Mercedes-Benz USA launched an interactive experience powered by Augmented Reality and voice technology at the U.S. Open. Technology is transforming the automotive industry in exciting ways, and AR is one of the most exciting. This is a smart way to showcase what’s possible (and of course, tap a base of prospective customers).
GlobalFoundries Lawsuits Could Impact Apple, Cisco, NVIDIA, Qualcomm and others
GlobalFoundries’ lawsuits alleging patent infringement could impact Apple, Cisco, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, and other major technology brands in a big way. GlobalFoundries asserts that the company has invested heavily in both American and European semiconductor industries and that these lawsuits are aimed at protecting those investments and to “safeguard the American manufacturing base.” A not-surprising tactic in today’s nationalistic political climate. One thing is for certain, GlobalFoundries has certainly managed to garner the immediate attention of legal teams at major tech companies around the world. Now, we, and a whole lot of technology giants, wait to see what happens next.
H2O.ai Secures Series D Funding from NVIDIA, Wells Fargo and Others to Fuel Sales and Marketing Efforts
H2O.ai secures Series D funding led by Goldman Sachs and which includes repeat investments by NVIDIA and Wells Fargo. This highlights the hotbed of interest in all things AI, as well as the value delivered by automatic machine learning.
IoT Cybersecurity Improvement Act Calls for Deployment Standards
The IoT Cybersecurity Improvement Act calls for deployment standards for IoT-connected devices. That’s not only a very smart move for the Federal government, it could have far-reaching implications for the private sector, and for consumers, as well. And that? That’s a very good thing.
Broadcom Growth by Acquisition Strategy Continues with $10.7B Symantec Acquisition
Broadcom’s $10.7B acquisition of Symantec’s enterprise security business moves forward, as Avago’s ‘growth by acquisition’ strategy continues to play out. Semiconductors is one business, enterprise security software, an entirely different one. It will be interesting to watch how Avago’s Hock Tan and his penchant for streamlining operations impacts the company post-acquisition.
JPMorgan’s 5-year Agreement with AI-Powered Startup Persado is Only the Beginning of Advertising Agency and Financial Services Transformation
Want to watch AI transform advertising and financial services? Look no further than the JPMorgan Chase 5-year deal with AI startup Persado. The financial giant’s impressive foray into artificial intelligence follows a multi-year pilot using AI to help develop the most effective ads. How effective? Try a 450% click through rate. The fact that Persado’s machine learning tool wrote better ad copy than its own copywriters shows that the advertising industry is undergoing its own transformation—whether it likes it or not.
Microsoft Teams Evolves — Collaboration Tech Moving Digital Transformation Beyond the Desk
The latest upgrades to Microsoft Teams’ collaboration platform is moving collaboration beyond the desk, and they are not alone on that front. Cisco is innovating in exciting ways, with myriad integrations and cognitive collaboration. Slack is fine-tuning and working to woo the enterprise customer. Dropbox is getting in the game—and those are just a handful of the many players in the $30 billion dollar market for workplace collaboration services.
Capital One Breach — A Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
The Capital One breach is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day for the brand, and just another day of exposure and personal risk for consumers. There’s a reason that every major tech brand is focused on cybersecurity: Dell, IBM, Cisco, SAP, and others understand fully that business can’t be business as usual if customers are vulnerable to hacks. Now we just need to move cybersecurity up the food chain so that it’s a top concern from senior management and the boardroom on down—and fund it.
New Microsoft Azure Data Share Service Helps Companies Share (and Maybe Sell) Data
The newly announced Microsoft Azure Data Share service allows customers to share, manage, control, and maybe monetize, their business data, within the enterprise as well as with partners and third parties. While the sharing part is cool, it’s the monetizing part that’s most interesting to me.
IBM Red Hat Acquisition Nets First Payoff With AT&T Contract
The IBM Red Hat acquisition nets its first big payoff with AT&T strategic alliance, multi-year, multi-billion dollar contract. IBM’s move, acquiring Red Hat in order to be the hybrid multi-cloud platform out there, was smart. Hybrid multi-cloud is not only the reality of the enterprise today, it’s the reality of all businesses. The ability to modernize apps, move them to the cloud, partner seamlessly with others, and manage everything in a hybrid cloud environment isn’t rocket science, it’s table stakes. I’m looking forward to seeing what’s on the horizon for these two.