Technology Brief Newsletter, Technology Insights and Technology Flash are our periodic reports and
newsletters analyzing important new technologies, changing market conditions, strategic directions,
user requirements and critical challenges in creating, deploying and implementing technology
solutions. Technology Flash and Technology Currents are a more in depth look at critical issues and
market changes available to our subscribers. Below you’ll find some of our previous publications.
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Technology Insights – September 15, 2022
Qualcomm Builds a Foundation for the Metaverse
“…Qualcomm’s move to build out a platform puts it ahead in the race to become a dominant player and platform solution provider. Given its investment in chips, perception technologies, and building out of an ecosystem, including through a $100M Metaverse Investment Fund, we expect Qualcomm to become a leader in the XR and metaverse spaces, much as it has achieved success in smartphone, and is on its way to do in vehicles as well with its Drive platform approach… Qualcomm has recently been looking to address the emerging Metaverse world. It is concentrating on building out a Mixed Reality (XR) platform to compliment the work it has done for several years in AR/VR… We applaud Qualcomm for making such an effort to build out an ecosystem, as the challenge with any emerging market is the need to have enough “weight” behind it to produce the needed components when most of the players are smaller and/or startups…”
Technology Insights – September 1, 2022
AMD Pushes the Envelope with Ryzen 7000
“…AMD is pushing the boundaries on x86 chip design with its new family of products. While initially targeted at desktops, we expect to see mobile devices come to market within 3-6 months sporting similarly aggressive performance. And this family offers a glimpse into what can be expected from the next generation of server-based chips. Overall, AMD continues to aggressively push the limits for its chips, and offers a highly competitive family of products… Recently, AMD announced its Ryzen 7000 series, the latest product family in its battle to stay one step ahead in x86 processors… While the chip market has always been one of leapfrogging results from competitors, it will not be easy in the short term for the competition to exceed the performance metrics that AMD has established…”
Technology Brief – September, 2022
1. Arm Sues Qualcomm: Minor Family Squabble or Major Breakup?
“…Recently, after a disagreement over just what broad corporate-wide IP licenses mean, Arm filed a lawsuit against Qualcomm… There are no guarantees, but we expect this will be amicably resolved fairly quickly, and causing no additional issues on the Qualcomm/Nuvia technology launch, while also allowing Arm to claim some form of victory….”
2. Intel and Broadcom Demonstrate WiFi 7 Interoperability
“…Even with increasingly available 5G cellular connectivity and suggestions from some that it will supersede other connection options, WiFi will not be going away anytime soon …Showing what WiFi 7 can do in a real world scenario will quiet skepticism of whether it can be done in the short term. We expect many enterprises to be the first to upgrade, as capacity, and importantly for many applications, latency is a key determining factor of usability, but the consumer market should be significant by end of 2023/beginning of 2024 as well….”
3. Ericsson Targets the Enterprise
“…Moving beyond its traditional roots as a leading provider of large scale infrastructure equipment for network operators, Ericsson sees a major opportunity to focus on the growing multi-billion dollar enterprise space. It will certainly face competition from a variety of vendors and will have to build an installed base beyond its Cradlepoint and Vonage customers… We expect it to take at least 2-3 years before we can determine how successful this strategy is…”
Technology Insights – August 25, 2022
Cloudera CDP One: Creating Data Lakehouse as a Service
““…By moving to an “as a service” model, CDP One offers a major advantage in fast time to insight while also minimizing the required and often critically unavailable resources needed. While initially targeted at smaller companies, we believe CDP One is equally advantageous to larger organizations that need to spin up analytics projects quickly and gain near immediate beneficial insights. Enterprises should be looking to deploy CDP One capabilities in the near term… An improved insights capability can make a company more efficient. If we assume a modest 5% overall operational improvement for a mid size company with $100M in sales, it can add $5M per year to the bottom line. Further, by deploying as a service rather than building out an on-prem solution, companies can get an immediate 2-3 month time to insights improvement, which amounts to a $400K – $800K bottom line advantage…”
Technology Insights – July 25, 2022
Intel Signs MediaTek for its Foundry Services
“…This announcement between Intel and MediaTek demonstrates a strong commitment by Intel to its foundry service strategy, and that its IFS strategy is beginning to take hold. It also shows a need for Intel to do more to capture more leading edge designs in order to truly compete as a major service provider. Nevertheless, we expect that Intel’s foundry strategy will expand over the next couple of years, particularly as it gains more credibility through major announcements such as this one…new management has been pursuing this avenue and while there were some minor announcements previously, this one is different. It is a validation of the Intel Foundry Services (IFS) strategy, although with some caveats…”
Research Report– June 28, 2022
Powering US Cell Sites – a Sustainability and Cost Analysis
Our research and analysis determined:
“…the yearly power used and cost of power for a single cell site ranges from $1712 to $7877 per cell depending on class, while the total for all cell sites is almost $2.9B per year….”
“…using the latest technology that reduces the power requirements of the hardware at each cell site, while also improving the software that manages those sites through AI techniques and more modern and granular controls, each site could save as much as 40% of its electricity needs… a 40% reduction in power can lead to nearly $1.15B in yearly savings…”
“…Besides offering improved operating expenses, the savings provides another potential benefit in making cell site upgrades more attractive. Indeed, the yearly savings in power costs could pay for as many as 5100 new or upgraded cell sites per year….”
“…Sustainable reuse of the electricity… the savings from cell site power reduction can power more than 781K homes…”
“…Our analysis indicates that reducing the overall power needed and the associated lowered costs of the power needed offer substantial benefits in reducing carbon footprint, enabling alternative cleaner power generation, and that can be used to fund new and/or upgraded equipment to improve the overall cellular network capabilities or sustainably power a large number of households….”
