Moor Insights & Strategy Weekly Update Ending June 14, 2024

By Patrick Moorhead - June 17, 2024

The Moor Insights & Strategy team hopes you had a great few weeks!

Last week, Will attended Zscaler Zenith Live in Las Vegas. Robert attended Databricks in San Francisco. Melody attended InfoComm in Las Vegas.

Matt and I will be in Las Vegas to attend HPE Discover and Pure Storage Accelerate this week. Anshel will be attending AWE Long Beach and the Augmented World Expo. Melody will virtually attend Plaid Effects.

Next week, Anshel will be attending Qualcomm AI Day. Melody will be attending the Samsara Analyst Summit.

Our MI&S team published 26 deliverables:

5 Forbes Insight columns
8 MI&S Research Notes
8 MI&S blogs
8 podcasts 
3 research papers

Over the last two weeks, the press quoted us with 11 citations. They wanted to hear about Apple, Cisco, Dell, Fastly, Frore, Google, HPE, NVIDIA, and Solidigm.

MIS Quick Insights: `

A.I./Machine Learning (Paul Smith-Goodson)

Tesla has the lead in Full Self Driving, although it isn’t entirely autonomous yet. I tried it a few times in my Tesla Model 3 but lacked confidence, so I never reached my final destination before aborting the experiment. The University of Tokyo is trying a new approach – it has created robots (musculoskeletal humanoids) that sit in the driver’s seat and do the driving for you. These humanoids are equipped with various sensors for visual, acoustic, and force information. This is the first example of a robot driving a car with both arms without a jig. It is very sophisticated, but many challenges remain before the system can be productized. I would be less comfortable with a robot driver than Tesla’s FSD.
AI— Google is paying close attention to Healthcare. Their researchers have created a personal healthcare LLM, a fine-tuned Gemini version that uses wearables data. Its performance is comparable to that of humans, and it scores well on certifications. I can foresee a huge personal and professional market for this combination of technologies. In addition, Google has also created a personal health LLM that can generate insights and recommendations to improve personal health behaviors related to sleep and fitness patterns.

AI (Anshel Sag)

Developer Tools, Services, Platforms (Jason Andersen)

AR/VR/XR (Anshel Sag)

Carrier/Wireless (Will Townsend)

AST SpaceMobile recently announced a commercial deployment agreement with Verizon. It demonstrates the company’s leadership in supporting NTN. It could lead to a domino effect in landing other mobile network operators ahead of its commercial low-earth satellite deployment later this summer. In contrast, Starlink has only inked one deal with T-Mobile and may find it difficult to compete with AST SpaceMobile given its satellite services compete with mobile network FWA services.

Client Computing (Anshel Sag)

CRM (Melody Brue)

At Zoholics in Austin earlier this month, Zoho showcased Zoho CRM for everyone. Zoho CRM for Everyone is a new set of capabilities within Zoho CRM that provides CRM access across all teams involved in customer operations. It allows various departments, such as sales, marketing, solutions engineering, and customer onboarding, to collaborate within a unified platform, enhancing visibility and communication throughout the customer journey.
- Key features of Zoho CRM for Everyone include:
  - Team Modules: Teams can create data modules with specific fields, permissions, and workflows tailored to their unique needs.
  - Requester Profile: Team members can request deliverables from colleagues and track the status of their requests.
  - Refreshed User Experience: The interface has been redesigned with better usability in mind across different roles, with no-code/low-code experiences for workflow management.
- Zoho CRM for Everyone aims to break down silos, reduce CRM complexity, and encourage cross-functional collaboration to improve customer experience and drive revenue growth.
- HubSpot has introduced enhanced data protection and compliance features for its Smart CRM users. These features include an additional layer of encryption for sensitive data and access controls for authorized users only. This addresses customer concerns about storing sensitive data in a CRM while providing a unified view of customer information.
- HubSpot’s new sensitive data tools enhance data security and compliance, which is particularly relevant for healthcare companies due to HIPAA compliance. These features benefit various sectors like marketing, sales, and service.
  - This move by HubSpot also comes at an interesting time, as rumors of a potential acquisition by Google’s parent company, Alphabet, continue circulating. While such a deal could significantly impact the CRM market, it also faces potential regulatory hurdles.

