsibly implement and drive AI governance across the enterprise, leveraging watsonx.governance to help ensure that AI systems are fair and transparent, with tools for AI quality and compliance capabilities integrated into development and operations processes.
“Optimizing cloud, AI and mainframe solutions are priorities for C-suite leaders the world over,” said Stephen Smith, General Manager, IBM Service Partner Ecosystem. “Exploiting automation and AI to reduce manual operations and accelerate productivity will help clients to realize more value from their hybrid cloud environments, reduce technology costs and the barriers to innovation.”