Yes this headline is extremely misleading, this product is only for developers only and really just mean they got a better version of it.
It was probably a temporary product since Intel purchase the company and now has a much improved version that fits their needs. Even as developer for 30 years, I not sure what use this thing has.
Any product where you want inexpensive, low power artificial intelligence. I could see this in medical devices such as cultures, microscope slide analysis, image analysis for any type of scan, etc.
I understand the idea of the chip, but on a stick - maybe it helps a developer - but it sounds like eventually the product will be in a custom device - video processing and such.
It says right in the article that the stock was for prototyping. Yes, many times these things will be custom into a product. But as a hardware/firmware developer myself, I find products like this invaluable to get the code working while the hardware is still in its infancy.
Yes and no. IF you've developed a complex app that's deeply reliant on SW that's going away, it doesn't help that there's supposedly better HW now available.
Of course churn is always part of the computer landscape. But in the past one of Intel's big selling points was that they promise long-term SW compatibility. It doesn't help their attempts to enter a new space if it seems like they're abandoning that promise in these new spaces.
This may just be a temporary glitch. But they are trying to cover a lot of superficially similar territory with a range of apparently similar hardware (movidius, nervana, Xeons, GPUs, FPGAs). It would be reasonable for someone betting on one of these to wonder if their product will be the next one to be abandoned either as HW (phi...) or as SW. Seems like a shortsighted move in terms of the big strategy picture, especially following right after the 5G announcement --- really suggests that Intel is switching to a mindset where anything that doesn't achieve traction soon will be abandoned.
> IF you've developed a complex app that's deeply reliant on SW that's going away
They are not. Firstly, we are talking about pretty old hardware. You are talking about a 2016 product. Four years later, that's the usual time when Intel discontinues things. Secondly, the software is compatible with the 2nd gen stick, so nothing is "going away". You are creating unnecessary FUD.
> But in the past one of Intel's big selling points was that they promise long-term SW compatibility.
Stick 2 is SW compatible with stick 1. That's 5+ years of SW compatibility so far. Stop with the FUD.
> It would be reasonable for someone betting on one of these to wonder if their product will be the next one to be abandoned either as HW (phi...) or as SW.
Movidius = 1 W. Xeons = 65 - 250 W. Nervana = 250 W - 400 W. Where are you seeing overlap? Secondly, Phi was not abandoned, they have Xeon 9200 series which is a successor. Thirdly, Phi was and still is compatible with Xeons.
"This is a 2.x release of the Intel NCSDK which is not backwards compatible with the 1.x releases of the Intel NCSDK. Please look at the documentation for differences in tools and APIs."
Take a look at the migration page. In the program we personally used, it was almost entirely a simple matter of function naming. The reason for the change is well understood and further diminishes your argument. Intel is moving to a unified nGraph and OneAPI framework to make everything future-proof EVEN in the case of product discontinuation. As part of that transition, the Movidius 2 took the necessary first steps to adopt nGraph.
I understand the claim that they’re moving to a unified API. What’s unclear is the extent to which this is feasible. From a 10,000 ft level it’s all “throughput” computing, but as you get closer to the metal some patterns work on some hardware and not others.
In the past none of this would matter, one had some confidence Intel would pull it all off. Now I’m not as confident as you are. It’s a lot of work, in a space where Intel has had little prior experience, with little feedback from partners, and targeting hardware that hasn’t been around long or isn’t even shipping yet.
The headline is using the exact terminology, "discontinued", that is used by Intel themselves in both of the source links at the bottom of the article.
This isn't anything like a CPU or some other generic component that you can just replace and move on.
If you developed software against such a device, then this is noteworthy news, since the so-called "replacement" does not offer the same API - which means your software doesn't work. Its a decent time investment to get your software moved over to an entirely different device, with a different API.
The problem here is that Intel named the product family and the first product in it the same thing. The stick is outright called the Movidius Compute Stick, and that's the terminology Intel uses in their documentation. Which for that matter, is also outright labeled a Product Discontinuance notice. So Intel really is discontinuing the MCS - they're just not discontinuing the whole family.
For our part, if it was the entire family being discontinued, then the article title would reflect that, e.g. "Intel Discontinues Movidius Neural Compute Stick Family".
Still, I do see where you're coming from. So I've altered the title a bit to try to clear things up, even if it's not quite consistent with Intel's naming.
As for Bulldozer, AMD hasn't discontinued the BD family. They still make Excavator parts and probably will for quite some time to come. But once they do stop and file notice, you'll definitely see an article on AnandTech noting the end of the Bulldozer family.
yes. discontinue sounds like they cancel the product. People said that about Atom - but even the new Lakefeild coming later this year and it had 4 atom derived chips but a future generation along with more powerful Sunny Cove core
So I am currently supporting a first generation compute stick solution on ARM using the NCSDKv2 from github (not OpenVINO). The NCSSDKv2 only supports version one of the compute stick (last time I checked, that may have changed) and Intel's OpenVINO toolkit does not currently support ARM, x86-64 only.
So that places me in a tough position. Do I try to port the OpenVINO tools to run on ARM? Or do I try to get the NCSDKv2 to support the MyriadX?
I wish Intel would make some moves in one direction or the other to help that decision.
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24 Comments
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CajunArson - Friday, May 3, 2019 - link
The headline is majorly misleading since Intel is just having people move to their more advanced compute stick.I sure didn't see you say that AMD "discontinued" Bulldozer when RyZen launched.
HStewart - Friday, May 3, 2019 - link
Yes this headline is extremely misleading, this product is only for developers only and really just mean they got a better version of it.It was probably a temporary product since Intel purchase the company and now has a much improved version that fits their needs. Even as developer for 30 years, I not sure what use this thing has.
dullard - Friday, May 3, 2019 - link
Uses: Google Clips learns when to take photos depending on your location, lighting, facial expressions, etc. https://store.google.com/us/product/google_clips_s...FLIR does quality control with it (imagine it on manufacturing lines where you train it to spot defects): https://www.flir.com/news-center/press-releases/fl...
Video surveillence with facial recognition: https://us.dahuasecurity.com/2018/04/12/dahua-tech...
Any product where you want inexpensive, low power artificial intelligence. I could see this in medical devices such as cultures, microscope slide analysis, image analysis for any type of scan, etc.
HStewart - Friday, May 3, 2019 - link
I understand the idea of the chip, but on a stick - maybe it helps a developer - but it sounds like eventually the product will be in a custom device - video processing and such.dullard - Saturday, May 4, 2019 - link
It says right in the article that the stock was for prototyping. Yes, many times these things will be custom into a product. But as a hardware/firmware developer myself, I find products like this invaluable to get the code working while the hardware is still in its infancy.muddling - Friday, July 12, 2019 - link
It also runs as an accelerator just plugged into low power COTS products.name99 - Friday, May 3, 2019 - link
Yes and no.IF you've developed a complex app that's deeply reliant on SW that's going away, it doesn't help that there's supposedly better HW now available.
Of course churn is always part of the computer landscape. But in the past one of Intel's big selling points was that they promise long-term SW compatibility. It doesn't help their attempts to enter a new space if it seems like they're abandoning that promise in these new spaces.
This may just be a temporary glitch. But they are trying to cover a lot of superficially similar territory with a range of apparently similar hardware (movidius, nervana, Xeons, GPUs, FPGAs). It would be reasonable for someone betting on one of these to wonder if their product will be the next one to be abandoned either as HW (phi...) or as SW. Seems like a shortsighted move in terms of the big strategy picture, especially following right after the 5G announcement --- really suggests that Intel is switching to a mindset where anything that doesn't achieve traction soon will be abandoned.
berry12 - Saturday, May 4, 2019 - link
> IF you've developed a complex app that's deeply reliant on SW that's going awayThey are not. Firstly, we are talking about pretty old hardware. You are talking about a 2016 product. Four years later, that's the usual time when Intel discontinues things. Secondly, the software is compatible with the 2nd gen stick, so nothing is "going away". You are creating unnecessary FUD.
> But in the past one of Intel's big selling points was that they promise long-term SW compatibility.
Stick 2 is SW compatible with stick 1. That's 5+ years of SW compatibility so far. Stop with the FUD.
> It would be reasonable for someone betting on one of these to wonder if their product will be the next one to be abandoned either as HW (phi...) or as SW.
Movidius = 1 W. Xeons = 65 - 250 W. Nervana = 250 W - 400 W. Where are you seeing overlap? Secondly, Phi was not abandoned, they have Xeon 9200 series which is a successor. Thirdly, Phi was and still is compatible with Xeons.
name99 - Saturday, May 4, 2019 - link
"Secondly, the software is compatible with the 2nd gen stick, so nothing is "going away""https://movidius.github.io/ncsdk/release_notes.htm...
