Moor Insights & Strategy Weekly Update Ending March 22, 2024

By Patrick Moorhead - March 25, 2024

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

Paul virtually attended IBM Focus on IBM Research and Cerebras Media & Analyst Day this month. Robert attended Salesforce TDX Analyst Conference in San Francisco. Will attended Connected Americas.

Last week, Anshel, Matt, and I attended NVIDIA GTC. Bill attended NXP in Detroit.

This week, Melody will be attending Enterprise Connect. Robert will be attending ElasticON. Melody (virtually), Robert, and I will be attending the Adobe Summit in Las Vegas.

Our MI&S team published 41 deliverables:

9 Forbes Insight columns
7 MI&S Research Notes
12 MI&S blogs
13 podcasts 
0 research papers

Last week, the press quoted us with 22 citations. They wanted to hear about AI, AMD & NVIDIA, Apple and Google, Broadcom, Cadence, Cerebras, Dell, Face recognition & drones, Micron, Microsoft, Nile, NVIDIA, and Oracle.

MIS Quick Insights:

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

Stable Video 3D (SV3D) is a new generative model from Stability AI that is a significant jump in 3D technology, with high-quality and consistent views from single images. The model has two variants: SV3D_u, which creates orbital videos from single images without specific camera directions, and SV3D_p, which supports specified camera paths for making 3D videos. SV3D improves upon previous models by providing detailed and consistent multi-views of objects and generating high-quality 3D meshes and Neural Radiance Fields from these views. It has advanced techniques for multi-view consistency, including a masked score distillation sampling loss for enhanced 3D quality and a disentangled illumination model to improve the realism of generated textures and shapes. It dramatically enhances realism and accuracy for 3D generation and novel view synthesis.

AR/VR/XR (Anshel Sag)

Carrier/Wireless (Will Townsend)

AT&T’s recent outage points to one of the vulnerabilities of a highly software-defined network infrastructure deployment. My educated guess was that it was related to a misconfiguration error. Still, as the company aggressively pursues its open radio access network plans with Ericsson, automation, and controls will be implemented to prevent similar outages.

CRM (Melody Brue)

Salesforce has launched the public beta of Einstein Copilot, an AI-powered conversational assistant designed to improve customer experiences. Spanning applications, employees, and departments, Einstein Copilot provides a unified conversational AI assistant with pre-built actions for various teams. Powered by the Einstein 1 Platform and leveraging trusted business data from the Data Cloud, Einstein Copilot answers questions, generates content and code, and automates actions. With natural language prompts, customer service and field service agents can streamline case resolution and improve customer satisfaction by surfacing pertinent answers, relevant offers, and data from diverse systems. Salesforce says McLaren and Turtle Bay utilize Einstein Copilot to increase productivity and offer more intelligent and personalized customer interactions.

Datacenter:

Networking– (Will Townsend)

Verizon Business recently announced its plans to offer Wi-Fi 7 internet gateways to its customer base. It’s an odd move, given device support will lag into the foreseeable future. The company would be wise to focus on other, more near-term opportunities, such as T-Mobile’s SIM-based SASE service in partnership with Versa Networks, including a network slice to deliver more deterministic policy support.

Compute/Storage/Cloud (Matt Kimball)

