IBM and VMware are collaborating to integrate IBM watsonx into on-premises environments on VMware® Private AI and Red Hat® OpenShift®, facilitating swift and transparent generative AI capabilities.
According to IBM, AI adoption has become mainstream in enterprises for transformative innovations, particularly generative AI. This technology generates new content based on various inputs, with use cases ranging from code generation to contact centre resolution, IT operations automation, information retrieval, and content creation.
AI use cases rely on data, but access and processing required data are crucial for optimal results. Enterprises need compute capacity and AI models to support traditional AI, machine learning, and generative AI workloads. They also need access to a full technology stack that allows for enterprise-grade requirements, such as confidential computing and the ability to train, tune, and deploy AI models in one place, running across cloud environments.
Private AI is an architectural approach that balances business benefits with organisational privacy and compliance needs. It focuses on platform and infrastructure architecture for AI deployed in public, virtual private clouds, data centres, and edge sites.
IBM and VMware are partnering to enable generative AI use cases in mission-critical operations. The partnership will allow enterprises to access IBM watsonx in private, on-premises IaaS environments and hybrid cloud with watsonx SaaS offerings on IBM Cloud®. IBM watsonx AI capabilities, data management features, and governance capabilities will help enable transparent and explainable AI models, enhancing the flexibility of enterprises.
VMware Private AI is now available in hybrid multi-cloud deployments, allowing clients to bring watsonx on-premise for VMware-deployed workloads using Red Hat OpenShift. Mutual clients can access watsonx’s full spectrum of products for AI acceleration and scaling. IBM Cloud Satellite can automate deployment and day two operations of VMware Private AI with OpenShift environments.
The collaboration comes after the parties established the IBM and VMware Joint Innovation Lab, a co-innovation engine designed to solve client issues by developing new offerings for the market.
VMware and IBM are collaborating to create a validated reference architecture for hybrid cloud and on-prem environments for mutual clients to use, subject to regulation for ML model training and fine-tuning, including large language models for generative AI use cases. This could prevent data transfer restrictions or significant data size issues, making it impossible to transfer data between locations.
Earlier this year, IBM Consulting established a Center of Excellence for generative AI, with over 1,000 specialised consultants. They are working with global clients to boost IT operations, HR, marketing, and customer experiences while also developing new business models.
The Centre of Excellence for generative AI, combined with IBM Consulting’s VMware expertise and service capabilities, will expedite clients’ business transformations with enterprise-grade AI on the VMware Private AI reference architecture.
Additionally, IBM Consulting plans to integrate IBM Watsonx and VMware Private AI services into its Cloud Accelerator to accelerate cloud transformation. The integration will aid in reverse engineering, code generation, and conversion, enabling seamless hybrid cloud management services for clients looking to modernise their workloads.
The partnership aims to enable clients to adopt hybrid cloud through flexible consumption models and modernise mission-critical workloads. IBM Consulting will be a strategic partner on this journey, providing clients with the choice to integrate generative AI technologies with VMware Cloud Foundation. This will enable enterprises to quickly train and deploy custom AI capabilities while maintaining data control. IBM Consulting will guide clients in leveraging VMware’s software innovations in a unified stack for a consistent environment with IBM Cloud partner technology.