"This is a 2.x release of the Intel NCSDK which is not backwards compatible with the 1.x releases of the Intel NCSDK. Please look at the documentation for differences in tools and APIs."
berry12 - Monday, May 6, 2019 - link
Take a look at the migration page. In the program we personally used, it was almost entirely a simple matter of function naming. The reason for the change is well understood and further diminishes your argument. Intel is moving to a unified nGraph and OneAPI framework to make everything future-proof EVEN in the case of product discontinuation. As part of that transition, the Movidius 2 took the necessary first steps to adopt nGraph.https://movidius.github.io/ncsdk/ncapi/c_api_migra...
name99 - Monday, May 6, 2019 - link
I understand the claim that they’re moving to a unified API. What’s unclear is the extent to which this is feasible. From a 10,000 ft level it’s all “throughput” computing, but as you get closer to the metal some patterns work on some hardware and not others.In the past none of this would matter, one had some confidence Intel would pull it all off. Now I’m not as confident as you are. It’s a lot of work, in a space where Intel has had little prior experience, with little feedback from partners, and targeting hardware that hasn’t been around long or isn’t even shipping yet.
Maybe I’m too pessimistic? We’ll see.
Ashinjuka - Friday, May 3, 2019 - link
The headline is using the exact terminology, "discontinued", that is used by Intel themselves in both of the source links at the bottom of the article.willis936 - Friday, May 3, 2019 - link
This just in: a 2.3 TW photon emission is headed our way from the sun.Lord of the Bored - Saturday, May 4, 2019 - link
Oh crap! LOOK FOR COVER!nevcairiel - Friday, May 3, 2019 - link
This isn't anything like a CPU or some other generic component that you can just replace and move on.If you developed software against such a device, then this is noteworthy news, since the so-called "replacement" does not offer the same API - which means your software doesn't work. Its a decent time investment to get your software moved over to an entirely different device, with a different API.
Ryan Smith - Friday, May 3, 2019 - link
Thanks for the feedback.The problem here is that Intel named the product family and the first product in it the same thing. The stick is outright called the Movidius Compute Stick, and that's the terminology Intel uses in their documentation. Which for that matter, is also outright labeled a Product Discontinuance notice. So Intel really is discontinuing the MCS - they're just not discontinuing the whole family.
For our part, if it was the entire family being discontinued, then the article title would reflect that, e.g. "Intel Discontinues Movidius Neural Compute Stick Family".
Still, I do see where you're coming from. So I've altered the title a bit to try to clear things up, even if it's not quite consistent with Intel's naming.
As for Bulldozer, AMD hasn't discontinued the BD family. They still make Excavator parts and probably will for quite some time to come. But once they do stop and file notice, you'll definitely see an article on AnandTech noting the end of the Bulldozer family.
Sahrin - Saturday, May 4, 2019 - link
bulldozer derived products are still being sold today... :/webdoctors - Friday, May 3, 2019 - link
Maybe better to say depracated, so folks understand its being replaced/updated with a better version?HStewart - Friday, May 3, 2019 - link
yes. discontinue sounds like they cancel the product. People said that about Atom - but even the new Lakefeild coming later this year and it had 4 atom derived chips but a future generation along with more powerful Sunny Cove corelmcd - Tuesday, May 7, 2019 - link
That's a pretty delusional view of Atom, considering that thousands of people on the Atom team lost their jobs and entire product lines were cut.Lord of the Bored - Saturday, May 4, 2019 - link
Discontinued is the word Intel uses, and it isn't being updated. The "replacement" is a completely incompatible device with a different API.Also, deprecated implies availability will continue for some time, which isn't true. Last call is October.
lmcd - Tuesday, May 7, 2019 - link
It's not a strict supersetlmcd - Tuesday, May 7, 2019 - link
Is VPU really the name they're using? I still associate it with video processing unit.I see Vision Compute Unit in the text right next to VPU and would expect VCU to be the appropriate acronym.
muddling - Friday, July 12, 2019 - link
So I am currently supporting a first generation compute stick solution on ARM using the NCSDKv2 from github (not OpenVINO). The NCSSDKv2 only supports version one of the compute stick (last time I checked, that may have changed) and Intel's OpenVINO toolkit does not currently support ARM, x86-64 only.So that places me in a tough position. Do I try to port the OpenVINO tools to run on ARM? Or do I try to get the NCSDKv2 to support the MyriadX?
I wish Intel would make some moves in one direction or the other to help that decision.