Next Gen Cloud: High Performance AI Computing in Healthcare

20 Mar. 2024

The Next Gen Cloud – Leveraging the Benefits of High Performance and AI Computing Capabilities for Healthcare

Healthcare has always depended on a rich array of different factors, coming together to meet the needs of patients. For example, the expertise of medical professionals combines with state-of-the-art equipment and specifically designed facilities to achieve optimal patient outcomes. In the modern world, however, this landscape has grown even more complex, as smart systems and artificial intelligence have increasingly important roles to play.

Hospitals, clinics, and other facilities now need AI computing capabilities, supporting their professional teams and safeguarding patient health. They also need high performance computing components and networks to provide these artificially intelligent applications. At the heart of all of this is the next generation cloud.

The Next Gen Cloud

Cloud computing has gone from a cutting-edge tech concept to something most of us use each and every day. Whether recording figures and data in Google Sheets, sharing photo albums in Microsoft OneDrive, or streaming music directly from Dropbox, the majority of us utilize cloud structures without even thinking about it. The cloud certainly changed the way we live and work, but it doesn't exactly astound us anymore. Even when you're working collaboratively on a document with a colleague on another continent, it probably doesn't inspire the same feelings of awe that it might have done a few years ago. The bar has been raised.

In many ways, this is a real testament to just how important the cloud was, and is. It has become ubiquitous, just like the car has, or the computer. But now we are moving into a new phase of cloud development. Its capability has expanded, and there are new and exciting ways to deploy this technology. This is the next generation of the cloud. Supported by high performance computing networks and components, this next gen cloud can make a real difference to institutions and users around the world, particularly in healthcare.

Laying the Foundations for AI Computing in Healthcare

Perhaps the most important application of next gen cloud technology in healthcare is AI. Medical teams and facility managers depend on artificial intelligence, so they need high performance computing networks to support this functionality. This is where the next gen cloud comes in, solving a range of problems and laying the groundwork for AI deployment.

We know that AI computing systems need to be smart. We also know that they need to draw upon vast amounts of data, interpret this data, and then make decisions accordingly. So it makes sense that effective AI deployment requires networks with high computing performance levels, facilitating an efficient flow of information from the server.

But this is a fairly simplistic way of looking at it. There are several other issues that need to be addressed before medical teams can get the best from AI.

• One: Artificial Intelligence Works in a Similar Way to Human Intelligence

While AI is certainly different from natural, organic intelligence, some of the key principles are the same. Just as humans can learn by a process of trial and error – seeing what works and what does not, and building an empirical resource of experience – artificial intelligence does the same.

This has a big impact on how AI computing systems use data. Smart applications and algorithms need to be "trained." They need to learn from the data and from the experience they gain as they operate, even adding to the data store as they work. The process is more complex than simply connecting AI components to data sources – high performance computing systems are required, achieving a multidirectional data flow and facilitating training.

• Two: AI Application and Algorithm Deployment Must Cover a Wide Area

AI applications and algorithms are relatively easy to run in a controlled, centralized environment. In more complex healthcare facilities, however, there are significant challenges. Healthcare professionals need to use these tools and features out in the field, potentially over a larger geographical area. This in turn necessitates a broad and highly capable computing network.

• Three: It's Not Always Feasible to Run On-Premises Operations

Investing in server hardware, and installing it on-premises, is expensive. Maintaining this hardware over a longer period of time is also expensive and time-consuming, and scaling it to meet evolving needs may be beyond the capabilities of many healthcare providers. Instead, facility managers need access to off-premises servers and data storage systems, which are maintained and scaled by external providers.

The Solution: High Computing Performance Cloud solutions

The next gen cloud offers a viable solution to each of these three considerations.

• Cloud systems provide the strong, multidirectional data connections required for training and teaching AI computing applications and algorithms.

• Networks and components can connect with the cloud remotely, facilitating easy deployment of AI tools.

• Healthcare facilities can use on-demand cloud resources, paying for what they need and what they use – meanwhile, storage, maintenance, and scaling take place off-premises.

Thanks to cloud technology, the bar of entry is significantly lowered for healthcare facilities. This means more medical professionals, and therefore more patients, can gain access to AI computing solutions and leverage the benefits that these solutions bring.

What Are the Applications of AI in Healthcare?

But why is this so important? What capabilities does AI computing offer to healthcare facilities and medical professionals?

• Advanced screening capabilities – AI can conduct reliable screening, identifying certain diseases and conditions in patients ahead of time.

• Patient monitoring and analysis – AI can be deployed in patient monitoring, supporting round-the-clock care for patients in the facility.

• Swift data processing at scale – AI can handle and process data with far greater efficiency than humans can, making it easier for teams to handle highly complex datasets.

• Patient support and assistance – AI powered chatbots and conversational AI tools won't replace human interaction, but they can offer valuable support and assistance to patients in many instances.

• Administrative efficiency – AI can be deployed across the entire facility structure, and it can eliminate delays and errors in administrative and backroom tasks.

Explore the Benefits of AI with High Performance Next Gen Cloud Computing

Here at Avalue, we provide the high performance computing components and systems healthcare facility managers need to leverage the full benefit of the cloud and AI. Explore our products, or reach out to our team to discover more.