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  35. <title>Meta Says Goodbye to Workplace, but its Absence will Hardly be Felt</title>
  36. <link>https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/05/15/meta-says-goodbye-to-workplace-but-its-absence-will-hardly-be-felt/</link>
  37. <comments>https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/05/15/meta-says-goodbye-to-workplace-but-its-absence-will-hardly-be-felt/#respond</comments>
  39. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Gregg Willsky]]></dc:creator>
  40. <pubDate>Wed, 15 May 2024 18:54:35 +0000</pubDate>
  41. <category><![CDATA[Cloud Enable]]></category>
  42. <category><![CDATA[Communicate]]></category>
  43. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://itconnection.wordpress.com/?p=8262</guid>
  44.  
  45. <description><![CDATA[Summary Bullets: • After almost a decade in the market, Meta is closing its team collaboration platform named Workplace. • Workplace users have a two-year horizon to depart the platform. It’s official. Workplace, Meta’s team collaboration platform, will not last for even a decade. The platform succumbed to more pressing corporate priorities and unrelenting competition &#8230; <a href="https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/05/15/meta-says-goodbye-to-workplace-but-its-absence-will-hardly-be-felt/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Meta Says Goodbye to Workplace, but its Absence will Hardly be&#160;Felt</span></a>]]></description>
  46. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="wp-block-image">
  47. <figure class="alignright size-large"><a href="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/gregg-profile-photo-e1586466850962.jpg"><img width="110" height="110" data-attachment-id="5698" data-permalink="https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2020/04/09/covid-19-for-cloud-providers-time-is-of-the-essence/gregg-profile-photo/" data-orig-file="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/gregg-profile-photo-e1586466850962.jpg" data-orig-size="110,110" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="Gregg Profile Photo" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="&lt;p&gt;G. Willsky&lt;/p&gt;
  48. " data-medium-file="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/gregg-profile-photo-e1586466850962.jpg?w=110" data-large-file="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/gregg-profile-photo-e1586466850962.jpg?w=110" src="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/gregg-profile-photo-e1586466850962.jpg?w=110" alt="" class="wp-image-5698" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">G. Willsky</figcaption></figure></div>
  49.  
  50.  
  51. <p>Summary Bullets:</p>
  52.  
  53.  
  54.  
  55. <p>• After almost a decade in the market, Meta is closing its team collaboration platform named Workplace.</p>
  56.  
  57.  
  58.  
  59. <p>• Workplace users have a two-year horizon to depart the platform.</p>
  60.  
  61.  
  62.  
  63. <p>It’s official. Workplace, Meta’s team collaboration platform, will not last for even a decade. The platform succumbed to more pressing corporate priorities and unrelenting competition from marquee players. Although Workplace is not going anywhere immediately, the decision to shutter the platform that was launched in 2016 has been made and the timeline for its demise has been cast.</p>
  64.  
  65.  
  66.  
  67. <span id="more-8262"></span>
  68.  
  69.  
  70.  
  71. <p>Until August 31, 2025, the platform can be used as usual. From September 1, 2025 until May 31, 2026, Workplace will only be accessible to read and download existing data. During that time, the platform will be free of charge (from September 1, 2024 through August 31, 2025, Meta will be discounting Workplace by 50%). As of June 1, 2026, access will be terminated, and all instances deleted.</p>
  72.  
  73.  
  74.  
  75. <p>The move comes as no surprise. Recently, Meta has kept busy fashioning itself into a company focused tightly on artificial intelligence (AI) and the metaverse. While that has been taking place, Workplace has drifted off the radar screen. No press releases touting new features have been issued recently. The platform has received no mention on earnings calls or within detailed financial results.</p>
  76.  
  77.  
  78.  
  79. <p>What is surprising is that Meta did not throw Workplace a longer lifeline. AI has rapidly become a fixture on team collaboration platforms with competitors adding AI-driven capabilities platform-wide. Meta’s new Llama 3 LLM and Meta AI assistant would be ideally suited for Workplace. In addition, Meta’s Horizon Workrooms (which allows employees to gather in a virtual space and access replicas of colleagues and collaboration tools such as whiteboards, calendars, and file sharing apps) from the metaverse side of the business complements Workplace nicely and could continue to buoy sales.</p>
  80.  
  81.  
  82.  
  83. <p>Despite making the decision to pull the plug on Workplace, Meta should be commended for rolling out an extended runway for customers to exit the platform and for sweetening pricing along the way. With Meta currently in high-efficiency mode and scrutinizing every part of the business, there certainly was incentive to install a tight timeframe.</p>
  84.  
  85.  
  86.  
  87. <p>With Workplace being stagnant for some time and now progressively dissolving, the impact on rivals is highly blunted. For competitors such as Microsoft, Google, and Cisco, which have been continually entrenching themselves among the leaders in team collaboration, it will be business as usual (and the high standard they have set certainly contributed to Meta’s voting to cut its losses and depart the scene). However, if there is a winner to be crowned, it would have to be Zoom, which stands to gain the lion’s share of Meta’s customers as Zoom’s Workvivo employee engagement platform has been designated by Meta as its only preferred migration path. As of 2021, Meta boasted more than seven million paid Workplace subscribers (and still advertises that figure), thus migration volumes could potentially be significant.</p>
  88.  
  89.  
  90.  
  91. <p>The story is not yet closed as more details are to be furnished, presumably soon. But that should prove to be merely an epilogue, not a new chapter.</p>
  92. ]]></content:encoded>
  94. <wfw:commentRss>https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/05/15/meta-says-goodbye-to-workplace-but-its-absence-will-hardly-be-felt/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  95. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  99. <media:content url="https://2.gravatar.com/avatar/bbec1664effc49a339ce2fb2b63a3cbfc311a383dc8548f998e770d8856d54fd?s=96&#38;d=https%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
  100. <media:title type="html">gwillsky</media:title>
  101. </media:content>
  102.  
  103. <media:content url="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/gregg-profile-photo-e1586466850962.jpg?w=110" medium="image" />
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  105. <item>
  106. <title>Comcast Sees Upside in Mobility as it Makes Pragmatic Moves to Tap Growth</title>
  107. <link>https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/05/14/comcast-sees-upside-in-mobility-as-it-makes-pragmatic-moves-to-tap-growth/</link>
  108. <comments>https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/05/14/comcast-sees-upside-in-mobility-as-it-makes-pragmatic-moves-to-tap-growth/#respond</comments>
  110. <dc:creator><![CDATA[John Marcus]]></dc:creator>
  111. <pubDate>Tue, 14 May 2024 15:19:46 +0000</pubDate>
  112. <category><![CDATA[Internet of Things]]></category>
  113. <category><![CDATA[Mobilize]]></category>
  114. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://itconnection.wordpress.com/?p=8256</guid>
  115.  
  116. <description><![CDATA[Summary Bullets: • Comcast Business has set a long-term goal of generating its “next $10 billion” in annual revenues. • Mobile and IoT are among areas where some of that growth is being sought, but efforts so far can be described as pragmatic and realistic. As Comcast Business contemplates what it sees as a total &#8230; <a href="https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/05/14/comcast-sees-upside-in-mobility-as-it-makes-pragmatic-moves-to-tap-growth/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Comcast Sees Upside in Mobility as it Makes Pragmatic Moves to Tap&#160;Growth</span></a>]]></description>
  117. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="wp-block-image">
  118. <figure class="alignright size-large"><a href="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/marcus-2018-e1541792857231.jpg"><img width="106" height="106" data-attachment-id="4918" data-permalink="https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2018/10/05/brexit-is-forcing-business-decisions-but-a-no-deal-scenario-puts-the-it-focus-firmly-on-risk-mitigation/marcus-2018/" data-orig-file="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/marcus-2018-e1541792857231.jpg" data-orig-size="106,106" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;2.2&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;iPhone 6s&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1538300385&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;4.15&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;200&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.05&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;,&quot;latitude&quot;:&quot;53.127013888889&quot;,&quot;longitude&quot;:&quot;-6.0692833333333&quot;}" data-image-title="Marcus 2018" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="&lt;p&gt;John Marcus is Senior Principal Analyst at GlobalData Technology. His focus is on enterprise IoT, mobility, private networks, and service innovations.&lt;/p&gt;
  119. " data-medium-file="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/marcus-2018-e1541792857231.jpg?w=106" data-large-file="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/marcus-2018-e1541792857231.jpg?w=106" src="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/marcus-2018-e1541792857231.jpg?w=106" alt="" class="wp-image-4918" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">John Marcus &#8211; Senior Principal Analyst,  Enterprise IoT, Mobility, Private Networks, and Service Innovations.</figcaption></figure></div>
  120.  
