October 14, 2020 at 15:00

Open innovation within the artificial intelligence (AI) sector will gain additional support thanks to a new partnership. The Montreal technology company, Zetane Systems, is now an official member of the ONNX open-standard community from the pioneering organization for open-source technology tools in AI, The Linux Foundation AI. Short for Open Neural Network eXchange, ONNX provides a standard format to represent and share machine learning models. This standard makes diverse software and hardware compatible. In turn, this enables professionals from around the globe to implement diverse technology tools on a given project when developing innovations in AI.

The ONNX open source project currently boasts a long list of supporters that incorporate the standard within its products, including many prominent organizations and companies of the likes of Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, IBM and Intel. Like these fellow leaders in the ONNX Community, Zetane implements ONNX within its software for industrial applications of machine learning, the Zetane Engine.

Promoting the adoption of a universal standard for industrial applications of AI

An official ONNX collaboration with Zetane will provide several benefits to companies acquiring AI solutions. Since the Zetane Engine expedites the development of AI projects in any industry, the company’s software provides a pathway for the global adoption of a universal industrial standard. Common standards for commercial applications of machine learning remain far and few, which has many businesses wasting time and resources developing and maintaining homegrown hardware and software for their AI solutions. This not only increases the costs of innovation, but the multiplicity of technology formats also makes it impossible for AI systems and technology tools to work together. Having laid the groundwork for a universal standard, projects completed with the Zetane Engine are designed to work smoothly together by default.

“The tech world embraces open-source standards because of their ability to promote rapid innovation and collaboration. These are two values we hold dear at Zetane, so It came naturally to us to incorporate ONNX in our software whose central purpose is to promote innovation and democratize the advancement of AI. We are ecstatic to join this community of fellow visionaries,” said Patrick St-Amant, the CTO and co-founder of Zetane.

Invited speaker for the ONNX Community

To initiate the introduction of Zetane to its community, members of the ONNX steering committee invited Zetane to present with fellow partners at the upcoming ONNX Community LF AI Day happening on October 14. This presentation will exemplify how the Zetane Engine leverages ONNX to shorten development cycles for machine learning projects. The solution resides in new abilities to change abstract, “black-box algorithms” into detailed visual displays of the inner workings of artificial neural networks. A second focus of the talk will explain how the open standard provides more transparent means to optimize the performance of artificial neural networks, which in turn reduces the need to conduct time-consuming trial-and-error strategies. Registration for the online event is free and open to anyone interested in open-source innovation: https://events.linuxfoundation.org/lf-ai-day-onnx-community-virtual-meetup-fall/

About Zetane Systems

Zetane Systems is a software technology company specializing in commercial applications of artificial intelligence. Zetane’s AI development engine is proprietary software that provides a visual, intuitive and collaborative environment for businesses to build AI solutions and products based on machine learning models. We aim to make the development of AI solutions more accessible to businesses and promote abilities to explain the inner workings of complex neural networks to address “black box” concerns, increase stakeholder buy-in, reduce time to market, and mitigate risks prior to deployment. In addition to powerful software, we provide consulting services to facilitate the adoption of AI solutions in diverse industries.

A 30-day free trial of the Zetane Engine is available on the company’s website: https://zetane.com

About LF AI Foundation

The LF AI Foundation, a Linux Foundation project, accelerates and sustains the growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL) open source projects. Backed by many of the world’s largest technology leaders, LF AI is a neutral space for harmonization and ecosystem engagement to advance AI, ML and DL innovation. To get involved with the LF AI Foundation, please visit https://lfai.foundation.