Naomi Diaz - Friday, December 29th, 2023

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Organizations are looking at different ways to use artificial intelligence (AI) in their operations, products, and service offerings. Microsoft has already shared their plans to invest heavily in AI, including substantial investment in Open AI. 

The tech giant is adding a new button to the Windows keyboard to activate the Microsoft AI Copilot. This is the first change in the Windows keyboard in 30 years. The dedicated key will be located to the right of the spacebar. Users can press the key to access the recently released Microsoft Copilot service, which offers a wide range of capabilities including the ability to summarize documents and virtual meetings. It can also be used as a search engine or AI chatbot. 

The AI button will either replace the menu key or the right control key on some keyboards. The release date for the upgrade has not been confirmed yet. It is expected to be released on the upcoming Microsoft Surface devices. 

The addition of the key might be the first such move in decades, however, it is not surprising. Microsoft has signaled its ambitions for AI-enabled PCs and this AI button aligns with that goal. 

“We believe it will empower people to participate in the AI transformation more easily,” Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s executive vice president and consumer chief marketing officer, wrote on Thursday. “The new key will invoke the Copilot in Windows experience to make it seamless to engage Copilot in your day-to-day. They see this as another transformative moment in their journey with Windows where Copilot will be the entry point into the world of AI on the PC.” 

In November last year, Microsoft announced the largest AI investment in the UK with a pledge to pump $3.2 billion in Britain over the next three years. The AI button announcement highlights Microsoft’s commitment to artificial intelligence. 

Microsoft has already incorporated AI in its products including the Windows 11 and Microsoft search engine Bing. The announcement of the new button comes just days ahead of the CES next week, which might feature the first wave of Windows laptops and PCs with the AI button. 

The release of the new AI button might not be universal as some countries have not authorized Microsoft Copilot. Companies such as LG and Dell have already announced their new laptops ahead of CES 2024. There has been no official announcement from laptop manufacturers about which models will feature the AI button, however, they can expect the new key to be available on Windows 11 laptops released from February onwards. 

The addition of the AI button is expected to make Microsoft Copilot more easy to use. Microsoft executives will also be hoping it can help Microsoft challenge Google’s search engine dominance, which has come under some threat with the accurate DOJ court trial in which Google is accused of having a monopoly over search engines through pre-written agreements with tech manufacturers. The arrival of the AI button could just be the catalyst Microsoft needs to gain some precious market share. 

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Microsoft Wednesday released to manufacturing its long-awaited MOM 2005, an enhanced management software platform that simplifies and automates the design and management of Windows Server System. MOM 2005 is slated to be available Oct. 1.

It is the first major upgrade of the platform since MOM 2000 debuted in 2000. In March 2004, as the industry awaited the release of MOM 2005, Microsoft said that it would release for the first time an Express version of MOM 2005 that would help reduce IT management costs for SMB-focused channel partners and their customers.

This week, Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft said the pricing for the enterprise server license is $729 and $2,689 for an Operations Management License that covers five MOM 2005-managed devices. Meanwhile, the Express version -- renamed MOM 2005 Workgroup Edition -- is priced at $499.

One solution provider said the debut of a workgroup edition is a clear signal that Microsoft is in touch with the needs of the SMB channel and its customers.

"This is long overdue. They have several clients that they will recommend MOM 2005 Express to immediately because it will over the long run save them money that would otherwise be spent on manually troubleshooting problems," said Marc Harrison, president of Silicon East, a Microsoft solution provider in Manalapan, N.J. "The release to manufacturing is a real sign that Microsoft is beginning to fulfill Orlando Ayala's promise to focus on and provide products targeted at small and medium business." Ayala is senior vice president, small and midmarket solutions and partner group, at Microsoft.

The Workgroup Edition offers most of the same features as MOM 2005 including performance monitoring, built-in application intelligence for identifying IT issues and tools for ensuring high service availability for Windows Server System components, but for a restricted number of servers. MOM 2005, in contrast, provides support for thousands of servers.

Other solution providers said the concept of improved Windows management sells well to all audiences but they are uncertain about interest in stand-alone products from Microsoft since many enterprise customers outsource their monitoring services and most SMB customers don't use anything at all.

"People talk about business process management, and if a company is doing a major overhaul [of its infrastructure] MOM will be an added feature set that's brought into projects. But the service has been largely outsourced for the last five years and small companies just haven't done it," said Paul Freeman, president of Coast Solutions Group, Irvine, Calif., a distributor of technology services. "I don't know if small or medium-size budgets would handle it. But my sense is that MOM 2005 is one of those technologies [that's] nice to have but not [one you] need to have."

