Artificial Intelligence

Databricks Agrees to Acquire Tabular, the Company Founded by the Original Creators of Apache Iceberg

Published

3 weeks ago

June 4, 2024

Databricks and Tabular will work together towards a joint vision of the open lakehouse
SAN FRANCISCO, June 4, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Databricks, the Data and AI company, today announced it has agreed to acquire Tabular, a data management company founded by Ryan Blue, Daniel Weeks, and Jason Reid. By bringing together the original creators of Apache Iceberg™ and Linux Foundation Delta Lake, the two leading open source lakehouse formats, Databricks will lead the way with data compatibility so that organizations are no longer limited by which of these formats their data is in. Databricks intends to work closely with the Delta Lake and Iceberg communities to bring format compatibility to the lakehouse; in the short term, inside Delta Lake UniForm and in the long term, by evolving toward a single, open, and common standard of interoperability. Databricks and Tabular will work together towards a joint vision of the open lakehouse.

The Rise of Lakehouse Architecture and Format Incompatibility
Databricks pioneered the lakehouse architecture in 2020 to enable the integration of traditional data warehousing workloads with AI workloads on a single, governed copy of data. For this to work, all data has to be in an open format so different workloads, applications, and engines could access the same data. Lakehouse architecture maximizes enterprise productivity by democratizing access to data. This is in contrast to proprietary data warehouses where only a proprietary SQL engine can read, write or share the data, and data often has to be copied and exported to be used by other applications, creating a high degree of vendor lock-in. Four years later, 74% of enterprises have deployed a lakehouse architecture.
The foundation of the lakehouse is open source data formats that enable ACID transactions on data stored in object storage. These formats dramatically improve the reliability and performance of data operations on the data lake and were specifically designed for open source engines such as Apache Spark™, Trino and Presto. To address these challenges, Databricks worked with the Linux Foundation to create the Delta Lake project. Since its inception, Delta Lake has over 500 code contributors from a diverse set of organizations, and over 10,000 companies globally use Delta Lake to process 4+ exabytes of data on average each day.
Around the same time Delta Lake was created, Ryan Blue and Daniel Weeks developed the Iceberg project at Netflix and donated it to the Apache Software Foundation. Since then, Delta Lake and Iceberg have emerged as the two leading open source standards for lakehouse formats. Even though both of these formats are based on Apache Parquet and share similar goals and designs, they became incompatible due to independent development.
Over time a number of other open source and proprietary engines have adopted these formats. However, they usually adopted only one of the standards and more often than not, only part of that standard, leading to fragmented and siloed enterprise data, undermining the value of the lakehouse architecture.
The Road to Interoperability
Companies need data interoperability to realize the benefits of the lakehouse, and Databricks will work closely with the Delta Lake and Iceberg communities to bring interoperability to the formats over time. This is a long journey, one that will likely take several years to achieve in those communities. That is why last year, Databricks introduced Delta Lake UniForm. UniForm tables provide interoperability across Delta Lake, Iceberg, and Hudi, and support the Iceberg restful catalog interface so companies can use the analytics engines and tools they are already familiar with, across all their data. Generally available today, UniForm allows companies to achieve compatibility. With the addition of the original Iceberg team, Databricks will greatly broaden the ambitions of Delta Lake UniForm.
“Databricks pioneered the lakehouse and over the past four years, the world has embraced the lakehouse architecture, combining the best of data warehouses and data lakes to help customers decrease TCO, embrace openness, and deliver on AI projects faster. Unfortunately, the lakehouse paradigm has been split between the two most popular formats: Delta Lake and Iceberg. Databricks and Tabular will work with the open-source community to bring the two formats closer to each other over time, increasing openness, and reducing silos and friction for customers,” said Ali Ghodsi, Co-founder and CEO at Databricks. “Last year, we announced Delta Lake UniForm to bring interoperability to these two formats, and we’re thrilled to bring together the foremost leaders in open data lakehouse formats to make UniForm the best way to unify your data for every workload.”
A Shared Commitment to Openness
Databricks and Tabular share a history of championing open source formats. Both companies were founded to commercialize open source technologies created by the founders and today, Databricks is the largest and most successful independent open source company by revenue and has donated 12 million lines of code to open source projects. This acquisition highlights Databricks’ commitment to open formats and open source data in the cloud, helping ensure that companies are in control of their data and free from the lock-in created by proprietary vendor-owned formats.
“We created Apache Iceberg to solve critical data challenges around correctness, performance, and scalability. It’s been amazing to see both Iceberg and Delta Lake grow massively in popularity, largely fueled by the open lakehouse becoming the industry standard. With Tabular joining Databricks, we intend to build the best data management platform based on open lakehouse formats so that companies don’t have to worry about picking the ‘right’ format or getting locked into proprietary data formats,” said Ryan Blue, Co-Founder and CEO at Tabular.
To learn more about Databricks and Tabular joining forces, register to attend the Data + AI Summit, June 10-13: databricks.com/dataaisummit
Details Regarding the Proposed Acquisition
The proposed acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, and is expected to close in Databricks’ second fiscal quarter.
About Tabular
Tabular is the independent data platform built by the original creators of Apache Iceberg. Tabular addresses the pain data engineers and data scientists endure fighting the shortcomings of their data infrastructure. Tabular was founded by Netflix alumni Ryan Blue, Dan Weeks and Jason Reid. Blue also serves as the Iceberg PMC Chair and Weeks is an Iceberg PMC member.
About Databricks
Databricks is the Data and AI company. More than 10,000 organizations worldwide — including Block, Comcast, Condé Nast, Rivian, Shell and over 60% of the Fortune 500 — rely on the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform to take control of their data and put it to work with AI. Databricks is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices around the globe, and was founded by the original creators of Lakehouse, Apache Spark™, Delta Lake and MLflow. To learn more, follow Databricks on LinkedIn, X and Facebook.
Contact: [email protected]
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Artificial Intelligence

