Futurum Tech Webcast

In this episode of Enterprising Insights, The Futurum Group's Enterprise Applications Research Director Keith Kirkpatrick discusses several new generative AI-focused product announcements and enhancements focused on contact centers and service applications, including those from Five9, Salesforce, ServiceNow, and SAP Concur. He then closes out the show with the Rant or Rave segment, where he picks one item in the enterprise software market, and either champions or criticizes it.

On this episode of Infrastructure Matters, host Steven Dickens is joined by Anthony Anter, Technology Solutions Director and Tim Ceradsky, Director of Software Consulting for BMC Software. The discussion focuses on the strategic importance of weaving operational resilience into the fabric of the mainframe development lifecycle through the CI/CD pipeline.

Their discussion covers:

• Key steps in the CI/CD pipeline to enhance mainframe system resilience
• Tailoring automated testing suites for mainframe environments within the CI/CD pipeline
• Optimized deployment strategies for mainframe operations resilienceImplementing rigorous monitoring protocols to bolster mainframe operational resilience
• The crucial role of collaboration between development and operations teams in integrating resilience measures

On this episode of Infrastructure Matters, host Camberley Bates is joined by NetApp's Eric Han and Shiva Subramanyam, for an insightful conversation on the new architecture and integration of NetApp's Astra and its implications in the world of Kubernetes for advanced data management.

Our discussion covers:

• The origins and development of Astra by NetApp

• How Astra is being used to advance data management with Kubernetes

• The architecture of Astra, and its design for Kubernetes-native, including CRDs, least privilege access, and self-contained backups

• Real-world customer use cases in the Kubernetes space, demonstrating the demand for advanced data management capabilities

On this episode of DevOps Dialogues: Insights & Innovations, I am joined by The Futurum Group's CEO, Daniel Newman for a conversation on exploring the intersection of DevOps, application modernization, and innovative development methodologies.

Our conversation covers:

• Why The Futurum Group is investing in this new DevOps, Application Development and Modernization practice

• The market trends that are sparking interest in this new practice area

• What is top of mind for DevOps and how this practice can help

These topics reflect ongoing discussions, challenges, and innovations within the DevOps community.

In this episode of The 5G Factor, our series that focuses on all things 5G, the IoT, and the 5G ecosystem as a whole, we look at the top cloud and telco takeaways from conversations and sessions at Mobile World Congress 2024. The major takeaways consist of Red Hat and Tech Mahindra boosting their hybrid cloud collaboration, Red Hat and NTT working with Fujitsu and NVIDIA to ready IOWN environments for real-time edge AI data analytics, Indonesia's Telkomsel selecting Google Cloud to integrate GenAI for augmenting its operations and product offerings, VMware focusing on assuring the DISH Wireless Open RAN build in the US, and TELUS using HPE servers to complete its Open RAN mission in Canada.

Our analytical review focused on:

Red Hat and Tech Mahindra Uplift Hybrid Cloud Capabilities. Red Hat and Tech Mahindra announced a collaboration aimed at making it easier for telecommunication service providers to accelerate and manage 5G adoption and deployments across the hybrid cloud. Tech Mahindra's Multi-mode Companion Cloud with Red Hat OpenShift running on AWS can support multiple network use cases, spanning RAN, edge computing, transport and 5G core, to extend capabilities across hybrid cloud environments with integrated automation and orchestration capabilities. We delve into why Red Hat OpenShift provides the infrastructure and application layer key to supporting operations at scale across any cloud environment, with Tech Mahindra's netOps.ai offering a unified view to manage infrastructure and automate applications with low touch provisioning. Plus, we look at how Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes enables full cloud lifecycle management to automate Day 0 and Day 1 configurations and orchestrate workloads across Red Hat OpenShift clusters on-premises and on AWS.

Red Hat and NTT Show IOWN Ready for Real-time Edge AI Data Analysis. As part of the Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (or IOWN) initiative, Red Hat and NTT in collaboration with NVIDIA and Fujitsu, have jointly developed a solution targeted at enhancing and extending the potential for real-time AI data analysis at the edge. Using technologies developed by the IOWN Global Forum and built on the foundation of Red Hat OpenShift this solution has received an IOWN Global Forum's Proof of Concept (PoC) recognition for its real world viability and use cases. The PoC evaluated a real-time AI analysis platform4 with Yokosuka City as the sensor installation base and Musashino City as the remote data center, both connected through the IOWN All-Photonics Network. We assess why this is a breakthrough for AI edge applications since even when many cameras were accommodated, the latency required to aggregate sensor data for AI analysis was reduced by 60% compared to conventional AI inference workloads.

