Alibaba Debuts Cloud Computer, Delivery Robots at Cloud Computing Conference
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.
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
BCG Collaborates with Tencent Marketing Insight to Release 2020 BCG x Tencent Digital Luxury Report25.9.2020 13:21:00 EEST | Press release
Since early 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out worldwide, the luxury market has been hit hard and is expected to decline 25% to 45% compared to the previous year. The Chinese luxury market, however, which has benefitted from successful domestic control of the pandemic and has taken the lead in recovery against a depressed global market environment, is forecast to grow from 20% to 30% in the whole year of 2020. Thanks to its stunning market performance, China has become the main battleground of each major luxury brand. In was in this environment that Boston Consulting Group (BCG) joined hands with Tencent Marketing Insight (TMI) to release the 2020 BCG x Tencent Digital Luxury Report, drawing on deep insights into post COVID-19 trends in the luxury market and consumers based on BCG and TMI’s quantitative consumer research and industry experience, as well as TMI’s marketing and big data capabilities. Crystal Hao, Managing Director & Partner of BCG said, “The luxury market in China
U.S. MRTP Authorization Pathway Explored in PMI’s Latest Scientific Update25.9.2020 13:15:00 EEST | Press release
Philip Morris International (PMI) (NYSE: PM) has released the 11th edition of its Scientific Update, a regularly issued publication on its research efforts to develop and scientifically assess a range of smoke-free alternatives to cigarettes. The latest edition features an overview of the historic decision made by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to authorize the marketing of the IQOS Tobacco Heating System with reduced exposure information. The Scientific Update explains the various MRTP decisions under U.S. law; the steps, processes, and timeline PMI undertook; and the ongoing post-market surveillance and studies that will monitor the impact of the orders on consumer perceptions, behavior, and health. “The FDA undertook a scientific and regulatory evaluation of IQOS and determined that it is ‘appropriate for the promotion of public health’” said Dr. Gizelle Baker, director of Global Scientific Engagement at PMI. “In this edition of our Scientific Update, we describe how th
Palladio Completes $20 Million Series B Financing25.9.2020 13:09:00 EEST | Press release
Palladio Biosciences, Inc. (Palladio), a privately-held, clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing medicines for orphan diseases of the kidney, announced today the completion of a $20 million Series B investment. The financing was led by new investor, Samsara BioCapital, with participation from new investor, the Roche Venture Fund and existing investors, Medicxi and Osage University Partners. Proceeds from the financing will fund Palladio’s Phase 3 ALERT Study and advance operations. Srinivas Akkaraju M.D, Ph.D, Managing General Partner of Samsara BioCapital, stated, "We are very excited about our investment in Palladio to support the development of lixivaptan, a drug that has the potential to deliver a meaningful therapeutic advancement in the treatment of Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD). The ALERT Study is an important step in assessing the safety differential of lixivaptan.” “We are very pleased that Samsara and the Roche Venture Fund recognize the opp
Ant Group Launches “Trusple,” an AntChain-Powered Global Trade and Financial Services Platform for SMEs and Financial Institutions25.9.2020 10:54:00 EEST | Press release
Ant Group, a leading provider in the development of open platforms for technology-driven inclusive financial services, and the parent company of China’s largest digital payment platform Alipay, today unveiled Trusple, an international trade and financial service platform powered by AntChain, the company’s blockchain-based technology solutions. Trusple aims to make it easier and less costly for all participants – especially Small-to-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) – to sell their products and services to customers around the world. It also reduces costs for financial institutions so they can better serve SMEs in need. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200925005110/en/ (Photo: Business Wire) Based on the concept of “Trust Made Simple,” Trusple works by generating a smart contract once a buyer and a seller upload a trading order on the platform. As the order is executed, the smart contract is automatically updated with k
Ipsen Appoints Philippe Lopes-Fernandes as Executive Vice President, Chief Business Officer25.9.2020 08:00:00 EEST | Press release
Regulatory News: This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200924005822/en/ Philippe Lopes-Fernandes, Executive Vice President, Chief Business Officer, Ipsen (Photo: Business Wire) Ipsen (Euronext: IPN; ADR: IPSEY) today announced the appointment of Philippe Lopes-Fernandes as Executive Vice President, Chief Business Officer, effective 1 October 2020. Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, he will be responsible for business development and alliance management, reporting directly to David Loew, CEO, Ipsen. Philippe will serve on the Executive Leadership Team. “As Chief Business Officer, Philippe will play a crucial role in our external innovation strategy. The ELT and I are delighted to welcome Philippe to Ipsen and look forward to working closely with him. His extensive and impressive track record in international business development, his outstanding reputation and his ability to work closely with the scientific comm
Deloitte Launches < "The Next Wave" Emerging Digital Life in South and Southeast Asia > Report At Ant Group’s INCLUSION Fintech Conference25.9.2020 06:45:00 EEST | Press release
Deloitte launched <"The Next Wave" Emerging Digital Life in South and Southeast Asia > Report today at the INCLUSION Fintech Conference, organized by Ant Group and Alipay to foster a global dialogue on building a more inclusive, green, and sustainable world through digital technology. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200924005941/en/ (Graphic: Business Wire) Through an extensive survey conducted across age groups in eight countries in South and Southeast Asia, specifically Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, the report showed that consumers aged between 21 and 40 years old are the leading force enabling the rapid adoption of a digital life in the region in the post Covid-19 world. Speaking at one of the media forums on Day 2 of INCLUSION, Taylor Lam, Technology, Media & Telecommunications Industry Leader at Deloitte China, said: “Young and vibrant economies
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