Datacenter:

Networking– (Will Townsend)

Fastly recently announced its AI Accelerator, which leverages its edge networking architecture to improve generative AI performance and mitigate token cost. It plays to the company’s strengths in content delivery networking and could represent significant and incremental revenue upside.

Compute/Storage/Cloud (Matt Kimball)

Data Security (Robert Kramer)

Enterprise App (Melody Brue)

Adobe recently faced a public relations challenge following an update to its terms of service. Users interpreted the changes as giving Adobe broader rights to use its content for AI training, sparking concerns about privacy and data usage. However, Adobe swiftly clarified that the updated terms were not new and that the company only analyzes content processed or stored on its servers, not locally on user devices.
- Adobe emphasized that content analysis is solely for functionality and safety purposes, such as improving product performance and detecting illegal or abusive content, and not for training AI models. In a blog post published on June 10, 2024, the company acknowledged user concerns and committed to providing greater transparency by updating its terms of use with more specific language about its data practices.
- It’s noteworthy that Adobe acted promptly and transparently to address the issue. The company demonstrated its commitment to customer privacy and trust by openly communicating with users and acknowledging their concerns. The promise to update the terms of use with clearer language further reinforces this commitment.
SAP announced its acquisition of WalkMe, a digital adoption platform (DAP). WalkMe aims to help businesses onboard employees and guide users through complex software interfaces. This all-cash deal, valued at $1.5 billion, represents a significant premium over WalkMe’s market value. It showcases SAP’s strategic focus on improving user experience and adoption within its software ecosystem. The deal should close in Q3 this year, pending regulatory approval. In a SAP Sapphire wrapup, more details about the WalkMe acquisition and its impact on SAP’s business are forthcoming from Jason Andersen, Rober Kramer, and me.

ESG (Melody Brue)

This past week, HP released its HP 2023 Sustainable Impact Report, which details the company’s efforts in climate action, human rights, and digital equity. In 2023, HP achieved a 27% reduction in value chain greenhouse gas emissions compared to 2019, with suppliers avoiding 184K tonnes of CO2e emissions through various programs. The company also launched refurbished hardware as part of its circularity efforts, using over a billion pounds of recycled materials in products and packaging. At last week’s InfoComm, the company showcased the HP Poly Studio G62 (which won a best-in-show award)
HP has reached 486K workers through human rights programs and reports a diverse Board of Directors with 46% representation from racial/ethnic minorities. Additionally, the company reports reaching millions through digital equity and education initiatives.

Enterprise Data (Robert Kramer)

