Latest / Technology Now / How open source is leading the way for collaborative innovation in AI
Transcript
- Aubrey Lovell (00:09): Hello and welcome back to Technology Now, a weekly show from Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, where we take what's happening in the world and explore how it's changing the way organizations are using technology. We're your hosts, rather with a little bit of a raspy voice today, Aubrey Lovell. Michael Bird (00:25): And Michael Bird, who, I haven't got that much of a raspy voice, but we're all suffering from colds, aren't we? Anyway, in this episode, we're looking at the future of something that is at the very core of the internet, open platform technology. Now, the term "open source" itself is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. So we're going to look at what it is, where it came from, and of course where it's heading. How did something that, according to opensource.com, essentially began as a rebellious movement become adopted by Fortune 500 companies? And how will open platforms lead the way for collaborative innovation as we embrace the vision of Web 4.0 and the future of online interaction? Aubrey Lovell (01:06): Well keep listening to find out. And if you're the kind of person who needs to know why what's going on in the world matters to your organization, this podcast is for you. And if you haven't yet, subscribe to your podcast app of choice so you don't miss out. All right, Michael, let's get into it. Michael Bird (01:22): Let's do it. Aubrey Lovell (01:24): Okay. So according to Precedence Research, the global open source services market was worth 28.3 billion US dollars in 2022. And in 10 years time, that figure is expected to grow to $138 billion. Now, that's a long way from the history of the term open source, which was coined in the late '90s, originally to refer simply to free software, which of course it still is in many ways. Yes, open platforms are responsible for a multi-billion dollar industry, but that collaborative innovative aspect is still at its heart. And it's not just software. There's open source hardware too. Michael Bird (02:06): So where does open source technology stand as a functioning tool in the age of AI and VR and AR? And actually, given that its primary function is writing shareable code, are we moving towards a future where open source software is coded by open platform AI? Well, our guest for this episode is another expert I got to have a chat to back at HB Discover 2023 in Barcelona. Distinguished technologist for open platform at Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, Jean Marie Verdun. Hi, Jean Marie. So first off, can you just quickly define open source? Jean Marie Verdun (02:40): Open source, I think, is initially related to collaboration. So this is one person who is willing to share his own knowledge and improve that knowledge through collaboration. And that is the key element. There is another key element, which is the freedom to reuse that knowledge through different licensing. So there are multiple licensing around software and hardware. I believe that there might be some slight differences between open source software and open source hardware. The main reason is you can consume open source software pretty quickly with the internet. If you want to consume open source hardware, you still need to purchase some hardware equipment just to validate that the open source implementation is the right fit for your need. Michael Bird (03:24): It doesn't seem like open source gets much attention these days. What's happening behind the scenes? Jean Marie Verdun (03:30): Open source has reached a point where the adoption scan is huge. So Linux is currently used on many servers around the world, so it does represent about 80% of the data center operating systems market share. What we're seeing is that open source is currently digging more into the infrastructures at the lower level, like open source firmware or open hardware. So there's a lot of initiative we around this areas, and this is where the growth is currently happening within open source community. Michael Bird (03:59): What's the big driver for open platforms and open source? Why do people get involved in projects that they can't necessarily control? Jean Marie Verdun (04:06): I think the main reason behind that is about innovation. So during the past 20 years, the standardization of IT has created a lot of algorithms which are generating a ton of datas, and all of this data needs to be stored and needs to be processed to extract values. And with the current technology that we have, we are reaching some kind of limitation, and open source community are just trying to break these limitations. And by gathering together, the innovation is higher, the innovation rates and the output might be a little bit better than what we can do only through a single private company. Michael Bird (04:40): So you work for HPE. We sell software. Why are we talking about open source? Surely we want to sell stuff. Jean Marie Verdun (04:48): Yeah. We're mainly talking about open source because our customers are driven by innovations, and by leveraging open source we can reuse what does exist. So avoiding the reinvent the wheel effect within the company, and we can leverage that open source software stack or hardware stack just to create additional value on top of