Virtual Care via BlueJeans Telehealth from Verizon Business Echoes In-Person Appointments

by Gregg Willsky, posted in Cloud Enable, Communicate
Gregg Profile Photo
G. Willsky

Summary Bullets:

  • The new BlueJeans Telehealth solution narrows the gap in quality between the traditional connected health model and an in-office visit.
  • Verizon Business could leverage the technological expertise amassed in building BlueJeans Telehealth towards similar solutions for additional verticals.

The practice of administering medical care in a virtual setting has become routine. Nevertheless, remote engagement between patients and medical professionals still lags in quality to an in-office visit.  The new BlueJeans Telehealth solution by Verizon Business narrows this gap by augmenting the traditional connected health model.  While BlueJeans Telehealth positions Verizon Business well in the healthcare vertical, the competition is not sitting still and thus success is by no means assured. Continue reading “Virtual Care via BlueJeans Telehealth from Verizon Business Echoes In-Person Appointments” →

Tencent Jumps on the Indonesian Cloud Bandwagon with New Data Centers in the Country

by Alfie Amir, posted in Cloud Enable, Communicate, IT Leader
A. Amir

Summary Bullets:            

  • While the competition is increasing, Tencent could capitalize on its early-mover advantage against AWS and Azure and highlight its vertical capabilities.
  • However, there are several competitive gaps it needs to address such as professional services and ecosystem partners.

Tencent is well known in the mass market in ASEAN for its WeChat social media app, JOOX music streaming app, and Shopee e-commerce platform (Tencent is the main beneficiary of Shopee’s parent company with a 39.7% share), each having significantly expanded its subscriber base in the region.  However, very few were aware of the company’s cloud and vertical solutions in the enterprise segment.

Last week, the company launched a new data center in Indonesia, with plans to open another facility in the country in a few months.  The launch is a timely move for Tencent to capture the growing market opportunity despite increasing competition from other cloud players.  To date, Tencent has a total of 61 availability zones across 27 regions, including 20 data centers in 13 locations outside China.  As part of its global expansion plan, it also plans to expand in few other countries, including Malaysia and Thailand later this year. Continue reading “Tencent Jumps on the Indonesian Cloud Bandwagon with New Data Centers in the Country” →

Dell to Spin Off VMware – Steady as She Goes for Now

by Steven J. Schuchart Jr., posted in Network, Secure
S. Schuchart

Summary Bullets:

  • The spinoff of Dell from VMware is long-term good for VMware customers.
  • Enterprise IT buyers and enterprise IT rivals to Dell need make no changes for the immediate future.

On April 15, 2021, Dell announced plans to spin off its VMware business, which will likely net Dell around $9 billion (USD) that it can used to pay down debt or go on an acquisition spree. Dell currently owns 81% of VMware, which it gained during its acquisition of EMC in 2015.  Beyond the obvious need to reduce its debt, it is widely believed that VMware (which still had its own stock) and Dell will both have higher values when they are evaluated as separate entities.  Michael Dell will remain chairman of the board for both companies. Continue reading “Dell to Spin Off VMware – Steady as She Goes for Now” →

DOMO Unveils Broad Vision that Spans Data Agility, Data Literacy, and Intelligent Action

by Rena Bhattacharyya, posted in Big Data

Summary Bullets:

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R. Bhattacharyya

• Domopalooza focused on the key themes of data agility, data literacy, and intelligent action.

• Domo announced multiple new products and features, including native integration with Amazon Redshift, availability of natural language generation, DDX Bricks, and Domo Everywhere.

Domo held its annual Domopalooza customer conference at the end of March, hosting a high energy event that outlined three key themes: data agility, data literacy, and intelligent action. Data agility refers to the need for organizations to respond quickly and easily to shifts in data demand and to make data accessible to all (including employees, partners, and customers). It requires a data architecture that integrates disparate data sets into a unified view, enabling the seamless flow of information. Data literacy is about empowering knowledge workers with analytical confidence, so they feel comfortable making data driven decisions. Intelligent action relates to the need to make data easy to use and engage with (such as via visualizations), so that line of business users can quickly use the insights to guide decisions.

Continue reading “DOMO Unveils Broad Vision that Spans Data Agility, Data Literacy, and Intelligent Action” →

IBM Reveals the Name of Its Soon-to-Be Independent Legacy IT Services Company

by Amy Larsen DeCarlo, posted in IT Leader

Summary Bullets:

Amy Larsen DeCarlo – Principal Analyst, Security and Data Center Services

• IBM announced Kyndryl as the name of the legacy IT services business unit it will spin off later this year

• Reaction was swift and mocking as industry watchers collectively wondered what a brand master like IBM was thinking with the Kyndryl name.

When IBM disclosed plans in 2020 to shed its legacy IT services business at some point in 2021, the company emphasized that the move would allow it to concentrate on higher profit margin services. Industry watchers touted this as a way for IBM to become more of a pure-play cloud provider untethered from the challenge of managing a behemoth. Words like “dynamic”, “agile”, and “innovative” were bandied about but only minimal attention was directed toward what would become of the spin-off known as NewCo at the time.

That changed this week with the announcement of the future spin-off’s new moniker: Kyndryl. Critics reacted with skepticism almost instantly to the questionable name. Coming from a company as seasoned in branding as IBM, the rather odd name raised eyebrows and elicited questions. What is a Kyndryl? Kyndryl rhymes with Kindle? Why does Kyndryl sound more like a Kardashian than a company?