(Si): The GTC 2024 keynote felt almost more like a Taylor Swift concert than a talk from arguably the most high-profile tech CEO. Overall, The show demonstrated how much AI has influenced the tech market and, more importantly, today’s business and IT leaders. While most will point to Jensen Huang holding up a Blackwell chip as the show’s defining moment (and perhaps it was), I noticed something a little different.
- To me, the big news out of GTC was the emphasis Jensen (and others) put on the software and tools that enable the AI experience. Here’s the deal. With so much hype placed on GPUs over the last few months, many of us have lost sight of the fact that customers require an ecosystem that activates AI in the enterprise, from tools to verticalized solutions to manageable LLMs and software. This was a big emphasis for NVIDIA and its partners during the show’s four days.
- Further, inference was a big part of every conversation I was in. In other words, how AI delivers value. This part of the AI journey is pretty wide open to competition. In addition to NVIDIA (check out the projections for Blackwell and inference), companies like Qualcomm, Groq, Untether AI, and many others are vying for pole positions in a market that will dwarf training.
- Keep an eye out for my coverage over the next few days.
(Database): Another week, another innovation from Oracle. The company recently announced the availability of its Globally Distributed Autonomous Database. This is a rather exciting release from the company as it combines the goodness of autonomous operations with the scale that comes along with its distributed architecture. What does this mean? Think about it in terms of a multinational company that must adhere to localized data sovereignty, survivability, and privacy regulations. While distributed architectures can create database shards that exist locally – the management and scale of such solutions are too much to contend with. Those who went down the path of NoSQL to accomplish some of this functionality are quickly learning the limits of NoSQL.
- Oracle addressed the scalability and performance limitations of sharding long ago. With the autonomous capabilities added, customers can further drive efficiencies by essentially “setting and forgetting” policies and functions that the autonomous database will manage automatically. Further, the company built a lot of functionality around Select AI – a tool enabling business users to query the database through a common language. As somebody who speaks SQL*Plus and PL/SQL fluently, this bothers my nerd sensibilities. However, it is of considerable value to enterprise organizations.
(Storage): Big announcements from VAST Data leading into GTC caught my attention. The company has leaned heavily into its data platform strategy by partnering with NVIDIA to enable loading VAST’s storage and data management onto BlueField 3 DPUs. This partnership is a no-brainer for cloud providers looking to drive higher performance and ensure SLA adherence in a zero-trust environment. By running VASTs software in a stateless container on these DPUs, resource contention and networking complexity go away – as does the legacy infrastructure that was required to support these functions.
- In a related announcement, VAST and Supermicro are partnering to deliver this solution to market. It is a natural fit as Supermicro has established itself as the AI infra company for the cloud provider community.
(Cloud): One final thought for this GTC-themed weekly. It almost felt like GTC was a cloud-focused show. Walking the show floor, it almost felt like this was a cloud conference, given the presence of Vultr, CoreWeave, Lambda Labs, Genesis, etc. If there are any questions about the cloud’s role in the AI journey, GTC 24 should have washed them away.
- Look for a research note in the next week or so that covers this
(Cloud)With the move toward first-player silicon design, will the silicon market slip away from the traditional merchant silicon providers over time? AWS’s Graviton and Azure’s Cobalt are Arm-based CPUs designed in-house and being deployed at scale. These single-socket platforms have impacted both Intel and AMD. While many speculated these CPUs as being targeted at lightweight workloads and applications, the performance of these CPUs dictates differently.
- Recently, AWS announced that its 4th Generation Graviton would be deployed in a dual-socket configuration. This will further impact the deployment of Intel and AMD-based platforms. And Azure is sure to follow.
- What is the long-term impact of this dynamic on these silicon players? What about the impact on Arm merchant silicon players such as Ampere? Sierra Forest, Bergamo – these platforms (or “to be” platforms) demonstrate the seriousness with which these players take the in-house design threat.
- This movement of first-player silicon design will continue to accelerate until a commercial vendor can demonstrate a cost-benefit advantage to these CSPs. Further, the x86 silicon merchants continue to lean into AI-driven performance requirements and use this as differentiation. Finally, I believe these players will further drive accelerators to drive revenue and margin gains.
(Compute Platforms)Is the server commoditized? I feel I’ve written this post many times. However, this may be the most relevant time to ask. ProLiant, PowerEdge, ThinkSystem, and UCS used to be the crown jewels of the major players. While the same level of engineering still goes behind every new generation of platforms – we don’t see the focus of these vendors on the server. Instead, the focus has shifted toward consumption models and workload enablement. Perhaps this is why we see Supermicro as the financial investor darling of the server market.
- Supermicro has always been a formidable player. While the company has not garnered headlines, it has quietly powered the largest server installations with its OEM quality and ODM agility. And as AI has dominated the landscape, the company has capitalized on its first-mover capability.
- In short, the server market has become somewhat commoditized. Thanks to the cloud. And thanks to the major OEMs themselves. And Supermicro is reaping the benefits.

Data Security (Robert Kramer)

ESG (Melody Brue)

In May 2023, Microsoft introduced Microsoft Fabric, an end-to-end analytics SaaS platform designed to consolidate an organization’s enterprise data, including ESG data – some previously inaccessible. This platform facilitates connectivity to data from various sources and employs AI-powered analytics tools to derive insights for more informed decision-making. In preview, Microsoft Fabric’s sustainability data solutions allow organizations to expedite their access to insights and advance their sustainability efforts through standardized ESG data models, connectors, and reporting features. With Copilot and intelligent insights integrated into Microsoft Sustainability Manager, organizations can leverage GAI and natural language queries to analyze environmental data, draft preparatory reports, and gain deeper insights into emissions data. This can aid in identifying reduction opportunities and inform decision-making based on historical trends and anomalies. This approach underscores the importance of accessible sustainability data in driving organizational progress and enhancing decision-making capabilities. In addition, the availability and transparency of sustainability data are paramount for building trust among stakeholders, as it enables organizations to demonstrate their commitment to accountability, environmental responsibility, and ethical business practices. Through auditable sustainability accounting, companies can remove the concerns around greenwashing and more confidently communicate ESG efforts.
IBM Technology Lifecycle Services (TLS) is expanding its IT sustainability portfolio to assist clients in tackling their IT carbon footprint while emphasizing efficiency and performance across the lifecycle of their data center infrastructure. It is launching a suite of capabilities aimed at helping clients achieve sustainability objectives. This includes identifying and understanding sustainability possibilities through the IBM IT Sustainability Optimization Assessment, with the option to implement actions using IBM’s project and labor services. Additionally, clients can evaluate end-of-life or underutilized IT equipment and reintroduce it into the circular economy with IBM Asset Recovery and Disposition. To ensure the secure handling of end-of-life data, IBM offers Data Erasure Services. TLS is utilizing certified Blancco Software Technology for data erasure. All TLS solutions can be used individually, with other TLS services and solutions, or as part of TLS’ end-to-end offering.
IBM is launching a new round of its Sustainability Accelerator in collaboration with EY. The initiative includes a 50% increase in investment, totaling up to $45 million in cash and in-kind donations over the next five years to enhance city resiliency through technology-driven projects. The program aims to address urbanization challenges and climate impacts on cities by leveraging IBM technology, including Watson AI. Government and non-profit entities can submit projects focusing on city resiliency and climate adaptation. IBM and EY will provide support during the RFP process, including organizational development coaching and capacity-building workshops. The window for the RFP is from March 6 to April 30, 2024.
SAP released its 2023 Integrated Report and announced significant momentum in its sustainability journey. The company has achieved carbon neutrality in its operations and reports net zero goals in sight. SAP targets Reaching net zero across its value chain by 2030, which is 20 years earlier than initially planned. ESG data management. SAP aims to significantly contribute to sustainability by assisting its customers in expediting their sustainability initiatives. In 2023, approximately 1,000 new customers opted for SAP’s sustainability solutions, such as ESG data management in SAP Sustainability Control Tower and carbon footprint management in SAP Sustainability Footprint Management.

