Databricks Lakehouse for Retail is an integrated platform to help retailers tackle specific industry challenges, such as demand forecasting and supply chain inventory provision.
The product helps users gain insights from data, either through traditional analytics or by leveraging Databricks’ AI tools.
Advanced analytics firm Databricks, known for its AutoML capabilities, has launched its first industry-specific product, Databricks Lakehouse for Retail. It is a savvy move to target the retail sector, which has been shaken to the core during the global pandemic, with supply chain disturbances and a massive shift towards e-commerce accelerating trends that would have taken many years in normal circumstances. Against this backdrop, retailers are looking to optimize their data to better manage inventory issues and supply chains and to improve their ability to forecast demand and personalize marketing campaigns for customers. Continue reading “Landscape for AI-Based Vertical Solutions Heats Up as Databricks Unveils Offering for Retail Companies”→
There are multiple reports that the NVIDIA-ARM deal is dead, but nothing has been officially announced.
ARM remaining independent is a good thing for the vitality of the ARM processor market.
This week, the market has been swirling with rumors that NVIDIA is about to drop its proposed $40 billion purchase of ARM. For those of you who do not follow the CPU chip market, ARM is one of the most important companies out there. Nearly every single smartphone uses a variant of ARM’s designs. ARM chips, with their steady architecture, good performance, and excellent power/thermal characteristics, are used in a staggeringly wide array of applications from consumer goods to specialized equipment for vertical industries. Continue reading “NVIDIA and ARM Merger May Be Off – And That’s Good”→
For several years, enterprise mobility announcements such as new services, geographic expansion, new go-to-market strategies and alliances, new device types, and enhanced management platforms were few and far between.
This has changed with the advent of 5G and edge computing, massive IoT, mobile private networks, and devices and management services for ruggedized computers and wearables.
GlobalData has completed its annual review of the global enterprise mobility services market. In 2021, there were many enterprise mobility announcements from US and global operators, as an energized operator ecosystem is eager to offer new services and capabilities again. In part, this is due to new technologies such as 5G and edge, massive IoT, mobile private networks, and expanded usage and connectivity of new device types such as ruggedized computers, wearables, and frontline worker devices (e.g., barcode scanners). Themes related to 2021 announcements can be divided into four main categories: 5G/edge, private networks, devices/management, and vertical solutions. Continue reading “Enterprise Mobility Services Market Energized by 5G, Edge, Private Networks, and New Devices “→
RingCentral Rise represents a significant investment in the company’s relationship with service provider partners.
Rise is innovative in the way it combines technology, managed services, and a channel program to create co-branded UCaaS offers.
RingCentral has solidified its position in the cloud-based collaboration market. This has been largely driven by the expansion of its portfolio beyond its flagship chat service (Glip) to include conferencing, team collaboration, voice, and contact center capabilities. A separate but equally significant component has been the inking of partnerships with vendors ALE, Atos, Avaya, and Mitel and service providers such as AT&T, Telus, and Verizon. The recent introduction of RingCentral Rise represents a new branch of RingCentral’s go-to-market strategy and signals a renewed commitment to the company’s network of service provider partners. Continue reading “RingCentral Rise Helps Service Providers Bring Co-Branded UCaaS Offers to Market”→
Vocus’ deal with OneWeb will greatly enhance its ability to provide connectivity services to the most remote sites using Vocus fiber as the backbone and OneWeb LEO as the last mile.
Partnership with OneWeb will enable FSG to accelerate its rural LTE/5G network rollout and increase its capabilities to offer private networks to the mineral and energy verticals.
OneWeb, a UK-based satellite connectivity company, recently announced two new partnerships with telecommunications providers in Australia. The deals will see Vocus and Field Solutions Group (FSG) resell OneWeb’s wholesale and retail low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite connectivity services to consumers, governments, and enterprise in Australia. Compared to traditional satellite connectivity, which is provided via geosynchronous orbit (GEO) satellites, LEO is much closer to the earth’s atmosphere and provides much higher-bandwidth, lower-latency broadband. For example, in March 2021, OneWeb demonstrated speeds of 500 Mbps and 32ms latency in tests with its fleet of satellites. By comparison, NBN’s GEO service, SkyMuster, has a maximum wholesale speed of 25 Mbps downlink and 5 Mbps uplink, with independent tests putting latency around 600ms. OneWeb’s capabilities will give Vocus and FSG opportunities to expand their business in the critical energy and mining sectors in regional and rural Australia. Continue reading “Vocus and FSG Have Opportunity to Expand in Critical Verticals with OneWeb Services “→
• ESG is currently the hottest corporate topic with attention accelerated by the effects of COVID-19, but driven by customer, investor and value chain demand
• ICT companies are leaders in ESG, looking to reduce emissions, improve responsibility, and act ethically to win business and attract the best talent
ESG is everywhere at the moment, across all sectors and all over the global media. It is attracting the attention of governments and regulators, driving investment decisions, and becoming a key aspect of winning customers and the best talent. The challenge of ESG runs from the c-suite to vehicle fleet managers – it takes historical commitments to corporate social responsibility (CSR) to the next level and beyond.
