In an effort to transform the development and implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) applications and enhance business collaboration, Snowflake has announced significant innovations during its annual BUILD 2024 conference. These updates are aimed at making it easier for businesses to share and distribute data, applications, and AI models—internally and with external partners and clients—securely and efficiently in the cloud.
An Internal Marketplace for Data and AI Models to Facilitate Collaboration
One of the standout announcements is the launch of an Internal Marketplace in Snowflake that allows businesses to discover and share data, applications, and large language models (LLMs) among teams and business units. This collaborative space provides a secure and managed environment within Snowflake’s AI Data Cloud, enabling users to work on their AI initiatives without the need to transfer data or create duplicates. This capability, which is already available, is complemented by the ability to evaluate data via Copilot for Listings—a natural language AI assistant tool that simplifies the search and execution of SQL commands.
Development, Distribution, and Monetization of AI Applications
In a context where companies are demanding tools to rapidly create advanced applications, Snowflake has launched the integration of the Native Application Framework with Snowpark Container Services, a combination that allows developers to build applications in their preferred languages and deploy them on configurable GPUs and CPUs. This integration, available on AWS and in preview on Microsoft Azure, streamlines the deployment and monetization of applications across multiple clouds, optimizing developers’ time to value.
Companies like Genesis Computing and Kumo AI are already leveraging these tools to distribute and commercialize AI applications in the Snowflake Marketplace, thus opening up new revenue opportunities. Snowflake has also added support for the APIAn API, short for “Application Programming Interface,”… for ML modeling in Snowpark, a tool that allows developers to train and customize AI models using popular frameworks like scikit-learn and XGBoost, and securely distribute these models.
Reduction of Transfer Costs and Support for Secure Deployments
Snowflake has introduced the Egress Cost Optimizer, a tool that will reduce the costs associated with transferring data between different cloud regions, allowing companies to allocate more resources to their key projects. Additionally, for organizations with high security requirements, Snowflake has launched native application support for secure deployments in environments like Virtual Private Snowflake and AWS PrivateLink, ensuring the secure handling of data without compromising regulatory compliance.
Direct Access to Enterprise-Level Data and AI Application Products
The Snowflake Marketplace continues to grow and now features over 220 applications and 2,500 datasets. With these new tools, businesses can easily test, purchase, and implement sophisticated AI applications, leveraging the security and governance provided by Snowflake’s AI Data Cloud.
With these innovations, Snowflake reaffirms its leadership in the realm of cloud collaboration, providing businesses with a robust ecosystem to securely share, develop, and monetize data and AI applications across multiple clouds.
via: SnowFlake