Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is tying artificial intelligence (AI) into a handful of new products and services, with a specific focus on enhancing deep learning. The new offerings include hardware, software, reference designs, and physical research locations.

On the hardware and software front, HPE launched an integrated product that ties its Apollo 6500 hardware box with software from technology partner Bright Computing. The combination is designed to allow for deep learning application development using pre-configured software frameworks, libraries, automated software updates, and cluster management.

The AI Research unit at Hewlett Packard Labs also unveiled a set of tools to help customers in selecting hardware and software environments for different deep learning tasks. The Deep Learning Cookbook can also be used to validate and manage already-purchased hardware and software stacks.

For organizations looking to knock on a door, HPE opened three physical locations designed for longer-term research projects. The “innovation centers” are located in Houston; Palo Alto, California; and Grenoble, France. The centers connect universities, enterprises, and HPE researchers for work on AI platforms.

Those three locations, along with centers in Tokyo and Bangalore, India, are also home to more stately-named “Centers of Excellence” where HPE offers some of its customers access to more advanced AI technologies. Work at these centers is focused on IT departments and data scientists interested in speeding up development of deep learning applications.

HPE’s move comes on the heels of rival Cisco last week announcing plans to acquire AI startup Perspica for an undisclosed amount.

Perspica’s technology uses stream-based processing and machine learning to analyze data from enterprises’ IT systems. This stream-based processing can “derive inferences from data and find anomalies without needing to wait until data is stored, which will enable our customers to accelerate their paths to business-driving insights,” according to a blog post by Bhaskar Sunkara, VP of engineering at Cisco.

A number of cloud providers have also jumped on the AI bandwagon. Amazon Web Services (AWS) last year introduced a trio of AI and machine learning services to help developers create cool new applications based on images, text, and audio.

In a recent report, Gartner explained that AI typically refers to systems designed to change behaviors based on data collected, usage analysis, and other observations without needing to be programmed. The explanation further looks to quell concerns about robots taking over the world.

“While there is a widely held fear that AI will replace humans, the reality is that today's AI and machine learning technologies can and do greatly augment human capabilities,” the report states. “Machines can actually do some things better and faster than humans, once trained; the combination of machines and humans can accomplish more together than separately.”

In the same report, Gartner predicts that despite current hype and market confusion, AI will be “in almost every new software product by 2020.”

However, the research firm explained vendors should focus on use cases with clear results to build business cases around. They also need to offer simple solutions to AI deployments as well as support for organizations that are likely to lack the internal expertise.

"Software vendors need to focus on offering solutions to business problems rather than just cutting-edge technology," said Jim Hare, research vice president at Gartner. "Highlight how your AI solution helps address the skills shortage and how it can deliver value faster than trying to build a custom AI solution in-house."