• Alternative data, or alt data, can indicate new trends much faster than conventional data
• Alt data is for domain experts only
The dawning of new trends might be described as being “like a string hanging down from the future.” That’s how the renowned forecaster Paul Saffo described it. The future first presents itself like the “odd event you can’t get out of your mind [that] could be a weak signal of a distant industry-disrupting S curve…”
Everyone’s looking for signs of the future. What’s going to happen to us? Who will suffer? When will the economy recover? Eyes are peeled for that weak but portentous S-curve.
The trouble, of course, is the abundance of those hanging strings. The great challenge is to distinguish strings that have real prescience. That’s true in ordinary times, but it’s far more important during upheavals like COVID and the shaken economy to follow. Alt-data customers say standard financial indicators and statistical releases are too slow. Continue reading “Using Alt Data to Glimpse the Alt Future”→
SD-WAN is gaining traction in Australia with nearly 60% of enterprises already implementing the technology.
Enterprise customers need to consider their long-term network strategy to cope with the changing IT workloads beyond a standalone SD-WAN solution.
The SD-WAN technology has gained attention among Australian IT buyers and it has changed the WAN market significantly. Based on GlobalData’s research, nearly 60% of enterprises (businesses with more than 200 employees) have already deployed SD-WAN, and nearly one in three of those businesses are considering implementing it in the next 12 months. SD-WAN has taken off quicker in Australia than some other markets partly due to the migration of last-mile access to the NBN, which has resulted in several service providers (e.g., Macquarie Telecom and Aussie Broadband) offering SD-WAN with NBN as an alternative to MPLS-based IP VPN. 5G will accelerate this trend. Continue reading “SD-WAN Is Gaining Momentum in Australia, but Do Enterprises Have a Long-Term Network Strategy?”→
Hyperscale cloud providers continue to invest in expansion of networking solutions and network adjacent partnerships with SD-WAN vendors and data center providers.
As hyperscale networking solutions become more advanced and the cloud edge moves closer to end users, some carriers may be crowded out of the cloud-network convergence market.
Hyperscale cloud providers and global network carriers have been building stronger relationships and deeper integrations around WAN and networking solutions. The partnerships are a natural fit as more enterprises move business-critical workloads to cloud platforms. These workloads require high-bandwidth, high-throughput, low-latency, secure, and reliable connections from virtually any location these days to connect to the major cloud platforms. Continue reading “Cloud-Network Convergence: Double-Edged Sword for Carriers, but an Opportunity Emerges in the Edge”→
Kathryn Weldon – Research Director, Business Network and IT Services – Americas
Summary Bullets:
• On July 23rd, the auction for Priority Access Licenses (PALs) for CBRS began; each PAL consists of a 10 megahertz channel in the highly coveted 3.55-3.65 GHz band. 22,631 licenses will be offered, with seven licenses available for each U.S. county (or census tract). So far the auction has resulted in 271 qualified bidders.
• The applicants are an astounding array of companies from mobile network operators and cable companies, to wireless Internet service providers, electric utilities, universities, and large enterprises. They are excited about using CBRS spectrum to supplement existing networks for public or private use, or to roll out their own networks without having to engage with a service provider. In either case, the auction may have a significant effect on public and private wireless networks and on the race to offer 5G.
CBRS spectrum has been talked about for years as an exciting opportunity for service providers that don’t own their own wireless spectrum to get some – and to get highly desirable spectrum in the mid-band where operators see faster speeds or better coverage than for low-band or high-band (mmWave) spectrum, respectively, for LTE or eventually 5G. In January 2020, licenses were granted to companies that want to be part of the CBRS ecosystem by becoming providers of Spectrum Access Systems (SAS) that are essentially frequency coordinators that allocate access to companies that want to be part of a complex spectrum sharing scheme. SAS licenses were granted to Amdocs, CommScope, Federated Wireless, Google, and Sony, companies that hope to gain revenues from CBRS for a variety of reasons in a variety of ways (including mobile device and CBRS equipment sales, professional services, and revenues from coordinating secondary market access from PAL licensees that want to resell their spectrum to other companies). GAA users are companies that use spectrum allocated by the SAS providers and are in the lowest tier of a set of three tiers (including GAA at the bottom, PAL in the middle, and, on top, the incumbent Department of Defense and Navy organizations that get highest priority use of the spectrum). GAA users can access any portion of the 3.5 GHz band not assigned to higher tier users. Continue reading “The Latest CBRS Auction Draws an Astoundingly Diverse Set of Applicants”→
• Public awareness of data privacy and data mining is increasing which will lead to greater regulation.
