3067: Unlocking the Power of AI Computing for Business with Dell and Intel

[00:00:04] Are you and your business ready for the next evolution of personal computing?

[00:00:10] As we continually seek new ways to boost our efficiency and creativity in the workplace and in our personal lives,

[00:00:18] the concept of an AI PC presents itself as a new frontier in technology.

[00:00:25] Well today I'm joined by Louise Quennell from Dell Technologies and Matt Haynes from the Intel Corporation.

[00:00:34] And together they're going to provide insights on their collaborative efforts to pioneer this technology,

[00:00:39] focusing on enhancing security, promoting sustainability and optimising business performance.

[00:00:46] Now this innovative approach isn't just about transforming routine tasks like drafting emails or editing videos,

[00:00:54] but it also involves tackling complex challenges across multiple sectors.

[00:00:58] And we're going to share some real-world use cases in everything from healthcare to software development today.

[00:01:05] So I invite you to join me today in uncovering the significant benefits that AI PCs offer

[00:01:10] and also explore what the future holds for this exciting field.

[00:01:15] But enough from me, let's get my guests onto the show.

[00:01:19] So a massive warm welcome to the show.

[00:01:22] Can you tell everyone listening a little about who you are and what you do?

[00:01:27] My name is Louise Quennell.

[00:01:28] I work for Dell Technologies in the UK and I look after the client solutions team.

[00:01:33] Anything with regards to the hardware, how it impacts your business, decision-making, new technologies in every area of the UK,

[00:01:42] in every business type from public sector through all the commercial segments.

[00:01:47] Well, it's a pleasure to have you on the podcast.

[00:01:49] We've got not just one but two guests joining us today.

[00:01:52] Matt, would you like to say everyone listening a little about you two?

[00:01:55] Thanks, dearie. Yes. Hi, everyone.

[00:01:57] So I'm Matt Haynes from Intel.

[00:01:58] I'm a client solution specialist and my role is to work with Dell

[00:02:02] and really help them to help our customers with their client solutions challenges.

[00:02:07] Awesome. Well, there's so much I want to talk with you both about today.

[00:02:10] I do attend a lot of tech conferences around the world and one of the trending conversations on the show floors,

[00:02:16] whether they be in Europe or the US and beyond of these tech conference and in the media right now is AIPC.

[00:02:24] So just to set the scene for our conversation today, especially for people listening that might not have heard of this yet.

[00:02:30] What does this new movement towards an AIPC mean in practical terms for both the IT manager and the PC user?

[00:02:38] Really, AIPCs offer a whole range of different benefits.

[00:02:43] The main one people think about immediately is productivity.

[00:02:47] So really the opportunity here is automating the mundane, the things that take you time every day.

[00:02:52] AI can assist you with those.

[00:02:54] So things like taking meeting minutes, drafting emails, finding documents, all of these kind of things that take time.

[00:03:01] With an AI supporting you, you can really save that time and spend that on other tasks.

[00:03:06] So yeah, a lot of possible use cases around productivity.

[00:03:09] Another area which AI has a lot of value is in creativity, whether that be, as I say, creating a document or at least getting started right or creating an email or in the space of images or videos.

[00:03:21] With fairly simple prompts, you can very quickly create something that you can use in a presentation or for whatever you're doing.

[00:03:27] So yeah, productivity, creativity.

[00:03:29] And then probably the other one I call out now is around video collaboration.

[00:03:33] So really trying to enhance the experience.

[00:03:35] A lot of us are doing video calls, of course, now in our jobs and in our personal lives.

[00:03:39] And having a smoother background blur, adding new features like face framing, eye contact creation, correction, sorry.

[00:03:45] And other things like real time language translation.

[00:03:48] So again, if someone's talking a different language, helping you communicate better with them.

[00:03:52] That's just a few examples.

[00:03:53] I know we're going to talk about more, but that's probably a good place to get started maybe on this question.

[00:03:57] We have AI growing daily.

[00:04:00] So we're talking to customers all the time, but lots of organizations looking for new ways.

[00:04:05] How do they use Gen AI and AI PC?

[00:04:08] What does it really mean?

[00:04:10] So as Matt said, so across the board, people using things like Microsoft Copilot for productivity and effectiveness, lots of inclusion in there too, in the collaboration.

[00:04:18] But some really exciting stuff in things like healthcare.

[00:04:23] So AI PC is you're being used to speedily process high resolution medical images and diagnostic data.

[00:04:30] So we're getting quicker and more accurate results and patient care is really improving.

[00:04:35] So that's a great step forward with AI PC.

[00:04:39] And then in things like R&D sectors, so developers and engineers really leveraging the power of an AI PC for faster processing and things like coding and science.

[00:04:48] And simulations and analysis.

