Tag: AWS

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Supplier Report: 1/7/2017

Japan’s love of technology might be backfiring for their salarymen as 36 white collar workers have been replaced by IBM’s Watson technology (long term they will need it due to declining a declining population). Foxconn workers in China are also being phased out in favor of automation and robotics (because young Chinese workers don’t want to be treated like robots).

The US Healthcare industry is expected to grow their use of cognitive computing by 42% (compound annual growth rate) over the next 4 years. During those 4 years your car is also expected to get much smarter as Amazon and Microsoft are putting their AI technologies in your dashboard.

Acquisitions

  • Google buys Sweden’s Limes Audio to boost Hangouts voice quality

    “As more and more businesses adopt our video conferencing solutions, powered by Chromebox for Meetings and Google Hangouts, it’s critical that we provide a great audio experience. With G Suite customers now relying on video communications for their day-to-day meetings, it’s more important than ever to ensure low-cost, high-quality audio.”

    https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/05/google-acquires-limes-audio/?ncid=rss

  • Why LinkedIn Under Microsoft Is Doomed (this article is a little misguided, but a fun read)

    There are two things Microsoft will most likely do to LinkedIn. The first would be to leave it alone, which—from what I can tell—will worsen the product. But Redmond could also come in and ruin the product with a few years of meddling, just as it did with everything from Nokia to WebTV.

    So the likelihood of anything good coming from the LinkedIn buyout is improbable, at best. This, despite the fact that Satya Nadella is at the helm. The problem is the corporate culture, not the bosses.

    http://www.pcmag.com/commentary/350754/why-linkedin-under-microsoft-is-doomed

Artificial Intelligence

Cloud

  • AT&T Goes All In on IoT at CES

    In a series of announcement at the show, AT&T revealed a new partnership with Emerson for methane emissions monitoring, announced the addition of Portland, Ore., as a new spotlight city in its Smart Cities program, and launched a new IoT Professional Services offering that will lend the carrier’s expertise to help businesses design, test, deploy, and manage IoT solutions. Alongside the latter, AT&T also introduced a new light version of its IoT Starter Kit, a dedicated starter kit for the Amazon Web Services (AWS) IoT service, and a more streamlined IoT device certification process.

    https://www.wirelessweek.com/news/2017/01/t-goes-all-iot-ces

  • Microsoft unveils connected car strategy at CES 2017: ‘Cloud will do the heavy lifting’

    The platform allows automakers to leverage Microsoft’s virtual assistants, business applications, and office services, the post said. It will also help integrate productivity tools such as Cortana, Office 365, and Skype for Business into vehicles.

    http://www.techrepublic.com/article/microsoft-unveils-connected-car-strategy-at-ces-2017-cloud-will-do-the-heavy-lifting/

Datacenter

  • Dell EMC serves up ‘white glove’ treatment to exclusive top-tier partner level

    “Partners with Titanium Black status have placed a big bet on Dell EMC,” Byrne said. “They’re going above and beyond. They’re investing heavily in us and we are returning the investment in them so they can continue to achieve the extraordinary.

    “Titanium Black provides a rare and distinctive opportunity far and above what partners have experienced anywhere in the industry. Through the Dell EMC Partner Program, Dell EMC and our partners will attack the market, with our Titanium Black partners leading the way. We will deliver incredible transformation for our customers. We’ll be the channel to watch.”

    http://www.channelnomics.com/channelnomics-us/news/3001801/dell-emc-serves-up-white-glove-treatment-to-exclusive-top-tier-partner-level

  • Better Buy: Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Co vs. Cisco Systems, Inc

    Even after its banner 2016, HP Enterprise stock is trading at a mere 11 times future earnings, making it one of the best values in its sector. Cisco is tradingat just 12 times forward earnings, and with its nearly 3.5% dividend yield and future prospects, it’s the better buy for growth and income investors.

    That said, when the smoke clears, HP Enterprise will be ideally positioned to grow by leaps and bounds as 2017 progresses — and beyond. For investors in search of pure growth potential, HP Enterprise gets the nod.

    http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/01/04/better-buy-hewlett-packard-enterprise-co-vs-cisco-systems-inc.html
    But where is HPE’s growth coming from? Storage? That can’t last.

Software/SaaS

  • Oracle is starting to fine customers who thought they were using free Java software

    At issue, reports Clarke, is a hugely popular version of Java called Java Standard Edition (or Java SE), that anyone can download from the Oracle website.

    One unnamed retailer that underwent an audit on Java was issued a $100,000 bill, negotiated down to $30,000, The Register reports. And this could be only the beginning. Sources told Clarke that Oracle has hired 20 Java specialists for its License Management Services (LMS) department, the ones who do the audits.

    http://www.businessinsider.com/oracle-starts-to-audit-java-customers-2016-12
    But Oracle is publicly stating that they ARE NOT increasing audits…
    Oracle denies it’s ramping up a program that fines customers for using software they thought was free

    Oracle’s commitment to Java and its community remains stronger than ever, as shared recently at JavaOne. Oracle is not ramping Java SE compliance activity or hiring of compliance staff. The licensing model and policies for Java SE have remained unchanged since before the acquisition of Sun Microsystems. It is incorrect to imply that it’s easy for users to accidentally use Java SE Advanced features.

    http://www.businessinsider.com/oracle-says-it-is-not-ramping-up-a-audits-of-java-2016-12

  • It’s Official: Microsoft Eliminates Yammer Enterprise Plan

    Orton described that decision as a natural product evolution. Earlier this year, Microsoft turned on Yammer by default for all eligible Office 365 customers. Since then, the vast majority of Yammer customers use it as part of an Office 365 subscription. The stand-alone version was retired Jan. 1, although those who are already using it can continue to do so at least through the end of this year (and, in exceptional cases, as long as 2019).

    http://www.cmswire.com/digital-workplace/its-official-microsoft-eliminates-yammer-enterprise-plan/

Other

  • 11 things we think will happen in business technology in 2017

    In 2016, Microsoft and Google — widely seen as the second- and third-place contenders in the cloud wars with Amazon, respectively — made big hires and masterminded partnerships and acquisitions to bolster out their sales pitch to enterprises.

    Amazon may be the undisputed leader in the space, but Microsoft and Google aren’t taking it lying down. Watch this space: The cloud computing market is still growing, and so vicious competition will be the order of the day.

    http://www.sfgate.com/technology/businessinsider/article/11-things-we-think-will-happen-in-business-10830675.php

  • Department of Labor sues Google over wage data

    The agency is seeking what it calls “routine” information about wages and the company’s equal opportunity program. The agency filed a lawsuit with its Office of Administrative Law Judges to gain access to the information, it announced Wednesday.

    Google, as a federal contractor, is required to provide the data as part of a compliance check by the agency’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), according to the Department of Labor. The inquiry is focused on Google’s compliance with equal employment laws, the agency said.

    http://www.cio.com/article/3154772/government/department-of-labor-sues-google-over-wage-data.html

Photo: Megapixelstock

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Supplier Report: 12/31/2016

Alas… the last supplier report of the year.

We had an insane year of M&A and corporate entity disintegration (I am looking at you HP).  AI is getting popular not only in enterprise but also in your home thanks to Amazon and Google. Cloud continues to expand in function and use and AWS is the uncontested champ in 2016.

Year-end news cycles dictate a deluge of retrospective and predictive slop. Who am I to reject this time-honored tradition? Prepare yourself for a summary of summaries!

Acquisitions

Artificial Intelligence

  • 2016: The Year That Deep Learning Took Over the Internet

    As they push this technology into their own products as services, the giants of the internet are also pushing it into the hands of others. At the end of 2015, Google open sourced TensorFlow, and over the past year, this once-proprietary software spread well beyond the company’s walls, all the way to people like Amanda Hodgson. At the same time, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon began offering their deep learning tech via cloud computing services that any coder or company can use to build their own apps. Artificial intelligence-as-a-service may wind up as the biggest business for all three of these online giants.

    https://www.wired.com/2016/12/2016-year-deep-learning-took-internet/

  • AI was everywhere in 2016

    The technology that has long been aimed at replicating human intelligence now seems to be paying attention to human patterns and behaviors. Recent advances in deep learning have enabled that kind of insight, but it’s not limited to beating humans at games. In 2016, AI broke out of the confines of research labs to transform the way we live, communicate and even conserve the planet. Chatbots popped up in group texts. Personal assistants invaded our homes. Cognitive systems are detecting cancer. Bots are writing movie scripts. And car makers are gearing up to unleash a bevy of autonomous vehicles onto public roads.

    https://www.engadget.com/2016/12/25/ai-was-everywhere-in-2016/

  • Apple Publishes Its First Artificial Intelligence Paper (thanks JD!)

    To improve training with synthetic image data, the paper suggests what the Apple researchers call Simulated+Unsupervised learning, where the realism of a simulated image is boosted. The Apple researchers use a modified version of a new machine learning technique called Generative Adversarial Networks, which pits two neural networks against each other and has been used to generate photorealistic images.

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/aarontilley/2016/12/26/apple-publishes-its-first-artificial-intelligence-paper/#2bfa800c4cfe

  • IBM Working On Robot To Help Elderly

    The MERA uses IBM’s Watson AI to provide assistance to the elderly and monitor vital signs and environmental changes in a non-invasive manner.

    IBM Research also plans to work with Sole Cooperativa, a healthcare provider in Italy, to install sensors in senior housing communities to monitor day-to-day activities of residents.

    http://www.nasdaq.com/article/ibm-working-on-robot-to-help-elderly-20161228-00307
    If only IBM can create a robot to help an elderly bank robber make one last score…

Cloud

  • Cleveland Clinic, IBM bolster technology partnership

    In addition, Smith points to IBM’s 2015 acquisition of Explorys, a population health analytics vendor, which was developed by Cleveland Clinic physicians and IT experts before becoming a spin-off company in 2009—as an example of the technological cross-pollination between the two organizations.

    “It’s been a mutually beneficial relationship. We’re creating value for each other,” concludes Smith. “That’s the kind of partnership it has been, and it will continue. The sky’s the limit.”

    http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/news/cleveland-clinic-ibm-bolster-technology-partnership

Datacenter

  • Pure Storage: The Best House In The Worst Street?

    The storage market is too competitive to support new entrants unless they can truly disrupt the competition and industry. For the reasons explained above, we believe PSTG is doing just this and is hurting NMBL, EMC and NTAP. NMBL is growing, but is facing intense competition as described earlier and we don’t believe it will become profitable and independent. NMBL will struggle.

    We believe PSTG is strengthening its competitive position and is consistently rolling out new products such as M10 and FlashBlade to provide a consistent increase in its TAM. This continuous strengthening of its competitive position and innovation gives PSTG a real chance to succeed. Success means independent and profitable.

    http://seekingalpha.com/article/4032940-pure-storage-best-house-worst-street

Software/SaaS

Other

  • Mass. lost public companies and saw few IPOs in 2016

    And this year’s IPO class raised just under $19 billion, the smallest amount since 2003, when 68 companies brought in a combined $15.2 billion, Renaissance reported.

    The effect was felt strongly in Massachusetts, where a dozen companies held IPOs, just two of them from the state’s important tech sector. It was the lowest tally for Massachusetts since 2012, when nine companies went public, Renaissance said.

    https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/12/26/mass-lost-companies-saw-few-ipos/S1v4ii4lronznWHgWPZ4rO/story.html

  • The Highest Paid Tech CEOs Of 2016

    Larry Ellison often topped the charts of the highest paid tech CEOs. Now his successors – who made $53 million last year – share the distinction of the highest paid tech CEO. Hurd is the former Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President of Hewlett-Packard. As Oracle’s co-CEO, he received a 41% raise in 2015, driving the value of his pay package to $53.2 million. Nearly all of Hurd’s compensation came in the form of stock and option awards valued at $52.3 million.

    Catz is an Israeli-born American, who joined Oracle Corporation in 1999. She is credited for having driven Oracle’s efforts to acquire software rival PeopleSoft in a $10.3 billion takeover in 2005. Like her co-CEO, Catz received a $53.2 million pay package – up 41% from $37.7 million in the previous year – that consists nearly entirely of stock and option awards (with the exception of a $950,000 salary and miscellaneous perks.)

    http://www.cxotoday.com/story/the-highest-paid-tech-ceos-of-2016/

  • Will Amazon or Microsoft be the first trillion-dollar technology company?

    A writer for Equities.com – a financial website that accepts submitted articles from users – on Monday predicted Microsoft’s recent LinkedIn acquisition will propel the company to become the first to reach a $1 trillion market capitalization. Michael Markowski wrote in a widely reported post on the website that Microsoft will reach the milestone largely because of the applications for LinkedIn in the online equity crowdfunding space.

    http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2016/12/27/amazon-microsoft-first-trillion-dollar-tech.html

  • Why 2017 Might Be a Difficult Year for Microsoft

    First and foremost, Microsoft, under Satya Nadella—who stepped in as chief executive, replacing Ballmer about three years ago—must prove it can do big acquisitions well. Microsoft’s record there is checkered following misfires with Nokia and aQuantive—both purchases resulting in huge write-offs. That means all eyes will be on how the software giant does with its just completed $26 billion purchase of LinkedIn.

    http://fortune.com/2016/12/28/microsoft-2017/

Photo: Chris Lawton

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Supplier Report: 12/24/2016

Analysts are questioning Amazon’s strength as they see competition drive prices down. AWS has also caught the attention of President-elect Trump and not in a good way. Trump is calling the cloud provider a monopoly (which is not an accurate statement).

The future POTUS is also causing technology companies staffing issues as a small percentage of “new collar” workers are quitting as their CEOs embrace the Trump regime.

IBM is pushing Blockchain as they close out 2016.  “Big blue” sees endless possibility with the bitcoin technology and they want everybody to know it.

Facebook is getting in the AI game and Morgan Freeman has something to say about it…?

Acquisitions

Looks like everyone is taking a break this week on M&A… no complaints from the peanut gallery.

Artificial Intelligence

  • IBM Watson finding its way into real-world image interpretation

    The ultimate goal is to improve value, based on efficiency of clinicians, how radiologists receive, prioritize and validate data, and how a report will have an effect on patient outcome, including cost and length of stay, Cury explained.

    The first phase of the program involves concept, design and validation of data sets. “We are working with IBM Watson to define strategies and case studies for machine learning to explore,” Cury said. In the next phase, which Cury hopes to have underway by the end of 2017, radiologists will apply cognitive learning prospectively in their practice.

    http://medcitynews.com/2016/12/ibm-watson-image-interpretation/
    IBM is behind Google in this area and it is good to see them taking steps to address imagine analysis.

  • Microsoft Releases MARCO Data Set to Develop More Insightful AI Apps

    The aim is to help get beyond today’s AIs, which can answer simple fact-based answers that digital assistants like Cortana and Siri can, to intelligent systems that are attuned to the nuances of how people pose questions in a conversational context and the answers they expect in return.

    For example, virtual assistants today are adept at solving math problems and reciting facts and figures like the number of days leading up to major holidays or the height of major landmarks, like the Empire State Building in New York City (1,250 feet or 1,454 feet at the top of its spire).

    http://www.eweek.com/enterprise-apps/microsoft-releases-marco-data-set-to-develop-more-insightful-ai-apps.html

  • Artificial intelligence finds its way into business through sales

    Even as companies like these try to help salespeople work smarter in various aspects of the sales process, the CRM industry took to artificial intelligence in a big way this year with companies as diverse as Salesforce, Oracle and Base coming out with CRM tools to not just record sales interactions, but drive more sales with built-in intelligence.

    Also

    We are also seeing intelligence being applied to customer service with the increasing use of bots to handle initial contact with customers. The idea is to have the bot deal with simple tasks, handing off more complex interactions and requests to human operators to handle. This week, Salesforce released LiveMessage, a tool for incorporating messaging apps in their Service Cloud platform, combining the use of bots and live customer service agents.

    https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/17/artificial-intelligence-finds-its-way-into-business-through-sales/?ncid=rss

  • Facebook is getting in on the AI game…

    If you build a system where I can talk to Morgan Freeman all day, I will buy it.

Cloud

  • IBM Launches New Features for Serverless Cloud Platform

    IBM said it is expanding and tightening integrations with the growing ecosystem of applications surrounding OpenWhisk, which offers an open, non-proprietary engine. By building OpenWhisk with open standards from the ground up and rooting its code in active developer communities, such as Apache, the company aims to expand the range of capabilities developers can access. An open serverless platform also provides freedom to choose where apps can run, according to IBM.

    OpenWhisk acts as an underlying force within apps running on Bluemix, binding together relevant events and triggers such as the uploading of an image or the clicking of a mouse. When triggered by such events, OpenWhisk automatically taps cloud services as needed such as cognitive intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT), and analytics. IBM said OpenWhisk is designed to help make traditional cloud infrastructure invisible, enabling developers to focus on writing code instead of configuring servers.

    http://www.cio-today.com/article/index.php?story_id=1000037XT4SG

  • Worrisome Signs for A Crucial Amazon Business

    In 2014, the last time AWS had this many cuts, revenue growth slowed considerably, Graham notes. “In the two quarters following the six pricing reductions in the first quarter of 2014, AWS revenue growth decelerated from 69% year over year to 43% in the second and third quarter each.”

    http://www.barrons.com/articles/worrisome-signs-for-a-crucial-amazon-business-1482187879

  • After losing big backers, what’s next for OpenStack?

    The rumors of OpenStack’s demise may have been a bit exaggerated. While HPE and Cisco both recently announced they are downsizing their respective OpenStack-based public cloud efforts, Red Hat remains fully committed.

    Some are still holding on to the promise of OpenStack and its open source tools for managing public and private clouds. A few large organizations, outside the traditional IT space, are standing by the platform as well. Retail behemoth Walmart is still banking on OpenStack as the foundation for its private cloud efforts, Fortune reports.

    http://www.ciodive.com/news/after-losing-big-backers-whats-next-for-openstack/432694/

  • Trump says Amazon is a monopoly — this chart shows he’s wrong

    The chart shows e-commerce penetration is less than 5% in two of the largest retail segments (“Grocery, Food & Beverage” and “Health and Personal Care”) and less than 15% in other segments like clothing, electronics, and home furnishings.

    http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-amazon-monopoly-false-2016-12

Datacenter

  • Partners that push all product lines will shine for Dell EMC

    “Tier levels align with key business models of partners, enabling flexibility where needed to meet customer needs,” said Byrne, when launching a preview of the program in October.

    “Benefits will include generous rebates for channel partners who drive new business, attach services, sell the full portfolio and offer the portfolio exclusively.”

    http://www.arnnet.com.au/article/611896/partners-push-both-product-lines-will-shine-dell-emc/
    If you buy Dell or EMC products, it might be a good time to re-evaluate your re-sellers in 2017.

Software/SaaS

  • IBM blockchain in healthcare rallies for patients

    Are healthcare executives complacent and comfortable with the how patient care is delivered? It’s possible. However, there may be another answer. Healthcare executives predicted transformational innovation to occur for blockchain in 2017. The IBM Institute for Business Value blockchain survey identified nine areas where transformation and disruption are likely to emerge:

    1. Medical device data integration (cited as an area of “some disruption” by 65 percent of the respondents).
    2. Asset management (60 percent).
    3. Medical and health records (42 percent).
    4. Clinical trial records (40 percent).
    5. Adverse event safety monitoring (39 percent).
    6. Medication and treatment adherence (36 percent).
    7. Regulatory compliance (34 percent).
    8. Billing and claims management (33 percent).
    9. Contract management (32 percent).

    http://www.cio.com/article/3151429/innovation/ibm-blockchain-in-healthcare-rallies-for-patients.html

Other

  • Oracle’s Q2 was uninspired says Wedbush

    “Oracle’s 2Q results and guidance weren’t inspiring, and dollar strengthening is pushing out the timeline for EPS stabilization. The company continues to execute inconsistently relative to guidance, even when adjusted for currency, giving investors ample reason to question its bullishness on its cloud transition,” Wedbush said.

    http://www.proactiveinvestors.com/columns/proactive-broker-wrap/26762/oracles-q2-was-uninspired-says-wedbush-26762.html
    Larry Ellison’s Net Worth Drops $1.9 Billion In A Day As Oracle Misses Revenue Estimates

    The revenue shortfall, though seemingly insignificant, resulted in a sell-off of Oracle stock. When the market closed at 4 P.M. EST on Friday, shares were down more than 4% versus Thursday’s closing price.

    That translated into a $1.9 billion drop in net worth for Larry Ellison, the company’s largest individual shareholder. He is worth an estimated $48.4 billion as of late Friday, according to FORBES’ real-time rankings of the planet’s wealthiest people. Ellison is still the world’s sixth richest individual, trailing such figures as Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffett and Spain’s Amancio Ortega.

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/noahkirsch/2016/12/16/larry-ellison-net-worth-falls-oracle-quarterly-earnings-report/#1479141064ef

  • Microsoft scores nearly $1bn non-compete contract with US military

    The deal will give the US military “access rights to Microsoft’s proprietary (closed-source) code” when it is “required to support the Department of Defense’s mission.” The bulk of the work will be done in the US, but multiple overseas locales will also be handled by Microsofties.

    For its money the US is getting Blue Badge Cardholder support, meaning it gets first dibs on Microsoft code libraries, and technical support from actual Redmond employees instead of having to go through third-party suppliers – who typically wear orange badges when visiting the temple of St Bill.

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/12/21/microsoft_scores_big_contract_us_military/

  • Red Hat CFO resigns, stock slides

    Calderoni will be leaving Jan. 20. In a letter dated Dec. 20 to CEO Jim Whitehurst, Calderoni said, “As we discussed, I have been given the opportunity to serve as the CEO of another company,” he writes. “Being a CEO has been a personal goal of mine for some time now.”

    http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2016/12/21/red-hat-cfo-frank-calderoni-resigns.html

  • New Trend: Quitting because of Trump
    I wrote my own article on this topic at my other blog, it summarizes the whole situation.
    http://daily.joeylombardi.com/2016/12/new-trend-quitting-because-of-trump/

Photo: John-Mark Kuznietsov

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Supplier Report: 12/17/2016

Verizon’s acquisition of Yahoo is in major trouble with the announcement that Yahoo was hacked yet again (impacting 1 billion accounts). Will Microsoft capitalize on Verizon’s misfortunes?

Perhaps Yahoo should speak with IBM as they are focusing their Watson AI technology on Cyber-security.

Cisco’s ambitions towards the cloud have been crushed by the AWS juggernaut. The company announced the discontinuation of their Intercloud platform this week… and there are rumors they might move customers over to Amazon.

Acquisitions

  • Yahoo shares tumble as investors fear Verizon acquisition trouble

    After the first big Yahoo hack was unveiled a few months ago, there were reports that Verizon would demand a $1 billion discount. In an October earnings call, Verizon CFO Fran Shammo said they were “still evaluating what it means for the transaction.” But we have not been given any reason to believe that the deal was no longer happening.

    Should the latest hack change things? Well, it’s certainly not a good look for Yahoo.

    https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/15/yahoo-shares-tumble-as-investors-fear-verizon-acquisition-trouble/?ncid=rss
    If Verizon Walks Away, Then Microsoft Should Finally Buy Yahoo

    All of that sounds rather complicated, but the bottom line is that Microsoft and Yahoo have been in bed with each other for years, and now Microsoft might have a renewed chance to make their relationship official. The golden goose of the deal would likely be the mobile search traffic that Microsoft currently has no stake in.

    http://etfdailynews.com/2016/12/16/if-verizon-walks-away-then-microsoft-should-finally-buy-yahoo/

  • How Autonomy Fooled Hewlett-Packard

    One fact really stands out: in each of the 10 quarters preceding the acquisition, Autonomy’s revenues were within 4% of analyst expectations. That’s a level of precision that should arouse suspicion. In hindsight, achieving revenue targets like clockwork looks awfully strange.

    http://fortune.com/2016/12/14/hewlett-packard-autonomy/

Artificial Intelligence

  • IBM Starts to Apply Watson to Cyber-security

    Kelley notes that there are over 1.5 million open IT security positions that IT organizations have little to no hope of ever filling. Advances in cognitive computing will equip IT organizations better to counter cybersecurity attacks that make use of bots and other automation tools to launch attacks at unprecedented levels of scale.

    http://www.itbusinessedge.com/blogs/it-unmasked/ibm-starts-to-apply-watson-to-cybersecurity.html

  • Google Artificial Intelligence Whiz Describes Our Sci-Fi Future

    Reinforcement learning is the idea of being able to assign credit or blame to all the actions you took along the way while you were getting that reward signal. It’s really effective in some domains today.

    I think where reinforcement learning has some challenges is when the action-state you may take is incredibly broad and large. A human operating in the real world might take an incredibly broad set of actions at any given moment. Whereas in a board game there’s a limited set of moves you can take, and the rules of the game constrain things a bit and the reward signal is also much clearer. You either won or lost.

    http://fortune.com/2016/11/26/google-artificial-intelligence-jeff-dean/?iid=sr-link1

Cloud

  • Cisco Officially Throws In The Towel On Intercloud

    “Cisco has internally communicated that we are discontinuing one of our internal cloud platforms and will be transitioning affected workloads onto other platforms,” said the statement. “The cloud market has shifted considerably in the last two years, and many of our customers are asking Cisco to help them develop cloud strategies that will help drive their digital transformations … We do not expect any material customer issues as a result of this transition.”

    http://www.crn.com/news/networking/300083157/cisco-officially-throws-in-the-towel-on-intercloud.htm
    Also:

    While Cisco isn’t saying the name of that cloud provider, there’s a good chance that it’s Amazon because enterprises are tripping over themselves to use Amazon these days. Amazon has got more features and more partners than any other cloud provider out there.

    http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-claims-another-victim-cisco-kills-its-1-billion-cloud-2016-12

  • Red Hat’s Container Platform Lands on Google Cloud

    Red Hat and Google are container compatriots, in the sense that both have gone all-in with Kubernetes as a container scheduler. Google started the Kubernetes project, so its commitment there isn’t exactly shocking. Red Hat had developed its own scheduling mechanism for OpenShift but switched to Kubernetes due to the community support the project was getting, says Brian Gracely, Red Hat’s director of product strategy.

    https://www.sdxcentral.com/articles/news/red-hats-container-platform-lands-on-google-cloud/2016/12/

  • Amazon Launches A Data Center Built On A Semi Truck

    Snowmobile is a secure data truck that stores up to 100 PB of data and can help you to move exabytes to AWS in a matter of weeks (you can even get more than one if necessary!). Physically, Snowmobile is a 45 feet long, 9.6 feet high, and 8 feet wide tamper-resistant shipping container. It is water-resistant, climate-controlled and can be parked in a covered or uncovered area adjacent to your existing data center. Each Snowmobile consumes about 350 kW of AC power, and if you don’t have sufficient capacity on site, they can arrange a generator to ensure power stability.

    http://www.psfk.com/2016/12/topline-amazon-launches-a-data-center-built-on-a-semi-truck.html

  • Buyers Guide to cloud computing (who is HIPAA compliant)

    Despite this rush to the cloud, healthcare decision makers must keep in mind they can’t just tap into anybody’s offering. A cloud-based solution that is purpose-built for the regulatory and privacy demands of healthcare and life sciences requires more than compute, storage and networking services.

    http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/buyers-guide-cloud-computing

Datacenter

  • Old storage guard face incoming tech squeeze

    The prime tech transition in the SAN area is from disk and hybrid flash/disk to all-flash arrays. Such systems take up less physical space and need less power and cooling to operate. Despite a solid wave of startup acquisition and tech adoption, Pure Storage has emerged as a post-IPO independent and Kaminario survives and is growing.

    The three hybrid array startups – Nimble, Tegile and Tintri – have morphed into all-flash array vendors, with Nimble running an IPO. These three are also surviving and growing, meaning three more suppliers sharing the SAN market.

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/12/13/old_storage_guard_flash/

    Image: The Register

Software/SaaS

  • IBM Helps Organizations Respond to and Manage Ransomware

    According to a new IBM (IBM) study, seven out of 10 U.S. businesses surveyed infected with ransomware have paid to resolve a ransomware attack, with more than half paying more than $10,000. To help organizations respond rapidly and strategically to this type of threat and many other types of threats, Resilient’s new Dynamic Playbooks are an industry first in the incident response management market. Resilient’s Dynamic Playbooks provide an unmatched orchestration of incident response by adapting in real-time to the details of a cyberattack or other business threat, and enabling effective, rapid response to more sophisticated threat types.

    http://finance.yahoo.com/news/resilient-ibm-company-helps-organizations-110000984.html

Other

  • IBM vows to hire and train US workers

    “We expect to end 2016 with our US workforce about the same size as it was at the beginning of the year. By 2020, we expect it to be larger than it is today,” Pratt said.

    Let’s review:

    1. Trump calls out IBM for outsourcing jobs
    2. Rometty is the only technology CEO to be added to Trump’s business council
    3. IBM promises more US based jobs in the future

    http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2016/12/15/2003661222

  • Microsoft’s surprise hardware hit: The Surface Hub

    The average Surface Hub customer is buying about 50 devices for each deployment, and the company has achieved more than 2,000 customers. One (unnamed) car manufacturer bought 1,500 of the things. Though Microsoft didn’t reveal the exact mix between sizes, Surface Hub looks like it’s another billion-dollar-a-year business for the software giant—to boot, it’s a piece of hardware that it got right even in version one. In a Forrester report commissioned by Microsoft, it’s claimed that meetings start more promptly—less faffing about to get remote attendees dialed in or computers hooked up to the projector—saving 15 to 23 minutes per meeting. Less measurable, Microsoft claims that Surface Hub is also driving greater meeting engagement, with people standing up and engaging with each other and the screen rather than hiding behind their laptop screens around a conference table or quietly playing games on their phones.

    http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/12/microsofts-surface-hub-sales-surprisingly-strong-its-a-huge-hardware-hit/

  • Oracle CEO Safra Catz joins Trump transition team

    Unlike some of the other attendees of Trump’s tech summit, Catz was not particularly outspoken about politics during the election season. Federal Election Commission data shows no contributions to presidential candidates in Catz’s name, although the CEO has donated to Republican and Democratic Congressional campaigns. Larry Ellison, Oracle’s chairman, is a Republican mega-donor who contributed millions to a super PAC that backed Marco Rubio’s failed presidential bid.

    https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/15/oracle-ceo-safra-catz-joins-trump-transition-team/?ncid=rss
    Trump’s Tech Summit Was Missing These Key Players

    Salesforce.com co-founder and chairman Marc Benioff was absent. As was Hewlett-Packard Enterprise chief executive Meg Whitman. Fortune reached out to the Trump team as well as HPE for comment, and will update this story as needed.

    http://fortune.com/2016/12/15/tech-execs-trump-summit/

Photo: Stefan Kunze