  121.  
  122. <p>Summary Bullets:</p>
  123.  
  124.  
  125.  
  126. <p>• Comcast Business has set a long-term goal of generating its “next $10 billion” in annual revenues.</p>
  127.  
  128.  
  129.  
  130. <p>• Mobile and IoT are among areas where some of that growth is being sought, but efforts so far can be described as pragmatic and realistic.</p>
  131.  
  132.  
  133.  
  134. <p>As Comcast Business contemplates what it sees as a total addressable market of $50 billion, it has been pragmatically plugging holes in its portfolio to pursue some of the lower-hanging fruit around small business, including mobile (where it reported 6.9 million consumer and business customers in Q1 2024). Indeed, mobility and IoT were included often in executives’ comments at the Comcast Business Analyst Conference in April 2024 where there was also agreement that it remains early days for the company in those domains.</p>
  135.  
  136.  
  137.  
  138. <span id="more-8256"></span>
  139.  
  140.  
  141.  
  142. <p>2023 saw the launch of the Comcast Mobile Made Free offer, giving eligible users of higher speed internet (100 Mbps or higher) one year of Comcast Business Mobile Unlimited at no additional cost. By 2026-2027, the provider hopes that mobile will account for 15% of new business growth. How it plans to scale its mobile offerings (which rely in large part on its MVNO relationship with Verizon) further for business (and especially the larger enterprise segment) is a work in progress.</p>
  143.  
  144.  
  145.  
  146. <p>Comcast is a broadband access leader, and it sees fixed wireless access (FWA) as an opportunity to provide backup broadband connectivity to its business customers, which is increasingly becoming a priority given the reliance on ubiquitous, always-on high-speed internet for internal and customer-facing business practices (Comcast noted approximately 35% growth in traffic “every year”). It is also filling coverage gaps through a deal with Starlink to reach areas of the US with limited connectivity options, addressing a current challenge at thousands of its customers’ more rural locations. Starlink and potential FWA features should help Comcast increase business customer wallet share and stickiness.</p>
  147.  
  148.  
  149.  
  150. <p>Ten years ago, the SMB and mid-market segments were driving nearly all of Comcast Business’s revenue growth, and Comcast understands it needs to penetrate larger organizations to maintain its topline trend over the next 5-10 years &#8211; and to reach its “next $10 billion” in annual sales. Outside of its well-established global network business acquired from Masergy, and its success in the US quick-service restaurant industry, Comcast has limited enterprise exposure.</p>
  151.  
  152.  
  153.  
  154. <p>To that end, Comcast Business hosted 300 enterprise leaders recently at the Players Championship PGA golf tournament, of which it became a title sponsor in 2024. It took the opportunity to demo its private 5G network capabilities during the event, using four SIM-connected video cameras to provide live streams of action from different vantage points around the course on large screens in spectator zones and complementing television coverage. The solution, using an HPE/Athonet platform, showed how Comcast can avail of its CBRS PAL spectrum to enhance fan experience flexibly and efficiently. This builds on previous experience deploying a private 5G network for the Philadelphia 76ers, which supports stadium operations (crowd management is the key real-time use case) as well as fan experiences, and at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds, where it partnered with private 5G vendor Celona. Comcast concedes that the typical industrial environment use cases for private 5G are outside of its typical customer segments but makes a compelling case that quick-service restaurants and associated distribution locations could be ripe targets.</p>
  155.  
  156.  
  157.  
  158. <p>Private networks &#8211; whether based on 5G, fiber/Ethernet, or WiFi &#8211; could also be combined with a neutral host solution (such as those Verizon and T-Mobile have offered) to help make Comcast more attractive to the mid-size and large enterprise customers it wants to attract beyond its existing base. Organizations as diverse as hospitals and corporate business headquarters are finding traditional DAS solutions to be very expensive, and there’s no reason why Comcast can’t also take advantage of the neutral host trend.</p>
  159.  
  160.  
  161.  
  162. <p>Comcast cited its emerging IoT leadership for critical business applications, vertical use cases and sustainability, based on its homegrown MachineQ platform business. This was news to the many attendees at its analyst conference who were unfamiliar with MachineQ. It operates somewhat distinctly from the mainstream business and, outside of a demo attended by a few analysts, was not discussed in depth during the main conference program. Despite this, MachineQ has been moving along just fine, growing its customer list to 300 enterprises. But at 500,000 IoT connections (primarily served by LoRaWAN), the number of devices using the platform is dwarfed by cellular IoT providers who are also targeting MachineQ’s potential customers with other low power connectivity options.</p>
  163. ]]></content:encoded>
  165. <wfw:commentRss>https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/05/14/comcast-sees-upside-in-mobility-as-it-makes-pragmatic-moves-to-tap-growth/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  166. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  170. <media:content url="https://1.gravatar.com/avatar/a0ddc9956ce14aac91d0bf31dc3317043066aa88eea2fce0d06c5baf744e3e93?s=96&#38;d=https%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
  171. <media:title type="html">itcblogjmarcusitc</media:title>
  172. </media:content>
  173.  
  174. <media:content url="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/marcus-2018-e1541792857231.jpg?w=106" medium="image" />
  175. </item>
  176. <item>
  177. <title>Lower Emissions, Circularity, and Repurposing Street Furniture for Sustainability in the UK</title>
  178. <link>https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/05/08/lower-emissions-circularity-and-repurposing-street-furniture-for-sustainability-in-the-uk/</link>
  179. <comments>https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/05/08/lower-emissions-circularity-and-repurposing-street-furniture-for-sustainability-in-the-uk/#respond</comments>
  181. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Rob Pritchard]]></dc:creator>
  182. <pubDate>Wed, 08 May 2024 15:34:40 +0000</pubDate>
  183. <category><![CDATA[Communicate]]></category>
  184. <category><![CDATA[Internet of Things]]></category>
  185. <category><![CDATA[IT Leader]]></category>
  186. <category><![CDATA[Network]]></category>
  187. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://itconnection.wordpress.com/?p=8253</guid>
  188.  
  189. <description><![CDATA[Summary Bullets: • Virgin Media O2 reports significant direct carbon emissions reductions, climate-related efficiencies through smart meters, and progress in the circular economy with device refurbishment and reuse. • BT’s trial of repurposed street cabinets for vehicle charging adds to initiatives and innovations that illustrate potential power of action by tech companies and customers. In &#8230; <a href="https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/05/08/lower-emissions-circularity-and-repurposing-street-furniture-for-sustainability-in-the-uk/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Lower Emissions, Circularity, and Repurposing Street Furniture for Sustainability in the&#160;UK</span></a>]]></description>
  190. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="wp-block-image">
  191. <figure class="alignright size-large"><a href="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2021/07/r-pritchard-071521.png"><img width="133" height="137" data-attachment-id="6636" data-permalink="https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2021/11/09/vodafones-successful-partnership-strategy/r-pritchard-071521/" data-orig-file="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2021/07/r-pritchard-071521.png" data-orig-size="133,137" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="R-Pritchard 071521" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="&lt;p&gt;R. Pritchard&lt;/p&gt;
  192. " data-medium-file="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2021/07/r-pritchard-071521.png?w=133" data-large-file="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2021/07/r-pritchard-071521.png?w=133" src="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2021/07/r-pritchard-071521.png?w=133" alt="" class="wp-image-6636" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">R. Pritchard</figcaption></figure></div>
  193.  
