AMD’s New AI Chips Get Welcome Reception from Enterprise

AMD is coming to market with a new slate of chips optimized for artificial intelligence, including the AMD Instinct MI300 Series data center AI accelerators, ROCm 6 open software stack with new features for large language models, and Ryzen 8040 Series processors with Ryzen AI. The new offerings have received a welcome reception from customers including Microsoft, Oracle, Meta Platforms and Dell, among others that can benefit from building a strong network of suppliers of AI chips. The market is currently dominated by Nvidia, which is challenged to meet existing demand. Continue reading AMD’s New AI Chips Get Welcome Reception from Enterprise

CTOs Prioritize Controlling Cloud in Tough Economic Climate

As technology leaders manage pressure to control costs, cloud computing expenditures are getting increased scrutiny. Dedicated teams to manage cloud spending and dedicated tools designed to increase efficiencies are two of the measures being employed. The result is that while cloud spending continues to increase, it is at a slower pace than had been expected. The latest Gartner projection posits worldwide growth of 18.5 percent, to $576.5 billion this year, slightly less than the 18.8 percent uptick previously forecast. This follows a Synergy Research finding of 27 percent Q4 U.S. growth, lagging the 31 percent expected. Continue reading CTOs Prioritize Controlling Cloud in Tough Economic Climate

Cloud Platforms Combine Security, Operations for Efficiency

A new generation of cybersecurity solutions is gaining attention for merging corporate networks with security tools like malware protection into one system that can be centrally managed. Akamai, Cisco, Cloudflare, Zscaler, Palo Alto Networks and others have begun offering consolidated cybersecurity platforms that span IT, operations and security, leveraging resources and theoretically reducing costs through shared expenses. Having all eyes on traffic and workloads via a single framework may also make it possible for chief information officers and IT personnel to be more effective and focused. Continue reading Cloud Platforms Combine Security, Operations for Efficiency

Business World Asks if Generative AI is Ready for Enterprise

IT pros are grappling with the ways ChatGPT can be worked into the enterprise stack. The generative artificial intelligence from OpenAI has demonstrated the ability to compile reports, craft marketing pitches and write software code, which makes it seem convenient for business use. Yet concerns remain, including potential security risks and sometimes erratic or inappropriate data feedback. In the past week, one third-party tester had ChatGPT pledge love for its interlocutor, while another received a detailed lecture on why cow eggs are bigger than chicken eggs. Continue reading Business World Asks if Generative AI is Ready for Enterprise

GitHub Is Testing New Security Tools for Open-Source Code

Cloud-based code hosting service GitHub wants to make open-source material more secure. The Microsoft service is expanding safety features with two new offerings in beta. Secret scanning alerts are now free for all public repositories while push-notifications for custom secret patterns are also being made available. Open-source code is now incorporated into a whopping 97 percent of applications, according to Synopsys, which says 90 percent of organizations rely on it to varying degrees. Yet the very access that contributes to its popularity also leaves it vulnerable to malicious actors, as emphasized by the SolarWinds, Log4j and other breaches. Continue reading GitHub Is Testing New Security Tools for Open-Source Code

Intel to Restructure Chip Design and Manufacturing Divisions

Intel is fine-tuning its corporate reporting as it gears up a foundry operations that will see the longtime manufacturer and designer of its own chips extend services to third-parties. The idea is to create greater separation between its concept and creation divisions. The change comes as Intel deals with a rapidly shifting global market, where demand for chips has increased in sectors like automotive and AI data centers while the PC business that has been the company’s bedrock suffered a major decline in global shipments of nearly 20 percent in Q3. Continue reading Intel to Restructure Chip Design and Manufacturing Divisions

DoubleVerify Offers Brands New Way to Measure Campaigns

Ad tech company DoubleVerify is launching the DV Attention Lab, a new measurement system designed to provide advertisers with more accurate engagement data, an alternative to cookies that the company says will help prevent third-party fraud. More than 50 data points power DoubleVerify’s Authentic Attention metrics, which analyzes ad exposure and consumer response analyzing campaign effectiveness in real time. “Disruption from regulatory shifts to cookie deprecation is hindering how brands can use existing tools. With that in mind, we are confident that privacy-friendly attention metrics will become the industry’s new performance currency,” DoubleVerify CEO Mark Zagorski says. Continue reading DoubleVerify Offers Brands New Way to Measure Campaigns

Decline in Global PC Sales Expected to Impact Chip Demand

A slump in PC sales and crashing cryptocurrency markets appear to be tempering a demand for semiconductors spurred by COVID-19 era supply chain shortages. Inflation is another mitigating factor, as sales of laptops and high-end GPUs for gaming and cryptocurrency mining slacken. Research firm Gartner predicts global PC shipments will contract by 9.5 percent in 2022, with consumer demand projected to decline by 13.5 percent. Enterprise sales are also expected to drop, by 7.2 percent, according to Gartner. Those numbers align with the 10 percent PC sales decline Micron Technology has forecast. Continue reading Decline in Global PC Sales Expected to Impact Chip Demand