The report with its analysis is available to our clients, and can be purchased by non-clients of J.Gold Associates. For further information or to obtain the research report, please contact us at info@jgoldassociates.com
Technology Brief – June, 2022
1. BlackBerry IVY: A Growth Opportunity in Automotive
“…Platforms like BlackBerry IVY present a new marketplace for services and features available not only to vehicle makers, but also to a vast array of developers and third party service providers… vehicle makers have every incentive to include capabilities like IVY in their new models to enhance revenue opportunities. Over the next 2-3 years, we expect to see a significant penetration of IVY in new vehicles, giving BlackBerry a new and ultimately large scale business opportunity….”
2. Citrix Simplifies the Path to DaaS
“…Citrix is now in the process of moving to a simplified approach that packages a number of products into solutions rather than components or point products… Citrix’s move to a simplified “solutions sell” should be well received. There will be different levels of DaaS offered depending on the feature set that customers want…we believe that these moves by Citrix will put it in good shape to grow its installed base and find new customers, while also being more competitive in the marketplace….”
3. Cisco’s Security for Multi-Cloud
“…Cisco is introducing its Security Cloud offering… a complete cloud native and cloud delivered security platform that can manage any cloud or on-prem installation… Cisco has a window of opportunity with its Security Cloud offering. A truly unified and highly effective cross-cloud and on prem data center security platform is something that is sorely needed…”
Research Report– June, 2022
Should Employees Get 5G-Enabled Laptops?
How Businesses Can Determine Who Should Have One and What the Benefits Will Be
“…Based on our analysis, enterprises should move to enable select mobile workers with 5G laptop devices. Not everyone in the organization may need a 5G enabled laptop, but for those who do, the payback will be quick and substantial…. As an example of what could be a fairly typical scenario, a worker that has a fully burdened salary of $120K and a productivity improvement of 10%, provides an ROI to the organization of 494%. Enabling users with full time connectivity from anywhere is both a smart move and a good investment…”
The report with its analysis is available to our clients, and can be purchased by non-clients of J.Gold Associates. For further information or to obtain the research report, please contact us at info@jgoldassociates.com
Technology Insights– May 15, 2022
T-Mobile 5G Home Internet Test Drive
“…Our test showed that the T-Mobile 5G Internet service is a viable competitor to more traditional Internet service providers, at least in our test area… Our experience showed that the service offered extremely easy set-up, competitive speeds suitable for the needs of most users, and attractive cost. We believe the T-Mobile Internet service to be an excellent alternative to high cost cable connections and at adequate speeds… It is also a terrific alternative to those on DSL, offering many times the speed. And of course, for those not currently served by cable or DSL, this is an onramp that enables connectivity, albeit only where T-Mobile has coverage. Overall, we’d rate this offering from T-Mobile as a win for consumers.….
Technology Brief – March 15, 2022
1. Why Chiplets are Critical to Future Processors
“…UCIe, if fully implemented and standardized, will have a profound impact on how processors are produced and what functions can be included. While there is still a lot of work to be done to make components fully compatible, and its likely to take 2-3 years to get to shipping products, but chiplets are a revolutionary step in an effort to keep the promise of Moore’s Law alive. It’s likely that this technology will usher in a new world of more complex, more quickly updated and more customized chips….”
2. T-Mobile T-IoT Enables Geographically Dispersed Connected Things
“…Connected IoT devices over a 5G network show much promise in making systems safer, more intelligent and offering two way communications in real or near real time. But the complexity of deploying IoT assets across multiple geographies and particularly for those that travel wide and far has limited the attractiveness. The T-IoT service holds the promise of simplified deployment and management….”
3. RISC-V Gets a Push from Intel and Partners
“…RISC-V is an ascendant processor technology that will take 2-3 more years to become mature, but that holds promise for many current and emerging companies to offer products compatible with its open source instruction set.… RISC-V is beginning to reach a critical mass that makes it an attractive option. We expect a large number of both complete processors and “chiplet” designs to become available in the next 1-2 years….”
Technology Brief – March 1, 2022
1. Lacework Secures the Multicloud
“…Most organizations, especially those moving to a multi-cloud environment, face major challenges in ensuring all data and apps remain secure and meet increasing complex compliance requirements. But many enterprises have a plethora of disparate tools used by DevOps and SecOps … The only efficient way to truly achieve a secure and private capability is to use an integrated “single pane of glass” approach that doesn’t require excessive resources needed to manage and interpret a large number of standalone tools….”
2. There’s Advantage to Nvidia and Arm Going their Separate Ways
“…We don’t believe there was any real damage done to either company… We expect Nvidia will to continue on its growth path, and Arm will continue to license its IP to many companies that make a very large number of chips. But Arm does need to be looking over its shoulder at RISC-V as a potential competitor, although probably not in the short term (the next 3-4 years)….”
3. AMD’s Embrace of Microsoft’s Pluton: Real Security Advance or Just Marketing?
“…While Microsoft should be commended for trying to rationalize the needs for security across many different devices and vendors, Pluton should be seen as a feature improvement and not a major security enhancement. Any security improvement is a good thing, but this really is more of a uniformity extension than a true security upgrade….”
