I hope you all had a great week!

We continue to attend conferences virtually.  Last week, I attended Lenovo TechWorld, Cisco Partner Summit(with Will), AMD RX 6000 event (with Anshel), and participated in an IBM panel on AI and Hybrid Cloud. Paul attended Inside Quantum Technology Europe.  This week, Will will be attending 5G Core Summit.

Our MI&S team published 25 deliverables last week: 

• 13 Forbes columns 
• 8 MI&S blogs
• 4 podcasts   

The press quoted us with 20 citations and 1 CNBC video. Journalists wanted to hear about Amazon, AMD – Xilinx acquisition, Apple, big tech, Cisco, Marvell- Inphi, Microsoft, NetApp, Nokia, and StorCentric.

Quick Insights:

AR/VR (Anshel Sag)

• N/A

 Carrier/Wireless (Will Townsend) 

• Ericsson announced its Cloud-RAN portfolio this week. I believe it's a smart move to offer operators another path for flexible 5G service deployment. It's likely a response to the momentum building behind Open RAN but offers an integration path into its existing radio portfolio.

Cloud Services/Enterprise apps (Rhett Dillingham) 

• N/A

Datacenter: 

• Storage- (Steve McDowell) 
  • StorCentric, the private-equity created storage company built around a collection of innovative-yet-failed storage start-ups, announces its sixth acquisition in two years.  StorCentric is acquiring Violin Systems, the once-darling of the storage industry.  Founded in 2005, Violin was one of the earliest pioneers in the flash systems business, only to go from IPO-to-bankruptcy in record time.  Violin has solid technology, but the technology that had trouble finding a home in enterprise datacenters.  StorCentric is a good landing place for Violin, as it fits within a much broader portfolio of technology. 
  • NetApp Insights this year was all about containers & cloud-native storage — a theme we're seeing across storage vendors, as Pure Storage acquires Portworx, and IBM doubles down on its container plays.  NetApp has been trying to break into the Kubernetes and cloud-native world for a few years now, killing off its NetApp Kubernetes Service earlier this year in favor of a new approach, recently acquiring cloud-focused Spot. NetApp showed off an exciting portfolio of cloud-native products that all seem to make sense. I like its strategy, and there's good energy in the company.  But there is a lot of competition for a limited number of IT dollars. It's a buyer's market, and I can't wait to see it play out over the next 12-18 months. 
  • IBM also went deep into containers with a slew of announcements at its IBM Tech U event.  The highlights include new capabilities for IBM Spectrum Protect Plus to protect production container workloads, container-native storage interfaces for Red Hat OpenShift, and integration between Spectrum Discover and OpenShift container storage.  IBM didn't forget about traditional storage, adding end-to-end NVMe support to its FlashSystems for Vmware vSphere 7 environments. A nice set of announcements for IBM.      
• Networking- (Will Townsend) 
  • Cisco announced many product and solution enhancements this week during its Partner Summit virtual event. In general, I believe improved functionally through Intersight, and the Nexus dashboard should help ease deployment and operations in light of Covid-19 and bolster business resiliency. It should also have the potential to accelerate cloud adoption and network automation.
• Server- (Matt Kimball) 
  • N/A

Home Automation/ Smart Home (Mark Vena) 

• Outside of excited Apple executives, no one thought much of Apple TV Plus; even with $6 billion allocated for content and a roster of talent that included J.J. Abrams, Reese Witherspoon, and Oprah Winfrey, little on Apple TV Plus shined at launch; except for The Morning Show, Apple TV Plus barely managed to enter the conversation, while other new entrants like Disney Plus soared right out the gate…but streaming isn't a sprint; it's a marathon; the anniversary of Apple TV Plus arrives with the platform getting better each month, but it's still not where Apple needs it to be
• Pat's experience with bad AirPods isn't a one-off situation: today, exactly one year after Apple first launched the AirPods Pro — and thus the same day the very first AirPods Pro owners will see its one-year warranties expire — Apple has launched a repair program that offers free repairs or replacements for another whole year if your AirPods Pro experience issues with noise cancellation or static
• This concerns me: Apple's latest iPhone 12 smartphone appears to be even more difficult for third-party companies to repair, according to a report from iFixit; specifically, the new phone seems to run into issues if a user replaces the camera module, which renders the cameras almost totally unusable; this could have a non-favorable impact on iPhone 12 repair costs
• Tesla's "Full Self-Driving" option, which currently enables Autopilot features like changing lanes on highways and automatic car parking, now costs $10,000, or $2,000 more than before; the price rise only covers the US for now, where the company's Full Self-Driving functionality has just launched in limited beta, allowing Autopilot's advanced driver-assist features to be used on local roads as well

 IIoT and IoT (Bill Curtis)

• N/A

Machine Learning/ Artificial Intelligence (Karl Freund) 

• The acquisition of Xilinx by AMD will add a needed thrust for AI efforts at AMD. Its not just the technology that Versal can provide but the ecosystem that Xilinx has nurtured, especially over the last three years. FPGA development remains too slow, however, to have enabled significant growth in AI in the cloud. Microsoft announced an FPGA instance almost a year ago. But did not deploy any in Azure instances until late summer this year, and those are only Intel Stratix10 devices,  not Xilinx.  So, while I am reasonably optimistic about AMD's acquisition, and XIlinx's prospects for AI, this will take a lot of time to mature to sustainable growth.  

Personal Computing/ Collaboration (Anshel Sag) 

• N/A

Quantum Computing (Paul Smith-Goodson)

• Honeywell announced the release of a new generation of quantum computers, the Model H1. It has 10 qubits with a capacity of up to 40 qubits. The computer can be accessed directly with a cloud API or through Microsoft Azure.  Along with the new quantum computer, Honeywell also released its roadmap that shows the H2, H3, H4, and H5 generation. The H1 will only be available by subscription to either the standard or premier package differentiated by the number of access hours.
• IBM is making it easier to use quantum computers. It enhanced Qiskit and lowered barriers for its use by a broader community of developers and researchers. It has also offloaded some things in the IBM Quantum execution stack to make it faster. IBM wants to deliver a frictionless development environment.
• Intel has created an efficient quantum-resistant cryptographic algorithm for smart home and industrial IoT devices. It is called Bit-flipping Key Encapsulation (BIKE) and makes a shared secret that encrypts sensitive information exchanged between two devices. Although the encryption process is computationally complex and involves mathematical problems, Intel has created a hardware accelerator that enables the BIKE software to run efficiently on small IoT hardware.

Security (Chris Wilder)

• How Covid has changed IT and security:
  • Organizations and agencies are exploring using the cloud and software-defined networking to improve granular control over its networks. It must take a zero-trust approach for stricter access permissions and ongoing identity verification
  • IT organizations must incorporate human nature into its infrastructure planning – moving away from relying only on trusted devices and IP addresses to validating the actual person behind the screen.
  • CIOs are finally taking a unified approach across the infrastructure to support the rise of the hybrid workforce.
  • DevOps and ISVs are now designing software and solutions with security in mind, not as an afterthought – security is becoming a product attribute.

Columns Published (Forbes, UPLOAD VR, and others)        