Databricks Summit was all about businesses understanding data more, the ownership of it, serverless tech, preparing for a data future, and adopting data strategies.
- Data Ownership—The summit stressed the need for companies to control their data using platforms such as Delta Lake for secure and easy data sharing.
- Tabular Acquisition —Databricks plans to acquire Tabular (Apache Iceberg team), enhancing open-source data storage options.
- Serverless Future—Moving to serverless systems for better scalability and modernization.
- Data Explosion—NVIDIA’s CEO Jensen Huang predicted a massive increase in data volume over the next five years.
- Atlanta Airport’s Transformation—I met with IT team members from Atlanta Airport, which uses the Databricks platform to merge data from over 225+ systems for advanced business intelligence. They bring data from weather, traffic, parking, flights, bottlenecks, and more to get a complete picture of the passenger journey—a pretty cool story.
- Lakeflow Connect & Genie—Introduced tools for integrating data into lakehouses and an AI-powered interface for building queries. Genie can be slow and has some challenges.
- Data Integrity—Emphasized the significance of maintaining data quality and tracking its origins—more on this in my upcoming blog.
- Growing Ecosystem—Discussed the expansion of partnerships and the development of LLMs by customers.
- Unity Catalog Launch – Open governance solution for data and AI on Databricks Data Intelligence Platform.
- Marketing Efforts – Highlighted customer-led storytelling and targeted marketing efforts to educate the market on data intelligence.
Google Cloud doubles down on its tech strategy for data management.
We are in the midst of an AI revolution, but success also demands a revolution in data management. With data and AI being the focus of all enterprises, Google Cloud has systematically invested in both to enhance its customers’ business performance.
Read more as I explore Google’s technology strategy’s influence on its customer’s data management approach. https://moorinsightsstrategy.com/google-cloud-doubles-down-on-its-tech-strategy-for-data-management/
Oracle and Google Cloud partners to allow customers to combine Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) and Google Cloud technologies, which can help with application migration and modernization. Oracle Interconnect for Google Cloud will roll out in 11 regions without cross-cloud data transfer fees, and coming soon, later this year, is Oracle Database@Google Cloud, which brings high performance and competitive pricing with OCI. The partnership leverages Oracle’s database capabilities and Google Cloud’s infrastructure to help with less intensive deployments and improve migration tools, collaborative support, and AI capabilities for various industries.
https://www.oracle.com/news/announcement/oracle-and-google-cloud-announce-groundbreaking-multicloud-partnership-2024-06-11/
Zoho CRM for Everyone extends CRM beyond sales for all teams for increased collaboration
- AI across Zoho’s platform to improve project management and collaboration
- Improved security and developer enhancements
- Zoholics continues to grow and innovate, especially in the enterprise sector, focusing on SMB.
Salesforce announces the general availability of the Data Cloud Vector Database.
- This database gives businesses improved access to unstructured data, such as PDFs, emails, and more, with structured data. It is integrated into the Einstein 1 Platform, which allows businesses to search and access all sorts of data for a more personalized approach to improving sales, service, marketing, and commerce.
- Salesforce’s new Data Cloud Vector Database is a valuable feature, but its success depends on whether your enterprise has an effective data management strategy and processes to access data. AI and automation can only be successful if the data is well-organized and accessible, so ensuring a solid data infrastructure is essential.
Cloudera enhances its data management strategies by acquiring Verta.
- Verta expands AI/ML capabilities for Cloudera. “The future of data management is AI; they go hand-in-hand. Cloudera is acquiring Verta’s AI Operational platform to strengthen our team and accelerate our operational AI capabilities,” said Charles Sansbury, CEO of Cloudera.
- Cloudera has a significant amount of data under management, so it is necessary to advance its capabilities to leverage this data continually.

ERP/SCM (Robert Kramer)

Here are event highlights from SAP Sapphire
- Approximately 14,000 in-person attendees and 15,000 online participants.
- Focus on AI and data management with new products, partnerships, and strategies.
- Improvements to RISE with AI to improve cloud migration experience and GROW for implementations
- Consolidation of SAP platforms like Datasphere and Analytics Cloud
- Partnerships with Microsoft, AWS, NVIDIA, Accenture, McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, and Google.
- Integration with Microsoft 365 Copilot and SAP Joule for a unified work experience.
- Acquisitions like WalkMe to improve customer support.
- SAP’s Business Technology Platform (BTP) is adding more capabilities to its generative AI hub with LLMs from AWS, Meta, and Mistral AI

Financial Tech (Melody Brue)

PayPal is launching a new advertising business leveraging its vast user data and AI to drive growth. The company plans to utilize AI and consumer behavior insights for targeted advertising, expanding beyond its customers to reach a broader audience.
This new venture aims to position PayPal to compete with established players like Google and Meta and emerging ad platforms from other financial institutions like Chase and Revolut.