Enterprise Data (Robert Kramer)

Cisco finalized its acquisition of Splunk, a step that combined the technologies of both companies. This merger leverages data enhancing organizations’ digital resilience and security.
In a previous article, I supported the merger, highlighting its shift from detecting threats to predicting and preventing them. Splunk specializes in data-centric platforms for monitoring and observability, complementing Cisco’s vast array of products and services in networking, security, collaboration, data centers, and IoT.
Splunk’s security analytics provide real-time insights and manage security threats and IT performance, enhancing Cisco’s security offerings. Splunk can offer organizations a comprehensive view of its data, incorporating information from Cisco’s network devices and additional security tools. Cisco and Splunk together can proactively identify security threats, monitor network performance, and address whatever challenges arise. Cisco acquired Splunk for $157 per share in cash – est. equity value of $28 billion.
Data Quality – Investing in data quality takes considerable effort, but the long-term benefits are substantial. We’ve all likely had challenging experiences with data and understand that having the correct data enhances the features and capabilities of our enterprise applications. Implementing data management strategies requires thoroughly understanding all data structures within our technology environments. It involves standardizing your data files to achieve a ‘gold standard,’ creating a system of record, a source of truth where data is consistently reliable.
In this article, I detail the importance of data quality, then summarize key points from my recent discussion with John Case, CEO of the enterprise software company Acumatica, especially his viewpoints on the importance of data quality to the success of his customers. Discover the importance of data quality for your business in my Forbes
Cloudera has achieved the “In Process” designation in the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP), paving the way for federal and state agencies to leverage Cloudera’s services for secure public sector data management. This FedRAMP authorization enables these agencies to transform isolated data into strategic resources, utilizing Cloudera’s hybrid data infrastructure. FedRAMP authorization allows Cloudera to deliver AI built on its hybrid data infrastructure for secure decisions – regardless of where the data resides (on-premises or in the cloud). https://www.cloudera.com/about/news-and-blogs/press-releases/2024-03-13-cloudera-achieves-fedramp-in-process-milestone-to-deliver-a-true-hybrid-data-platform-that-securely-accelerates-ai-across-the-us-government.html
Microsoft and Oracle are expanding their partnership to address the global demand for Oracle Database on Microsoft Azure. This initiative allows customers to leverage Oracle database services hosted on OCI hardware in Azure data centers, enabling local access to these services in their region.
Customers can expect some great benefits:
- Accelerate migrating Oracle databases to the cloud
- High level of Oracle database performance, scale, and availability
- Advanced security in Azure data center operating environment
- Build cloud-native applications using OCI and Azure technologies
- Unified service and architecture tested and supported by two of the most trusted names in the cloud
Salesforce
- Announced GA of Pro Suite, geared toward small businesses, combines sales, marketing, service, and commerce capabilities powered by the Einstein 1 Platform with AI and Data Cloud features. Features include marketing capabilities with campaign templates, forecasting, pricing and quoting, case management, automated tasks, and customized CRM requirements.

ERP/SCM (Robert Kramer)

