So you have a mainframe you want to move to Azure Cloud?
With the new NTT and Microsoft Alliance announced this month, look for interesting things to happen in this space and more in the coming months. NTT Research opened its Palo Alto offices in July 2019 as a new Silicon Valley Startup.
Some of the initiatives listed in the PR include:
1. Global Digital Fabric.
2. Cybersecurity threat intelligence analytics
3. Social robotics with relational AI for digital companions
4. Digital workpace solutions
5. Knowledge discovery and management.
6. All-photonics networks
7. Digital twin computing
8. Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN)
9. Natural interactions between people, nature and technology.
The NTT DATA Group's 2019 Annual report may shed some light on these initiatives.
The PHI, CIS and MEI Labs within NTT Research are working with universities to research hardware, materials and computational techniques. See this presentation on Quantum Computing with some of these partners mentioned.
What's Global Digital Fabric? I don't think it's nanotech shirts, though they sound pretty game-changing for athletes and the medical industry. According to this announcement, it's combining Microsoft Azure with NTT's "globally-connected ICT infrastructure".
Social robots will be fascinating. Robot companions could shadow you during sports, at home, in school, at a hospital or at work. Something as simple as a robot pet or insect gently reminding you about your prescriptions or monitoring your blood sugar could change many people's lives. A physical, interactive robot nagging you about your homework, guiding your studies and providing conversational AI for languages could change the way you learn.
What if we could take a child's stuffed toy and use Relational AI and some motors to turn it into a trusted teaching companion? Jacqueline Westlund's post on MIT's web site is really fascinating. There is an open-source MIT AI Ethics Education Curriculum available here. Human-robot interaction (HRI) will be huge in 2020.
All-photonics networks will accomodate "petabit-class scalable optical networks". I can see AI & ML playing a big part in reducing noise and improving performance across large ranges. Intel, Sony and NTT announced an "innovation forum" called the Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IWN) Global Forum to accelerate R&D in this space.
Speaking of noise reduction, I hope we see noise reduction home "appliances" emerge in 2020. Perhaps some active acoustic soundproofing foam which uses noise cancellation on a room-scale. Having that soundproof tunnel at home would be great for relaxation, concentration. Being able to cheaply control the acoustic properties of a room using some fabric or foam would be great for musicians and music aficionados.
The topic of natural interactions between people, nature and technology is super-broad and could apply to many areas of study. The NTT DATA Group's AI Guidelines provide some guidelines for transparency and understanding in AI. The NTT DATA Technology Foresight 2019 highlights predictions in areas such as XR Space (AR/VR/MR), brain tech, social and digital divides and many other topics. A great read towards 2020 tech.
A 2018 presentation on "corevo" from NTT identifies 4 types of AI: Agent, Ambient, Heart-Touching, Network.
It's the Heart-Touching AI's which excites me in 2020. Analyzing people's minds and bodies to understand their deep psyche, their intellect, and their instincts. Tech such as mind and body reading and bidirectional mind communication, emotional and tactile feedback loops will bring us closer to natural interactions with AI devices.
Now back to old school computing, AzureCAT has you covered on the mainframe front with Deploying NTT Data UniKix in Azure.
Part 1 Deploying the VM
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/AzureCAT/Deploying-NTT-Data-UniKix-in-Azure-Part-1-Deploying-the-VM/ba-p/775840
Part 2 - Configure TPE and compile the ACCT Application
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/AzureCAT/Deploying-NTT-Data-UniKix-in-Azure-Part-2-Configure-TPE-and/ba-p/779142
Open Mainframe Project
https://github.com/openmainframeproject
https://landscape.openmainframeproject.org/
x3270 terminal emulator
http://x3270.bgp.nu/
I truly hope I am not on any Cobol projects in 2020.