Telkomsel Selects Google Cloud to Boost Operations and Products with GenAI. Telkomsel announced a strategic collaboration with Google Cloud to integrate enterprise-grade generative AI (gen AI) into its operations and core product offerings for consumers and businesses. This latest collaboration builds on Telkomsel's ongoing use of Google's AI-powered advertising tools, such as Performance Max, with the aim of transforming its employee and customer interactions, augmenting overall user satisfaction, and improving business outcomes. Moreover, Nokia is running AVA Data Suite on Google Cloud to facilitate AI/ML development. We examine why such moves are further validating the overall Google Cloud for Telecommunications proposition.

VMware Looks to Assure DISH Wireless Open RAN Build. At MWC24, VMware, recently acquired by Broadcom Inc, unveiled that DISH Wireless has deployed VMware Telco Cloud Service Assurance across the Boost Wireless Network in a pilot production environment to deliver real-time network monitoring, assurance and automation, with the goal of providing a better 5G network and subscriber experience. We assess why the VMware Telco Cloud Service Assurance remote data collector service allows DISH Wireless the Network Operations Center (NOC) team to collect and analyze data from 20,000-plus cell sites. From our view, this is a critically important development for DISH Wireless to efficiently assure and scale its breakthrough Open RAN 5G network that is getting closer to offering more than 240 million Americans access to the latest in 5G connectivity technology and innovation.

TELUS Enlists HPE Servers to Complete Open RAN Mission. During MWC24, HPE announced it is working with TELUS, which is building Canada's first 5G Open RAN, by providing infrastructure across 3,000 sites. Once completed, the new TELUS Open RAN 5G network can provide instantaneously responsive connectivity which can enhance the customer experience with faster connectivity and mobile access. We examine why HPE ProLiant DL110 Gen11 servers, designed specifically for telco workloads, are ready to provide an open and flexible, virtualized foundation to deliver next-generation cellular connectivity to urban and rural Canadians. The servers provide Open RAN infrastructure to assist TELUS with the interoperability it needs by providing the foundation for DU implementations, which are responsible for preparing data for transmission across the 5G network.

On this episode of Infrastructure Matters, host Steven Dickens is joined by BMC's Chad Reiber, Solution Engineer, and Tim Ceradsky, Director of Software Consulting, for a conversation on how modern enterprises can ensure operational resilience in the hybrid cloud environment, especially when dealing with mainframe data.

Our discussion covers:

• The concept of operational resilience in the context of mainframe data within a hybrid cloud environment.

• The importance of immutable copies of mainframe data for ensuring operational resilience, and how they differ from traditional backup methods.

• The key benefits of strategically placing immutable copies of mainframe data across the hybrid cloud infrastructure to mitigate risks.

• Common challenges organizations face when implementing and managing immutable copies of mainframe data in the hybrid cloud.

• Strategies for leveraging immutable copies of mainframe data to enhance data availability and expedite recovery processes in hybrid cloud environments.

Learn more at BMC.

In this episode of Enterprising Insights, The Futurum Group's Enterprise Applications Research Director Keith Kirkpatrick discusses the use of generative AI to improve efficiency within the flow of work in the healthcare space. He also provides examples from other industries, and discusses an interesting announcement about an application that can be used to track the spending of generative AI. He then closes out the show with the Rant or Rave segment, where he picks one item in the enterprise software market, and either champions or criticizes it.

In this episode of Infrastructure Matters, hosts Camberley Bates, Steven Dickens and Krista Macomber discuss the latest in Cybersecurity and AI with Microsoft Copilot for Security, as well as news from IBM, BMC and Liqid.

• Insights from Microsoft Secure and the launch of Copilot for Security

• BMC office visit and discussion on artificial intelligence

• IBM's updated FlashCore Module and Storage Defender offerings

• Liqid's new CEO and collaboration with GPU and CPU vendors

An Assessment of The Key MWC24 Takeaways in Open RAN Highlighted by Ericsson Cloud RAN, Nokia anyRAN, Energy Efficiency Moves, and Mavenir/Intel Innovations

In this episode of The 5G Factor, our series that focuses on all things 5G, the IoT, and the 5G ecosystem as a whole, I look at the top Open RAN takeaways from my conversations and sessions at Mobile World Congress 2024. The major takeaways consist of Ericsson Cloud RAN portfolio advances, Nokia's anyRAN market readiness including anyRAN for enterprise partnerships with Cisco, HPE, and Microsoft, as well as Mavenir's latest collaboration with Intel to assure Open vRAN innovation and progress.