Oracle Adds New Generative AI Capabilities to Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications Suite
- Oracle is integrating AI and ML into Oracle Fusion Data Intelligence, enhancing its cloud applications ERP, SCM, HCM, and CX with advanced analytics and predictive capabilities.
- This means Oracle Cloud ERP users can anticipate payment receipts and evaluate the risk of late payments to vendors. Oracle Cloud SCM users will have tools to forecast deliveries, optimize inventory, and reduce supplier risks. In Oracle Cloud HCM, the system can predict staffing needs and pinpoint skill gaps. Additionally, Oracle Customer Experience users will obtain insights for improved sales forecasts.
SAP and NVIDIA partner to incorporate GAI into SAP’s cloud solutions, specifically SAP Datasphere, SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP), and RISE with SAP.
- This integrates NVIDIA’s GAI foundry service, featuring NVIDIA DGX Cloud AI supercomputing, into SAP’s cloud offerings. I think this will enhance SAP’s data intelligence in its applications for customers, expand SAP Joule, featuring RAG, and improve SAP S4HANA, its Cloud ERP solution, and more. SAP will introduce these advanced capabilities by the end of 2024.
Having the correct data is key to being sustainable. Sustainability data tracks resource use and environmental impacts – such as energy, water, materials, waste, and costs. It helps organizations monitor progress toward sustainability goals and improve resource use.
- SAP brings data from SAP S/4HANA utilizing sustainability data for its Sustainability Footprint Management application to reduce carbon emissions.
- Matsumoto Precision Inc. of Japan has implemented SAP Sustainability Footprint Management to identify CO2 emissions per product based on the individual manufacturing performance information in SAP S/4HANA. https://news.sap.com/sea/2024/03/matsumoto-precision-adopts-sap-sustainability-footprint-management-to-provide-product-level-emissions-tracking/
- For more information on sustainability data, please review my latest Forbes article with my colleague Melody Brue.
  https://www.forbes.com/sites/moorinsights/2024/03/12/enterprise-data-technology-part-4—sustainability-data/?sh=67698705150b
Oracle Announces 3Q2024 Financial Results
- A positive quarter from Oracle Cloud with overall growth in Cloud Revenue (IaaS + SaaS), Cloud Infrastructure (IaaS), Cloud Application (SaaS), Fusion Cloud ERP (SaaS), and NetSuite Cloud ERP (SaaS).
  - 4Q2024 for Oracle is expected to continue with success.
  - Take a look at the numbers and customer wins.
    Q3 GAAP EPS $0.85, Non-GAAP EPS up 16% to $1.41
    • Q3 Total Rev $13.3 billion, up 7% in both USD and constant currency
    • Q3 Total Remaining Performance Obligations up 29% to $80 billion
    • Q3 Cloud Rev (IaaS plus SaaS) $5.1 billion, up 25% in USD, up 24% in constant currency
    • Q3 Cloud Infra (IaaS) Rev $1.8 billion, up 49% in both USD and constant currency
    • Q3 Cloud App (SaaS) Rev $3.3 billion, up 14% in both USD and constant currency
    • Q3 Fusion Cloud ERP (SaaS) Rev $0.8 billion, up 18% in both USD and constant currency
    • Q3 NetSuite Cloud ERP (SaaS) Revenue $0.8 billion, up 21% in USD, up 20% in constant currency
- Oracle Highlights from an ERP and Data Perspective:
  - McDonald’s transitions its global finance to Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP, which consolidates legacy and regional systems to reduce costs.
  - Marriott International selects Oracle Hospitality OPERA Cloud Property Management software to manage its properties.
  - Caesars Entertainment, Inc. implements Oracle Fusion Cloud Payroll.
  - enercity, providing sustainability and energy solutions in Germany, selects Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP, EPM, and SCM to standardize and control data quality within its core functions.
  - AG2R LA MONDIALE, an insurance company with 15m customers, rolls out Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP and Data Intelligence, EPM, and Procurement. This fully integrated technology gives AG2R a strong data management strategy focused on data quality with its fully integrated system.

Financial Tech (Melody Brue)

SAP has introduced an easy-to-use payment system for retailers that allows them to connect with various payment service providers quickly. Merchants using SAP Commerce Cloud can select from multiple payment partners like Stripe, Adyen, WorldPay, and Airwallex, which are tailored to their needs and global markets. This flexible framework lets retailers build their payment systems at their own pace without being tied to one payment service provider. It’s designed to work with different channels and allows for easy integration of new solutions like buy now pay later. The framework covers common payment processes like authorization and refunds. It is in beta with a plan for full availability in the second half of 2024.
Klarna, the Swedish buy-now, pay-later company, has released data on the success of its OpenAI-powered virtual assistant. The company revealed that the AI chatbot handles two-thirds of all customer service chats, totaling 2.3 million conversations globally – equivalent to the work of 700 full-time agents, the company reported. The virtual assistant has achieved customer satisfaction ratings comparable to human agents. Klarna estimates the chatbot could contribute to a $40 million profit improvement in 2024. Klarna is an excellent example of how digitally native fintechs and neobanks will likely have a faster adoption and higher AI CX bots satisfaction rates than traditional banks because most of its customers have likely only interacted with the company online or through an app.

HCM (Melody Brue)

Dayforce is doubling down on “boomerang talent” (employees who left a company and returned) with its new Dayforce Alumni Management capability. Dayforce Alumni Management within Dayforce HR is aimed at helping organizations maintain connections with former employees who could return to the company or refer new candidates. This feature enables HR users to create customized Dayforce People Experience pages tailored explicitly for their alumni, offering relevant and engaging content and insights. By leveraging the existing relationship with former employees, organizations can benefit from shorter onboarding times than new hires, as alumni are already familiar with the company. Through Alumni Management, companies can re-engage alumni by providing them with interesting content and updates on open roles via text and email, ultimately strengthening their talent pool and maintaining interest in the employer brand. Dayforce data shows that boomerang employees produce turnover rates consistently lower than industry averages for all employees.
Oracle has expanded its Fusion Cloud Applications Suite with new GAI capabilities encompassing over 50 embedded use cases. In Oracle Fusion Cloud Customer Experience, capabilities encompass service webchat summaries, assisted sales content writing, and recommendations for marketing collateral. Within Oracle Fusion Cloud Human Capital Management, features include job category landing pages, job match explanations, candidate assistant, and manager survey generation. The job candidate capabilities are notable as many companies seek to make the recruitment process more manageable for applicants and HR. It is wise that companies recognize the need to treat potential employees as assets and see the candidate’s experience’s power and the employer brand’s importance. Features within Oracle Recruiting utilize GAI to enhance the candidate experience by providing job match explanations, summarizing how well candidates fit a job based on their background and career goals, and offering a candidate assistant to provide instant answers to common questions about the company, benefits, and job-specific requirements. This streamlines the application process, saves time for candidates, enhances their experience, and improves efficiency for recruiters, ultimately attracting top talent and facilitating smoother recruitment processes.
Oracle also announced that the Oracle Guided Journeys extensibility framework will enable HCM and SCM customers and partners to integrate their GAI capabilities for more customization within the Oracle Fusion Applications ecosystem. This allows organizations to select a preferred LLM provider to cater to specific industry and competitive requirements, enabling them to adapt to evolving market conditions and innovate faster.
LinkedIn is introducing new learning and hiring tools to enhance internal mobility within organizations. On LinkedIn Jobs, employees can receive alerts about new internal roles, express interest, and have this information visible to hiring teams through LinkedIn Recruiter. On LinkedIn Learning, employees can discover internal roles, learn about required skills, and access relevant courses. The Next Role Explorer offers a career path visualization tool, suggesting potential next roles based on current titles and career goals. The tool provides customized role guides outlining specific skills needed, and employees receive personalized learning plans to track progress and develop hard and soft skills. LinkedIn aims to support organizations in aligning skill development with company needs and promoting internal mobility.
Internal mobility will always lead to quicker hiring times and better retention rates. It’s also far less costly. With AI, jobs are changing faster than people change jobs, and upskilling to provide employees with personal paths is becoming an important part of HCM platforms. For example, Dayforce integrates a learning management system to simplify access to learning channels and personalized paths. The centralized data system can track progress, align learning efforts with organizational goals, and adapt to workforce changes.

IIoT and IoT (Bill Curtis)

Every smart device in your home is a security risk, and the attack surface grows with each new connected product purchase. Governments worldwide are establishing standards that ensure products follow best practices for device security. In the US, the FCC recently introduced the Cyber Trust Mark program. Examples of similar programs include the UK’s PSTI Act, the EU’s Cyber Resilience Act, and Singapore’s Cybersecurity Labelling Scheme. These programs set a minimum bar for product security and increase consumer confidence but create multiple costly certification barriers for product developers. This week, the Connectivity Standards Alliance, home of the Matter consumer interoperability standard, launched a unified baseline standard and certification mark. The standard is the “union” of the security features found in the US, EU, and Singapore programs. Individual government programs recognize compliance with the unified standard, simplifying or eliminating the need for further certification. Singapore and the CSA have already agreed on a mutual recognition agreement, and I expect other agreements to follow shortly.
Synopsys acquired Intrinsic ID, a leading Physical Unclonable Function (PUF) IP provider. Intrinsic’s technology uses static RAM’s inherent and distinctive initial power-up state to derive a unique device identifier for each chip. Intrinsic also uses PUF responses to generate device-unique cryptographic root keys on demand without ever storing the keys. All embedded SoCs need unique identities and root keys, so Intrinsic’s PUF-based technology fits nicely into the Synopsis IP and software portfolios. I expect this deal to accelerate the embedded device industry’s take-up of PUF technology. Synopsys did not disclose the terms of the deal.
Arm announced four portfolio enhancements aimed at automotive applications.
- (1) If you need proof that cars are becoming mobile data centers, here it is. Arm brings Neoverse to automotive applications for the first time with the V3AE, offering a 50% per core performance uplift over the A78AE. The processor is optimized for AI-accelerated ADAS and autonomous workloads. Arm also introduced new Armv9 automotive processors for more conventional applications.
- (2) Elevating MCU performance further into the MPU space, the Cortex-R82AE is Arm’s highest-performance real-time core. It’s a 64-bit real-time processor with NEON, floating point, and up to 8 cores per cluster with hardware-enabled data coherency. Not bad for a microcontroller. Pair it with a Mali-C720AE for dual pipeline human and computer vision applications.
- (3) Arm introduced Automotive Compute Subsystems (Auto CSS) to accelerate SoC design. Auto CSSes combine Arm-engineered components such as CPUs, security components, debug, I/O, and power control into pre-configured RTL so silicon partners can rapidly add differentiated IP for automotive applications.
- (4) For the first time, Arm is simultaneously releasing silicon portfolio enhancements and virtual prototyping support. The company claims that developing software and hardware in parallel, without waiting for silicon, accelerates software development by up to two years.
Although specifically designed for automotive applications, these technologies have applications in robotics and other performance-hungry products.
On March 14, 2024, the FCC approved the voluntary “U.S. Cyber Trust Mark” program for labeling “smart products.” Qualifying wireless products that meet the new standards may carry the program’s label and a QR code that provides more details, such as the product’s support period and patch update policy. The FCC released the specifications last year, so manufacturers have had time to analyze the requirements. Although every company I’ve spoken with supports the need for consumer-visible security assurances, many raise concerns about the cost of compliance with this and other similar programs – the EU’s Cyber Resilience Act, for instance. Compliance testing costs could quickly get out of hand for companies addressing global markets. The FCC also requested public comment on additional potential disclosure requirements, such as whether countries that pose national security threats provide software, firmware, or data services for the product. This week’s Roku and Fidelity Insurance hacks remind us that opaque layers of outsourced cloud services operate behind the scenes to power most of the applications we use every day, including our connected devices. These services are significant potential threats but are probably beyond the FCC’s purview.