• IT needs to be the trusted advisor on these topics to help with business planning.
The recent hearing with four of the biggest tech companies (Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook) on Capitol Hill was regarding the power these four firms have across the spectrum and the possibility of anti-monopoly action against them. The undercurrent that runs through the public is the sheer amount of personal data these four companies have on their users and how they use that data. The average citizen isn’t worried about the possibility of Amazon co-opting their products and making their own, or Apple possibly squeezing them out of their app store. Continue reading “IT’s Advisory Role is More Than Just About Technology”→
• Analysis isn’t enough anymore. To be truly data driven, organizations also need synthesis.
• The analysis-synthesis duo can thrive if supported by a handful of conditions and practices within the organization.
The recent QlikWorld Online conference came and went with no new public roadmap, but it did offer something better: an intriguing vision of an analytics trend that’s built on a handful of new requirements — which altogether stand as a row of streetlights for the analytics industry to portend a new road.
• GlobalData’s latest update on the unified endpoint management (UEM) market sees market leaders (such as VMware, MobileIron, and BlackBerry) adding differentiated capabilities to foster greater adoption.
• New offerings include support for IoT devices, app performance monitoring, usage analytics, and threat management. Easy on-boarding for a remote-first workforce and integration of multiple platforms are also important to UEM customers, as COVID-19 offers unique challenges.
While UEM discovers, manages, and secures mobile devices and governs those devices’ access to enterprise applications and data just like its predecessor enterprise mobility management (EMM), UEM also provides management and control functions for traditional desktops and laptops, IoT devices, and applications used on diverse end-points. UEM also offers a wide range of additional features including secure collaboration, file editing, sharing and cloud-based file storage, mobile app customization and deployment, analytics for mobile devices and applications, and IoT device and data management and security. UEM has emerged as a mechanism for organizations to unify management of mobile and traditional endpoints as well as provision applications across multiple platforms. Continue reading “Unified Endpoint Management: Solutions Evolve with Advanced Security, Analytics, and App Enablement”→
• Google Cloud announced new solutions and updates to catch up with competitors in value-added services and differentiate in open-platform and analytics.
• Multi-vendor support enables Google Cloud to address the multi-cloud requirements of ASEAN enterprises.
• Google Cloud could position G-Suite and its retail solution to help ASEAN SMBs during the pandemic.
• Google should include key local players in its partner ecosystem to extend its market reach in the region.
Google Cloud made several announcements at the recent Google Cloud Next 2020 OnAir and shared its expansion plan of partner ecosystem and professional service capabilities. The first part of this report: Google Cloud Next 2020 – ASEAN Impact – Part 1: Driving Multi-cloud Adoption in the Region analyzes Google Cloud’s proposition in multi-cloud in ASEAN. This post discusses the opportunity in SMBs and recommendations for Google Cloud and end-users in the region.
Impact of COVID-19 on ASEAN SMB
Domestically, SMB represents a large amount of market opportunity driven by over 90% of total establishments in a country. The buying behavior is different than large enterprises and MNC. The low ICT adoption and lack of internal ICT capabilities translate to higher opportunities for managed service providers. However, market growth is expected to be slower post COVID-19 as many SMBs are significantly impacted by the pandemic. SMBs, especially the small and micro enterprises, have had to squeeze their budgets across all functions including ICT to sustain their business during and post lockdown. Digital transformation is becoming less important, and the main priorities have shifted to adapting to new customers’ buying bmehavior such as e-commerce and cashless payment (e.g., mobile wallet). The economy and low power purchasing in ASEAN are also pushing them to be even more cost-sensitive with ICT purchasing. All discretionary spending is expected to be put on hold. Continue reading “Google Cloud Next 2020 – ASEAN Impact – Part 2: Powering SMBs in the Post COVID-19 Era”→
Charlotte Dunlap – Principal Analyst, Application Platforms
Summary Bullets:
• Google’s BigQuery Omni announcement pads Anthos, strengthening its multi-cloud position
• Google’s lagging cloud business will be fulfilled via GCP, expert enterprise developers, and engineering culture
What Google lacks in cloud followers and enterprise confidence, it makes up for with its engineering culture.
This week during Google Cloud Next digital conference, the company went after its arch-rivals in the cloud wars with new innovations that shore up its hybrid/multi-cloud brand Anthos. Google’s release of multi-cloud analytics solution BigQuery Omni is a reminder of Google’s ability to address sophisticated application modernization requirements by centralizing access to datasets located across major clouds including Google Cloud, AWS, and soon Azure. Continue reading “Google Cloud Next 2020: What Google Lacks in Cloud Market Share, it Makes up for in Engineering”→
