AutoStore delivers flexible, high-density storage solution enabling retailers to deliver products to consumers in record time

AutoStore, vendor of high-density storage with an existing robotic cube-based, automated storage and retrieval system that has transformed the logistics and delivery process for businesses across the globe. The system has evolved to accommodate the increasing demands on retailers to change and stock inventory at speed and deliver goods to consumers within same-day or several hour timeframes.

Consumers are demanding more choices and are more willing to change brand allegiance to get better value and service. To remain competitive, retailers, whether big box or independent, require a presence across multiple channels – stores, online, social networking and mobile. Same-day delivery and immediate local-store pick-up are no longer perks for online shoppers, they are expectations.

Micro-fulfilment presents one of the largest challenges for business owners and retailers to not only store ever-changing inventory within a warehouse, but to ensure the warehouses are close enough to consumers. Managing fulfilment of consumer goods and groceries from regional distribution centres does not accommodate customised needs of consumers, nor can it sustain cost efficiency.

AutoStore provides a solution for the future of logistics and warehousing with micro-fulfilment at the retail store level. The pioneering Cube Storage Automation system offers the densest product/inventory storage solution in existence, where up to 15,000 SKUs can be stored within 604 sq meters. 

Modular in design, the system can be configured to fit different store ceiling heights and obstacles and suits a range of environments – from back-of-house of a grocery retailer to retail spaces for consumer products.

The AutoStore system contains a three-dimensional aluminum grid structure with self-supporting crates that are moved to pick stations by independently operating robots, providing swift and accurate movement of orders. Each robot has two sets of wheels that enable it to move along perpendicular axes, and this makes it possible for all robots to reach any position, and any crate on the grid independently – providing near 100 percent system availability.

For customers who would prefer to collect their items, AutoStore's pick-up points play a critical role in maintaining high-volume throughout for output workstations. Online orders can be consolidated in less than 10 minutes and confirmed in the system for customers to collect at any time. Orders can be retrieved from the system in just a few minutes, and customers can choose their preferred option to collect pre-picked orders, whether in-store or for home delivery.

“AutoStore delivers the flexibility and scalability needed for streamlining automated fulfillment of online orders, which is absolutely critical to accommodate increasingly higher numbers of SKUs, and seasonal spikes in ordering," said Karl Johan Lier, CEO and president of AutoStore. "It gives retailers the flexibility to make more targeted decisions about where they believe automated micro-fulfilment will be most beneficial."

Qualstar releases prototype enterprise class library offering with Sony Imaging

Qualstar Corp., provider of data storage systems, has developed a prototype enterprise class library solution with Sony Imaging Products & Solutions.

The highly scalable enterprise class library solution leverages Qualstar’s expertise and experience in designing efficient robotic-based storage systems. Utilizing Sony’s Optical Disc Archive Generation 3 technology, a single library will scale from 4.7 PB up to 50 PB. It can scale out to multi-library cluster configurations capable of managing hundreds of petabytes of archive data.

“Today’s supercomputing environments need high capacity, scalable data storage solutions to archive data for a longer period of time,” said Arun Vaishampayan, Qualstar’s vice president of global sales. “Sony’s Optical Disc Archive Generation 3 storage platform fulfills the needed requirements of this market.”

“We are delighted with the progress of this project,” said Steven N. Bronson, CEO of Qualstar. “We believe the jointly developed product will serve the needs of our valued customers and open new markets for optical devices.”

Science and Technology Facilities Council adopts Spectra Logic Tape Library to process and preserve scientific research data

Spectra Logic announced that the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) has deployed a Spectra TFinity ExaScale Tape Library in its Scientific Data Centre facility at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire, with an initial capacity of 65PB and the scalability to meet future data demands. 

The Spectra TFinity library was deployed to function as an active archive for storing and managing the vast volumes of data from CEDA (the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis), which includes a unique environmental science supercomputer and data facility known as JASMIN, and from IRIS, an e-Infrastructure for astronomy and particle physics research.

The new Spectra TFinity Tape Library has an initial capacity of 65PB, with 48 drive bays and a mixture of 17 open-standard LTO-8 tape drives and 16 IBM TS1160 tape drives. By implementing the latest tape drive technology in the new storage system, the SCD is prepared for future expansion. 

The Spectra TFinity ExaScale offers scalability with the speed necessary to meet requirements of demanding environments. From 50 to 40,680 TS1160 slots, users can store over 813.6PB (2.03EB compressed) of data with IBM TS1160 tape technology. With up to 144 drives, they can transfer data up to 207.4TB/hr (466.6TB/hr compressed) using TS1160 tape technology.

Deployed by some of the most recognized organizations in the world, the Spectra TFinity ExaScale provides maximum flexibility by allowing users to select the tape technology that is ideal for business. 