1. FTC's Case Against Qualcomm Dealt Mortal Wound With Recent Ruling, by Patrick Moorhead
2. Cisco Unveils Targeted Webex Solutions To Support Governmental Operations, by Patrick Moorhead
3. It's Official- Marvell Acquiring Inphi For $10B That Boosts Its Cloud And 5G Opportunities, by Patrick Moorhead
4. Project APEX Pushes Dell's IT Services To New Heights At Dell Tech World 2020, by Patrick Moorhead
5. Surface Laptop Go Review: Premium Notebook On A Budget, by Patrick Moorhead
6. Google Wants To Accelerates Chrome OS Adoption With New Additions To Support Enterprise Workforce, by Patrick Moorhead
7. Lenovo And SAP Tie The Knot, Again, At Tech World 2020, by Patrick Moorhead
8. AMD Acquiring Xilinx In Bold, $35B Semiconductor Mega-Deal, by Patrick Moorhead
9. Honeywell Quantum Solutions Releases Its New System Model H1 Quantum Computer, by Paul Smith-Goodson
10. Qualcomm Brings Wi-Fi 6E To Mesh With New Immersive Home Wi-Fi Platform, by Anshel Sag
11. Qualcomm Extends Its 5G Reach Into Infrastructure, by Karl Freund
12. Skyroam Solis X Review: The World's First Global Smart Spot, by Zane Pickett
13. MIT Lincoln Laboratory Creates The First Trapped-Ion Quantum Chip With Integrated Photonics, by Paul Smith-Goodson

Blogs Published (MI&S)                                                              

1. AMD's Zen 3 Bursts Onto The Scene With New Ryzen 5000 Series, by Patrick Moorhead
2. Google G Suite To Workspace Transition Signals Directional Shift, by Patrick Moorhead
3. Apple Claims The iPhone 12's A14 Bionic' Challenges Laptops' But Gives No Details, by Patrick Moorhead
4. An Interview With Qualcomm's Alex Rogers, EVP And President Of Its Technologies Licensing Business, On 5G IP, by Patrick Moorhead
5. IBM Spinning Off Infrastructure Managed Services Group To Focus On Cloud Is A Good Move, by Patrick Moorhead
6. Why You Should Buy The iPhone 12 Even If You Don't Think You Need 5G, by Anshel Sag
7. Pure Storage Acquires Portworx And Elevates Container Data Management In The Process, by Steve McDowell
8. The 2020 AI HW Summit: Beware The Benchmarks, by Karl Freund

Podcasts: 

The G2 on 5G by Moor Insights & Strategy, with Anshel Sag and Will Townsend

• Episode 27 - October 2020
  • Recent Cisco 5G announcements with AT&T for IoT and Verizon for MEC propel gains in its service provider business
  • T-Mobile 5G Mid-Band Rollout - 400+ cities
  • Ericsson Cloud RAN portfolio and what it means for 5G deployments  
  • US DoD Spectrum Sharing Announcement
  • FCC 5G Fund for Rural America - where will the ~$9B be spent? 
  • NBA Gearing up for 5G and VR in post-COVID world

DataCentric Podcast by Moor Insights & Strategy, with Matt Kimball and Steve McDowell

• Bringing Cloud-Native to IoT, with Arm's Mohamed Awad
  • Arm's Vice President of Marketing for IoT, Mohamed Awad, joins hosts Matt Kimball and Steve McDowell to talk about the power of standardized software at the IoT-enabled edge.
• Inside the latest IBM Storage Announcements - Live from IBM Tech U- with guests IBM's Eric Herzog and Sam Werner
  • It's all about cloud-native and containers as IBM announces a slew of new features and offerings at its annual IBM Tech U event. The announcements included:
    • Spectrum Protect Plus enhancements for containers in production.
    • Spectrum Scale container-native storage access for Red Hat OpenShift.
    • Spectrum Discover now has deeper integration with Red Hat Openshift Container Storage & IBMB Cloud Digest Storage File Access
    • Vmware vSphere 7 support for end-to-end NVMe
    • Increased capacity for SCM in the FlashSystem 7200 & 9200 series
  • IBM also announced a longer-term vision for container-native data management.