Modern Work (Melody Brue)

Zoom announced Zoom Compliance Manager, powered by Theta Lake, offers integrated compliance and information protection features to assist organizations in meeting regulatory requirements and mitigating communications compliance risks across the Zoom platform. This solution addresses the critical need for robust compliance tools, particularly in regulated industries, by providing archiving, eDiscovery, legal hold, risk detection, and data loss prevention capabilities. Zoom Compliance Manager should help organizations avoid financial penalties, legal liabilities, and reputational damage by ensuring regulatory compliance and safeguarding communication integrity. Theta Lake ensures regulatory compliance and mitigates potential risks associated with communication data, helping organizations avoid costly fines and legal consequences. In a world where emojis can be considered investment advice with legal consequences, companies would be wise to protect their communication channels.
- Zoom was an investor in Theta Lake’s 2022 $50M Series B, led by Battery Ventures, with follow-on investments from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Neotribe Ventures, and Cisco Investments. RingCentral Ventures and Salesforce Ventures are also among Theta Lake’s notable strategic investors, validating the technology’s need to avoid costly regulatory missteps and potentially devastating data breaches in modern communications.
Verint introduced the Verint TimeFlex Bot, utilizing AI to transform agent scheduling in contact centers. This bot, part of Verint’s suite of AI-powered tools, integrates with workforce management forecasts to streamline scheduling processes. The bot can be integrated into existing systems. It offers agents flexibility through features like shift swaps and split shifts aimed at enhancing work-life balance. Agents earn and use ‘FlexCoins’ to make schedule changes – “gamifying” scheduling to benefit both employees and the company. Early adopters reported significant improvements in employee experience and reduced manual effort in scheduling, demonstrating potential for enhanced engagement and cost savings.
Adobe reported a strong Q1 2024 with revenue of $5.18 billion, up 12% YoY. The company attributed its success to the essential role its products play in the digital economy and its focus on delivering generative AI solutions across all its clouds: Creative Cloud, Document Cloud, and Experience Cloud. Its performance was driven by the growing importance of digital tools for creators, communicators, and businesses. GAI is a key growth area for Adobe, with solid customer adoption. Over 6.5 billion assets have been generated using its AI models to date.
- Document Cloud revenue grew 18% year-over-year to $750 million. The launch of Acrobat AI Assistant is a major innovation still in English language bata and should drive significant growth in full rollout in multiple languages. The AI Assistant is integrated into Reader and Acrobat workflows using a proprietary attribution engine. It generates summaries and insights from lengthy documents and responds to inquiries conversationally. If the goal is to extract more value from PDFs, then Adobe’s AI assistant seems to be an obvious choice.
- Early adopters of Firefly generative AI models are also seeing significant benefits. IBM used Firefly to generate marketing materials in a fraction of the time and achieve a 26x higher engagement rate.
- Adobe Summit is later this month, and the company says it plans to showcase a new Generative Experience Model, advancements in Adobe GenStudio, an updated AI Assistant within Adobe Experience Platform, and expanded Firefly Services offerings. I look forward to seeing Adobe’s vision and playbook for brands looking to achieve new levels of customer experience and personalization at scale.
AMC Theatres and Zoom announced the availability of Zoom Rooms at AMC in eight major markets across the U.S. This AMC Zoom collaboration allows companies with dispersed workforces and customer bases to hold hybrid events and meetings using Zoom’s collaboration platform in a state-of-the-art theatre setting. The theater Zoom Rooms can also be used for corporate announcements and product releases. AMC said the initiative is meant to enhance its theatre rentals business, merging the company’s amenities with Zoom’s platform for dynamic collaboration. The Zoom Rooms are initially available in select AMC locations in Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York City, San Jose, and Seattle/Tacoma. At Zoomtopia in October, the company showed a preview (no pun intended) of the experience from a theater, which is a pretty engaging experience. I’d be pretty happy if you gave me Junior Mints and Popcorn at a company all-hands meeting or sales kick-off.
Microsoft introduced the public preview release of Copilot for Finance, an extension of Microsoft Copilot designed for finance professionals. This tool aims to elevate the strategic role of finance teams by simplifying decision-making, reducing manual tasks, and streamlining data searches. Copilot for Finance focuses on enhancing productivity and transforming workflows in finance with capabilities such as surfacing insights for decision-making, handling use cases like variance analysis and reconciliation, and connecting to existing data sources through Excel and Outlook.
Microsoft also announced some data showcasing the successful deployment of Copilot for Sales and Copilot for Service, with both now generally available since February 1, 2024. A study of Microsoft sellers who use Copilot for Sales weekly showed a 90-minute time savings each week, and 67% said it gave them more time to spend with customers. Microsoft quantified agent productivity in its Customer Service and Support (CSS) team for Copilot for Service. Microsoft found a 12% reduction in time spent resolving a case in its contact centers. This is unsurprising as we have witnessed the contact center as one of the most impactful GAI use cases.
According to a survey by the Workforce Lab from Slack, AI tool usage in the workplace has surged by 24% in the last quarter. One in four desk workers has tried AI tools for work as of January 2024, compared to one in five in September 2023. Approximately 80% of AI users believe the technology is enhancing their productivity. Still, perceptions among desk workers vary, with 42% expressing excitement, 31% neutral, and 27% concerned about AI handling tasks from their current job. The study also reveals that executives feel pressure to integrate AI tools, with half expressing high urgency. Companies with AI usage guidelines are six times more likely to have desk workers experimenting with AI tools. Desk workers report spending 41% of their time on low-value tasks, highlighting an opportunity for AI and automation to redirect focus to more meaningful activities. The top AI value-add tasks include writing assistance, workflow automation, and content summarization.
Box announced a new integration with Microsoft Azure OpenAI to bring its advanced large language models to Box AI, which is now GA for Enterprise customers. With the expanded collaboration integrating with Azure OpenAI Service, Box is applying the most advanced intelligence models to its Content Cloud to further advance enterprise-grade AI. Microsoft and Box help customers meet strict compliance requirements like FINRA, GxP, and FedRAMP. This integration will empower organizations across highly regulated industries to leverage AI for new use cases in financial services, healthcare, legal, and more.
Box also announced its Q4 2023 earnings and its first-ever $1 billion fiscal year. Box plays a critical role in a time of pivotal technological advancements, including digitizing and automating businesses, leveraging AI for innovation, and ensuring the protection of critical data. The company is well-positioned to support enterprises in navigating and addressing these transformative trends.
8×8 introduced Proactive Outreach features for its Contact Center. This allows organizations to leverage 8×8’s programmable SMS and WhatsApp capabilities to deliver highly personalized, outbound messaging campaigns at scale. Key features include Notify for personalized outbound messaging, Interact for two-way messaging with automation, and Alert for instant mass outbound notifications. Proactive notifications like alerts are crucial for urgent critical information such as power outages or emergency scenarios. Reaching out to customers with knowledge of a widespread problem can drastically reduce inbound calls and free up agents to deal with unique issues.
Grammarly introduced App Actions for Grammarly Business users, and it’s a game changer for specific use cases. For instance, creating an issue in Jira without leaving Gmail or Slack. The setup requires a first-time login, which is to be expected. Grammarly cited a study published in the Harvard Business Review in 2022 that stated professionals lose up to five weeks, equivalent to 9% of their annual work time readjusting and reorienting themselves after switching between different applications. I tried a few of the App Actions and saved clicks and minutes by not toggling between apps. When copilots now help write and check grammar, this is a good move, and so far, it is a differentiating technology for Grammarly.