DataRobot Core incorporates tools for data scientists that the company gained from its acquisition of Zepl in May 2021.
The product offers specialized capabilities that enable users to toggle between the development of customized machine learning models and the use of AutoML for experimentation.
DataRobot’s mission is to help enterprises implement ‘Augmented AI’ by offering products that enable users to combine human intelligence with machine automation. The DataRobot AI Cloud platform facilitates customers’ ability to toggle between automation and human intervention, so that they can adjust their AI strategy as needed throughout the duration of a project’s lifecycle. To support this strategy, the company launched DataRobot Core in December 2021. The platform enables data scientists to use the tools and languages they prefer, to speed up experimentation and accelerate AI deployments. Continue reading “DataRobot Launches Solutions Aimed at Combining Human Intelligence with Machine Automation “→
Professional services are becoming critical in the enterprise ICT market. New technologies are widening enterprises’ internal skillset gap and hence driving the need for managed services. As these service experts are becoming scarce, ICT providers are looking for inorganic solutions to enhance their internal capabilities and address the growing market demand. In the last quarter (Q4 2021), Maxis had one while Celcom made two acquisitions of service companies.
Maxis acquired MyKRIS: Maxis made its fourth acquisition in the last two years with MyKRIS, a managed network and security service provider. While MyKRIS’ networking portfolio somewhat overlaps with Maxis, it can enhance the latter’s services through network redundancy. More importantly, MyKRIS’ cybersecurity solutions and team of 70 experts can enable Maxis to expand its ICT portfolio particularly in cybersecurity through wider partnerships, and enhance its service capabilities. Besides, with accelerated technology adoption during the pandemic, cybersecurity requirements are getting more complicated. Cybersecurity is increasingly offered as an integrated solution with other ICT services such as cloud, networking, UC, and IoT. Aligned with Maxis’ direction in expanding its portfolio, the added capabilities can enhance its overall offerings and service delivery. Furthermore, the added capabilities can also enable Maxis to challenge competitors such as TM who has established cybersecurity practice through its CYDEC brand. For more, please see With MyKRIS, Maxis Makes Fourth Acquisition in 18 Months, Further Enhancing Its Enterprise Portfolio , October 14, 2021. Celcom acquired Bridgenet: Following its acquisition of Infront in November (for more, please see Celcom Acquired Infront to Enhance Cloud Service Capabilities and Go Beyond SMBs , November 8, 2021), Celcom made another deal in December with Bridgenet, an ICT service provider. While Bridgenet’s focus was largely on cybersecurity and networking, it has a range of other ICT solutions including cloud and UC. As Celcom is still new in the enterprise ICT market with a limited portfolio, Bridgenet’s solutions, partners, and experts can fast-track the provider’s strategy to expand its offerings and close the gap with competitors. The added capabilities can also strengthen Celcom’s position and enable it to expand its target market to the larger enterprise segment. For more, please see Celcom Ups Its Enterprise ICT Game with Bridgenet Acquisition , December 2, 2021.
In 2022, Celcom and Maxis are expected to add new services in their portfolio leveraging the capabilities from their acquisitions. There will also be enhancements in their existing services adding new vendor supports (e.g., multi-vendor SD-WAN) as well as integrating security with cloud and SD-WAN such as CASB and SASE. Further, the stronger professional services will also enable Celcom and Maxis to compete for more complex ICT projects such as enterprise 5G applications and multi-cloud services. They will continue to pressure the existing players such as TM ONE and other IT service providers leveraging their strong brands in the mobility and SME segments.
• Advanced telcos in ASEAN expanded their vertical collaborations and entered the trial and pre-commercialization stages of enterprise 5G applications while others started to form alliances with domestic players to co-create new solutions.
• Smart manufacturing, autonomous vehicles, and robotics are leading the enterprise 5G development in ASEAN, in line with the global trends.
Q3 2021 was about telcos moving from the network deployment to solution development stages (for more, please see ASEAN 5G Q3 2021 Roundup: Competition Heats Up, October 7, 2021). Moving into Q4 2021, telcos moved to the next development stage through wider collaborations with technology providers (e.g., network vendors, cloud providers) and other industry players to co-develop and trial new enterprise 5G solutions. While most telcos are still in the application development stages, providers such as AIS Thailand and Singtel Singapore are already in the field trial and pre-commercialization phases. In line with the global trends, applications like smart manufacturing, autonomous vehicles, and robotics are leading the enterprise 5G development. This is driven by tangible use cases such as improving operational efficiency and remote operation during the pandemic as well as wider involvement by players in the industry such as ABB, Bosch, Mitsubishi Electric, and Proton.
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