Tech
Microsoft shows potential of analogue optical computing in AI | Computer Weekly
Microsoft has teamed up with Barclays on a novel approach to tackling artificial intelligence (AI) and optimisation problems based on a scalable analogue optical computer (AOC) architecture, designed to use consumer-grade technology.
The approach, described in a paper published in Nature, overcomes the Von Neumann bottleneck that occurs in classical computing architecture, where performance is limited by the speed with which data can move between memory and the central processing unit. The authors of the paper discuss an approach that eliminates digital-analogue conversions and the need to merge compute and memory.
In doing so, they said the AOC can achieve substantial efficiency gains in certain circumstances. They projected that the AOC would deliver performance of around 500 tera-operations per second per watt at 8-bit precision, which they claim would make it over 100 times more efficient than leading graphics processing units.
The Microsoft researchers combined 3D optical and analogue electronic technologies, using projectors with optical lenses, digital sensors and micro light-emitting diodes to build it. As the light passes through the sensor at different intensities, the AOC can add and multiply numbers, which is the basis for solving optimisation problems.
In the Nature paper, the researchers describe how the AOC hardware is able to accelerate all the compute operations to perform five key operations required for solving optimisation problems: matrix-vector multiplication, nonlinearity, annealing, addition and subtraction.
The paper also discusses how Microsoft worked with Barclays to try to solve the delivery-versus-payment securities problem, which aims to find the most efficient way to settle financial obligations between multiple parties in compliance with regulations while minimising costs or risks within the constraints of time and the balances available.
Shrirang Khedekar, a senior software engineer with the advanced technologies department at Barclays, worked with the Microsoft UK Research team to create the dataset and parameters used in the research. Khedekar, who co-authored the Nature paper, said Barclays is interested in continuing to solve optimisation problems as the capacity of future generations of the AOC grows. “We believe there is a significant potential to explore,” he said. “We have other optimisation problems as well in the financial industry, and we believe that AOC technology could potentially play a role in solving these.”
Microsoft said it would be publicly sharing its “optimisation solver” algorithm and the digital twin it developed to enable researchers from other organisations to investigate its approach to analogue optical computing.
Francesca Parmigiani, a Microsoft principal research manager who leads the team developing the AOC, said that while it is “not a general purpose computer, what we believe is that we can find a wide range of applications and real-world problems where the computer can be extremely successful”.
She said the digital twin mimics how the real AOC behaves by simulating the same inputs, processes and outputs of an AOC in a digital environment.
“To have the kind of success we are dreaming about, we need other researchers to be experimenting and thinking about how this hardware can be used,” said Parmigiani.
But this lock’s interior deadbolt manages to hold an impressive amount of technology. There’s a new dual-core chipset that has a ton of compatibility and unlocking options, including Matter and NFC tags, and the dual core means it can run Bluetooth and Matter on separate cores. It’s also compatible with Apple Home Key, along with Google Home, Amazon Alexa, and Samsung SmartThings. It’s quick and responsive when I use the app to unlock it, though my go-to unlocking method is usually the optional Level Keypad ($79) (the lock otherwise does not come with a keypad), which connects to the lock via Bluetooth. The lock responds instantly when I enter the code on the pad, which I have installed on my door frame.
ScreenshotLevel via Nena Farrell
ScreenshotLevel via Nena Farrell
The Level Lock Pro can also sense if the door is open or closed without needing any additional accessories. It uses a magnetometer to sense the closed door placement, and you’ll calibrate it once when you set it up. It’s worked well for me, though it did have a weird week where it claimed my door was open when it wasn’t. While the magnetometer is supposed to use the Earth’s gravity field, I was able to fix the open door issue by readjusting my strike plate on the doorjamb, which had gotten lose and ended up at a weird angle. (Installing and removing so many smart locks has left my doorjamb and its screw holes worse for wear, to say the least, so this isn’t normally an issue people should run into.)