[00:04:50] So lots of use cases, really exciting and will be really impactful going forward, particularly for consumers, patients and users.

[00:04:59] Great examples, Lou.

[00:05:00] One of the things people might be thinking is, why would I run AI on my PC?

[00:05:04] Typically you think about AI and you think about massive data centers with thousands of GPUs.

[00:05:09] So why would I want to run AI on my PC would be a question people might have.

[00:05:13] And really there's lots of practical reasons why for certain AI workloads, it makes sense to run them on the PC.

[00:05:19] One of the key ones we hear from customers is around security and privacy.

[00:05:24] So obviously when you're running AI locally on your device, your data never leaves your device.

[00:05:28] It's not going up into the cloud.

[00:05:29] It's not training somebody's AI model with your confidential or personal information.

[00:05:34] Certainly for a lot of customers are selling us actually that they like the fact it's local.

[00:05:37] The data not leaving the device.

[00:05:39] The second thing is you get a consistent experience, whether you're connected to the internet or not.

[00:05:44] So if you're on the road or the train or the plane, wherever you are, your experience, your PC will be the same because again,

[00:05:50] it's not having to go to the cloud or connect to the internet to provide the experience that you're getting.

[00:05:55] And then finally, it can be more personalized.

[00:05:57] So if it's on your own device using all your own data, then you get a more personal, more customized response.

[00:06:02] Those are a few of the reasons why we think actually AI PCs are quite powerful.

[00:06:06] I absolutely love that.

[00:06:07] And I think we often get distracted by the new technology, but not about those real world use cases.

[00:06:13] To hear those examples there of healthcare, patient care, R&D, that really brings it to life.

[00:06:20] And Matt, can you tell us a little bit more about some of the Intel tech incorporated in bringing these AI PCs that we're talking about to life and helping some of these real world use cases that we're talking about?

[00:06:32] When you think about an AI PC, we basically have new hardware that's built into the processor that's specifically designed to process AI workloads.

[00:06:42] And the way this works is actually with our processors, we call them Intel Core Ultra processors.

[00:06:48] We have three different parts of the chip that depending on the type of AI workload, we'll use that to again, accelerate and to enable the experience.

[00:06:56] Certain fairly simple AI tasks can be processed by the CPU.

[00:07:01] Typically that happens very quickly.

[00:07:02] For example, background noise removal on a video call, we can do that quite quickly on the CPU.

[00:07:07] It's not too complicated.

[00:07:08] There are other types of AI workloads, so that you need a burst of AI performance.

[00:07:13] So things like a lot of the generative AI, creating an image, creating a document, doing something quite quickly for the user.

[00:07:20] And so we have AI accelerators built into our integrated GPUs on the chip that give you that kind of burst of AI performance.

[00:07:27] And then finally, I'm sure many of your listeners here today have heard about the NPU.

[00:07:32] So the NPU is something new.

[00:07:35] It stands for Neural Processing Unit.

[00:07:37] And this is again, another part of the chip and a piece of silicon, if you like, that's specifically designed for certain types of AI workloads to do them very quickly, but also a very power efficient way.

[00:07:49] So essentially you could offload certain kind of ongoing sustained AI workloads onto the NPU, and it will do them very well, but at very low power.

[00:07:58] And so when you put all these kind of three capabilities together, the CPU, the GPU and the NPU, if you have the right software that can take advantage of those, then there's a few benefits, right?

[00:08:08] So firstly, it can enable new experiences.

[00:08:10] So things that you can't do without one of these AI chips.

[00:08:13] Once you have one, then some of these experiences we talked about earlier, right in that first question.

[00:08:17] Some of the other benefits are existing experience, because these can run orders of magnitude faster.

[00:08:22] So think five times faster, 10 times faster.

[00:08:25] And then finally, we can do existing things at much lower power.

[00:08:29] So again, to give you an example, I mentioned background blur on video conferencing.

[00:08:33] By offloading that onto the NPU, we can give maybe two or three more hours of battery life because it's doing it way more efficiently.

[00:08:40] And really with this new hardware built into the chips and of course, and then the software to take advantage of it, there's a whole range of benefits we're getting here.

[00:08:48] And as I say, from an Intel point of view, you need to look for Intel Core Ultra.

[00:08:52] And that's how you'll know you're getting one of these new AI PCs.

[00:08:55] And I think it's so important to talk about that relationship between the CPU, the GPU and the NPU and everything under the hood that's making this possible.

[00:09:04] And Lou, from a Dell point of view, what is it that makes a Dell device stand out?

[00:09:09] And what are some of the new technologies that you're bringing to life here?

[00:09:12] Anything you can share around them?

[00:09:14] Yeah, well, I'm going to be a bit secretive, Neil.

[00:09:16] Really exciting times ahead, especially with the introduction of AI PC.

