The Authority will invest up to NIS 30 million in the establishment of the infrastructure so that it will serve all companies and researchers in Israel and will be used for research and development of accelerators, hardware components, communication and infrastructure software. The new infrastructure should provide an answer to deal with the increase in the demand for data processing with artificial intelligence on supercomputers, server farms and end processing units
The Innovation Authority chose Next Silicon to establish a supercomputer infrastructure for R&D organizations in the field of artificial intelligence. Next silicon is an Israeli company that develops revolutionary processing technologies, capable of accelerating supercomputing applications at high speeds, with maximum efficiency in energy consumption and without any need for code changes or any adjustments on the part of the user.
She was chosen, at the end of a tender process by the Innovation Authority, as she heads the organization of four Israeli start-up companies that have developed unique solutions in the areas of supercomputing (HPC), acceleration of AI calculations, branding and unique access to memory. The company headquarters is located in Givatayim with additional branches in Jerusalem, Beer Sheva, Haifa and Yokneam.
The R&D laboratory, which will contain a variety of supercomputing, communication and storage equipment from the world's leading suppliers, will provide R&D services to startups, companies and researchers for the purpose of accelerating the development of supercomputing technologies (HPC) and computing technologies in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). The laboratory will serve as an infrastructure To accelerate diverse R&D processes in the fields of hardware and software by providing physical infrastructure for experiments, equipment, infrastructural programming, as well as providing R&D services to Israeli corporations and research institutions. The purpose of the lab's activity is to lower the entry barriers for researchers and companies in the field and thereby encourage groundbreaking Israeli entrepreneurship and innovation.
Companies and organizations are required today to develop, test and test their technological developments in powerful computing environments for this purpose, there is a significant need in the market for new and advanced architectures, which, among other things, will enable the provision of groundbreaking services in the fields of machine learning (ML)/artificial intelligence (AI) , analytics and big data, networks and advanced data processing capabilities. Even young technology companies in the field of computing are required to incorporate new advanced technologies in their products, including during the development stages, and they are looking for ways to test and upgrade their technologies before they are sold on the market.
The infrastructure established by the company will provide a wide range of services based on a service laboratory with physical accessibility that is not possible in public cloud infrastructures, including:
- Integration and feasibility tests for products relevant to computing infrastructures such as accelerators, communication solutions, storage infrastructures, cooling infrastructures, scheduler software and management and control tools.
- Dedicated research and development in all hardware and software layers of the infrastructure.
- Cooperation in R&D between Israeli corporations or between Israeli corporations and Israeli research institutions and integration between components and data in a "neutral" place (architecture not related to a specific corporation, providing service to all entities).
- Consulting by a team of experts (Professional Services) which is a source of knowledge and has expertise in the world of content that enables access to knowledge/providing unique services and capabilities built in the R&D lab for the benefit of users.
- Personnel training for research, development, support, operation, etc. in the field of R&D laboratory activity.
Dror Bin, CEO of the Innovation Authority: "Today, due to a lack of this type of infrastructure in Israel, many of the startups are forced to choose between establishing an extremely expensive infrastructure themselves (something that makes it difficult for them to grow) or turning to receive the required services from huge companies in the world, which leads to "knowledge flight" at an early stage and progress in the development paths in the countries others. Israel has marked artificial intelligence as a field in which it wants to maintain its leadership and this project aims to change the existing situation and create a platform that will be a viable alternative for researchers and companies to continue research and activities in Israel
We believe that the choice of Next silicon will leverage the research and development capabilities in deep technology in artificial intelligence. We expect to see the Israeli ecosystem using the infrastructure and services that will be provided for the purpose of examining, optimizing and adapting to advanced processing environments, examining the economic programming and preparing for the future challenges of this important disruptive technology."
Ofir Akunis, Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology: "We are continuing the momentum of the practical implementation of the national program for artificial intelligence, which is at the top of the government's work in the fields of technology."
"Today we are launching the plan to establish an R&D laboratory to accelerate the development of supercomputing technologies, at the same time as the national plan to implement artificial intelligence in the government that was launched yesterday. The policy that the government is leading will place Israel at the top of the world in the field of artificial intelligence.'
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