AI is a matter of power, infrastructure and security: TechEx North America

Although visitors to an event like TechEx North America will always want to see the cutting edge front and centre stage, the nuance and detail brought to the show by the speakers and exhibitors mean that it’s sometimes the smaller considerations that need to play big – at least, in the minds of enterprise decision-makers. Across the different tracks of Edge Computing, IoT, Data Centre Congress, and Cyber Security, the question was about what needs to be built around AI before it takes its place

The day-one programme positioned edge computing as a place where companies can reassess the value of their data assets, look at how decisions are made by autonomous equipment, and the required speed of processing. Sessions looked at scaling edge deployments (in multi-site businesses, for example), agentic network operations, distributed inference – on-prem, in-cloud or hybrid – immutable edge infrastructure, and how zero-trust cybersecurity lessons can be applied to control systems. Ed Doran of the Edge AI Foundation chaired a programme that had as its starting point that the edge is a demanding place in which to operate. The track included reps from Akamai, Spectro Cloud, Scylos, TÜV Rheinland, the OPC Foundation, and Germany’s Schneider Electric. Discussions covered issues in manufacturing and IoT, and delved into industrial automation and connected control and attenuation devices. Moving intelligence closer to the machine changes risk profiles (in which direction was a matter for debate), and faster local decisions may reduce latency and dependence on central cloud services, but where do observability and control in decision-makers’ minds? The IoT Tech Expo day-one track on Industrial IoT and Digital Twins looked at manufacturing, with sessions covering smart factory trends, AI beyond Industry 4.0, asset management, practical road-maps for escaping pilot purgatory (more on that below), physical AI in everyday ops, and digital twins. Similar to debates on AI deployment in the knowledge sector, it was the gap between demo and deployment that was the area subject to most scrutiny. Industrial and back office AI both might work well in a presentation, but can stall when they meet old machines (or legacy software). The alliterative pilot purgatory held considerable weight in several sessions on the various presentation stages and on the show floor, day one. The Rockwell Automation and Ford session on physical AI and connected asset intelligence looked especially hard at scaling projects that seem to work well in concept, but may fail when hitting the real world. How does intelligence enter daily operations without becoming another dashboard that nobody owns?

Key points

• The day-one programme positioned edge computing as a place where companies can reassess the value of their data assets, look at how decisions are made by autonomous equipment, and the required spee…
• Sessions looked at scaling edge deployments (in multi-site businesses, for example), agentic network operations, distributed inference – on-prem, in-cloud or hybrid – immutable edge infrastructure,…
• Ed Doran of the Edge AI Foundation chaired a programme that had as its starting point that the edge is a demanding place in which to operate.
• The track included reps from Akamai, Spectro Cloud, Scylos, TÜV Rheinland, the OPC Foundation, and Germany’s Schneider Electric.
• Discussions covered issues in manufacturing and IoT, and delved into industrial automation and connected control and attenuation devices.