Air travel is back in demand, but some airports are struggling to keep up, leading to long queues, delayed flights and lost bags becoming common. This is because most airport operations run on static assumptions based on historical norms and trends that may be tweaked once every year or two.
Recognising that issue, the China West Airport Group (CWAG) partnered with Huawei to develop an intelligent transformation strategy to enhance its operational efficiency and business agility. So far, the airport has incubated 35 intelligent solutions for security, operations, services, and other scenarios using Huawei's high-performance computing power, open, intelligent platforms, and advanced algorithms in the industry.
For instance, CWAG deployed an intelligent ground handling system solution that issues predictions and alerts based on the real-time status of flights, passengers, and resources to dispatch employees better and schedule flights. It uses a flight planning optimisation model to find the best fit between supply and demand and power AI-assisted operational commands. The solution has helped CWAG improve ground handling efficiency by 20%, cutting turnaround times by 17%.
To help more companies like CWAG accelerate their digital transformation, Huawei has launched nine new intelligent industry solutions based on its intelligent transformation reference architecture. The solutions are designed to meet the specific needs of industries, including finance, government, manufacturing, electric power, and railways.
"A new chapter of intelligent transformation is unfolding. We now stand at the threshold of a new, intelligent world with vast opportunities and challenges. We need to work together, dig deep into industry-specific scenarios, and build a solid computing backbone to power countless new AI models and applications. Together, we can help all industries go intelligent and help them do it faster,” says David Wang, Huawei's executive director of the Board, chairman of the ICT Infrastructure Managing Board, and president of the Enterprise Business Group. He was speaking at an industry summit in Shanghai recently.
Offering a solid foundation for AI
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The intelligent industry solutions are part of Huawei’s “All Intelligence” strategy, which focuses on foundational AI technologies and building a computing backbone for China (and an alternative channel for the rest of the world) to support AI applications.
A key technology underpinning that is Huawei’s Atlast 900 SuperCluster. The AI computing cluster — part of Huawei's Ascend series of computing products — uses a new architecture optimised for training massive AI foundation models with over one trillion parameters. It comes with Huawei's Xinghe Network CloudEngine XH16800 switch, which enables a two-layer switching network connecting up to 2,250 nodes per cluster. As such, it can help boost overall computing power and enhance the speed and efficiency of foundation model training.
Besides that, Huawei leverages its computing, storage, network, and energy strengths to systematically improve system reliability at the component, node, cluster, and service levels. This approach has effectively extended the cluster's ability to support continuous model training from several days to a month or more.
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"We will keep strengthening the synergy between hardware, software, chips, edge, devices, and cloud to provide fertile ground for a thriving ecosystem. Our end goal is to help meet the diverse AI computing needs of different industries," says Sabrina Meng, Huawei's deputy chairwoman, rotating chairwoman, and CFO.
She continues: “Going forward, Huawei will dive into the product and tech domains where we excel and work closely with customers, partners, developers, and other stakeholders to provide cutting-edge, easy-to-use industry solutions. Working together can help promote greater digital security and trustworthiness and accelerate intelligence across all industries."
