IBM was in the news this week for (mostly) all the right reasons… they bought a company and they developed an argumentative AI. Can this breakthrough actually bring in money for Big Blue?
Oracle reported decent earnings this quarter, but their stock still took a hit. In the following days, many articles highlighted that Oracle is combining certain sales metrics to hide the exact number of cloud sales happening (vs. legacy software).
Amazon shareholders are begging the company not to move forward with providing law enforcement facial recognition software that has been in development citing potential civil rights violations.
Acquisitions
- IBM acquires Oniqua to bolster its Industrial IoT business
Founded in 2000, Qniqua is a global innovator in Maintenance Repair and Operations (MRO) Inventory Optimization solutions and services focused on mining, oil & gas, transportation, utilities, manufacturing and other asset-intensive industries. Qniqua’s focus is on helping asset-intensive companies reduce costs and eliminate waste through advanced analytics and value services. It’s our pursuit and our passion, and one that every Oniqua employee is committed to delivering.
https://techstartups.com/2018/06/15/ibm-acquires-oniqua-bolster-industrial-iot-business/
- The court’s decision to let AT&T and Time Warner merge is ridiculously bad
But neither Facebook nor Google owns the ultimate distribution layer of the consumer connection to the internet. They aren’t the world’s largest telecom company. Neither is Netflix or Amazon or any of the other companies AT&T and Time Warner are afraid of. (Yes, I know Google owns Google Fiber, but that has been more failure than success.)
Tech companies might have vertically integrated the creation and production of content with consumer-facing apps and services, but they all depend on internet connections to reach their audiences. And those connections are increasingly wireless. AT&T and Time Warner aren’t trying to catch up to Netflix by merging; they’re trying to step ahead of them in line by marrying Time Warner’s content to AT&T’s network.
https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/15/17468612/att-time-warner-acquisition-court-decision
- AT&T in Talks to Acquire AppNexus for About $1.6 Billion
Acquiring AppNexus would advance AT&T’s ambitions to build a robust advertising business. AppNexus operates one of the largest online ad exchanges, automated marketplaces that allow advertisers to buy space across thousands of websites, targeting their desired audiences.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/at-t-in-talks-to-acquire-appnexus-for-about-1-6-billion-1529464400
- Microsoft is buying AI startup, Bonsai
The company specializes in reinforcement learning, a kind of trial and error approach to teach a system within the confines of a simulation. That learning can be used to train autonomous systems to complete specific tasks. Microsoft says the acquisition will serve to forward the kind of research the company has been pursuing in the field by leveraging its Azure cloud platform.
https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/20/microsoft-is-buying-a-ai-startup-bonsai/
Artificial Intelligence
- IBM Watson Health downsizes its work with hospitals
IBM Watson Health leadership reportedly told employees June 13 it plans to refocus its business strategy, which includes cutting down on its work with hospital clients, according to STAT.
Because of changes to the ACA, hospitals aren’t as willing to spend resources managing their pay-for-performance contracts, executives told employees, although they did not specify which changes to the law are affecting the shift in IBM’s strategy. STAT suggested the main driver could be some of the changes the Trump administration made to the law’s reimbursement models.
- IBM Unveils System That ‘Debates’ With Humans
IBM’s system was designed to debate about 100 topics, but these interactions are tightly constrained: a four-minute opening statement followed by a rebuttal to its opponent’s argument — and then a statement summing up its own viewpoint. It was not exactly Lincoln v. Douglas.
Subsidized space exploration, the machine said during its opening statement, “inspires our children to pursue education and careers in science and technology and mathematics.”
Noam Slonim, an IBM researcher who helped oversee the project, estimated that the technology could have a “meaningful” debate on those 100 topics 40 percent of the time. IBM chose the topic for the live debate before it began. In some cases, the machine’s lengthy speeches hinted at how it was stitching together its arguments — identifying relevant sentences and clauses and then combining them into a reasonably coherent, computerized thought.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/18/technology/ibm-debater-artificial-intelligence.html
This is cute IBM… I want to read an article about IBM actually selling some of this awesome argumentative ai technology to a paying customer. Time to get out of the lab!
Cloud
- Oracle’s Cloud Thickens
The corporate software giant said late Tuesday that revenues from its cloud services businesses jumped 25% year over year to $1.7 billion for its fiscal fourth quarter that ended May 31. That was better than the 19% to 23% rise the company projected three months ago—a projection so disappointing that it took Oracle’s stock price down 8% in response. Cloud revenues are now significant, making up nearly 16% of the company’s total for the last fiscal year compared with just 8% two years ago. Overall revenue for the quarter rose a much more modest 3.3% to $11.3 billion, though it should also be noted that Oracle ended its fiscal year with its best annual growth rate in seven years.