Personal Computing (Anshel Sag)

Quantum Computing (Paul Smith-Goodson)

IonQ and South Carolina Quantum (SC Quantum) have partnered strategically to provide quantum computing capabilities and services to SC Quantum partners and academic institutions to develop quantum-related academic coursework. The partnership will also work to introduce quantum within enterprises, startups, and industries across the state. In 2023, South Carolina earmarked millions for SC Quantum to develop a quantum-focused workforce and build quantum-smart technologies.
IonQ has made other regional and international developments. This year, it opened the first dedicated quantum manufacturing facility in the U.S. in Seattle, Washington. In 2023, IonQ and the University of Maryland announced the grand opening of the National Quantum Laboratory (QLab). IonQ also has an international partnership with QuantumBasel in Switzerland to establish a European quantum data center. It also has a Memorandum of Understandings with South Korean universities and institutions – South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT (Information and Communications Technology), Sungkyunkwan University, and Seoul National University’s Center for Quantum Information Science Education.
Optical tweezer technology allows for precise control of individual particles for quantum computers and has significantly advanced atomic and molecular physics. In a breakthrough, Caltech researchers successfully trapped over 6,100 neutral atoms across about 12,000 sites, achieving a coherence time of 12.6 seconds—a record for hyperfine qubits in optical tweezer arrays—and nearly 23-minute trapping lifetimes at room temperature. This resulted in an unprecedented imaging survival rate of 99.98952% and imaging fidelity of over 99.99%. These achievements suggest that universal quantum computing with ten thousand atomic qubits could soon be possible, opening new avenues for quantum simulation and metrology at a large scale.
- Good news for neutral atom quantum computing companies like Atom-Computing.

Security (Will Townsend)

I expect Microsoft to provide further details about its plans for generative AI-infused security solutions in the coming weeks. The company is well positioned to capitalize on the attention being paid to it, especially given its wide Office 365 install base and ability to use its productivity suite as a frictionless conduit to deliver next-generation AI capabilities quickly and easily.

Sustainability (Melody Brue)

Research Paper(s):

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:

AI / Patrick Moorhead / https://www.morningstar.com/news/marketwatch/20240309270/its-not-just-nvidia-these-companies-are-finally-making-real-money-from-ai
AMD & NVIDIA / AI Chips / Patrick Moorhead / https://www.investors.com/news/technology/ai-chips-amd-stock-vs-nvidia-stock/
Apple & Google / AI Pact / Patrick Moorhead / https://thelettertwo.com/2024/03/18/google-apple-gemini-ai-deal-antitrust/
Broadcom / PCIe / Patrick Moorhead / https://bnnbreaking.com/tech/broadcom-accelerates-ai-data-centers-with-industry-leading-pcie-gen-56-retimers-and-switches
Broadcom / PCIe / Patrick Moorhead / https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/broadcom-unveils-industryfirst-5nm-pcie-solutions-93CH-3327065
Broadcom / PCIe / Patrick Moorhead / https://finance.yahoo.com/news/broadcom-extends-ai-workload-scale-140000201.html
Cadence / Data Center / Patrick Moorhead / https://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/revolutionary-cadence-reality-digital-twin-platform-to-transform-data-center-design
Cerebras / AI Chip / Matt Kimball / https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/hardware/cerebras-introduces-world-s-fastest-ai-chip-and-new-ai-server
Dell / SXSW Chat / Patrick Moorhead / https://www.statesman.com/story/business/technology/2024/03/15/sxsw-2024-ausitn-texas-michael-dell-technologies-business-ai-artificial-intelligence-life-ut/72868559007/
Face Recognition & Drones / Anshel Sag / https://www.wired.com/story/san-francisco-banned-face-recognition-voters-ask-for-more-surveillance/
Micron / Memory Chips / Anshel Sag / https://hk.finance.yahoo.com/news/micron-starts-mass-production-memory-134418359.html
Microsoft / AI / Anshel Sag / https://www.silverliningsinfo.com/ai/microsofts-inflection-hires-heres-what-analysts-think
Nile / AI Networking Solution / Will Townsend / https://nilesecure.com/press-releases/nile-introduces-industrys-first-ai-networking-solution-with-performance-guarantees/
NVIDIA / AI / Patrick Moorhead / https://www.cnbc.com/video/2024/03/18/becoming-a-one-stop-shop-for-ai-would-be-big-win-for-nvidia-moor-insights-patrick-moorhead.html
NVIDIA / Blackwell GPU / Matt Kimball / https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/hardware/nvidia-launches-next-generation-blackwell-gpus-amid-ai-arms-race#close-modal
NVIDIA / NIM / Patrick Moorhead / https://favtutor.com/articles/nvidia-nim-llm-deployment/
NVIDIA / Stock / Patrick Moorhead / https://finance.yahoo.com/video/why-nvidias-price-action-hasnt-202749552.html
NVIDIA / Liquid Cooling / Patrick Moorhead / https://www.tweaktown.com/news/96744/nvidia-ceo-jensen-huang-says-next-gen-dgx-ai-system-will-be-liquid-cooled/index.html
NVIDIA / Liquid Cooling / Patrick Moorhead / https://wccftech.com/nvidia-ceo-confirms-next-gen-dgx-ai-system-liquid-cooling/
NVIDIA / AI / Patrick Moorhead / https://www.morningstar.com/news/marketwatch/20240306298/its-not-just-nvidia-these-companies-are-finally-making-real-money-from-ai
Oracle / Database / Matt Kimball / https://blogs.oracle.com/database/post/leading-industry-analysts-perspectives-on-globally-distributed-autonomous-database-general-availability
Oracle / MySQL Heatwave / Matt Kimball / https://blogs.oracle.com/mysql/post/analysts-react-to-mysql-heatwave-gen-ai-and-vector-store-innovations

