Day: February 3, 2021

Microsoft Opens Azure Quantum Cloud Service for Public Preview

by Steven J. Schuchart Jr., posted in IT Leader
S. Schuchart

Summary Bullets:

• Microsoft has placed its Azure Quantum service into public preview

• Learning and software development are the first step in a long quantum computing journey

In a blog post, Microsoft has announced public availability of the Azure Quantum cloud service, which has been in closed beta testing for a while. All three of the biggest cloud providers, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud (with IBM), and Amazon Braket, now offer some form of quantum cloud computing. The original vision of quantum computing was much more centered on the idea that enterprises would buy quantum computers. But the operational and facility requirements for the current generation of quantum computers are too steep. Cloud computing is the natural choice for quantum computing, outside of the biggest research institutions and nation-states. Continue reading “Microsoft Opens Azure Quantum Cloud Service for Public Preview” →

Amazon Connect to Become Mainstream as Customers Move Contact Centers to the Cloud and Leverage AI/ML for Automation

by siowmeng, posted in Cloud Enable, Communicate
S. Soh

Summary Bullets:

• Five new capabilities for Amazon Connect were announced at re:Invent 2020 that will allow agents and supervisors to be more efficient and effective.

• As enterprises move their contact center to the cloud, they should look at adding artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities to drive better customer experience.

Since the launch of Amazon Connect in 2017, AWS’ contact center solution has made significant progress and it is now a serious contender in the enterprise segment. The adoption will continue to accelerate as the pandemic drags on and companies move workloads more quickly to the cloud. This trend will benefit all contact center vendors, not just AWS, since most vendors have a cloud-based option to help customers make the transition at their own pace. However, AWS’ strengths lie within its operational scale and its partner ecosystem. More crucially, the hyperscale cloud provider is rapidly adding its AI and ML technologies to further strengthen the appeal of Amazon Connect. Continue reading “Amazon Connect to Become Mainstream as Customers Move Contact Centers to the Cloud and Leverage AI/ML for Automation” →

Telco Edge Computing in ASEAN

by Alfie Amir, posted in Cloud Enable, Internet of Things, IT Leader, Network, Secure
A. Amir

Summary Bullets:

  • Edge computing is still new in the ASEAN region, with very limited initiatives by providers and enterprises.
  • Providers and enterprises should start exploring the opportunity to gain a first-mover advantage.

The edge computing market is still new, but the ecosystem is developing fast with various initiatives and collaborations announced by key players in the last 12 months. This includes SK Telecom’s recent partnerships with VMware and Dell to offer edge computing in private 5G networking solutions (January 2021), AWS and Vodafone’s collaboration to roll out distributed multi-access edge computing (MEC) services in the UK (December 2020), Ericsson and Telstra’s initiative to develop enterprise use cases in verticals such as agriculture and smart cities in Australia, and many more. Edge computing has become a key focus for every provider across the technology stacks, including hardware vendors, cloud providers, telcos, and device manufacturers. Continue reading “Telco Edge Computing in ASEAN” →