it, and that is the main role of HPE. So we're integrating this technology, we're leveraging them, and we're enhancing them just to be sure that we can manufacture the best product to the benefit of our customers. Michael Bird (05:20): What's the benefit of large organizations or large companies in embracing open source? Jean Marie Verdun (05:25): I think there are multiple benefits. The first one is finding the right resources to maintain their own IT equipment in operational conditions. So there is a lot of open source engineers which are available on the market and you can hire them. There is also something which is critical within the industry right now is the handling of the product life cycles. So by embracing open source technology, the customers and the end users of the large organization can decide that when they want to decommission their own systems, because they can take back their control on this area. So it is becoming more and more common to see customers or large organization maintaining their IT systems in operation for more than five years, seven years, or ten years. And we see that trend increasing, so keeping the system in operations for a long period of time, and open source is a very good fit for that. Michael Bird (06:19): What are some of the coolest open source or open platform programs that you've come across recently? Jean Marie Verdun (06:24): I think from a general purpose, we can mention something crazy, which is happening right now. That's an open chip revolution in some way. So there is a nonprofit foundation which has been created a couple of years ago called RISC-V, which is intending to create an open chip from scratch from the instruction set up to the silicon level. And they are currently making some kind of breakthrough innovations with a different point of view at how to design the chip, and that is clearly something that the whole market needs to monitor currently. Michael Bird (06:57): So there's an organization who are trying to open source like the designs of a chip? Jean Marie Verdun (07:01): Yeah. I think the main reason why there are open sourcing that chip is to create an innovative ecosystem around the instruction set. So with the AI revolution, we see that there are multiple application which requires some tweaking at the hardware level. This tweaking might be happening only if you can get access to the hardware schematics and the drawing of the CPUs and redesign some very specific part of the chip to enable specific features which will help you to lower the power consumption of the system. Michael Bird (07:33): What does collaborative work allow that siloed projects don't? Jean Marie Verdun (07:37): We can take it as an example, the DCMHS project from the Open Compute Foundation. So HPE is strongly involved into it. We're one of the funding member of that program. While we try to do within that program, for example with other industry leaders, is to standardize form factors. So the server industry is not standardized regarding the shape of the motherboard and the shape of many other parts from the servers, and this is slowing down the innovation process when we want to adapt new technology because we have to redesign many parts, and that requires more investment from every companies and new tunings and the timetable is getting longer and longer. So with the idea of standardization process through open communities, we can expect that all suppliers and the whole industry is able to design innovation around this form factor, and we can reduce them to market. And that is something which is critical also to the industry. Michael Bird (08:34): Are there any areas where we've had major technological advances that wouldn't have been possible without open source? Jean Marie Verdun (08:40): Speaking about firmware, for example, so since June 11, we have introduced the enablement of OpenBMC on our ProLiant family. So a lot of people were really doubtful about the interest to use OpenBMC, but as this firmware is one of the first one to be based on the Linux kernel, and being fully open source, we can manage servers totally differently than through traditional operation by using core Linux technology, which are not available into [inaudible 00:09:12] or competitors' firmware. Aubrey Lovell (09:14): It's fascinating to hear how open source technology is going to thrive because of the innovation we're seeing at the moment, both from a hardware and a software market aspect. And we'll hear more from Jean Marie in a moment, so don't go anywhere. Michael Bird (09:30): Okie dokie. It is time for Today I Learned, the part of the show where we take a look at something happening in the world that we think you should know about. Aubrey Lovell (09:38): Okay. To start with, Michael, can I take you back to the days of dial up internet connections? Michael Bird (09:46): [inaudible 00:09:45]. Like that? Aubrey Lovell (09:46): Exactly. How did we ever survive? Obviously, at the time, it was incredible to very slowly reveal the worldwide web in front of our very own eyes, but now we tend to get frustrated if our live streaming movies buffer for a couple seconds. Michael Bird (10:01): Very true, very true. Aubrey Lovell (10:02): Which is why it is exciting that Wi-Fi 7 could only be weeks away from launching. So the Wi-Fi Alliance, which is the worldwide network of companies that look after Wi-Fi as an