TOKYO, May 18, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Sony Semiconductor
Solutions (Sony) and Microsoft Corp. (Microsoft) today announced
they are partnering to create solutions that make AI-powered
smart cameras and video analytics easier to access and deploy for
their mutual customers.
As a result of the partnership, the companies will embed
Microsoft Azure AI capabilities on Sony's intelligent vision sensor
IMX500, which extracts useful information out of images in smart
cameras and other devices. Sony will also create a smart camera
managed app powered by Azure IoT and Cognitive Services that
complements the IMX500 sensor and expands the range and capability
of video analytics opportunities for enterprise customers. The
combination of these two solutions will bring together Sony's
cutting-edge imaging & sensing technologies, including the
unique functionality of high-speed edge AI processing, with
Microsoft's cloud expertise and AI platform to uncover new video
analytics opportunities for customers and partners across a variety
of industries.
"By linking Sony's innovative imaging and sensing technology
with Microsoft's excellent cloud AI services, we will deliver a
powerful and convenient platform to the smart camera market.
Through this platform, we hope to support the creativity of our
partners and contribute to overcoming challenges in various
industries," said Terushi Shimizu,
Representative Director and President, Sony Semiconductor Solutions
Corporation.
"Video analytics and smart cameras can drive better business
insights and outcomes across a wide range of scenarios for
businesses," said Takeshi Numoto,
corporate vice president and commercial chief marketing officer at
Microsoft. "Through this partnership, we're combining Microsoft's
expertise in providing trusted, enterprise-grade AI and analytics
solutions with Sony's established leadership in the imaging sensors
market to help uncover new opportunities for our mutual customers
and partners."
Video analytics has emerged as a way for enterprise customers
across industries to uncover new revenue opportunities, streamline
operations and solve challenges. For example, retailers can use
smart cameras to detect when to refill products on a shelf or to
better understand the optimal number of available open checkout
counters according to the queue length. Additionally, a
manufacturer might use a smart camera to identify hazards on its
manufacturing floor in real time before injuries occur.
Traditionally, however, such applications — which rely on gathering
data distributed among many smart cameras across different sites
like stores, warehouses and distribution centers — struggle to
optimize the allocation of compute resources, resulting in cost or
power consumption increases.
To address these challenges, Sony and Microsoft will partner to
simplify access to computer vision solutions by embedding Azure AI
technology from Microsoft into Sony's intelligent vision sensor
IMX500 as well as enabling partners to embed their own AI models.
This integration will result in smarter, more advanced cameras for
use in enterprise scenarios as well as a more efficient allocation
of resources between the edge and the cloud to drive cost and power
consumption efficiencies.
Sony's smart camera managed app powered by Azure is targeted
toward independent software vendors (ISVs) specializing in computer
vision and video analytics solutions, as well as smart camera
original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) aspiring to add value to
their hardware offerings. The app will complement the IMX500 sensor
and will serve as the foundation on which ISVs and OEMs can train
AI models to create their own customer- and industry-specific video
analytics and computer vision solutions that address enterprise
customer demands. The app will simplify key workflows and take
reasonable security measures designed to protect data privacy and
security, allowing ISVs to spend less time on routine, low-value
integration and provisioning work and more time on creating unique
solutions to meet customers' demands. It will also enable
enterprise customers to more easily find, train and deploy AI
models for video analytics scenarios.
As part of the partnership, Microsoft and Sony will also work
together to facilitate hands-on co-innovation with partners and
enterprise customers in the areas of computer vision and video
analytics as part of Microsoft's AI & IoT Insider Labs program.
Microsoft's AI & IoT Insider Labs offer
access and facilities to help build, develop, prototype and test
customer solutions, working in partnership with Microsoft experts
and other solution providers like Sony. The companies will begin
working with select customers within these co-innovation centers
later this year.
About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT" @microsoft) enables
digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and
an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and
every organization on the planet to achieve more.
About Sony Semiconductor Solutions
Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation is the global leader in
image sensors. We strive to provide advanced imaging technologies
that bring greater convenience and joy to people's lives. In
addition, we also work to develop and bring to market new kinds of
sensing technologies with the aim of offering various solutions
that will take the visual and recognition capabilities of both
human and machines to greater heights. For more information, please
visit: https://www.sony-semicon.co.jp/e/.
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SOURCE Microsoft Corporation