[00:09:19] But we've got loads of announcements coming in January, which unfortunately I'm not to share.

[00:09:25] So watch this space for those.

[00:09:27] But there is some great stuff going on.

[00:09:29] So we've recently launched Intel Luna Lake on XPS, which is a real premium product, which has been really well reviewed.

[00:09:37] And one of the secrets is an enterprise version will ship early next year.

[00:09:41] But XPS on Luna Lake, amazing machine.

[00:09:44] And there's also lots of other differentiation to the devices today.

[00:09:48] Sustainability, in speaking to lots of customers this week, sustainability credentials are top of mind with lots of organizations having targets against carbon offset.

[00:09:58] So sustainability credentials with Dell are best in class.

[00:10:02] So lots of extensive recycled materials.

[00:10:04] So things like recycled coal-boring batteries.

[00:10:08] All the packaging is 100% recycled.

[00:10:10] And there's more repeat certifications than any other vendor.

[00:10:13] It's a real strong sustainability message.

[00:10:15] I think we work so closely with Intel that the security on the devices, there's much more integration with the Intel management engine.

[00:10:25] There's off-to-host BIOS security reducing the risk of local attacks that have compromised the BIOS.

[00:10:30] The security shall sign off from factories.

[00:10:32] So every step of that process, the build, the supply chain brings security to front of mind.

[00:10:39] And then we've got some other automation.

[00:10:41] So things like BIOS extensibility controls via Intune.

[00:10:45] So this is native with Dell now.

[00:10:47] So we can automatically update these devices, which is a big Dell differentiator because in a lot of other places, these are manual updates.

[00:10:57] So lots of time and efficiency saving for our, in a lot of cases, overstretched-out teams across the UK.

[00:11:04] Lots more coming.

[00:11:06] And there's also lots more coming about user ecosystem.

[00:11:09] So we know we absolutely appreciate that a lot of people working from home, lots of people returning to the office.

[00:11:17] There is a challenge with the ecosystem to make you comfortable, to make you productive.

[00:11:22] So lots more announcements coming as well from things like docking to monitors.

[00:11:26] But as I said, watch this space, exciting times ahead in January 2025.

[00:11:33] Oh, wow.

[00:11:33] You've left us with more than a few teasers there.

[00:11:35] I think you've just accidentally booked yourself in for another slot in January.

[00:11:39] We need to find out more about that when you can talk about it.

[00:11:43] That would be great.

[00:11:44] And Matt, there is so much hype surrounding AI at the moment.

[00:11:47] And this year we've progressed from just talking about AI to AI PCs in the workplace.

[00:11:53] But any business leader listening and thinking, well, why do I need this?

[00:11:56] What are the benefits of having AI PCs throughout my business?

[00:12:00] Anything that you'd share around there?

[00:12:03] Yes.

[00:12:03] I mean, I think as you say, it's very exciting that these new capabilities exist.

[00:12:08] But it's saying that practically what can you do with them?

[00:12:10] Is it ready for prime time?

[00:12:11] Obviously there's a lot of hype, but you know, what's the reality, right?

[00:12:16] It's what we hear a lot from customers.

[00:12:17] And from an Intel point of view, one of our key differentiators is our relationship with

[00:12:23] the PC software ecosystem.

[00:12:25] Obviously we've got many decades of working with a broad range of different software vendors.

[00:12:29] And so we've been leading the industry around AI PC.

[00:12:33] We've got more than a hundred software vendors.

[00:12:35] We've already delivered more than 300 AI experiences on Intel Core Ultra.

[00:12:40] And it's really across a broad range of areas.

[00:12:42] So maybe again, to make it real, we shared a few earlier about productivity.

[00:12:46] We shared about creativity, collaboration, but there's many more.

[00:12:50] So if I give you a few more examples, security is one area where we see AI has massive benefits.

[00:12:56] There's also a threat, of course.

[00:12:57] Cyber criminals can maybe take AI and use it to attack us, but we can use AI to defend ourselves.

[00:13:02] So for example, actually Dell and Intel are both working with CrowdStrike on how can we take advantage of the MPU to scan for more types of attacks?

[00:13:11] How can we use the MPU to more intelligently filter the data that we sent to the cloud to, again, to scan for attacks in the cloud?

[00:13:17] So there's real opportunities there.

[00:13:20] We just announced with McAfee deepfake detection.

[00:13:23] So essentially, while we know right now, right, a lot of stuff you see on the internet isn't necessarily real.

[00:13:29] It's been the AI has been used to adjust it.

[00:13:32] Well, with this McAfee deepfake detection, again, running on Core Ultra, it'll pop up a little box saying, hey, deepfake audio detected.

[00:13:39] You may or may not want to trust what this person's saying.

