Photo by Allef Vinicius on Unsplash
A week after news broke that Google will likely be under anti-trust investigation, the company announced it plans to acquire data analytics company Looker. I am curious if the Justice Department’s activity will impact this acquisition (Google isn’t doing so well in cloud hosting).
Microsoft and Oracle are teaming up to weaken cloud leader Amazon. Azure will now support some of Oracle’s database products, which should lead to quicker cloud migration for (formerly) on-prem applications.
FedEx is ending their priority shipping relationship with Amazon. Amazon has been building out their own shipping and logistic services for years and FedEx was tired of the customer/competitor dynamic.
Acquisitions/Investments
- Google to Acquire Data Analytics Firm Looker for $2.6 Billion
The Alphabet Inc. unit unveiled a deal on Thursday to acquire Looker, a business-intelligence software and big- data analytics platform, for $2.6 billion in cash. The two companies were well acquainted; Alphabet earlier invested in Looker through its venture-capital arm CapitalG.
The move indicates Google will continue to pour resources into its Google Cloud division as it remains far behind rivals Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp in cloud computing. The area is a priority of Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai, who replaced the unit’s head, Diane Greene, with ex- Oracle executive Thomas Kurian earlier this year. Analysts have long speculated an acquisition as likely.
- German Chip Maker Infineon Buys U.S. Rival in $9.4 Billion Deal
German chip maker Infineon IFNNY 0.18% Technologies AG has agreed to acquire Cypress Semiconductor Corp. CY 0.23% for €8.4 billion ($9.4 billion), the latest in a series of transactions reshaping the industry.
Infineon shares fell 8.1% to €14.79 on Monday, as analysts questioned whether the company was overpaying for Cypress, especially as global economic fears roil markets. Infineon itself cut its full-year targets in March due to the uncertainty, including a slowdown in the Chinese car market.
- The Fiat Chrysler-Renault merger is dead over suboptimal ‘political conditions’
FCA confirmed to TechCrunch that it has withdrawn its offer, largely due to political conditions.
“FCA remains firmly convinced of the compelling, transformational rationale of a proposal that has been widely appreciated since it was submitted, the structure and terms of which were carefully balanced to deliver substantial benefits to all parties,” according to a company statement provided to TechCrunch. “However, it has become clear that the political conditions in France do not currently exist for such a combination to proceed successfully.”
Artificial Intelligence
- Germ-detecting AI and virtual farms: How tech will revolutionize food across the globe in the next 5 years
AI sensors installed in mobile phones and other portable devices will allow the detection of food-borne pathogens wherever they may appear.
With this sort of tech, we’ll easily be able, for example, to detect the presence of E. coli or Salmonella in food and to prevent outbreaks. According to IBM: “Mobile bacteria sensors could dramatically increase the speed of a pathogen test from days to second.”
https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-virtual-farms-to-revolutionise-diets-across-the-globe-2019-6
Cloud
- The Google Outage Highlights the Perils of a Centralized Internet
Sunday’s issues once again highlighted how fragile the modern internet really is, and how reliant we are on Amazon (AWS), Microsoft (Azure), and Google (Google Cloud), who collectively dominate the $70 billion cloud computing market.
The outage also again showcased that however carefully engineers may plan, having a centralized point of failure will inevitably cause headaches—especially when you’ve trusted your entire backend computing power or storage to just one company.
- Microsoft (MSFT) Ups Ante in Cloud With Oracle Partnership
Through this partnership, Oracle will support its software which includes Oracle’s Autonomous Database on Microsoft’s Azure services, comprising AI and analytics capabilities. Meanwhile, Microsoft will offer Oracle’s software to its Windows Azure customers. Further, Oracle will make its software available to Microsoft’s cloud computing customers.
For instance, customers can now run Oracle software and other applications including Oracle E-Business Suite on Azure. Further, Oracle applications are enabled to utilize Azure Active Directory.
This flexibility is expected to accelerate digital transformation of business database to public cloud platforms significantly. Overall, the partnership is aimed at providing direct and secure network connectivity, and fast data exchange between the two cloud platforms.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/microsoft-msft-ups-ante-cloud-142502667.html
Security/Privacy
- U.S. Cities Strain to Fight Hackers
Municipalities in general are less prepared than companies due to limited resources and difficulty competing for cybersecurity talent, security professionals say. They are also increasingly reliant on technology to deliver city services and some have aging computer systems, according to Standard & Poor’s.
Ransomware attacks often start when an employee opens a link or an attachment in a phishing email. Hackers can also exploit vulnerabilities in a security system. The ransomware then blocks files the cyberattackers say they will unlock in return for a payment, typically in bitcoin.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-cities-strain-to-fight-hackers-11559899800
- Microsoft deletes massive face recognition database
Microsoft has deleted a massive database of 10 million images which was being used to train facial recognition systems, the Financial Times reports. The database was released in 2016 and was built of online images of 100,000 well-known people.
The database is believed to have been used to train a system operated by police forces and the military.The deletion comes after Microsoft called on US politicians to do a better job of regulating recognition systems.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-48555149
Microsoft Deleted a Massive Facial Recognition Database, But It’s Not Dead“Despite the recent termination of the msceleb.org website, the dataset still exists in several repositories on GitHub, the hard drives of countless researchers, and will likely continue to be used in research projects around the world,” Harvey wrote on Megapixels. A facial recognition challenge this year at Imperial College London plans to use a variant of the MS-Celeb-1M database, and offers download links.
