Apple is using a revamped, custom Apache Mesos scheduler to power its Siri search queries.
It’s been given the backronym “J.A.R.V.I.S.” — apparently standing for Just A Rather Very Intelligent Scheduler — and Marvel movie fans will likely recognize the name as a geeky nod to Tony Stark’s intelligent computer assistant from the Iron Man movies.
According to slides shown off at a recent Mesos event detailing the change, this marks Apple’s third generation of the virtual assistant, which debuted with the iPhone 4s back in 2011.
The new technology underpinning Siri makes the service more scalable, eases deployment of new features and improves latency. It reportedly uses 100 services on a Mesos cluster, spanning thousands of different nodes.
Facing challenges from established virtual assistants like Google Now as well as upstarts like Microsoft’s Cortana, Apple has seemingly been working overtime to ramp up Siri’s functionality recently. Not only does iOS 8.3 include seven new languages for Siri, but the technology plays a key role in the way we interact with the Apple Watch and, reportedly, the upcoming Apple TV refresh.
Source: Mesosphere
Via: MacStories
