Moor Insights & Strategy Weekly Update Ending May 24, 2024

By Patrick Moorhead - May 23, 2024

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

Last week, I was in New York City shooting Six Five Summit opening videos and appeared on CNBC and Yahoo Finance. Robert attended Blue Yonder. Melody attended Avaya ENGAGE. She virtually attended the Zoom Work Transformation Summit, Box Content Cloud Summit, and Microsoft Build Analyst Day. Matt attended the International Super Computing Conference.

This week, our team was busy attending several events: IBM Think (Jason, and Pat), Dell Tech World (Pat, Anshel, Matt, and Will), Zoom Perspectives (Melody), Microsoft Build 2024 (Anshel, Matt, and Melody-virtual ), Nutanix .NEXT (Matt), and Canva Create (Melody).

Our MI&S team published 26 deliverables:

5 Forbes Insight columns
1 MI&S Research Notes
6 MI&S blogs
12 podcasts 
2 research papers

Over the last two weeks, the press quoted us with 15 citations. They wanted to hear about Ampere, Apple, AWS, Box, Broadcom, Cisco, Dayforce, HPE, Infinidat, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and OpenAI.

MIS Quick Insights: `

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

IBM has introduced LAB (Large-scale Alignment for chatbots) as a new method to address scalability in instruction-tuning of large language model (LLM) training. LAB uses a synthetic data generation process and a multi-phase tuning framework to reduce reliance on human annotations and proprietary models like GPT-4.
- High-quality, human-generated task-specific instruction data is expensive and often protected. LAB provides a diverse instruction dataset without needing proprietary LLMs or substantial human curation. LAB also includes a novel training framework that adds new knowledge and abilities to pre-trained LLMs without forgetting. LAB-trained models have shown competitive performance on several benchmarks.
- IBM announced the first version of its Granite 13b-chat-V1 model in September 2023; however, it had a relatively low MT-Bench score, meaning it wasn’t great at holding back-and-forth conversations. In December 2023, the IBM research team achieved a breakthrough by applying its new alignment method (now called InstructLab) to Granite 13B-chat-V2 and increased its MT-Bench performance to match the performance of the Llama2-70b-chat. By applying the new alignment technology to other IBM Granite models, those models could also demonstrate superior conversations and instruction-following abilities across various use cases. (https://arxiv.org/pdf/2403.01081)
AI – OpenAI’s newest model, GPT-4o, is a significant advancement in AI technology. Although I haven’t tried a hands-on version, the videos I’ve seen are pretty amazing. It can process any combination of text, audio, and image inputs and generate corresponding outputs. It responds to real-time audio inputs, making it seem more human-like. The latency for audio input is an average of 320 milliseconds. For traditional benchmarks, GPT-4o matches GPT-4 Turbo-level performance on text, reasoning, and coding intelligence, but it scores higher on multilingual, audio, and vision capabilities.
- Even though the GPT-4o has been red-teamed with experts in social psychology, bias and fairness, and misinformation, no model is entirely safe, and emergent behaviors can still happen.

AI (Anshel Sag)

This week was a busy one in the world of AI, with both Google and OpenAI holding events. OpenAI’s event felt like it was to preempt Google’s event, which had been known for months. OpenAI announced its latest model for ChatGpt, ChatGPT 4o, which halves costs while improving performance, adding multi-modal responses, and offering a flirty HER-like assistant.
I believe that OpenAI’s ChatGPT 4o will become the industry standard regarding LLM capabilities, performance, and cost. Interestingly, OpenAI is only demonstrated on Apple devices, which I believe is an explicit call-out from Google while also potentially allowing Microsoft to announce the Windows version of things.
So far, I have been quite impressed with ChatGPT 4o, but I don’t think we’ll know its full potential until more developers start using it. That said, all the feedback I’ve gotten from developers has been overwhelmingly positive.
Google was relatively ho-hum at Google IO in terms of announcements and really appeared to be playing catch-up with its announcements, not necessarily with OpenAI but with itself, finally bringing more of its LLM capabilities to its apps. The most significant announcement, Project Astra, still felt very early, and there was no clear indication of when it would come to market. Additionally, Google seemed to indicate that most of its announcements and developments in AI other than the Trillium TPU were not available yet and would be available later this year.