The app is also easy to use and easy on the eyes. It’s a very pretty interface, with customizable wallpaper and immediate confirmation if your door is locked or unlocked. You’ll click the three dots in the corner for your device to see the Settings, Sharing, and Activity options, which you can click into to adjust the various settings, create different access codes, and see when your door was opened and by whom. It synced easily and immediately to my Amazon Alexa ecosystem, and I can ask Alexa if the door is locked and to lock it. Alexa can’t unlock it by default, but you can go into the Alexa app to toggle this on. I’ve opted not to; nobody needs to be able to voice-command my front door open.
Power Play
Photograph: Nena Farrell
Unlike other smart locks that use bulky battery packs or several AA batteries, the Level Lock Pro uses a single CR2 lithium battery. The lock comes with a nonrechargeable CR2 battery made by Level, but you can replace it with any CR2 battery once it runs out. It’s the same battery the brand has been using with its earlier locks, but the Lock Pro is designed to make better use of it so it lasts longer. Where the previous Lock+ had about six months of battery life, the Level Lock Pro is expected to get about a year of battery life from a single CR2 battery.
The latest filings in Tesco’s £100m lawsuit against Broadcom and VMware over an alleged breach in software licensing terms demonstrates the complexity in dealing with resellers and distributors of VMware software.
It also highlights the risk in having one company provide not one, but two business-critical products, a situation Tesco found itself in as a result of Broadcom’s acquisition of both CA Technologies in 2018 and VMware in 2023.
Tesco’s complaint, filed on 15 July 2025, states that it is a long-standing customer of VMware International and CA Europe through the purchase of VMware licences for server virtualisation software and CA Technologies’ mainframe software, along with support services. Tesco stated in the complaint that Broadcom is now seeking to supply its virtualisation and mainframe software and services to the retailer on an abusive, “take it or leave it”, long-term and bundled basis.
The VMware licences and support were not purchased directly from VMware. Instead, Tesco procured the products and support services via a reseller, Computacenter, which had an agreement with software distributor Dell.
In 2023, following its acquisition of VMware, Broadcom announced radical changes to licences, resulting in a simpler range of VMware product bundles, and a focus on moving its customers off VMware’s perpetually licensed virtualisation platform and onto VMware Cloud Foundation subscription-based licensing.
Many existing customers have found that the new products increased their VMware costs dramatically, forcing some either to pay for the product bundles, which included products they did not use, or migrate to alternative virtualisation platforms.
Tesco claims that Broadcom has threatened to increase prices excessively for the VMware and mainframe software support it used. It said it was unable to migrate easily to another virtualisation or mainframe supplier in the short term, and that it would take at least three years to move off Broadcom’s VMware and CA Technology products.
Tesco maintains that Computacenter was well aware that it could not operate its retail business without the VMware software and support services or the mainframe software and support services. It stated that the majority of its stores operate using these software products and support services to administer business-critical functions such as logistics, stock management and replenishment, and payments.
The legal filings show that on 29 January 2021, Tesco originally purchased the VMware software licences from Computacenter, which along with VMware and Broadcom is a defendant in the legal dispute. The products covered include VMware vSphere Foundation and VMware Cloud Foundation licensed perpetually and VMware Tanzu Basic and Tanzu Mission Control, which were licensed under an initial contract term up to 28 January 2026.
The agreement covered a five-year payment schedule, but Broadcom has denied there was an agreement between VMware International and Tesco in relation to the five-year payment schedule.
Now Dell has been drawn into the dispute. Prior to 2024, Dell was a distributor of VMware and, according to Broadcom’s legal filings, Dell had a channel partner agreement with Computacenter dating back to 2013. However, on 8 January 2026, Computacenter filed a claim against Dell relating to its inability to provide the VMware software it was contractually obliged to deliver to fulfil the contract with Tesco.
Broadcom claims that VMware and its subsidiaries had no obligation to Dell or its subsidiaries regarding the provision to renew VMware product offerings. It stated that as per the 2023 distributor agreement with Dell, any renewal was subject to the written acceptance by VMware.
Dell has now said it will sue VMware International for £10m, if it is found to have broken its contractual obligation to Computacenter.
Contract Ts&Cs. Who is liable?
In a LinkedIn post, Barry Pilling, principal consultant at BeDigital, noted that the case is about Broadcom not honouring a contractual obligation claimed by Tesco to provide the retailer with four years of additional support at the expiry of its enterprise licence agreement (ELA).