[00:13:42] So that's just a couple of examples on how we can use AI to help us with security.

[00:13:48] Another key area then is around IT operations.

[00:13:51] So really, obviously, IT managers, huge range of devices.

[00:13:55] With AI, we can do things to help them understand their fleet better and do things like predicted maintenance.

[00:14:00] If AI can work out that the system's about to fail, then okay, what actions can we take?

[00:14:04] Or if a certain type of system is failing, how can we learn from that?

[00:14:08] Apply the patch everywhere.

[00:14:09] So there's a lot of things we can do in the IT space to use AI.

[00:14:12] One of my personal favorites is around accessibility in the workplace.

[00:14:16] So again, a whole range of different possibilities here.

[00:14:20] One example is for people who are hard of hearing or deaf, we've developed a capability with an Intel company called Omnibridge,

[00:14:27] where essentially the computer can recognize sign language.

[00:14:31] So somebody can sign to the computer, it'll translate that into text, and then the person can respond speaking, the non-deaf person.

[00:14:38] And then again, that's translated to text.

[00:14:40] Somebody who's deaf or hard of hearing then obviously has a much better workplace experience.

[00:14:44] But one of the things I think is even more exciting to our customers is they have the ability to build AI into their own custom applications.

[00:14:52] So again, from an Intel point of view, we're making it easy for people to adopt AI in their own custom systems.

[00:15:00] We've got more than 500 AI models that run on Intel Core Ultra now that you can use to again do things like computer vision or whatever it is you want to do with AI.

[00:15:07] And to give you some examples, we've had a customer who has basically a chain of restaurants.

[00:15:13] So they have franchisees for their restaurant and they basically created a chat bot with their policies and procedures for store managers.

[00:15:19] So as a store manager, you can ask this chat bot anything, right?

[00:15:23] I've just caught an employee stealing whatever it is that you're not really sure what to do with.

[00:15:28] And the chat bot comes back with actually really very intelligent answers and then links to the part of the policy, right?

[00:15:33] Where again, you can read more and get the verbatim if you like what you should do.

[00:15:38] Another customer, actually a Dell customer took some Dell latitudes with Intel Core Ultra chips.

[00:15:43] And this is Deloitte, by the way, they gave them to their developers and literally just said to them, hey, what can you do?

[00:15:48] What can you do with these devices?

[00:15:50] And their developers very quickly found that they could automate a lot of mundane coding tasks, right?

[00:15:55] And so they were able to save up to 50% of their time in writing code just by kind of taking advantage of the AI built into these devices.

[00:16:03] I think really that the possibilities are endless. They are real. It is available right now.

[00:16:08] And like I say, you just need to buy the right hardware. Yeah, I think tons of opportunities here.

[00:16:13] And I love the point you made there about the possibilities are endless as long as you select the right hardware.

[00:16:18] It seems like we're thinking differently and thinking bigger now.

[00:16:22] And if we look at digital transformation projects over the last decade, it's all about those tech projects, applications, new ways of working automation.

[00:16:31] But one of the big things that I see now, Lou, is this shift almost to the hardware.

[00:16:36] So how do you see AI PCs contributing to the digital transformation of businesses and this new future of teamwork?

[00:16:44] So that's a great question. I think, as we've said, the opportunity is clear, but I think customers need to find their own use cases.

[00:16:53] So absolutely, the PC, AI PC hardware will contribute to digital transformation.

[00:16:58] But the challenge I've got is where does it work for you?

[00:17:02] It's the opportunity. How do you put the right AI PC in the right hands?

[00:17:06] So my suggestion and the conversation I've been having with customers is we need to start establishing business personas.

[00:17:13] So we did it before COVID where we looked at are we putting the right device in the right hands?

[00:17:18] And that's really where we're heading back to.

[00:17:20] So if you think AI tools with AI PCs are going to streamline business processes, we're going to empower employees to make quicker and more effective decisions.

[00:17:29] We're going to collaborate more effectively because we've got this hardware which allows us to do it and the AI tools that allows us to do it.

[00:17:37] So this really now is we need to consider where to deploy your technology.

[00:17:43] State words, you put these AI PCs. So I think for me, absolutely the competition looks massive.

[00:17:50] We are just working the user cases. It's new in many areas.

[00:17:56] So the message for me is start small, start small and test.

[00:18:01] Demonstrate the value. Demonstrate the value with your users and make sure the experience is good for them and your customers and then scale up.

[00:18:10] And it's so refreshing to hear you say just that as a reformed or recovering IT change manager.

[00:18:17] I've seen all too often what happens when you don't test, when you go tech first rather than problem first.

[00:18:23] So to hear you talking about use case first, problem first, business personas before even thinking about the technology.

[00:18:29] I'm 100 percent with you there.

