In anticipation of this year’s Game Developers Conference (GDC), Ubisoft has revealed a groundbreaking cloud-based technology named ‘Scalar’ designed to provide “unprecedented freedom and scale” for future game titles. Developed by Ubisoft Stockholm, Scalar aims to eliminate technical constraints for game developers by offering virtually limitless computing power through a cloud-based approach.

Addressing limitations on both the hardware and collaborative fronts, Ubisoft Scalar acts as a cloud-driven production tool or engine. It liberates game developers from the constraints of single-machine computing, transforming assets, animations, audio, and renders into distributed services. Unlike streaming services such as Xbox Cloud or Stadia, Scalar allows continuous world-building through an ongoing recreation setting. Games built on this platform will be “always running,” enabling live updates without requiring players to exit the game for patches.

Christian Holmqvist, Technical Director at Ubisoft Scalar, highlighted the potential for developers to create dynamic and evolving worlds, fostering a closer connection between players and game creators. Although the studio did not specify how Scalar handles glitches or crashes, it suggested that every player would experience similar incidents simultaneously, ensuring a unified gaming experience.

Scalar also innovatively separates the interlocking functions of a traditional game engine, preventing the butterfly effect where changes in one area have no impact on other aspects of the project. According to Holmqvist, this separation significantly impacts iteration speed, testing, and facilitates easy sharing of services or modifications.

Scalar is not positioned as a replacement for existing game engines but as an alternative to accelerate production and enhance real-time experiences. Ubisoft Stockholm is actively developing a new IP in conjunction with Scalar, leveraging a decentralized workforce spanning Kyiv, Malmo, Helsinki, and Bucharest. The studio is currently expanding its team, with open positions available for interested individuals. Further details about the new IP are yet to be disclosed.

On Tuesday, Accenture announced the introduction of new testing services for global Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems. These services are based on a ‘Teach and Test’ methodology, aimed at assisting companies in constructing, monitoring, and evaluating reliable AI systems either within their own infrastructure or in the Cloud.

Bhaskar Ghosh, Group Chief Executive of Accenture Technology Services, emphasized the importance of finding improved methods to securely and qualitatively train and sustain AI systems as organizations increasingly adopt AI. This approach is crucial to prevent adverse effects on business performance, brand reputation, compliance, and humans.

The ‘Teach and Test’ methodology by Accenture ensures that AI systems make accurate decisions through two distinct phases. The ‘Teach’ phase focuses on selecting the right data, models, and algorithms for training Machine Learning (ML). In the subsequent ‘Test’ phase, the outputs of the AI system are compared against key performance indicators, assessing its ability to explain how a decision or outcome was determined. This evaluation involves the use of innovative techniques and Cloud-based tools to monitor the system.

Kishore Durg, Senior Managing Director for Growth and Strategy, and Global Testing Services Lead for Accenture, highlighted the need for new capabilities in evaluating data and learning models, selecting algorithms, and monitoring for bias, ethical considerations, and regulatory compliance. Accenture’s ‘Teach and Test’ methodology addresses these concerns, providing companies with a comprehensive approach to developing and validating AI systems with confidence.

Accenture successfully applied this methodology to train a conversational virtual agent for a financial services company’s website. The agent achieved an 85% accuracy rate on customer recommendations and was trained 80% faster than previous methods allowed.

To facilitate the ongoing growth of its customer base in the Asia-Pacific region, leading cloud provider Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced the inauguration of a third ‘Availability Zone’ in Singapore. This additional zone aims to offer AWS customers in the region increased choice, flexibility, and enhanced reliability, supporting their diverse workloads.

An ‘Availability Zone’ signifies technology infrastructure located in separate and distinct geographic areas, providing significant geographic diversity to minimize the impact of a single event on availability. Nick Walton, Managing Director, ASEAN, AWS, emphasized AWS’s heightened commitment to the rapidly expanding Southeast Asia region, providing local options for running mission-critical workloads and storing data.

