Month: December 2023

Cybersecurity in 2024: AI as a Defensive Tool – and a Cyber Weapon

by Amy Larsen DeCarlo, posted in Secure
Amy Larsen DeCarlo – Principal Analyst, Security and Data Center Services

Summary Bullets:

• Cybercriminals will elevate their tactics in 2024, leveraging next-generation technology like generative AI to capture credentials through social engineering.

• Threat actors will increasingly apply AI as a mechanism to exploit vulnerabilities, but the technology will also become a potentially important element in protecting enterprises resources from attacks.

2023 was a complicated year for cybersecurity professionals. Progress in areas like machine learning, analytics, and automation yielded more accurate and faster threat intelligence, more efficient administration, and streamlined workflows. But at the same time, bad actors continued to innovate in their tactics. As a result, the number and cost of security breaches skyrocketed. Resource-constrained cybersecurity scrambled to safeguard enterprise resources without interfering with corporate productivity.

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UK Full-Fiber and 5G Rollout Going Well

by Rob Pritchard, posted in Communicate, Internet of Things, Mobilize, Network
R. Pritchard

Summary Bullets:

• Ofcom’s analysis shows substantial progress in the nationwide availability of superfast fixed broadband and 5G – crucial business enablers in the SME segment.

• Beyond faster connectivity for everyday office, admin, and communications, a growing range of case-specific solutions are being enabled to improve efficiency.

UK regulator Ofcom has updated its ‘Connected Nations’ report with 2023 availability figures for broadband and mobile services in the UK, including the rollout of fixed full-fiber and 5G mobile networks. With an estimated GBP7.9 billion invested in UK telecoms infrastructure in 2022 (GBP5.6 billion fixed, GBP1.8 billion mobile, GBP600 million ‘other’), full-fiber broadband is now available at 57% of UK residential premises (2022: 42%), and gigabit-capable broadband coverage levels now exceed 78% of UK premises (70% in 2022).

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SKT’s Unique Approach to AI Among Telcos Makes it a Leader in the Industry

by Malcolm Rogers, posted in IT Leader

M. Rogers

Summary Bullets:

• Telco AI Leader: GlobalData ranks SKT a leader among telcos for its approach to AI, as its ambitions strategy targets a multi-billion dollar business by 2028.

• Dream Bigger: While not every telco can replicate SKT’s strategy, a more forward-thinking approach should be adopted to avoid losing out on the AI revenue opportunity.

According to GlobalData’s “Thematic Intelligence: Tech, Media, & Telecom Themes 2024” report, South Korea Telecom (SKT) has the highest ranking among rated telcos (along with a few of its peers) in the AI theme, with the rank of leader, the company’s activity in this theme will improve its future performance (for more, please see Thematic Intelligence: Tech, Media, & Telecom Themes 2024, December 8, 2023). SKT has some of the most ambitious goals for the use of AI technologies, including generative AI (GenAI) and large language models (LLMs). Announced in H2 2023, SKT’s AI pyramid strategy seeks to grow AI revenues to KRW25 trillion ($19 billion) by 2028, by pursuing growth across three categories: AI Infrastructure, AI Transformation, and AI Service, with a focus on both domestic and international growth. While the use of AI, including GenAI, is a topic of interest for most if not all major telcos around the world, the focus is often on internal adoption to improve efficiencies, reduce costs, and improve customer experiences. While these are all key benefits of the technology, one area that sets SKT’s strategy and execution apart is its focus on using AI technologies to drive new revenues across both the B2C and B2B space domestically and globally.
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Don’t Let AI Become a Hammer and Every Problem a Nail

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

S. Schuchart

Summary Bullets:

• Artificial intelligence (AI) is the big, hyped technology right now and hasn’t even hit peak hype

• Don’t let the all-encompassing AI hype push your organization into implementation before proper planning

AI is the overhyped buzz technology right now and hasn’t reached peak hype yet. Investors are pouring money into startups for and around AI. Vendors and managed services providers (including cloud hyperscalers) are all adding offerings around AI. Some of these offerings are long planned and maybe only a little rushed – some involve adding the term “AI” to the product title and marketing material, but feature little more than they did before.

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Operators are Busily Adding Technology Enhancements and Alliances to Enhance IoT Portfolios

by Kitty Weldon, posted in Mobilize
Kathryn Weldon – Research Director, Business Network and IT Services – Americas

Summary Bullets:

• Although IoT services are growing in numbers of deployments and connections, there are not generally many new service announcements from operators.

• Over the last six months, there was a lot of news centered mainly on technology trials, solution partners, and new customer deals.

In H2 2023, there was news on IoT from US and European operators, but it centered mainly on technology trials, new solution partners, and new customer deals that feature other technologies such as private networks that may include IoT elements.

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Time to Move to Smart Enterprise Customer Segmentation

by Rob Pritchard, posted in Communicate, Network
R. Pritchard

Summary Bullets:

• Identifying the most valuable enterprise customers is a challenge, but in a highly competitive world, service providers must exploit smarter segmentation to survive and thrive.

• One-size-fits-all targeting based on number of employees is easy, but complacent. Growth comes from identifying small and medium-sized businesses that are the 10% driving productivity.

UK government number crunchers for the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have found that ‘the most efficient 10% of businesses were responsible for 63% growth in UK labor productivity between 2011 and 2019 (1998-2007: 49%).’

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Broadcom’s VMware Acquisition – The Worst is Yet to Come

by Steven J. Schuchart Jr., posted in Cloud Enable, Communicate
S. Schuchart

Summary Bullets:

• The playbook Broadcom is running on VMware is indistinguishable from the one used on Symantec and CA Technologies – after it promised things would be different with VMware.

• Acquisitions pivot around humans as much as money – a badly handled acquisition can destroy culture and methods, leaving the acquired entity a husk.

The saga of Broadcom’s VMware acquisition has progressed into the second act. Broadcom took full control of the company after the $61 billion transaction was finally approved by Chinese authorities. Broadcom’s treatment of two previous acquisitions, CA Technology and Symantec, generated significant worries by channel partners, industry watchers, and customers before the VMware deal was even completed. Both companies suffered restructuring, layoffs, divestitures, executive departures, callus treatment of employees, and priorities diverging significantly from what they were accustomed. Broadcom management, including CEO Hock Tan reassured everyone that this time would be different and that the company had learned its lesson. For some, this was a positive sign that VMware, a staple of IT in enterprises, would fare better and its essence and spirit would remain intact.

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Generative AI Watch: Amazon Q Will Have a Massive Impact for AWS Customers

by Beatriz Valle, posted in Big Data, Cloud Enable, IT Leader
B. Valle

Summary Bullets:

• Amazon Web Services (AWS) launched Amazon Q, a generative AI (GenAI) assistant that can be customized using corporate proprietary data, code, and enterprise systems.

• Amazon Q is much more than AWS’ answer to Microsoft’s Copilot, Google’s Duet AI, and OpenAI’s ChatGPT Enterprise; it will be massive for AWS customers.

Amazon has used AWS re:Invent to turbo charge its GenAI strategy with a slew of announcements at every layer of the technology stack, including a new partnership with Nvidia (for more, please see: AWS re:Invent: Amazon and NVIDIA Advance Relationship to Enable Generative AI in the Cloud, November 30, 2023) and new capabilities in its Bedrock portfolio of GenAI services (see AWS Says it Wants to Democratize Generative AI, but Will Amazon Bedrock Live up to Expectations?, April 17, 2023).

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