HCM (Melody Brue)

IIoT and IoT (Bill Curtis)

Samsara, one of the leading companies in the physical operations space, announced strong Q1 results. Q1 revenue was $270.7M with an ARR (annual recurring revenue) of $1.176B, growing 37% Y/Y. Historical ARR results show remarkably consistent momentum, increasing by about $80M every quarter for the past year. ARR is significant because Samsara has a subscription business model (subscription revenue mix is ~98$ of total revenue), and steady ARR growth reflects “sticky” services that customers value. The quarterly report also shows consistent growth in the number of large customers (up 43% Y/Y) and reveals that those customers are spending more (up 4% Y/Y). Samsara also published its annual “State of Connected Operations” report, showing that half of its customer base already uses AI, and 87% of organizations surveyed are increasing AI investments next year. This report foreshadows a sharp AI focus in next week’s Samsara Beyond conference.
The latest LLMs are amazing. However, the models are huge, costly, run in the cloud, and too slow for most edge inference applications. For the past year, NVIDIA and Edge Impulse have collaborated to bring vision models from NVIDIA TAO to small edge devices. The TAO models integrate deeply into Edge Impulse development tools, so the developer experience is similar to a FOMO model. The tools let developers distill knowledge from a large, multimodal LLM (GPT-4o) and squeeze it into a much smaller model that can run directly on an embedded device. Training is surprisingly simple, using GPT-4o labels and a transfer learning model with default settings. This workflow slashes edge AI development costs, and I expect further simplification and automation by the end of the year. This is a wake-up call for embedded developers – AI is now practical on small devices, and software tools are evolving rapidly.

Modern Work (Melody Brue)

IBM Consulting has introduced IBM Copilot Runway, a service aimed at helping businesses harness generative AI for improved productivity. This offering assists companies in creating, customizing, deploying, and managing AI “copilots,” such as Microsoft 365 Copilot. Additionally, IBM has established a global network of IBM-Microsoft Experience Zones, offering hands-on opportunities for potential customers to explore and experiment with AI solutions, facilitating informed decision-making before implementation.

Personal Computing (Anshel Sag)

Apple blew through its OS updates to get to its Apple Intelligence announcement, a clever rebranding of AI. Ultimately, Apple didn’t do anything particularly novel or implement any unique features, but I do believe that Apple’s integration of some of the lowest-hanging AI fruit and its SLMs will result in a world-class AI experience for users of any skill level
Microsoft has pulled back on its controversial Recall feature as part of Copilot+ Windows 11 PCs, pulling it from the June 18th launch and instead offering it as an Insider Preview build, which may eventually make it into the mainstream build after lots of feedback.
Computex 2024 was a battleground for the PC ecosystem, with AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm all jockeying for AI dominance of the PC ecosystem. The reality is that winners won’t be crowed for quite some time, but it’s evident that AMD and Intel have been anticipating their responses to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite
VRChat laid off 30% of its workforce, a delayed reaction to the many game studios that flourished during the pandemic to only come back to reality as audiences spent less time online.
Apple’s iOS 18 brings satellite messaging to the mainstream, beating all the carriers and their partners to the punch of offering such a service
Apple’s VisionOS brings native support for WebXR in Safari and one-click conversion of 2D images into 3D photos using an AI converter. It is among the best 2D to 3D conversions I’ve ever seen.
Meta’s threads will offer live MLB and NBA scores, which I don’t think is a huge deal, but hopefully, they will draw more sports fans to the platform.

Quantum Computing (Paul Smith-Goodson)

Quantinuum has upgraded its H2-1 processor from 32 trapped-ion qubits to 56. The system set a new record for the cross entropy benchmark in a collaborative effort with JPMorgan Chase, achieving a 100x improvement over the previous mark. This achievement follows other impressive research results by Quantinuum this year, including solving the so-called wiring problem and hitting a 99.9% two-qubit gate fidelity. I expect to see some interesting research papers this year showing the capability of 56 fully-connected trapped-ion qubits.

