Category: IoTUpdate

IoTUpdate

SAP and Verizon Partnering to Develop Next-Gen IoT Analytics Solution

SAP and Verizon have announced a collaboration to help applications process data where it is generated, thanks to Verizon’s network and SAP’s edge computing platform.

Edge computing allows companies to reduce data processing time by processing the data collected by Internet of Things (IoT) devices at or near the data collection point, rather than sending it to a data center.

Verizon’s 5G network, paired with SAP’s Leonardo Internet of Things and Edge Services and analytics, will give customers in the supply chain, field service management, assembly line and retail industries real-time data processing.

“We are unleashing the next generation of cloud capabilities through global data centers, across the edge of the network,” said Eric Stine, Chief Customer Innovation Officer, SAP North America. “With data volumes growing exponentially and the capabilities of new wireless technologies like 5G to further expand the reach of IoT and enterprise computing, SAP and Verizon are uniquely positioned to drive a new class of data analytics, management and services at scale to help the world’s great companies create amazing customer
experiences, and unlock new business models and monetization strategies.”

“Our ability to integrate our ThingSpace platform into the SAP Cloud portfolio provides a secure and agile way to deliver instantaneous, end-to-end operational analytics at the edge while lowering the cost of IoT management,” said George Fischer, president, Global Enterprise, Verizon Business Group. “This combined solution is not just about massive IoT. We are also enabling computer vision, augmented reality, blockchain and machine learning using Verizon’s network. These are a truly comprehensive set of capabilities to help our customers better manage critical functions including asset lifecycles, supply chains, customer experiences, human capital and plant operations.”

November 25, 2019
5G Dramatically Accelerates Industrial Digitization, Says Qualcomm CEO

“The total amount of economic impact of 5G in 2035 is going to be $13.2 trillion,” says Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf. “You can think of (the growth of 5G) in two phases. One is a handset phase and the second one is a phase related to industries using 5G to accelerate digitization. They’re requiring the second rev of 5G. This is really about all the features to make high reliable factories. There are special features that we have put into the standard which will come out in a second, third, and fourth-wave over the next decade.

Steve Mollenkopf, CEO of Qualcomm, discusses the massive economic and transformational impact that 5G will have on consumers, industry, and Qualcomm over the next 15 years in an interview with CNBC:

Total Economic Impact of 5G To Be $13.2 Trillion by 2035

The serviceable available opportunity for 5G is going from $65 billion in 2019 to $100 billion in 2022. In really just three years, it grows a dramatic amount. It just gives you a sense of how important 5G will be to Qualcomm’s business. I also gave a number (at the company’s analyst day) that said the total amount of economic impact of 5G in 2035 is going to be $13.2 trillion. So 5G is going to be an important thing. Qualcomm really at this point does not have an opportunity problem.

You should think of 5G (and how it impacts Qualcomm) in two phases. The first phase is essentially we make more money out of the existing cellular business just because it’s going to 5G. It’s going to go to 5G over the next decade. We will sell more expensive products and we get a bigger portion of the phone BOM in the products that we sell. Then, in addition, the technology that’s required in order to be successful in that market is also very important in other markets that are now taking on 5G.

Auto is the best first example of that. But there are many others behind it. We essentially have the ability to take the R&D that we’re producing in the smartphone space and leverage it multiple times for the benefit of the shareholders.

Industries Using 5G To Accelerate Digitization

Investors are really going to see it over the next two quarters for us and actually through the next year. If you look at our last earnings call we essentially gave I think a strong guide for our licensing business, which sits as a proxy for the Christmas season selling. Then we said we’re going to give a soft indication of what we thought the March quarter would be. We essentially said you’re going to see 5G start impacting our product business at that time. It’ll come in two phases during the calendar year. One at the beginning of the year and then another one in the second half of the year when some flagship launches launch in both places.

You can think of (the growth of 5G) in two phases. One is a handset phase and the second one is a phase related to industries using 5G to accelerate digitization. Lucky for us, the handset phase, which is the first one, is probably the largest market and it’ll instantly happen. It will happen over the next decade starting next calendar year. In a month you’ll start to see that in the results of our business. You’re going to see that kind of play out over a long period of time as the handset market does now.

Then you go into these adjacent markets, the digitization and industrial. They’re requiring the second rev of 5G. There are multiple revs of the standard. The first one is based on handsets. The second one is really about all the features to make high reliable factories. We talked a little bit in the past about healthcare, gaming, and those things. There are special features that we have put into the standard which will come out in a second, third, and fourth-wave over the next decade. It’s that second wave which is really about the other industries besides the handset.

5G Dramatically Accelerates Industrial Digitization, Says Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf

November 20, 2019
Infineon and Klika Tech Partner to Develop Innovative Smart Building Solutions

Infineon and Klika Tech have announced a partnership to accelerate development of smart building solutions, based on Infineon’s semiconductor portfolio and Klika Tech’s IoT Cloud and Amazon Web Services (AWS) experience.

Klika Tech has vast experience with IoT Cloud, offering end-to-end solutions. The company is also an Amazon Partner Network (APN) Advanced Consulting Partner. Infineon is a world leader in the semiconductor business.

Together the companies hope to accelerate development of smart building solutions. Smart buildings use sensors, automation, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to automate many of the tasks involved in running a building. As a result, a smart building can be greener, cheaper, more secure and easier to maintain than its counterparts. As the building is used, the system learns when people are coming and going, optimizing the HVAC systems to match. Components can be monitored and maintained before a problem occurs.

With more and more regulations designed to address climate change, the demand for smart buildings will continue to grow—creating an opportunity for the Infineon and Klika Tech partnership.

“Klika Tech is a strong addition to Infineon’s partner network, offering complementary capabilities to develop innovative solutions for smart building applications,” said Oliver Henning, Head of Partnership Management & Emerging Application Business at Infineon’s Power Management & Multimarket division. “

“Collaborations among hardware, software and services providers are the genesis of the custom IoT and Cloud solutions that are enabling companies to reduce their development efforts and expedite time to market. This holds especially true for smart building and smart home applications.” said Gennadiy M. Borisov, President and Co-CEO at Klika Tech, Inc. “We look forward to building on our relationship with Infineon and the integration of their outstanding sensor portfolio with AWS services.”

November 19, 2019
I Want Every American To See The Transformative Impact Of 5G, Says Verizon CEO

“We pride ourselves with the best network,” says Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg. “We have had that all the time in 4G and we’re going to have it on 5G. We’ve invested very prudently with our network, but network is our strategy and it has been that since the inception of the company. At Verizon, we’re proud of it. I just want every American to have a 5G phone in their hands and see the huge impact it will have in a transformative way that 5G will make in this country.”

Hans Vestberg, CEO of Verizon, discusses his desire for every American to soon experience the huge transformative impact that 5G will have in an interview on CNBC at The Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference:

I Want Every American To See The Transformative Impact Of 5G

We have been on to 5G for seven years now. We were first in the world to launch 5G Home broadband. We were first in the world with 5G mobility. We now have four cities up and we’re going to have 30 cities this year. We have three 5G phones already out. So we, of course, are ahead of the game but we respect all the competition. We pride ourselves with the best network. We have had that all the time in 4G and we’re going to have it on 5G.

We’ve invested very prudently with our network, but network is our strategy and it has been that since the inception of the company. At Verizon, we’re proud of it. That’s important to us. I just want every American to have a 5G phone in their hands and see the huge impact it will have in a transformative way that 5G will make in this country.

We’re In the Middle Of a Very Big Transformation

It’s always been a competitive market. I mean the wireless market in the US is extremely competitive. It’s nothing new to us and we are prepared. We’re in the middle of a very big transformation of the company. We have changed the network, we have a new go-to-market, and we have a voluntary offering where almost 10,400 people are leaving us. So we are prepared. Whatever comes up Verizon will respond quickly and we will manage our shareholders or customers or employees and society in general. That’s our work.

It’s a very exciting market to be in with mobility and broadband and 5G and all of that. Of course, there is a lot of hype and discussion about it and the US is in the lead with it. It’s an exciting time to be here and work. We will compete. I think that we already have the best 4G network and we’re ready with being first in word with 5G. We will just hammer on and execute. I have a great team that is doing that every day. Our main focus is really to execute right now and then a lot of things will happen around us.

Regulation Of Tech Is Difficult

First of all, we understand the concerns (around big tech) and all of that. Ultimately, we need to remember that mobility, broadband, and cloud, that combination is a 21st-century infrastructure. If you can scale that you can actually solve problems in the rest of the world that you have never thought about. If we start to chop that up by regulation we cannot give the same opportunities for everyone in this world. So that’s very important.

Secondly, I think the technology is moving so fast that if you do regulation, it’s just moving so fast that it’s hard. I think it’s up to responsible leaders and ultimately the customer will be after you if you do stupid things. We’re building our brand on trust and innovation. We know that we need to fight every day to get that trust and one thing you do wrong you lose the trust. That has to regulate and that’s more important in the end.

I think that regulation is difficult in the tech sector and customers will ultimately judge them. I’m worried that if you’re going to have different regulations all around the world for platforms, for example, which means that the officials that were getting from them today, that people can get digital health care and digital educational platforms, we’re going to lose that. With the sustainable goals that we have in the world, we want everybody to have the same chance. I think that would be bad.

I Want Every American To See The Transformative Impact Of 5G, Says Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg

November 6, 2019
NYC Deploys IoT Sensors to Monitor Traffic and Reboot Signals

New York City’s traffic signals are going decidedly high-tech, with the rollout of IoT sensors, according to a press release by Transition Networks, Inc. The new system will monitor traffic at some 10,000 intersections and reboot malfunctioning signals.

Transition Networks is working with the NYC Department of Transportation to deploy Power-over-Ethernet (PoE+) switches at the intersections. PoE provides power and data over a single cable, making it ideal for the types of sensors and cameras needed.

“Today, intersections have more than traffic signals. As more transportation agencies look to use actionable intelligence to monitor trends and improve service, they are deploying technology to assess traffic congestion, safety and pedestrian counts. Transition Networks’ PoE solution will connect and power cameras and sensors at over 10,000 traffic intersections that collect this vital information. In addition, key features on the Transition Networks’ switches will save the agency time and costs associated with maintenance.

“Currently, if a device stops working at an intersection, the agency must take multiple actions prior to deploying a repair technician. This includes scheduling a technician to evaluate the issue and deploying a bucket truck to reach the device. Once the technician is at the site, the lane closures cause significant stress and traffic delays for motorists. Many times the fix only requires a reboot of the device. Transition Networks’ Auto Power Reset (APR) feature provides the ability to remotely reboot or manage Transition Networks’ equipment fixing the issue within minutes and eliminating all of the lane closure requirements. This feature alone will save the agency significant costs and lessen traffic disruptions by reducing the need to send a technician to inspect equipment.

“Another key feature is Transition Networks’ Device Management System (DMS) software, which creates an interactive map to see all connected devices, enabling the agency to pinpoint issues and quickly take action. DMS has been an important function for several smart city projects including an installation at New York City’s Brooklyn Bridge.”

November 6, 2019
Microsoft Opens the Door to Azure Programs Running on Competitors’ Clouds

At its Ignite 2019 conference, Microsoft announced the release of Azure Arc, a tool designed to allow developers to deploy Azure programs to Amazon and Google clouds.

Since Satya Nadella took over as CEO in 2014, Microsoft has taken a completely different approach to competitors. Rather than viewing other companies as the enemy and doing everything possible to keep users locked into the Windows ecosystem, the company has focused on making the best software possible and deploying it as widely as possible.

This approach has led to a renewed focus on Office for the Mac, industry-leading versions of the productivity suite for iOS and Android, not to mention the company reaching out to Linux developers for help in porting Edge. Now, as the cloud wars heat up, it appears Microsoft is taking that same all-embracing approach to competing cloud platforms. Azure Arc will not only help companies deploy their Azure programs, but also help them manage them regardless of where they are run from.

“Azure Arc enables Azure services anywhere and extends Azure management to any infrastructure for unified management, governance and control across clouds, datacenters and edge. They look and feel just like Azure resources, and they provide unified auditing, compliance, and role-based access control across multiple environments and at scale.

“As a result, customers can modernize any infrastructure with cloud management and security protection. With cloud practices that work anywhere, Microsoft is delivering these resources, from cloud to datacenter to edge, and enabling cloud security anywhere.

“Millions of Azure resources are managed, governed, and secured daily by thousands of customers. With Azure Arc, customers can now take advantage of Azure’s robust cloud management experience for their own servers (Linux and Windows Server) and Kubernetes clusters by extending Azure management across environments. Customers can seamlessly inventory, organize, and govern their own resources at-scale through a consistent and unified experience through the Azure Portal.”

On the heels of news that Microsoft beat out Amazon for a lucrative defense contract, the Azure Arc announcement is further evidence the company is firing on all cylinders in its execution of Nadella’s strategy.

November 5, 2019
Toyota and Weathernew Partner to Use IoT and Big Data to Increase Driver Safety

Toyota and Weathernews have announced a partnership to improve weather forecast accuracy and driver safety.

The two companies will use data derived from Toyota’s connected vehicles, such as windshield wiper operations. The data will then be visualized as a map, showing where there are pockets of vehicles with running wipers. These areas of activity can be compared with data provided by Weathernews. Since precipitation does not always show up on radar, this will help Weathernews improve the accuracy of the data it has.

“It is said that the rate of accidents during rainy weather is four times that of sunny days, so the presence of precipitation has a large effect on safe driving for vehicles. However, raincloud radar, which is often used to detect and predict rainy areas, has the disadvantage of being unable to detect rain resulting from rainclouds in the lower layer of the troposphere (an altitude of 2 km or below) or small raindrops such as those that form during drizzles. In such cases, it has been difficult to accurately determine areas where it is raining.

“In the verification test that begins on November 1, as part of Toyota’s and Weathernews’ joint research initiatives, the wiper operating status of Toyota’s connected vehicles being driven in the designated regions is visualized as a map and compared with actual weather data. In past cases where low rainclouds produced rain that did not show up on raincloud radar in the Kanto area, rain was instead reported by users of the ‘Weathernews’ app. The user reports received matched closely with the areas where wipers were being operated, showing that wiper data can detect rain that cannot be detected using raincloud radar. We will also perform a detailed analysis of the relationship between the wiper data and weather data, and in addition to accurate detection of rainy areas, we plan to make efforts to estimate the strength of the precipitation based on the power at which the wipers are being operated, and consider using wiper data for weather forecasting.

“By using wiper data to accurately ascertain the conditions of roads and their surroundings, such as precipitation and actual precipitation strength, undetectable using radar, we aim to contribute to driver safety by issuing warnings to drivers according to the situation.”

November 4, 2019
Modified Malware Hijacking WiFi Routers, Killing Competing Malware

Another day, another malware attack. ZDNet is reporting that a modified version of Gafgyt is targeting WiFi routers in a rather aggressive fashion.

The malware in question has a long history of targeting known vulnerabilities in popular home and small-office routers. Once compromised, the routers become part of a botnet for use in distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks-for-hire. The latest version of the malware has been updated to target three wireless routers: the Huawei HG532, Realtek RTL81XX and the Zyxel P660HN-T1A.

Because Gafgyt’s purpose is to build a botnet powerful enough to generate income through paid attacks, the malware’s creators have programmed it to seek and destroy competing malware on any devices it infects.

Researchers at Palo Alto Networks have been studying the malware and provided ZDNet with more information about how it works.

“The authors of this malware want to make sure their strain is the only one controlling a compromised device and maximizing the device’s resources when launching attacks,” said Asher Davila, security researcher at the Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 research division.

“As a result, it is programmed to kill other botnet malware it finds, like JenX, on a given device so that it has the device’s full resources dedicated to its attack.”

Because most of the vulnerable routers are relatively old—by technology standards—most trouble can be avoided by upgrading to a newer model or, at the very least, updating the router’s software.

“In general, users can stay safe against botnets by getting in the habit of updating their routers, installing the latest patches and implementing strong, unguessable passwords,” Davila explained.

“The more frequent the better, but perhaps for simplicity, considering timing router updates around daylight savings, so at least you’re updating twice a year.”

November 2, 2019
Particle Raises $40 Million in Funding to Empower IoT Adoption

Particle, the IoT platform company focused on making the Internet of Things (IoT) easy, has raised $40 million in series C funding.

Particle claims to be “the only all-in-one IoT platform on the market.” As such, they offer a competitive advantage for companies looking to bring their products and services online. This is especially critical for established companies looking to make the transition, companies who are at risk of being disrupted by smaller, more nimble competitors.

“That’s because technology and innovation are not evenly distributed, and the decades-old manufacturers that lead traditional industries are more likely to be the disrupted than the disruptor,” wrote CEO Zach Supalla in the company’s announcement. “Particle is here to help to change this dynamic; we’re here to empower the next generation of IoT companies and bring the physical world online to fundamentally change how traditional industries operate.”

Particle is already actively helping an impressive list of customers, including Opti, Jacuzzi, Shared Technologies, Korean-based Olulo and the Air National Guard. This latest round of funding will help Particle continue developing their IoT platform and supporting tools.

“Particle will use the money raised in this round of funding to continue developing our enterprise IoT platform suite, as well as scale our engineering and product teams,” according to Supalla. “These new team hires will help bolster our professional engineering service (Particle Studios) and help our customers bring their products to market. We’ll also be expanding into new global markets while hiring in sales and marketing.”

November 2, 2019
Intel Just Had Its Best Quarter In History, Says CEO

“It was the best quarter in the company’s 51-year history,” says Intel CEO Bob Swan. “Everything was stronger than we expected this quarter. If you think about where we were simply 90 days ago we had a view that the quarter would be roughly $18 billion but we closed at $19.2 billion. That’s $1.2 billion higher than we expected.”

Bob Swan, CEO of Intel, discusses in an interview on CNBC how the company was able to end the third quarter better than any other quarter in its 51-year history:

Best Quarter In the Company’s 51-Year History

Everything was stronger than we expected this quarter. If you think about where we were simply 90 days ago we had a view that the quarter would be roughly $18 billion but we closed at $19.2 billion. That’s $1.2 billion higher than we expected. We saw strength across the board. It was the best quarter in the company’s 51-year history.

The data-centric collection of businesses, which is a very important part of our growth story, set records. DCG was a record quarter. Our memory business had a record quarter. Our IoT business had a record quarter. Our Mobileye business had a record quarter. We really saw very strong growth across the board as we went from Q2 to Q3.

Because of that, we raised our full-year outlook by $1.2 billion. We took earnings up and we raised our cashflow outlook by a billion dollars as well. We’re on pace for our fourth record year in a row. We feel good momentum going to the second half of the year.

Intel Just Had Its Best Quarter In History, Says Intel CEO Bob Swan

October 26, 2019
Cisco CEO Says 5G Networks Could Be Active In 2 to 3 Years

“The carriers today are building the consumer 5G networks, and they don’t require a massive backbone upgrade when you just increase bandwidth to lots of mobile phones.”

Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins stopped by Fox Business’ Mornings with Maria to discuss 5G, intellectual property and reports of China bullying companies.

“When they begin to build out enterprise 5G services, then that will require them to build a dedicated, next generation, high-performance backbone because of all the traffic that will be generated and…that will be over the next two to three years. So right now, they are focused on the radios needed for the consumer side.

“If you think about the speeds that are going to be supported at the edge, and the number of those connections, it’s only logical that you’re going to have to update…your infrastructure to accommodate all the bandwidth that’s going to be…given out around the world. So we would expect to ultimately be a beneficiary of that when it happens.”

Mr. Robbins goes on to discuss the challenges the world is facing economically, emphasizing his belief that the economic slowdown is a global one, not isolated to the U.S.

While highlighting that intellectual property theft is by no means unique to the Chinese market, Mr. Robbins was adamant that respect for intellectual property needs to be a fundamental aspect of doing business.

“The lack of theft should be a core principle in every country around the world….I think that’s a broad issue that should just be a basic premise of doing business around the world, is that your intellectual property should be respected.”

He also discussed recent reports of companies being bullied by the Chinese government. While he said Cisco has never been able to reach the level of business they would like to within the country, they had never felt bullied by China.

https://video.foxbusiness.com/v/6094650754001/

October 16, 2019
Intel Acquires Pivot’s Smart Edge Platform: Eyes 5G Edge Computing Leadership

Intel announced it has acquired the Smart Edge platform from Pivot Technology Solutions, Inc., a “cloud-native, scalable and secure platform for multi-access edge computing (MEC).”

Edge computing allows data collected by Internet of Things (IoT) devices to be processed and analyzed closer to the point of collection, rather than being sent to far-away data centers. This gives organizations the ability to process critical data in near real-time. With the growth of the IoT, edge computing is predicted to reach $22.45 billion by 2024. The Smart Edge acquisition positions Intel to be a dominant player in the market as it grows.

“This transaction enhances our ability to address the 5G network transformation with a leading position in edge computing,” says Dan Rodriguez, Intel vice president in the Data Center Group and general manager of the Network Compute Division. “We plan to take full advantage of our combined technologies and teams to accelerate the development of the edge computing market while creating a compelling solution for customers.”

As part of the agreement, Intel and Pivot will sign a Preferred Partner Agreement, making Pivot an authorized Smart Edge reseller, as well as Intel’s non-exclusive Preferred Systems Integrator for systems based on the Smart Edge platform.

“Intel is the right company and brand to advance and scale Smart Edge’s software solution,” said Kevin Shank, CEO of Pivot. “Our partnership with Intel will leverage Pivot’s core strengths as a technology integrator and service provider with Intel’s advanced technology solutions to drive the adoption of the Smart Edge platform. We look forward to collaborating with Intel to develop and take to market many new edge computing use cases.”

October 16, 2019
We Plan to Have 30 5G Cities By Year-End, Says Verizon CEO

“We have a plan to have 30 5G cities by year-end,” says Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg. “We are at 13 right now so we’re adding every week. We added New York last week. We have also updated 13 NFL stadiums with 5G and the NBA season hasn’t even started. We believe that our 5G for the consumer is just crushing it. That’s where we are focusing right now on our mobility build. We also do 5G Home. In the fourth quarter, we are going to launch our 5G Mobile Edge Compute which is an enterprise service with the all-new capabilities of 5G.”

Hans Vestberg, CEO of Verizon Communications, discusses where the company is at in its 5G build-out and how 5G is going to be a dramatic technology shift for consumers and enterprises in an interview on Bloomberg Technology:

We Plan to Have 30 5G Cities By Year-End

For the mobility case, we have a plan to have 30 5G cities by year-end. We are at 13 right now so we’re adding every week. We added New York last week. We have also updated 13 NFL stadiums with 5G and the NBA season hasn’t even started. We believe that our 5G for the consumer is just crushing it. That’s where we are focusing right now on our mobility build. We also do 5G Home. In the fourth quarter, we are going to launch our 5G Mobile Edge Compute which is an enterprise service with the all-new capabilities of 5G.

We have the best 4G network in the market and we will continue to see that our customers get the best experience on the technology we have. We are giving them the first experience on 5G. We were first with the 5G Home and we were first with a 5G smartphone. At the same time, we keep our 4G network (state of the art). We will continue to do that and when we see that the market is ready then we will have national 5G coverage as well. Usually, we speak less and we execute when we have it and then we talk. That’s our strategy.

5G To Enable Factory Wireless For All Robots

I think that all (consumers and businesses) will benefit from 5G but the bonus design from the beginning was very much to make the world cordless for enterprise in society. So the 5G mobile edge compute where we’re going to launch the first Center at the end of this year, that’s really where you can as an enterprise start innovating. You can implement factory wireless for all your robots for example, or put up a 5G campus network, or a private 5G network. This is all with throughput speed and latency that is unparalleled to what you have today. Suddenly you can innovate around that.

I have met many of the 1,400 enterprises in this country over the last six months to talk to them and show them the platform that we’re going to create and how they can innovate to it. This is a partnership between us with the customer and probably in some cases some software developers as well that have software that is needed for it.

5G To Make Home Internet Wireless

Going from 3G to 4G was, of course, an improvement in latency and speed which was visible. But the movement from 4G to 5G is even greater. The speed is so much faster, the throughput is so much more, and the latency (is 10 times better). Of course, it’s all about an ecosystem where you get devices out. Sometimes we talk a lot about consumers and right now we have four phones already out now in the market and all of them are 5G enabled. We see that the whole ecosystem coming from consumers.

Then you have an enterprise business and we also have a 5G home business. We’re actually doing a lot more with 5G instead of fiber. This is a totally different way of thinking about the business model for fixed wireless access bringing broadband to your home. 5G is very different because you can have several business cases on the same infrastructure. It’s the same network and it’s the same infrastructure below. It’s not a separate network for all these business cases we are talking about.

We Plan to Have 30 5G Cities By Year-End, Says Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg

October 10, 2019
Arm Holdings Opens Its CPU Cores to Allow Custom Instructions

Forbes is reporting that Arm Holdings has taken a major step toward helping its processors compete even better and make them more appealing to customers.

Arm designs processors and then licenses those designs to companies for use in their products. ARM CPUs are used across the entire computing spectrum, although they are most widely used in mobile devices, such as phones and tablets.

According to Forbes’ report, Arm announced that it is opening its CPU cores to allow licensees to add custom instructions via a special block that’s integrated into the CPU’s cores. This will allow licensees to optimize chips for power, energy, differentiation and reduced costs. Best of all, thanks to how Arm is implementing the custom instructions, the reliability, security and predictability of the processors is unaffected.

This will be a boon to companies who want the benefits of utilizing an existing design—rather than starting from scratch—but need more customization than is offered by standard, third-party chips.

The first chip with the new capability, the Cortex M33, is due out in 2020.

October 9, 2019
Oracle Reveals $40 Million Investment in Chip Start-Up Ampere

Oracle recently announced an investment in chip startup Ampere. Ampere is run by Renee James, a former Intel executive who served as president of the company from 2013 till her departure in 2016, and currently serves on Oracle’s board.

Ampere Computing develops microprocessors for cloud servers. Their processors are based on the chips designed by ARM Holdings, a rival of Intel and AMD. ARM processors, widely used in tablets and phones, are known for delivering substantial speed with minimal heat and power consumption.

Ampere hopes to harness those qualities and apply their benefits to cloud servers. The goal is to produce cloud servers that provide “higher density and higher bandwidth, and with a significant reduction in power consumption and operating costs.”

Now, in Oracle’s proxy, they have outlined the extent of their investment:

“In April 2019, Oracle invested $40 million in an equity fundraising round for Ampere Computing LLC (Ampere), a developer of high-performance microprocessors for cloud and edge servers. Renée J. James, an Oracle director, is the Chairman and CEO of Ampere. Oracle has appointed one director to Ampere’s board. Oracle holds less than 20% of the outstanding equity of Ampere.

“In fiscal 2019, Oracle paid Ampere approximately $419,000 for hardware used for development and testing purposes.”

October 8, 2019
nCipher Study: Enterprises Are Leaving IoT Devices Vulnerable to Cybersecurity Threats

Cybersecurity Ventures estimates that ransomware will attack businesses every 14 seconds by the end of 2019, up from every 40 seconds in 2016. That figure doesn’t even begin to touch attacks on individuals, which occur more frequently than businesses. Even more telling, ransomware is estimated to cost $11.5 billion annually in 2019.

In addition to ransomware, traditional malware continues to be a growing threat. According to Panda Security, some 230,000 new malware samples are created every day. Yet, according to reports, when a breach does occur it takes organizations an average of 197 days to detect it.

In spite of the state of cybersecurity threats, a recent study (PDF press release) sponsored by nCipher Security, and conducted by Ponemon Institute, found that enterprises are leaving themselves vulnerable to cybersecurity threats. Encryption for IoT devices, as well as platforms and data, was only at 28 and 25 percent respectively.

On the plus side, many organizations are relying heavily on public key infrastructure (PKI)—the software, hardware, rules and policies used to manage public-key encryption and digital certificates—to help secure their operations.

“PKI use is evolving as organizations address digital transformation across their enterprises. In addition to IoT, more than 40% of our respondents also cited cloud and mobile initiatives as driving PKI use,” said Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of the Ponemon Institute. “Clearly, the rapid growth of the IoT is having a huge impact on the use of PKI, as organizations realize that PKI provides core authentication technology for connected devices. For organizations to gain full advantage of their digital initiatives, they must continue to improve the security maturity of their PKIs.”

In spite of this, however, many organizations are running into barriers—both technical and organizational—to successful PKI deployment. This is especially true when upgrading legacy applications, where 46 percent listed issues. In addition, 45 percent cited insufficient skills as an issue, while 38 percent cited limited resources as problem. Even more disturbing, some 30 percent of organizations are not using any certificate revocation techniques.

“The scale of IoT vulnerability is staggering – IDC recently forecasted that there will be 41.6B connected IoT devices by 2025, generating 79.4 zettabytes of data,” said John Grimm, senior director of strategy and business development at nCipher Security. “There is no point in collecting and analyzing IoT-generated data, and making business decisions based upon it, if we cannot trust the security of devices or their data. Building trust starts with prioritizing security practices that counter the top IoT threats, and ensuring authenticity and integrity throughout the IoT ecosystem.”

Download the full study here.

October 3, 2019
Adesto Announces Collaboration With Microsoft to Accelerate IoT Solutions

Adesto Technologies Corporation provides application-specific semiconductors and systems for the Internet of Things (IoT). In a press release today, Adesto announced it has joined Microsoft Azure Certified for IoT. This will allow customers to use Adesto’s SmartServer IoT on hardware and software designed to work with Microsoft Azure IoT services.

Adesto’s SmartServer IoT is a multi-protocol industrial edge server that helps customers easily connect their industrial data to Microsoft Azure IoT. At the same time, SmartServer IoT eases the challenges that go with integrating existing control and management systems with new sensing, analytics and predictive AI, acting as a go-between for the myriad of non-interoperable protocols.

From the Press Release:

“With SmartServer IoT, we are bringing to bear 30 years of industrial communications and networking expertise to dramatically simplify deployment of advanced IoT applications and reduce total cost of ownership in industrial settings,” said Apurba Pradhan, VP product marketing and management, Adesto. “SmartServer IoT enables system integrators, application developers and OEMs to maximize legacy infrastructure investments while accelerating toward Industry 4.0. Microsoft Azure Certified for IoT validates our ability to jumpstart customers’ industrial IoT implementations with pre-tested device and operating system combinations.”

“Microsoft Azure Certified for IoT extends our promise to bring IoT to business scale, starting with interoperable solutions from leading technology companies around the world,” said Jerry Lee, director of marketing for Azure Internet of Things, Microsoft Corp. “With trusted offerings and verified partners, Microsoft Azure Certified for IoT accelerates the deployment of IoT even further.”

October 3, 2019
Infosys & SAP Announce Alliance to Accelerate Clients’ Enterprise Digital Transformation

SAP SE announced a collaboration program with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure at SAPPHIRE NOW 2019. The project, named “Embrace” will also include global strategic service partners (GSSP).

At the same time, Infosys—“a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting”—has announced Innov8, a new program designed to help “clients transform their business model to one based on predictable OPEX-based costs.”

According to a press release Infosys issued Tuesday, the two companies are planning a collaborative alliance, to bring the benefits of Embrace and Innov8 to customers “and offer flexible points of entry to the SAP environment for both existing and new cloud users, all within one comprehensive end-to-end business solution.”

With more than 70 ready-to-deploy artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain, analytics and Internet of Things use cases, Innov8 provides a way for companies to invest, innovate and build intelligent enterprises.

From the Infosys Press Release:

Dinesh Rao, Executive Vice President, Infosys, said, “Navigating the cloud ecosystem requires a structured strategy that provides a consolidated view into a company’s overall transformation journey. Through Innov8, we are focused on leveraging our industry knowledge and experience to accelerate the delivery of business solutions. Through this collaboration, we are focusing on ensuring that our clients are able to rapidly adopt tomorrow’s business models today.”

David Robinson, Senior Vice President, SAP Cloud Business Group and Global Lead, Embrace program at SAP said, “SAP is excited about its plans to partner with Infosys to help clients invest in purposeful innovation to build their intelligent enterprise. Innov8 for Embrace leverages Infosys’ industry knowledge and expertise on SAP and cloud technologies. This is a platform that is delivered on a cloud hyperscale environment with SAP digital solutions delivering end-to-end business outcomes at accelerated pace. We couldn’t be more excited.”

David McIntire, IT Services Research Director at NelsonHall, said “The value of SAP S/4HANA adoption extends beyond IT and into transforming how businesses operate. Innov8 for Embrace has the potential to combine industry-tailored intelligence, applications and processes with simplified OPEX pricing and cloud hosting into an integrated offering aimed at helping companies maximize the business value of adopting SAP S/4HANA.”

October 2, 2019
Intel CEO: I Was Blown Away By Mobileye’s Autonomous Driving Technology

“I went back to Israel a few weeks ago and I was blown away by how fast and how quickly their autonomous driving technology has developed,” says Intel CEO Bob Swan in reference to Mobileye. “We went through the streets of Jerusalem. Their technology increasingly builds our confidence for our ability to go from L2, L 2+, to L3 and to deploy automobiles for robo-taxi’s with our partner Volkswagen and Champion Motors in early 2022.”

Bob Swan, CEO of Intel, discusses Mobileye autonomous driving technology and predicts that autonomous robo taxis will be hitting the roads by early 2022. Swan was interviewed on CNBC:

I Was Blown Away By Mobileye Autonomous Driving Technology

We’re approaching our two-year anniversary since the acquisition of Mobileye. We couldn’t feel better about them being part of the broader Intel family. First, I’ll go back six months ago. Six months ago I was over in Israel and I took the Mobileye drive on the highways of Jerusalem. It was a flawless experience. But it’s on the highway so it’s not as challenging. They said we’re developing the technology so we can drive through the streets of Jerusalem. You should come back and visit in six months.

The streets of Jerusalem, it’s high-impact driving. It’s intense. So I went back a few weeks ago and I was blown away by how fast and how quickly the technology has developed. We went through the streets of Jerusalem. Their technology increasingly builds our confidence for our ability to go from L2, L 2+, to L3 and to deploy automobiles for robo-taxi’s with our partner Volkswagen and Champion Motors in early 2022.

Robo Taxi’s Will Happen Before Broad Adoption of Autonomous Driving

Our belief is that applications like robo-taxi will happen before broad-based adoption of L5 autonomous driving. The reason is really twofold. One we believe the acceleration of autonomous driving will be greatly enhanced by the deployment of 5G and that’s going to take a few more years to be deployed. Secondly, and maybe more importantly, in the absence of compute at the network, the cloud is a little too far away and therefore you’d have to put more and more compute in the vehicle itself.

Putting more compute in the vehicle itself to manage the intricacies of autonomous driving can be pretty expensive. To get broad-based adoption of vehicles for autonomous driving you can’t have extremely expensive compute in the vehicle. In a robo-taxi environment, you can because you get to monetize that vehicle 24 hours a day seven days a week.

Intel CEO Bob Swan: I Was Blown Away By Mobileye Autonomous Driving Technology

September 10, 2019
5G Poses New Security Risks, Says Avast CEO

“5G brings a couple of things,” says Avast CEO Ondrej Vlcek. “One is the density of the network which is enabling things like IoT, the Internet of Things. That’s an exciting thing but also poses some new security risks. Second is speed of connectivity which we all want and which we all sort of are hoping to get better. But in terms of timing, it kind of differs geo by geo. East Asia is always ahead in that regard. In Europe, we can realistically expect something within two or three years.”

Ondrej Vlcek, CEO of Avast, discusses new security risks with 5G and how privacy is becoming a big part of their business in a conversation on Bloomberg:

5G Poses Some New Security Risks

There were really two drivers (to our earnings results this quarter). The first one was our consumer direct segment, desktop direct, which grew 12.5 percent. The second was consumer indirect, which is actually powered by both the Jumpshot business that we have as well as the Secure Browser. These were kind of the two main things.

5G brings a couple of things. One is the density of the network which is enabling things like IoT, the Internet of Things. That’s an exciting thing but also poses some new security risks. Second is speed of connectivity which we all want and which we all sort of are hoping to get better. But in terms of timing, it kind of differs geo by geo. East Asia is always ahead in that regard. In Europe, we can realistically expect something within two or three years.

Privacy Is The Other Side Of The Security Coin

I think privacy is a new category. We see it as the other side of the security coin. We are heavily investing in creating privacy-oriented solutions. So actually our portfolio today is not just security, antivirus protection is now actually less than half of our business. Now the second half is made of tools like privacy controls because we see a big opportunity. At the same time, the need is real. Consumers are more and more realizing there are privacy risks in what they are doing online and there is something that needs to be done about that.

I got sort of inspired by the captains from the Silicon Valley such as Google and Facebook. So I gave up my salary and my bonus and I’m only getting compensated by stock which I think is the right thing for the CEO to do. Clearly, my objective is to keep the company growing. We’ve got a great runway and I’m very optimistic, being new in the role and seeing the opportunities. This is a good position to be in.

5G Poses New Security Risks, Says Avast CEO Ondrej Vlcek

August 14, 2019
Zebra Tech Tracking Technology Integrating Deep Into Sports and Business

“We’ve learned this past year that the tracking system we have with the NFL is actually considered to be the best by the broadcasters, coaches, and the fans,” says Zebra Technologies CEO Anders Gustafsson. “Our type of technology works particularly well with football but it would also work for basketball, ice hockey, and soccer. With ice hockey, the challenge is the puck. How do you track the puck and put the tag inside the puck? We can do it but it’s more costly. With basketball, they have been more focused on the ball than the players.”

Anders Gustafsson, CEO of Zebra Technologies, discusses how their tracking technology is being integrated deeply within sports and business in an interview with Jim Cramer on CNBC:

Our Tracking Technology Works Particularly Well With Football

We’ve learned now this past year that the tracking system we have with the NFL is actually considered to be the best by the broadcasters, coaches, and the fans. The NFL owns the data so we can’t give (fantasy players) access to the data. I think they give access to some of the data but not all the data. Then you would have all the information you could possibly want to have about every player on all of the teams.

Our type of technology works particularly well with football but it would also work for basketball, ice hockey, and soccer. With ice hockey, the challenge is the puck. How do you track the puck and put the tag inside the puck? We can do it but it’s more costly. With basketball, they have been more focused on the ball than the players.

Zebra Tracking Technology Works Particularly Well With Football

We Are Becoming An Essential Part of Retailers’ Strategies

Savannah is our data platform. We can connect all sorts of devices or sensors on the south side and on the north side we can have APIs to all sorts of other applications. We can provide a lot of analytics around what’s happening there. We integrate with a lot of independent software vendors. If you look at large companies like Oracle, SAP, Manhattan, and JDA, they’re all partners of ours. We exchange data with them and we provide data that they use for their operations. We also have our own software capabilities. We bought a company called Profitect. It does any predictive analytics. This is a good example of this but we have other software capabilities also.

We are now becoming an essential part of retailers’ strategies for building omnichannel and ecommerce capabilities. Historically, we were probably viewed a bit more as a tactical device supplier. Today we’re much more of an integral part of enabling them to execute on their strategy. We moved ourselves up the solution stack to be able to deliver more value to them.

Companies are now tracking employees, patients, assets

Today, more and more things are being tracked and there are more and more efficiencies out of this. Companies are now tracking employees, patients, assets, all of these things. We said we provide the performance edge to the front line of business by having every employee, device, and technical thing being connected and optimally utilized and visible to the network.

Tableau (a company recently bought by Salesforce) would more than likely integrate our data. We could be a source for data insight analytics for them. We aspire to get those kinds of valuations (and the higher multiples that Tableau got when they sold to Salesforce). We also overlap (with Honeywell) in a number of areas but we do quite a few different things also. We have our own strengths and we compete with them but not everywhere.

Zebra Tech Tracking Technology Integrating Deep Into Sports and Business – CEO Anders Gustafsson

August 14, 2019