Zhi DongXi (public number: zhidxcom)
Author | Li Shuiqing
Edit | Desert Shadow
Today, Megvii issued a super "big package" to the enterprise market!
As a high-profile AI company, Megvii has launched a new central computing product line called "Magic Square", which is said to be able to exert 2.5 times the computing power at 65% of the market price, which can be called its leap-forward breakthrough product.
Not only that, Megvii has also launched a number of new products such as "Shenxing" 8-inch outdoor panel machine and "Minguan" intelligent interactive camera, and launched a service "six-piece set" for partners, playing a set of "combination fists" to help enterprise space digitization.
According to the 14th Five-Year Plan, the proportion of enterprises that have realized digitalization in the mainland will reach 60% by 2025; IDC, a well-known research agency, predicts that the digital transformation market will exceed 6.8 trillion US dollars. Cloud computing factories, ICT players, AI companies and other players have boiled up and have entered the game to dig for gold.
For the mainland AI seed players, it is time to prove the value of their AI technology that has caught up with Europe and the United States and in the historical process of industrial transformation in major countries.
This time, facing a new Battlefield of To B (Enterprise Level), Megvii CEO Yin Qi finally shouted out its epoch-making words. For the first time, he summed up Megvii's biggest product value proposition in the past 11 years in 6 words, and also explained the secret behind Megvii's AIoT "gift package" product innovation.
This sentence is destined to provoke a predictable controversy in the industry, but Inchi still decisively shows these 6 words - algorithm definition hardware.
▲Megvii CEO Yin Qi
One, 2 times the price of half the computing power, Megvii issued AIoT "big gift package"
The most important thing about the new products launched by Megvii is a new, centrally calculated product line - Megvii Magic Square.
"The price is only 65% of that of friends, but it plays 2.5 times the computing power!" Qiao Liang, marketing leader of Megvii's corporate business unit, said excitedly at the press conference.
This is the product comparison effect of the Phantom Premium series and the same computing power chip of the friendly business. This time last year, Megvii released the "Rubik's Cube" edge computing box, which became a well-deserved hit due to its small size, surging computing power and diverse algorithms. This year, Megvii hit the iron while it was hot and launched a new product of the Megvii Magic Square series.
"Taking the structured algorithm as an example, youshang's products can support about 60 video stream parsing, while the number of parsing channels of the magic square is as high as 140 channels." Qiao Liang once again emphasized the cost performance of this product. Simply put, it is to buy 2 sets of top 5 sets.
In addition to the magic square AI computing products, Megvii also launched the "Shenxing" series of panel machine new products, "Minguan" C4H-240 network camera, these products in the emphasis on cost performance at the same time, the main is intelligent human-computer interaction.
For example, taking the epidemic prevention temperature measurement E82 panel machine as an example, it has a variety of capabilities such as measuring body temperature, anti-scanning health code, brushing ID card and brushing face, which can dock with the health and epidemic prevention big data of more than 20 provinces and cities to help the hub bayonet achieve rapid verification and passage. At present, the perception and computing hardware of intelligent visual devices on the market are difficult to have much difference, and the exploration of this human-computer interaction ability is becoming a new "true fragrance" selling point.
I have to say that the "chief digital officers" of Kuangdon have sent an unimaginable AIoT gift package.
The real fragrance lies in its use of AI to create a better human-computer interaction experience for customers, on the other hand, it is more in making this experience have what it calls "more extreme cost performance".
Second, Megvii's cost-effective secret - "algorithm defines hardware"
Multiplying the power of the same chip for a better intelligent interaction experience – if it's true as Megvii says – is that exactly how?
Megvii CEO Yin Qi said the secret behind the press conference, which is also the biggest product value proposition of Megvii in the past decade.
That's a new design idea that defines hardware algorithmically.
We know that there have long been predictions of "software-defined hardware" in THE IT circles. Simply put, it refers to the hardware becoming a universal platform, and the software to determine the functions and applications of the platform. This concept has become a reality from early predictions, such as Nokia feature phones to Apple smartphones, from traditional cars to Tesla smart cars, hardware is becoming a platform, app defines what applications we can do.
Now, Inge shouts out "algorithmic definition of hardware", no doubt based on the former to put forward a more radical statement. He singled out the exclusive AI algorithms in the massive software code, and determined that these AI function modules determined the function and application value of the camera.
1, the industry fragmentation into a disaster, why can the algorithm define the hardware?
The concept of "algorithm-defined hardware" is slightly abstract, but what kind of algorithm does it point to? And what kind of hardware is defined? Further, why can algorithms define hardware?