[00:18:32] How else do you see AI PCs evolving and improving how people work across an organization?

[00:18:38] Anything that you're seeing evolving here?

[00:18:41] Yeah, we've got some great examples.

[00:18:43] Insurance particularly, speaking with a few insurance companies.

[00:18:47] So lots of automation and enhancement of things like how they do the analysis of a claim.

[00:18:53] They're enabling more effective and speedy customer engagement.

[00:18:56] They're managing their risk.

[00:18:58] A real win for both customers and the organization.

[00:19:03] And lots more data scientists, lots more new roles that we've not seen historically in these companies.

[00:19:08] Really making it easier for both employees and the customers.

[00:19:13] And that should only improve over time.

[00:19:16] I think the other thing is we've got a great case study and it's called the City of Amarillo.

[00:19:20] And there was a call center and the call center had to take queries in 36 different languages.

[00:19:26] So imagine as a user, you're phoning up, you just want a bit of help, but you don't necessarily speak the language.

[00:19:33] So we built with them a digital assistant that was able to offer real time direction and answers.

[00:19:38] So all of those customers that were just looking for help got the answers they needed in a really timely manner in their own language.

[00:19:46] And that's now being used as a blueprint for lots of other projects.

[00:19:49] So what we're trying to do is bring together different organizations, different users to share use cases, to see where it works so everybody can build a better environment going forward.

[00:20:01] I think, I mean, today there's just lots of questions relating to AI PC and companies still trying to establish where the devices are going.

[00:20:09] I think with increased functionality, we're going to be seeing from Microsoft.

[00:20:12] So if you look at Microsoft Co-Pilot, what you see today from Microsoft is most probably the least features that you're going to see right now.

[00:20:21] But this is going to grow and this is going to grow rapidly.

[00:20:24] So if you imagine lots more features and then you imagine even further development of the processor and then taking to account what we've talked about in terms of Amarillo and insurance and the different examples,

[00:20:37] the opportunity here is absolutely endless.

[00:20:40] But I think we just need to control it and then scale.

[00:20:43] So I'll go back to the point of start small and grow, because I think even in the future, the possibility is endless.

[00:20:49] We could easily start going down some rabbit holes.

[00:20:51] I think Lee, just to add to what you just said, I mean, one data point I've kind of reflected on is we've been talking obviously to the software vendors who are building applications for PCs.

[00:21:02] And more than 70% of them are actively building AI experiences into their software.

[00:21:07] And as you say, you put on top of that the possibility in your own custom software then to build an AI.

[00:21:13] And really, as I sort of come back to the hardware, you need to be investing in hardware now, not just to what's possible today, which is pretty exciting, but also all the things that are coming, like you say.

[00:21:23] Yeah, 100% with you.

[00:21:24] And I suspect people listening to our conversation today, there'll be light bulb moments going off around the world as businesses try and understand what their use case is, what problems they want to solve.

[00:21:36] What business personas do they have in their organization?

[00:21:39] They're starting small and then they start to look towards the hardware.

[00:21:43] And I suspect many business leaders will then ask, why Intel?

[00:21:46] Why Dell?

[00:21:47] What would you say to those people listening?

[00:21:49] And Matt, I'll let you go first on this one.

[00:21:51] Thanks, Dale.

[00:21:52] I mean, I think Lou into that earlier, right?

[00:21:54] But for me, the biggest area is security.

[00:21:57] So Dell and Intel have been working together for many decades.

[00:22:00] Our engineering teams are very tightly linked, really thinking about the whole lifecycle of the device and how can we make sure that Dell devices with Intel inside are the most secure commercial PCs you can buy.

[00:22:12] As I say, when we're designing the devices, looking at the current threats, looking at the evolving threats, how can we build in multiple layers of protection against all of those?

[00:22:21] It comes down to when the devices are shipping to customers.

[00:22:25] It comes down to when the device is shipping to customers.

[00:22:25] We've stepped out of a great solution where customers can verify that the device hasn't been tampered with in transit.

[00:22:31] And also when the device is in use, right?

[00:22:32] Making sure we've got robust processes to patch.

[00:22:35] We're proactive.

[00:22:37] We have actually teams of what we call the white hat hackers.

[00:22:40] So they're hackers for good, basically.

[00:22:41] We're constantly trying to find vulnerabilities before the cyber criminals do.

[00:22:45] And then obviously we can address those and patch them.

[00:22:47] Like I say, I think security is probably the biggest one.

[00:22:50] Lou, what would you add?

[00:22:51] I think there's other areas as well because of this strong co-engineering relationship, which really add value.

[00:22:57] So for me, we use Optimizer, Allot, and we've got things like Express Connects powered by Intel, Connectivity Performance Suite, which is intelligently selecting the best network and prioritizing traffic for conference in which we know this collaboration and communication is to

[00:23:15] key.

