IT Connection

HCLTech Hones Its Application Development Practice, Reflecting the Disruptive Impact of AI

June 12, 2026June 12, 2026 by Rena Bhattacharyya, posted in Cloud Enable

A woman with long, wavy dark hair and a warm smile, wearing a gray blazer and a silver necklace, posed against a neutral background. — R. Bhattacharyya

Summary Bullets:

• AI has disrupted traditional developer teams and tasks, and new processes and talent will be required to responsibly implement the intelligent automation and probabilistic nature of agentic systems.

• As enterprises drive towards a mature application landscape that is built using AI and for AI-infused applications, intelligent orchestration and integration are critical.

Although AI offers the promise of greater efficiency across a myriad of enterprise workstreams, one of the use cases with the greatest benefit is application modernization. GenAI’s effectiveness in writing and refactoring code has already been highly touted in mainstream media; less known is its use in other aspects of the software development lifecycle (SDLC). It can be used for discovery, documentation, quality assurance, autonomous testing, intelligent orchestration, and other tasks as well. Furthermore, AI is doing much more than accelerating application development; it is changing how software is engineered. Intelligence and analytics are no longer add-ons that are layered onto existing applications. Today’s applications have intelligence embedded into their workflows and decision logic, essentially creating modern apps that are designed to be AI-first.

In this new world, the role of the developer is expanding. Since cycle timelines are greatly reduced with the use of AI, applications can be updated with greater frequency. Along with tools to improve orchestration, developers are looking for solutions that help them audit agentic AI activities, provide contextual intelligence, offer the flexibility to use multiple LLMs, and provide strong governance.

To best leverage new AI-driven capabilities, developers need to put in place new processes that are staffed with appropriate teams that include humans as well as AI agents. The human team members will increasingly need to focus on quality control that includes processes and tools for validating, auditing, and reviewing agentic AI output. A top challenge among enterprises is creating a testing strategy for agentic processes. Organizations are eager to reduce costs, consolidate vendor relationships, and minimize manual efforts, while at the same time moving towards extreme testing.

To address the disruption caused by GenAI and agentic AI, HCLTech has honed its application development practice. Its new vision and strategy for helping customers modernize applications includes a portfolio that encompasses AI driven modernization, AI native application development, intelligent quality engineering, and integration services. As part of its modernization suite, HCLTech provides AI-led tools for app optimization and modernization; solutions to support cloud assessment and migration strategies; and services to manage technical debt and decommissioning of legacy systems. Its application development capabilities include agentic engineering services, API gateway services, AI native architecture and advisory services, and adaptive UI services. To assist with quality engineering tasks, HCLTech provides advisory services and tools for application, agentic AI, and machine learning testing, which help organizations transition from scripting to autonomous proactive testing. Within its Integration portfolio, it offers assistance with intelligence automation, iPaaS, RPA, business process management, and low-code/no-code solutions.

HCLTech’s solutions are built on the company’s AIForce GenAI and agentic AI platform. It includes tools such as Optimax, which provides visibility into existing operations; ATLAS, which can reverse engineer code and perform regression testing, as well as discover code and move it to cloud-based microservices; QMetrix, an umbrella offering that provides assessment tools; and i-Velocity, which offers integrations via partner solutions from MuleSoft and Boomi.

As enterprises drive towards a mature application landscape that is built using AI and for AI-infused applications, intelligent orchestration and integration are critical. Organizations require robust tools for governance, monitoring, and auditing a complex multiagent landscape. Not only will they need to invest in a responsible AI framework, but they will also need to undertake detailed ROI analysis AI deployments need to demonstrate measurable benefits, with FinOps being a critical part of investment decisions.

AI has disrupted traditional developer teams and tasks, and new processes and talent will be required to responsibly implement the intelligent automation and probabilistic nature of agentic systems. Humans will increasingly focus on providing instructions, implementing controls, and developing strategic plans. IT teams will need to include full stack engineers and professionals with orchestration skills. And finally, IT staff and developers will need to partner more closely with lines of business units to understand specific domain challenges and goals. This reimagining of workflows will impact all levels of the enterprise and require extensive change management.

Why Quantum-Safe Connectivity Could Become the Next Differentiator for Wholesale Providers

June 9, 2026June 9, 2026 by Brendan Swan, posted in Cloud Enable, Secure

B. Swan

Summary Bullets:

Telecom Italia’s Sparkle has launched its quantum-safe interconnect (QSI) with Equinix across 20 International Business Exchange (IBX) positioned throughout Europe, the Americas, and Asia.
With the rise of quantum computing, it has highlighted the importance of cybersecurity, with growing concerns around future attacks where sensitive data could be compromised – store now, decrypt later.

