MWC 2023: Nokia Rebrands as Nokia, but with a B2B Twist

G. Barton Research Director

Summary Bullets:

• Nokia’s rebrand is designed to move further away from its mobile device and, to a lesser extent, CSP infrastructure heritage as well as to better position it to appeal to enterprise customers.

• Nokia has identified key medium and long-term trends and how it can play a role, but its B2B strategy needs to be more clearly defined.

Deciding to alter a brand as established as Nokia is not an easy decision, but the solutions vendor has done just that. At the start of 2023’s MWC event in Barcelona (Spain), the vendor has launched a new logo – albeit still with the same name. Nokia’s rational for doing this is clear and understandable: As recognizable as the blue Nokia logo is, it is also irrevocably associated with the company’s heritage as the dominant player in the pre-smartphone mobile handset market.

Cisco Live 2023: New Hybrid Work Collection Takes on the Return to Work with Mixed Success

G. Willsky

Summary Bullets:

• Cisco is launching the hybrid work collection in response to the migration of workers back to offices.

• The collection is well-positioned, but its contents are for the most part commonplace.

While the ‘Cisco Live 2023’ event was underway, Cisco quietly launched a hybrid work collection. The collection consists of design guides for renovating office workspaces, documentation for IT managers to deploy work from office solutions, and a three-piece hybrid work offer set consisting of a software offer (made up of collaboration, security, digital experience monitoring, and mobile device management all under a single agreement), a work-from-home offer (featuring three device ensembles plus networking expertise), and a work-from-office offer (assistance in building in-office workspaces that are both optimized for hybrid work as well as sustainable).

IT Service Providers Bring IoT to the Next Level

Kathryn Weldon – Research Director, Business Network and IT Services – Americas

Summary Bullets:

• GlobalData’s February 2023 report highlights how IT service providers play a key role in delivering IoT services for enterprises, eliminating many cost and complexity barriers with a one-stop shop, providing access to leading vendors for IoT use case and vertical expertise, and offering consulting and professional services to smooth the deployment path.

• Recent acquisitions of technology vendors as well as new partnerships in adjacent digital transformation technologies to IoT enhanced the ability of ITSPs to positively effect market growth and successful deployment outcomes.

IT service providers (ITSPs) play an important role in delivering IoT services to enterprises, offering a way to deal with cost and complexity barriers with a one-stop shop, provide access to a set of technology and go-to-market partners for key use cases and verticals, and provide consulting and professional services to smooth the path for hesitant customers. Over the last six months, acquisitions and technology partnerships enhanced this proposition, adding capabilities in adjacent technologies to IoT such as AI, machine learning, and digital twins, as well as gaining expertise (and existing customers) in relevant verticals such as manufacturing, warehousing, and supply chain management.

Customer Needs, Not Speeds

R. Pritchard

Summary Bullets:             

• CityFibre, the champion of altnets in the UK, is reported to soon axe 20% of its workforce due to the UK’s “struggling” economy.
• An obsession with end user needs rather than financing and technology is needed to encourage customers to migrate from their current broadband solutions.

Most folks waking up in the morning may think ‘I need more fiber’ – but that is usually a dietary consideration rather than anything bandwidth-related.

With reports that CityFibre, traditionally the darling of UK altnet market, is set to cut up to 400 jobs from its workforce of 2,300 (but will add 200 more, giving a net job loss of about 200), questions need to be asked and answered.

E&’s New Partner Networks Program Looks to Extend its Reach and Influence Globally

I. Patel

Summary Bullets:

• Etisalat by e& is making moves to share its expertise with telcos across the world that may not be able to afford next-gen B2B services.

• Etisalat by e& will look to increase its B2B credentials through a network of partners beyond its operational footprint without having to go through complex M&As.

UAE telecoms incumbent Etisalat by e& (e&) has launched its new business program called ‘e& Partner Networks.’ The move is an attempt by the operator, which is sitting on large piles of cash reserves, to increase its influence on the global stage as a credible B2B partner.

IBM Sued for Misleading Investors on Cloud Revenues

Amy Larsen DeCarlo – Principal Analyst, Security and Data Center Services

Summary Bullets:

• A lawsuit, filed on behalf of International Business Machines (IBM) shareholders, claims the tech giant intentionally misidentified revenues from legacy mainframe sales as coming from more cutting-edge products, including cloud.

• Originally filed in 2022 and withdrawn later in the year, the refiled suit alleges a number of executives, including several former CEO Ginni Rometty and the current chief executive officer Arvind Krishna, misled investors to believe that sales of its cloud, analytics, mobile, social, and security products (CAMSS) were making big gains.

A class action lawsuit filed against IBM in January 2023 on behalf of the company’s shareholders accuses 13 executives, including former chief executive Ginni Rometty and current CEO Arvind Krishna, of inflating cloud and other modern service revenue numbers by including mainframe figures in with cloud, analytics, mobile, social, and security products. Both the company and the individual executives were named in the suit. The suit posits the executives wanted to demonstrate momentum for more modern product areas in which the company had invested heavily in recent years, including its Watson AI platform. The suit seeks damages for investors who purchased IBM stock between January 18, 2018 and October 16, 2018.

The Pachyderm in the Room? HPE Leverages Reproducible AI for Enterprises

B. Valle

Summary Bullets:

• Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has acquired Pachyderm, a software company that uses reproducible AI to help organizations implement machine learning (ML) projects at scale.

• Pachyderm’s software capabilities will add an important differentiator to HPE’s Machine Learning Development Environment through increased reliability and transparency of the data.

Until not so long ago, Pachyderm was just another independent firm in the crowded space of San Francisco, California’s (US) AI startup landscape. However, many industry players had been aware of Pachyderm for a while.