Security (Will Townsend)

Cisco’s Hypershield offering was initially announced in April and represents a clean-slate, ground-up redesigned security architecture aimed at protecting data centers in the context of the generative AI gold rush. New AI workloads tax existing infrastructure regarding compute, networking, and security. It’s the latter challenge that Cisco is addressing with Hypershield, and on the surface, this represents a significant leap forward for the company in its journey to provide a deeper security portfolio.
From my perspective, Hypershield represents an opportunity to raise Cisco above the AI hype cycle noise and deliver practical end-to-end protection that employs autonomous segmentation and self-qualifying upgrades. Given the recent introduction of AI PCs, next-generation AI workloads will eventually move to the network edge. This will undoubtedly increase the complexity of securing language models, data, and the underlying infrastructure at scale; Hypershield is well-positioned to support the distributed nature of an evolving technology stack.

Sports Technology (Melody Brue)

At InfoComm, I had a great conversation with BrightSign CEO Steve Durkee about a shift in the AV industry from simply conveying information to crafting immersive experiences. Durkee highlighted the evolution of retail displays, which have transformed from static signs to interactive experiences triggered by customer interaction. In sporting arenas (in addition to other venues), BrightSign’s technology replaces static menus with dynamic content that simultaneously showcases food items, game highlights, and restroom availability, enhancing the fan experience. By understanding and catering to audience preferences, sports franchises, and brands can leverage technology to create impactful and immersive experiences that resonate with customers and fans. More about BrightSign and other InfoComm vendors is coming soon.

Sports Technology (Robert Kramer)

Sustainability (Melody Brue)

Podcasts:

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

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

Moor Insights & Strategy Podcasts, with Patrick Moorhead, Melody Brue, CP Smith-Goodson, Matt Kimball, and Will Townsend.

Citations:

Apple / WWDC24 / Anshel Sag / https://www.technewsworld.com/story/apple-intelligence-headlines-wwdc24-kickoff-event-179232.html
Cisco / Security Cloud / Will Townsend / https://newsroom.cisco.com/c/r/newsroom/en/us/a/y2024/m06/cisco-security-cloud-vision-comes-to-life-transforming-enterprise-defenses.html
Dell / DTW / Patrick Moorhead / https://thefinancialnews247.com/microsofts-copilot-pcs-have-changed-what-it-means-to-be-an-ai-pc/
Fastly / API / Will Townsend / https://www.lightreading.com/ai-machine-learning/fastly-promises-better-access-to-chatgpt-via-a-new-edge-api
Frore / AI / Patrick Moorhead / https://pulse2.com/frore-systems-thermal-technology-company-raises-80-million/
Frore / AI / Patrick Moorhead / https://www.superbcrew.com/frore-systems-raises-80m-to-boost-ai-platform-performance/
Google and Magic Leap / Mixed Reality Development / Anshel Sag / / https://www.computerworld.com/article/2135495/google-partners-with-magic-leap-on-mixed-reality-development.html
HPE / 5G / Will Townsend / https://www.fierce-network.com/wireless/hpe-aruba-wants-make-private-5g-easier-enterprise
NVIDIA / Antitrust Investigation / Patrick Moorhead / https://www.fierceelectronics.com/ai/doj-probe-nvidia-over-ai-antitrust-behavior-reports
Solidigm / Six Five Summit / Patrick Moorhead / https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/solidigm-highlight-ai-sustainability-edge-170000800.html
Solidigm / Six Five Summit / Patrick Moorhead / https://www.businesskorea.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=218996

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

Clicks physical keyboard for iPhone
Dell 40″ Curved Ultrawide 5K Thunderbolt Monitor
Dell WL7204 ANC Wireless Headset
Hollyland Wireless Microphones
HP Z6 Threadripper Workstation
OPPO Find X7