Amazon Intros Invite-Based Ordering for High-Demand Items

Amazon is combatting inventory shortages with a new invite-based ordering protocol for high-demand products, starting with U.S. fulfillment of the Sony PlayStation 5 game console, followed by Microsoft’s Xbox Series X. The idea is to prevent hoarding by “scalpers” who program bots to buy in quantity then resell the items at significant markup. Participation does not require Prime membership, merely a request for the invitation. Amazon plans to roll the program out to more countries as it strives to ensure a positive shopping experience for individual customers and households. Continue reading Amazon Intros Invite-Based Ordering for High-Demand Items

AI-Driven Microsoft Power Apps Offers Development Shortcuts

Microsoft is previewing its express design in Power Apps, which can instantly generate low-code apps directly from design files and images. In a few clicks, anyone can now create web and mobile apps from inputs including paper forms, PDFs, sketches on the whiteboard or even assets designed in professional programs like Figma. As part of the Microsoft Power Platform, Power Apps uses advanced AI to accelerate design. “We’re particularly excited about our integration with Figma, the collaborative design platform, where so much software is designed today,” said Microsoft vice president of Power Apps Ryan Cunningham. Continue reading AI-Driven Microsoft Power Apps Offers Development Shortcuts

Google’s Media CDN Provides Content Streaming Automation

Streaming is booming, accounting for 53.7 percent of Internet bandwidth traffic, up by 4.8 percent for the year according to Google, which anticipates continued growth as gaming, social networks, AR and VR experiences take hold. To service those needs, the Alphabet unit is officially launching Media CDN, an extensible Google Cloud platform for the distribution of streaming content. At the 2022 NAB Show Streaming Summit this week, Google touted Media CDN as a more affordable and efficient way for media and entertainment companies to deliver immersive streaming experiences globally and at scale. Continue reading Google’s Media CDN Provides Content Streaming Automation

Led by SaaS, 2022 Cloud Spending to Approach $500 Billion

Cloud computing costs are expected to rise by 20 percent to an estimated $494.7 billion this year, according to a new report from Gartner. Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) is earmarked for the most significant growth, up 30.6 percent to $119.7 billion this year. Desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) is the second most robust sector, at 26.6 projected growth, followed by platform-as-a-service (PaaS), at 26.1 percent. “Cloud-native capabilities such as containerization, database platform-as-a-service (dbPaaS) and artificial intelligence/machine learning contain richer features than commoditized compute such as IaaS or network-as-a-service,” which makes them more expensive, said Sid Nag, research VP at Gartner. Continue reading Led by SaaS, 2022 Cloud Spending to Approach $500 Billion

Intel Has Record Quarter and Year Despite Supply Shortages

California-based Intel, the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturer, reports Q4 2021 set a record and capped the company’s best year ever despite the dire worldwide shortage of processing chips. Q4 revenue was up 3 percent, to $20.5 billion, while the year totaled $79 billion, a 1 percent gain. However, Q4 net income declined 21 percent year-over-year, to $4.6 billion, and fell 5 percent (to $19.9 billion) for the 12-month period. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger called it “a great finish to a great year,” besting top-line quarterly guidance by over $1 billion to deliver “the best quarterly and full-year revenue in the company’s history.” Continue reading Intel Has Record Quarter and Year Despite Supply Shortages

TSMC Earmarks Up to $44 Billion in Competitive Chip Sector

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) says it will increase production capacity by up to 47 percent for 2022 as demand continues to surge amid a global chip shortage. To support the increase and technology upgrades, the world’s largest contract chipmaker plans to set a company record for capital expenditure in 2022, with spending at $40-44 billion (compared to $30 billion in 2021). Speaking at an investor conference, company CFO Wendell Huang said about 70-80 percent of the 2022 capex will fund development of advanced 2nm, 3nm, 5nm and 7nm processors as TSMC fights to maintain its dominant market share while rivals step up. Continue reading TSMC Earmarks Up to $44 Billion in Competitive Chip Sector

Google Cloud Lands Exchange Giant CME in $1B Equity Deal

Google has purchased $1 billion of CME Group’s stock in a deal that will move the financial giant’s core trading systems to the Google Cloud. This 10-year partnership is all but guaranteed to boost Google Cloud’s bottom line, as well as improve its fourth-place market share. Google Finance calls Chicago-based CME “the world’s largest financial derivatives exchange,” trading in asset classes that span agricultural, currencies, energy, stock indexes, cryptocurrencies and more. However, the financial-services sector has lagged behind other industries when it comes to moving to the cloud, partly due to regulatory oversight and security concerns regarding client data. Continue reading Google Cloud Lands Exchange Giant CME in $1B Equity Deal