The wholesale telecommunications segment has traditionally competed on scale, reach, latency and price. However, as enterprises accelerate the adoption of AI, hybrid cloud, and internationally distributed workloads, another factor is rapidly moving up the priority list: Security. With cyber threats becoming increasingly sophisticated and quantum computing edging closer to becoming able to break traditional encryption, quantum-safe connectivity is emerging as the next major differentiator for wholesale operators seeking to move beyond price-led competition. CSPs that can combine their global reach, low latency, and post-quantum security will be positioned to capture a greater share of the enterprise and hyperscaler demand. The broader question now emerging for the industry is whether security could soon become just as important as scale, reach, and price in wholesale telecommunications.

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Telstra and Google Deepen Infrastructure Ties to Power Australia’s AI Future

June 4, 2026June 4, 2026 by Brendan Swan, posted in Big Data

B. Swan

Summary Bullets:

• Telstra and Google have expanded their partnership, leveraging complementary subsea and terrestrial fiber assets to strengthen regional connectivity and digital infrastructure.

• The partnership aligns with Google’s strategy to expand its infrastructure through deeper collaboration with telecom operators.

If telecom press releases were a streaming service, “Strategic Partnership” would be the show nobody gets hyped up about, but somehow it continues to be renewed for another season. So, when Telstra and Google announced yet another episode, it would be easy to save it under the industry favorites category: “Sounds important and involves cloud, platforms, and future opportunities.” The problem is that this one might actually matter. Behind the familiar language sits a partnership that reflects a bigger shift, where telecom operators are increasingly positioning themselves as digital infrastructure providers, and where hyperscalers are becoming more embedded in the infrastructure that carries the growing volumes of data, applications and digital services. As the demand for AI and cloud continues to grow, will partnerships like this become the new battleground for telecom operators?

This announcement between Google and Telstra will see both companies leverage each other’s terrestrial and subsea networks to improve their network resilience, capacity, and security as the demand for AI applications continues to grow, putting pressure on digital infrastructure. Under the agreement, Google will utilize Telstra’s newly deployed terrestrial fiber network, Aura, with the carrier passing more than halfway (8,000km of its 14,000-fiber build) linking Melbourne, Canberra, and Sydney. Telstra will access Google’s Pacific Connect and Australia Connect initiatives to use subsea fiber pairs on the Tabua (connecting Australia, Fiji, Hawaii, and California), Proa (connecting Guam, Japan, and Northern Mariana Islands), and Bulikula subsea cable systems (connecting Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and Hawaii).

This announcement is not the first collaboration between Telstra and Google. The relationship between the two companies spans several years and multiple strategic infrastructure projects. In 2019, Telstra joined a consortium that included Google, Singtel, Superloop, AARNET, and Indosat Ooredoo to develop the Indigo-West cable system, strengthening connectivity between Australia and Asia. More recently, in January 2024, Telstra announced its participation in the Central Pacific Connect initiative alongside APT. As part of the project, Telstra will own and operate a dedicated fiber pair on the Bulikula subsea cable system connecting Guam and Fiji. Together, these investments highlight the deepening strategic alignment between Telstra and Google and their expanding digital infrastructure and connectivity across the Indo-Pacific region.

This isn’t Google’s first infrastructure partnership in the Australian telecommunications sector. The company has previously established partnerships with Vocus on the Australia Connect and South Pacific Connect cable initiatives, improving network diversity and expanding connectivity across Australia and the wider Indo-Pacific region.

As AI adoption accelerates and cloud architectures become more diverse, demand for bandwidth across Asia-Pacific, including Australia, is expected to grow significantly over the next four years as enterprises, hyperscalers and governments move larger amounts of data between data centers, cloud, and edge locations. Against this backdrop, partnerships between Telstra and Google highlight how carriers and hyperscalers are becoming more intertwined in the delivery of digital infrastructure. As the line between connectivity, cloud, and AI continue to blur, infrastructure partnerships will continue to emerge as one of the key drivers shaping the next phase of growth in the telecommunications industry.

Remote Desktops/VDI – A Persistent Bad Idea

May 29, 2026May 29, 2026 by Steven J. Schuchart Jr., posted in IT Leader

S. Schuchart

Summary Bullets:

• The nature of the problems changed from local to network, requiring expensive network support rather than using PC technicians.

• It’s important to remember that many concepts in modern enterprise IT come up again and again cyclically, only to be characterized as ‘paradigm-changing’ by enthusiastic marketing teams.

The idea of remote desktops or streaming an employee’s Microsoft Windows desktop to a more affordable device or even in a window on a remote employee’s self-owned hardware has been around for a long time. The reasons were simple – less spending on desktop computers, easier support both on-site and particularly for remote, better security, and remote desktops worked particularly well for temporary or project-based access for outsiders. Citrix and VMware both made hay with remote desktops, especially in the era where PC hardware and Microsoft Windows itself were considerably less reliable than today.

