The IT landscape is evolving faster than ever, laying the foundation for a transformative year ahead, brimming with innovation and strategic breakthroughs. As we wrap up the week of January 31st, 2025, the digital world is abuzz with developments poised to reshape industries and redefine business strategies.
This week, key themes center around the rapid rise of cloud adoption and the game-changing potential of AI-driven automation. As organizations adapt to stay competitive, these technologies are driving significant shifts. At the same time, the relentless focus on cybersecurity underscores the critical need to safeguard data in an increasingly interconnected world. These trends are just the beginning of a year where tech innovation will be a key driver in how industries chart their futures.
In this edition, we’ve highlighted the most important CIO insights and emerging tech trends shaping the IT landscape. From disruptive technologies to strategic foresight, these updates provide actionable takeaways to help you lead confidently in an ever-evolving digital world.
This Week’s Key IT Trends and Developments
This Week’s Cloud Tech Focus
Verinext and Lucidity Partner to Make Cloud Block Storage Affordable with AI-Driven Automation
Verinext, the company that delivers transformative business outcomes through technology and services for everything that comes next, today announced a new partnership with Lucidity, a leading cloud storage orchestration platform. Together, the companies are integrating advanced AI capabilities to make multi-cloud storage economical, efficient and effortless.
“Lucidity’s no-code, multi-cloud block storage management capabilities are a game changer for our clients,” said Edwin Thornhill, Vice President, Enterprise Architecture, Verinext.
Qlik Introduces Data Flow for Faster Data-to-Decisions in Qlik Cloud Analytics
Qlik, a global leader in data integration, data quality, analytics, and artificial intelligence, today announced the launch of its Data Flow capabilities within Qlik Cloud Analytics™. Designed to address the time-intensive challenges of preparing datasets for analytics and AI, this new feature allows users to visually combine, clean, and shape data through an intuitive drag-and-drop interface. By reducing the reliance on technical scripting skills, these no-code data prep capabilities enable a broader range of users—both technical and non-technical—to create high-quality, AI-ready datasets quickly and efficiently.
Key features include:
- Drag-and-Drop Simplicity: Users can combine, clean, and shape multiple datasets through an intuitive visual interface, eliminating the need for scripting.
- Transparency and Trust: Every action automatically generates Qlik script, giving users visibility into their data preparation processes and building confidence in the results.
- Flexible Workflows: Supports no-code, low-code, and pro-code approaches, allowing users to adapt workflows based on their technical expertise and project requirements.
- End-to-End Integration: Fully integrated with Qlik Cloud Analytics, enabling seamless transitions from data preparation to AI and visualizations.
Weekly Cybersecurity Brief
Seraphic Security Announces $29 Million Series A Led by GreatPoint Ventures with Participation from the CrowdStrike Falcon Fund
Seraphic Security, a leader in enterprise browser security, today announced that it has secured a $29 million Series A funding round led by GreatPoint Ventures (GPV), with participation from the CrowdStrike Falcon Fund and existing investors Planven, Cota Capital and Storm Ventures. This milestone will enable the organization to accelerate its product roadmap and market expansion in North America and EMEA.
“As enterprises rush to secure the browser, this Series A investment is a testament to the market’s recognition of Seraphic’s innovative approach to addressing a critical and growing need in the enterprise market – helping organizations mitigate browser vulnerabilities while reducing the cost and complexity of their security architecture,” said Ilan Yeshua, CEO and Co-Founder, Seraphic Security
CyberLink Releases FaceMe Security 8.0, Enhancing Smart Security Experiences and Accelerating Large-Scale Project Deployment
CyberLink Corp, a pioneer in AI and facial recognition technologies, today announced the latest release of FaceMe Security. A turnkey security and access control solution, FaceMe Security enables identity verification, attendance management, and access control through AI facial recognition, with real-time monitoring and alerts. FaceMe Security is integrated with major VMS providers, enabling them to find people faster with facial recognition powered search investigations.
