IT Nation Connect 2024 Is Coming

Principal Analyst Christophe Bertrand spoke with Greg Lalle, SVP and GM of IT Nation, a key community for IT professionals. IT Nation Connect focuses on education and networking, helping Managed Service Providers (MSPs) transition to advanced security services. With a growing emphasis on AI and cyber resilience, MSPs must innovate in delivery and marketing. IT Nation fosters collaboration, ensuring participants gain actionable insights for growth in the evolving IT landscape.

Kaseya’s DattoCon 2024: Business, Not Just Tech

DattoCon 2024 in Miami Beach highlighted the vital role Managed Service Providers (MSPs) play in supporting Small and Medium-sized Businesses (SMBs), which are crucial to the workforce and global GDP. The conference addressed the significant opportunity for MSPs as technology spending is projected to increase fivefold. However, many MSPs struggle with low profit margins, emphasizing the need for better cost management. Cybersecurity emerged as a key concern, with a rise in cyberattacks targeting SMBs, prompting Kaseya to introduce technologies that enhance security. Simplifying operations by consolidating software tools can also help MSPs improve their efficiency and profitability.

253 | Breaking Analysis | Gen AI Adoption Sets the Table for AI ROI

Gen AI enthusiasm has lately turned to AI skepticism. Lack of clarity on tangible ROI for mainstream businesses, a narrow list of early winners and relentless vendor marketing around AI has caused cynicism and media backlash. But the reality remains that we have entered a new era in technology innovation that has a high probability of transforming industries, public policy, company leadership and the related fortunes of individuals and organizations. Moreover, 97% of leading Gen AI adopters report that they’re achieving tangible benefits from their deployments. Adoption of Gen AI is relentlessly on the rise and nearly two years in, is poised to begin throwing off enough value that it will heighten a mandate to apply AI to drive business results. As such, we believe that as we exit Q4 into 2025, the demand for AI solutions will continue to occupy the headspace of business technology pros and AI momentum will maintain its accelerated pace. 

Commvault Is Shifting Gears

A detailed summary and analysis of key market trends and Commvault’s strategy and market position

Event Store Expands Cloud Offerings, Appoints New Leadership to Drive Growth in Event-Native Data Platforms

In a recent episode of our AnalystANGLE series, I had a conversation with Kirk Dunn, the newly appointed CEO of Event Store, and the opportunity to delve into the company’s latest developments and its vision for the future of data platforms. Event Store, pioneering the event-native data platform space, has made significant strides with new […]

252 | Breaking Analysis | How IBM and Palo Alto Networks Team to Combat Cyber Threats

It’s estimated that organizations spend more than $200B annually on security hardware, software and services globally. That’s a big number. But consider that the economic impact of cybercrime ranges from $500B – $2T annually. There’s even an estimate from cybersecurity ventures that says the figure is as high as $9.5T. Each year, it seems the more we spend, the more vulnerable we become, which is especially concerning given the exposure to critical infrastructures. Governments around the world have stepped up their involvement with executive orders, privacy regulations and lots of “finger wagging” at the technology industry and its customers. Frankly some of that is justified. The technology industry does much good but has a subpar record at solving this problem. One premise that we’ve put forth at theCUBE Research is that the industry must find ways to better collaborate and share resources to combat cyber threats. Two firms, IBM and Palo Alto Networks, have joined forces to combine deep expertise, AI and platform approach to better protect organizations from attackers. 

In this Breaking Analysis we look at the security landscape and unpack the multi-dimensional relationship between IBM and Palo Alto Networks to better understand how industry collaboration can improve cyber defenses and modernize security operations. With us are two senior executives from each firm, Mohamad Ali, SVP and Head of IBM Consulting and BJ Jenkins, the President of Palo Alto Networks.

251 | Breaking Analysis | What Microsoft’s Financial Disclosures Reveal About Azure’s Market Position

Microsoft’s new financial disclosures include changes to the way it reports Azure metrics. The company said the change was to better align Azure with consumption revenue and by inference, more closely aligning with how AWS, the leader in cloud computing infrastructure, reports its metrics. The accounting change removed certain mature, slower growth revenue streams and consequently raised the growth rates for Azure. It also had the effect of increasing the AI services contribution within Azure. While this was reported and often applauded in the media and financial circles, what wasn’t widely discussed is that while such a change increases growth rates, by definition it reduces the size of the Azure business and its resulting revenue market share. Regardless, in our view, Microsoft is comfortable that the future AI revenue contribution within Azure combined with both higher growth rates and a greater AI contribution will foster greater investor confidence and enthusiasm over time. They’re probably correct. 

AI Talent: Act Now Before It’s Too Late

One of the most critical success imperatives for AI is lacking the critical attention it needs – the imperative to win the battle for the best PEOPLE. Explore the supply and demand dynamics of the AI talent marketplace and why you must act now.

Navigating and Securing Open Source in the Cloud-Native Era

The rapid adoption of open-source software (OSS) in enterprise and cloud-native applications has revolutionized the technology landscape, offering unprecedented innovation and agility. However, this proliferation comes with significant security challenges, particularly in managing vulnerabilities within OSS components, including outdated or abandoned ones. We explore the current state of OSS usage in enterprises, the associated security risks, and strategies to address these challenges and why “shift-let” alone is not enough. We also examine how companies like Kosai are innovating solutions to help organizations secure their software supply chains effectively.