CLOUD/AI/MODERN WORK - TECHNOLOGY UPDATE - 8/6/2024
Dan Lausted
A technology strategist focused on creating innovative solutions that drive revenue growth and customer satisfaction!
Welcome to August everyone!
The latest tech news covers various topics related to Public Cloud, AI / AGI / GenAI, and Modern Workplace!
First, the latest in cloud focuses on Microsoft's upcoming Q4 earnings report, and Amazon's amazing continued growth,
In the AI news, you've got SearchGPT from OpenAI, and new insights into Microsoft's evolving relationship with OpenAI (are they competitors now)?
Microsoft's Azure OpenAI Service improves, and Amazon is focusing on GenAI expansion with Deloitte collaborations around generative AI.
In Modern Workplace, Microsoft faced connectivity issues with its 365 suite, while HP Managed Collaboration Services aim to enhance meeting room experiences.
Microsoft's Copilots AI assistants for workplace productivity continue their adoption, and Google is using Gemini in Google Messages, but found vulnerabilities that exposed Google Workspace accounts.
Lastly, in Future Tech we look at the innovative future technologies showcased at the Goodwood Festival of Speed 2024, focusing on sustainability, robotics, future flight, and spatial computing.
That's all for now. Let's get to work!
Public Cloud
All things related to Microsoft Azure, AWS and GCP
Microsoft
All things Azure
Microsoft Q4 2024 earnings preview: five things to know
The article discusses Microsoft's upcoming fourth fiscal quarter earnings report, highlighting key points such as the strength in Azure, Copilot cycle, and revenue expectations. It also covers the recent CrowdStrike update incident affecting Windows machines globally and potential implications for Microsoft. Additionally, the article delves into Microsoft's AI offerings, security business investments, and the company's focus on AI PC adoption and growth. Lastly, it provides insights into Microsoft's cloud products, partner investments, and market expectations for Microsoft's productivity and business processes segment.
Beyond ‘everyday AI’ how Insight is taking the charge in game-changing AI
Insight Enterprises has adapted to the changing technology landscape by positioning itself as a solution integrator, catering to a new category of buyers uninterested in navigating IT complexities. The company's genAI initiative aligns with the growing demand for game-changing AI solutions, emphasizing the importance of data security and readiness for artificial intelligence implementation. Insight's collaboration with Microsoft has enabled the development of innovative AI applications like the Cabot's Project Assistant chatbot, showcasing the company's commitment to driving real-world business value through AI technologies. With a focus on client-centric innovation and strategic acquisitions, Insight has expanded its global presence and revenue, demonstrating its evolution into a leading player in the AI solutions space.
AWS
Everything AWS
Amazon earnings: All eyes on AWS, AI and spending plans
The article discusses Amazon's second-quarter earnings report, which was released after the close of trading on Thursday. The stock fell due to a rare revenue miss despite beating expectations for its AWS cloud business. Investors are closely watching the growth of Amazon's AWS cloud-computing business, particularly in comparison to competitors like Alphabet and Microsoft. Analysts are expecting AWS growth of around 18%, slightly above the consensus view of 17.6%.
'Gaining share': Here's what Wall Street expects from Amazon's 2nd-quarter earnings
Amazon is set to report its second-quarter earnings, with expectations of solid growth in its AWS cloud unit and retail operations. Wall Street anticipates adjusted earnings per share of $1.47 and revenue of $148.78 billion. Analysts from Bank of America, Citi, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Bloomberg Intelligence are looking for various indicators such as AWS acceleration, retail unit performance, and advertising revenue growth in Amazon's upcoming earnings report. Investors are particularly interested in Amazon's Prime Day sales, advertising business growth, and the performance of its AWS cloud unit.
GCP
All things Google Cloud Platform
Public Cloud Service Market All Sets For Continued Outperformance: Microsoft Azure, Salesforce, Huawei Cloud
The article discusses the current state and future outlook of the Global Public Cloud Service Market, highlighting key players such as Microsoft Azure, Salesforce, and Huawei Cloud. It covers market drivers such as global reach, continuous innovation, and agility in deploying advanced applications, as well as market opportunities like scalability and global expansion. The report also mentions market restraints including data breaches, regulatory demands, and compliance complexities, providing insights into the industry trends, growth patterns, and business strategies for stakeholders.
365 Data Centers Expands Partnership with Megaport
The article discusses the expansion of the partnership between 365 Data Centers and Megaport, a Network-as-a-Service provider, to enhance network connectivity solutions for businesses in the Southeast region of the United States. Megaport has added a Point-of-Presence at 365's Boca Raton, Florida data center, providing on-demand connectivity options to major public cloud hyperscalers like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud for 365's customers. This collaboration aims to offer innovative network technology to help businesses stay competitive in the digital landscape.
AI / AGI / GenAI
All Things AI
Microsoft
All things Microsoft AI
Microsoft Says OpenAI Is Now Competitor
In the rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence, Microsoft and OpenAI have a complex relationship that has evolved from partnership to potential competition. Microsoft initially invested $1 billion in OpenAI in 2019 and further deepened their relationship with a reported $10 billion investment in January 2023. While their collaboration led to the development of innovative technologies, recent moves by both companies have blurred the lines between partnership and competition, particularly in areas such as AI services, search technology, and news curation. Both companies face strategic decisions to balance leveraging each other's technologies while maintaining their own long-term goals in the competitive AI landscape.
Azure OpenAI Service now supports GPT-4o mini, the company's fastest AI to date
Microsoft has introduced improvements to the Azure OpenAI Service, integrating the GPT-4o mini model, which is cost-effective and excels in various AI tests. The platform now automatically enables features like prompt shields and protected material detection for a safer AI experience. With data residency available in all 27 regions, users have more control over where their AI-related data is stored. The GPT-4o mini model, combined with the Azure Batch Service, offers high throughput at a lower cost, making it an attractive option for AI applications.
AWS
All things AI with Amazon.
Amazon’s Growth Trajectory: Buy Rating Affirmed Amid GenAI Expansion and AWS Momentum
Analyst Doug Anmuth from J.P. Morgan reaffirmed a Buy rating on Amazon (AMZN) with a $240.00 price target, citing the company's strong position and growth potential in Generative AI (GenAI). Anmuth highlighted Amazon's full-stack capabilities, vast customer data, and security-focused approach as key differentiators in the market. He emphasized the significant revenue opportunity presented by GenAI, estimating it to become a "tens of billions of dollars" revenue stream in the future. Additionally, Anmuth pointed to Amazon Web Services' (AWS) momentum, accelerated revenue growth projections, and the company's potential for margin expansion and free cash flow ramp-up as factors supporting the Buy rating.
Deloitte Launches an AI and Data Accelerator Program With AWS, Aimed at Scaling the Next Generation of Artificial Intelligence Capabilities
Deloitte has announced a strategic collaboration agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to help clients scale their Generative Artificial Intelligence, data analytics, and quantum computing capabilities by utilizing AWS services. The partnership includes the establishment of an Innovation Lab to explore future technologies like artificial general intelligence and quantum machine learning. Deloitte and AWS will provide funding to support customers in transitioning successful proofs of concept into production, aligning with Deloitte's IndustryAdvantage™ initiative to co-innovate with clients and alliances. The collaboration aims to leverage Generative AI to enhance workforce productivity, gain a competitive edge, and improve customer satisfaction across various industries.
All things Google AI
“AI agents have a bright future; and scale isn’t everything with LLMs,” Google DeepMind execs
Google DeepMind executives, Seshu Ajjarapu and Manish Gupta, discuss the future of AI agents and the importance of focusing on solving unsolved problems in GenAI. Since the merger of Alphabet's AI units, DeepMind and Google Brain, the company has seen a shift towards commercialization while still prioritizing research. They emphasize the need for a balanced approach in AI research, highlighting the challenges such as hallucination and inaccuracy in large language models that need to be addressed before widespread implementation in enterprises.
Google Revs Cloud Databases, Adds More GenAI to the Mix
Google Cloud unveiled enhancements to its database and AI offerings at the Next Tokyo ‘24 conference, including updates to its Spanner databases and new generative AI capabilities in BigQuery and Looker. BigQuery now features GenAI assistant functions for SQL and Python code generation, aiming to accelerate data science, analysis, and engineering tasks. Additionally, Google Cloud introduced a data canvas user experience in BigQuery and AI-powered formula assist capabilities in Looker, expanding the scope of data analysis possibilities for customers. Furthermore, Google Cloud announced support for Apache Spark and Apache Kafka within BigQuery, along with new real-time streaming options and a data migration offering to facilitate customer transitions.
Looking Ahead To The Future – SGE, Gemini…And AGI?
The article discusses the challenges faced in modern search marketing and provides insights on how to navigate them effectively. It emphasizes the importance of standing out and increasing visibility in a competitive search marketing landscape to reach the target audience. The content also delves into the integration of AI in marketing strategies, offering strategic guidance for SEO and agency leaders to enhance their skills and stay ahead in the industry.
OpenAI
All things ChatGPT
What Is ChatGPT, and How Does It Make Money?
