Move to Public Cloud Drives Need for More Management

It would be reasonable to predict that end-user cloud spending might shift over time towards features that aim to monitor cloud resource performance, in large part because the proliferation of cloud-native resources and multi-cloud usage makes management more tricky. 

In other words, public cloud computing spend grows both because computing chores are moved to public cloud, but also because that movement itself increases the complexity of IT management, requiring additional spending on monitoring and management.

source: Gartner 

If one assumes total business IT spending is around $4.5 trillion, then public cloud could support about 13 percent of total IT spending globally in 2023. 

Global  Public Cloud Services End-User Spending Forecast (Millions of U.S. Dollars)
	2021	2022	2023
Cloud Business Process Services (BPaaS)	51,410	55,598	60,619
Cloud Application Infrastructure Services (PaaS)	86,943	109,623	136,404
Cloud Application Services (SaaS)	152,184	176,622	208,080
Cloud Management and Security Services	26,665	30,471	35,218
Cloud System Infrastructure Services (IaaS)	91,642	119,717	156,276
Desktop as a Service (DaaS)	2,072	2,623	3,244
Total Market	410,915	494,654	599,840

source: Gartner

Will Metaverse be the Equivalent of the World Wide Web?

In other words, is it the next iteration of the internet?

High Metaverse Interest Also Means High Use of AI

If you have done consumer market research, or at least learned about such research, you know that what people say and what they do are two different things, typically. Still, a sruvey by Morning Consult finds half of younger adults “interested” in the mataverse, which almost by definition has to be powered by artificial intelligence in some form.

source: Morning Consult

Hear Val Kilmer's AI Voice

All this speech is generated by artificial intelligence, as actor Val Kilmer no longer can speak as he once did. Talk about "giving voice to the voiceless."

Why EleutherAI GPT-NeoX-20B Open-Source Language Model Matters

Natural language systems are important for many artificial intelligence use cases, ranging from chatbots, translations of  natural language into structured query language, application layouts and spreadsheets, and web search.

And one key to wider use of natural language machine learning is the availability of powerful open source tools. 

Up to this point, huge amounts of computer power and electrical power have been required to support natural language processing. EleuterAI's GPT-NeoX-20B removes that barrier for developers. 

Metaverse Drives Edge Computing

As video content distribution has shaped global demand for inter-continental data transport and high-speed connections between major data centers, the metaverse will shape data center and connectivity network requirements. And the key words are “more” and “less.”

More bandwidth; less latency. More artificial intelligence; less centralized computing. More at the edtge; less in the core. More symmetrical bandwidth, less copper.

“Making the metaverse a reality will require significant advancements in network latency, symmetrical bandwidth and overall speed of networks,” says Dan Rabinovitsj, Meta VP for connectivity. 

The metaverse “will require innovations in fields like hybrid local and remote real-time rendering, video compression, edge computing, and cross-layer visibility, as well as spectrum advocacy, work on metaverse readiness of future connectivity and cellular standards, network optimizations, improved latency between devices and within radio access networks (RANs), and more,” he says. 

Already, experts predict Metaverse environments will require more data centers, more edge computing, more distributed computing, more collocation, more content distribution mechanisms, will require more power consumption and more cooling.

Eventually, fully-developed metaverses will require advances in chip technology as well. Beyond all that, blockchain will probably be necessary to support highly-decentralized value exchanges. And it is impossible to separate metaverse platforms and experiences from use of artificial intelligence, for business or consumer uses. 

source: iCapital Network 

If metaverses are built on persistent and immersive computing and tightly-integrated software stacks, platforms will be necessary. New developments in chip manufacturing also will be needed. 

For connectivity providers--especially internet service providers--far lower latency will be key. Today’s latency-sensitive applications such as video calling and cloud-based games have to meet a round-trip time latency of 75 milliseconds to 150 ms. Multi-player, complex games might require 30 ms latency. 

“A head-mounted mixed reality display, where graphics will have to be rendered on screen in response to where someone is focusing their eyes, things will need to move an order of magnitude faster: from single to low double digit ms,” says Rabinovitsj. 

Image rendering will require edge computing. “We envision a future where remote rendering over edge cloud, or some form of hybrid between local and remote rendering, plays a greater role,” he adds. “Enabling remote rendering will require both fixed and mobile networks to be rearchitected to create compute resources at a continuum of distances to end users.”

Bandwidth could increase by orders of magnitude over what is required to view 720p video on a standard smartphone screen. That might work with just 1.3 Mbps to 1.6 Mbps of downlink throughput. 

But a head-mounted display sitting just centimeters from the eyes required to display images at retina grade resolution will need to be many orders of magnitude larger, he notes. 

To be sure, most of what happens that is part of metaverse experiences rests on things that happen up the stack from computing and communications. 

source: Constellation Research

But we already can see how metaverse support will require changes in computing architecture and network capabilities.

Digital Twin Applications Likely to be Commercial Before Many Metaverse Apps

Though consumer applications for metaverse seem to get more attention, digital twins are likely to produce more value, near term. 

A digital twin is a virtual representation of an object or system and is a type of “metaverse.”  It is updated from real-time data and uses simulation, machine learning and reasoning to help decision making, often to model processes and flows. 

That might be especially useful for complex systems, as when operators of such systems want to look at possible changes; predict breakdowns or predict maintenance activities. 

source: Leeway Hertz

When used to monitor and possibly avoid traffic congestion, digital twins might be useful to optimize traffic flows. Rerouting traffic around accident delays is one possible advantage, assuming the ability to manage traffic lights, open or close routes. 

In manufacturing, digital twins might be used to rapidly create prototypes or optimize supply chain support. In health care, assuming the knowledge base is refined enough, digital twins might help doctors evaluate outcomes from various treatments.