Version 8.0 provides these additional updates to improve the experience for customers and users alike.
- PostgreSQL database support
- Setup guides for MSSQL DB HA and PostgreSQL DB HA
- Improved performance for database update, mass record deletion stability
- Support for Hanwha Vision Wisenet WAVE playback of video footage
- Improved automatic people database synchronization when Genetec Security Center is updated
- Support for API test tool, enabling users to test API directly from the FaceMe Security Console
This Week in Data
NinjaOne Announces Intent to Acquire SaaS Backup and Data Protection Leader Dropsuite
NinjaOne, the automated endpoint management platform, and Dropsuite, a leader in cloud data backup, archiving, and recovery solutions, today announced a definitive agreement for NinjaOne to acquire Dropsuite for a total transaction value of approximately $252 million (USD). The acquisition is expected to close in the first half of 2025, subject to approval by Dropsuite’s shareholders, court approval, Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) approval, and other customary closing conditions.
“Dropsuite will help our customers be more successful by extending data protection from the endpoint to SaaS applications, automating and simplifying backup, and filling critical data protection gaps,” said Sal Sferlazza, CEO and co-founder at NinjaOne.
Ocient Announces Collaboration with AMD to Deliver Enhanced Power Efficiency and Performance for Data and AI Workloads
Ocient, the leading data analytics software solutions company, today announced a collaboration with AMD to boost performance, lower costs, and maximize the efficiency of compute-intensive data and AI workloads. The technology partnership, which brings Ocient’s efficient and differentiated software solutions together with highly performant 4th Gen AMD EPYC™ processors, will deliver a 3.5X increase in processing power and more than 2X increase in memory throughput* for customers leveraging the Ocient Hyperscale Data Warehouse™ for large-scale data analytics and AI on-premises, public cloud, or OcientCloud.
Key Reads and Insights This Week
Top Threat Intelligence Platforms to Watch in 2025
The article talks about the need for Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIPs) in the face of increasingly sophisticated cyber threats. With data breaches spiking by 34.5% in 2023, organizations are under mounting pressure to safeguard their data and infrastructure. TIPs have emerged as essential tools to proactively identify, analyze, and respond to these evolving risks. These platforms consolidate threat data from diverse sources, enabling security teams to make informed decisions and prevent attacks before they occur.
The article highlights the rapid growth of the threat intelligence market, projected to reach $18.11 billion by 2030, and emphasizes the critical role TIPs play in helping organizations manage and respond to cyber threats effectively. It also provides an overview of several leading TIPs, such as CrowdStrike Falcon Intelligence, Palo Alto Networks WildFire, IBM X-Force Exchange, Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence, and Cyberint, each offering unique features that enhance threat detection, response, and prevention.
Moreover, the article outlines key steps for successfully implementing TIPs within organizations, such as assessing intelligence needs, selecting the right platform, training security teams, integrating with security tools, and continuously evaluating and optimizing the system.
Advanced Semiconductor Design for Edge AI
The article explores the critical role of advanced semiconductor design in powering Edge AI technologies, which allow devices like smartphones, drones, and autonomous vehicles to process data locally instead of relying on cloud servers. This local data processing reduces latency, enhances privacy, and enables real-time decision-making—key benefits for applications in healthcare, autonomous driving, industrial automation, and more. However, achieving these benefits requires specialized hardware that delivers performance while being power-efficient, compact, and scalable.
The article details the challenges of running AI models on edge devices due to their limited computational resources and energy constraints. It discusses key advancements in semiconductor design, including ASICs, System-on-Chip (SoC) integration, neuromorphic computing, heterogeneous architectures, 3D chip stacking, and energy-harvesting technologies, all designed to meet the unique demands of Edge AI.
The article also highlights real-world applications of Edge AI, such as in autonomous vehicles, healthcare devices, industrial IoT, smart cities, and consumer electronics. These innovations are set to transform various industries, making devices smarter and more connected while maintaining energy efficiency and minimizing size.