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

June 2024
- HPE Discover, June 17-20, Las Vegas (Matt Kimball)
- AWE Long Beach, June 17-20 (Anshel Sag)
- Plaid Effects, June 18 (Melody – virtual)
- Augmented World Expo, Long Beach, June 18 – 20 (Anshel Sag)
- Pure Storage Accelerate, June 18-21, Las Vegas (Matt Kimball)
- Qualcomm AI Day June 25 (Anshel Sag)
- Samsara Analyst Summit, Chicago, June 26 (Melody Brue)
July 2024
- AWS Analyst Forum July 8-10 New York (Robert Kramer)
August 2024
- Black Hat, Las Vegas, August 3-8 (Will Townsend)
- VMware Explore, Las Vegas, August 26-29 (Will Townsend)
September 2024
- Oracle Cloud World, Las Vegas, Sept 9-12 (Melody Brue, Robert Kramer)
- Connected Britain, London, September 11-12 (Will Townsend)
- Salesforce Dreamforce, San Fran, Sept 17-19 (Robert Kramer)
- Intel Innovation, Sep 23-26 (Matt Kimball)
- Infor Annual Summit, Las Vegas, Sept 30-Oct 2 (Robert Kramer)
October 2024
- LogicMonitor, Austin, Oct 2-4 (Robert Kramer)
- Zoomtopia, San Jose, October 8-9 (Melody Brue)
- MWC Americas, Las Vegas, October 8-10 (Will Townsend)
- Lenovo Global Analyst Summit & Tech World, 14-17 Oct, Bellevue, WA (Matt Kimball, Paul Smith-Goodson)
- IBM Analyst Summit, NYC, Oct 16-18 (Matt Kimball, Robert Kramer)
- WebexOne, Miami, October 21-24, (Melody Brue)
- SAP SuccessConnect, October 28-30 (Melody Brue – virtual)
- 5G Techritory, Riga, October 30-31 (Will Townsend)
November 2024
- Dell Tech Analyst Summit, early November, Austin, TX (Matt Kimball)
- IBM, NYC, Nov 6 – 8 (Paul Smith-Goodson)
- Fyuz, Dublin, November 11-13 (Will Townsend)
- Box Analyst Summit, San Francisco, November 12-13 (Melody Brue)
- Microsoft Ignite, Chicago, November 18 – 22 (Robert Kramer – virtual, Will Townsend)
December 2024
- AWS re:invent, Las Vegas, December 2-6 (Robert Kramer, Will Townsend)

The Team

Analysts

Patrick Moorhead, Founder, CEO, Chief Analyst; Broad technology coverage plus deep insights into Cloud, Enterprise SaaS & Semiconductors.
Jason Anderson, Principal Analyst, Developer Platforms, Services, Tools
Melody Brue, Principal Analyst, Modern Work, HR Tech, Marketing Tech/CRM, Sustainability
Bill Curtis, Analyst In-Residence, IIoT, and Deep IoT Technology
Matt Kimball, Principal Analyst, Datacenter Compute & Storage, AI Semiconductors
Robert Kramer, Principal Analyst, Enterprise Data Technologies, ERP/SCM
Anshel Sag, Principal Analyst; Personal Computing
Paul Smith-Goodson, Principal Analyst; Machine AI Frameworks, Models, Tools and Quantum Computing
Will Townsend, Principal Analyst; Security, Carrier Services, Networking

Patrick Moorhead

+ posts

Patrick founded the firm based on his real-world world technology experiences with the understanding of what he wasn’t getting from analysts and consultants. Ten years later, Patrick is ranked #1 among technology industry analysts in terms of “power” (ARInsights) in “press citations” (Apollo Research). Moorhead is a contributor at Forbes and frequently appears on CNBC. He is a broad-based analyst covering a wide variety of topics including the cloud, enterprise SaaS, collaboration, client computing, and semiconductors. He has 30 years of experience including 15 years of executive experience at high tech companies (NCR, AT&T, Compaq, now HP, and AMD) leading strategy, product management, product marketing, and corporate marketing, including three industry board appointments.