'Smart' Vendors Make Splash

At last fall's NetEvents press/analyst/vendor confab, I called out three vendors as'sexy.' This year, the three vendors that stand out are'smart.' Not that smart isn't sexy, of course – but in this case, I mean smart in the context of Artificial Intelligence (AI). In fact, it's not simply these vendors' use of AI that makes them smart, but rather, the innovation they have brought to the AI story – either in the application of AI or how they support their customers' AI initiatives. 'Smart' apps are becoming the norm Mellanox is a network hardware manufacturer that produces a number of adapters, switches, processors, cables, and other gear for wiring up data centers.