Our analytical review focused on:

Ericsson Cloud RAN Meeting Topmost CSP Priorities. Ericsson's Cloud RAN portfolio is aiding communications service providers (CSPs) in fulfilling their need for increased capacity and exponential increases in data traffic with solutions that make the best use of the available resources – essentially continuing to do more with less. Ericsson has long been focused on energy efficiency and it is a core element of the company's strategy exemplified by its strategic objective is to be Net Zero across its value chain by 2040. I delve into how Ericsson's portfolio development focus enables its radios to be optimized for performance, energy usage and embodied carbon emissions, regardless of whether they are deployed in an integrated or Cloud RAN setting. Ericsson's newest radios are its most energy-efficient yet, offering 39 percent energy savings compared to previous hardware generations as per the company's Sustainability & Corporate Responsibility Report for 2022 This includes how Ericsson is working closely within the Cloud RAN ecosystem and a variety of software and hardware partners such as Intel and AMD (CPU providers) Red Hat (containers-as-a-service, or CaaS), HPE and Dell (servers), to ultimately bring new Cloud RAN innovations, especially for energy efficiency, to market.

Nokia anyRAN Ready for Most Any 5G Demand. Nokia unveiled its Cloud RAN solution will be available commercially in 2024 following the successful completion of multiple trials worldwide with hardware vendors, webscale companies, and chipset manufacturers. Nokia's anyRAN approach can enable a fast transition to hybrid environments of Cloud RAN and purpose-built RAN, ensuring consistent performance and interoperability with common software and In-Line acceleration architecture. Nokia also announced the launch of anyRAN for enterprise in partnership with Cisco, HPE and Microsoft that will see the companies offer private wireless solutions to enterprise customers. Nokia's anyRAN for enterprise offers more choice and flexibility for enterprises through collaboration with system integrators and cloud core solution providers alongside providing Nokia's AirScale radio access portfolio to suit their specific requirements. By pre-packaging these solutions together, CSPs and enterprises can benefit from a faster deployment due to extensive interoperability testing with core suppliers. I evaluate why these collaborations enable Nokia to support core vendors' networks and their ecosystems as well as provide access to new segments and markets, accelerating the adoption of 5G in the enterprise sector and boosting industries in their digital transformation.

Cloud RAN Must Align with Ecosystem-wide Sustainability Goals. The energy efficiency progress in Cloud RAN needs to align with the energy consumption of overall wireless systems and the digital ecosystem. Fundamentally, the more wireless electronic devices are put in use, the more energy will be consumed. In sum, 5G will exponentially increase energy usage. For instance, The Small Cell Forum predicts the installed base of small cells to reach 70.2 million in 2025 and the total installed base of 5G or multimode small cells in 2025 to be 13.1 million. Plus, a 2023 study on energy use from 5G networks in China indicates that a carbon efficiency trap of 5G mobile networks is leading to additional carbon emissions of 23.82 ± 1.07 metric tons in China, caused by the spatiotemporal misalignment between cellular traffic and energy consumption in mobile networks. I assess why Ericsson's Breaking the Energy Curve report further reinforces that the power consumption costs of the world's cellular networks will be more than the previously estimated at $25 billion and CSPs should brace for higher costs. As a result, 5G on its own will not provide enough to substantially reduce energy consumption for entire mobile networks, likely requiring outside the box innovations.

Mavenir Teams with Intel to Give vRAN a Boost. At MWC24, Mavenir announced the availability of its Open vRAN solution powered by 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors with Intel vRAN Boost – designed to deliver a cloud-native, high-performance, and energy-efficient solution for latency-sensitive and compute-intensive mobile network applications. The move to Intel's recent processors for vRAN marks the latest solution optimization for Mavenir, which I see has been helping to drive Open RAN momentum through three generations of Intel Xeon Scalable processors. I examine why Mavenir's suite of performance, functionality, and integrated AI and ML applications for the next generation 4G and 5G networks alongside building a close and long-standing technology collaboration with Intel - underpinned by Intel's processors – is enabling the development of more efficient and cost-effective RANs.

In this episode of Infrastructure Matters – Insider Edition, host Steven Dickens is joined by Ed Airey, VP of Marketing at AveriSource for a conversation on how AveriSource is helping organizations gain more insights and knowledge about their applications, empowering them to be able to modernize.

Key topics include:

• An introduction from Ed Airey on his role at AveriSource

• An overview of AveriSource and the AveriSource platform which consists of five main products: Scan, Inventory, Discover, Analyze, and Transform, to help with application understanding and modernization

• The importance for organizations to understand their applications

• The role of AI in modernization