IDC: Why Developing and Deploying AI Technology on Workstations Makes Sense

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Today, many businesses are working hard on AI initiatives including generative AI that do not require a supercomputer. Indeed, a lot of AI development — and increasingly AI deployment, notably at the edge — is actually taking place on powerful workstations. Workstations have numerous advantages for AI development and deployment. They liberate the AI scientist or developer from having to negotiate server time, they provide GPU acceleration even as server-based GPUs are still not easily available in the datacenter, they are extremely affordable vis-à-vis servers, and they represent a smaller, one-time expense rather than a rapidly accumulating bill for a cloud instance, plus there is the comfort of knowing that sensitive data is securely stored on premises. That way, they also free the scientists or developer from the anxiety of racking up costs while merely experimenting on AI models.