Alibaba Debuts Cloud Computer, Delivery Robots at Cloud Computing Conference
17.9.2020 05:44:00 EEST | Business Wire | Press release
Alibaba Cloud, the digital technologies and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, today unveiled a series of innovative products at its 12th annual Apsara Conference, highlighting the technology pioneer’s commitment in helping people adapt to the more digitized world and accelerate customers’ digital transformation during and after the pandemic.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200916006004/en/
Alibaba Debuts First Cloud Computer (Photo: Business Wire)
A highlight is Alibaba Cloud’s first cloud computer, a palm-sized personal computer which, despite being just about 60 grams and as light as an egg, offers high-performance computing, thanks to robust back-end cloud resources. By simply connecting the cloud computer with a normal computer screen, a user can access almost unlimited computing resources anytime, anywhere, while paying on a subscription model or for the actual cloud consumption.
“We hope our cloud computer can help people access resilient computing power whenever they need to, so they can conduct complex tasks which usually require sophisticated and powerful PCs, such as video editing, animation rendering, software development, and online customer services, with a tiny personal computer at hand now,” said Jeff Zhang, President of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence. “As working from home becomes the new normal during and after the pandemic, we believe our innovation can also help users more easily enjoy the benefits of cloud computing anytime, anywhere, in a cost-effective yet secure way.”
With robust computing power, the cloud computer can reduce the rendering time of one frame high-resolution animation from 90 minutes using a traditional PC, down to only 10 minutes. In addition, the cloud computer’s system upgrades are conducted online, saving a big chunk of the normally heavy cost of PC machine upgrades and maintenance in traditional office settings. Through Alibaba Cloud's self-developed app-streaming protocol, which is designed for synergy between the cloud and the device, users can also purchase and access licensed apps and programs such Linux and Windows as well as various office applications. All user data will be stored on cloud for datacenter-grade security and protection measures. Available initially for enterprise customers, the cloud computers will be also available for purchase by individual consumers in the near future.
Alibaba Cloud also unveiled its autonomous logistics robot for last-mile deliveries. Developed by the Alibaba DAMO Academy, the global research initiative by Alibaba Group, the delivery robot can carry 50 packages at one time and cover 62 miles (or 100 kilometres) on a single charge. It is estimated the mobile robot should be able to deliver as many as 500 packages a day to one designated community or campus, meeting the rising demand for speedy last-mile delivery in China. Online shopping is booming there, with 200 million packages delivered daily and expectations that will rise to 1 billion packages per day in the coming years.
“We are expecting a rapid spike of delivery demands brought by the thriving New Retail and local services businesses in the increasingly digitalized world,” added Zhang. “To meet the strong delivery demand for our internal business growth and for the larger society, we have been investing in smart logistics, including logistics robots, for years. We are glad to launch our latest mobile delivery robot, which will support Cainiao, Alibaba’s logistics platform, to serve communities, campuses and business parks in China. “
“Moving ahead, we aim to support the delivery needs of our local services businesses and leverage our technologies for other types of service robots, such as service robots in the airport and tourism guide robots in scenic spots.”
Supported with reinforced learning technologies, the intelligent robot can schedule its route even in a crowded environment. With proprietary, high-definition positioning technology, the robot can operate even where there’s weak or no GPS signal. Leveraging a self-developed heterogeneous computing platform, 3D Point Cloud Semantic Segmentation (PCSS) technology and deep learning, the robot can also identify obstacles and predict the intended movement of passengers and vehicles a few seconds ahead of time to enhance safety.
Consumers can use either the Cainiao or Taobao mobile apps to select a preferred timeslot during the day for delivery. The robot then arrives at the designated destination, where users retrieve their packages simply by entering a passcode they receive in the app, once the robot arrives.
A slew of cloud-native products were unveiled during the Conference:
- Cloud Lakehouse: This is the next-generation big data architecture which can deliver significant data-based values and intelligence through cross-platform computing, intelligent cache, hot/cold data separation, storage improvement and performance acceleration.
- Sandboxed-Container 2.0: Alibaba’s cloud-native container service for Kubernetes supports clusters that provide sandboxed container runtimes. The new Sandboxed-Container 2.0 enables customers to run applications in lightweight sandboxed environments with faster speeds and reduced cost of runtime resources.
- PAI-DSW 2.0: The latest Cloud-native Machine-learning Interactive Development Platform by Alibaba. It aims to provide an optimal environment for developers that is easy to use, compatible with community plug-ins and supports multi-development environments like JupyterLab, WebIDE and Terminal.
- Lindorm: The cloud-native multi-model database that is used to support the Alibaba Group ecosystem, is introduced to benefit the wider Alibaba Cloud ecosystem. Lindorm is a cloud-native database, with affordable storage and flexible processing characteristics. It is designed for applications with massive processing requirements for a mixture of unstructured, semi-structured, and structured data.
The conference, named “Leap Into the Future of Digital Intelligence,” was entirely hosted online for the first time, with over 100 virtual forums on topics ranging from cloud computing, IoT to machine learning and industrial AI solutions.