SmartTechCheck Podcast by Moor Insights & Strategy, with Mark Vena

• N/A

The Six Five Podcast by Moor Insights & Strategy and Futurum Research, with Patrick Moorhead and Daniel Newman

• World As A Service
  • Dell Tech World
  • Intel Q3  
  • Qualcomm 5G Summit 
  • IBM Q3 
  • HPE Investor event 
  • Splunk .Conf 20 

The Moor Insights & Strategy INSIDER, with Moor Insights & Strategy analysts 

• N/A

Press Citations: 

1. Amazon earnings/ Geekwire: https://www.geekwire.com/2020/amazon-earnings-preview-analysts-expect-another-big-quarter-retail-cloud-giant/
2. AMD, Xilinx acquisition/ Channel Futures: https://www.channelfutures.com/mergers-and-acquisitions/amd-to-acquire-xilinx-in-35-billion-deal-followed-by-marvell-inphi-merger
3. AMD, Xilinx acquisition/ AMD: https://www.statesman.com/business/20201027/amd-to-buy-chipmaker-xilinx-in-35-billion-deal
4. AMD, Xilinx acquisition/ RCR Wireless: https://www.rcrwireless.com/20201027/chips/amd-expanding-tam-with-35-billion-xilinx-acquisition
5. AMD, Xilinx acquisition/ Financial Times: https://www.bizjournals.com/newyork/news/2020/10/28/amd-xilinx-deal-chip-industry-ft.html
6. AMD, Xilinx acquisition/ SiliconAngle: https://siliconangle.com/2020/10/27/official-amd-snap-xilinx-35b/
7. AMD, Xilinx acquisition/ SDX Central: https://www.sdxcentral.com/articles/news/amd-caps-monster-q3-with-35b-xilinx-deal/2020/10/        
8. AMD, Xilinx acquisition/ Tweaktown: https://www.tweaktown.com/news/75937/amd-acquires-xilinx-on-eve-of-big-navi-reveal-in-huge-35-billion/index.html
9. Apple, iPod sales/ AFP (Yahoo News): https://sports.yahoo.com/apple-iphone-sales-tumble-trimming-214105709.html
10. Big tech, earnings/ AFP (Barrons): https://www.barrons.com/news/big-tech-delivers-strong-profits-amid-pandemic-political-scutiny-01604009122
11. Cisco, Infosight, Kubernetes (Will Townsend)/ authority: https://aithority.com/it-and-devops/cloud/cisco-delivers-new-platform-solutions-to-drive-workload-agility-across-public-and-private-clouds/
12. Cisco, Infosight, Kubernetes (Will Townsend)/ The Register: https://www.theregister.com/2020/10/28/cisco_kubernetes_intersight/
13. Marvell, Inphi acquisition/ SDX Central: https://www.sdxcentral.com/articles/news/marvell-snags-inphi-in-10b-acquisition/2020/10/
14. Marvell, Inphi acquisition/ Fierce Electronics: https://www.fierceelectronics.com/electronics/marvell-rocks-merger-mania-buy-inphi-corp-for-10b
15. Microsoft, earnings/ AFP (Yahoo News): https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/microsoft-rides-cloud-higher-earnings-205842918.html
16. Microsoft, earnings/ Geekwire: https://www.geekwire.com/2020/microsoft-cruises-past-expectations-fiscal-q1-revenue-12-37-2b-profits-30/
17. Microsoft, earnings/ SiliconAngle: https://siliconangle.com/2020/10/27/cloud-helps-microsoft-beat-earnings-forecast-stock-falls-weaker-guidance/
18. NetApp, Infosight (Steve McDowell)/ IT Pro Today: https://www.itprotoday.com/cloud-storage/netapp-tackling-data-challenges-cloud-native-world
19. Nokia, restructuring (Will Townsend)/ SDX Central: https://www.sdxcentral.com/articles/news/analysts-size-up-nokias-strategic-shift/2020/10/
20. StorCentric, Violin Systems acquisition (Steve McDowell)/ SiliconAngle: https://siliconangle.com/2020/10/29/storcentric-buys-former-flash-storage-darling-violin-systems/

Video: 