Developer Tools, Services, Platforms (Jason Andersen)

Application Platforms – Google made several announcements this week at its Google I/O event. The main focus was extending its assets to take advantage of Gemini 1.5. This new release of Gemini offers higher performance and, notably, future support for 2 million token windows. This significantly expands the types and modes of content that can be exposed to Gen AI. For developers, Google has updated the Gemini AI studio with the latest Gemini API, which is available now. Additionally, Google previewed a new cross-platform developer toolset called IDX, which is currently in beta. IDX enables the injection of AI into cross-platform apps and leverages AI to help developers create seamless cross-platform experiences.
Operating Systems – Last week, Red Hat announced the availability of RHEL AI. The new release includes the open-source Granite LLM (developed by IBM) and a new suite of tools called InstructLab, both aimed at increasing contributions to creating and training new AI models. Additionally, Red Hat included new container-based bootable images optimized for different AI use cases and GPUs. Finally, Red Hat also included indemnification protection for these new components, as they have with previous operating system versions.

AR/VR/XR (Anshel Sag)

Google appeared to demonstrate its new advanced digital assistant Astra on a pair of AR glasses, which seemed to be a much more powerful tool than using the same assistant on a phone

Carrier/Wireless (Will Townsend)

AT&T and ASTSpaceMobile recently signed a definitive commercial agreement that will run through 2030. Chris Sambar, head of network for AT&T, will also join AST’s board of directors. The agreement will likely accelerate the collaboration to marry low earth orbit satellite infrastructure with AT&T’s 4G and 5G terrestrial spectrum and mobile network to provide gap coverage at scale. I have spent time with both companies, and I believe the partnership will be replicated with other operators globally and play an essential role in bridging the digital divide.

Client Computing (Anshel Sag)

CRM (Melody Brue)

Datacenter:

Networking– (Will Townsend)

June should provide a bevy of enterprise networking advancements communicated through events, including Cisco Live U.S. and HPE Discover. Both companies continue to build and deliver new connectivity capabilities to serve the growing needs of campus, branch, and OT environments. I expect SD-WAN, SASE, and private cellular networking to be at the forefront.

Compute/Storage/Cloud (Matt Kimball)

(Infra): Maybe the most underrated datacenter news over the last week was Dell Technologies’ announcement of the PowerEdge R670 and R770, focusing on cloud and hyperscale datacenters. Both Intel-based servers are designed to meet the Open Compute Project’s Data Center – Modular Hardware System (DC-MHS) standard. From a management perspective, These new servers ship with the OpenBMC management controller, enabling management through Dell’s Open Server Manager or a third-party tool.
- In addition to the R670 and R770, Dell announced the launch of the T160 (Tower) and R260 (Rack) servers targeting small businesses and branch offices.
- Here’s my net-net on this: While AI is driving high-margin server sales (and backlogs) for Dell and other OEMs, the enterprise server business has been shrinking as the cloud continues to grow at staggering rates. This announcement shows Dell’s recognition of these dynamics a couple of years back and adjusting its portfolio to address the trends. Smart move. And direct competition to Supermicro, Inspur, and Lenovo – three server vendors that generate a lot of cloud revenue.
- Here’s my suggestion to Dell – quickly expand the portfolio to include AMD and Arm – the two CPUs that have been surging in cloud market share.
(Si): Ampere’s recent partnership with Qualcomm is smart. Combining Ampere CPUs with the Qualcomm AI 100 Utlra should make a highly performant inference platform. More importantly, this partnership demonstrates Ampere moving beyond the major CSPs and traditional cloud to other revenue (and margin) rich targets. In addition, the company has begun to move down the cloud market (into smaller providers) through the channel.
- My thoughts: Ampere has been hit pretty hard by its largest customers (i.e., Azure, Aliyun, GCP) moving to in-house chip design and deployment. While these customers continue to deploy Ampere, bringing designs in-house will significantly impact revenue. Ampere’s pivot is smart. There is an opportunity down market and Ampere has a compute platform with proven reliable and consistent performance. I like the move – and think it will strengthen the company’s position. Finally, given these announcements, I anticipate we will see similar partnerships announced in the coming months.
(Storage): HPE made several announcements regarding its Alletra MP platform and GreenLake for Block Storage offerings. While there is a lot to uncover in the company’s announcement, the higher-level messaging is based around three pillars – better performance (more capacity, faster I/O), cloud elasticity (AWS today, more to follow), and AIOps-driven simplicity for deploying, provisioning, and managing.
- My thoughts: HPE has made a lot of moves over the past year that have positioned it well in the storage market. While the company made several acquisitions around storage, storage fabrics, management, and cloud management over the past several years, we haven’t seen them manifest as something differentiated until these past few quarters. I like what the company is doing and how its strategy unfolds. I would encourage the team to better demonstrate to the market how all of these acquisitions have contributed to this cloud platform that, in terms of technology, is far and away leading the competition. Demonstrating real-world relevance is essential in establishing GreenLake as the on prem cloud.
(General): Matt’s rant for the week. Conference season has kicked off once again. I am only one person, but I’m begging the industry players to work with each other to schedule these events. We, as analysts, want to cover your company – I promise. And we want to interact with subject matter experts and executives at your event. But we can only be in one place at a time. And when multiple events are scheduled in a single week (this upcoming week is four!!!) – you put us in a bad spot. Please – help us help you.