The problem is that the business that was the main engine of Oracle’s recent growth will be harder to analyze in the future. Oracle changed its reporting structure so that results from the closely watched cloud segment are now folded into the much larger unit that includes software license updates and support for Oracle’s older, legacy software business. That business grows at a much slower rate. The company says the change is necessitated by its new practice of selling software licenses that cover both traditional software and cloud offerings.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/oracles-cloud-thickens-1529506558
Security
- French media plan to meet with government over Google-GDPR concerns
The impact of Google’s GDPR approach were felt across Europe as soon as it took effect. In France, volume demand dropped by as much as 50 percent for some independent ad tech vendors, while some publishers’ programmatic ad revenues dropped 70 percent, according to Gié. Google moved quickly to rectify the issue, with the result that several of the major exchanges such as AppNexus were reintegrated into Google’s ad-buying ecosystem in the days after May 25. Today, business is almost back to normal as more and more exchanges have been reintegrated, according to sources. But some vendors still aren’t on Google’s vendor whitelist, which has meant certain publishers’ programmatic ad revenues are suffering as a direct result, said Gié.
https://digiday.com/media/french-media-plan-meet-government-concern-google-gdpr/
- Amazon shareholders call for halt of facial recognition sales to police
The shareholders, which include the Social Equity Group and Northwest Coalition for Responsible Investment, are joining groups such as the ACLU in efforts to stop the company from selling the service — pointing out the risks of mass surveillance.
They warn about potential civil and human rights violations, and how Amazon’s involvement could have a negative impact on the company’s stock. The shareholders point to the recent scrutiny of Facebook (FB) over privacy and data as a cautionary tale.
http://money.cnn.com/2018/06/18/technology/amazon-facial-recognition/index.html
Software/SaaS
- Here’s why the one-size-fits-all relational database model is dead
Seldom can one database fit the needs of multiple distinct use cases. The days of the one-size-fits-all monolithic database are behind us, and developers are now building highly distributed applications using a multitude of purpose-built databases. Developers are doing what they do best: breaking complex applications into smaller pieces and then picking the best tool to solve each problem. The best tool for a job usually differs by use case.
- Adobe could be the next $10 billion software company
Revenue was up across all major business lines, but as has been the norm, the vast majority comes from the company’s bread and butter, Creative Cloud, which houses the likes of Photoshop, InDesign and Dreamweaver, among others. In fact digital media, which includes Creative Cloud and Document Cloud accounted for $1.55 billion of the $2.2 billion in total revenue. The vast majority of that, $1.30 billion was from the creative side of the house with Document Cloud pulling in $243 million.
Adobe has been mostly known as a creative tools company until recent years when it also moved into marketing, analytics and advertising. Recently it purchased Magento for $1.6 billion, giving it a commerce component to go with those other pieces. Clearly Adobe has set its sights on Salesforce, which also has a strong marketing component and is not coincidentally perhaps, the most recently crowned $10 billion software company.
https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/15/adobe-could-be-the-next-10-billion-software-company/
Datacenter/Hardware
- Chip Makers: We’ll End Up Paying Tariffs on Our Own Goods
While the U.S. tariffs may impair Chinese companies that use semiconductors, among others, the fallout also will extend to U.S. businesses that participate in the complex supply chain of chip manufacturing, the Semiconductor Industry Association said.
That is because most chips American companies import from China are designed in the U.S. The manufacturing of many components in those chips often starts in the U.S. as well, before they are shipped to China for assembly, testing and packaging.
The tariffs will force American companies to pay duties on their own products, some of which were initially built in the U.S., the trade group said, adding that the imposition “fails to address the serious IP and industrial policy issues in China.”
Other
- Microsoft Employees Protest Work With ICE, as Tech Industry Mobilizes Over Immigration
“We believe that Microsoft must take an ethical stand, and put children and families above profits,” said the letter, which was addressed to the chief executive, Satya Nadella. The letter pointed to a $19.4 million contract that Microsoft has with ICE for processing data and artificial intelligence capabilities.
Calling the separation of families “inhumane,” the employees added: “As the people who build the technologies that Microsoft profits from, we refuse to be complicit. We are part of a growing movement, comprised of many across the industry who recognize the grave responsibility that those creating powerful technology have to ensure what they build is used for good, and not for harm.”
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The letter is part of a wave of tech workers mobilizing this week against the Trump administration’s new “zero tolerance” policy that refers for criminal prosecution all immigrants apprehended crossing the border without authorization. The policy has resulted in about 2,000 children being separated from their migrant parents, raising a bipartisan outcry.https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/19/technology/tech-companies-immigration-border.html
- A complete 5G standard is finally here
“Two years ago, 5G was seen as a vision or even just a hype — with the closing of Rel-15, 3GPP has made 5G a reality within a very short time,” Georg Mayer, chairman of 3GPP CT, said in a statement. “The outcome is an amazing set of standards that will not only provide higher data rates and bandwidth to end customers but which is open and flexible enough to satisfy the communication needs of different industries — 5G will be the integration platform for heterogeneous businesses.”
A number of companies are already gearing up for 5G including Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T. “This milestone will allow for more advanced testing using standards-compliant equipment and paves the way for our commercial 5G launch in a dozen cities later this year,” AT&T said in a statement.
https://www.engadget.com/2018/06/15/complete-5g-standard-finally-here/
Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash