Lenovo and Fortience Consulting advance AI infrastructure and demand forecasting

Lenovo Enterprise Solutions President Lei Zhang highlighted the shifting role of data centers from mere server storage to essential hubs for business value creation driven by AI. As the market moves from AI model training toward AI inference, Zhang emphasized the need for hybrid approaches that utilize cloud, on-premise, and edge computing to balance performance with data security and sovereignty.

To address the growing power crisis caused by increased AI energy demands, Lenovo is promoting its Neptune liquid cooling technology, which aims to reduce the significant electricity consumption required for server cooling. Additionally, the company has launched the Kansai AI Hub to support startups.

Separately, Fortience Consulting, a member of the NTT Data Group, has launched an AI-driven demand forecasting service tailored for the consumer goods industry. The service utilizes Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) to help companies in the food, beverage, and daily necessities sectors improve prediction accuracy and optimize supply chain management. By integrating AI models with field expertise and utilizing techniques like vibe coding, the service aims to reduce stockouts and excess inventory while enabling companies to maintain and improve models without needing dedicated data scientists.