[00:23:16] We've got things like Express Signing with Intel and Contact Sensing Technology, which is wake-on approach

[00:23:21] and walk-away lock.

[00:23:23] And I think with Intel Energy Performance Optimizer, Dell Optimizer has been shown to deliver up to 18% improvement in performance per watt.

[00:23:32] So again, really strong co-engineering value add.

[00:23:37] And actually, it's interesting because you mentioned the performance per watt and you were talking earlier about Dell's sustainability leadership.

[00:23:42] And this is another area I would say we're better together.

[00:23:45] From an Intel point of view, we're also a leader in sustainability, in particular in our sustainable manufacturing.

[00:23:52] So last year we used 99% renewable energy in our factories, which I should say compared to our competition, they're less than 10%.

[00:23:59] If you're looking to compare, we returned, I think, 10.2 billion gallons of water to the environment, which meant we were water positive.

[00:24:07] Water is a really scarce resource, right?

[00:24:09] Obviously, we use water in our manufacturing, but we're very careful.

[00:24:12] And we actually return as much as we can and then through water restoration products, we end up being water positive.

[00:24:17] Sustainable manufacturing is an area Intel leads.

[00:24:21] I know working together, right, we work very closely with Dell to reduce the carbon footprint of our devices.

[00:24:26] I don't know if you've seen it, Neil, but we had a prototype project recently called Concept Luna, where essentially it's really incredible, right?

[00:24:34] This kind of thought leadership about how can you design a laptop for minimum carbon footprint and maximum repairability.

[00:24:40] So again, it's another area I would say if you're choosing devices from Dell with Intel inside, then you're making a more sustainable choice.

[00:24:46] I think that sustainability angle is so important.

[00:24:49] It's a big topic at the moment, especially when talking around AI.

[00:24:53] And as respect for many people listening, this concept of an AI PC will be incredibly new.

[00:24:59] But one of the things I wanted to highlight was Intel's V Pro platform.

[00:25:03] That's been around for quite a while.

[00:25:05] And I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it's possible to get Intel Core Ultra processors that support that.

[00:25:11] Is that right, Matt?

[00:25:12] Absolutely.

[00:25:13] We know, obviously, AI is exciting, but for our customers, security and manageability, stability, these things are really as important, if not more, of course, than some of the cool new things you can do.

[00:25:26] And so, yes, earlier this year, Dell released a broad range of commercial PCs based on the V Pro platform with the Intel Core Ultra processors.

[00:25:33] Currently, the Latitude and Precision Mobile workstations, you can get Intel Core Ultra and V Pro models at the risk of spoiling, lose spoilers.

[00:25:44] Early next year, you'll be able to get commercial desktops and also fixed workstations with V Pro and again, Intel Core Ultra.

[00:25:52] So, yeah, really broadly available across the commercial stack with V Pro.

[00:25:56] And I suspect as well that for many people listening, budget restraints are very real at the moment.

[00:26:03] Every tech project has got to go through things like what ROI is it bringing back and what business value does it generate?

[00:26:10] So, for decision makers and IT directors listening anywhere in the world who need to submit those business cases for a new Intel V Pro fleet, what would you say are the unique selling points that the platform brings?

[00:26:23] Because this is where these business cases can fall down and I know it's something you're very passionate about.

[00:26:29] So, what would you say to those people listening?

[00:26:30] So, for me, V Pro is our platform built to meet the challenges that business face.

[00:26:37] So, it's our business platform.

[00:26:39] It's been around, as you say, for a long time, I think 17 years now, believe it or not.

[00:26:43] At every iteration, we're looking at what are the challenges businesses are facing and how can we help solve those?

[00:26:48] And then we package it up into our kind of business solution, which is V Pro.

[00:26:51] One of the things I would say is, historically, I think many people think V Pro is only about manageability and the ability to connect below the OS and do this kind of out-of-band management.

[00:27:01] But actually, it's much, much more than that.

[00:27:03] More recently, we've been leading with security as kind of the key value prop or one of the key value props.

[00:27:09] Again, we're looking at all the different types of attacks, as I mentioned.

[00:27:12] If you buy a V Pro device, you've got more than two dozen security protections built in across a range of different layers, below the OS, protecting the data, detecting attacks like ransomware, et cetera.

[00:27:25] I think if people care about security, and we know if they do, then I would choose V Pro, right?

[00:27:29] Because that's our most secure solution.

[00:27:31] And a lot of it works out of the box, by the way.

[00:27:32] If you get the latest Dell devices, Windows 11, a lot of these protections are out of the box.

[00:27:37] So, security is one, and we've got differentiated capabilities there.

[00:27:40] Of course, we do have out-of-band remote management, and that is unique to Intel V Pro.