  194.  
  195. <p>Summary Bullets:</p>
  196.  
  197.  
  198.  
  199. <p>• Virgin Media O2 reports significant direct carbon emissions reductions, climate-related efficiencies through smart meters, and progress in the circular economy with device refurbishment and reuse.</p>
  200.  
  201.  
  202.  
  203. <p>• BT’s trial of repurposed street cabinets for vehicle charging adds to initiatives and innovations that illustrate potential power of action by tech companies and customers.</p>
  204.  
  205.  
  206.  
  207. <p>In the week reported, the world’s oceans have broken temperature records every single day of 2023 and &#8211; shortly after &#8211; the UK government was defeated in court for not doing enough to meet its targets for cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, it is encouraging to see telcos in the UK addressing the global climate crisis.</p>
  208.  
  209.  
  210.  
  211. <span id="more-8253"></span>
  212.  
  213.  
  214.  
  215. <p>Virgin Media O2 reports it had reduced carbon emissions “by the equivalent of almost 15,000 UK homes’ annual energy use” in 2023. The company reduced Scope 1 and Scope 2 (directly controlled/managed) carbon emissions by 23% year-on-year, meaning it is on track to meet its target of cutting these emissions 60% by 2025. Virgin Media O2 has also made progress toward having a fully-EV (electric vehicle) fleet by 2030.</p>
  216.  
  217.  
  218.  
  219. <p>Virgin Media O2’s ‘Sustainability Performance Update’ also shows that during 2023, its products and services have now prevented almost 60 million tons of carbon emissions entering the atmosphere through services such as powering IoT solutions like smart metering.</p>
  220.  
  221.  
  222.  
  223. <p>In addition, customers were able to carry out 2.2 million ‘circular actions’ through recycling old tech or by buying ‘like new’ refurbished smartphones. The company has achieved 4.7 million such circular actions against a target of 10 million by the end of 2025. The O2 Recycle scheme, which is open to all mobile users regardless of their network, saw almost 250,000 devices saved from landfill in 2023.</p>
  224.  
  225.  
  226.  
  227. <p>In parallel, BT Group has powered up its first EV charger from one of its ‘street furniture’ green cabinets, offered to the public free of charge as part of a nationwide pilot. The potential of this trial, if successful, is underlined by the fact that Scotland (the site of the trial) has 5,052 public EV chargers, which could be complemented by up to 4,800 such cabinets. Should EV charging become more widely available, it will help reduce ‘range anxiety’ (i.e., the fear that an EV will run out of charge mid-journey), one of the main barriers to EV adoption.</p>
  228.  
  229.  
  230.  
  231. <p>Despite great strides being made, the planet continues to grow warmer, and ‘low-hanging fruit’ solutions have been plucked. Increasingly, technology innovation and behavioral change will be required for long-term climate sustainability.</p>
  232.  
  233.  
  234.  
  235. <p>Aside from the responsibility we all hold to avoid climate catastrophe, it also makes sense commercially – a growing number of enterprises and consumers will only conduct business with telcos and other companies that provide demonstrable, validated commitments to address the climate crisis.</p>
  236. ]]></content:encoded>
  238. <wfw:commentRss>https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/05/08/lower-emissions-circularity-and-repurposing-street-furniture-for-sustainability-in-the-uk/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  239. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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  244. <media:title type="html">robertpritchardglobaldatacom</media:title>
  245. </media:content>
  246.  
  247. <media:content url="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2021/07/r-pritchard-071521.png?w=133" medium="image" />
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  249. <item>
  250. <title>Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) Sees Vulnerability Exploitations Soar</title>
  251. <link>https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/05/06/verizon-data-breach-investigations-report-dbir-sees-vulnerability-exploitations-soar/</link>
  252. <comments>https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/05/06/verizon-data-breach-investigations-report-dbir-sees-vulnerability-exploitations-soar/#respond</comments>
  254. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Amy Larsen DeCarlo]]></dc:creator>
  255. <pubDate>Mon, 06 May 2024 21:59:58 +0000</pubDate>
  256. <category><![CDATA[IT Leader]]></category>
  257. <category><![CDATA[Secure]]></category>
  258. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://itconnection.wordpress.com/?p=8249</guid>
  259.  
  260. <description><![CDATA[Summary Bullets: • Verizon’s Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) uncovered exploitation of vulnerabilities nearly tripled last year, up 180% from 2022. • The DBIR underscores the need for end-user education, with non-malicious human interactions associated with 68% of breaches. Verizon’s 2024 DBIR paints a complex and challenging picture of the global threat landscape. Studying 30,458 &#8230; <a href="https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/05/06/verizon-data-breach-investigations-report-dbir-sees-vulnerability-exploitations-soar/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) Sees Vulnerability Exploitations&#160;Soar</span></a>]]></description>
  261. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><figure data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_300" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-300" style="width: 70px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/decarlo-70100.jpg"><img loading="lazy" data-attachment-id="300" data-permalink="https://itconnection.wordpress.com/about/decarlo-70100/" data-orig-file="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/decarlo-70100.jpg" data-orig-size="70,100" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}" data-image-title="decarlo-70100" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="&lt;p&gt;Amy Larsen DeCarlo &#8211; Principal Analyst, Security and Data Center Services&lt;/p&gt;
  262. " data-medium-file="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/decarlo-70100.jpg?w=70" data-large-file="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/decarlo-70100.jpg?w=70" class="size-full wp-image-300" src="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/decarlo-70100.jpg" alt="" width="70" height="100" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-300" class="wp-caption-text">Amy Larsen DeCarlo &#8211; Principal Analyst, Security and Data Center Services</figcaption></figure></p>
  263. <p>Summary Bullets:</p>
  264. <p>• Verizon’s Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) uncovered exploitation of vulnerabilities nearly tripled last year, up 180% from 2022.</p>
  265. <p>• The DBIR underscores the need for end-user education, with non-malicious human interactions associated with 68% of breaches.</p>
  266. <p>Verizon’s 2024 DBIR paints a complex and challenging picture of the global threat landscape. Studying 30,458 security incidents and 10,626 confirmed breaches, the report saw a huge jump in vulnerability exploitations versus the prior year. Fourteen percent of all breaches involved the exploitation of vulnerabilities with Verizon assigning responsibility for this to the targeting of unpatched systems and zero day vulnerabilities. Verizon noted threat actors used MOVEit and other zero day exploits to launch their ransom demands.</p>
  267. <p><span id="more-8249"></span></p>
  268. <p>Credential theft is a significant factor in breaches, resulting in 38% of all incidents. Phishing is another route into the enterprise, associated with 15% of all breaches. The most frequently used entry point for phishing is Web applications, followed by email.</p>
  269. <p>The report, which analyzes incidents offered by third-party contributors including the US Secret Service and dozens of other organizations and companies; publicly-known data breaches; and security events mitigated by its own Verizon Threat Research Advisory Center (VTRAC), emphasized the critical role the human element plays in introducing risk into the equation. Nearly 70% of all breaches involve a staff member, contractor, or partner who, with no ill intent, contributed to an incident. To this end, the DBIR noted that just under one-third of all security incidents incorporate an extortion technique. Twenty-four percent of all profit-driven breaches over the last two years applied pretexting, the use of fictional narratives to win the targets&#8217; trust to get them to offer up sensitive information, transfer money, or in some other way hurt the victim or their organization.</p>
  270. <p>Preying on a target’s trust is not a new technique. Over the last ten years, credential theft is associated with 31% of all incidents, and techniques like pretexting are a prime way to capture these keys to unlock other data. The issue is the frequency and severity of incidents involving the human element are escalating.</p>
  271. <p>While most enterprises of any significant size conduct end user awareness training, this exercise tends to be an annual activity rather than an ongoing program. It seems a more effective path forward would be to create engaging and accurate cybersecurity educational content. This should be delivered throughout the year, not just as a one-off check-the-box training-to-the-test.</p>
  272. ]]></content:encoded>
  274. <wfw:commentRss>https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/05/06/verizon-data-breach-investigations-report-dbir-sees-vulnerability-exploitations-soar/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  275. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  279. <media:content url="https://2.gravatar.com/avatar/ba853eb7204f18043ebcbdb9c009166b95f966fce4a9074fc10bdd3c940dfc2e?s=96&#38;d=https%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
  280. <media:title type="html">adecarlo</media:title>
  281. </media:content>
  282.  