Data Security (Robert Kramer)

HYCU, Inc. and Dell Technologies expand their partnership. HYCU looks to protect Dell’s PowerProtect Data Domain, including the dev, stage, production, and restoration environments.
It is important to see HYCU expand its innovation and data protection capabilities, showing flexibility and scalability in its platform, especially as global enterprises emphasize data management strategies.
https://www.hycu.com/blog/exciting-update-hycu-deepens-integration-with-dell-powerprotect-solutions
At Microsoft Build 2024, several important data-related updates were announced. Microsoft Fabric, an AI-powered analytics platform, now offers real-time intelligence for developers and customers. New frontier models were introduced to support multimodal AI applications. Microsoft also plans to double its data center capacity in early 2024 and invest $3.3 billion in a new data center in Wisconsin.
- These updates represent positive improvements in data and AI for developers and businesses. https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2024/05/21/whats-next-microsoft-build-continues-the-evolution-and-expansion-of-ai-tools-for-developers/
Dynatrace shows that the data observability and security industry is experiencing growth in a competitive market. I like how Dynatrace added almost 700 new logos for FY 2024, highlighting the company’s organic growth.
Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2024 highlights
- Total ARR $1.504B, a 21% increase
- Total Revenue of $381M, a 21% increase
- Subscription Revenue of $360 million, a 23% increase
- GAAP EPS of $0.13 and non-GAAP EPS of $0.30, on a dilutive basis
  https://ir.dynatrace.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/338/dynatrace-reports-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-fiscal-2024

Enterprise App (Melody Brue)

Meta’s decision to sunset Workplace, its enterprise collaboration platform, presents a significant opportunity for Zoom. Workvivo, a platform acquired by Zoom last year, has been designated the sole preferred migration partner for Workplace customers. Meta will collaborate with Zoom to ensure a smooth transition for customers by providing additional tools and services.
Workvivo offers a centralized digital space for employee connection, collaboration, and communication. It has proven effective in engaging employees and fostering company culture, particularly for frontline workers. Workvivo’s popularity has surged as organizations prioritize employee experience, with notable customers like The Virgin Group, Ryanair, Lululemon, and Amazon.
While Meta has endorsed Workvivo as the preferred migration path, the sunsetting of Workplace leaves an opening for other platforms like Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Staffbase to attract former Workplace customers before its final shutdown in August 2025.

ESG (Melody Brue)

Enterprise Data (Robert Kramer)

IBM and Salesforce are partnering to bring IBM watsonx AI and Data Platform capabilities to the Salesforce Einstein 1 Platform
- “Salesforce and IBM are well positioned to make it easier for customers to get the most value from their data — no matter where it resides — and establish a foundation for customer engagement and trusted AI,” said Rahul Auradkar, EVP & GM, United Data Services & Einstein, Salesforce.
- Without high-quality data, AI cannot work effectively. Prioritizing data quality is 100% necessary to utilize AI’s potential fully and is essential for your data management strategies. Don’t leave your data behind! https://newsroom.ibm.com/2024-05-21-IBM-and-Salesforce-Expand-Partnership-to-Advance-Open,-Trusted-AI-and-Data-Ecosystems
IBM continues with data and AI innovations by releasing the IBM Data Product Hub, which unifies internal business and customer data. It is integrated with IBM watsonx.data connecting your data with the Data Product Hub to unify data sources. https://www.ibm.com/blog/announcement/data-product-hub/?utm_medium=OSocial&utm_source=Linkedin&utm_content=WXDWW&utm_id=DataProductHub2024May22&social_post=sf188757352&sf188757352=1
Informatica invests in data management with announcements at Informatica World.
- GenAI is now embedded into every layer of Informatica’s Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) with CLAIRE GPT to improve data management.
- Using AI and low-code/no-code provides better access to data for the development and deployment of GenAI applications.
- My take is that data quality and change management are essential for successful outcomes. Informatica has enhanced its IDMC and remains committed to innovation. But it’s important to recognize that most solutions are not plug-and-play, and a comprehensive data management strategy must be emphasized. https://www.informatica.com/about-us/news/news-releases/2024/05/20240521-informaticas-generative-ai-technology-embedded-in-cloud-data-management-platform-transforms-access-to-data-by-putting-technology-in-the-hands-of-every-business-user.html
Salesforce continues to develop Einstein 1 around Data and AI – with new announcements focused on unifying business and customer data to deliver a more personalized experience for merchandisers and customers.
- I thought some of these details were interesting from Salesforce;
  - Considering all the data companies collect, 80% of customers believe customer experiences should be better
  - 75% of IT organizations struggle to integrate data insights into user experiences.
  - 31% of marketers are fully satisfied with their ability to unify customer data sources.
- I agree with Salesforce that there is a gap in data accessibility, and I like their direction. However, simply having access to data isn’t enough; the quality of the data and understanding all your data sources are crucial. Salesforce’s Data Cloud has the potential to unify enterprise data using generative AI. The Data Cloud uses a Zero-Copy architecture, referencing data from its source without storing it on the Salesforce platform.
  https://www.salesforce.com/news/press-releases/2024/05/22/einstein-copilot-marketing-commerce-news/?utm_source=LinkedIn&utm_medium=organic_social&utm_campaign=us_cbaw&utm_content=newsroom-ctt
At Boomi World 2024, the company introduced new innovations, including an AI Agent Framework and Boomi DataHub. The AI Agent Framework offers integration and no-code tools, letting users deploy AI agents from Boomi or partners. Boomi Datahub provides various data management tools, including rapid accessibility, master data management, and integration pipelines.
Boomi introduced four new agents:
- Boomi Answers: Provides help.
- Boomi DataDetective: Protects sensitive data.
- Boomi DesignGen: Builds integrations automatically.
- Boomi Scribe: Documents integrations automatically.

ERP/SCM (Robert Kramer)

Epicor releases a new Epicor Grow modern portfolio, moving from a traditional system of record ERP to a system of action ERP. The Grow portfolio enables systems to think, learn, and empower users.
Epicor Grow Data and AI
- Data—manages enterprise data in one place with its no-code data platform that allows users to bring their data to one central location. Users can combine, clean, normalize, and analyze the data they need for a more accurate output.
- AI—predictive analytics forecasts inventory, demand, and sales. Generated sales orders created from email inquiries. AI-generated product suggestions based on past order history to help optimize inventory. Predictive maintenance suggestions and notifications for fleet vehicles, reducing unscheduled vehicle downtime, delivery delays, and maintenance costs.
I like this direction as it emphasizes both customers and the supply chain. Having previously worked with Epicor, I see this as a more proactive approach for a modern ERP vendor. With manufacturers’ current economic challenges, focusing on the supply chain is on target, as it offers cost savings and additional revenue opportunities. https://www.epicor.com/en-us/newsroom/news-releases/new-grow-portfolio/
Blue Yonder recently concluded its annual ICON 2024 customer event. I advocate for modern ERP systems and support modern SCM systems that drive digital transformation. These systems enhance visibility, efficiency, decision-making, resilience, cost-effectiveness, customer satisfaction, sustainability, and collaboration in supply chain operations. Stay tuned for my upcoming article on modern SCM solutions.
Here are some highlights from Blue Yonder ICON 2024 Main Stage
Blue Yonder demonstrated its advanced end-to-end supply chain platform, which combines AI and data.

The Blue Yonder Orchestrator introduced AI Agents to automate tasks, tackle supply chain challenges, and improve decision-making.
Blue Yonder introduced an AI Innovation Studio in Dallas for collaborative workshops to create intelligent, customized solutions.
New cognitive solutions were introduced to manage supply chain uncertainties. Cognitive technology simulates human cognition to enhance problem-solving and decision-making capabilities.
Composable Journeys were introduced to enable the implementation of innovations for a modern, autonomous supply chain. This approach speeds up transformation and reduces costs.
Blue Yonder invested over $1 billion in innovations over three years, doubled its engineering team and launched its largest product release.
CEO Duncan Angove discussed the company’s goal to empower supply chain operators with innovations like the data cloud and generative AI, enhancing the full spectrum of data, visibility, and competitiveness.