ChatGPT, a chatbot developed by OpenAI and released in November 2022, has garnered significant attention for its wide range of capabilities, including writing essays, summarizing texts, generating code, and creating bedtime stories. While some experts believe ChatGPT could revolutionize human interactions with AI, others have raised concerns about its potential negative impacts. OpenAI has seen significant financial success with ChatGPT, offering both a free version and a premium subscription-based version, but the company continues to face challenges in covering expenses due to the high costs associated with developing and running its models. Despite its leading position in the field, ChatGPT faces competition from other tech giants like Amazon, Google, and Meta.
Emerson's Transformative GenAI Automation Delivers Powerful New Tool for Power and Water Industries
Emerson has introduced the Ovation™ 4.0 Automation Platform with generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) to enhance decision-making processes for power and water companies. This technology aims to accelerate growth, improve efficiencies, and drive predictive, reliable, and resilient performance in operations. The platform utilizes AI assistants to optimize workflows, support remote operations, ensure continuous operations, enhance grid optimization, and bolster cybersecurity measures. Through the integration of GenAI, Emerson seeks to provide accessible insights for smarter decision-making and operational improvements in the power and water industries.
Modern Workplace
Everything you need to get work done, wherever you arel
Microsoft
All things Microsoft productivity.
Microsoft 365 suite suffers outage due to Azure networking issues
Microsoft 365 experienced connectivity issues and degraded performance globally due to networking infrastructure problems in Azure cloud regions. Some services were affected, including the Microsoft 365 admin center, Intune, Entra, and Power Platform. Despite this, services like SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, Microsoft Teams, and Exchange Online remained unaffected. Microsoft addressed the issue by implementing networking configuration changes and failovers to alternate paths for service availability improvement.
Rooms designed for modern work
The article discusses the changing role of the office space, emphasizing the need for flexible and secure meeting rooms that support various work scenarios, from hybrid team meetings to client interactions. HP Managed Collaboration Services are highlighted as a solution to enhance meeting experiences by providing video-enabled and managed room solutions. The services offer proactive support, fast delivery, and installation, allowing organizations to adapt to evolving business and employee needs with a predictable monthly cost. HP's services aim to ensure that technology is not a distraction, enabling employees to focus on productivity and collaboration.
Will Microsoft’s new AI assistants revolutionise the office? Maybe one day
Microsoft is introducing AI assistants known as Copilots to enhance workplace productivity using Office software. These assistants automate tasks, summarize information, and generate text and images. While Microsoft has invested significantly in developing these tools, challenges remain in terms of data security, contextual understanding, and cross-app functionality. Early adopters have seen benefits in information distillation but acknowledge limitations in certain areas, suggesting that widespread adoption may take time.
Google Workspace
All things Google productivity
How to use Gemini in Google Messages
The article discusses five free streaming apps that do not require users to log in, offering a privacy-friendly option for accessing a variety of content without the need to provide personal information. Additionally, it explores Amazon's initiative to utilize generative AI to potentially address issues with its Alexa platform. Furthermore, the article provides guidance on reverting the Windows 11 taskbar back to the classic Windows 10 style for users who prefer the previous layout. Lastly, it highlights the cost-saving and simplification benefits of using Google Fi for cell phone carrier services, emphasizing its affordability and streamlined payment process.
Google Workspace Authentication Vulnerability Allowed Thousands of Accounts to be Exposed
The article provides a detailed overview of the registration process for creating a TechRepublic account. It outlines the steps required to sign up, log in, and reset passwords, emphasizing the importance of user data privacy and adherence to the Terms of Use. Additionally, it offers users the option to customize their profiles and subscribe to newsletters based on their preferences for receiving business technology news and updates.
Google Workspace email review
The article provides a review of Google Workspace's email service, highlighting its various features and pricing tiers. Google Workspace offers a range of collaboration tools, cloud storage, and customization options, making it suitable for businesses of all sizes. The article also discusses the support and security features provided by Google Workspace, positioning it as a reliable and secure business email provider.
Future Tech
All things to consider
The future of technology
What should we be thinking about. Trends for the future.
The Innovative Future Tech At Goodwood Festival Of Speed 2024
The article discusses the innovative future technologies showcased at the Goodwood Festival of Speed 2024, focusing on themes like environmental sustainability, robotics, future flight, and spatial computing. Companies like Privateer, Astroscale, and Helixx presented solutions for space sustainability, space debris reduction, and urban logistics reimagining. Additionally, advancements in drone technology for deliveries, autonomous robots for agriculture, and all-electric vertical takeoff aircraft were highlighted, demonstrating the potential for reshaping transportation and industry practices towards a cleaner, more efficient future. The event aimed to celebrate human ingenuity and inspire a vision of a technologically advanced and sustainable world.