Nvidia launches Fleet Command and partners with Equinix on AI LaunchPad

Automotive parts manufacturer Continental is already using LaunchPad to develop autonomous vehicle technologies

Nvidia has launched Fleet Command, a remote management platform designed to allow businesses to monitor and manage AI applications at the edge.

Available via a subscription service, the software can be deployed in minutes and allows users to add or delete applications, monitor device health, and update system software, remotely.

"The ability to deploy and manage AI applications at the edge is one of the most complex problems facing businesses as they move toward an Internet of Things era, including smart factories, intelligent retail, and smart cities," Nvidia’s head of enterprise computing, Manuvir Das, said.

Deploy the fleet

The new service has been “specifically engineered to ease a company’s IT burden," Nvidia said, adding that it can be used to manage AI applications without sacrificing the real-time processing capabilities of edge computing.

Early Fleet Command customers include companies in retail, healthcare, and logistics, and specialty software industries, Nvidia said.

Fleet Command can be combined with Base Command, a recently unveiled cloud-based development hub for large-scale, multi-team AI projects. “The platforms together allow businesses to quickly conceive, deploy and manage edge and industrial AI,” the company said.

Launching to the cloud

Fleet Command wasn’t the only announcement this week – as Nvidia said it has teamed up with data center giant Equinix to launch AI LaunchPad, a subscription program that provides fast access to both infrastructure and software, including DGX SuperPODs managed through Base Command.

Equinix will be the first hybrid cloud provider in the program, delivering Nvidia-powered solutions through its Platform Equinix, composed of more than 220 data centers across five continents.

The infrastructure can be deployed in minutes, with businesses gaining access to a smorgasbord of Nvidia resources to support AI, from compute-intensive training through to deployment at the edge.

“Today’s enterprises are looking for a simple, comprehensive solution that provides instant access to the resources they need to build and deploy AI with ease,” Das said.

Automotive parts manufacturer Continental is one of the firms already using Nvidia’s DGX systems hosted at Equinix data centers, relying on AI to develop autonomous vehicle technologies.

Nvidia’s Fleet Command and LaunchPad news follow the announcement of a new compute module designed for AI systems in safety-critical industrial environments. The Jetson AGX Xavier Industrial features up to four times more memory than the Jetson TX2i and is claimed to offer 20 times the performance, delivering up to 30 trillion operations per second (TOPS).