IBM and SAP are expanding their 50-year partnership with new GenAI capabilities. This partnership looks to enhance transformation with RISE with SAP. IBM and SAP are working on GenAI capabilities for RISE with SAP, integrating AI into SAP business processes and industry-specific cloud solutions. The companies will also collaborate on employee networks to enhance SAP expertise and develop new talent.
https://erp.today/up-in-the-clouds-ibm-and-sap-expand-long-standing-collaboration/

Financial Tech (Melody Brue)

HCM (Melody Brue)

HR tech startup Deel has acquired PaySpace, a payroll company operating in 44 countries across Africa and the Middle East. This move follows Deel’s 2022 acquisition of APAC payroll provider PayGroup, further expanding Deel’s global footprint in the HR and payroll solutions market.
- Deel is building a comprehensive, “globally native” HR solution, offering local entities, teams, and payroll engines in 50 countries across six continents. This unique approach caters to the needs of globally distributed teams and sets Deel apart from competitors.
- With $500 million in annual recurring revenue and a valuation of $12 billion, the five-year-old startup is rapidly gaining traction, particularly among enterprises grappling with the complexities of global payroll. Deel’s global payroll product is currently its fastest-growing offering, reflecting the increasing demand for unified HR solutions in today’s borderless workplace.
- While Deel’s approach and growth are promising, it’s important to note that the company faces stiff competition from massive incumbents with huge budgets. These established players may have greater resources and brand recognition, posing challenges for Deel’s continued expansion. However, Deel’s focus on a globally native solution, its rapid growth, and its customer base – including some major brands – indicate that it is a serious contender in the “people tech” space.

IIoT and IoT (Bill Curtis)

NXP Smart Home Innovation Lab
- NXP opened a new 5200-square-foot, $2.5 million laboratory space dedicated to smart home innovation. Located on its Austin campus, the lab employs 25 system engineers and currently hosts 20 partners with 28 active technology projects. The lab simulates residential environments with a living room, bedroom, media room, gym, kitchen, and garage – complete with a model car and charging station. NXP emphasized that the lab is a collaboration space where partners can develop and test new smart home concepts – not just a “demo house.” The core of the space is a laboratory environment with workbenches for hardware and software engineers. Smart homes are evolving from collections of isolated remote-control gadgets to integrated, multivendor, situationally-aware, whole-home control systems capable of autonomously anticipating occupant needs and automating multidisciplinary control functions. This vision requires thinking beyond individual products and investing in higher-level systems spanning entire residences. Matter provides the multivendor interoperability that makes large-scale smart home integration technically possible, and this new lab is a collaborative environment for envisioning and developing next-generation autonomous applications.
Geomagnetic storm affects farmers
- According to NOAA, the May 10-11 geomagnetic storm was the most extreme since 2003. The solar event caused power grid irregularities and GPS navigation problems. For instance, it’s planting season in the midwestern US, and modern precision farming techniques depend on GPS satellite signals, coupled with terrestrial correction data, to track the precise locations of farm machinery. When planting, tractors record precise position data so that subsequent passes through the fields later in the season for spraying, cultivating, and harvesting automatically follow the same track – to within a few centimeters. (John Deere calls this widely-used feature “AutoPath.”) Geomagnetic storms affect the signal path between GPS satellites and ground receivers, causing the recorded locations to be inaccurate. Fields planted when GPS accuracy is poor cannot be “replayed” by AutoPath. This storm event is a wake-up call for industries that depend upon accurate GPS positioning. Technologies such as multi-frequency GPS and advanced cycle-slip correction can help. Still, exceptional geomagnetic events will always affect GPS accuracy – a fact that the precision agriculture industry must plan for.
Honda and IBM SDV collaboration – Software-defined vehicle R&D is accelerating as OEMs and component suppliers realize that existing vehicle architectures do not scale to meet rapidly increasing demands for AI capabilities, computational performance, software complexity, power efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. New architectures require new supply chain partnerships, as evidenced by this week’s announcement from Honda and IBM. The companies signed an MOU outlining collaboration on “long-term joint R&D of next-generation computing technologies.” The announcement defines “long-term” as 2030 and beyond, so this isn’t a tactical quick-hit. Goals include automotive-specific semiconductor technologies such as “brain-inspired computing,” chiplets, mixed-load processing performance, reduced power consumption, and faster time-to-market via hardware-software co-optimization. Six years seems like a long time, but it’s a realistic target for transforming vehicle electronics from diverse mashups of over a hundred interdependent processors connected by miles of wire to a unified, server-like computational model with a unified software architecture.
Google Home APIs – One of the most frequent criticisms about Matter, the smart home interoperability standard from the Connectivity Standards Alliance, is that four ecosystems – Amazon, Apple, Google, and Samsung – are control points. Although individual devices from many manufacturers plug and play (over 1,100 certified so far), consumers must choose one ecosystem to manage them. Users may deploy or change multiple ecosystems, but the process is tricky and inconsistent. Ecosystems manage Matter security and authorize new devices, so developing and certifying new ecosystems is complicated and costly. That’s why there are currently only four of them, and application developers should not consider building new ones. Consumers want the flexibility to add new smart home applications without worrying about the underlying ecosystem “plumbing,” so I’ve long advocated that every ecosystem should provide Matter-focused APIs that enable developers to create plug-and-play apps quickly and easily. This week, at its I/O developer conference, Google announced Home APIs that developers can use to develop new experiences for both Android and iOS. I’m evaluating these APIs and working on a full report, including the feasibility (and likelihood) of standardizing interfaces across ecosystems.

