Business Wire

ALIBABA-CLOUD

Share
Alibaba Debuts Cloud Computer, Delivery Robots at Cloud Computing Conference

Alibaba Cloud, the digital technologies and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, today unveiled a series of innovative products at its 12th annual Apsara Conference, highlighting the technology pioneer’s commitment in helping people adapt to the more digitized world and accelerate customers’ digital transformation during and after the pandemic.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200916006004/en/

A highlight is Alibaba Cloud’s first cloud computer , a palm-sized personal computer which, despite being just about 60 grams and as light as an egg, offers high-performance computing, thanks to robust back-end cloud resources. By simply connecting the cloud computer with a normal computer screen, a user can access almost unlimited computing resources anytime, anywhere, while paying on a subscription model or for the actual cloud consumption.

“We hope our cloud computer can help people access resilient computing power whenever they need to, so they can conduct complex tasks which usually require sophisticated and powerful PCs, such as video editing, animation rendering, software development, and online customer services, with a tiny personal computer at hand now,” said Jeff Zhang, President of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence . “As working from home becomes the new normal during and after the pandemic, we believe our innovation can also help users more easily enjoy the benefits of cloud computing anytime, anywhere, in a cost-effective yet secure way.”

With robust computing power, the cloud computer can reduce the rendering time of one frame high-resolution animation from 90 minutes using a traditional PC, down to only 10 minutes. In addition, the cloud computer’s system upgrades are conducted online, saving a big chunk of the normally heavy cost of PC machine upgrades and maintenance in traditional office settings. Through Alibaba Cloud's self-developed app-streaming protocol, which is designed for synergy between the cloud and the device, users can also purchase and access licensed apps and programs such Linux and Windows as well as various office applications. All user data will be stored on cloud for datacenter-grade security and protection measures. Available initially for enterprise customers, the cloud computers will be also available for purchase by individual consumers in the near future.

Alibaba Cloud also unveiled its autonomous logistics robot for last-mile deliveries. Developed by the Alibaba DAMO Academy, the global research initiative by Alibaba Group, the delivery robot can carry 50 packages at one time and cover 62 miles (or 100 kilometres) on a single charge. It is estimated the mobile robot should be able to deliver as many as 500 packages a day to one designated community or campus, meeting the rising demand for speedy last-mile delivery in China. Online shopping is booming there, with 200 million packages delivered daily and expectations that will rise to 1 billion packages per day in the coming years.

“We are expecting a rapid spike of delivery demands brought by the thriving New Retail and local services businesses in the increasingly digitalized world,” added Zhang. “To meet the strong delivery demand for our internal business growth and for the larger society, we have been investing in smart logistics, including logistics robots, for years. We are glad to launch our latest mobile delivery robot, which will support Cainiao, Alibaba’s logistics platform, to serve communities, campuses and business parks in China. “

“Moving ahead, we aim to support the delivery needs of our local services businesses and leverage our technologies for other types of service robots, such as service robots in the airport and tourism guide robots in scenic spots.”

Supported with reinforced learning technologies, the intelligent robot can schedule its route even in a crowded environment. With proprietary, high-definition positioning technology, the robot can operate even where there’s weak or no GPS signal. Leveraging a self-developed heterogeneous computing platform, 3D Point Cloud Semantic Segmentation (PCSS) technology and deep learning, the robot can also identify obstacles and predict the intended movement of passengers and vehicles a few seconds ahead of time to enhance safety.

Consumers can use either the Cainiao or Taobao mobile apps to select a preferred timeslot during the day for delivery. The robot then arrives at the designated destination, where users retrieve their packages simply by entering a passcode they receive in the app, once the robot arrives.

A slew of cloud-native products were unveiled during the Conference:

- Cloud Lakehouse : This is the next-generation big data architecture which can deliver significant data-based values and intelligence through cross-platform computing, intelligent cache, hot/cold data separation, storage improvement and performance acceleration.

- Sandboxed-Container 2.0 : Alibaba’s cloud-native container service for Kubernetes supports clusters that provide sandboxed container runtimes. The new Sandboxed-Container 2.0 enables customers to run applications in lightweight sandboxed environments with faster speeds and reduced cost of runtime resources.

- PAI-DSW 2.0 : The latest Cloud-native Machine-learning Interactive Development Platform by Alibaba. It aims to provide an optimal environment for developers that is easy to use, compatible with community plug-ins and supports multi-development environments like JupyterLab, WebIDE and Terminal.

- Lindorm: The cloud-native multi-model database that is used to support the Alibaba Group ecosystem, is introduced to benefit the wider Alibaba Cloud ecosystem. Lindorm is a cloud-native database, with affordable storage and flexible processing characteristics. It is designed for applications with massive processing requirements for a mixture of unstructured, semi-structured, and structured data.

The conference, named “Leap Into the Future of Digital Intelligence,” was entirely hosted online for the first time, with over 100 virtual forums on topics ranging from cloud computing, IoT to machine learning and industrial AI solutions.

