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Creating Cutting-edge Technology as a Cloud Service for Easy Use by Anyone
In order to solve increasingly complex social issues and strengthen corporate competitiveness, companies and organizations in a wide range of fields now require advanced computing power to utilize big data.
With this in mind, Fujitsu set out to apply advanced computing technology and software technology not to conventional academic and research fields, but as a group of cloud services that anyone can easily use under their “Fujitsu Computing as a Service (CaaS).” Fujitsu announced their CaaS in April of 2022, which will be available in Japan from October 25, 2022.
“CaaS” is a group of services that embody Fujitsu’s new business brand “Fujitsu Uvance,” which aims to bring about a more sustainable world. We provide cloud services that can use HPC based on Fugaku technology and Digital Annealer (*1), and consulting services that support their utilization. By having a structure in place that supports the use of these technologies on top of providing their execution environments, we will promote co-creation and aim to solve social issues together with our customers.
- *1Domain-oriented (processing power specialized for a certain area) calculation architecture (basic computer design consisting of memory and arithmetic circuits) information processing technology that specializes in solving combinatorial optimization problems that are difficult to solve with current general-purpose computers.
Creating New Services Using CaaS through Co-creation between Startups and Fujitsu
Fujitsu is working to solve various social issues based on its corporate purpose of “bringing trust to society through innovation and making the world more sustainable.” Digital innovation is essential to that end, and co-creation with startups that create cutting-edge technologies and services is positioned as one of our key strategies.
With this in mind, we started the “Fujitsu Accelerator Program for Caas” (hereafter FAP for CaaS) in tandem with the start of CaaS, a new partner program for co-creating new services together with innovative startups on the backbone of “CaaS” with the aim of solving social issues in their early stages.
As a Co-creation Partner of FAP for CaaS, participating startups will be able to receive various benefits related to free use of CaaS, support and training of dedicated engineers, and services creation through joint development. In the future, we will collaborate with 12 startups in Japan and overseas with our eyes set on developing new services using “CaaS” in various fields such as Web 3.0, healthcare, manufacturing, and logistics. In addition, we will strive to coordinate with startup support groups around the world that act as hubs connecting startups and companies in order to further strengthen and accelerate our building of a startup ecosystem with “CaaS.”
Twelve startups currently participating in this program
Accelerating the Resolution of Social Issues through Combining Strengths
These next questions focus on asking the Fujitsu employees who led this project about their thoughts on this initiative.
Keisuke Matsuo, Manager of SG&I Venture Studio, Strategic Growth & Investments, Fujitsu Limited
- Q： Please tell us about the purpose of this program.
- We are aiming for early development of CaaS use cases that combine HPC and Digital Annealer through open innovation such as verification and evaluation by exchanging ideas with companies, startups, and universities that support the program for social issues that are difficult to solve.
- Q：What kind of specific values do you think you can provide to customers by partnering with startups?
- We envision value creation in the realm of putting down the foundation for the metaverse for Web 3.0, support for drug discovery in healthcare, development of new materials using materials informatics (MI) in manufacturing, and optimization of distribution and delivery in logistics.
- Q：What kind of response did you receive for this project?
- Many are interested in the fact that cutting-edge computing technologies such as HPC and Digital Annealer can be used quickly from the cloud environment. Until now, it was standard to procure and build an on-premises environment, but this was an issue in terms of cost and time. In particular, we have received many voices saying they are excited about what kind of technology they will see in the Fugaku-based HPC with the world’s highest performance.
- Q：Please tell us what your future goals are in providing CaaS and FAP for CaaS.
- Since CaaS has just been launched, we would like to first create a solid use case for CaaS together with partner companies who endorse the service. After establishing a solid foundation, we will gather the support of a wide range of partner companies and take on the challenge of realizing a sustainable world through the construction of a CaaS ecosystem that can solve any social issues no matter how difficult they prove to be.
FAP for CaaS project members
Finally, we would like to introduce a comment from Jij Co., Ltd., which is leading the use of CaaS among the startups that have endorsed us.
Yu Yamashiro, Representative Director of Jij Co., Ltd.
At Jij, we utilize state-of-the-art hardware and research methods such as Ising machines and quantum annealing to develop quantum and mathematical optimization technology, business development, and provide middleware.
In the future, we expect that the democratization of advanced computing technology will progress further through cooperation with “CaaS.”
Related Information
- [Article] Supercomputer “Fugaku” to Solve Social Issues in Fields of Space and Urban Transportation with Electromagnetic Wave Simulation
- [Article] Aiming for a Sustainable Society—Creating a Society Where Best Computing Technology is Accessible to All
- [Press Release] Providing “Fujitsu Computing as a Service (CaaS)” for co-creation with customers and launch of new global partner co-creation program (in Japanese)
- [Solution Site] Fujitsu Computing as a Service (CaaS)(in Japanese)