According to Qiao Liang's speech, the "algorithm" here refers to various AI algorithm packages, or packaged functional components; hardware refers to various hardware such as IPC, computing box, panel machine and so on. Customers only need to download the corresponding functional components for what they want the hardware to do.
Taking Megvii's magic square launched this time as an example, partners who use the magic square can obtain various AI module components on the algorithm shelf of Megvii, such as face recognition, perimeter alert, behavior analysis, bright kitchen stove, production monitoring and other components to meet the needs of scenarios.
In other words, algorithms will become no longer mysterious, and people will load AI capabilities for smart hardware just like smartphones downloading apps.
Similar ideas have been mentioned by players before, and Megvii has gone a step further, directly pointing out that the AI algorithms in the software define the hardware and mark its declaration of war on the old world.
In fact, in the industry, for "algorithm-defined hardware", there is already a seemingly tit-for-tat view - "scene definition products". The implication is that the scene is fragmented in different industries, so the product is also fragmented and cannot be universal.
So why does Megvii shout "algorithm defines hardware"?
Zhao Kang, head of Megvii Technology's enterprise business, told us that although the entire B-end market has diverse scenes and fragmented needs, in recent years, the enterprise customer market has occurred, is happening, and is evolving several major trends: the first is the cloudification of infrastructure; the second is the Internetization of core technologies; and the third is the dataization and intelligence of applications.
▲Zhao Kang, head of Megvii Technology Enterprise Business
At present, the product fragmentation of the AIoT industry is only in the early stages of the product, because it does not reflect the side effects of high levels of standardization. When a dedicated product reaches a certain scale, it becomes a general product.
The third trend, "data and intelligence of application", is where Megvii can play its own strengths.
2. AI algorithm optimizes chip performance - Megvii's cost-effective secret
Why does "algorithm-defined hardware" achieve cost-effectiveness?
Qiao Liang said at the press conference that based on Meg Vision's self-developed algorithm framework - MegEngine (Tianyuan), it automatically selects matching high-performance operators for different computing power platforms, so as to fully release the computing power of the chip, which is the secret behind the cost performance of Megvii products.
MegEngine is Megvii's self-developed AI open source framework, which can help developers achieve "deep learning and simple development". Comparable to Google TensorFlow's AI framework, it is also an important part of the domestic AI infrastructure. According to Megvii's thinking, the self-developed AI framework has become a bridge, and algorithms and computing resources can be dynamically scheduled to maximize chip performance.
From this point of view, Megvii's cost-effective secret can be simply understood as: self-developed algorithms maximize the performance of chips.
In fact, at present, it has become the consensus of the industry to decouple software and hardware at the technical level and achieve a leap in hardware performance through ai platforms. There is no need to give an example here, you can understand it by looking at the latest actions of several head players.
With a simple inventory, we can find that the Wisdom IoT has clearly killed two players from the wild:
All the way are traditional ICT players, who protrude from the bottom up in the chain of "industry-hardware-software-algorithm";
Along the way are AI new technology players who do the opposite, cutting from top to bottom on this chain.
You can understand that one way there is a body to rebuild the brain, and the other way to build the brain and then build the body. Anyone can reach the other shore first, and every link must be a bayonet.
In the faction of AI new technology players, Megvii's advantage is very obvious.
Megvii has a world-leading research institute and launched brain++ self-developed AI productivity platform, Brain++ enables AI technology to achieve the whole process and large-scale supply from algorithm production to application, and has become the AI infrastructure in the historical process of China's digital and intelligent transformation.
It is reported that Brain++ includes the deep learning framework MegEngine(Tian Yuan), the deep learning cloud computing platform MegCompute, and the data management platform MegData, which has achieved a combination of algorithms, computing power and data capabilities several years ago.
Behind it, Megvii is competing and patent battles with European and American technology companies again and again. According to the prospectus previously announced by Megvii, it has won 40 world championships in the world top competition in the CV field, and has won many championships in coco, the world's most authoritative visual image understanding competition, for three consecutive years. As of September 2020, the company has 576 patents (including 47 overseas patents), 141 computer software copyrights registered in China, and 580 trademark rights.
Further, Megvii's R&D investment exceeds 104% of revenue, which can be said to be comparable to that of communications giant Huawei. From 2017 to January to September 2020, the R&D investment was 200 million yuan +, 600 million yuan +, 1 billion yuan +, and 750 million yuan, respectively, which greatly led the same type of companies. With this kind of R&D investment, Megvii can be said to have "rolled" the AI circle for 11 years.
3. Layout the hardware matrix in advance to provide guarantee for "algorithm definition hardware"
Stirring up the spring water of the intelligent IoT circle, Megvii may be one of the most competitive players among the unicorns started by AI algorithms.