VeriPark and FICO Announce Strategic Partnership to Transform Financial Services

Published

51 mins ago

June 26, 2024

CISION (PR Newswire)

ISTANBUL, June 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — VeriPark and FICO have launched a partnership to revolutionize the financial services sector through AI-driven decision making and digital transformation.

The collaboration between VeriPark, a global provider of innovative digital solutions, and FICO, a renowned analytics software company, will enhance decision-making and promote financial inclusion across Turkey, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and CIS regions.
Combining FICO’s decision automation, optimization and omnichannel communications capabilities with VeriPark’s customer engagement, omni-channel delivery, branch automation and loan origination solutions, the partnership aims to improve customer experience and accelerate digital transformation.
“We are excited to bring FICO’s cutting-edge technology to our region. This collaboration will enhance customer experiences and operational efficiency across the financial services sector. Integrating FICO’s technology with our solutions represents a significant leap forward, ensuring we stay ahead in a rapidly changing environment. We look forward to showcasing our joint success stories soon,” said Ozkan Erener, CEO of VeriPark.
“The combination of FICO and VeriPark’s strengths brings a unique blend of innovation to the market. Our goal is to help build a better society by bringing more people into the banking system, and our partnership with VeriPark is a critical step towards achieving that. FICO has been working with AI since 1992, and we are eager to introduce this long-standing expertise to businesses in this region through our collaboration with VeriPark.” said Alexandre Graff, Vice President of Global Partners & Alliances, FICO.
About VeriPark (https://www.veripark.com)VeriPark is a global solutions provider enabling financial institutions to become digital leaders with its Intelligent Customer Experience suite. With offices located in United Kingdom, Europe, the United States & Canada, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, VeriPark is helping businesses to enhance their customer acquisition, retention and cross-sell capabilities by providing proven, secure and scalable Customer Relationship Management, Omni-Channel Delivery, Branch Automation, and Loan Origination solutions.
About FICO (https://www.fico.com/)FICO powers decisions that help people and businesses around the world prosper. Founded in 1956, the company is a pioneer in the use of predictive analytics and data science to improve operational decisions. FICO holds more than 200 US and foreign patents on technologies that increase profitability, customer satisfaction and growth for businesses in financial services, insurance, telecommunications, health care, retail and many other industries.
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Artificial Intelligence