Modern Work (Melody Brue)

I spent most of my week at Avaya Engage, the company’s customer, user, and ecosystem conference, where the company and its partners made several announcements. I also had the opportunity to chat with leadership from Avaya and several partner companies and customers. Here are a couple of stand-outs from the week:
- Avaya and RingCentral partnership expansion: Avaya customers gain RingCentral’s collaboration tools and AI features like RingSense AI while keeping Avaya Aura for telephony, providing a modernized, integrated communications experience. Avaya customers can also benefit from RingCentral’s direct routing and Microsoft Teams calling capabilities and a unified experience between the Avaya Experience Platform and ACO.
- Avaya acquired Edify Technologies: With the acquisition of Edify, Avaya entered a new era of bespoke customer service. The deal strengthens its orchestration and workflow capabilities and adds out-of-the-box CRM connectors. Edify’s low-code platform can build journey management workflows for analytics tools to track customers across communication channels, automating solutions for efficient problem-solving. Edify was also an acquihire – the buy comes with a group of engineers that injects what Avaya CEO Alan Masarek calls “world-class customer experience talent” into Avaya.
- WFM integration with Calabrio: The Avaya Experience Platform (AXP) integrates Calabrio’s workforce management solution to streamline scheduling and operations and empower agents. Again, experience is the focus – and the WFM platform very much focuses on agent wellness and how that translates to better customer experience.
- Afiniti eXperienceAI integration: Avaya AXP now features native integration with Afiniti eXperienceAI for intelligent routing based on extensive data points. Intelligent routing puts the customer with the right agent in the right channel based on a large dataset. The capabilities are impressive, and the company is focused on intentional business case AI use.
- LivePerson integration: By integrating LivePerson’s Conversational Cloud, Avaya AXP gains AI-powered capabilities, enhancing digital channels, bots, and analytics.
Vodafone Business and RingCentral announced the launch of Vodafone Business UC with RingCentral in Ireland. This unified communications (UC) solution aims to provide communication and collaboration for businesses of all sizes, enabling the workforce – largely remote in Ireland – to connect from any device, anywhere, and anytime.
- The launch of Vodafone Business UC with RingCentral in Ireland comes at a time of significant market momentum. Currently, the UC cloud penetration in Ireland is 43.7%, with projected growth expected to exceed 80% by 2028, according to the companies. The cloud-based solution includes team messaging video meetings and integrates with many popular apps. The solution also leverages RingCentral’s AI-powered platform to provide conversation intelligence and actionable insights. As legacy voice technologies such as PSTN are getting sunsetted, RingCentral and Vodafone are aiming to provide flexible options for a hybrid workforce that are

Personal Computing (Anshel Sag)

The new iPad Pro has finally arrived in users’ hands, and so have reviews, which have all acknowledged that the device is far more powerful than iPadOS will allow. The main issue is that the iPad is still Apple’s only large-screen computing device with a touch screen and 5G connectivity. I believe that Apple believes it can continue to sell people iPads for touch and 5G connectivity while it keeps MacOS on the MacBook family.
Samsung’s response to Apple’s Crush It ad has been almost as polarizing as Apple’s ad, where it appeared to crush a bunch of creative devices into the new iPad Pro.
Connectivity
- AT&T and AST SpaceMobile have deepened their partnership, extending it to 2030 and giving more details on future launches and satellites while also giving AT&T a seat on AST SpaceMobile’s board. I think this is a good deepening of the partnership and could help AT&T with its IoT capabilities in addition to consumer coverage.
- The DoD appears to be bailing out EchoStar and Dish with a $2.7 billion contract over ten years, increasing its chances of evading bankruptcy as it struggles to deliver 5G services and keep customers.

