Welcome to CIOInfluence’s Weekly CIO Insights, for the week ending 14 June 2024. Catch the latest IT news, trends and updates, covering topics ranging from cloud computing, data management, and cybersecurity to emerging tech.
Dive into our handpicked selection of top-performing staff articles, industry interviews, and guest insights:
CIOInfluence’s Weekly CIO Insights for the week ending 14 June 2024:
Cloud Insights this Week:
Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced plans to establish a new infrastructure region in Taiwan by early 2025, investing billions over the next 15 years. The AWS Asia Pacific (Taipei) Region will enhance data storage and reduce latency for customers, reflecting AWS’s commitment to meeting high cloud service demand in Taiwan and across Asia Pacific. This move supports digital transformation, innovation, and sustainable development, benefiting sectors like healthcare, finance, and e-commerce. The new region will consist of three Availability Zones, adding to AWS’s global infrastructure network.
Oracle and Google Cloud have teamed up to enable customers to leverage both Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) and Google Cloud technologies for accelerated application migration and modernization. The collaboration features Google Cloud’s Cross-Cloud Interconnect, initially available in 11 global regions with no cross-cloud data transfer charges, and the upcoming Oracle Database@Google Cloud offering.
Data Management Updates:
Databricks has announced an expanded collaboration with NVIDIA to integrate NVIDIA CUDA accelerated computing into Databricks’ Data Intelligence Platform. This partnership aims to enhance the efficiency and performance of AI development pipelines by supporting data preparation and processing tasks essential for generative AI applications.
“We’re thrilled to continue growing our partnership with NVIDIA to deliver on the promise of data intelligence for our customers from analytics use cases to AI,” said Ali Ghodsi, Co-founder and CEO at Databricks. “Together with NVIDIA, we’re excited to help every organization build their own AI factories on their own private data.”
Databricks has introduced Databricks AI/BI, a new business intelligence product designed to democratize analytics across organizations. The AI/BI system features Dashboards, an AI-powered interface for creating interactive dashboards, and Genie, a conversational interface for real-time, natural language queries. This new product leverages a compound AI system that learns from an organization’s data to provide accurate answers without extensive setup.
Security Spotlights:
Userful has announced enhancements to its Trends data dashboards solution, powered by the Userful Infinity Platform, integrating seamlessly with datametrics and business intelligence platforms like Microsoft Power BI, Tableau, Epic, SAP, Siemens, and ServiceNow. These enhancements improve operational efficiency and decision-making in mission-critical environments.
Key features include:
- Seamless Integration and Secure Data Distribution: Aggregates data securely with role-based permissions and Microsoft Azure AD authentication.
- Centralized Management and Real-Time Insights: Offers centralized management and real-time visualization for dynamic data access.
- Operational Flexibility and Customization: Supports emergency notifications, control rooms, and customizable data visualization with drag-and-drop functionality.
- Check Point Software Simplifies Cloud Application Security with AI-Powered WAFaaS
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. has unveiled CloudGuard WAF-as-a-Service (WAFaaS), an automated, AI-powered web application firewall designed to protect web applications and APIs from cyber threats. This fully managed solution prioritizes prevention, simplicity, and scalability, offering a cost-effective way to secure cloud applications.
“Modern cloud operations need straightforward and effective protection for Web Services and APIs, which CloudGuard WAFaaS provides through essential, automated, and cloud-delivered security,” said Oded Gonda, VP Technology & Innovation at Check Point Software Technologies. “CloudGuard WAFaaS simplifies application security for our customers, providing top-notch threat prevention within a managed solution that can be deployed in under five minutes and effectively prevents zero-day threats.”
Must-catch Staff Articles
Discover the fascinating leadership journey of Michael Dell, the visionary founder and CEO of Dell Technologies. From humble beginnings in a college dorm to leading one of the world’s most influential tech companies, this article explores Dell’s strategic decisions, innovative mindset, and transformative leadership style.
Learn how Dell overcame early setbacks, navigated industry challenges, and consistently pushed the boundaries of technology and customer service. An interesting read for anyone interested in business innovation, strategic foresight, and the story of a tech titan who reshaped the digital landscape. Don’t miss out on this inspiring tale of resilience and success!
