How Cristina Rodriguez Of Intel Is Utilizing An Evolved Formula On The New Edge, Advancing Technology For All Of Us, Not Just The Privileged Few

There are billions of connected devices in the world right now and over fifty percent of the world’s data will compute on these devices on the edge in a few years’ time. That means a lot of moving data pieces outside of the traditional bounds for us all. Imagine a world where data computes on the edge without having to go back to a data center to help it make decisions. Add in 5G, add in near latency free compute and let AI drive real time decision making.

Cristina Rodriguez believes that this revolution offers to touch anything and everything in whole new ways from remote surgery to magic mirrors in retailers (when we go back to them) and very smart manufacturing floors. Every industry will be extensively touched by these three combinations of AI, the edge and 5G from famers in remote locations to medical services in very economically dis advantaged areas as the costs for delivering access and connection IP services like remote medical services will be exponentially cheaper than ever before.

Imagine how farmer, in 2031 will use remote sensors to make watering, and or harvesting decisions using simple AI algorithms (with simple color, temperature, shape and size indicators). In effect each plant can be seen and managed as its’ own ecosystem.

Cristina sees that as compute meeting communications moment using AI and automation to solve real time, real world situations. All this sounds exceptionally logical, but to do it we need to accept that the future or future proofing for that future is going to need a different formula for success. 

·      The network needs to be future proofed with a more open architecture in order to accommodate for these possibilities. This will drive a much wider eco-system of applications as each customer type (from remote surgery to farmers) will to be able to infuse their own application needs straight into the network. In effect this creates thousands of ways where the value generated is far greater than the sum of the parts used to build it.

·      Everything is going to be incredibly software driven and cloud native functionality will need to work throughout the network and not just at the edge.

The two recommendations for how this combination of AI, the edge and near latency free demand a different mindsets to make them a reality for huge swathes of the population than should be benefiting from the technologies. How carriers build in in this agility to deliver extremely customized services on the edge and to keep costs down will be a key step towards this future.

Vastly reduced footprints and costs are part of this process and how software led enterprises will feel confident about heading into this new world of hopefully egalitarian opportunities.

Cristina Rodriguez is vice president in Intel Corporation’s Network and Edge Group and general manager of the Wireless Access Network Division (WAND). She leads Intel’s efforts to provide innovative wireless access solutions in both traditional and cloud-native networks, enabling the radio access networks (RANs) of the future by bringing together 5G, the build out of the Edge, and Artificial Intelligence. Rodriguez earned her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Instituto Superior Politécnico José Antonio Echeverría in Havana, Cuba; and her master’s degree in computer science from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid in Madrid, Spain.