For more information about the Apsara Conference, please visit the website: https://www.alibabacloud.com/apsara-conference-2020
About Alibaba Cloud
Established in 2009, Alibaba Cloud (alibabacloud.com), the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, is among the world’s top three IaaS providers, according to Gartner. It is also the largest provider of public cloud services in China, according to IDC. Alibaba Cloud provides a comprehensive suite of cloud computing services to businesses worldwide, including merchants doing business on Alibaba Group marketplaces, start-ups, corporations and public services. Alibaba Cloud is the official Cloud Services Partner of the International Olympic Committee.
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200916006004/en/
Contact information
Media Contact:
Crystal Liu
Crystal.liu@alibaba-inc.com
+86 18578497650
Luica Mak
luica.mak@alibaba-inc.com
+44-7905471332
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Boyd Watterson Global Names John Creswell Global Chief Client Officer to Accelerate Global Growth and Client Engagement23.7.2026 16:00:00 EEST | Press release
Boyd Watterson Global today announced the appointment of John Creswell as Global Chief Client Officer, a newly created senior leadership role that reflects the firm's continued investment in growth and its evolution into a leading global alternatives investment platform. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260722823117/en/ John Creswell has joined Boyd Watterson Global as Global Chief Client Officer, a newly created role overseeing global sales, client engagement and marketing across the U.S., Europe and APAC. In this role, Creswell will oversee global sales, client engagement and marketing efforts across the United States, Europe and APAC, helping investors access the firm's capabilities while strengthening relationships with institutional and private capital partners worldwide. While based in Chicago, John will spend considerable time at the firm’s headquarters in Cleveland as well as in key offices globally. Cr
Trulioo Launches AI Agent to Resolve Beneficial Ownership Where Global Registries Fall Short23.7.2026 16:00:00 EEST | Press release
Trulioo, a global risk intelligence platform, today announced the UBO Discovery Agent, the newest layer in Trulioo's UBO Discovery capability inside its business risk and Know Your Business (KYB) verification workflow. AI is reshaping fraud, making it easier for bad actors to hide, and harder for companies to catch them. This makes the already tough job of verifying who actually owns a business even more difficult. Determining a business's ultimate beneficial owner is an ongoing, acute challenge for companies: registry coverage is inconsistent across countries, and even where registries exist, they typically record shareholders and directors of record (rather than the people actually in control). That data isn't simply outdated, it reflects a structural lag: ownership changes and time passes before the filing is made and processed, so a lookup often shows who owned a business months or years ago, not who owns it today. Further, ownership chains that cross borders can break entirely onc
Humanoid Raises $152 Million at $1.35 Billion Post-Money Valuation, Becoming Europe's First Pure-Play Humanoid Robotics Unicorn23.7.2026 16:00:00 EEST | Press release
Humanoid, a UK-based AI and robotics company building industrial humanoid robots, announced a $152 million Series A financing at a $1.35 billion post-money valuation. This funding brings the total amount raised to date to $270 million. The round was led by Prime Movers Lab, a venture capital firm focused on investments in breakthrough scientific startups working to revolutionize the world's most important industries and transform billions of lives, with participation from Schaeffler, Bosch, Fubon Financial Holding Venture Capital, and Aglaé Ventures. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260723238282/en/ Humanoid's leadership team with representatives from Prime Movers Lab, the lead investor in Humanoid's Series A financing. Now is a defining moment for the European technology ecosystem which positions the region among the global leaders in one of the world's fastest-growing tech sectors. Until now, much of the Phys
Riskified Named to the CNBC World's Top Fintech Companies 2026 List23.7.2026 15:00:00 EEST | Press release
Riskified (NYSE: RSKD), a global leader in ecommerce fraud detection and risk intelligence, has been named to CNBC's World's Top Fintech Companies 2026 list, in the Payments category. The list, now in its fourth edition, is produced by CNBC in partnership with Statista Inc., the global statistics and industry ranking firm. It was announced on July 22, 2026, and is available on CNBC's website. This is Riskified's second time making the list. The company previously earned this recognition in 2024, reinforcing its position in the ecommerce fraud and risk intelligence sector and underscoring its ongoing success in empowering businesses to grow revenue and profitability by mitigating risk through its AI-powered platform. CNBC and Statista's ranking covers the top 500 companies across eight fintech segments — Payments, Neobanking, Alternative Financing, Wealth Technology, Digital Assets, Enterprise Fintech, Insurtech, and Regtech. Companies are scored using an aggregated model that weighs ov
Azafaros Completes Enrollment of Phase 3 (NAVIGATE) Study Evaluating Nizubaglustat for the Treatment of Patients with GM1/GM2 Gangliosidoses23.7.2026 14:00:00 EEST | Press release
Azafaros, a private company building a portfolio of disease-modifying therapeuticsto become a leader in lysosomal storage disorders (LSDs) focused on addressing neurological symptoms, today announced the completion of patient recruitment in its Phase 3 study evaluating nizubaglustat for the treatment of GM1/GM2 gangliosidoses. “Completing enrollment in our Phase 3 GM1/GM2 study is a significant step toward potentially bringing nizubaglustat to patients and families living with these devastating neurodegenerative diseases," said Stefano Portolano, Chief Executive Officer at Azafaros. "We are deeply grateful to the patients, caregivers, investigators and advocacy groups who have made this milestone possible. As we advance the GM1/GM2 study toward data readout and regulatory submission, we continue to enroll in our Phase 3 NPC study and remain focused on our goal of addressing the significant unmet medical needs faced by these rare disease communities." Professor Roberto Giugliani, Princi
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom