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  • EU Governments Are Looking to Nextcloud to Escape Microsoft

    EU Governments Are Looking to Nextcloud to Escape Microsoft

    EU governments are turning to Nextcloud to provide an alternative to Microsoft SharePoint and Google Workspace.

    Nextcloud is the open source cloud platform that provides powerful alternatives to commercial products. EU governments, ever eager to reduce reliance on Big Tech, are increasingly looking to the platform as an option. In fact, the European Data Protection Supervisor recently migrated to Nextcloud:

    Open Source Software offers data protection-friendly alternatives to commonly used large-scale cloud service providers that often imply the transfer of individuals’ personal data to non-EU countries. Solutions like this may therefore minimise reliance on monopoly providers and detrimental vendor lock-in. By negotiating a contract with an EU-based provider of cloud services, the EDPS is delivering on its commitments, as set out in its 2020-2024 Strategy, to support EUIs in leading by example to safeguard digital rights and process data responsibly.”

    Wojciech Wiewiórowski, EDPS

    The upcoming end of SharePoint Server support has created a situation where governments are eager to avoid vendor lock-in, making Nextcloud an even more appealing proposition.

    As a result, Nextcloud has received a significant increase in interest from EU governments, with German state Schleswig-Holstein already making the switch from SharePoint to Nextcloud, and many others beginning to follow suit.

    Nextcloud’s initiative to offer a digitally sovereign, open-source alternative to Microsoft Sharepoint is to be welcomed. That’s why we work together with Nextcloud to optimize Nextcloud Tables.

    Ralf Sutorius, Leitender IT-Architekt, Stadt Köln

    It’s a refreshing turn of events to see a powerful, open source alternative gain more widespread use.

  • Windows 11 Now Displays a Watermark on Unsupported PCs

    Windows 11 Now Displays a Watermark on Unsupported PCs

    Microsoft is upping the ante in its war on unsupported PCs, displaying a watermark on those systems running Windows 11.

    Windows 11 has stricter system requirements than its predecessors, requiring a CPU with Trusted Platform Module (TPM). While there are ways of installing Windows on an unsupported machine, Microsoft is not keen on the idea and is making it more irritating to do so.

    According to Gizmodo, reports are surfacing of Windows 11 displaying a watermark when running on an unsupported PC. The issue appears to have started with the January 2023 Windows 11 update.

    Microsoft already has a major adoption problem with Windows 11 and it’s unlikely this stunt will improve the situation.

  • Inflation Is Outpacing IT Spending

    Inflation Is Outpacing IT Spending

    A new report is bad news for the IT industry, finding that inflation is outpacing IT spending by a significant margin.

    The IT industry, along with every other, is struggling with an economic downturn, with inflation increasing at near record highs. While IT spending is increasing, it’s not keeping pace with rising inflation.

    Gartner surveyed more than 2,000 CIOs to gain insight into the state of IT spending. The survey found that, on average, CIOs expected their IT spending budgets to increase by 5.1% in 2023, but that’s behind the estimated inflation rate.

    “The pressure on CIOs to deliver digital dividends is higher than ever,” said Daniel Sanchez Reina, VP Analyst at Gartner. “CEOs and boards anticipated that investments in digital assets, channels and digital business capabilities would accelerate growth beyond what was previously possible. Now, business leadership expects to see these digital-driven improvements reflected in enterprise financials.

    “CIOs expect IT budgets to increase 5.1% on average in 2023 – lower than the projected 6.5% global inflation rate. A triple squeeze of economic pressure, scarce and expensive talent and ongoing supply challenges is heightening the desire and urgency to realize time to value.”

    To help combat the trend, Gartner said CIOs must prioritize spending in the right sectors, such as

    “CIOs must prioritize digital initiatives with market-facing, growth impact,” said Janelle Hill, Distinguished VP Analyst, Gartner. “For some CIOs, this means stepping out of their comfort zone of internal back-office automation to instead focus on customer or constituent-facing initiatives.”

    “Leading CIOs are more likely to leverage data, analytics and AI to detect emerging consumer behavior or sentiment that might represent a growth opportunity,” added Hill.

  • How Information Technology Can Streamline Your Business

    How Information Technology Can Streamline Your Business

    The modern business landscape is more knotted than ever before with the use of advanced IT solutions and tools. Business owners use the latest technologies to streamline several business operations from basic changes in day-to-day processes to long-term improvements to sales and customer support teams. Every industry has been transformed and improved by IT solutions from email to AI and IoT. Technology helps businesses and companies to leverage limited resources in a smarter and in a productive manner. Employing technologies to your different business operations provides greater efficiency and productivity.

    In this article, we will discuss proven ways information technology can help you streamline your business and improve the bottom line.

    Better Communication and Project Management

    With help of intuitive IT solutions and tools, you can efficiently improve communication and project management within your workplace. A variety of communication and project management tools are out there that you can buy as per the individual needs and requirements of your business. As a result, you can effectively streamline both internal and external communications to adjust the way you manage projects. Cloud-based project management tools allow your employees and teams to collaborate proficiently. It helps them set milestones, share documents and useful information to reach business goals without getting out of track. Customer relationship management system solution is a perfect example of such tools to manage business operations in a smooth and more effective way.

    Integrated Software Solutions

     Every business or company comprises different departments that work together to run operations in a seamless manner. Software solutions and business tools are accessible that can be integrated with each other to keep them all connected. For example, a business can integrate its asset tracking software into helpdesk management to rationalize its maintenance operations and processes. Businesses also invest in custom software development to get a customized solution that can easily be integrated into their existing systems and tools for increased operational efficiency. The utilization of integrated software solutions in conjunction with smart tools and devices can completely transform the way you run your operations.

    Online Sales

    In this modern era of life, consumers tend to make purchases online by using their smartphones. The use of the latest IT tools and solutions has totally changed the way businesses sell and consumers buy. Online sales are common these days and it is very much important for businesses to employ the latest tools and technologies to promote and sell their products/services online. Thanks to modern tech like mobile-friendly websites, social media profiles, mobile apps, chatbots, and online POS systems businesses are better able to provide their customers with a better online experience.

    Increased Operational Efficiency and Bottom Line

    Better communication, easier collaboration, and business process automation mean increased overall operational efficiency, productivity, and improved bottom line. IT solutions allow business settings to improve their processes by streamlining how things are executed. Several repetitive, manual, and paper-based tasks like inventory management, asset tracking, and payroll processing can be simplified through technologies. Cloud-based CRMs, inventory management solutions, and asset tracking software can put all the mundane tasks on autopilot. Other technologies like AI, the IoT, and VR can help you get more done in less time even without using a lot of business resources.

    Better Marketing Opportunities

    We are living in a digital world where consumers want the required details and information right on their mobile devices. This is where digital marketing comes into play and allows you to reach your target audience effectively. Marketing techniques like search engine optimization, social media marketing, paid advertising, and content marketing can help you build a robust online presence for your brand. You can also run email marketing campaigns to reach directly into the inboxes of your target customers. Not only this, but you can also monitor your marketing efforts using tools like Google analytics. You can generate a huge amount of customer data with your website that later can be used to create personalized marketing campaigns to provide an excellent experience.

    Final Thoughts

    Information Technology has totally transformed the way businesses operate. It’s opened up new opportunities to grow their operations, and tied teams together for better collaborations. Businesses should keep an eye on the latest IT solutions and tools to all the available growth opportunities and improve customer experience. Stay ahead of the game now that you know how information technology can streamline your business.

  • Why Service Consolidation is the Future of Managed IT

    Why Service Consolidation is the Future of Managed IT

    In today’s marketplace, technology is the backbone of growth and innovation. Corporations need more than an IT management partner; they need a provider that can offer consolidated, best-of-breed Enterprise Solutions (SP), Managed Services & Security Services (MSP/MSSP), and Cybersecurity services. Identifying this need in the marketplace and the opportunities therein guide Calian ITC Solutions’ unique combination of best-of-breed manufactures managed by one partner that frees CIOs and CISOs from compromise. You know the old saying: “Nobody gets fired for buying IBM.” 

    The Case for Managed IT

    Most managed security service providers tend to focus on one thing or the other. It’s either threat hunting or NOC/SOC—and hardly ever a comprehensive suite of network and security services. This is where ITC Solutions is different. It has a cohesive managed security portfolio that combines a comprehensive platform, network, cloud, and data services. With digital transformation, distributed workforces, geopolitical threats, natural disasters, and sophisticated cyber threats, enterprises need IT providers who can build and protect their servers and data. 

    Calian ITC Solutions uses tested, Gartner-informed solutions in their stack, and has strong relationships with Crowdstrike, Palo Alto, XSoar, Cisco, Okta, AT&T Cybersecurity, Microsoft, VMWARE, Dell and Nutanix.

    “Environments are only getting more complex, and the threat landscape more sophisticated. Networks need constant detection, monitoring, testing, and response,” says Faisal Bhutto, SVP of Cloud and Cybersecurity at Calian. “So customers are gravitating towards providers who can be partners and provide the attention, expertise, and level of detail that only MSP/MSSP consolidation can provide.” 

    Some of the industry-leading features of Calian’s ITC Solutions offering include: 

    • XaaS—Everything as a Service—comprehensive 24/7/365 coverage of cybersecurity, communications, connectivity, workstation, systems, and productivity for clients
    • Complete NIST framework guided coverage of all cybersecurity managed services
    • Hybrid, cloud, on-and-off premises enterprise data and networking solutions 
    • A list of assessments, including ransomware, vulnerability, technical, and many others to test your environments on a regular basis

    In Conclusion

    Modern threats need modern solutions, and compromising quality for simplicity is no longer viable. Customers are looking for providers who can offer a strong mix of both—one who can provide the framework to drive the business forward while protecting the gains that they have made. The more managed IT providers understand this trend, the better equipped they’ll be to give customers what they want and need.

  • AMD Continues to Chip Away at Intel’s Server Dominance

    AMD Continues to Chip Away at Intel’s Server Dominance

    AMD is continuing to make inroad against Intel in the server market, chipping away (pun intended) at the latter’s lead.

    Intel was once the undisputed king of the semiconductor market. While that was true across the entire PC industry, it was especially true in the server market, where the company’s market share was 98% as recently as five years ago. According to Mercury Research (via Network World), as of Q122, AMD’s server market share is now 11.6%, dropping Intel’s to 88.4%.

    AMD has its Epyc line of processors to thank for the success it’s enjoying.

    “It’s been a long, gradual increase. If you look at the data set now, AMD has completed their third consecutive year of having on-quarter gains in share,” said Dean McCarron, president of Mercury Research. “The main driver there is that AMD has its Epyc processors … and each generation has been a little bit more successful than the prior one.”

    See also: Linus Torvolds Switches to AMD, Slams Intel

    AMD’s reputation for consistently delivering quality products is also helping the company gain new business.

    “This isn’t the first time [AMD]’s had success in the market, they had success more than a decade ago, and now they’re getting back in,” McCarron added. “The key here is that they’ve established a pattern of delivery on product reliability.”

    McCarron’s comments confirm the issues Intel has had in recent years. Dell, one of Intel’s most loyal partners, had to look to AMD in 2019 as a result of Intel’s supply issues. Similarly, Cloudflare pivoted away from Intel in late 2021 because AMD’s Epyc processors were much more energy efficient. Google Cloud also moved to AMD, thanks to the performance gains it offered over Intel.

    AMD’s performance has also helped it achieve the highest share of the x86 processor market in its history, according to TechSpot. As of Q122, AMD has 27.7% of the overall market, and 18.3% of the x86 desktop market.

    Under CEO Pat Gelsinger, Intel is determined to turn the tide back in its favor, with Gelsinger even going so far as to say “AMD [is] in the rearview mirror.”

    Unfortunately for Gelsinger, the facts don’t support that claim just yet.

  • Microsoft Unveils Microsoft Security Experts Managed Services

    Microsoft Unveils Microsoft Security Experts Managed Services

    Microsoft is moving further into the realm of cybersecurity, unveiling new managed services to help its customers tackle security challenges.

    Microsoft is already one of the leading companies fighting cybersecurity threats. In fact, Microsoft Security blocked 9.6 billion malware attacks, as well as more than 35.7 billion phishing and malicious emails in 2021 alone. The company is now using that expertise to launch its Microsoft Security Experts managed services to help its customers.

    The company has unveiled three new services. Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting will help customers “proactively hunt for threats across Microsoft Defender data, including endpoints, Office 365, cloud applications, and identity.”

    Microsoft Defender Experts for XDR is a “managed extended detection and response (XDR) service” for companies that need to expand their own internal security operations.

    Microsoft Security Services for Enterprise is a comprehensive solution for large enterprises that want their entire security service managed by experts.

    Microsoft is also committed to working with “an ecosystem of partners and technologies” in an effort to provide the best possible service.

    “Microsoft is uniquely positioned to help our customers and their partners meet today’s security challenges,” writes Vasu Jakkal, Corporate Vice President, Security, Compliance, Identity, and Management. “We secure devices, identities, apps, and clouds—the fundamental fabric of our customers’ lives—with the full scale of our comprehensive multicloud, multiplatform solutions. Plus, we understand today’s security challenges because we live this fight ourselves every single day.”

  • How Enterprise Performance Management Solutions Help Unlock Growth

    How Enterprise Performance Management Solutions Help Unlock Growth

    As markets become more competitive and customers demand more value, businesses must find ways to increase their productivity and performance.

    Enterprise performance management (EPM) solutions help businesses unlock growth by providing visibility into goals and objectives, optimizing the key performance indicators (KPIs), and revamping the strategic planning processes.

    With such crucial information, businesses can make informed data-driven decisions that will improve overall productivity and efficiency.

    EPM software can also help identify opportunities and threats to the organization so that necessary changes can be made in a timely manner.

    In this article, I will discuss how EPM software can help to improve your business performance to take your company to the next level.

    Let’s begin with the basics first.

    What is Enterprise Performance Management?

    Enterprise performance management is a process that helps organizations manage and improve their performance. It involves setting goals, measuring progress, and making adjustments to achieve desired results. EPM solutions are tools that businesses can use to support their EPM process.

    Components of an Enterprise Performance Management System

    EPM software is typically composed of three components:

    ● Planning – The planning component helps organizations create realistic plans and forecasts by incorporating data from past performance.

    ● Execution – The execution component helps companies track progress and identify areas for improvement.

    ● Reporting – The reporting component provides visibility into performance data, allowing businesses to make informed decisions about where to allocate resources.

    This modular approach allows businesses to customize their EPM solution to fit their specific needs.

    Advantages of EPM Software for Businesses

    EPM software offers a number of benefits that can help businesses unlock growth.

    Here are five ways in which EPM software can help businesses grow:

    1. Operational Efficiency

    In order to grow over time, businesses must be able to produce more with the same or fewer resources. By identifying areas of inefficiency, businesses can make changes to their operations to improve productivity.

    EPM tools can help businesses optimize their operations by providing insights into performance data. This data can help organizations identify inefficiencies in their processes and make changes that improve productivity.

    Also, by automating repetitive tasks, they can free up time for employees to focus on more productive activities. In this way, EPM solutions can help businesses save time and money, which can be reinvested in growth initiatives.

    2. Strategic Decision-Making

    Growth requires business leaders to make tough decisions about where to allocate their resources.

    EPM software can help businesses make better strategic decisions by providing clarity into past performance and current productivity levels. This information can help businesses identify trends and patterns, which can then be used to develop strategies that focus on areas with the greatest potential for growth and allocate resources more effectively.

    Improved decision-making can lead to improved operational efficiency and increased growth. Also, businesses can understand their current position, which areas are performing well and which areas need improvements.

    With this data-driven approach, businesses can make informed decisions about where to invest their resources for the greatest impact and improve their chances of success.

    3. Goal Achievement

    In order to achieve goals, businesses must focus on their core competencies. Core competencies are the activities that a business does better than its competitors.

    EPM solutions can help businesses focus on their core competencies by providing them with insights into where they are excelling and where they need to improve. This information can then be used to develop plans to improve performance and achieve desired results.

    EPM software can also help businesses track their progress towards specific goals and make changes as needed to stay on track. Dealing with factual data can help businesses improve their chances of achieving their goals and unlocking growth. In addition, EPM tools can help businesses identify new revenue streams and growth opportunities.

    With the right EPM software in place, businesses can unlock their growth potential and increase their revenue thus attaining and exceeding their financial goals.

    4. Improved Customer Satisfaction

    In today’s competitive environment, businesses must provide excellent customer service to grow. EPM software can help businesses grow by making it easier to retain and attract customers through providing insights into customer behavior.

    Businesses can use performance data to identify areas where their operations need to be improved as it is available. This data can also help businesses understand what customers want and need – and make changes to their operations to improve the customer satisfaction and loyalty.

    Companies can also customize their products and services to better meet customer needs and grow their customer base.

    In turn, increased customer satisfaction can lead to increased growth as customers are more likely to continue doing business with companies that they are satisfied with.

    5. Transparency Increase

    The most apparent benefit of EPM tools is the increased transparency that they provide in an organization’s performance.

    By consolidating data from different parts of the organization into a single location, EPM solutions allow businesses to see how every department is performing relative to their goals. This increased transparency can help businesses improve communication between different departments and levels of management.

    In turn, this improved communication can lead to better decision-making and a more cohesive strategy. By allowing businesses to see their performance in real-time, EPM programs can also help businesses identify problems early and prevent them from becoming bigger issues.

    Ultimately, this increased transparency can lead to increased growth as businesses are able to better utilize their resources.

    Conclusion

    In conclusion, enterprise performance management solutions offer a number of benefits that can help businesses unlock growth.

    By providing insights into performance data, EPM solutions can help businesses identify areas where they need improvement and develop plans to improve their operations.

    In addition, EPM tools can help businesses track their progress towards specific goals and make changes as needed to stay on track. Finally, EPM can help businesses grow by making it easier to retain and attract customers through providing insights into customer behavior.

  • CDW Buying Sirius Computer Solutions for $2.5 Billion

    CDW Buying Sirius Computer Solutions for $2.5 Billion

    CDW is expanding its services business, acquiring Sirius Computer Solutions for $2.5 billion to help build out its portfolio.

    Sirius Computer Solutions provides secure mission-critical services to approximately 3,900 companies, ranging from mid to large-sized. The company generated $2.04 billion in net sales in 2020, although CDW says a combined company would have made some $20.5 billion in net sales during that time.

    CDW, best known as a tech retailer, has been expanding its business, offering services to its customers. That goal makes Sirius Computer Solutions a natural fit for acquisition.

    “As customers require increasingly complex and critical digital transformation initiatives, Sirius’ broad portfolio of world-class technology-based solutions and services-led approach will immediately add to our capabilities to meet this demand,” said Christine A. Leahy, president and chief executive officer, CDW. “Combining our businesses will accelerate progress on our three-part growth strategy by augmenting our portfolio and enhancing our ability to deliver customer-centric outcomes across the full technology solutions stack and lifecycle. We look forward to welcoming the talented Sirius team and leveraging our common values and collective unparalleled expertise to deliver the best customer experience and create value for CDW shareholders.”

  • Google Cloud Unveils Unattended Project Recommender

    Google Cloud Unveils Unattended Project Recommender

    Google Cloud is making it easier to recover resources from abandoned projects with its Unattended Project Recommender.

    Even the most organized cloud-based organization occasionally has projects and resources that fall through the cracks, or are otherwise abandoned. Google’s new Unattended Project Recommender is designed to help identify those projects and recover or deprecate them.

    Google announced the new service in a blog post:

    To help you prune your idle cloud resources, we’re excited to introduce Unattended Project Recommender. It’s a new feature of Active Assist that provides you with a one-stop shop for discovering, reclaiming, and shutting down unattended projects. With actionable and automatic recommendations, you no longer have to worry about wasting money or mitigating security risks presented by your idle resources. Unattended Project Recommender uses machine learning to identify, with a high degree of confidence, projects that are likely abandoned based on API and networking activity, billing, usage of cloud services, and other signals. This feature is available via the Recommender API today, making it easy for you to integrate with your company’s existing workflow management and communication tools, or export results to a BigQuery table for custom analysis.

    Unattended Project Recommender should be a major help to companies looking to more closely monitor and manage their cloud resources.

  • Google Cloud Unveils New Tools to Unify Data

    Google Cloud Unveils New Tools to Unify Data

    Google Cloud has unveiled its latest innovations, aimed at helping companies unify database, analytics and AI.

    Google Cloud is the third leading cloud provider, behind AWS and Microsoft Azure. The company is particularly viewed as a good option for machine learning development, and has strong support for open source software.

    The company’s latest tools will go a long way toward improving its stand even further, with Dataplex, Datastream and Analytics Hub.

    Dataplex is designed to “centrally manage, monitor and govern your data across data lakes, data warehouses and data marts, and make this data securely accessible to a variety of analytics and data science tools.”

    Datastream, currently available in preview, helps “move and synchronize data between heterogeneous databases, storage and applications reliably to support real-time analytics, database replication and event-driven architectures with Datastream, our serverless change data capture (CDC) and replication service.”

    Analytics Hub is designed to make it easy to “access and share valuable datasets and analytics assets (think BigQuery ML models, Looker Blocks, data quality recipes, etc.) across any organizational boundary.” Those interested will need to sign up for preview access.

    The company’s latest tools should go a long way toward helping its customers make the most of their data, as well as AI applications.

  • DOJ and DHS Launch Website to Help Ransomware Victims

    DOJ and DHS Launch Website to Help Ransomware Victims

    The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have launched StopRansomware.gov as a one-stop cybersecurity resource.

    Ransomware has become one of the leading cybersecurity threats, impacting businesses, organizations and agencies of all sizes. The most recent Kaseya attack, believed to be the largest ever, illustrated the growing dangers of an inter-connected tech industry. Because Kaseya makes software used in managed services, as many as 1,500 customers were impacted.

    The DOJ and DHS have created StopRansomware.gov in an effort to help companies protect themselves from ransomware, as well as mitigate the impacts should an attack occur. The site will also serve as a place to keep current with news and threat alerts.

    “The Department of Justice is committed to protecting Americans from the rise in ransomware attacks that we have seen in recent years,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland of the Justice Department. “Along with our partners in and outside of government, and through our Ransomware and Digital Extortion Task Force, the Department is working to bring all our tools to bear against these threats. But we cannot do it alone. It is critical for business leaders across industries to recognize the threat, prioritize efforts to harden their systems and work with law enforcement by reporting these attacks promptly.”

    “As ransomware attacks continue to rise around the world, businesses and other organizations must prioritize their cybersecurity,” said Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for the Department of Homeland Security. “Cyber criminals have targeted critical infrastructure, small businesses, hospitals, police departments, schools and more. These attacks directly impact Americans’ daily lives and the security of our nation. I urge every organization across our country to use this new resource to learn how to protect themselves from ransomware and reduce their cybersecurity risk.”

    StopRansomware.gov should be a resource in every security professional’s toolbox.

  • Kaseya Had a History of Security Issues Before Ransomware Attack

    Kaseya Had a History of Security Issues Before Ransomware Attack

    Software firm Kaseya had a history of security issues long before the latest one that allowed the biggest ransomware attack in history to occur.

    Kaseya went from relative obscurity to being one of the most well-known software firms in the world, thanks to being ground zero for the worst ransomware attack in history. Kaseya makes software used for managed services. As such, it made for a prime target, since compromising its software would open the door to compromising all the companies that rely on its services. Indeed, as many as 1,500 customers were believed to have been impacted.

    What has become more apparent since the attack, however, is that Kaseya had a history of security issues, issues that likely made it an even more appealing target. According to The Seattle Times, hackers managed to plant “cryptojacking” software in Kaseya’s tool in 2018, hijacking affected computers for crypto mining.

    In 2019, the company’s software was used in another ransomware attack. Experts believe the perpetrators included individuals that later went on to form REvil, the group behind the latest attack. Their experience successfully compromising Kaseya two years ago may very well have played a part in their recent decision-making.

    In 2014, the company’s founders sued the company over a dispute about who was responsible for another cryptocurrency scheme.

    To make matters worse, none of the security issues Kaseya experienced were some obscure, hard-to-predict issues. In fact, they were all well-understood issues that could have been easily addressed sooner.

    “Kaseya needs to shape up, as does the entire software industry,” Katie Moussouris, the founder and CEO of Luta Security, told The Seattle Times. “This is a failure to incorporate the lessons the bugs were teaching you. Kaseya, like a lot of companies, is failing to learn those lessons.”

    As more companies continue to rely on cloud services, a single vulnerability can have profound repercussions, impacting thousands of companies. As a result, companies that provide managed services will need to make security their number one priority if they wish to avoid Kaseya’s pitfalls.

  • Broadcom In Negotiations to Buy SAS Institute

    Broadcom In Negotiations to Buy SAS Institute

    Semiconductor company Broadcom is reportedly in talks to purchase SAS Institute, in a deal worth $15 to $20 billion.

    Broadcom manufactures semiconductors that are used in networking equipment and the wireless industry. The company has been looking to expand beyond equipment manufacturing, trying to break into the more lucrative software market.

    According to The Wall Street Journal, knowledgeable sources have confirmed Broadcom is in talks to purchase SAS for $15 to $20 billion. The deal could be finalized in a matter of weeks, as long as the talks don’t break down.

    SAS is the world’s biggest privately held software company, with its analytics software used by companies around the world. Purchasing SAS would immediately catapult Broadcom, turning it into a major player in the software industry.

  • Cisco CEO: Customers Preparing For Hybrid Work Model

    Cisco CEO: Customers Preparing For Hybrid Work Model

    “We are really seeing the impact of this hybrid work model,” says Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins. “We are seeing the preparation for hybrid work and the return to the office. Customers are absolutely believing this is going to occur and they’re investing in it. Customers are turning to us to help them create the trusted workplace of the future.”

    Chuck Robbins, CEO of Cisco, discusses on CNBC and in their quarterly earnings call how customers absolutely believe that the hybrid work model is in their future:

    Customers Are Preparing For Hybrid Work Environment

    Over the last couple of quarters, we’ve seen significant investment in next-generation wireless infrastructure to be ready for their employees to come to the office. As you load these wireless networks they are going to need campus refresh underneath them, and we’ve seen exactly that. The Catalyst 9000 platform has had four consecutive quarters of increasing growth sequentially.

    We are really seeing the impact of this hybrid work model. We are seeing the preparation for hybrid work and the return to the office. Customers are absolutely believing this is going to occur and they’re investing in it.

    Trusted Workplace of the Future

    Let me now touch on Infrastructure Platforms. We saw strong demand across a majority of our portfolio, led by our next-generation Enterprise Networking and Service Provider solutions, as companies accelerate the modernization of their infrastructure. This modern infrastructure delivers higher performance and faster access to data while offering the best user experience in an increasingly distributed environment.

    Customers are turning to us to help them create the trusted workplace of the future, with Wi-Fi access points, video endpoints, cameras and IoT sensors feeding data into DNA Center and DNA spaces. We’re enabling operations teams to remotely monitor workplace conditions for a safe return to office.

    We’re also working to provide visibility beyond corporate networks, which is increasingly critical as our customers accelerate their adoption of SaaS and cloud solutions for hybrid work. At Cisco Live, we launched the industry’s first enterprise-wide full stack observability offering by integrating ThousandEyes cloud intelligence with our Catalyst switching portfolio and AppDynamics. This provides IT with visibility and actionable insights across both external and internal networks to provide a seamless digital experience for users. And with users more distributed than ever, it is vital that they have the most efficient and secure connection to the cloud.

    Building the Internet of the Future

    Our deep partnerships with Google, Amazon, and Microsoft allow native connectivity from our SD-WAN fabric to each of these cloud offerings. With our technology, customers can reduce deployment times and connect branch offices to cloud workloads in minutes. In our Webscale business, we delivered our sixth consecutive quarter of strong order growth, which increased over 25% in the quarter, and over 50% on a trailing 12-month basis.

    Our Webscale customers are starting their 400 gig upgrade cycles and aggressively pursuing long-haul build-outs while our Carrier customers are exploring new architectures to realize the full potential of 5G. We are building the internet for the future by creating breakthrough innovation with our routing, optical and automation technologies to deliver significant economic benefits.

    Customers Consuming Cisco Technology In New Ways

    Recently, we launched a new routed optical networking solution, integrating our scalable, high-performance routers and Acacia’s pluggable optics, which offers significant cost savings. Last week, we announced our intent to acquire Sedona Systems to extend our cross-work automation platform to build on these capabilities. We also expanded our Silicon One platform, from a routing-focused solution to one which addresses the Webscale switching market, offering 10 networking chips ranging from 3.2 terabits to 25.6 terabits per second, making it the highest performance programmable routing and switching silicon on the market. We know our customers increasingly want to consume Cisco’s technology in new and more flexible ways.

    At Cisco Live, we launched our new As a Service portfolio, Cisco Plus, and our first offer, Cisco Plus Hybrid Cloud, combining our data center compute, networking and storage portfolio. Cisco Plus includes our plans to deliver networking as a service, which will unify networking, Security, and observability across Access, WAN and Cloud domains to deliver an unparalleled experience for our customers.

    Turning to Security, we had a record quarter, surpassing $875 million in revenue, up 13% as we expanded our reach with customers around the world. Our Security strategy is focused on delivering a simple and secure experience. We have an unrivaled ability to provide end-to-end Security capabilities across users, devices, applications and data, on any network or any cloud.

    Powering Business Transformation

    Wellbeing is top of mind for so many right now as we face a new way of working. This is why we launched People Insights to help people monitor and manage their wellbeing. These new features, devices and capabilities combined with Cloud Calling and Cloud Contact Center provide our customers with the most comprehensive and inclusive hybrid work platform.

    Last week, we announced our intent to acquire Socio Labs. By integrating Slido and Socio Labs into our WebEx platform, we will also be able to provide the most comprehensive internal and external event management solution on the market. In summary, we had a very good quarter. I’m so proud of the continued success of the business transformation our teams are driving.

    Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins: Customers Preparing For Hybrid Work Model
  • Workday CEO: Digital Transformation To Be Faster Trend Out Of Pandemic

    Workday CEO: Digital Transformation To Be Faster Trend Out Of Pandemic

    “Digital transformation will come out as a faster trend out of the pandemic,” says Workday co-CEO Aneel Bhusri. “What’s been interesting about the pandemic is that for companies that were in the cloud they figured out how to how to thrive and adjust to the new world. Companies that weren’t in the cloud realized that they needed the flexibility, agility, and ability to plan instantaneously. They needed those capabilities.”

    Aneel Bhusri, co-CEO of Workday, discusses how the pandemic will drive digital transformation forward at an even faster pace:

    Digital Transformation To Be Faster Trend Out Of Pandemic

    The first three quarters during the pandemic were challenging. The vagaries of subscription accounting models are such that it is a lag indicator. We expect new bookings growth to accelerate this year and that is our primary indicator and the way we run the business. We’re very excited about where we’re headed. That acceleration will probably take at least a year to show up in subscription accounting numbers just because of the way the model works. 

    What’s been interesting about the pandemic is that for companies that were in the cloud they figured out how to how to thrive and adjust to the new world. Companies that weren’t in the cloud realized that they needed the flexibility, agility, and ability to plan instantaneously. They needed those capabilities. In many ways, companies like Nike that are just such great market-leading companies, recognize that they needed to move this capability to the cloud. So I think actually digital transformation will come out as a faster trend out of the pandemic. 

    Employee Engagement Rose To The Top Of The List

    It comes back to the flexibility and agility that that cloud solutions like Workday provide. We’ve been very fortunate. We’re so happy to have Laboratory Corporation of America become a customer. J&J is a customer. Visor’s a customer. AstraZeneca is a customer. I just feel honored to be able to support these companies who are doing the best they can to save our lives and are just doing amazing work with the vaccines and testing. We’ve always had a strength in the pharmaceuticals and diagnostics role. We’re going to do everything we can to make sure that they’re successful because they’re taking care of all of us.

    Coming back to what we learned during the pandemic, employee engagement just rose to the top of every CEO’s list and every head of HR’s list. In a remote work orientation, it was harder to really understand how do employees think about the company they work at, their engagement level, their comfort with their manager, and if they are feeling fulfilled at work. We were already down the path at Workday with something called Pulse Surveys. We recognized that this emerging trend was going to be critical going forward. 

    We Fell In Love With Peakon So We Acquired Them

    We concluded that we had to get in this market now, the market’s happening now, and Peakon is the well-known leader in this category. Peakon is a UK-based company with an amazing management team. We fell in love with the product and the management team so we made them part of Workday. They’re one of the new generations of companies that’s machine learning first.

    They really use machine learning in the right way to guide decisions and really give you insight into how employees are thinking about the company that they’re working for and how engaged are they. That is a supercritical set of information that’s going to drive companies going forward.

    Digital Transformation To Be Faster Trend Out Of Pandemic, Says Worday co-CEO Aneel Bhusri
  • Even Beer Is Threatened by Cyberattacks As Coors Shuts Down Production

    Even Beer Is Threatened by Cyberattacks As Coors Shuts Down Production

    Molson Coors has announced in a regulatory filing that it halted its brewery operations as a result of a cyberattack — just when things were starting to look up.

    Cyberattacks have become a common occurrence across industries, with new ones reported almost daily. Unfortunately, the threat has reached a new low, impacting the nation’s beer supply.

    In a regulatory filing, the company says it suffered an attack on March 11, and is working around the clock to get its systems running again.

    Although the Company is actively managing this cybersecurity incident, it has caused and may continue to cause a delay or disruption to parts of the Company’s business, including its brewery operations, production, and shipments.

    Molson Coors doesn’t provide a timeline when operations will be up and running, but its predicament emphasizes that no companies are safe from cybersecurity threats.

  • ServiceNow CEO on “The Whole Point Of Digital Transformation”

    ServiceNow CEO on “The Whole Point Of Digital Transformation”

    “Business is really simple, and people are more productive, and they’re doing things that can lead to growth and opportunity,” says ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott. “That’s the whole point of digital transformation. Right now, companies are hunkered down with systems that are absolutely wearing them out. It’s time to make the bold move, pivot to ServiceNow, and let’s get in there and fix the job.”

    Bill McDermott, CEO, and President of ServiceNow says that only one in four digital transformation projects actually deliver positive ROI due to lack of integration:

    Most Digital Transformation Projects Don’t Deliver

    We have a situation on our hands where digital transformation, cloud computing, and business model innovation, are all converging at once. ServiceNow is the platform, of all the enterprise platforms, that really makes business work. One of the big lessons that business has right now is trillions have been poured into digital transformation yet only one in four projects actually deliver positive ROI. The reason for that is lack of integration.

    Our system integrates with all the existing systems as well as all the collaborative tools in the enterprise. From day one, the customer gets it up and running swiftly because it’s in the cloud. They begin to derive value from it because you automate the way the work is done and ultimately, you’re now in a position to serve your customers the way they want to be served. It’s a speed game and ServiceNow is at the top of its game.

    Companies Have To Create New Business Models

    We’re an example. If you’re going to grow your company you’re going to take advantage of digital transformation. This is the only way out and it’s the only way forward. In the 20th Century companies put in big heavy on-premise systems. The issue is now they can’t, in a frictionless economy, immediately pivot those business models because they haven’t digitally transformed their business.

    About 25 percent of the opportunity of businesses out there today over the next three years will come from white space places they are not in today. They have to create new business models. They have to think about new partnerships and new routes to market. Without the baseline of a platform like ServiceNow they’re not going to get there. 

    That’s The Whole Point Of Digital Transformation

    I am very optimistic that the economies of the world not only are going to recover but actually going to do very well this year because people are going to be investing in digital transformation. We have seen that does not cost jobs. On the contrary, it frees people up to do things like go after new markets, derive new ideas, and so forth, because the AI revolution is also on.

    We have built-in machine learning and AI into our platform. So 80 percent of the soul-crushing work people don’t want to do is done by the Now platform. The 20 percent that involves a human immediately gets initiated through a workflow order from the Now platform. 

    Business is really simple, and people are more productive and they’re doing things that can lead to growth and opportunity. That’s the whole point of digital transformation. Right now, companies are hunkered down with systems that are absolutely wearing them out. It’s time to make the bold move, pivot to ServiceNow, and let’s get in there and fix the job.

    Fastest-Growing Pure-Play SASS Silicon Valley Company

    If you look at our actual earnings results, they were stunning and obviously achieved beyond expectations performance across the board. We also followed that through in the guide. We’ll continue to be the fastest-growing pure-play SASS Silicon Valley company. We will continue to have the best margin profile of all of them. Obviously, we’re going to continue to gain market share in industries around the world, in geographies around the world, particularly in Europe and Asia Pacific, and Japan. 

    We will also gain market share on personas. Lots of people are getting the memo now that ServiceNow obviously dominated the IT automation market but the same backbone platform has enabled us to change the employee experience, the customer experience. In these tough times with COVID we can write low-code onto our platform in minutes and roll out new applications to hundreds of thousands of people so companies can move super fast.

    We keep the guide consistent with the revenue that we generated in 2020. If there’s an upside to that… fantastic. That’s what good companies should do. They should go beyond expectations when they can but we stand by the guide and we’re looking forward to having a great year. 

    ServiceNow Was Born In The Cloud

    The whole idea of ServiceNow is so different than SAP which was a company that needed to pivot to the cloud in 2010. We did that and that was very successful. ServiceNow was born in the cloud. It’s a very young company with tremendous growth opportunity on the organic front. Having said that, (we would be in interested in an acquisition) if you have a situation where there is a partner out there that has a substantial TAM, that can be highly complementary and synergistic with ServiceNow on the revenue side. 

    It also would have to do great things for the customer, because we have a precious platform and we jealously protect the integration power of that platform. A lot of things would have to be right but I can tell you as responsible business people we always look at it. We don’t need it to make our goals but you always have to look at it. We do want to be the defining enterprise software company the 21st century. That’s our plan.

  • Remote Work IT Spending Will Hit $332.9 Billion In 2021

    Remote Work IT Spending Will Hit $332.9 Billion In 2021

    Gartner is predicting companies will spend some $332.9 billion on remote work IT in 2021 as the digital transformation continues.

    The coronavirus pandemic has sparked an unprecedented digital transformation, as organizations have turned to remote work, schools have turned to remote learning and individuals have had to rely on videoconferencing to stay in touch.

    That trend is expected to continue full force for the next several years. In fact, Gartner predicts businesses will have to accelerate their digital transformation by at least five years through 2024, as they continue to deal with a permanently altered workforce — one where remote work is part of the new reality.

    “There are a combination of factors pushing the devices market higher,” said John-David Lovelock, distinguished research vice president at Gartner.. “As countries continue remote education through this year, there will be a demand for tablets and laptops for students. Likewise, enterprises are industrializing remote work for employees as quarantine measures keep employees at home and budget stabilization allows CIOs to reinvest in assets that were sweated in 2020.”

    As a result, Gartner predicts remote work-related global IT spending will reach $332.9 billion in 2021, an increase of 4.9% from 2020.

    “Digital business represents the dominant technology trend in late 2020 and early 2021 with areas such as cloud computing, core business applications, security and customer experience at the forefront. Optimization initiatives, such as hyperautomation, will continue and the focus of these projects will remain on returning cash and eliminating work from processes, not just tasks,” said Mr. Lovelock.

    Gartner’s report is the latest evidence that remote work has become a permanent part of society, with workers continuing to demonstrate their preference for it.

  • SolarWinds Hack Was Supply Chain Attack, Says Datadog CEO

    SolarWinds Hack Was Supply Chain Attack, Says Datadog CEO

    “What’s interesting here about the SolarWinds hack, in particular, is that it’s what’s called a supply chain attack,” says Datadog CEO Olivier Pomel. “This means the attack was made on the code that was shipped to the SolarWinds customer. Then there is this new notion in security called shifting left. By left, it means is closer to the developer and earlier in the development process.”

    Datadog CEO Olivier Pomel discusses how the SolarWinds hack signals an increased focus by hackers to target software earlier in its development:

    The SolarWinds hack was definitely a very big one. It’s not especially surprising to see new important hacks like this one but definitely a very impactful one. What it makes very clear is that there’s going to be even more of an arms race when it comes to security. It’s not surprising companies are transforming. They’re having more and more of their activity that is happening online is happening in software. So there’s much more that can be done by attacking that software.

    What we do is we gather as many signals as possible across observability and monitoring. This is the way we come from and across security. What’s interesting here about the SolarWinds hack, in particular, is that it’s what’s called a supply chain attack. This means the attack was made on the code that was shipped to the SolarWinds customer. Then there is this new notion in security called shifting left. By left, it means is closer to the developer and earlier in the development process.

    There’s something really interesting there when it relates to us (Datadog) in how we can solve the problem for our customers by bringing security earlier into the development process and tied in more to the operations and the development of the application. That’s definitely something that we’re investing in and something that we think is going to be a big area of investment for customers in the future.

    SolarWinds Hack Was Supply Chain Attack, Says Datadog CEO Olivier Pomel
  • Snowflake CEO: Once You Get To The Cloud The Lid Is Off

    Snowflake CEO: Once You Get To The Cloud The Lid Is Off

    “Once you get to the cloud all of a sudden the lid is off,” says Snowflake CEO Frank Slootman. “People can just pursue their backlogs and whatever they can imagine. We’re now in a situation where technology is ahead of what people are capable of and imagining what they could actually do with it. That’s really a big part of what you see in Snowflake’s growth profile, a completely variable paradigm.”

    Frank Slootman, CEO of Snowflake, says that on-premise data centers can only accommodate a tiny fraction of what their real demand for data analytics really is:

    Once You Get To The Cloud The Lid Is Off

    The important thing to understand is that there’s a couple of long-term secular trends that are coinciding and driving the development of the market overall. One is, as everybody knows, the movement towards cloud. It’s really a modernization play. We’re moving from on-premise data centers and we’re taking workloads to the cloud because we get to take advantage of better economics and utility models. Then we no longer have to manage capacity, we pay by the drink and all that sort of thing.

    The other aspect that’s really important for our business is that we’ve had an extraordinary amount of pent up demand. The on-premise data centers could only accommodate a very tiny fraction of what their real demand for data analytics really is. Once you get to the cloud all of a sudden the lid is off. People can just pursue their backlogs and whatever they can imagine. We’re now in a situation where technology is ahead of what people are capable of and imagining what they could actually do with it. That’s really a big part of what you see in Snowflake’s growth profile, a completely variable paradigm.

    Notion Of Headquarters Is Evaporating

    We don’t have a yearning to go back to where we were. I can see why people would have that because of lockdowns and things of that sort. From a business standpoint, there’s a lot of positives to the shock to the system that we received. It’s almost like a wake-up call that is just opening our eyes to the opportunity. This whole notion that the office is your workday home we just realized that it’s nonsense. In other words, offices need to be there for specific purposes, for events, for training, for meetings specifically, but not a place to hang out nine to five. That’s definitely changing. It’s going to really reduce the real estate footprint that companies have.

    The other trend and you’ve seen it with companies leaving California, the likes of Oracle and HP and Tesla, and so on is that the whole notion of headquarters is pretty much evaporating in front of our eyes. We’re no longer operating with a physical center of the universe. We’re completely virtual. We’re connecting as needed. We’ve been operating for the better part of a whole year without a headquarters and it’s just fine. All of a sudden everybody’s staring at each other and saying like what is the headquarters anyway. You’ve seen companies like Pinterest and you’re writing up massive leeches in San Francisco and saying we’re going to be headquarter-less. It’s just a concept whose time has gone away… and that’s very profound.

    We Are Buying Talent And Technology, No M&A

    Usually, big M&A is a function of people running out of market and running out of a lot of opportunity. They’re trying to invade adjacent territories to give themselves new runway. That is obviously not the case for Snowflake. We’re in a tremendous marketplace and we are buying talent and technology. We sometimes refer to it as stem cells that we can use that we don’t have ourselves that we can build very specific technologies around that are very much built snowflake way. We can really enable our platform mission or footer. That’s really been our mode. If you looked at our history we don’t have a history of doing big acquisitions.

    Snowflake CEO Frank Slootman: Once You Get To The Cloud The Lid Is Off