Student learning Intel Edge AI: How to register for DevCloud Edge?

[JamesDBartlett3]

Hello!

I'm a student learning about Intel Edge AI, OpenVINO, OpenCV, etc. How can I get access to Intel DevCloud Edge? The sign-up form asks for my company's name and website, but I don't have a company or website, because I'm still a student.

Thank you!

[MrinalK_Intel]

Hi,

The Intel® DevCloud for the Edge is an enterprise developer tool. We are only accepting users who intend to create a marketable solution with the Intel products represented in this tool. Feel free to reapply with more details on your project, to this end.

[JamesDBartlett3 · Accepted solution]

MRINAL K. (Intel) wrote:

Hi,

The Intel® DevCloud for the Edge is an enterprise developer tool. We are only accepting users who intend to create a marketable solution with the Intel products represented in this tool. Feel free to reapply with more details on your project, to this end.

How am I supposed to know whether my ideas have the potential to become a "marketable solution" if I can't access the development tools necessary to flesh them out and evaluate them?

Every major cloud computing platform on the market (except Intel DevCloud for the Edge) has a free pricing tier for students and hobbyists, to help them get familiar with the tools and bring their ideas to life. Then, when those students and hobbyists get to a point where their pet project starts looking like a "marketable solution," they can upgrade their plan to include more processing power, storage, API access, etc. This is the standard business model for cloud computing platforms of all sizes and target markets -- from the big boys like AWS, Azure, and GCloud, all the way down to the little guys, like FloydHub, Paperspace, GraphLab, etc. So how does a company as dominant and forward-thinking as Intel decide to keep the training materials for its hottest new technology in a walled garden, away from the entrepreneurs of tomorrow, simply because they don't yet have a business plan and an LLC?

I strongly urge the Intel DevCloud for the Edge leadership to think back to the early years of companies like Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, Uber, etc. Every last one of them started out as a vague idea in a developer's head, which only became a "marketable solution" after countless hours of tinkering, experimentation, trial, and error. I really hope you'll reconsider this policy, as it's pretty clearly hindering the growth of your developer community, and making people like me less likely to think of Intel as a potential partner for future IoT projects. 

Sincerely, 

James Bartlett