•  AMD, Xilinx acquisition/ CNBC: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2020/10/27/bernsteins-stacy-rasgon-and-moor-insights-patrick-moorhead-on-amds-35-billion-deal-for-xilinx.html

New Gear or Software We are Using and Testing that is Public Knowledge 

• Apple iPad Pro, iPhone XS Max, iPhone SE, Watch Series 5 
• BMW X3 Infotainment and ADAS 
• Cisco Desk Pro
• Cocopar 17" portable display
• Dell XPS 17
• Google Pixel 5
• HP ZBook 15"
• IBM Qiskit software
• Intel/Rivet Networks AX1650
• Lenovo Flex 5G
• Microsoft Surface Duo, Surface Laptop, Surface Pro X
• NVIDIA Shield
• OnePlus 8T
• Oura Ring
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2, Note20 Ultra, Buds Live, Watch 3 
• Samsung Odyssey G9 49" Gaming Monitor
• SDXC UHS-II Card 128GB
• Sony TOUGH-G series 

 Events MI&S Plans on Attending In-Person or Virtually (New) 

• November 2020 
  • 5G Core Summit panel, Nov 2 (Will Townsend)
  • Oracle Cloud CX Event, Nov 9 (Patrick Moorhead)
  • Quantum Techniques in Machine Learning, Virtual, Nov 11 (Paul Smith-Goodson)
  • 5G AI Telco Summit World panel, Nov 11 (Will Townsend)
  • 5G Techritory, Riga, Nov 11-12 (Will Townsend)
  • Apple event, Nov 10 (Patrick Moorhead)
  • Supercomputing '20, Nov. 16-19 (Karl Freund)
  • Lenovo IAC, Nov. 16-19 (Patrick Moorhead) 
  • Red Hat Analyst Day, virtual, Nov 19 (Rhett Dillingham)
• December 2020 
  • Qualcomm Tech Summit, Dec. 1-2 (Patrick Moorhead)
  • Marvell's 2020 Industry Analyst Day, Dec 8 (Patrick Moorhead)
  • Q2B Practical Quantum Computing by QC Ware, December 8-10 (Paul Smith-Goodson)
  • 5G AI Telco Summit NYC, Dec 9 (Will Townsend)
  • 2020 Intel Industry Analyst Summit, Dec 8-9 (Patrick Moorhead) 
• January 2020
  • CES Virtual, Jan 11-14 (Patrick Moorhead, Mark Vena, Anshel Sag)
• February 2020
  • 24th Annual Conference on Quantum Information Processing, Feb 1-3 (Paul Smith-Goodson)

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The Team 

Analysts and Analysts In-Residence

1. Patrick Moorhead, Founder, President, Principal Analyst; Broad technology coverage and deep insights into Cloud, Personal Computing, IoT, Semiconductors, Automotive 
2. Bill Curtis, Analyst In-Residence, IIoT, and deep IoT technology 
3. Rhett Dillingham, Senior Analyst, Cloud Services 
4. Karl Freund, Senior Analyst, HPC, and Deep Learning 
5. Matt Kimball, Senior Analyst, Datacenter Servers, CI, and HCI 
6. Steve McDowell, Senior Analyst, Datacenter Storage, and Storage Technologies 
7. Anshel Sag, Analyst; VR, PC Gaming, Mobile Platforms 
8. Paul Smith-Goodson, Senior Analyst; Quantum Computing 
9. Will Townsend, Senior Analyst; Carrier Equipment and Services, DC Networking 
10. Chris Wilder, Senior Analyst, Security 
11. Mark Vena, Senior Analyst, Smart Home, and Home Security 

Operations 

1. Dan Pickens, Business Director 
2. Paula Moorhead, Marketing Director, Website, and Social Media 
3. Walker Pickens, Media Relations, and Writer 
4. Zane Pickett, Office Manager, AP, AR, travel, writer 
5. Lee LeClercq Williams, Business Associate