Month: July 2024

Colt and Proximus’s Wholesale API Trial Highlights the Importance of Industry Standards Bodies in Achieving Automation

by Gary Barton, posted in IT Leader, Network
Gary Barton – Analyst, Business Network and IT Services

Summary Bullets:
• Colt and Proximus partner for a proof of concept (PoC) focusing on API collaboration based on the MEF’s Lifecycle Service Orchestration Sonata designed to enhance carrier-to-carrier automation.
• GlobalData expects wholesale providers to embrace API technology to enhance and automate inter-network functionality with the end target of delivering automated end-to-end services across multi-vendor networks.

Colt Technology Services and Proximus recently announced they have collaborated to trial a new PoC designed to enhance carrier-to-carrier automation. The collaboration was the first of its kind between the two providers and focused on provisioning network services between the UK and Belgium. The crucial aspect of the trial is that it was able to support Proximus’ Wholesale E-Access service and Colt’s On Demand Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) platform across both networks on an end-to-end basis.

Continue reading “Colt and Proximus’s Wholesale API Trial Highlights the Importance of Industry Standards Bodies in Achieving Automation” →

As Questions Continue About the CrowdStrike Snafu, Microsoft and Others Revisit Resiliency

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

Summary Bullets:
• A flaw in an update of CrowdStrike’s Falcon threat intelligence and incidence response platform brought down millions of Windows systems, disrupting operations around the world earlier this month.

• The event, which took days to recover from, put the need for greater operational resiliency and better quality control as well as better protections for systems and data in sharp relief.

Earlier this month, the combination of an undetected error in CrowdStrike’s Rapid Response content update and a bug in the content validator used to ensure the code is hygienic led to the corrupt update being released in production. The software distribution led to 8.5 million Windows systems being knocked offline and operations being interrupted around the world. The fix was manual and kludgey in nature. Thousands of flights were canceled, medical procedures postponed, and operations across industries were stalled, in some cases for days. The incident is expected to cost organizations billions of dollars when the fallout from the disruption is tallied.

Continue reading “As Questions Continue About the CrowdStrike Snafu, Microsoft and Others Revisit Resiliency” →

GlobalData Names Winners in the Burgeoning LLM Space

by Charlotte Dunlap, posted in Cloud Enable
C. Dunlap Research Director

Summary Bullets:

• Eight prominent LLM/GenAI competitors are featured in GlobalData’s new LLM Competitive Landscape Assessment. Google Gemini has been named Leader.

• In addition to core model capabilities, other factors are considered, including enterprise tools and partner ecosystems built around the GenAI model.

GlobalData has just released its first LLM Competitive Landscape Assessment, highlighting the strengths and challenges of eight heavy-hitters in this space.

Continue reading “GlobalData Names Winners in the Burgeoning LLM Space” →

Vodafone Business Germany’s Sustainability Tool Underlines Urgency Of EU Regulation Compliance

by Rob Pritchard, posted in Big Data, Cloud Enable, Communicate, IT Leader
R. Pritchard

Summary Bullets:

• Vodafone Business Germany’s partnership with Envoria offers CSRD-compliant ESG reporting for enterprises as service providers continue to shift toward offering technology-enabled business solutions.

• Growing range of ESG reporting portals being made available to enterprises from telecoms services providers to meet evolving legislation and customer demand.

Vodafone Business Germany has teamed with Envoria, a sustainability reporting specialist, to help its customers meet the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting requirements of the European Union Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). This requires sustainability reporting by large companies and listed SMBs. Some non-EU companies also must report if they generate over EUR150 million in the European Union market. The companies must apply the rules for the first time in the 2024 financial year for reports published in 2025.

Continue reading “Vodafone Business Germany’s Sustainability Tool Underlines Urgency Of EU Regulation Compliance” →

AT&T Under Fire After Disclosing Massive Data Breach

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

Summary Bullets:

• AT&T divulged that the call and text records of 109 million cellular customers had been unlawfully downloaded from a third-party cloud provider’s environment.

• Wired magazine reports AT&T paid $370,000 to hackers to delete the records, which included cell site data. While the hacker provided a video of the deletion, there is no way to prove the threat actors don’t have a copy of the records.

AT&T is feeling the heat after admitting that the call and text records of 109 million wireless customers had been illegally downloaded from third-party provider Snowflake’s cloud. The records, which include the incoming and outgoing phone numbers and cell site locations that these communications were relayed through, covered a more than six-month time span in 2022 and a single day in January 2023.

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Turkcell’s Initiatives Will Play a Central Role in Turkey’s Ambitions as a Regional Data Center Hub

by Ismail Patel, posted in Big Data, Cloud Enable, IT Leader
I. Patel

Summary Bullets:

• News of Turkcell’s $27 billion investment over its 30-year span will spur further development in the country’s technology infrastructure as the operator seeks to sell a quarter of its shares, possibly to a wealthy Gulf player.

• With this announcement, Turkcell is positioning itself strategically in Turkey as the go-to operator for enterprise solutions for government and large enterprises, and it is presenting itself as an indispensable partner for B2B services.

Turkish telecoms operator Turkcell disclosed it has invested $27 billion in communications and technology since its founding in 1994, of which $350 million have been allocated to data center technology. While this represents a meager 1.3% of the total investment, GlobalData expects the figure to ramp up significantly as the telecoms operator moves away from legacy products, services, and solutions to B2B and enterprise. GlobalData’s revenue forecast for Turkey’s data center and hosting market is growth from $551 million in 2023 to $729 million, representing a CAGR of 6.8%. The telecoms operator says its objective is to make the country a ‘global data hub.’ In order to maximize this opportunity, on July 11, 2024, Turkcell announced a new data subsidiary, TDC, which now operates as a standalone entity. Turkcell states it has evolved from a telecoms operator to an end-to-end technology provider.

Continue reading “Turkcell’s Initiatives Will Play a Central Role in Turkey’s Ambitions as a Regional Data Center Hub” →

Microsoft Continues its Puzzling Contact Center Journey

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

Summary Bullets:

• A history of offers that are difficult to distinguish is a significant hurdle holding back Microsoft in the contact center space.

• Implementing a definitive flagship contact center offer coupled with Microsoft Teams would go far in alleviating competitive pressure.

Microsoft tore the wrapping paper from its latest contact center offer with the general availability of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Contact Center on July 1, 2024. When it comes to Microsoft, contact center is the gift that keeps on giving. Pre-dating this new arrival is a string of ancestors born annually, featuring overlapping functionality and sometimes bearing similar names. Sorting through the morass is confusing.

Continue reading “Microsoft Continues its Puzzling Contact Center Journey” →