[00:27:47] And I think this has never been more important, right?

[00:27:50] With hybrid work, with devices everywhere, being able to connect to devices over the cloud and troubleshoot issues, repair them, is really important.

[00:27:58] If I can share maybe a recent example.

[00:28:00] So, we know a few weeks ago, there was an error in an update that CrowdStrike had, which for many customers meant all of their PCs just went into an endless loop of blue screens.

[00:28:11] Customers who had deployed the V Pro manageability could very quickly recover from that issue.

[00:28:16] They could connect the devices wherever they were, even unattended devices, right?

[00:28:20] If there's signs or whatever they are, and they could replace the corrupt file with the correct file, and then they were back to life instantly.

[00:28:27] Customers that didn't have V Pro had days and days of pain.

[00:28:31] Well, for me, that always sells itself right.

[00:28:33] It's kind of, if something like this happens again, you can recover in minutes rather than days.

[00:28:37] And of course, the impact to your business that you've mitigated is huge.

[00:28:41] So, yeah, so security manageability.

[00:28:43] The other one I'd call out is stability.

[00:28:46] So, we have a stable platform, not just the hardware, but also the software, the firmware.

[00:28:51] It's tested.

[00:28:52] It's guaranteed to be stable across the world for 15 months.

[00:28:56] And we know from an IT point of view, that's massively important, right?

[00:28:59] Having a stable platform that you can rely on.

[00:29:01] There's also sustainability benefits in V Pro.

[00:29:03] So, of course, fixing a device remotely is way more sustainable than someone driving into the office or you're sending a technician or even shipping them another device.

[00:29:11] That remote manageability helps with sustainability.

[00:29:14] And then, of course, with Intel, right, you get performance.

[00:29:16] And we just talked to where beyond the kind of usual vectors of performance, we're now looking at AI and how that can help us be more productive.

[00:29:23] I think a lot of unique selling points really designed to target the challenges business are facing.

[00:29:27] To really finally kind of get back to the start of your question, Neil, well, how do I make the business case?

[00:29:33] We've worked recently with Forrester.

[00:29:35] So, I don't feel familiar with Forrester, but they've done a study.

[00:29:38] They've interviewed a lot of companies, have adopted V Pro companies that haven't, and really looked at what are – how do I make this tangible, right?

[00:29:45] What can I measure?

[00:29:46] What are the cost savings, et cetera?

[00:29:48] And what they found was actually companies that standardize on V Pro spend 65% less time managing the devices because of fewer hardware issues and also the technology to fix them quickly.

[00:29:59] They have 40% fewer hardware-related help desk tickets and 90% fewer hardware-related desk site visits.

[00:30:06] So, again, just a few examples of value.

[00:30:09] And what they've done is they've created basically a calculator that you can use to assess, well, okay, based on my company, my help desk person gets paid this an hour and I've got this many employees and et cetera, et cetera.

[00:30:22] What is the ROI?

[00:30:24] Maybe the V Pro devices cost slightly more upfront, but as you say, what's the business case?

[00:30:28] And so they found actually a typical company.

[00:30:30] The additional cost pays back in about six months.

[00:30:33] Over a three-year period, there's a 214% ROI on just that small incremental investment.

[00:30:39] There's carbon savings, of course, as I mentioned, right?

[00:30:41] From a sustainability point of view, you can save hundreds of thousands of kilograms of carbon through deploying this.

[00:30:47] And again, you can obviously – if that's something you'll need to report or just something that you care about because you want to be sustainable, that's important.

[00:30:53] And like I say, we've got this calculator.

[00:30:55] If customers are interested, if you go into any search engine and just type TEI of V Pro,

[00:31:02] then it'll take you to the page basically where, again, then you can start playing with it.

[00:31:05] Of course, you can reach out to Intel.

[00:31:07] You can reach out to Dell and we'll help you kind of understand how you make the business case.

[00:31:11] Because I do believe there's a lot of real value for our customers in the V platform.

[00:31:16] It's such a good point you made, Dan.

[00:31:17] I would urge anyone to check out that calculator.

[00:31:20] It's such a great idea to quantify and measure.

[00:31:23] And that's the only way you can improve anything.

[00:31:25] And Lou, I suspect that you get to talk to a lot of customers, a lot of decision makers and IT directors.

[00:31:30] You probably get similar questions around ROI and business cases for those AI PCs that we're talking about.

[00:31:37] And I know we've talked about that the main thing is to start small.

[00:31:41] But anything else you'd like to add on that from your side?

[00:31:43] No, just again, we've got lots of Dell resources and I'll talk to it later.

[00:31:47] But lots of Dell resources that can help.

[00:31:49] We've got different calculation methods.

[00:31:52] The support of the Intel calculator, which can help you make these decisions and build business plans

[00:31:58] and create your personas and support your workflows.

