Today’s topics include a report that Google will introduce its Allo smart messaging app on Sept. 21, an Intel and GE development effort to turn trains into mobile data centers, Salesforce.com’s Einstein platform that will integrate artificial intelligence capabilities into its cloud CRM applications and Oracle’s acquisition of security broker vendor Palerra.
A single tweet by Evan Blass, a blogger known for leaking details on smartphones and other online technology, has fueled speculation that Google is ready to launch its Allo smart messaging app.
On Sept. 18, Blass tweeted that Google would roll out the app this week and later followed up with another tweet claiming it will happen on Sept. 21. Google did not respond immediately to a request for comment from eWEEK.
Google announced Allo earlier this year when releasing its Duo one-to-one video application for Android and iOS phones. The company describes Allo as an artificial intelligence-driven application with several features that enable richer text and video conversations via mobile devices.
Intel and GE Transportation are introducing a jointly developed platform that officials with both companies say will help transform trains into mobile data centers.
At the InnoTrans 2016 show in Germany Sept. 19, the two companies unveiled the GoLinc platform, which includes networking, communications and application management capabilities.
The device, powered by Intel’s 6th Generation Core i7 processor, is supported by GE’s Predix, a cloud-based platform aimed at the industrial internet of things and is currently being used on more than 6,000 trains.
The idea is that companies can take advantage of emerging technologies like big data analytics, the IoT and cloud computing to effectively turn locomotives into mobile data centers that can connect with both on-board and off-board GE systems as well as third-party computing and communication systems.
Artificial intelligence is becoming a mainstream technology. The evidence for that is the fact that you can find elements of it in, for example, Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s product recommendations and Facebook’s ability to identify photos in your feed.
But AI is less ubiquitous in the business world—something Salesforce set out to change a few years ago when it began developing Salesforce Einstein artificial intelligence platform. “For most business people, AI has been too complex and out of reach,” John Ball, general manager of Einstein, said in a briefing with reporters.
Salesforce says that Einstein integrates AI across its cloud-based customer relationship management applications so it becomes a readily accessible feature that customers can use to analyze business data for insights and predictive analysis.
On Sept. 18, Oracle announced that it is acquiring privately held cloud security technology vendor Palerra. Financial terms of the deal were not publicly disclosed.
Palerra markets a product called Loric, which is known as a Cloud Access Security Broker—a technology that can extend existing enterprise security policy and access control to any cloud applications that an enterprise uses.
Palerra has raised $25 million in venture capital since the company was founded in 2013. The most recent round of funding came in April 2015, when Palerra raised a $17 million Series B round from investors August Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, Wing Venture Capital and Engineering Capital.