Quantum Computing (Paul Smith-Goodson)

The U.S. added 37 Chinese entities to the Entity List to safeguard U.S. national security and foreign policy interests. The Entity List is a U.S. government compilation of foreign individuals, companies, and organizations considered a national security concern and subject to export restrictions and licensing requirements for specific technologies and goods. These entities were involved in quantum technology and purchasing items relating to military applications. Some are connected to PRC nuclear programs or have shipped controlled items to Russia. Four entities acquired U.S. items for China’s military unmanned aerial systems (UAS). Eleven entities were involved with China’s High Altitude Balloon program. These are ongoing efforts to keep entities from accessing U.S. technologies that could compromise national security.

Security (Will Townsend)

Trusted silicon will be important in fortifying and hardening infrastructure against attack. At the RSA Conference, Intel shared its perspective on AI for Security with its Intel Threat Detection Technology – TDT, AI for SecOps with its Intel Device Health, and Security for AI through Intel Tiber Trust Services. What I appreciate about Intel’s approach is that it is end-to-end, spanning on-premises clients and servers and the network edge to the cloud. Furthermore, it collaborates with a broad ecosystem to address critical security issues and vulnerabilities, including Crowdstrike, Fortanix, Fortinet, Google Cloud, McAfee, and many others.
SafeLiShare is an early-stage start-up that needs to be watched. The company is focused on using secure enclaves at the silicon level to facilitate next-generation AI workload data processing. At RSAC, the company announced its ConfidentialRAG private beta. RAG refers to retrieval augmented generation, and SafeLiShare aims to ensure the confidentiality of prompt queries through runtime encryption schemes that protect private data within a trusted execution environment. This capability also extends to generative AI large language model content filtering that is designed to mitigate hallucinations, prevent the use of copyright materials, and eliminate malicious executable software. The potential application for what SafeliShare is offering in its beta could be very broad. Still, it is especially compelling for highly regulated industries such as healthcare, financial services, and critical infrastructure.

Sports Technology (Melody Brue)

T-Mobile’s “5G Firsts” use of 5G technology at the PGA Championship is transforming the spectator experience and operations. By deploying a private 5G network, T-Mobile streamlines operations, cutting back on cumbersome cables and speeding up setup and teardown. The network also empowers broadcasters with more flexibility, allowing high-quality, wireless video transmission from more camera angles for a more immersive viewing experience. 5G network slicing ensures smooth operation of critical on-site services like payment and ticketing.
Beyond mere logo placement, this technology-focused sponsorship revolutionizes how enterprises approach sports partnerships. Companies like T-Mobile showcase their capabilities and innovation by demonstrating real-world applications of their technology in a high-profile setting. This elevates brand awareness and provides tangible value to event organizers and attendees. As technology evolves, we can expect more immersive and interactive experiences, merging the worlds of sports, entertainment, and technology.

Sports Technology (Robert Kramer)

Sponsorship revenue for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris is expected to reach US$1.34 billion, with sponsors introducing technologies to improve the experience for athletes, spectators, and viewers.
I remember attending the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta – one of the best sporting experiences of my life. My father and I were guests of IBM, thanks to our ERP company’s partnership.
Technology has transformed sports in the past 20 years since I attended the Olympics. Wearable techs like fitness trackers and smartwatches now monitor athletes’ performance and health. Instant replay has improved officiating through video assistance. Data analytics enhances player performance, game strategies, and injury prevention. VR and AR offer training experiences for athletes and better engagement for fans. Drones provide unique aerial views and improve event security. High-definition and 4K broadcasts make sports more accessible globally. Smart stadiums with Wi-Fi, digital ticketing, and other technologies enhance the spectator experience
Key Sponsors for the 2024 Paris Games
- Intel is implementing 5G, immersive media, AI, drones, and esports competitions to enhance experiences.
- Alibaba Group is providing cloud infrastructure and services to support Olympic operations and improve the experience for athletes and fans.
- Atos supplies core IT systems for accreditations, athlete entries, the volunteer portal, and the competition schedule. Eviden, part of Atos, will provide cyber threat prevention and monitoring to ensure a secure Games.
- Cisco is delivering network infrastructure, cybersecurity, and conferencing software to create a secure and efficient network for the Games.
- Canon will offer imaging solutions to enhance the overall experience for athletes, spectators, and viewers.
With its investment in the National Football League (NFL), Netflix is entering the sports technology party. This year, Netflix will stream live football games during the holiday season as part of a three-year deal
Unless these sports sponsorships offer real technology value to the sports teams, the game, and the fans, they only make it harder to watch games live, especially if you don’t have a Netflix subscription.
https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/nfl-games-on-netflix