Jason Harrison, owner of Harrison Technology Consulting, Nashville, N.C., said the need is there, but solution providers will have to educate SMB customers. "The demand is consultant-driven. A lot of customers aren't familiar with this type of tool, but the need is definitely there," he said. "The management tools to date have been cost-prohibitive. They had some clients spring for Net IQ but it was a couple thousand dollars. This Microsoft product will fill that void. It will be very affordable."

Another Microsoft solution provider, IT Synergy, Phoenix, said MOM 2005 Workgroup Edition will have greater appeal to partners when it offers key remote features.

"I know it is useful in larger environments, but the SMB customers don't seem to have it on their radar screen," said Michael Cocanower, president of ITSynergy. "The one issue I have with MOM is that I'd like to see it have a much stronger story around the remote support method. I'd like a MOM infrastructure that I can hook 100 different SMB clients to simultaneously, and then they offer network monitoring as a value-added service. There isn't a good story there today."

Meanwhile, NetIQ said it will begin shipping in September its NetIQ Extended Management Pack Modules 1.5 for MOM 2005. The XMP modules will allow MOM 2005 users to manage non-Microsoft applications running on NT 4.0, Unix and Linux. MOM 2005 runs on Windows Server 2000 and Windows Server 2003.

Microsoft is looking to tap nuclear power for its artificial intelligence (AI) and supercomputing electricity needs.

In hopes of expediting the required paperwork and streamlining the approval process, Microsoft, with help from the nonprofit Terra Praxis, is turning to generative AI, training a large language model (LLM) with U.S. nuclear regulatory and licensing documents.

Terra Praxis' Eric Ingersoll said the number of human hours spent on the approval process could be reduced upwards of 90% with the help of AI.

From The Wall Street Journal
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Twenty-one people were arrested in Folsom last month after police carried out a retail theft “blitz” operations across the city.

In four retail theft blitz operations, officers recovered more than $17,000 in stolen merchandise, the Folsom Police Department said.

Folsom officers launched the operations after receiving 159 reports of retail theft in December, the department said in a news release.

They teamed up with the California Highway Patrol and targeted retail businesses across the city.

“Looking ahead, the Folsom Police Department remains committed to curbing the rise in retail theft with a series of planned retail theft blitzes in 2024,” the Police Department said.

The midsize-business bundle, announced Thursday and expected to be touted by Microsoft at its Worldwide Partner Conference later this week, includes three copies of Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition, one Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition, one Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 Workgroup Edition and 50 client access licenses (CALs) for Windows and Exchange.

Microsoft executives said the bundle represents a 20 percent savings over Open Value pricing and will be offered in the United States and Europe starting in August and in Asia in September. The combined cost for those products if purchased individually is about $6,400, Microsoft said.

Greg Gatzke, CEO of Zag Technical Services, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner in San Jose, Calif., said it's important for Microsoft to trim the cost of the sale in the midmarket. The inclusion of the MOM 2005 Workgroup server is a good move because management is a key issue for midmarket customers, he added.

"We have been doing a decent amount of MOM 2005 Workgroup [sales] because it fits the needs of this midlevel group," Gatzke said. "If they can have a prepackaged thing, it would be great."

Microsoft said the bundle--and included prescriptive guidance--will lower IT costs and simplify management and deployment of Windows Server System for companies that may have one or two IT professionals on staff. IT professionals who deal with core server, desktop and e-mail management responsibilities face significant challenges maintaining a complex infrastructure and rely on external service partners, the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant said.

Microsoft expects the bundle to make it easier for partners to sell the Windows Server System to midsize companies. That segment hasn't been directly addressed in the past, whereas Small Business Server has been available for more than five years. The company also said the promotion will ease budget planning, since the bundle offers predictable licensing for midmarket customers.

"The challenge we've seen is that to sell the whole Microsoft story into this customer set, the partner has to sell them five to eight different products," said Steven VanRoekel, director of Midmarket Solutions in the Windows Server Group at Microsoft. "This gives partners a single SKU, something to wrap their arms around, one thing to sell to this customer segment."

The Windows Server System bundle will address purchasing objections, said Ken Winell, a strategic solutions architect at Vis.align, a West Chester, Pa.-based solution provider. "I ran into a situation not too long ago where a customer really wanted a complete Microsoft solution stack, but it was cost-prohibitive for them," he said. "We worked out a deal but still had to really push things to close. The midmarket server should make it easier."

Microsoft executives said the company may offer a more integrated midmarket server solution such as SBS with a common installation, but a final decision will depend on the success of the Windows Server System bundle.

The availability of a midmarket package will make the Windows Server System more palatable to customers, solution providers said. "The midmarket bundle is a great idea and plugs a gap that they have been encountering for a number of years," said Terry Doherty, CEO of U.K.-based Doherty IT Solutions. "The [partner] opportunities for this product are considerable."