  283. <media:content url="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/decarlo-70100.jpg" medium="image" />
  284. </item>
  285. <item>
  286. <title>Generative AI Watch: Quarterly Wrap-Up Hones Continued Mega Investment, OSS Disruptions</title>
  287. <link>https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/05/06/generative-ai-watch-quarterly-wrap-up-hones-continued-mega-investment-oss-disruptions/</link>
  288. <comments>https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/05/06/generative-ai-watch-quarterly-wrap-up-hones-continued-mega-investment-oss-disruptions/#respond</comments>
  290. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charlotte Dunlap]]></dc:creator>
  291. <pubDate>Mon, 06 May 2024 16:25:44 +0000</pubDate>
  292. <category><![CDATA[Cloud Enable]]></category>
  293. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://itconnection.wordpress.com/?p=8246</guid>
  294.  
  295. <description><![CDATA[Summary Bullets: • Microsoft and AWS continue to invest in GenAI partnerships. • OSS technologies begin to disrupt the GenAI space. Cloud giants, used to pulling out all the stops in the ongoing cloud wars, are now directing a good amount of efforts (and budget) at the generative AI (GenAI) arena. Microsoft has set its &#8230; <a href="https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/05/06/generative-ai-watch-quarterly-wrap-up-hones-continued-mega-investment-oss-disruptions/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Generative AI Watch: Quarterly Wrap-Up Hones Continued Mega Investment, OSS&#160;Disruptions</span></a>]]></description>
  296. <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  297. <figure class="wp-block-image alignright size-large"><a href="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2021/10/mug.dunlap.102221.png"><img loading="lazy" width="91" height="123" data-attachment-id="6831" data-permalink="https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2021/10/22/key-takeaways-from-kubecon-deeper-focus-on-finops-gitops/mug-dunlap-102221/" data-orig-file="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2021/10/mug.dunlap.102221.png" data-orig-size="91,123" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="mug.Dunlap.102221" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="&lt;p&gt;C. Dunlap&lt;br /&gt;
  298. Research Director&lt;/p&gt;
  299. " data-medium-file="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2021/10/mug.dunlap.102221.png?w=91" data-large-file="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2021/10/mug.dunlap.102221.png?w=91" src="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2021/10/mug.dunlap.102221.png?w=91" alt="" class="wp-image-6831" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">C. Dunlap
  300. Research Director</figcaption></figure>
  301.  
  302.  
  303.  
  304. <p>Summary Bullets:</p>
  305.  
  306.  
  307.  
  308. <p>• Microsoft and AWS continue to invest in GenAI partnerships.</p>
  309.  
  310.  
  311.  
  312. <p>• OSS technologies begin to disrupt the GenAI space.</p>
  313.  
  314.  
  315.  
  316. <p>Cloud giants, used to pulling out all the stops in the ongoing cloud wars, are now directing a good amount of efforts (and budget) at the generative AI (GenAI) arena. Microsoft has set its sights on global dominance in the GenAI space with a new $1.5 billion investment in an Abu Dhabi (UAE) AI initiative. Meanwhile, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has completed its final round of $4 billion in funding to partner Anthropic, striving to gain a foothold following Microsoft&#8217;s mega OpenAI investment.</p>
  317.  
  318.  
  319.  
  320. <span id="more-8246"></span>
  321.  
  322.  
  323.  
  324. <p>Microsoft, vying for an international presence to offer AI services across Microsoft Azure&#8217;s infrastructure, has invested in new technology group G24 in Abu Dhabi, signaling the start of a much larger AI technology role for the UAE. The hefty investment provides Microsoft with a minority share in the startup, which targets various sectors for its AI solutions, including healthcare and energy. In return for the investment, G42 provides Microsoft Azure with an edge in the cloud wars by supplying all of G42&#8217;s cloud computing needs for its AI services deployments. The partnership will also yield further collaboration opportunities in the form of global data center buildouts.</p>
  325.  
  326.  
  327.  
  328. <p>Continuous funding is ensuring a close relationship between AWS compute power and Anthropic&#8217;s LLM, which aims to take on Microsoft/OpenAI. In return for its multi-billion-dollar funding, AWS has access to the LLM giant, while Anthropic has access to AWS&#8217; strong portfolio of cloud computing resources, spanning the industry&#8217;s leading IaaS to PaaS services. Further, Anthropic immediately has access to AWS&#8217; massive installed base of cloud customers and the vast audience of enterprise developers familiar with AWS&#8217; tools and platform.</p>
  329.  
  330.  
  331.  
  332. <p>GenAI represents the latest arsenal in the cloud wars among the three cloud leaders. While AWS&#8217; recent investment in Anthropic represents a strategic move in GenAI ecosystem partnerships, the effort merely follows Google&#8217;s $2 billion investment in Anthropic in late 2023. Following Microsoft&#8217;s lead, AWS will continue to build AI and automation into its own product lines to help improve the customer experience and ease the app development/deployment process &#8211; which is where the real cloud wars battle will be won.</p>
  333.  
  334.  
  335.  
  336. <p>Also worth noting regarding important GenAI trends and recent events: Open-source technologies are beginning to disrupt the GenAI space. Abacus AI&#8217;s release of Smaug-72B, a new open-source LLM, is causing upheaval among leading LLM rivals. The new OSS LLM is making waves for its ability to outperform the more established LLM leaders OpenAI ChatGPT-3 and Mistral Medium in several benchmark cases, according to testing conducted by Hugging Face. Smaug-72B is in good company in the OSS space, a market increasingly important to enterprise developers and DevOps teams as a flexible alternative for GenAI adoption. Most importantly, the LLM is free and available for these teams to experiment with, learn from, and build upon &#8211; unlike most proprietary LLMs.</p>
  337.  
  338.  
  339.  
  340. <p>For more analysis on key GenAI events over the past quarter, please see <a href="https://technology.globaldata.com/Analysis/details/Generative-AI-Newsletter-Q2-2024-Mega-Investments-Ensure-GenAI-Power-Play130195"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-purple-color">Generative AI Newsletter Q2 2024: Mega Investments Ensure GenAI Power Play</mark></a>, May 2, 2024. GlobalData followed news surrounding data analytics firms, cloud and application platform leaders, and telcos, which are ramping up strategy and product announcements.</p>
  341. ]]></content:encoded>
  343. <wfw:commentRss>https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/05/06/generative-ai-watch-quarterly-wrap-up-hones-continued-mega-investment-oss-disruptions/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  344. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  348. <media:content url="https://0.gravatar.com/avatar/90ece5f9c80a433fd58329ed4e16d571bcd35bed117868b644d9f61bdbd36c53?s=96&#38;d=https%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
  349. <media:title type="html">itcblogcdunlap</media:title>
  350. </media:content>
  351.  
  352. <media:content url="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2021/10/mug.dunlap.102221.png?w=91" medium="image" />
  353. </item>
  354. <item>
  355. <title>Australia is the Perfect Market for AWS GenAI Adoption</title>
  356. <link>https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/05/02/australia-is-the-perfect-market-for-aws-genai-adoption/</link>
  357. <comments>https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/05/02/australia-is-the-perfect-market-for-aws-genai-adoption/#respond</comments>
  359. <dc:creator><![CDATA[siowmeng]]></dc:creator>
  360. <pubDate>Thu, 02 May 2024 16:21:18 +0000</pubDate>
  361. <category><![CDATA[Cloud Enable]]></category>
  362. <category><![CDATA[Communicate]]></category>
  363. <category><![CDATA[Secure]]></category>
  364. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://itconnection.wordpress.com/?p=8243</guid>
  365.  