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

Vivo X100 Pro

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

March 2024
- Enterprise Connect, Orlando, March 25 (Melody Brue)
- ElasticON Tour March 26, New York (Robert Kramer- TBD)
- Adobe Summit, March 26-28, Las Vegas (Melody Brue – hybrid, Robert Kramer, Patrick Moorhead)
April 2024
- Fortinet Accelerate, Las Vegas, April 1-5 (Will Townsend)
- Intel Vision, Phoenix, Apr 8-9 (Matt Kimball, Paul Smith-Goodson)
- Google Cloud Next, Las Vegas, April 9-11 (Matt Kimball, Melody Brue, Robert Kramer, Patrick Moorhead, Paul Smith-Goodson)
- Software AG IUG April 9-11 Dublin, Ireland (Robert Kramer – TBD)
- NTT Upgrade, San Francisco, April 10-11 (Will Townsend)
- Appian World, Wash DC, April 15-17 (Robert Kramer)
- Datacenter World, DC, Apr 15-18, (Matt Kimball)
- Avaya Analyst Conference, LaJolla, April 16-18 (Melody Brue)
- Extreme Networks Connect, Fort Worth, April 22-25 (Will Townsend – virtual)
- Oracle Analyst Database Summit, San Francisco, April 24 (Robert Kramer, Matt Kimball)
- Oracle Applications and Industries Analyst Summit, Redwood Shores, CA April 24-25 (Melody Brue)
May 2024
- MediaTek Analyst Day, Scottsdale, May 1-3 (Anshel Sag)
- RSA Conference, San Francisco, May 6-9 (Will Townsend)
- Red Hat Ansible Fest, Denver, May 7-9, (Matt Kimball)
- International Super Computing, Hamburg, May 12-16 (Matt Kimball)
- Blue Yonder, Dallas, May 13-15 (Robert Kramer)
- HF Convention, Dayton, May 17 – May 19 (Paul Smith-Goodson)
- Informatica World, Las Vegas, May 20-23 (Robert Kramer)
- IBM Think, Boston, May 20-23 (Patrick Moorhead, Paul Smith-Goodson, Robert Kramer)
- Dell Tech World, Las Vegas, May 20-23 (Patrick Moorhead, Matt Kimball, Will Townsend)
- Zoom Perspectives, NYC, May 20 -23 (Melody Brue)
- Nutanix .NEXT, May 21-24, Barcelona (Matt Kimball)
June 2024
- Cisco Live US, Las Vegas, June 2-6 (Will Townsend)
- SAP Sapphire, Orlando, June 3–5 (Melody Brue, Robert Kramer)
- Snowflake, San Francisco, June 3-5 (Robert Kramer)
- Zoho Analyst Day & Zoholoics, Austin, June 3-5 (Melody Brue)
- 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)
- 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)
September 2024
- Intel Innovation, Sep 23-26 (Matt Kimball)
October 2024
- LogicMonitor, Austin, Oct 2-4 (Robert Kramer)
- Zoomtopia, San Jose, October 8-9 (Melody Brue)
- Lenovo Global Analyst Summit & Tech World, 14-17 Oct, Bellevue, WA (Matt Kimball, Paul Smith-Goodson)
- WebexOne, Miami, October 21-24, (Melody Brue)
- SAP SuccessConnect, October 28-30 (Melody Brue – virtual)
November 2024
- Dell Tech Analyst Summit, early November, Austin, TX (Matt Kimball)
- IBM, NYC, Nov 6 – 8 (Paul Smith-Goodson)
December 2024

The Team

Analysts

Patrick Moorhead, Founder, CEO, Chief Analyst; Broad technology coverage plus deep insights into Cloud, Enterprise SaaS & Semiconductors.
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.