Technology Currents– February 15, 2022
1. Why it May be Some Time Before You Get a 5G Enabled Laptop
“…when I went to order the machine with a 5G modem installed, I got sticker shock! HP quoted a $400 uplift on the price of the machine to get 5G! That’s an amazing 25% uplift. The vast majority of people who are buying a new machine…won’t pay an additional 25%+ to get a 5G modem installed! …At this cost premium, there will be very few takers, even for corporate users who are less price sensitive…. I do think we will eventually get to reasonably priced 5G enabled laptops that are widely purchased and deployed. In fact, I expect that in 3-4 years, we’ll see 35%-50% of enterprise laptops equipped with 5G capability. But the current costs and complexity barriers need to be resolved before this will happen. So if you’re looking to buy a new laptop, and want a 5G enabled device, you may not get an attractive option to do so in the short term.
Technology Currents– February 8, 2022
1. Telcos Must Move to a Modern Data Cloud
“…Most telcos well understand, they can’t continue to run old style systems that were built in some cases decades ago and that stand alone without the data integration necessary to fully understand the total business operations. They must, and in most cases are moving to a modern cloud based environment that enables a multi-faceted view of all the systems that interact with the customer, as well as internal systems required to fully optimize network operations….”
“…Carriers worldwide are struggling to fully cloud-enable back end systems to better understand customer behavior and offer new services like payments, entertainment, paid apps, security services, etc. This requires a centrally managed data cloud environment that can not only provide the required analytics to mange operations, but also provide the needed oversight for regulatory compliance and privacy….”
Technology Brief – January 15, 2022
1. Why Intel’s vPro isn’t Just for Enterprise Anymore
“…We believe that Intel has a superior security story to tell with its vPro products that it’s just now starting to emphasize,… Intel needs to do a better job of informing companies, both large enterprise and SMB, about the features available to keep company assets secure. We estimate that only 5%-10% of PCs ship with vPro chips currently, but we expect Intel’s renewed emphasis on messaging the benefits, and the significant security enhancements available, will double that share in the next 3-4 years….”
2. Samsung Networks’ Push for Market Share in 5G
“…While Samsung Networks has not always been first in mind when thinking of 5G infrastructure suppliers, we expect Samsung with its proven technology and wide-ranging product line to achieve a major market share for public networks, but increasingly for private networks as well. The challenge for Samsung Networks will be to focus on making more organizations deploying private networks aware of its place in the market and familiar with its performance and breadth of products….”
3. Marvell Ups its Game – Pursuing New and Emerging Markets
“…Marvell is leveraging its expertise in communications and a growing need for higher level networking systems to upscale its business from primarily a chip level supplier to a board-level provider. While it’s a huge opportunity, Marvell is not alone in targeting this market for SmartNICs and related networking components and will face some stiff competition….”
Technology Brief – January 1, 2022
1. Why the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE will Resonate with Enterprise
“…with the Galaxy S21 FE Samsung can boast a higher end device at a mid-tier price that many organizations will find attractive to deploy for a large portion of their workforce. We may not see Samsung directly market this device to business users, but it will likely be a popular option in the B2B marketplace, and companies should be examining the device for many of their internal deployments….”
2. Can AWS Reinvent Manufacturing with Digital Twins?
“…While AWS has a broad range of industrial components available for a variety of users, we expect the TwinMaker Digital Twins components to ultimately be the one of the single most valuable components in this solution set across a variety of users. It provides the ability to optimize business processes and enable best use of the various other AWS Industrial components… ultimately the TwinMaker solution may well be deployed across many other of the AWS industry-specialized solutions….”
3. TeleSign Secures a New Path
“…A company that provides high quality, reliable and above all accurate identity verification and fraud detection services must be a required component of any enterprise to consumer (or enterprise to worker) engagement. We believe that TeleSign has its sights set on becoming the premium provider of such services as it builds on its already substantial ecosystem….”
Technology Brief – December 2021
1. HP Wants to Manage Corporate PCs
“…HP is trying to tap into a growing market of frustrated organizations that have to deploy significant resources to manage their endpoint devices and the users employing those machines…. enterprises would do well to evaluate and adopt a more “as a service” strategy for endpoint lifecycle management, and subsequently moving any newly available IT resources to more productive and revenue contributing tasks….”
2. How Samsung Missed the Business Market Opportunity with its new Z Fold 3 Device
“…With the new Fold, Samsung is positioning it through its messaging as a consumer device when in truth there is a significant advantage (and ROI) for business users… Samsung should be making its messaging about mainstream products with major business appeal more obvious about the benefits to business users, rather than having such users need to discover the benefits on their own. This is a missed opportunity for Samsung in marketing a compelling new device to business users….”
3. In a Departure from the Past, Webex Goes for Ease of Use
“…For those that have experience with Webex of the past, and have not been enamored with its features, it might be time to try it again. Cisco’s recent focus on user experience and ease of use has made it much more user friendly (and IT friendly as well). It’s still primarily going to appeal to larger organizations, but unlike the past when it was seen as a necessary evil, the new Webex is actually a formidable competitor in this space….”
Technology Brief – June 2021
1. BlackBerry Ramps up its Security
“…With a wide array of security and safety focused products, BlackBerry is well positioned to become a major enabler of privacy and security services for both enterprise needs as well as IoT solutions… recent moves to provide more platforms and services enable them to expand their markets and moving to a cloud enabled as a service platform makes them much easier to become integrated into a wide array of organizations. Enterprises should evaluate the services that BlackBerry has recently added to its portfolio….”
2. VMware Takes Workspaces Anywhere
“…Anywhere Workspace will be especially attractive to those organizations already deploying VMware Workspace ONE or Horizon products. While the Anywhere suite provides a more complete integration of the tools needed for workforce optimization, especially for knowledge workers, it still is not a complete solution…. Still, with so many apps now being deployed in the cloud as a service, Anywhere Workspace is an attractive suite for those organizations with a distributed workforce….”