  366. <description><![CDATA[Summary Bullets: • Amazon Web Services (AWS) has launched Amazon Bedrock in Australia, and it is helping customers develop generative AI (GenAI) applications using different foundation models to meet their specific needs. • Australia is an attractive market for AWS since the company has a significant presence in the country, and it can support GenAI &#8230; <a href="https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/05/02/australia-is-the-perfect-market-for-aws-genai-adoption/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Australia is the Perfect Market for AWS GenAI&#160;Adoption</span></a>]]></description>
  367. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="wp-block-image">
  368. <figure class="alignright size-large"><a href="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/siowmengsoh-e1507055270858.jpg"><img loading="lazy" width="100" height="100" data-attachment-id="4221" data-permalink="https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2017/10/03/telstra-liberates-the-workforce-with-fixed-mobile-convergence/siowmengsoh/" data-orig-file="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/siowmengsoh-e1507055270858.jpg" data-orig-size="100,100" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="SiowMengSoh" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="&lt;p&gt;S. Soh&lt;/p&gt;
  369. " data-medium-file="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/siowmengsoh-e1507055270858.jpg?w=100" data-large-file="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/siowmengsoh-e1507055270858.jpg?w=100" src="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/siowmengsoh-e1507055270858.jpg?w=100" alt="" class="wp-image-4221" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">S. Soh</figcaption></figure></div>
  370.  
  371.  
  372. <p>Summary Bullets:</p>
  373.  
  374.  
  375.  
  376. <p>• Amazon Web Services (AWS) has launched Amazon Bedrock in Australia, and it is helping customers develop generative AI (GenAI) applications using different foundation models to meet their specific needs.</p>
  377.  
  378.  
  379.  
  380. <p>• Australia is an attractive market for AWS since the company has a significant presence in the country, and it can support GenAI workloads sustainably as the country is seeing investments in clean energy and more efficient data centers.</p>
  381.  
  382.  
  383.  
  384. <p>AWS highlighted, at the recent AWS Summit in Sydney (Australia), that Australia was an important market for the company and that it was optimistic about the potential of GenAI adoption in the country. At the event, AWS also discussed its GenAI strategy. Rivals Microsoft and Google Cloud have been actively promoting their GenAI development through OpenAI and with Google Gemini, respectively, as well as building foundational models to help customers tap GenAI capabilities without building their own. While AWS has its models under the umbrella of Amazon Titan, it emphasizes giving customers their model of choice, including its own and partner models hosted within its cloud environment. This is through Amazon Bedrock, which is a fully managed service. It gives customers the ability to choose from a range of models based on their needs and preferences. They can develop GenAI capabilities and use cases without leaving the AWS environment. So far, AWS has agreements with several AI companies, natural language processing (NLP), and large language model (LLM) specialists, including AI21 Labs, Anthropic, Cohere, Meta, Mistral AI, and Stability AI. The advancement of LLM is happening by leaps and bounds with new startups entering the fray and new versions being announced at an ever-faster pace. The introduction of Anthropic’s Claude 3, Mistral-Large, and Stable Diffusion 3, for example, have drawn global attention, offering even more powerful models and creating new possibilities such as self-awareness and actualization, tier reasoning capabilities, and video generation.</p>
  385.  
  386.  
  387.  
  388. <span id="more-8243"></span>
  389.  
  390.  
  391.  
  392. <p>With a variety of models designed for different needs, AWS’ strategy is to offer Amazon Bedrock as a way for customers to access the latest models on its platform and build AI applications with guardrails to meet their responsible AI framework. The solution also enables users to customize their models with retrieval augmented generation by using their own systems and data. Instead of competing with others to develop models for different needs, AWS is therefore playing to its strength by developing an AI ecosystem within its cloud and offering customers the tools and infrastructure to achieve their business objectives. To support AI training and inference, AWS is investing in infrastructure comprising new hardware (e.g., GPUs, AWS Trainium ML chips), AWS Inferentia accelerators, and Amazon EC2 Capacity Blocks) to deliver the performance and scale required. Moreover, it is developing GenAI-enabled applications that customers can readily deploy. This includes Amazon Q, a GenAI assistant that can be deployed within Amazon Connect (contact center solution) for enhanced customer experience; or within Amazon QuickSight (business intelligence tool) to produce faster, meaningful insights.</p>
  393.  
  394.  
  395.  
  396. <p>At AWS Summit Sydney, the company announced the launch of AWS Bedrock in the Sydney region. This is crucial to drive the adoption of AWS’ GenAI solutions locally by addressing the requirements around latency, data security, and industry-specific regulations. GlobalData believes that GenAI model training will either be performed in the cloud or in a hybrid environment since it is very costly to operate a dedicated AI infrastructure in-house. AWS is therefore well-positioned to capture the GenAI opportunities, particularly with its ability to support computing resources at scale. Australia is also an important market for AWS to prove its GenAI solutions. Australian enterprises have been early adopters of technology and it was ahead of many countries in cloud and mobile adoption over a decade ago. AWS has, for several years, been supporting many startups and cloud-native firms in Australia; and these digital businesses are more ready to explore and implement GenAI-enabled solutions. For example, at AWS Summit, Leonardo AI shared its experience working with AWS to power its AI image generator, allowing it to scale its business quickly – since the launch in December 2022, the company’s users (over 14.7 million) from 189 countries have generated over one billion images for gaming, media, entertainment, and marketing use cases. There is also a strong technology ecosystem in Australia as hyperscalers, global system integrators, application vendors, data center providers, etc. have significant presence in the country.</p>
  397.  
  398.  
  399.  
  400. <p>Moreover, a major challenge for supporting GenAI workloads is the power consumption and the need for efficient, large-scale data centers. As the Australian government is pushing the development of renewable energy, combined with the extensive renewable resources and vast landscape, the country will be able to operate these data centers without compromising on its goals to achieve its net-zero targets. AWS already operates regions in Sydney and Melbourne (Australia) as well as local zones in other cities, and it has an extensive partner ecosystem and customer base. With the launch of Amazon Bedrock in Sydney, the competition for GenAI solutions will start to intensify as many major integrators (also channel partners of AWS and competitors) are building multiple use cases transitioning to some of the first scaled deployments.</p>
  401. ]]></content:encoded>
  403. <wfw:commentRss>https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/05/02/australia-is-the-perfect-market-for-aws-genai-adoption/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  404. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  408. <media:content url="https://2.gravatar.com/avatar/5b925428a4a1fbf07fa267d4cf53eb0532d9a3924475535f4e7fc8fa3e4d183e?s=96&#38;d=https%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
  409. <media:title type="html">siowmeng</media:title>
  410. </media:content>
  411.  
  412. <media:content url="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/siowmengsoh-e1507055270858.jpg?w=100" medium="image" />
  413. </item>
  414. <item>
  415. <title>Generative AI Watch: Small Language Models’ Growing Role in a Multi-Model World</title>
  416. <link>https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/04/30/generative-ai-watch-small-language-models-growing-role-in-a-multi-model-world/</link>
  417. <comments>https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/04/30/generative-ai-watch-small-language-models-growing-role-in-a-multi-model-world/#respond</comments>
  419. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Rena Bhattacharyya]]></dc:creator>
  420. <pubDate>Tue, 30 Apr 2024 21:44:10 +0000</pubDate>
  421. <category><![CDATA[Big Data]]></category>
  422. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://itconnection.wordpress.com/?p=8240</guid>
  423.  