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FinOps Takes on the AI Explosion, Including Token Management

May 29, 2026May 29, 2026 by Charlotte Dunlap, posted in Cloud Enable

A smiling woman with shoulder-length blonde hair, wearing a white blouse, against a softly blurred background. — C. Dunlap
Research Director

Summary Bullets:

FinOps X conference takes place in San Diego, California (US) June 9-11, 2026.
Key themes will include how enterprises will operationalize AI-driven FinOps across platform engineering.

FinOps X conference in San Diego will take place in one week, and not surprisingly AI will dominate keynotes and discussions among FinOps practitioners. These experts will share insights into best practices for operationalizing AI-driven FinOps across platform engineering, including CICD, Kubernetes, and other cloud-native architectures.

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Verizon DBIR: Adversaries Weaponize AI in Stealth Attacks by Targeting Points of Exposure

May 22, 2026May 29, 2026 by Amy Larsen DeCarlo, posted in Secure

A close-up portrait of a woman with light brown hair, wearing a black blazer and a light-colored turtleneck sweater, smiling softly against a light blue background. — Amy Larsen DeCarlo – Principal Analyst, Security and Data Center Services

Summary Bullets:

Bad actors are raising their intelligence quotient with AI, tapping it to find vulnerabilities faster and to power mobile-centric phishing campaigns.
Supply chains are a weak link with partner network weaknesses linked to nearly half of all breaches.

An already volatile threat landscape is becoming even more dangerous as threat actors tap AI to accelerate and improve the success of their attacks on enterprises. Verizon’s 2026 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) reveals how effective adversaries have become in using AI to capitalize on enterprise weaknesses. Exploiting software vulnerabilities was the initiating factor in 31% of all breaches, notable because this is the first time in almost 20 years that it has overtaken compromised credentials as the most frequent entry point for an attack.

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Zoom Enhancements Help Move Work Forward but Fall Short in Other Areas

May 20, 2026May 20, 2026 by Gregg Willsky, posted in Cloud Enable, Communicate

G. Willsky

Summary Bullets:

Zoom hopes that this latest round of capabilities will help drive greater platform adoption and distinguish itself from rivals.
With respect to achieving those goals, the capabilities deliver Zoom a mixed report card.

Zoom announced a mix of capabilities encompassing mobile access for Zoom My Notes, improved agentic search for Zoom AI Companion and upgrades to Zoom MCP Server. Through the new capabilities, Zoom intends to achieve two implicit goals: to drive platform adoption by adding appealing functionality that aligns with recent market trends and to distinguish itself in a competitively dense field.

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April Showers Heartache on Developers Using Popular Coding Tools

April 30, 2026May 20, 2026 by Charlotte Dunlap, posted in Big Data

Close-up portrait of a woman with blonde hair and a warm smile. — C. Dunlap
Research Director

Summary Bullets:

• Anthropic backpedals price hikes following outcry

• GitHub makes controversial move from flat-rate to usage-based billing models

April has a been a controversial and even catastrophic month for developers of popular copilots and agents.

Some enterprise and independent developers felt gut-punched following unorthodox activities including significant price increases and major subscription restructuring. Anthropic removed Claude Code from its standard Pro Plan priced at $20, offering it instead as part of its Max plan for $100 per month. Confronted with serious backlash, it was forced to reverse its decision.

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Lumen Research Paints a Dark Picture of the Threat Landscape in 2026

April 30, 2026May 20, 2026 by Amy Larsen DeCarlo, posted in Secure

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

Summary Bullets:

• As the operator of one of the world’s largest global internet backbones, Lumen has a view into 99% of the public IPv4 addresses; its threat research team Black Lotus Labs monitors 2.3 million threats daily.

• Lumen’s 2026 Defender Threatscape Report underscores the highly organized and effective tactics cybercriminals are using to infiltrate the enterprise by exploiting network and edge vulnerabilities.

Long gone are the days when it was a question of if, not when, an organization would be breached. Most enterprise security practitioners are painfully aware of how successful threat actors have become in evolving their techniques to outwit some of the best defensive tools. But if anything, Lumen’s 2026 Defender Threatscape report, highlights that the real security challenge is only beginning. Leveraging research from its Black Lotus Labs threat intelligence unit including data from investigations, network telemetry, and campaigns between September 2024 and January 2026, Lumen notes that in response to the increasing effectiveness of endpoint detection solutions, cybercriminals have changed their strategies to leverage camouflaged proxies, vulnerable edge devices, and generative AI (GenAI) to set up attacks.

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