What is the future of customer service with chatbots? From Amazon to Tesla, top brands are leveraging chatbots for instant, 24/7 customer support. In this article, you’ll learn how these AI-driven tools enhance customer experiences, streamline industry operations, and boost your company’s efficiency and savings. Understand why chatbots are a game-changer in today’s digital landscape.
CIO Voice of the Week
Jeremy Morrill, Chief Product Officer of Portnox
Jeremy Morrill, Chief Product Officer at Portnox, is the CIO voice of the week. His views are relevant to IT and product management professionals. Having spent over 15 years in the industry, he shares his journey about the IT challenges and says the key is keeping pace with changing technology while keeping security at the forefront.
His strategic approach to zero-trust access control imparts practical knowledge that is essential in today’s cybersecurity landscape. His innovative practices and leadership principles provide actionable guidance for C-suite leaders and IT teams attempting to better their security posture. This is an absolute must-read for anyone who wants to understand how to conceptualize and implement cybersecurity within organizations effectively.
Read the complete Interview: CIO Influence Interview with Jeremy Morrill, Chief Product Officer of Portnox
CIO Influence’s Brand Shoutout of The Week
CrowdStrike has redefined security with its advanced cloud-native platform, safeguarding the people, processes, and technologies that drive modern enterprises. It secures the most critical areas of risk—endpoints, cloud workloads, identity, and data—ensuring customers remain ahead of today’s adversaries and preventing breaches.
- CEO – George Kurtz
- Recent Partnership – eSentire Partnership to Take Over Protection of Global Carbon Black Customer Accounts
- Latest Technological Innovation – CrowdStrike Falcon® Next-Gen SIEM innovations
IBM integrates advanced technology and extensive expertise to deliver infrastructure, software (including the market-leading Red Hat), and consulting services. This comprehensive approach supports clients in their pursuit of digitally transforming the world’s mission-critical businesses.
- CEO – Arvind Krishna
- Latest Collaboration – Pasqal Initiate Collaboration to Define Classical-Quantum Integration
- Technology Innovation – InstructLab with its Red Hat unit
Zscaler accelerates digital transformation so customers can be more agile, efficient, resilient, and secure. Its cloud-native Zero Trust Exchange platform protects thousands of customers from cyberattacks and data loss by securely connecting users, devices, and applications in any location.
- CEO – Jay Chaudhry
- Latest Integrations – Partnership with Nvidia to enhance AI-powered cybersecurity
- Groundbreaking Innovations – ZDX Copilot, Hosted Monitoring, and Data Explorer
Upcoming Events
#1 DASH by Datadog
DASH is Datadog’s annual conference, two days of hands-on learning and inspiration. It is to build and scale the next generation of applications, infrastructure, security, and teams.
Location: NORTH JAVITS, New York City
Date: June 25-26, 2024
#2 TECHSPO
TECHSPO provides exhibitors with a premier platform to showcase their companies to a diverse audience, including consumers, top-tier investors, an extensive press corps, highly sought-after talent, and a vast pool of tech enthusiasts eager to celebrate emerging products.
Attendees will have the unique opportunity to gain insights from industry leaders and discover how these evolving technologies can drive significant business growth.
Date: June 27-28
Location: The Westin Buckhead Atlanta Hotel
#3 North American Information Security Summit
North American Information Security Summit is exclusively tailored for information security executives from around the globe. This high-profile event aims to bring together industry-leading information technology and security professionals to delve into the latest trends, challenges, and solutions in the ever-evolving cybersecurity and information technology world.
Date: June 16-18
Location: Denver, CO
A few of the keynote speakers:
- Jason O’Dell, VP, of Security Operations at Walmart
- Bret Arsenault, Corporate Vice President and Chief Cybersecurity Advisor at Microsoft
- Xochitl Monteon, Chief Privacy Officer / VP Cybersecurity Governance, Risk & Compliance at Intel
- Mark Ryland, Director, Amazon Security at Amazon and more.
[To share your insights with us as part of editorial or sponsored content, please write to psen@itechseries.com]