Continue reading “IBM Reveals the Name of Its Soon-to-Be Independent Legacy IT Services Company” →

Capgemini Opens 5G Lab in Paris, Detailing Strategy to Energize Customers to Develop Innovative Use Cases

by Kitty Weldon, posted in Mobilize

K. Weldon
K. Weldon

Summary Bullets:

  • Capgemini held an analyst event at its new 5G Lab in Paris on March 30, which detailed its strategy to generate excitement about 5G and drive usage among both existing and potential business customers.
  • The lab will not only demo use cases that showcase the capabilities of 5G to drive transformation, but will also help businesses develop and test PoCs and deploy new use cases at scale, while navigating the complexity of the ecosystem for connectivity, edge, cloud, and other enablers.

Capgemini’s new 5G Lab is a sister facility to one in Mumbai, India; the company also has a facility in Portugal that helps telecom providers develop 5G network solutions.  The company is clearly excited about the potential of 5G to energize digital transformation, ignite innovative use cases, and of course, drive business.  As a leading systems integrator and provider of solutions that enable intelligent industry solutions, Capgemini sees 5G as an important and potentially disruptive enabler that can help redefine how the world will be connected and lead to new revenue-generating business models.  It points out that 5G is the first wireless network developed with the enterprise in mind due to its high availability, capacity, and speeds; its low latency (especially when coupled with edge solutions); its support for massive IoT; and its enablement of mission-critical applications. Continue reading “Capgemini Opens 5G Lab in Paris, Detailing Strategy to Energize Customers to Develop Innovative Use Cases” →

Verizon’s Mobile Security Index Highlights the Pandemic Effect

by Amy Larsen DeCarlo, posted in IT Leader, Secure

Summary Bullets:

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Amy Larsen DeCarlo – Principal Analyst, Security and Data Center Services

• The pandemic prompted a rapid shift to remote work and IT security professionals found themselves under pressure to prioritize other operational elements over mobile security

• While the number of reported compromises actually fell over the course of the last 12 months, there is real concern that incidents are going undetected

During the pandemic, organizations have radically altered their operating models, many pivoting overnight to largely remote work. This left IT professionals scrambling to get new collaboration and productivity tools working, often on employee-owned personal devices. Many of these are in fact mobile devices, giving the latest Verizon Mobile Security Index a definite COVID context. The survey of 856 professionals who purchase, manage, and or secure mobile devices showed a subset of IT staffers under acute pressure to balance the need to support more flexible operations against protecting against new vulnerabilities associated with the work from home (WFH) movement.

Continue reading “Verizon’s Mobile Security Index Highlights the Pandemic Effect” →

Celcom and Digi Merger: The Impact on the Malaysian Enterprise ICT Market

by Alfie Amir, posted in IT Leader

Summary Bullets:

Alfie Amir
A. Amir

• Celcom and Digi’s merger will strengthen the new entity’s IoT and mobility capabilities.

• However, there could be some obstacles the telcos need to overcome.

As Malaysian telcos are still busy reshuffling their 5G plans with the rather unexpected special-purpose vehicle (SPV) approach (for more, please see Malaysia 5G Through SPV: One Step Forward and Two Steps Back, March 8, 2021), the industry was hit again by another major news – the merger of Celcom and Digi. The merger news is not new. Axiata and Telenor announced a merger plan of their regional businesses two years ago but it went quiet since then. The merger news only resurfaced again last week, but this time, the deal is only on the Malaysian business. While Celcom and Digi Merger: The Impact on the Malaysian Telecom Market, May 8, 2019, has covered the impact on the local telecom market, this post discusses the key takeaways in the local enterprise ICT market.

Continue reading “Celcom and Digi Merger: The Impact on the Malaysian Enterprise ICT Market” →

ASEAN 5G Q1 2021 Roundup: More Edge Computing and Private Network Developments

by Alfie Amir, posted in Communicate, Internet of Things, IT Leader, Mobilize, Network

A. Amir

Summary Bullets:

  • Malaysia has joined Indonesia and Vietnam with its commitment to launch 5G this year, while telcos in the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand are moving to the next deployment phase with a wider focus on standalone (SA) architecture, private network services, and industry collaborations.
  • 5G adoption has been revised slightly upward, driven by the increase in the subscriptions and lower overall mobile users.

Key Announcements

February 2021 – Singtel Launches Singapore’s First Commercial Indoor 5G Network: Singtel expanded its 5G coverage to VivoCity Mall, with plans to extend the coverage to other popular malls in the country this year.  While the focus was mainly on enhancing customer experience through faster speeds (up to 1.2 Gbps), the indoor network is expected to drive new 5G applications in the retail industry such as enhanced shopping experience through AR/VR, personalized customer experience, and smart inventory. Continue reading “ASEAN 5G Q1 2021 Roundup: More Edge Computing and Private Network Developments” →

Blockchain Rivals Seek Out Banking Customers via Foreign Opportunities

by Charlotte Dunlap, posted in Cloud Enable, IT Leader, Mobilize, Network, Secure

C. Dunlap

Summary Bullets:

  • ConsenSys is partnering with the Chinese government’s blockchain network to integrate its technology across a nationwide system to spur blockchain use, focused on the financial sector.
  • Oracle has gained an edge in the competitive blockchain platforms space by integrating a new blockchain data format into its flagship relational database offering.

This quarter’s issue of GlobalData’s “Blockchain Watch“ highlights a set of aggressive moves between blockchain competitors, including the establishment of global partnerships (which involve foreign government entities) as well as the development of deeper integration between blockchain and traditional operational systems, further adoption of Ethereum, and the formation of partnerships that highlight unique use cases. Continue reading “Blockchain Rivals Seek Out Banking Customers via Foreign Opportunities” →