Organizations ranging from startups to global corporations and public sector entities leverage the AWS Singapore Region to build and operate their businesses in the AWS Cloud. AWS’s extensive functionality compared to other cloud platforms has attracted a robust customer base across Southeast Asia.

AWS further enhances its services by providing ‘Amazon CloudFront’ services at edge locations in Kuala Lumpur, Manila, and Singapore. This benefits customers seeking to deliver websites, applications, and content with lower latency to end-users.

George Wang, Senior Vice President of Information Technology at Singapore Airlines, expressed satisfaction with AWS’s increased commitment to the region, particularly with the introduction of the third Availability Zone. This expansion enhances resilience and supports the growth of digital platforms.

APN Partners across the Asia Pacific region welcomed the AWS Asia Pacific (Singapore) Region’s expansion, anticipating that it will empower customers in Singapore and Southeast Asia to leverage additional capacity and flexibility for building scalable and highly available applications. AWS currently boasts 51 Availability Zones across 18 geographic regions globally.

The public cloud market in India is expected to experience a significant growth of more than 53%, reaching $4 billion by 2020, according to Akash Ambani, Director of Reliance Jio Infocomm. Ambani, speaking at the India Digital Open Summit, highlighted the country’s increasing digitization as a key factor driving this growth. He emphasized the importance of open source, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and OpenStack in this evolving landscape.

In 2018, the estimated value of India’s public cloud market was $2.6 billion, and it is projected to surpass $4 billion by 2020, as stated by Ambani. Gartner Inc had previously estimated the market at $1.81 billion in 2017. Public cloud computing, which involves utilizing cloud computing technologies to serve external customers, provides economies of scale and resource sharing, reducing costs and expanding technology choices.

Akash Ambani, also a director at the 4G telecom service provider Jio, expressed the significance of open source for the company, participating in projects like ONAP (Open Network Automation Platform). ONAP, an open-source networking automation standard, is reshaping the future of networks globally. Ambani emphasized the mainstream adoption of artificial intelligence, noting its integration with open source for continuous innovation.

OpenStack, identified as the world’s largest fully open source cloud project, is increasingly employed in various projects and enterprises, powering over 60 public and private data centers worldwide, including Reliance Jio.

Ambani highlighted the growth potential of augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) in India, expecting a compound annual growth rate of over 50% in the next five years. He also acknowledged 2017 as the year of blockchain and digital currency, emphasizing the broad applications of blockchain technology beyond cryptocurrency, such as in banking, fintech, healthcare, real estate, education, 5G, IoT, and agriculture.

Expressing Jio’s commitment to positively impact the lives of a billion Indians, Ambani stated that the company is dedicated to leveraging and contributing to open source technologies to enhance consumer experiences.

Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc, announced on Tuesday its plan to expand infrastructure for cloud customers by adding five regions and constructing three new submarine cables. Over the past three years, the company has invested $30 billion in infrastructure. The Netherlands and Montreal regions are set to open in the first quarter of 2018, followed by Los Angeles, Finland, and Hong Kong.

In 2019, Google intends to commission three subsea cables, according to a blog post from the internet giant. The cables include Curie, a private cable linking Chile to Los Angeles; Havfrue, a consortium cable connecting the United States to Denmark and Ireland; and Hong Kong-Guam Cable system, a consortium cable interconnecting major subsea communication hubs in Asia.

Subsea cables play a crucial role as the backbone of the internet, carrying over 90 percent of the world’s data traffic. Companies involved in setting up these cables include TE SubCom, a unit of NYSE-listed TE Connectivity Ltd, and Tokyo-listed NEC Corp, as mentioned by Google. The company has direct investment in 11 cables, including those in the planning or construction stages.

Google Cloud’s existing global network spans 100 points of presence and 7500 edge-catching nodes. The enhanced network aims to improve user experience for platforms like Machine Learning Engine, Spanner, BigQuery, and G Suite, allowing customers to leverage the tech giant’s network for better connectivity.