  424. <description><![CDATA[Summary Bullets: As training techniques improve, small language models (SLMs) are becoming more and more accurate, increasing their appeal. The smaller models make sense for simpler tasks; they can work offline and are a good alternative when organizations want to process information close to the source of collection. The generative AI (GenAI) landscape has been &#8230; <a href="https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/04/30/generative-ai-watch-small-language-models-growing-role-in-a-multi-model-world/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Generative AI Watch: Small Language Models’ Growing Role in a Multi-Model&#160;World</span></a>]]></description>
  425. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><figure data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_4653" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-4653" style="width: 100px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/bhattacharyya-100143.jpg"><img loading="lazy" data-attachment-id="4653" data-permalink="https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2018/01/31/new-capabilities-not-cost-savings-are-biggest-driver-of-ai-adoption/bhattacharyya-100143/" data-orig-file="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/bhattacharyya-100143.jpg" data-orig-size="100,143" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="bhattacharyya-100143" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="&lt;p&gt;R. Bhattacharyya&lt;/p&gt;
  426. " data-medium-file="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/bhattacharyya-100143.jpg?w=100" data-large-file="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/bhattacharyya-100143.jpg?w=100" class="size-full wp-image-4653" src="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/bhattacharyya-100143.jpg" alt="" width="100" height="143" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-4653" class="wp-caption-text">R. Bhattacharyya</figcaption></figure></p>
  427. <p>Summary Bullets:</p>
  428. <ul>
  429. <li>As training techniques improve, small language models (SLMs) are becoming more and more accurate, increasing their appeal.</li>
  430. <li>The smaller models make sense for simpler tasks; they can work offline and are a good alternative when organizations want to process information close to the source of collection.</li>
  431. </ul>
  432. <p>The generative AI (GenAI) landscape has been evolving at breakneck speed since OpenAI exploded onto the scene in late 2022.  And despite the numerous new GenAI solutions and product enhancements already brought to market in the last 18 months, momentum around natural language processing (NLP) shows no signs of slowing down. The latest buzz worth paying attention to is around SLMs, which offer capabilities similar to large language models (LLMs) but require far less training data and processing power.  Easier to adopt, less expensive to run, and with a smaller carbon footprint, these models hold the potential to further accelerate the already rapid pace of GenAI adoption.</p>
  433. <p><span id="more-8240"></span></p>
  434. <p>Last week saw announcements of new SLMs from two major AI platform providers.  Microsoft announced the Phi-3 family of small language models, which includes the Phi-3-mini (3.8 billion parameters), the Phi-3-small (7 billion parameters), and the Phi-3-medium (14 billion parameters).  A few days later H2O.ai released an upgraded foundational model, H2O-Dunabe2 (1.8 billion parameters) and a model for chat-specific use cases, the H2O Danube2 Chat. (For comparison, Open AI’s Chat GPT-3 contains 175 billion parameters and Chat GPT-4 and Gemini 1.0 Ultra are rumored to contain over one trillion.) The Phi-3 and H2O-Danube models are by no means the only SLMs are the market; they are just the latest to make an appearance in the increasingly crowded GenAI arena. For example, Google released Gemini Nano-1 (1.8 billion parameters) and Gemini Nano-2 (with 3.25 billion parameters) at the end of 2023.</p>
  435. <p>&nbsp;</p>
  436. <p>As training techniques improve, smaller models with fewer parameters are becoming more and more accurate, increasing their appeal.  SLMs can be more easily trained and fine-tuned, making them an attractive option for companies that want to customize a language model.  Additionally, since they utilize far less computing power than an LLM, they don’t require a massive investment in expensive infrastructure, and are therefore a much more feasible option for on-premises, at the edge, or on device deployments. They can summarize documents, surface key insights from text, and create sales or marketing content. The smaller models make sense for simpler tasks, can work offline, and are a good alternative when organizations want to process information close to the source of collection, for example if they are building applications that require low latency or if they prefer to keep their data on-premises. In contrast, LLMs are ideal for applications that involve orchestration of multiple tasks or that need to excel at advanced reasoning and analysis. However, they necessitate a massive amount of infrastructure to host, and therefore generally require organizations to move their data to a third party that is running the model.</p>
  437. <p>&nbsp;</p>
  438. <p>Even though most organizations are starting their GenAI journey with OpenAI (often via Azure) at present, many will likely begin to explore alternative models before long. Some companies have noted that Azure costs are rising, which may prompt them to explore other options.  Additionally, organizations have reported that the limit on the number of query requests that can be performed by OpenAI’s models in a given time period is holding them back from expanding deployments of GenAI.  For many organizations, the future will likely be a multi-model and hybrid-model environment. Some applications, possibly those that are customer facing, will require one or more LLMs hosted on the cloud, whereas other applications will perform well with SLMs that are locally hosted.  Finally, companies would be wise to diversify and to not place all their eggs in one basket. The GenAI market is young and constantly has new entrants.  As it matures, there will be inevitable product withdrawal, startup failures, and of course consolidation via merger and acquisition. Diversification is a smart strategy at this point in regard to long term availability and performance optimization, plus it allows enterprises to exert pricing pressure via competition.</p>
  439. ]]></content:encoded>
  441. <wfw:commentRss>https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/04/30/generative-ai-watch-small-language-models-growing-role-in-a-multi-model-world/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  442. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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  447. <media:title type="html">itcblog2013rbhattacharyya</media:title>
  448. </media:content>
  449.  
  450. <media:content url="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/bhattacharyya-100143.jpg" medium="image" />
  451. </item>
  452. <item>
  453. <title>IBM Extends its Automation and Multi-Cloud Management Game with $6.4 Billion Bid to Buy HashiCorp</title>
  454. <link>https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/04/30/ibm-extends-its-automation-and-multi-cloud-management-game-with-6-4-billion-bid-to-buy-hashicorp/</link>
  455. <comments>https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/04/30/ibm-extends-its-automation-and-multi-cloud-management-game-with-6-4-billion-bid-to-buy-hashicorp/#respond</comments>
  457. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Amy Larsen DeCarlo]]></dc:creator>
  458. <pubDate>Tue, 30 Apr 2024 18:36:01 +0000</pubDate>
  459. <category><![CDATA[Cloud Enable]]></category>
  460. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://itconnection.wordpress.com/?p=8237</guid>
  461.  
  462. <description><![CDATA[Summary Bullets: • IBM’s pending deal to acquire HashiCorp, with its Terraform infrastructure-as-code software platform, gives the company a popular cloud configuration toolset. • The buy isn’t a slam dunk; HashiCorp has struggled to make money from its formerly open-source software. One of the issues organizations struggle with is efficiently setting up and managing their &#8230; <a href="https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/04/30/ibm-extends-its-automation-and-multi-cloud-management-game-with-6-4-billion-bid-to-buy-hashicorp/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">IBM Extends its Automation and Multi-Cloud Management Game with $6.4 Billion Bid to Buy&#160;HashiCorp</span></a>]]></description>
  463. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="wp-block-image">
  464. <figure class="alignright size-full"><a href="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/decarlo-70100.jpg"><img data-attachment-id="300" data-permalink="https://itconnection.wordpress.com/about/decarlo-70100/" data-orig-file="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/decarlo-70100.jpg" data-orig-size="70,100" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}" data-image-title="decarlo-70100" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="&lt;p&gt;Amy Larsen DeCarlo &#8211; Principal Analyst, Security and Data Center Services&lt;/p&gt;
  465. " data-medium-file="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/decarlo-70100.jpg?w=70" data-large-file="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/decarlo-70100.jpg?w=70" src="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/decarlo-70100.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-300" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Amy Larsen DeCarlo &#8211; Principal Analyst, Security and Data Center Services</figcaption></figure></div>
  466.  
  467.  
  468. <p>Summary Bullets:</p>
  469.  
  470.  
  471.  
  472. <p>• IBM’s pending deal to acquire HashiCorp, with its Terraform infrastructure-as-code software platform, gives the company a popular cloud configuration toolset.</p>
  473.  
  474.  
  475.  
  476. <p>• The buy isn’t a slam dunk; HashiCorp has struggled to make money from its formerly open-source software.</p>
  477.  