Altair Names Devoteam Channel Partner for the EMEA Region

Published

51 mins ago

June 26, 2024

CISION (PR Newswire)

altair-names-devoteam-channel-partner-for-the-emea-region

Devoteam to offer Altair’s leading data analytics and AI solutions throughout the EMEA region
TROY, Mich., June 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Altair (Nasdaq: ALTR), a global leader in computational intelligence, is thrilled to welcome Devoteam as a new channel partner for the EMEA region. Within the partnership, Devoteam will offer Altair’s leading data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions to its customers throughout the EMEA region.

“Partnering with Devoteam underscores our dedication to shaping the future of technology,” said Kimon Afsaridis, managing director of Eastern Europe and vice president of indirect EMEA sales, Altair. “This partnership marks a pivotal moment in our global expansion strategy, reinforcing our mission to lead and innovate in AI and beyond.”
“Together, Devoteam and Altair will help industrial companies harness the power of data to improve their efficiency, productivity, and competitiveness,” said Pablo Martin, industry and retail business unit director, Devoteam. “This collaboration is an important step in our commitment to help companies, particularly in the industrial sector, better their digital transformation efforts.”
Devoteam boasts more than 25 years of passion for tech and more than 11,000 tech-native specialists in offices in 25 countries. The company believes that technology combined with strong human values can drive change for the better, and specializes in managing large-scale projects while remaining agile enough to deliver customized solutions.
Altair works with a global network of channel and technology partners. To learn more or to become a partner, visit https://altair.com/altair-partners.
About Altair
Altair is a global leader in computational intelligence that provides software and cloud solutions in simulation, high-performance computing (HPC), data analytics, and AI. Altair enables organizations across all industries to compete more effectively and drive smarter decisions in an increasingly connected world – all while creating a greener, more sustainable future. To learn more, please visit https://www.altair.com.
Media contacts
Altair Corporate
Altair Investor Relations
Bridget Hagan
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Artificial Intelligence

IBM Study: Fan Engagement and Consumption of Sports Shifting, Reveals New Opportunities for Technology Integrations including AI

Published

51 mins ago

June 26, 2024

CISION (PR Newswire)

ibm-study:-fan-engagement-and-consumption-of-sports-shifting,-reveals-new-opportunities-for-technology-integrations-including-ai

International sports fans surveyed are optimistic about the impact of technologies like AI on their digital sports experiences.Real-time updates and personalized content rank as top priorities for fans when it comes to how generative AI can enhance following and engaging with sports events.Younger sports fans overwhelmingly embrace AI-powered experiences and digital platforms for sports content consumption and engagement.ARMONK, N.Y., June 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — As sports fans worldwide tune in to a myriad of athletic events this summer, new research commissioned by IBM (NYSE: IBM) reveals a growing generational shift and acceptance of technology-driven experiences that will impact the future of sports consumption.