3. HP Enhances PC Security
“…HP is delivering the highest level of security and services of any PC vendor, although there is certainly competition, primarily from DELL with its partnerships with VMware and Carbon Black. Nevertheless, with its move to creating the HP Wolf Security platform and service tiers, we believe that HP PCs are more security-capable and deliver a compelling product that enterprises interested in providing the most secure platform to their growing diverse workforces should strongly consider….”
Technology Brief – May 2021
1. Samsung goes for Enterprise Smartphone Mid-market
“…The new Galaxy A series devices are not meant to appeal to the high end users who demand the best quality smartphones with superior features and functions… It is mid-tier enterprise-class workers that these devices will appeal to, and will expand the market for Samsung. Those companies hesitant to deploy company-wide mobile devices due to the cost and ability to achieve an ROI with $1K+ priced devices would do well to examine these new devices….”
2. Nvidia Wants to be your Mainstream Processor Supplier
“…Nvidia sees an opening against Intel and wants to be a full service provider for data center and cloud systems, particularly as it can leverage its GPU/DPU and AI strengths. But it won’t have an easy time replacing Intel (and AMD) x86 based systems, as a huge amount of code running in enterprise data centers and in the cloud is optimized for x86 (and not ARM)… Still, there certainly are some niches where Nvidia could very well compete, and with its combined assets could prevail….”
3. Cisco Goes Big on Secured Remote Work
“…Cisco has made impressive process in pivoting itself over the past 2-3 years from a unique hardware-dependent supplier into one that’s on the threshold of becoming a premiere “as a service” provider of key infrastructure products and services. While it has some way to go to migrate its large installed proprietary hardware base, its new direction should help it attack the lucrative markets for cloud native and as a service products that many organizations are pivoting to now….”
Technology Brief – March 2021
1. BlackBerry IVY – Enabling Sensor Data and Analytics in Vehicles
“…New ways for auto makers to address the complexity within their vehicles, as well as take advantage of the potential 5G connectivity brings, means the market is ripe for an integrated approach and cloud-based solutions. The partnership with AWS brings BlackBerry a large set of tools to create services. …it has the potential to propel them to the top of the supply chain for all things sensors and data in the automotive market….”
2. Microsoft Azure Synapse – Bringing a Cloud Native Approach to Analytics
“…Microsoft wants to enable quick to market, quick time of discovery, and ease of implementation by offering a cloud native and low overhead approach as part of Azure. We believe this to be a good step for Microsoft to enhance its competitiveness as it continues to gain market share for Azure in enterprise deployment….”
3. Kigen Seeks to Bring the SIM Card into the 21st Century
“…We expect iSIM to be a 3-5 year implementation timeline before it achieves substantial installations, and it’s likely to transition first in more dynamic markets such as China and India. Still, iSIM will ultimately be a successful technology from which Kigen should be able to benefit, although it will need to be patient until iSIM catches on….”
Technology Brief – February 15, 2021
1. Talend: Data Integrity is Imperative
“…While many data warehouses can offer “Brute Force” cleaning of data sets, it’s imperative that organizations find a more elegant way to interact with their data and assign a quality or trust score to that data. Without such a strategy, it’s unlikely that companies can truly trust the value of their operational data….”
2. Poly Moves to Keep Users Healthy, Goes Anti-microbial
“…We expect to see the same antimicrobial technology make its way into many other Poly products over the next 1-2 years. As premium priced products that focus on professional level user collaboration and productivity, this capability adds a major ingredient to keeping users healthier long term….”
3. UL Evolves to Manage Supply Chain Integrity
“…This is a strong step by UL to bring more cyber security into the supply chain in a world where increasing component complexity, lack of transparency and growth of counterfeit components is highly problematic. We expect companies to increasingly demand some sort of certification from their supply chain….”
Technology Brief – February 2021
1. Citrix Enables Task Management
“…Citrix’s acquisition of Wrike fills a gap in its modern workspaces … Being able to extend Citrix Workspace to encompass a broader set of organizational work patterns and needs, managing teams and task work, and having an ability to integrate with preferred tool sets while maintaining a “one pane of glass” approach, should do well in the market and put Citrix ahead of most competitors….”
2. Intel MobilEye’s Improved Sensors
“…By being a part of Intel, Mobileye has the ability to create a new class of Radar/Lidar components that advance the capabilities needed to achieve Level 4/5 autonomous driving performance while also reducing the overall cost… We believe Intel/Mobileye has a uniqueadvantage and will likely create the best-in-class sensors… This should give Mobileye a big competitive boost in the autonomous vehicle market….”
3. AMD “Ryzen’s” the Bar in Mobile PCs
“…While it would be wrong to diminish the ability of Intel to compete, we believe that AMD chips are now more than pulling their own weight when it comes to performance… Unless you’re a company that specifically requires an Intel processor as part of a critical app, we see no reason not to recommend AMD Ryzen as a quality alternative to Intel Core….”
Technology Brief – January 15, 2021
1. Lockheed Martin Leverages Mixed Reality with Hololens
“…We expect organizations with complex operations to increasingly adopt MR based solutions over the next 2-3 years, which will ultimately enable them to be more productive, lower overhead costs substantially, and make them more competitive in the marketplace… With all its benefits, companies should be creating an MR strategy now for deployment in the near term….”
