Newsletter: Signs of the Tech Revolution #7
One outage last week brought many institutions to its knees. You’ve heard about the CrowdStrike update and its consequences, so we won’t be focusing on what happened exactly, but here are 3 interesting insights related to it.
- Many Airlines had problems, canceled flights and passengers experienced delays. The exception here was Southwest Airlines. Why? Well, a major portion of Southwest’s computer systems are using Windows 3.1., which launched in 1992. Surprisingly, Delaying system updates saved them a lot of trouble this time.
- CrowdStrike wanted to offer something to its affected partners and teammates for all the trouble. So they offered $10 Uber Eats gift cards. Unfortunately, Uber flagged the code that was circulating as fraud, meaning people couldn’t get their discounts.
- Circa 8.5 million devices were affected by the outage. Jeff Pollard, VP and principal analyst at Forrester, summed this whole situation up perfectly in one sentence: “CrowdStrike just created the best argument against consolidation and platformization: widespread outages.” Consolidation brings many benefits to enterprises. While everything looks good on paper, last week’s incident highlights the major downside: concentration risk.
Read a detailed article about consolidation with input from Forrester and Gartner.
In this newsletter:
- Open source artificial intelligence
- AI budgets hitting the $10M mark
- Role of colocation services in hybrid environments
- Moving data between mainframes and cloud
- Where venture capital money is flowing
- Rising AI training costs
- and more...
News #1: "Open source AI is the path forward"
If you're watching the landscape of AI models (or even if you're not) you can see that it's rapidly evolving. Every week or two, there is something new related to OpenAI, Meta, Google, or others. This week you should check Meta’s latest release, LLaMA-2.
This model is particularly noteworthy as it’s the first GPT-4 class AI that organizations can directly download and utilize. Yes, it will be open-sourced. It means opening up possibilities for companies to customize AI solutions without relying solely on cloud-based models.
Meta’s innovation stands as part of their commitment to pushing AI boundaries and democratizing access to advanced AI systems. Users will have more control over AI deployments.
This move signifies the start of a new era where advanced AI models are more accessible, providing broader opportunities for innovation and growth in various industries. 🌐
Read the official letter by Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO of Meta.
News #2: Enterprises are increasing their AI budgets
The increasing investment in AI is a hot topic in the business world. According to a recent EY survey, enterprises are significantly boosting their AI budgets, with one in three hitting the $10M mark.
Surprisingly, this increase isn't just reflecting the tech industry's enthusiasm, but a broader recognition of AI's value in transforming various sectors. Companies are plugging AI everywhere to enhance operational efficiency, customer experience, and innovation capabilities.
Businesses worldwide are making AI a cornerstone of their strategy. The time for experimenting is over and AI is getting integrated into core business functions.
This means there is a need for greater oversight. Companies are acknowledging the importance of ethical considerations and establishing guidelines to navigate the complexities around AI deployment. 🚀
News #3: Three in five organizations already maintain a hybrid environment, but colocation services play a huge role
As businesses transition from legacy systems to more flexible cloud solutions, the hybrid model offers an effective strategy for scaling operations and optimizing costs. Blending on-premises infrastructure with public and private clouds gives flexibility while maintaining control over critical data.
One of the report's highlights is the rising reliance on colocation services. These services provide companies with state-of-the-art facilities without the hefty investment, addressing the demand for secure, scalable, and reliable data centers. The ability to utilize colocation is especially crucial in regions with stringent data sovereignty laws and where immediate scalability is required.
IT leaders are also looking into colocation to reduce latency by placing their systems closer to end-users, ultimately enhancing their customer experience. The move to the cloud shows why data centers are expected to use 9% of U.S. electricity by 2030, it’s 4% today. 🌐
To get the most out of your cloud investment, schedule a consultation with our team. We will help you improve your operations.
News #4: Mainframe-to-cloud data integration
Smart data management is becoming increasingly crucial for global enterprises. Businesses are focused on leveraging advanced analytics, AI, and machine learning to streamline data processes, improve operational efficiency, and drive innovation via the cloud.
However, data integration is not so easy if you want to connect something old with something new. How do you decide what data should move into a cloud setting or stay in the mainframe? This is a process that many have to create to ensure seamless integration while maintaining data integrity.
Technology allows organizations to better manage large volumes of data, but keeping sensitive information safe is a core part of data management.
Other Resources
- Revolut secures UK banking licence after three-year battle - Read more
- Meta to be hit with first EU antitrust fine for linking Marketplace and Facebook - Read more
- AI training costs are growing exponentially — according to IBM, quantum computing could be a solution - Read more
- An analysis of where venture capital funding is actually going. Surprisingly most funding isn't going to AI companies - Read more
- Citi leans on tech modernization to fix data quality management failings. The company redoubled infrastructure modernization efforts - Read more
- Fortune 500 stands to lose $5bn plus from CrowdStrike incident - Read more
What does Maxima Consulting do again?
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Curious to see how Maxima Consulting can help you get the most out of your tech investments? Meet with one of our consultants to see how we can help.
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