  478.  
  479.  
  480. <p>One of the issues organizations struggle with is efficiently setting up and managing their multi-cloud environments. Last week, IBM announced plans to acquire Hashicorp, a vendor with a Terraform platform the company says can help IBM clients do that. HashiCorp’s catalog includes infrastructure lifecycle management and security lifecycle management solutions enterprises can use to automate hybrid and multi-cloud environments. This will extend IBM’s automation and multi-cloud management product set, which it delivers through the Red Hat subsidiary.</p>
  481.  
  482.  
  483.  
  484. <span id="more-8237"></span>
  485.  
  486.  
  487.  
  488. <p>When IBM executives were questioned about any potential overlap between HashiCorp’s solution set and Red Hat’s offerings, the executives said they were distinctly different capabilities. HashiCorp delivers a record for workflows necessary for hybrid and multi-cloud deployments. The company’s flagship Terraform is popular with enterprises looking to automate cloud infrastructure provisioning, which is more closely associated with the initial cloud migration. IBM executives said Red Hat’s Ansible software suite is more closely associated with ongoing cloud management.The acquisition follows IBM’s $4.6 billion deal to buy cloud financial management vendor Apptio in August 2023. The combined automation and management solutions could give IBM a bigger edge as organizations try to optimize both the performance of their multi-cloud infrastructures and the cost-efficiency of these environments.However, big questions loom as HashiCorp has grappled with turning Terraform into a money maker. To this end, in 2023, HashiCorp moved Terraform from an open source to a business source license model. Not surprisingly, this was not a popular move among developers and partners.There are questions about how IBM might change Terraform’s licensing model. And OpenTofu, an open-source fork of Terraform, could also undercut Terraform’s sales.The hope is that with the sales and technology development support, HashiCorp will be able to expand its revenues and profits. Like Red Hat, when the acquisition closes later in 2024, HashiCorp will operate as a standalone subsidiary.</p>
  489. ]]></content:encoded>
  491. <wfw:commentRss>https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/04/30/ibm-extends-its-automation-and-multi-cloud-management-game-with-6-4-billion-bid-to-buy-hashicorp/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  492. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  496. <media:content url="https://2.gravatar.com/avatar/ba853eb7204f18043ebcbdb9c009166b95f966fce4a9074fc10bdd3c940dfc2e?s=96&#38;d=https%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
  497. <media:title type="html">adecarlo</media:title>
  498. </media:content>
  499.  
  500. <media:content url="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/decarlo-70100.jpg" medium="image" />
  501. </item>
  502. <item>
  503. <title>UK Telcos Mark World Earth Day</title>
  504. <link>https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/04/22/uk-telcos-mark-world-earth-day/</link>
  505. <comments>https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/04/22/uk-telcos-mark-world-earth-day/#respond</comments>
  507. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Rob Pritchard]]></dc:creator>
  508. <pubDate>Mon, 22 Apr 2024 14:49:08 +0000</pubDate>
  509. <category><![CDATA[Communicate]]></category>
  510. <category><![CDATA[IT Leader]]></category>
  511. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://itconnection.wordpress.com/?p=8234</guid>
  512.  
  513. <description><![CDATA[Summary Bullets: • UK telcos are using Earth Day to launch new climate change and circular economy initiatives for all types of customers from consumers to businesses. • Selling benefits like cost savings and guaranteeing refurbished equipment alongside providing emissions reduction training, advice, and tools enable further sustainability progress. April 22, 2024 marks Earth Day, &#8230; <a href="https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/04/22/uk-telcos-mark-world-earth-day/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">UK Telcos Mark World Earth&#160;Day</span></a>]]></description>
  514. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="wp-block-image">
  515. <figure class="alignright size-large"><a href="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2021/07/r-pritchard-071521.png"><img loading="lazy" width="133" height="137" data-attachment-id="6636" data-permalink="https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2021/11/09/vodafones-successful-partnership-strategy/r-pritchard-071521/" data-orig-file="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2021/07/r-pritchard-071521.png" data-orig-size="133,137" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="R-Pritchard 071521" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="&lt;p&gt;R. Pritchard&lt;/p&gt;
  516. " data-medium-file="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2021/07/r-pritchard-071521.png?w=133" data-large-file="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2021/07/r-pritchard-071521.png?w=133" src="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2021/07/r-pritchard-071521.png?w=133" alt="" class="wp-image-6636" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">R. Pritchard</figcaption></figure></div>
  517.  
  518.  
  519. <p>Summary Bullets:</p>
  520.  
  521.  
  522.  
  523. <p>• UK telcos are using Earth Day to launch new climate change and circular economy initiatives for all types of customers from consumers to businesses.</p>
  524.  
  525.  
  526.  
  527. <p>• Selling benefits like cost savings and guaranteeing refurbished equipment alongside providing emissions reduction training, advice, and tools enable further sustainability progress.</p>
  528.  
  529.  
  530.  
  531. <p>April 22, 2024 marks Earth Day, which highlights the importance of protecting the environment. The impact of climate change is becoming more of a daily event worldwide as evidenced by reports of unprecedented flooding in Dubai (UAE) and Guangdong (China) in just the past seven days. Telcos in the UK are using Earth Day to launch and re-emphasize initiatives and programs they are undertaking to address the challenge of CO2 reduction.</p>
  532.  
  533.  
  534.  
  535. <span id="more-8234"></span>
  536.  
  537.  
  538.  
  539. <p>BT has announced a partnership with the UK Business Climate Hub (UKBCH) to help UK SMBs to halve their CO2 emissions by 2030 and to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, having estimated that they account for 44% of non-household emissions. BT claims nine out of 10 SMBs “would like to address climate change” &#8211; but find it challenging to get started and identify the right tools to mitigate their environmental impact.</p>
  540.  
  541.  
  542.  
  543. <p>BT is offering free tools and support to SMBs to achieve net-zero emissions. It is also offering advice on how to reduce carbon emissions, save on energy bills, create tailored net-zero business plans, use free carbon footprint calculators, and access online training courses on cutting emissions.<br>Vodafone is using Earth Day to encourage customers to engage with the circular economy, which is focused on the benefits of adopting a ‘reduce, reuse, refurbish’ mindset, noting that 45% of UK consumers consider the impact on the climate before making new purchases. Vodafone also notes that, over the last year, it saw an 85% increase in sales or refurbished devices.</p>
  544.  
  545.  
  546.  
  547. <p>Research by Vodafone has found 27% of Brits select refurbished devices for environmental benefits, and 42% for cost savings. However, 30% would not consider a refurbished device over concerns over poor battery life (64%), phone longevity (57%), and fears devices might be faulty (56%). To combat this, Vodafone’s ‘Lifetime Service Promise’ means every new and refurbished phone comes with ‘Battery Refresh’ and ‘Lifetime Warranty.’</p>
  548.  
  549.  
  550.  
  551. <p>Virgin Media O2 is marking Earth Day with a deal for O2 customers, offering a GBP50 credit when they buy a ‘like new’ refurbished handset (although only from April 18, 2024 to May 1, 2024, so not a sustained effort). The goal is “to drive the circular economy and give unwanted phones a new life.”</p>
  552.  
  553.  
  554.  
  555. <p>Earth Day is an obvious PR vehicle, but service providers would be foolish to not try to take advantage. Better positioned as a launchpad for long-term commitments to tackling the climate crisis, offerings go beyond the fatal ‘greenwashing’ accusation when they demonstrate a measurable benefit in terms of CO2 emissions reduction. Combining the sustainability message and goals with practical advantages such as cash savings and reliability guarantees only serves to underline the positive steps every business, large or small, and every consumer can make in tackling the climate crisis.</p>
  556. ]]></content:encoded>
  558. <wfw:commentRss>https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/04/22/uk-telcos-mark-world-earth-day/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  559. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  563. <media:content url="https://2.gravatar.com/avatar/b1f19414314b51457f5e91f5ca834b469346c9a6b1b3c3e55406d09703eff4ec?s=96&#38;d=https%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
  564. <media:title type="html">robertpritchardglobaldatacom</media:title>
  565. </media:content>
  566.  