2. Qualcomm Re-Visualizes AI
“…By creating a way to reduce the processing required to do visual AI computations and thereby reducing the power requirements, size and cost of AI chips, Qualcomm hopes to create mass market devices that can be deployed in lower cost and higher quantity devices, and without sacrificing AI quality… This is a win for Qualcomm, and potentially a win for all forms of new, visually “smart” products….”
3. Cloudera Partners with IQVIA in Healthcare
“…Creating an Enterprise Data Cloud that enables organizations to maximize their valuable data assets must be a high priority. Those that don’t do it well will risk becoming obsolete and/or at a competitive disadvantage… Organizations must implement a data lifecycle management solution in the short term….”
Technology Brief – January 2021
1. Google’s OCTO – It all about Strategic Partnerships
“…Google rightly understands that customer-unique requirements that are leveragable to other organizations are critical to producing
leading products and enhancing the acceptance of those products. …collaboration with strategic customers can dramatically advance the
product capabilities and target those capabilities to real world needs, while also decreasing time to market for new technologies/tools….”
2. AWS Embraces Cloud Diversity
“…We expect AWS to continue to create specialized components that will allow it to play in an increasingly complex marketplace. While
currently ahead of the competition in the amount of diversity it offers, we do expect the other key cloud players to create similar
offerings… we believe AWS currently has the broadest specialized cloud enabled offerings in the marketplace and should serve it well in
capturing a growing variety of solutions and deployments….”
3. Intel vPro Pivots to Security
“…With the new capabilities now being offered in vPro based 11th Gen systems, Intel is moving security front and center, an
enhancement to the key management functions previously available. This will make vPro, which in the past has been a relatively small
percentage of systems sold, much more attractive to enterprises, and even some small business users….”
Technology Currents – 14 December 2020
Device Security Needs to Get Personal
“……the notion of an AI based continuous authorization program like Persona being able to understand that it’s a specific user from usage patterns is a much more secure method of creating logins, access rules, and compliance monitoring than the current user name and password, and is far superior in mitigating stolen credential threats than current systems……We expect that within the next 2-3 years, such AI powered knowledge based security and compliance capability will be a defacto component of highly secure and compliant access management infrastructure, starting with enterprise uses but eventually moving on to consumer devices as well….”
Technology Currents – 3 December 2020
Qualcomm’s New Snapdragon 888 gets Hyper
“…Qualcomm has added a Type-1 Hypervisor to the Snapdragon 888. Sometimes also referred to a “bare metal hypervisor”, it connects
directly to the processor elements and runs below any OS powering a device. This allows for multiple virtual machines to run
simultaneously and fully isolated from each other… I expect this capability to significantly increase the security and privacy of devices
going forward……While this initial hypervisor capability is available on the high end Snapdragon 888 device, I expect it to eventually make its way into the mid and lower tier devices as well, although at potentially reduced functionality due to processor limitations. Still, the ability to add a type 1 hypervisor when designing a new device is a breakthrough capability that both the device OEMs, OS providers (e.g., Android) and the individual application vendors will find very compelling….”
Technology Currents – 24 November 2020
The High Cost of Enterprise Mobile Device Failures
“…We have evaluated the typical component steps necessary to resolving a device failure (e.g., help desk calls, user lost productivity,
technician time, shipping new devices to the user, etc.) and estimate that the average cost of a failed enterprise supplied mobile device is
$526 per failure…..Enterprises must look beyond the acquisition cost of the device if they want to fully understand the TCO of devices
being deployed to a mobile workforce. Mobile failures, while less than in previous generations as devices have become more robust, still
represent a significant cost to enterprises that often goes unrecognized….”
Technology Currents – 18 November 2020
Data Security vs. Data Privacy – They’re Not the Same Thing
“…Data security and data privacy are both necessary to completely protect corporate data assets. But most companies spend most of
their time on the former and much less on the latter. Enterprises must look at creating a full data lifecycle management solution that also includes access control and audit logs to insure that compliance regulations are being met…..Most companies should be looking to
deploy such capability immediately to avoid a growing list of potential non-compliance regulations and penalties. Longer term, a blending of more traditional security mechanisms with data access control features will further enhance the capabilities and make enterprise data even safer and more compliant by easing the burden of corporate data manager….”
Technology Currents – 10 November 2020
Why You Need an Integrated Data Lifecycle Solution
“…we estimate that for most companies, 85%- 95% of data is never fully utilized, and therefore wasted… There are many stages in a data
lifecycle… The challenge for many organizations is how best to put together such a system, while keeping costs reasonable and minimizing time to deployment/operation, as well as the challenge of presenting the data in a meaningful way so that people can actually gain insights from it. …..Enterprises should adopt a platform approach to data lifecycle management that does not require extensive in- house integration, nor require an extended deployment cycle, whether for major cross-enterprise projects or for quickly stood-up individual or small group projects. To achieve this result, an integrated data lifecycle platform solution is critical….”
Technology Brief – November 2020
1. Can you hear me better now?
“…With its capability to significantly enhance user understanding of voice conversations, as well as provide a more flattened audio curve
so it’s not necessary to crank the volume up to hear, this Qualcomm technology will go a long way to improving the quality and versatility of things we put in our ears.… over the next 1- 2 years nearly all mid to high end earbuds will include this functionality….”
2.Intel Vulnerability called Thunderspy – Much ado about nothing?
“…There are indeed vulnerabilities in all complex systems, and many do require concern for the security and privacy of personal and
corporate systems and data. But we need to discriminate the “theoretical” vulnerability from the practical, and not overreact. While its
necessary to take any and all vulnerabilities seriously, these types of vulnerabilities, often generate headlines that take the focus away
from real and practical threats….”