Sustainability (Melody Brue)

Podcasts:

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

The G2 on 5G Podcast – AT&T’s SpaceMobile Deal, T-Mobile’s PGA Innovation, and Germany’s Huawei Ban

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:

Ampere / Processor / Patrick Moorhead / https://lowendbox.com/blog/unveiling-a-256-core-arm-processor-for-data-centers/
Ampere / Chip / Patrick Moorhead / https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/hardware/ampere-unveils-256-core-processor-data-center-power-play
Apple / iPad / Anshel Sag / https://sensi-sl.org/apple-muscles-up-ipad-pro-with-m4-silicon-tandem-oled-display/
AWS / New Ceo / Patrick Moorhead / https://www.geekwire.com/2024/how-amazons-new-cloud-chief-matt-garman-will-approach-the-big-challenges-ahead/
Box / AI / Melody Brue / https://blog.box.com/join-box-hubs-beta-start-curating-organizing-and-publishing-great-content-today
Broadcom / AI / Patrick Moorhead / https://www.broadcom.com/company/news/product-releases/62216
Cisco / Cisco & Nutanix Deal / Matt Kimball / https://www.networkworld.com/article/2110879/cisco-nutanix-strengthen-joint-hci-package.html
Cisco / XDR / Will Townsend / https://www.tahawultech.com/news/the-power-of-ciscos-security-platform-is-supercharged-and-unmatched-jeetu-patel-cisco/
Dayforce / Flex Work / Melody Brue / https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/markets/markets-news/GlobeNewswire/26375189/dayforce-delivers-dayforce-flex-work/
HPE / Storage and Hardware / Matt Kimball / https://www.techtarget.com/searchstorage/news/366585433/HPE-updates-Alletra-MP-expands-block-storage-to-AWS
Infinidat / Cloud Storage / Matt Kimball / https://www.infinidat.com/en/blog/infinidat-expands-its-reach-cloud-infuzeostm-cloud-edition-azure
Microsoft / PC / Patrick Moorhead / https://itchanneloxygen.com/microsoft-wants-to-have-its-cake-and-eat-it-channel-digests-copilot-pc-launch/
NVIDIA / Earnings / Patrick Moorhead / https://finance.yahoo.com/video/nvidia-clearly-beat-expectations-analyst-135300824.html
NVIDIA / Earnings / Patrick Moorhead / https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ai-focused-tokens-edge-higher-192957999.html
OpenAI / GPT-4o / Patrick Moorhead / https://finance.yahoo.com/video/openais-gpt-4o-google-apple-202717400.html

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

Dell 40″ Curved Ultrawide 5K Thunderbolt Monitor
Hollyland Wireless Microphones
HP Z6 Threadripper Workstation
OPPO Find X7

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

May 2024
- Computex 2024, May 31-June 5 (Anshel Sag)
June 2024
- Computex 2024, Jun 1-7 (Anshel Sag)
- Cisco Live US, Las Vegas, June 2-6 (Melody Brue, Matt Kimball, Will Townsend)
- SAP Sapphire, Orlando, June 2–5 (Melody Brue, Robert Kramer)
- Snowflake, San Francisco, June 3-5 (Robert Kramer)
- Zoho Analyst Day & Zoholics, Austin, June 4-6 (Melody Brue, Robert Kramer)
- Broadcom Mainframe Analyst Summit, June 5-6, Boston (Matt Kimball)
- Zscaler Zenith Live, Las Vegas, June 11-13 (Will Townsend)
- Databricks, San Fran, June 10-13 (Robert Kramer)
- InfoComm, Las Vegas, June 12-14 (Melody Brue)
- HPE Discover, June 17-20, Las Vegas (Matt Kimball)
- Augmented World Expo, Long Beach, June 18 – 20 (Anshel Sag)
- Pure Storage Accelerate, June 18-21, Las Vegas (Matt Kimball)
- Samsara Analyst Summit, Chicago, June 26 (Melody Brue)
July 2024
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 (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)
- Microsoft Ignite, Chicago, November 18 – 22 (Robert Kramer – virtual, Will Townsend)
December 2024
- AWS re:invent, Las Vegas, December 2-6 (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.