[00:32:01] Again, Dell are happy to help with all of that.

[00:32:04] Awesome.

[00:32:04] And I've loved chatting with you both today.

[00:32:06] We've covered so much in a short amount of time.

[00:32:09] And Lou, for anyone listening wanting to find you or your team online and learn more about anything that we discussed today,

[00:32:16] where would you like to point them?

[00:32:17] Yeah.

[00:32:17] Look at the Dell socials.

[00:32:19] You're going to see a lot of things called AI Cadabra, because it's not really magic.

[00:32:24] It's Dell.

[00:32:25] A bit cheesy, but good.

[00:32:27] And we're creating some Dell communities.

[00:32:28] So you see them in the socials.

[00:32:30] What is Dell community?

[00:32:32] Dell community is we take our engineers, our architects, the people that actually get their hands dirty working with customers

[00:32:39] and resolving these problems and debating answers and looking at outcomes.

[00:32:44] And it's an opportunity right around the country for people to get together in small groups,

[00:32:49] work with the Dell engineering teams and architects, and also to really learn from each other.

[00:32:54] We find lots of, actually loads of great conversations peer-to-peer where different organizations have tried things

[00:33:01] and they take best practice and they share across the team.

[00:33:04] So Dell community is going to be the way to go.

[00:33:08] So look out for us, AI Cadabra, and look out for us on Dell socials.

[00:33:12] And Matt, for anyone listening, just wanted to find out more information about anything we talked about from your side.

[00:33:17] Anything you'd like to share there?

[00:33:19] I think a couple of really useful resources if people want to learn more.

[00:33:22] I think on AIPC specifically, if you go to intel.com forward slash AIPC, there's a lot of resources there,

[00:33:29] in particular around examples of software that's available right now that you can use.

[00:33:34] So again, if you're using Adobe or if you're using CrowdStrike or whatever, we've got a list of software

[00:33:39] and also some testimonials and videos from these software vendors about what's possible.

[00:33:44] And then my other favorite website, of course, is Dell.com forward slash vPro.

[00:33:49] And again, a lot of resources there that will kind of go into more depth on the vPro value prop and what have you.

[00:33:54] So yeah.

[00:33:54] I will add links to everything there so people can find you nice and easily.

[00:33:59] We're coming so much from the relationship between the CPU, the GPU, and the NPU.

[00:34:04] Also, I just love the relationship that you've got together, how you're working together as almost a community

[00:34:09] to create these AI PCs and solve those real world problems.

[00:34:13] And so many big takeaways for people listening.

[00:34:15] I'd love to hear what they thought of this and how they're going to embrace AI PCs.

[00:34:20] But more than anything, just a big thank you to you both, Matt and Lou, for bringing this topic to life today

[00:34:26] and starting this conversation.

[00:34:27] Thank you.

[00:34:28] Thanks, Neil.

[00:34:29] Appreciate it.

[00:34:30] So as we conclude today's discussion with Louise and Matt, I think it's evident that integrating AI

[00:34:36] into our personal computers is about so much more than just the technology itself.

[00:34:41] It's about redefining our daily interactions with our digital tools from boosting productivity and security

[00:34:48] to enhancing creativity and collaborative efforts.

[00:34:53] AI PCs promise to transform the digital workspace.

[00:34:57] But the conversation doesn't end here.

[00:35:00] Matt and Louise have merely started it today.

[00:35:03] So over to you.

[00:35:04] What are your thoughts on the integration of AI in personal computing?

[00:35:08] What impacts do you see AI PCs having in the future of work?

[00:35:13] And how do you see PCs and how do you see AI PCs influencing your professional or daily activities?

[00:35:22] I'd love for you to share your perspectives and join the dialogue.

[00:35:25] This is a dialogue.

[00:35:26] It's not a monologue.

[00:35:28] So I'm eager to hear how you plan to embrace this cutting edge technology in your working environments.

[00:35:34] So as always, you can email me techblogwriteroutlook.com.

[00:35:39] You've got any questions or anything you want to share there.

[00:35:41] If you're more of a social person, then by all means slide into my DMs on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, just at Neil C. Hughes.

[00:35:49] Easiest guy in the world to find.

[00:35:50] I'd love to hear from you.

[00:35:52] But that's the end of today's discussion about AI PCs.

[00:35:56] Tomorrow, we're going to explore something completely different.

[00:35:59] I've got another guest lined up and we're going to talk about another area that technology is impacting our life, our work and even world.

[00:36:08] So you are cordially invited to join me again tomorrow.

[00:36:11] But thank you for listening today.

[00:36:13] And I will speak with you all bright and early tomorrow.

[00:36:16] Bye for now.

[00:36:17] Bye for now.