- Google is reportedly arguing that cutting Huawei off from Android threatens US security
Because Huawei phones are already banned in the US, understanding how Google is making that case that a forked version of Android being sold elsewhere in the world is a serious threat to US national security might seem like a bit of a jump. Although the Financial Times’ sources don’t explicitly lay out Google’s argument, it’s not difficult to imagine how it would go.
https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/7/18656163/google-huawei-android-security-ban-claims
Infrastructure/Hardware
- Infinidat Announces Data Rescue Program for IBM Storage Customers
“IBM created the high-end storage market, but aside from its commitment to storage for z/OS mainframes, layoffs at their Tel Aviv development center and their lack of architectural innovation together show an apparent lack of commitment to the open systems storage market,” said Stan Zaffos, Senior Vice President at Infinidat. “The company’s reliance on obsolescent storage architectures and their willingness to lay off developers, most recently its XIV and A9000 developers, has left many IBM storage customers searching for an exit strategy.”
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As part of the program, every IBM customer, globally, with an active support contract for A9000/R, XIV, or other IBM storage solutions, is eligible for no-cost data migration to InfiniBox. The InfiniBox FLX program provides ultra-high performance, simple pay-as-you-go pricing, a 100% availability guarantee, and free total hardware refresh every three years – for life. For customers wishing to purchase the storage, Infinidat also offers a Capacity-on-Demand CapEx model to purchase what you use as you need it. To further mitigate risk, Infinidat will also provide the data migration services to InfiniBox or InfiniBox FLX at no charge for most installations.https://finance.yahoo.com/news/infinidat-announces-data-rescue-program-120000975.html
Other
- Google Gets Ready for Legal Fight as U.S. Mulls an Antitrust Probe
Google’s competitors are pressing antitrust enforcers to look far and wide at the company’s practices. Perhaps the most common complaint against Google around the world in recent years is that it uses its search engine to privilege its own content at the expense of its competitors’.
For example, it created new design features like the “knowledge graph,” which populates the boxes that appear at the top of search, often answering a query without requiring the user to click through to another website. In March, 62% of Google searches on mobile were “no-click” searches, according to research firm Jumpshot. Google has argued that if consumers don’t find the rearranged content useful, they won’t click on it.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/google-gets-ready-for-legal-fight-as-u-s-weighs-an-antitrust-probe-11559521581
Google appeals $1.7BN EU AdSense antitrust fineThe AdSense antitrust decision is the third fine for Google under the Commission’s current antitrust chief, Margrethe Vestager — who also issued a $5BN penalty for anti-competitive behaviors attached to Android last summer; following a $2.7BN fine for Google Shopping antitrust violations, in mid 2017.
Google is appealing both earlier penalties but has also made changes to how it operates Google Shopping and Android in Europe in the meanwhile, to avoid the risk of further punitive penalties.
https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/05/google-appeals-1-7bn-eu-adsense-antitrust-fine/
- FedEx Says It’s Ending Express Shipping Service for Amazon
Friday’s move also reflects how Amazon has gone from simply a sought-after customer to a direct competitor of FedEx. As Amazon has built its own delivery capacity through a fleet of airplanes and same-day couriers, the internet giant has been able to ship more of its products on its own and control its costs. That has put FedEx in an untenable position of essentially competing with Amazon for Amazon’s own business.
FedEx is betting on other retailers, which are expanding their e-commerce businesses but still need shipping companies to help them fulfill their express orders. FedEx said e-commerce was expected to double to 100 million packages a day in the United States by 2026.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/07/business/fedex-amazon-express-delivery.html
- IRS Wins Again in Closely Watched Intel Tax Case
The case involves what is known as share-based compensation and where it should be deducted as a business expense. The IRS wrote a regulation that required companies to deduct more of it abroad as opposed to deducting it in the U.S. Especially before the 2017 federal-tax overhaul that lowered corporate rates, companies had an incentive to claim those deductions against the higher U.S. tax rate—and thus pack more of their profits into low-taxed foreign jurisdictions.
“We disagree with the Tax Court that the 2003 regulations are arbitrary and capricious,” wrote Chief Judge Sidney Thomas, who was appointed by President Clinton. “While the rulemaking process was less than ideal, the [law] does not require perfection.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/irs-wins-again-in-closely-watched-intel-tax-case-11559928738
- Not Your Daddy’s Regulation: Tech Giants Face A Complicated Reckoning In Washington
Amazon is ferociously aggressive in many of its business lines, yet it faces fierce competition in nearly all of them. There’s Amazon.com vs. Walmart, Whole Foods vs. the broader grocery industry, AWS vs. Microsoft Azure, Amazon Echo vs. Google Home.
With such a diverse set of businesses, Amazon will make it hard for regulators to reign in the “bigness” many are hoping it will tackle. Amazon and its fellow tech giants are nothing like the Bell Telephone Company or Standard Oil, which grew dominant by finding a core advantage and defending it at all costs. They have instead built their empires through continual reinvention, and they are far more nimble than their corporate predecessors. Regulators will therefore have to comb through each business line, consider the market dynamics in each, and toe the line between policing anti-competitive behavior and picking winners and losers.