  567. <media:content url="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2021/07/r-pritchard-071521.png?w=133" medium="image" />
  568. </item>
  569. <item>
  570. <title>Enterprise IoT Platform Enhancements Enrich Usability, Security, and Application Breadth</title>
  571. <link>https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/04/17/enterprise-iot-platform-enhancements-enrich-usability-security-and-application-breadth/</link>
  572. <comments>https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/04/17/enterprise-iot-platform-enhancements-enrich-usability-security-and-application-breadth/#respond</comments>
  574. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Kitty Weldon]]></dc:creator>
  575. <pubDate>Wed, 17 Apr 2024 16:51:20 +0000</pubDate>
  576. <category><![CDATA[Internet of Things]]></category>
  577. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://itconnection.wordpress.com/?p=8230</guid>
  578.  
  579. <description><![CDATA[Summary Bullets: • IoT platform vendor dropouts were in the news in 2023, suggesting not only consolidation but reduced demand and profitability concerns. • While hyperscalers remain leaders, industrial stalwarts such as PTC, Software AG, and Siemens are still innovating and enhancing platforms with security, easy of use, and integration with adjacent products in their &#8230; <a href="https://itconnection.wordpress.com/2024/04/17/enterprise-iot-platform-enhancements-enrich-usability-security-and-application-breadth/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Enterprise IoT Platform Enhancements Enrich Usability, Security, and Application&#160;Breadth</span></a>]]></description>
  580. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="wp-block-image">
  581. <figure class="alignright size-full"><a href="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/kweldon-70100.jpg"><img data-attachment-id="303" data-permalink="https://itconnection.wordpress.com/about/kweldon-70100/" data-orig-file="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/kweldon-70100.jpg" data-orig-size="70,100" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}" data-image-title="kweldon-70100" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="&lt;p&gt;Kathryn Weldon &#8211; Research Director, Business Network and IT Services &#8211; Americas&lt;/p&gt;
  582. " data-medium-file="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/kweldon-70100.jpg?w=70" data-large-file="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/kweldon-70100.jpg?w=70" src="https://itconnection.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/kweldon-70100.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-303" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Kathryn Weldon &#8211; Research Director, Business Network and IT Services &#8211; Americas</figcaption></figure></div>
  583.  
  584.  
  585. <p>Summary Bullets:</p>
  586.  
  587.  
  588.  
  589. <p>• IoT platform vendor dropouts were in the news in 2023, suggesting not only consolidation but reduced demand and profitability concerns.</p>
  590.  
  591.  
  592.  
  593. <p>• While hyperscalers remain leaders, industrial stalwarts such as PTC, Software AG, and Siemens are still innovating and enhancing platforms with security, easy of use, and integration with adjacent products in their portfolios.</p>
  594.  
  595.  
  596.  
  597. <p>Over the last year, the most compelling changes in the market for enterprise IoT platforms were the dropping out of key vendors including Google Cloud IoT (in August 2023), presumably based on lack of revenues/profitability; the decommissioning of most services from SAP’s IoT PaaS offering, announced at end-2023; and IBM’s winding down of its Watson IoT platform service in December 2023, with IBM focusing instead on offering IoT capabilities via its hybrid cloud solutions and software. In addition to these dropouts of platforms, which focused on IoT application enablement, products focused on connectivity and device management, such as the Ericsson IoT Connectivity platform, changed hands, having been sold to IoT MVNO and platform vendor Aeris. Some of the other original leaders have also marginalized their IoT offerings, embedding them in vertical solutions, or combining IoT with big data and AI tools, positioning IoT primarily as a data collection enabler. Industrial stalwarts Software AG and Siemens, however, are becoming innovators in this market, with good reviews for functionality, vertical solutions, and contributions to positive ROI.</p>
  598.  
  599.  
  600.  
  601. <span id="more-8230"></span>
  602.  
  603.  
  604.  
  605. <p>The following announcements from remaining vendors highlight the kinds of add-ons to their portfolios, focusing on security, easier onboarding, user interface enhancements, integration with adjacent products and services, re-branding/re-positioning, and expanded go-to-market.</p>
  606.  
  607.  
  608.  
  609. <p><strong>2023 IoT Platform Announcements</strong><br><strong>Amazon Web Services (AWS)</strong>&nbsp;AWS IoT Core added self-managed client certificate signing for mobile device fleet provisioning. This allows customers to integrate with an external certificate authority, its own public key infrastructure, or services such as AWS Private CA, to sign certificate signing requests when provisioning device fleets. This provides flexibility to meet specific security requirements. In addition, AWS IoT FleetWise announced support for vehicle vision system data collection to collect metadata, object list and detection data, and images or videos from camera, lidar, radar, and other vision sub-systems. This builds upon existing AWS IoT FleetWise capabilities that enable customers to extract value and context from their data to build vehicles that are more connected and convenient.</p>
  610.  
  611.  
  612.  
  613. <p><strong>Microsoft</strong>&nbsp;announced a public preview of its Azure IoT Operations, enabled by Azure Arc. Arc-enabled services help organizations onboard assets, capture insights, and take actions to scale digital transformation of physical operations. Azure IoT Operations provides a unified, enterprise-wide technology architecture and data plane that supports repeatable solution deployment and AI-enhanced decision making.</p>
  614.  
  615.  
  616.  
  617. <p><strong>PTC</strong>&nbsp;reported fiscal year (FY) 2023 annual recurring revenue of $1.9 billion, up 26% YoY. It noted that IoT continued to thrive as the third highest bookings driver at the company. The retiring CEO further noted that in FY2023, Microsoft named PTC its ‘IoT and Manufacturing Partner of the Year’; Nucleus Research and Quadrant’s Spark Matrix named PTC the leader in IoT platforms; and LNS Research placed PTC in the leader position for Connected Frontline Worker. PTC further announced that integration of the PTC ThingWorx IoT platform with other PTC products is gaining traction. PTC ThingWorx Navigate supports PTC Windchill on the PTC Atlas platform, and PTC is beginning to integrate its Windchill PLM, Windchill MPM, ThingWorx Navigate, and ThingWorx Connected Work Cell. PTC can now enable a continuous closed-loop digital thread from engineering to manufacturing.</p>
  618.  
  619.  
  620.  
  621. <p>Two years after the <strong>Siemens</strong> re-branding/transition of its MindSphere IIoT platform into Siemens Insights Hub, Siemens announced in April 2023 that its Insights Hub is now a part of the Siemens Xcelerator platform, its open digital business platform featuring a curated portfolio of IoT-connected hardware and software, ecosystem of partners, and a marketplace. In addition, its combined IoT capabilities are now elements of its Industrial Operations X, Siemens vision for the fusion of IT and OT, featuring a modular portfolio of IoT and edge solutions, low-code platform, and manufacturing capabilities.</p>
  622.  
  623.  
  624.  
  625. <p>The&nbsp;<strong>Software AG</strong>&nbsp;Cumulocity IoT platform was made available ‘as-a-service’ for international customers in China through Tencent Cloud. Customers can connect and manage their devices in China as part of their device fleets, providing a single view of all assets globally. The offering includes local partners being able to publish the services and manage compliance to fulfill regulatory requirements. In addition, Software AG Cumulocity IoT’s latest release of its ‘Cockpit’ dashboard enhanced the user experience and made it easier to develop and manage IoT solutions. An updated color scheme was added, with usability and accessibility improvements for screen readers, keyboards, and user settings. Asset hierarchies defined in ‘Digital Twin Manager’ and device smart groups can now also be analyzed using ‘Analytics Builder’ to perform aggregation analysis such as averaging humidity across devices.</p>
  626. ]]></content:encoded>
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If you would like to create a text link instead, here is the URL you can use:

http://www.feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A//itcblogs.currentanalysis.com/feed/

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