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HPE joins Amazon and Microsoft with machine learning in the cloud

HPE's Haven OnDemand to enable app and web developers to tap into machine learning APIs without requiring data science skills

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has become the latest major vendor to push machine learning technology in the cloud with the release this week of Haven OnDemand. It follows the launch of similar, well-received services from Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services.

The machine-learning-as-a-service offering has been released for general availability after being in a lengthy preview period since December 2014.

Haven OnDemand is targeted at developers. Over 60 APIs are on offer, enabling developers to embed machine learning analytical capabilities into apps and other software for web and mobile use.

HPE has used the preview period to court developers and now has over 12,750 on its books.

The service will provide access to a rage of deep-learning analytics techniques, including the ability to apply them to text, audio, social and video data.

In practical use, embedding machine learning into apps allows developers to make use of pattern recommendation and predictive analysis so that software can deliver tailored services and recommended information to end users.

Haven OnDemand is offered as a service build on top of Microsoft's Azure cloud platform, which gives HPE the scope to offer it on a global scale.

Interestingly, Microsoft already has its own cloud-based machine learning service called Azure ML, potentially meaning that the two services could end up in competition. But Microsoft's offering is targeted at a wide audience, including small businesses, while HPE is pursuing developers.

Colin Mahony, senior vice president and general manager at HPE's big data division, explained that Haven OnDemand opens up machine learning capabilities to mainstream developers rather than those with data science skills.

"Now anyone can [deploy] our easy to use cloud-based service to harness the rich variety of data available today to build applications that produce new insights, differentiate businesses, delight customers and deliver competitive advantage," he said.

Put simply, Haven OnDemand cuts out the need to understand complex data analytics techniques and instead offers the capabilities in an easy to use API format.

HPE is entering the machine learning arena at a opportune time, given that the technology is increasingly used in a variety of services.

However, HPE will need to be aware of competition from IBM with its Watson cognitive computing and machine learning technology, which has already seen widespread real-world applications including at four London cafés.

HPE joins Amazon and Microsoft with machine learning in the cloud

HPE's Haven OnDemand to enable app and web developers to tap into machine learning APIs without requiring data science skills

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