The international study*, conducted by Morning Consult, gathers insights from more than 18,000 sports fans across 10 countries to better understand both how they follow and engage with sports, including live coverage, highlights, and summaries, as well as preferences for future engagement and consumption. The findings confirm that fans are prioritizing more personalized and time-saving digital sports content, with the majority recognizing the positive impact technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) will have on these experiences.
The data also confirms that younger sports fans are more likely to favor AI-enhanced features as they increasingly turn to digital platforms for sports content. Surveyed fans aged 18-29 are using a mobile phone or tablet as their primary device to watch sporting events more often than older fans, with subscription streaming of live sporting events being most popular among the younger age group. More than half (58%) of 18-29 year old respondents also believe AI will have a positive impact on sports.
Alternatively, respondents from older age groups remain loyal to traditional methods of consumption, with linear broadcasting being most popular among fans 45+. Forty percent of surveyed fans over the age of 55 believe AI will have a positive impact on sports.
“Fans worldwide are continuing to embrace platforms and solutions that allow them to feel more connected and informed on their favorite sporting events and athletes, and IBM’s new study confirms this now includes embracing technologies like AI to deliver these experiences,” said Noah Syken, Vice President, Sports and Entertainment Partnerships. “IBM’s longstanding portfolio of Sports and Entertainment partnerships aims to deliver on these expectations from fans by putting in the hands of our partners the most advanced IBM technologies from our AI and data platform watsonx.”
Other key study findings include:
Fans are optimistic about the impact of technology on sports, paving the way for generative AI powered experiences
63% of respondents point to data analytics as having the most positive impact on sports, while 50% of respondents think AI will have a positive impact.When it comes to how generative AI can improve engagement, surveyed sports fans identify real-time updates (34%) and personalized content (29%) as the top priorities.India, UAE and Saudi Arabia rank the highest in countries where fans are prioritizing real-time updates and personalized content powered by generative AI.Fans now prioritize personalized, bite-sized content when it comes to their consumption of sport content
More than half (56%) of respondents turn to social media for additional sports content; 46% are getting additional content from broadcast/video news while 35% are turning to news articles.64% of those fans engaging in additional sports content are viewing highlight videos of best moments; 48% are consuming post-match recaps and analysis.Among those engaging in additional sports content, respondents rank summarized content (33%) as their top priority followed by personalized content (26%).Sports fans are watching event summaries more often, with 41% of respondents indicating they watch summaries or highlights weekly; 24% report daily engagement.Younger fans may be reshaping how consumers experience sports content, as they engage with content via multiple screens and are more likely to favor AI-powered enhancements
Younger fans (18-29) are most likely to view sports highlights through social media over other platforms.When it comes to consuming sports content, fans aged between 18-29 are more likely to rank personalized content as their top priority.Fans aged 18-29 are more likely to rate AI improvements as high priority, with real-time updates (40%) and personalized content (36%) topping the list of priorities.While real-time updates (26%) and personalized content (19%) also top the list of AI improvement priorities among older fans (55+), these respondents are much less likely to consider AI improvements a high priority.Younger fans are also more likely to be using multiple devices while engaging with sporting events than older fans (55+). 10% of younger fans surveyed use three or more devices while watching sports compared to only 2% of older fans.While TV is the most common method for viewing sports, fans are increasingly using multiple devices to follow sporting events
64% of surveyed fans say linear or streaming TV is their top choice for watching sports.31% of respondents say they are most likely to watch a live sporting event on linear broadcast; 28% say they use a subscription streaming service and 23% use a free streaming serviceSubscription streaming of live sporting events is most popular among younger fans aged between 18-29.Mobile devices are a noteworthy alternative for watching sports, with 20% of consumers reporting it is the top way they watch sporting events and 38% saying it is their second most likely options.28% of surveyed sports fans use at least two devices while watching sporting events; 24% report they use at least two devices while listening to sportsFans between 18-44 are more likely to be using three or more devices.Respondents rank multi-tasking as the top reason for using multiple devices when consuming sports, followed by finding more game information while watching or listening to the sport.To view the full study, visit: https://newsroom.ibm.com/image/IBM+Global+Sports+Attitudes+and+Behaviors+Report+June+2024.pdf
*Study MethodologyThis survey was conducted in May 2024 among a total sample of 18,082 sports fans 18+ in the US, Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, India, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia. The interviews for each country were conducted online, and the data is unweighted, with ~2,000 responses per market in the US, Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and India and ~1,000 responses per market in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
To qualify for this survey respondents must be at least an average sports fan and follow one or more of the following sports: Soccer, Cricket, Tennis, Basketball, Baseball, Rugby, Golf, American football, F1 racing, Track and field, Swimming, and the Olympics.
About IBMIBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Thousands of government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s long-standing commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service. Visit www.ibm.com for more information.
Media Contacts:
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