So how does Megvii break through?
Qiao Liang told us that in fact, Megvii has formed a four-layer EBG product matrix - AIoT components, AIoT basic hardware products, AIoT platforms and AIoT applications. So if the algorithm is corresponding to this product matrix, where does the core play a role?
Qiao Liang said that the second layer of AIoT basic hardware products, covering all aspects of the end, edge and cloud architecture, represented by products such as magic square released by Megvii today, is the core of Megvii's market promotion.
In fact, in the past few years, we can see that Megvii, as an algorithmic player, can be said to have spent a lot of effort to do hardware, which is also not understood by many people in the industry. Looking back now, it was waiting here - that is, using platform-based hardware to provide hardware guarantees for the hardware defined by the algorithm.
Zhao Kang said frankly in the interview: "Megvii started from algorithms, and this year is the 11th year, but we are far more than algorithms, but we have taken a big step forward, to the integration of soft and hardware, to the AIoT platform... But to go further, we need to enter different scenarios and industry applications, and work with partners to develop AIoT. ”
However, even if Megvii becomes the most "hard" player in the AI algorithm industry, there is still a gap between the hardware matrix and many traditional ICT players.
In this regard, Yang Mu, co-founder of Megvii, said: "AI applications are a huge market, and no one can cover it independently. "On the one hand, Megvii is doing its own hardware, on the other hand, Megvii should want to let its own hardware sample partners, let partners participate, and jointly create an AIoT ecosystem."
▲Megvii co-founder Yang Mu explained the connotation of "algorithm-defined hardware"
In the past two years, the dazzling aura imposed on Megvii by the outside world is returning to normal, and what emerges is a corporate image that knows how to examine itself from a heads-up perspective.
Third, the To B market is windy, and the new technology faction is brave
Looking at the current To B (enterprise-level) market, players from all walks of life are pouring into the nuggets. There are IT circle giants busy building legions to accurately break through the industry, there are security circle players busy building distribution brands to expand product matrix, and hardware manufacturers rush to build AI platforms... Just to find a new growth curve before the To G story is told.
But the new story is not easy to tell.
In this new track, it can be said that every player is a novice, touching stones to cross the river. An industry insider in the enterprise service market told us that in this field, even the EBG business, which was originally the most leading player in the security field, is difficult to promote, because the security label cannot be taken off, and the To B capability is difficult to be recognized by enterprises.
As a new technology player, how does Megvii break the ice? In other words, with elite weapons, how to hand them to customers hidden in the vast sea of thousands of industries?
Zhao Kang told us that if Megvii wants to achieve the full promotion and landing of the algorithm, it must adopt different product strategies for each link. Taking the Magic Square product series as an example, Megvii has launched three different product portfolio solutions for customers:
1. Connect the magic square through Megvii "Hongtu" and deliver customers in a closed loop.
"Hongtu" is the AIoT edge side product launched by Megvii, equipped with a new generation of AI chips, and is a self-developed "tube + calculation" view integrated application machine.
2. Through the Megvii Pangu AIoT platform, it realizes the management and distribution of algorithms and creates its own industry applications.
Pangu is Megvii's self-developed AIoT operating system. After the function update, the partner only needs to simply operate and obtain the algorithm by downloading the function module. In this process, you do not have to consider trivial issues such as networking, device management, and algorithm version management.
3. Only use the computing power of magic cube and rubik's cube to develop industry applications and IoT platforms by yourself.
At the same time, Megvii should face regional partners, industry partners, product solution partners and other partners, so that they can complete the transformation from channel-based partners to complementary partners.
At this conference, Megvii also launched the "AIoT Ecological Partner Program" for ecological partners, focusing on providing partners with consulting support, research and development support, product support, promotion support, training support, and talent support.
This time, after Yin Qi fired the starting gun of "algorithm-defined hardware", Megvii rushed to the new battlefield of EBG without hesitation.
Conclusion: The algorithm defines the hardware, and Megvii pierces the sharp edge of the To B market
When it comes to Megvii Technology, many people are concerned about the IPO process of this company. But capital progress is only one aspect of this business, and when we look at technology and business, we find that this company is in a hurry to break through products and markets and occupy new territories.
After 11 years in the AI circle, today, facing a new market for the digital transformation of emerging enterprises, the company that started with AI algorithms has finally shouted out his value proposition - algorithms define hardware. This strong call represents the self-confidence of China's AI enterprises and is expected to set up a new banner for the entire new technology school. As the waters of the Smart IoT are stirred up by players from all walks of life, we can expect to see a digital economy power accelerate its leap forward.