There's a steady stream of delegates arriving to the Venetian Conference Center already, with just under two hours to go until Michael Dell's Day One opening keynote kicks off. With the title "Unleash the Future", the whole keynote is expected to last for about an hour.
The auditorium is starting to fill up as delegates take their seats ahead of Michael Dell's Day One Keynote. We have about five minutes to go before the Dell Technologies CEO is expected to take to the stage.
Lights, camera, action. We're being treated to a short video reel with absolutely thumping.
And here is the man himself. He's talking up the power of AI – unsurprisingly – claiming that models are "smarter than all of us".
For enterprises, he says, AI is becoming an operating model, not just a tool. He's also spoken about the number of partners Dell Technologies is working with in AI.
Diogo Rau, EVP and chief information and digital officer at pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, has joined Dell on stage. He's talking about the history of Lilly, which is 140 years old now, stretching from the American Civil War through World War I and onwards, including the discovery of penicillin*, synthesising insulin, and using the scientific method in medicine.
(*ITPro is aware of the existence of Alexander Fleming, discoverer of penicillin and father antibiotics)
Fast forwarding, Lilly was one of the earliest investors in supercomputers, having installed a Cray Two system back in the day. It has recently installed one of the most powerful supercomputers in the pharmaceutical industry.
According to Rau, AI and digital twins have become cornerstones of what the company is doing now as a manufacturer of medicines and treatments.