3. The Battle for the 5G Cloud Enablement
“…All cloud and virtualized software companies see 5G as a major opportunity to both increase market share for their respective
offerings, and to generate potentially massive revenues from the huge numbers of 5G user transactions which may be billed “as a
service”. There will likely be enough market for all players, but we expect that within the next 3-5 years, the market will coalesce around
3-4 main players with others relegated to niche positions….”
Technology Currents – 20 October 2020
Creating 5G Solutions? Don’t go it Alone…
“…Any enterprise that’s looking to implement new processes and/or business models using 5G and related advanced technologies would
do well to look into participating in an innovation center and all the services they offer……Innovation centers, like those established by
Verizon, can go a long way towards accelerating solutions, especially those that require collaborations and/or partnerships. Having a safe
area to try out new products and strategies can make all the difference between success and failure….”
Technology Currents – 30 September 2020
Confidential Computing: What is it and why you need it?
“…one area that has been relatively ignored is the ability of encryption to be defeated if a bad actor can access the device hardware
through either a malicious app or a side channel intrusion. Encrypted data needs to be in the clear when processing it, and this is a real
vulnerability… Eliminating this risk is the vision of Confidential Computing…..While there is no 100% sure thing when it comes to security,
CC is a major step forward and should be implemented whenever possible, particularly for those organizations deploying applications in
the cloud. I expect CC to become a standard approach to compute, especially in the cloud, within the next 1-2 years….”
Technology Currents – 15 September 2020
How China Won the TikTok Battlek
“…China played this expertly and came away with a big win for keeping their technology intact and more importantly their application still
owned by Chinese company ByteDance, while also providing the US with a way to save face and show it made a difference in defending
US user security..…China was very politically astute in how it handled this battle, and basically got everything it wanted without giving
away anything substantial. China saw ByteDance’s TikTok acceptance around the world as a vindication of China’s emergence as a major
worldwide Internet player, especially in consumer apps. For China, the attack on TikTok was personal….”
Technology Currents – 14 September 2020
Nvidia/ARM- Not an Easy Marriage
“…Nvidia is acquiring ARM from Softbank in a $40B dollar deal (much of it stock that Nvida’s high flying valuation enables). And while this
seems like an interesting merger of complementary technologies, I think there are a lot of challenges that could make this a very
problematic combination..…It remains to be seen how well they can compete against primarily Intel and also AMD with an ARM based,
GPU centric offering for the data center/cloud. Being a full capability processor supplier is harder than just being really good at designing
GPUs….this acquisition is far from a slam dunk for Nvidia, as there are many longer term challenges they’ll face in the market….”
Technology Currents – 2 September 2020
You Gotta Know When to Fold ‘Em…
“…I expect that the foldables market will capture 10%-20% of the premium product space within the next 2-3 years, influenced heavily by
business buyers who are much less put off by the $2K price tag and more focused on tools that increase their productivity… I expect this
form factor will emerge as an important sub-category for virtually all the phone vendors to compete in..…if productivity is the driving force
in making a purchase decision, I expect users to not be put off by high prices that might represent a barrier for a typical consumer. I
ultimately expect foldables to be an important form factor going forward….”
Technology Brief – September 2020
1. Intel: One Step Backwards, Two Steps Forward
“…While Intel’s competitors have made significant gains in both performance and market share, it’s important not to simply count Intel
out. If anything, the “black eye” it’s received by losing the “process war” has given it a new incentive to pick up the challenge. Intel has
considerable resources it can deploy and much engineering prowess. While it’s certainly true that not being at the most current process
node has hurt, Intel continues to push boundaries on other design criteria that will keep it competitive….”
2.Intel’s PC EVO-lution
“…EVO is the first new brand for Intel in many years, and while not all Intel attempts at creating brands in the past have been successful,
Project Athena was a very successful market initiative that created new and innovative form factors created by multiple vendors that were
well received. EVO is a good way for Intel to differentiate from the competition and show customers why they need to upgrade….”
3. Why foldable smartphones are important, even if you never get one…
“…this form factor to emerge as an important subcategory for virtually all the phone vendors to compete in (and my speculation is that will
eventually include Apple). Manufacturers will continue to innovate in this space, both at the high end and scaled down to the mid tier…
foldables market to capture 10%-20% of the premium product space within the next 2-3 years, influenced heavily by business buyers who
are much less put off by the price tag and more focused on tools that increase their productivity….”
Technology Currents – 21 August 2020
Why Everything You Thought You’d Done Right For Security is About to be at Risk!
“……tthe potential threat posed by quantum computing will dramatically change the amount of security most enterprises have in place in
the not too distant future. Companies must start to assess what the new world of security breaking quantum computing may do to their
environment, and develop a strategy to upgrade over the next several years, or risk having all data and systems vulnerable to
penetration……There is some time before the quantum threat becomes fully viable and therefore there is no need to panic. But there is no
reason to not start looking at your requirements now. Build an inventory of what crypto is in use. This includes devices, networks, data
encryption protocols, etc. Assess which algorithms are in use and whether or not they are quantum safe, and/or if they need to be
updated….”
Technology Currents – 17 August 2020
Rugged Smartphones for Front Line Workers
“……in some industries, the standard off the shelf consumer device is not sufficient. What’s needed is a more rugged device that can
withstand the environmental use factors of workers like construction, oil and gas exploration, route sales, first responders, transportation,
logistics and more……In choosing a device, determine which of the features and functions are most required, and select a device
accordingly. While priced higher than consumer grade devices, the rugged devices will provide longer service life with less breakage and
more functionality in many environments than consumer grade devices can’t function in, and offer a much better TCO….”
