Held in Tokyo, Japan last week, VIA Focus Day 2019 is an annual internal event where we spend time with our distribution partners. As well as catching up on recent market trends, we also offer exclusive previews of forthcoming products, and the chance to see some of them in action with live demos. This year we were also honored to invite guest speakers Shuhei Sonoda from AWS, and Takashi Izushi from MediaTek.
One of the key messages delivered by our GM, Epan Wu, at the event was the focus we are placing on delivering solutions that use AI-IoT, computer vision, and edge-to cloud technologies to boost vehicle and operational safety. Two of the most recent platforms we have created this year are the VIA Mobile360 Forklift Safety Kit for logistics and warehouse deployments and the VIA Mobile360 Mining Kit for harsh environments.
In developing these solutions, we are leveraging our deep technology base, comprising over three decades of graphics and processor silicon design expertise as well as over twenty years developing embedded systems for multiple application environments. Close cooperation with our ecosystem partners and customers have also played a critical role in the development process.
Kevin Wang, our head of product management, noted how the nature of customer engagement has changed as a result of the acceleration of AI-IoT and related technologies. Rather than providing us with a detailed RFQ filled with an exhaustive list of specifications, customers are now asking us to work with them to map out the usage scenarios and determine the technology pieces that need to be integrated to make them happen. This is leading to the growth of long-term synergistic relationships that more tightly align business needs and domain knowledge with advanced technology development and integration.
Software plays a critical role in making everything work together. Dream Ku, our head of software, highlighted the steps we are taking to optimize AI-IoT installations and make it easy for our customers to plug their edge deployment into the cloud architecture of their choice, including AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Alibaba. She also provided examples of the scenarios we are enabling on AWS with the VIA Mobile360 D700 AI Dashcam by enabling support for such features as KVS.
We would also like to thank our ecosystem partners in Japan, including AWS, Mediatek, NXP, and Soracom, for the inspiring presentations they gave at the event. We look forward to further strengthening our cooperation with them in the future as we accelerate the proliferation of our AI-IoT solutions in Japan and other markets.
Written by Richard Brown, Vice-President of International Marketing at VIA