industry has shared the news that Wi-Fi certified 7 will be available before the end of Q1 2024. And for those who love numbers and letters, it's based on IEEE 802.11be technology. Try to say that 10 times fast. So let me tell you why we should be excited about this. Well, Wi-Fi 7 will allow higher throughput as well as improved support for deterministic latency, which is a fancy way of saying maximum allowed latency. And that's really important for low-latency techs such as AR, VR, and XR, as well as obviously streaming and gaming. What that means is that you'll benefit from enhanced efficiency even in dense networks, and great news, if you remote work from busy hotspots. And as ever, the sustainability of any new technology has to be as much of a consideration as the excitement of what it can do. And the good news about Wi-Fi 7 is that it'll reduce power consumption. So we know it's good for the planet, but it's also just brilliant news for connectivity all around. So that is why Wi-Fi 7 is exciting. And honestly I have to say I'm finding it harder and harder to feel nostalgic about those days, though it was easier to pronounce. Michael Bird (11:26): Well, thank you so much for that. All right, it is time to head back to our interview with John Marie on open source technology. What are major challenges facing the open source community today? Jean Marie Verdun (11:41): I think this is fragmentation. Many open source projects, especially the successful one, so they are attracting a lot of attention, and this is leading to some fragmentations. Some people are forking project to build up their own software stack, and that is something that should be avoided because when speaking about industrial adoptions or production adoptions, people need stability and need a long-term roadmap. They don't like the idea that a project can become three or four different projects, and this is something where the open source community could be more efficient, I believe, within the next couple of years. Michael Bird (12:17): Do you think there comes a point where open source ideas become powerful enough that they need regulation? For example, blockchains. Jean Marie Verdun (12:24): I'm not a big fan of regulating anything [inaudible 00:12:27]. I think regulating open source is going to be extremely tough, because the roots of open source is to be able to create something which is totally disruptive and having that right to do it. So any kind of regulation around open source will probably lead to more fragmentation, and that would be a mistake. So open source is really something where innovation as a total freedom. In many cases, open source projects are done by young people who really love the technology, and they do not care about the business impact. They're just creating something new, and they don't want to be regulated for that. Michael Bird (13:02): Amazing. That's it. Those are my questions. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so much for your time as well, Jean Marie. Jean Marie Verdun (13:07): Thank you for hosting me. Aubrey Lovell (13:09): Thanks so much, Michael. It was great to hear you and Jean Marie talk. And you can find more in the topics discussed in today's episode in the show notes. (13:20): Right. Well, we're getting towards the end of the show, which means it's time for This Week in History, a look at monumental events in the world of business and technology which has changed our lives. And the clue last week was it's 1915, and this new light really raised the bar. Did you get it? Happy birthday to the neon lighting tube, which was patented by Frenchman Georges Claude this week in 1915. People had known about the possibilities of neon and lighting since its discovery in 1898, but neon, for the first few years, was an exceptionally rare and expensive element. The technology to mass produce it was made possible by accident. It was a byproduct from a liquefying air. Claude, who owned a company specializing in air liquification, immediately saw the possibility to embrace neon lighting. The first two neon lights arriving in the US in 1923 were sold to a car dealership for a little over $1,200 each, around 21,000 each today. Michael Bird (14:22): Wow. Aubrey Lovell (14:22): Expensive? Maybe, but they really caught on, and the rest is history. Michael Bird (14:27): Now next week, the clue is it's 1950, and we'll ping you when dinner's ready. Do you know what it is? Aubrey Lovell (14:35): I don't. Michael Bird (14:37): I have no idea. Maybe you might be able to guess. Anyway, that brings us to the end of Technology Now for this week. Aubrey Lovell (14:44): Thank you to our guest, Jean Marie Verdun, and to you, thank you so much for joining us. Michael Bird (14:49): Technology Now is hosted by Aubrey Lovell and myself, Michael Bird. This episode was produced by Sam Datta Paulin and Al Booth with production support from Harry Morton, Zoe Anderson, Alicia Kempson, Alison Paisley, Alyssa Mitri, Camilla Patel, Alex Podmore, and Chloe Sewell. Aubrey Lovell (15:05): Our social editorial team is Rebecca Whissinger, Judy Ann Goldman, Katie Guarino, and our social media designers are Alejandra Garcia, Carlos Alberto Suarez, and Ambar Maldonado. Michael Bird (15:17): Technology Now is the Lowest Street Production for Hewlett-Packard Enterprise. And of course, we'll see you next week. Cheers. Aubrey Lovell (15:24): Bye.