For some time, government agencies have been testing the waters to leverage the promise and capabilities of AI in sandbox environments. In fact, 45% of the largest 142 U.S. Federal agencies have expressly manifested interest in AI/ML by planning, piloting or implementing such techniques.[i] If that percentage includes your agency, you may have even hired several hundred data scientists to innovate and incubate your projects, which led to promising results.
Then what’s stopping you from advancing out of the testing phase and moving swiftly to operationalize your AI mission? It’s not likely there’s a lack of funding. As mentioned in a recent blog, “Tapping into an AI Data Marketplace and Its Government IT Ecosystem” the Federal, nondefense AI and quantum information sciences R&D investment is practically doubling between 2020 and 2021.
AI Digital Data Marketplace Solution on Platform Equinix Help Government Agencies Manage Data
The demand for data from within and outside of government agencies is increasing exponentially. Government agencies want to use and share their data and algorithms effectively but are faced with security and data control issues.
DownloadData density and diversity drives accurate AI-based algorithms
Perhaps lack of data is preventing your agency from leveraging AI-based approaches to learn how to predict trends, optimize processes, speed up decision-making, enhance accuracy, improve pattern recognition and much more. The amount and diversity of data accessible to AI-based algorithms determine their functionality and accuracy. In government alone, there are numerous agencies with pools of data that could be instrumental in powering your AI-based algorithms. As shown below, limited access to sharing data and algorithms hampers the ability to produce high-quality AI models which hinders innovation and limits the potential for developing AI solutions that could transform your agency operations.
Partner with industry leaders to accelerate AI operationalization
You don’t have to go it alone. The industry is standing by and ready to assist, including Equinix. Our vendor-neutral AI Data Marketplace solution, powered by Platform Equinix® with the software-defined interconnection capabilities of Equinix Fabric™ helps government agencies:
- Simplify data exchange and monetization by making it easy to share, consume, sell or buy.
- Ensure data traceability and integrity with fully secured AI models and data lineage tracking.
- Bring algorithms to the data or vice versa by running analytics wherever the data resides and meet data compliance regulations.
- Enjoy proven trust and neutrality with turnkey data center and technology capabilities in a single solution.
- Operationalize AI practices with a global distributed solution that supports data-sharing in different regions/markets for data residency/compliance.
Equinix is continuously developing technology and partnering with AI ecosystem experts such as NVIDIA to support AI missions worldwide. We invite you to change the paradigm from testing AI missions to an operational phase and start using AI to transform your agency operations.
Customized AI Data Marketplace roadmap based on best practices
We’ve developed an AI Data Marketplace roadmap based on best practices that government agencies can use to jump-start the journey to operationalization and becoming an AI-empowered agency.
- Interconnect with agencies, partners and service providers- Expand beyond your agency border to capitalize on new sources of data by interconnecting with other agencies, non-Federal partners and service providers on a highly interconnected and modern IT platform with neutral hubs in strategic locations. Doing so shortens the distance between ecosystem participants, enables secure information exchange and reduces the attack surface.
- Exchange data and algorithms and train AI models- Participating on a platform allows you to exchange data and algorithms and then train AI models to achieve agency missions. These AI data management platforms are constructed to handle your scale, security and performance demands, which eliminates the need to create your own infrastructure and expands the amount of data that can be used to train ML models.
- Join or establish a data marketplace- The third part of this strategy involves establishing a presence within a data marketplace that enables secure data and algorithm exchange. Whether you join or establish a data marketplace, you can manage the membership, specify the location of shared infrastructures, and govern the visibility and availability of assets with mutually agreed contracts.
Government agencies must utilize a neutral, secure data marketplace to exchange the data and algorithms that make AI-driven innovation possible. Using a version of this roadmap will help guide you to these future-state capabilities.
Launching the journey to operationalize AI
Leveraging the Equinix interconnection platform and data marketplace architecture helps you become an AI-driven agency. Government agencies can develop everything they need by accessing an ecosystem of various partners and capabilities in the Equinix AI Data Marketplace, from all parts of the value chain (e.g., control plane, governance, visualization, analytics, etc.)—without a lot of CAPEX and with lower OPEX. Access to our AI Data Marketplace provides agencies with valuable private sector insights into data and AI technologies that lead to innovating at the edge on a common platform and provides regional, national and global reach.
Dynamic ecosystems are an essential part of doing business as they are made up of multiple products, services, platforms and solutions. On Platform Equinix, the foundation of the Equinix AI Data Marketplace, there are interconnected digital ecosystems made up of enterprises and service providers within every industry around the world, including more than 1,800 networks and 2,950+ cloud service providers. With a global footprint of more than 220 data centers in 63 global markets, Equinix makes it possible for ecosystem partners to gain the proximity they require to each other in the geographic markets where they need to do business together.
Participating in an interactive virtual Digital Edge Strategy Briefing with a team of Equinix government industry experts is how agencies start their journey toward operationalizing AI. Contact us to schedule a Digital Edge Strategy Briefing.
To learn more, read the AI Data Marketplace at Equinix white paper.
[1] David Freeman Engstrom, Stanford, et. al., Government by Algorithm: AI Use by Federal Agencies, Feb 2020 as cited in Congress.gov, Senate Report 116-225 – AI in Government Act of 2019, 116th Congress (2019-2020), June 2020.
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