Voices of Innovation: Leadership Views on the Future of Tech
CIO Influence Interview with Jia-Yu Liu, EVP at Synology
Jia-Yu Liu, EVP at Synology, discusses the company’s advancements in integrating NAS (Network-Attached Storage) and cloud platforms, focusing on backup solutions for businesses. He highlights how cloud workload protection and cloud storage integration benefit enterprises by automating protection, ensuring compliance (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA), and facilitating secure offsite backups. He also emphasizes ActiveProtect, Synology’s solution that offers automated protection, archiving, and disaster recovery to ensure business continuity.
The interview touches on data security by describing how immutability, self-healing capabilities, and robust access control ensure the protection and integrity of backup data. Liu also underscores visibility as a key innovation, enabling IT teams to monitor and manage data across multiple sites and platforms more efficiently.
Technologies Highlighted:
- ActiveProtect: Automated protection and disaster recovery.
- Cloud Workload Protection & Storage Integration: Ensuring data security and regulatory compliance.
- Automation & Visibility: Key drivers in simplifying backup and recovery management.
- Source-side Deduplication: Improving efficiency in edge and IoT environments.
CIO Influence Interview with Carl Perry, Head of Core Services, Snowflake
Carl Perry, Head of Core Services at Snowflake, shares insights on how Snowflake is shaping the future of data management, particularly with the integration of AI in their Data Cloud. He explains that the evolution of AI is tightly linked to advancements in data platforms, particularly the introduction of a semantic layer. This layer, which provides context to data, will allow AI to better understand and analyze information, thereby making decision-making more efficient for enterprises.
Key Highlights:
- AI and Data: The integration of a semantic layer in data platforms to enhance AI’s ability to understand and analyze data.
- Scaling Data Operations: Snowflake’s platform simplifies complex data management, helping organizations eliminate silos, automate processes, and integrate AI seamlessly.
- AI’s Impact: AI is poised to move from hype to practical utility in enterprise decision-making, especially in automating data preparation and enhancing predictive analytics.
- Future-Proof Data Architecture: Focus on scalability, security, interoperability, and customer needs to build adaptable, long-term data strategies.
Weekly Brand Focus
SentinelOne is a cutting-edge cybersecurity company, known for its innovative autonomous endpoint protection platform that leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to deliver real-time threat prevention, detection, and response. By utilizing AI-powered technology, SentinelOne proactively defends against sophisticated cyber threats, automating security processes to keep businesses protected from modern attacks. Its platform delivers complete endpoint visibility and control, ensuring organizations can rapidly identify and mitigate security breaches.
CEO – Tomer Weingarten
Recent Launch – SentinelOne Unveils New Autonomous Detection and Response Capabilities for Enhanced Threat Prevention
What’s Coming in 2025: Key Events to Watch
TECHSPO Los Angeles
Date: Apr. 3-4, 2025
Location: Los Angeles, CA
TECHSPO Los Angeles brings together some of the best developers, brands, marketers, technology providers, designers, innovators, and evangelists looking to set the pace in our advanced world of technology.
TECHSPO Seattle
Date: Apr. 7-8, 2025
Location: Seattle, WA
TECHSPO Seattle will be showcasing the next generation of technology & innovation; Internet, Mobile, AdTech, MarTech & SaaS Technology, Exhibitors have the opportunity to show off their companies to consumers, the highest caliber investors, hordes of press, the most sought-after talent, and the greatest pool of tech enthusiasts looking to celebrate emerging products.
Customer Success Denver
Date: Apr. 9-10, 2025
Location: Denver, CO
Elevate your CS strategy and get in a room with industry leaders as they reveal case studies, best practices, and common challenges across the customer journey. Gain key insights into CX, customer operations, and the latest innovations that will help you accelerate your career.