One customer that recently deployed midmarket server bundle with the help of Madison, Wis.-based services partner Inacom said Microsoft's reputation and the pricing made it a compelling buy. "Being a company in the small-to-midsize market, it has previously been difficult [for us] to find quality solutions at a price they could afford," said Deb Severson, director of administration at Reality Works, a life skills company based in Eau Claire, Wis.

Cognata to introduce a Microsoft Azure Software-Defined Vehicle deployment at CES 2024 using Cognata SimCloud and Synopsys vECU Solution

REHOVOT, Israel, Jan. 3, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Cognata LTD proudly announces its official collaboration with Microsoft. It uses Cognata's cutting-edge, high-precision AI simulation for integration into its reference Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV) development toolchain. This Cognata and Microsoft collaboration aims to help OEMs shift left their automated driving validation and integration to bring to market new automated driving features faster.

Microsoft Azure, recognized for empowering customers and partners in advancing development practices, now includes Cognata as a strategic simulation partner. Based on Microsoft's reference architectures for the SDV end-to-end toolchain and autonomous vehicle operations (AVOps), this collaboration extends from sensor solutions and closed-loop systems to Hardware-in-the-Loop (HiL) solutions, offering a comprehensive process evaluation spanning perception to control, all seamlessly integrated into a single platform.

Cognata's simulation technology aligns seamlessly with Microsoft's commitment to providing an end-to-end toolchain, incorporating developer toolchains, High-Performance Computing (HPC) capabilities, and versatile control planes for cloud, edge, and on-premises environments, revolutionizing the deployment and scaling of the SimCloud product. Users can experience a fully integrative solution that harmonizes effortlessly with other toolchain products with just a click.

In an exciting showcase at CES 2024, Cognata will demonstrate its capabilities at Microsoft's Experience Center at the Wynn Hotel. The demo will showcase the integration of Synopsys' virtual prototyping solutions for virtual Electronic Control Units (vECU) with Cognata's deployment of SimCloud on Azure to enable complete virtualization of traditional Hardware-in-the-Loop (HiL) tasks in the cloud environment, reducing rooms full of hardware with virtual, endless, and scalable possibilities.

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Integrating these innovative technologies marks a significant step in advancing simulation capabilities within the SDV development landscape, reinforcing Cognata's position as a trusted and innovative solution provider in the autonomous vehicle industry. The SDV market size was valued at USD 35.8 Billion in 2022 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 22.1% by 2032, to a value of USD 249.8 Billion.

"In a digital twin environment, AI algorithms can be tested and iterated rapidly. This accelerates the learning process, as adjustments can be made instantly based on performance data, leading to quicker improvements in AI behavior and capabilities," says Danny Atsmon, CEO, and founder of Cognata. "Collaborating with Microsoft's SDV cloud architecture and Synopsys' virtual ECU facilitates extensive and concurrent simulation runs, shifting left and accelerating the development process significantly."

"This collaboration among Cognata, Microsoft, and Synopsys will help to expedite the deployment of automated driving systems," stated Dominik Wee, Corporate Vice President, Manufacturing & Mobility at Microsoft. "By harnessing the power of Microsoft's reference architecture for Autonomous Vehicle operations (AVOps) and Software Defined Vehicle (SDV) toolchain, together with Cognata's SimCloud and Synopsys' virtual Electronic Control Unit solution, they are providing developers with the tools to build and test software with unprecedented efficiency and speed."

"Digital twins are necessary to accelerate the development and validation of automated driving systems," said Tom De Schutter, vice president of Engineering, Systems Design Group at Synopsys. "The combination of Synopsys virtual ECU solutions, Cognata SimCloud, and Microsoft's SDV Cloud Infrastructure enables automotive companies to shift-left their AI-based training and validation."

About Cognata

Cognata is a leading provider of digital twin-based simulation solutions for AI-driven training, testing, and validation of Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) and ADAS technologies. From defense applications, where they offer advanced off-road simulation, to smart cities, where they provide photorealistic digital twins and safety reports for municipalities and city planners, Cognata brings AI and accurate sensor simulation technologies to various sectors. While being a simulation platform, the Cognata system generates infinite, tailored datasets, fully and automatically annotated, which are being used as benchmarks in several organizations worldwide. Our commitment to providing a fast lane to autonomous driving is supported by state-of-the-art technology and extensive industry expertise.

For further information: https://www.cognata.com.

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2310156/Cognata.jpg

Contact:
Shay Rootman 
shay@cognata.com 
www.cognata.com 

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SOURCE Cognata