Technology Currents – 7 August 2020
Samsung Automates Social Distancing
“…The solution, with only minor modifications, can be configured for use in a variety of settings and companies. And the solution could be
extended far beyond just Covid monitoring. It’s applicable to special cases – for instance keeping track of medical staff in a hospital
setting, or firefighters in smoke filled building, or similar types of situations.…what’s impressive about this solution is that it was created
with off the shelf equipment, and was built, tested and deployed within only a few weeks, and with minimal equipment cost… We expect to
see a high number of leveraged solutions that spring from this initial situational requirement. Other smartwatch providers are at a
disadvantage if they can’t similarly reconfigure and remotely manage their devices for such customized commercial needs….”
Technology Currents – 30 July 2020
The Need for Crisis Communications is not just in Crisis
“…nearly every company needs to have some form of optimized mass communications as part of its operations strategy, and not only
used in times of crisis, but also as an active component of the corporate employee communications strategy. With the implementation of
the cloud-based “as a service” model, the complexity of deployment/operations and the low cost of operations have made it attractive for
nearly every organization in virtually any business…We strongly recommend such a capability be made part of all business continuity
and disaster response plans for nearly every size organization, while also evaluating the system for ongoing employee communications
improvements and better worker efficiencies. Failure to do so will result in both an enhanced danger to workers in times of crisis, as well
as a risk to continued operations of the organization….”
Technology Currents – 17 July 2020
Mobile Security Failings Putting Enterprises at Risk
“…we estimate that well in excess of 50% of workers employed mobile apps as part of their work before the current pandemic hit, and we
estimate that has now increased to greater than 85% of users who work from home at least part time. With the critical nature of mobile in
not only large businesses but smaller organizations as well, it’s imperative that companies maintain a secure posture for their devices
and user apps. But are they doing so? Not so much..…Mobile devices can be powerful productivity tools for users, especially in the
current remote work environment, but organizations need to take steps to educate users on best practices and deploy necessary tools
and infrastructure to secure those devices. Failure to do so will expose companies to potential malware, data breaches and significant
penalties….”
Technology Brief – July 2020
1. Android Gets to Work
“…We’re seeing a large uptick in use of Android mobile devices in many different business cases… Samsung and Panasonic have shown
their ability to produce working-class devices that are both attractive and offer a better lifecycle cost for many organization. Enterprises
must evaluate the overall lifecycle cost (we have a model to do so) before making a choice and should do so in the early stages of
adoption, or face avoidable escalating lifecycle costs….”
2. If You’re Just Looking at the Smartphone Processor, You’re Looking in the Wrong Place
“…In looking for the best mobile device, particularly as we move to fully enabled 5G networks, it’s necessary to look beyond the core
processor and even the modem. It’s truly necessary to evaluate the capability of the full RF subsystem including the RFFE. Without a
quality RFFE, where some vendors have compromised, you can’t achieve the full performance and capability promised by 5G (or even 4G)
….”
3. Citrix and Microsoft Partnership: It’s all about the new Workspace
“…We expect this partnership between Citrix and Microsoft will greatly accelerate the move to modern workspaces for users who need to
engage with corporate apps from anywhere, anytime, and on any device. … Companies already using either Citrix or Microsoft products
independently should evaluate how the pairing of these companies will enhance user productivity, impact cost of operations and ease the
burden on IT resources….”
Technology Currents – 20 June 2020
Is There a Private 5G Network in Your Company’s Future?
“…within the next 1-2 years, many companies will be able to take advantage of the capabilities inherent in 5G NR-U. Some will decide to
deploy and manage their own systems, but many will outsource the deployments, and the most likely vendors of such “5G as a Service”
models will be the commercial carriers (e.g., AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Vodafone, DT, etc.).…Many companies are still on older, outdated
WiFi networks and are looking to upgrade over the next 1-2 years to the latest technology (WiFi 6). But in determining the best approach,
consideration of 5G NR-U in each company’s particular circumstances should be evaluated. I expect WiFi, especially WiFi 6, to coexist
with 5G NR-U and neither will be a superior solution for all circumstances. In fact I expect many companies to deploy both technologies
….”
Technology Brief – June 2020
1. Intel Takes on ARM in Portable PCs
“…Lakeview provides Intel a chance to enable its OEMs to really innovate in form factors that were unattainable with earlier generation
chips. While most of the new designs will likely center around full Windows 10 machines, there are likely to be some innovate “other”
systems….”
2. Why We Need WiFi 6E
“…WiFi 6E represents a vast improvement in WiFi connectivity in speed, latency and capacity. It should be implemented in most public
access areas as well as in enterprises that need the ability to handle a much larger number of users with high speed, low latency and
little to no interference of competing signals….”
3. Google‘s G-Suite Shoots for the Enterprise
“…Google, invigorated by a new Google Cloud management team, is now aggressively targeting the Microsoft installed base with what
might be its most competitive product yet, and is seeing some initial results… While we see no immediate large threat to Microsoft’s
dominance in the productivity space, we do expect that Google’s focus on fully integrated and simple to deploy solutions will ultimately
allow it to increase its enterprise market share….”