Broadcom argues that Tesco would not have the option to renew support services and Computacenter would not be obliged to procure a renewal of the Tanzu Licence if the relevant software or services are no longer available, or the products have reached end of life.
Commenting on Pilling’s LinkedIn post, Scott Bickley, a consultant at Info-Tech Research Group, said: “Having read most of the legal complaints and having reviewed hundreds of VMware contracts, it would appear few of these legal claims have legs. VMware was quite crafty inserting language that allowed them to go EOL (end of life) with active products at their discretion, effectively relieving themselves of future obligations around support.”
But there is more to the dispute, as Pilling explained in a conversation with Computer Weekly. He said Tesco is also claiming Broadcom has acted in an anti-competitive manner. “Tesco is saying Broadcom has been abusing its dominant market position,” said Pilling. “60% of the world’s virtualisation runs on its platform, and it has ramped up pricing without giving them any justification.”
Pilling noted that if the High Court rules that Broadcom has breached competition law, the UK’s competition regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), will need to investigate. As Pilling pointed out, the CMA had already approved Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware.
However, he believes that decision did not take into account VMware’s dominant position in the marketplace. At the time of the CMA’s investigation: “There was a lot of concern in the industry around whether Broadcom, one of the world’s biggest hardware providers, would lock customers into its hardware when it sold them VMware software, which is what the CMA investigated. But nobody looked at the fact that VMware is the world’s biggest virtualisation software provider.”
The nuanced arguments presented in the court documents from the different parties represent a snapshot of the complexity of this case. Broadcom has stated that it has the right to stop selling products and providing support in a way that supersedes existing licence contracts. And while there appears to be email correspondence between Tesco and VMware relating to software contract negotiation, Broadcom is arguing that its direct relationship was with Dell, not Tesco.
The High Court will ultimately decide if Broadcom has broken its contractual obligation to provide VMware software and support services, and if it is acting in an anti-competitive manner. But as the case moves forward, the Tesco versus Broadcom, VMware and Computacenter lawsuit demonstrates the precarious position IT leaders and the organisations they work for can face when a key software provider changes its business model.
Want to be the hero of your next Super Bowl party? Check out the Ninja Crispi Portable Glass Air Fryer, an intriguing twist on the air fryer that’s a perfect option for air frying your favorite frozen snacks at your next potluck—it’ll help you win the day by frying up a batch of wings at your buddy’s house. It’s currently marked down as low as $150 on Amazon, depending on your color preference.
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Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
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Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
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Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
Ninja
Crispi Portable Glass Air Fryer
Basically, every other air fryer works by circulating hot air through a purpose-built, egg-like basket. But the genius of the Crispi is that its glass fryer tray doubles as a serving tray and a sealable fryer dish. The heating element and fan live in a hat-like unit with clamps that attach to heat-shock-resistant borosilicate glass frying baskets with ceramic-coated trays inside. While the actual “fry” setting can be a little intense, the “bake” setting works perfectly for softer foods like veggies. Either way, the results spoke for themselves in our testing, with crispy fries and nuggets even outside in freezing temperatures.
Our reviewer Matthew Korfhage found the “recrisp” setting particularly useful for bringing leftover pizza slices and noodle dishes back to life. That makes it a great choice for office lunchtimes, where you can leave the Crispi itself in a drawer at your desk and ferry leftovers from home. You only have to wash a normal glass dish, rather than the entire fry basket like most options, so this would also work well for dorms or even camping, if there’s an outlet nearby.
Of course, you’ll have to make a few compromises in order to take your precious air-fried snacks with you on the go. While the glass container does a surprisingly good job of insulating the food during cooking, the temperature range isn’t quite as exact as some of our other favorite air fryers.
You’ll also have to be a little bit flexible on your aesthetic choices. While the pastel-hued Cherry Crush, Frosted Lilac, and Ginger Snap colors are marked down to the lower $150 price, the less pronounced Sage, Stone, and Cyberspace Gray are slightly higher at $160, but still under the usual $180 price tag. There’s also a Racing Green Bundle that includes all three sizes of glass crisping tray for $190, if you think you’ll end up buying them anyway.
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