For more information about the Apsara Conference, please visit the website: https://www.alibabacloud.com/apsara-conference-2020

About Alibaba Cloud

Established in 2009, Alibaba Cloud (alibabacloud.com), the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, is among the world’s top three IaaS providers, according to Gartner. It is also the largest provider of public cloud services in China, according to IDC. Alibaba Cloud provides a comprehensive suite of cloud computing services to businesses worldwide, including merchants doing business on Alibaba Group marketplaces, start-ups, corporations and public services. Alibaba Cloud is the official Cloud Services Partner of the International Olympic Committee.

About Business Wire

Business Wire
Business Wire
101 California Street, 20th Floor
CA 94111 San Francisco

http://businesswire.com

Subscribe to releases from Business Wire

Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Latest releases from Business Wire

Elegen and Nutcracker Therapeutics to Pilot First Fully Cell-Free Manufacturing Process for RNA-based Personalized Cancer Therapeutics11.7.2025 14:00:00 CEST | Press release

Fully cell-free process aims to further democratize personalized cancer therapeutic manufacturing with shorter turnaround times and negligible bioburden and endotoxin risks. Elegen, a global leader in next-generation DNA manufacturing, and Nutcracker Therapeutics, a global leader in next-generation RNA design and manufacturing, today announced the launch of a pilot program to demonstrate the industry’s first fully synthetic, cell-free manufacturing platform for RNA-based personalized cancer therapeutics (PCTs). The pilot marks another step toward making PCTs more accessible, timely, and scalable. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250711152688/en/ As late-stage PCT clinical trials progress and therapy developers work to create the next generation of PCTs, the speed, reliability, scaling and cost of traditional production methods pose a major challenge. Specifically, the first step of DNA template production is hi

$MBG Token Pre-Sale Set for July 15 — Only 7 Million Tokens Available at $0.3511.7.2025 10:17:00 CEST | Press release

MultiBank Group, the world’s largest financial derivatives institution headquartered in Dubai, has confirmed that its highly anticipated $MBG Token pre-sale will go live on July 15, with demand expected to be intense. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250711737311/en/ With only 7 million $MBG tokens up for grabs at an exclusive entry price of $0.35, this is a rare opportunity to secure early access to what many are calling the year’s most powerful utility asset. With only 7 million tokens up for grabs at an exclusive entry price of $0.35, this is a rare opportunity to secure early access to what many are calling the year’s most powerful utility asset. Early participants can join simultaneously on MultiBank.io, the Group’s regulated crypto exchange, and Uniswap, the world’s leading decentralized platform. Supported by $29 billion in real assets and powered by over $35 billion in daily turnover, $MBG is engineered

Live Story Raises €2.7 Million to Revolutionize the Digital Experience11.7.2025 10:05:00 CEST | Press release

With a round led by Vertis, the next-generation CMS platform accelerates its focus onAI, performance, and European expansion. Target: surpass €10M in recurring revenueby 2027. Live Story, the tech company founded by Stefano Mocellini, has closed a €2.7 million seed round led by Vertis, one of Italy’s leading early-growth venture capital firms. The funding will support the company’s international expansion and technological development, with a clear goal: to exceed €10 million in annual recurringrevenue by 2027. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250711335560/en/ “We invested in Live Story because it addresses one of the major inefficiencies in digital commerce: the slow and rigid management of visual and narrative content,” says Alessandro Pontari, Partner at Vertis SGR. “The platform helps brands drastically reduce their time-to-market through a visual CMS that integrates seamlessly with any tech stack. In a wor

With a Score of 84 out of 100, Sagemcom Is Awarded the EcoVadis Platinum Medal: a Prestigious Recognition of its CSR Commitment11.7.2025 09:00:00 CEST | Press release

Sagemcom Group is proud to announce that it has been awarded, for the third time, the Platinum Medal by EcoVadis, the highest distinction granted by the leading global platform for assessing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) performance. This medal places Sagemcom in the top 1% of companies evaluated worldwide, across all industries. With a score of 84 out of 100, Sagemcom reaffirms its position as a committed leader in ecological transition, business ethics, sustainable supply chain management, and social responsibility. “The EcoVadis Platinum Medal is more than just an award — it is the recognition of our collective efforts to embed sustainable development principles at the heart of our corporate strategy and culture,” says Sylvaine Couleur, Executive Vice President, CSR & Communication. “Achieving this level demonstrates that our commitments are tangible, impactful, and internationally recognized. This distinction strengthens our determination to further advance and expand our C

IEEE Standards Commitment to Advancing AI Governance Includes Impactful Contributions to New International AI Standards Exchange11.7.2025 08:00:00 CEST | Press release

IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for humanity, and its IEEE Standards Association (IEEE SA) announced today that its portfolio of over 100 global AI-related standards is included in the new International AI Standards Exchange. This Exchange is a centralized repository of international AI standards with the aim to foster collaboration and responsible AI development worldwide. IEEE and its AI global standards were recognized in the 2024 United Nations AI Advisory Body’s Report, Governing AI for Humanity, which created the impetus for the AI Standards Exchange. Due to its impactful AI standards and related work, IEEE, a major standards body, was included as a partner in the establishment of the Exchange. IEEE President and CEO Kathleen Kramer, who is speaking at the AI for Good Summit this year at the High-Level AI Standards Panel,shares, “IEEE’s mission of advancing technology for the benefit of humanity is foundational to ou

In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.

Visit our pressroom
World GlobeA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.HiddenA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.Eye