In addition to LTO tape technology, the Spectra TFinity Exascale is also compatible with IBM TS11X0 enterprise tape technology and Oracle T10000x enterprise tape technology, enabling all three in the same library. Current Spectra customers can upgrade to the new ExaScale and enjoy its innovations.

The TFinity tape library can handle simultaneous requests either by using multiple partitions in the library, or by having multiple robotic interface modules (RIMs) active in the same partition. Redundancies such as multiple tape access robots, power supplies, control paths and power distribution units mitigate failure and ensure the system will be able to run continuously, 24 hours per day, seven days per week.

Forrester releases 2020 predictions, with recessionary fears and global sociopolitical uncertainty making it to the list

Forrester’s 2020 predictions identify key market dynamics that will impact companies’ growth in the coming year. 2020 will be the year that moves leaders’ attention to adaptability: the ability to understand and anticipate market dynamics — and rapidly exploit opportunities, both big and small.

Factors including heightened values-based consumer activism; the lack of clarity around Brexit; automation, artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics moving deeper into the organization; and recessionary fears due to sociopolitical uncertainty will make 2020 a raucous year, forcing leaders to embrace adaptability.

In 2020, Forrester predicts that consumers will search for deeper meaning. Companies will pay careful attention to authenticity, both in the values they choose to express and how they express them. CMOs will rally around customer value. To establish a successful ecosystem, CMOs will thread the needle between employee experience, customer experience, brand purpose, creative, and technology, imbuing all these crucial areas with customer obsession.

The year ahead will see CIOs focusing on people. Smart CIOs will become a trusted advisor and partner to employee experience and HR teams to help with changing workforce dynamics, including working with new emerging technologies or interacting with robots. Immersive, adaptive IT will take hold. IT will follow the broader organizational future of matrixed, shape-shifting organizations that form and morph to changing priorities.

2020 will see customer experience continuing to bifurcate. Firms that have made the least headway will cut their programs in frustration. Meanwhile, companies that have started realizing the benefits of CX will double-down, simultaneously shoring up their fundamentals and innovating. Advanced firms will double their data strategy budget. 2020 will be a wake-up year for many, as the total cost of getting data wrong will become apparent. Data and AI will get weaponized. In 2020, ransomware incidents will grow as attackers learn that holding data hostage is a quick path to monetization.

Group-targeted experiences will supplant personalization. Marketers will move away from laborious and often-unwanted personalization efforts. Instead, they’ll seek to authentically connect with customers through group-targeted experiences. Automation will reshape the workforce. Automation will change the composition of the job market and raise global economic issues of income distribution and wage stagnation.

Regulation will make and break markets. Regulatory bodies will gain steam — impacting and shaping markets, in a very real way, in 2020. For VCs, profitability will become the new unicorn. In 2020, venture capitalists will increase their scrutiny of startups.

CloudMinds XR-1 5G humanoid robots combines artificial intelligence and human augmentation

CloudMinds Technology will have its XR-1 robot interact with guests at the Sprint exhibit (South Hall #1702) at Mobile World Congress Los Angeles, Oct. 22 to 24. XR-1 is one of the first-ever humanoid robots powered by cloud artificial intelligence, commercial Sprint True Mobile 5G and proprietary vision-controlled grasping technology for service robots that also leverages human operator input for constant learning.

To operate smart robots for people, currently CloudMinds builds and operates an open end-to-end cloud robot system, and offer it as a service to the world. Its architecture connects robots and smart devices over a secure Virtual Backbone Networks (VBNs) to Cloud AI. 

XR-1 service robots can perform tasks as a concierge, receptionist, business guide, elderly care assistant, sales promoter or, staff for VIP services under different scenarios; with task-driven conversations and vision controlled robotic manipulation.

The Human Augmented Robotics Intelligence with Extreme Reality (HARIX) platform is an evolving “cloud brain” capable of operating millions of cloud AI robots performing different tasks simultaneously. Complemented by smart joint technology (SCA), CloudmInds’ cloud AI capabilities include Natural Language Processing (NLP), Computer Vision (CV), navigation, and vision-controlled manipulation that’s bringing a vibrant cloud ecosystem of next generation robotics and smart devices to many industry value chains.

XR-1 is capable of vision-controlled robotic manipulations such as grabbing objects, opening doors, and threading a needle making it perfect as a concierge, receptionist, business guide, or VIP service staff under different scenarios.

Connected by a secure network and powered by a constantly evolving cloud brain (HARIX), XR-1 seamlessly combines artificial intelligence and human augmentation. Supported by multi-modal AI capabilities such as smart vision, smart voice and smart motion, XR-1 can acquire a number of skills, including recognizing a VIP visitor, grabbing a requested object, and opening doors.