Technology Currents – 20 May 2020
How Microsoft plans to lead in Enterprise Mixed Reality
“…MR has the ability to transform the way front line workers operate… There are approximately 2B front line workers in the world. Of
those, about 500M are information based workers. Estimates are that the value of MR products for this market will grow from about $1B
currently to $9B+ by 2025…..While MR currently is a small player in the overall enterprise app space, we expect a major impact over the
next 3-4 years as the tools and capabilities are made more available to enterprise users, and the ease of deployment and creation of
customized workflows make the apps compelling. Microsoft is putting major effort into leading the Enterprise MR revolution. Organizations
should be building a deployment strategy in the next 12 months….”
Technology Currents – 17 April 2020
Can Microsoft be the Operating System Enabling 5G?
“…There’s been an “under the covers” war being waged on who will power the massive computing core of the new networks. Microsoft
has been making determined moves to try and be the operating system behind this core network…We don’t expect this approach by
Microsoft to prevent others from competing is this emerging and expanding market. But it does provide Microsoft with an ability to show a
more complete capability that others don’t’ match. This should allow Microsoft to capture a significant portion of the emerging market for
5G core networks and the services offered on those networks….”
Technology Currents – 9 April 2020
Intel’s Pandemic Response: A Model for Others
“…Intel recently shared how it’s dealing with the pandemic, indicating that its measures have resulted in virtually no disruption to its
business, even as it had to learn how to deal with remote workers, travel restrictions and diverse geographic regulations.…We’ve seen
too many companies, big and small, scramble with an emergency need to respond to the current crisis. It’s critical that each company
learn from this and follow a similar model to what Intel did, so that the next emergency won’t be a repeat of this haphazard response
approach. Failure to do so will mean a high impact on organizational effectiveness, and may even cause enough disruption for the
business to fail….”
Technology Currents – 27 March 2020
Is Enterprise Endpoint and Network Security Broken?
“…The notion that either endpoint or network security should be a plethora of unique and independent products that need to be interpreted
and/or managed separately is coming to a rapid end. I expect most companies to move to a unified security approach, particularly as
most of the tool necessary will be offered as cloud services, which makes a transition more attractive and easier to deploy. Companies
must focus on unifying their security products in the next 1-2 years if they are to stay secure longer term…..We expect a unified endpoint
security model like BlackBerry Spark to become the dominant endpoint security model within the next 2-3 years, although it may take
somewhat longer for companies with already existing technology to make the change, and unified network security management like
Cisco’s SecureX to become the key model for network security….”
Technology Currents – 18 March 2020
Not all Companies are ready for Work from Home – Some Won’t Survive
“…Because of the Coronavirus threat and subsequent government actions to isolate people to prevent its spread, many organizations
have been forced into changing from a colocated many people working in the office model, to one where the majority is suddenly working
from home… your company may be ill equipped to transition overnight to the new work model…..This class of companies is going to have
a difficult time adapting to the new reality of most people having to work from home. In fact, most won’t be able to do so, at least not in a
reasonable timeframe. Some won’t survive if this lasts more than a few weeks ….”
Technology Currents – 1 March 2020
Robotic Process Automation – AI on Training Wheels?
“…We expect RPA to be a short term advantage for some companies as they try to make operations more efficient. But in the long term,
true AI powered machine learning that provides for a discovery process is a better solution, although harder to implement…..While RPA is
not always a bad choice, it should not be a final destination. Rather, it should be seen as an intermediate step in the process of making
corporate processes better, more effective and more efficient….”
Technology Currents – 15 February 2020
Enhancing Collaboration for a Changing Workforce
“…With an ever increasing amount of “things” being deployed, from sensors to mobile devices to intelligent assets of all types, the ability
to By 2025, we estimate that 60%-80% of workers in a typical organization will be millennials. These “digital natives” have a major impact
on how worker collaboration takes place…..Companies must be proactive about adding collaboration tools for the new workforce needs as
millennials and supplemental workers increase and become a larger and important part of the business. Those organizations that do not
provide such capabilities face an increasing amount of employee frustration and lowered user productivity, resulting in lower efficiency of
the entire business….”
Technology Currents – 1 February 2020
Next Gen Endpoint Security – It’s Not Just About the Endpoint
“…The old way of doing security for authentication (i.e., user name and password) are still dominant and won’t disappear quickly, but their
usefulness as a secure solution is coming to an end…..Next generation systems built on AI and behavioral analysis (e.g., BlackBerry
Cylance) are key to elevating the level of security for devices and back end systems, and are a prerequisite for newer IoT devices and
services. Companies should be evaluating such system now and formulate a plan to implement them over the next 1-2 years….”
Technology Currents – 15 January 2020
Why Multi-Cloud Security is so Difficult
“…Although we estimate that about 50%-60% of companies have implemented a SIEM (Security Information and Event Management)
solution, which in theory aggregates threat intelligence information from a variety of sources (data center, network routers, end points,
cloud servers, etc.), it may or may not be fully integrated with each instance of cloud in a multi-cloud environment…..For most
organizations, it’s going to remain a multi-cloud, multivendor world for the foreseeable future… We expect within the next 2-3 years to see
a vast improvement in data sharing and standard interfaces across cloud and security vendors that will make the job of security much
easier for most organizations….”
Technology Currents – 1 January 2020
What’s Next for 5G?
“…We’ve barely rolled out 5G, and we’re already looking at what’s next! But as with all tech, the evolution of 5G service isn’t standing still
for very long. Here’s a look at what is coming in the next 2 years as we see the next version of 5G (known as Release 17) rolled out, and
what it means to users…..We’re still at the very early stages of 5G deployments as the original Release 16 capabilities are still being
rolled out. But it’s important that 5G tech doesn’t stand still, as many use cases exist for which 5G is not currently optimum….”
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