The annual gathering of the business side of the cybersecurity industry, the RSA Conference, will kick off in early May. Scott Crawford and Dan Kennedy return to preview what they’ll be expecting with host Eric Hanselman. The upheaval in the security markets is being mirrored at the conference, with one major vendor deciding not to exhibit and consolidation taking place. All of this takes place as security teams struggle with operational scale. AI to the rescue? We’ll have to see.

Semiconductors are back in the spotlight with the shortage of GPU’s in the generative AI explosion. But the supply chain that produces them is complex and is not a simple thing to accelerate or scale up. This episode brings Next in Tech together with the Economics and Country Risk podcast, hosted by Kristen Hallam. Chris Rogers and John Abbott join us to dig into the dynamics and geopolitical pressures that make the supply chain so difficult to fix.

Effectively managing information security for any enterprise can be a challenge, but airlines have to deal with the compounding effects of regulations in multiple domains, life safety issues and much more. Air New Zealand CISO, Phil Ross, joins host Eric Hanselman to discuss prioritizing cybersecurity efforts, the practical aspects of zero trust and the potential of new security architectures. Tackling technical debt can be struggle, particularly in risk averse areas, like aviation.

While getting to a cloud native development pattern is a goal for most organizations, it can be a significant journey to transform both infrastructure and processes. Analyst Carl Lehmann joins host Eric Hanselman to explore the paths that can move enterprises forward. DevOps approaches can speed development, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) can change ways of managing risk and platform engineering can simplify tool sets, but adoption does not always follow a straight line.

The integration of payment technologies in the automotive realm offers interesting potential, but it has to be done with care to ensure customer experience meets expectations. FinTech’s move into the EV software ecosystem is a first step and analysts Beatriz Minamy and Sophia Furber join host Eric Hanselman to explore automotive as the latest software platform to embed payments, what’s needed, concerns about fraud and how the market is evolving. It can be more than charging, if it’s done well.

While there is no end of generative AI discussion, it’s not often clear how it’s being used. Nick Patience and Alex Johnston return to explore the results of a recent study that digs into AI use cases with host Eric Hanselman. Projects are charging forward and concerns around data dominate. Getting access to data remains challenging, but, as use matures, data quality has become increasingly critical. Interestingly, trust in AI results is declining as understanding grows. Hallucination anyone?

The spring edition of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation’s KubeCon/CloudNativeCon is about to get underway and Jean Atelsek and William Fellows return to discuss what will be playing out in the sessions and on the exhibit floor with host Eric Hanselman. The next stage of licensing pull back from a number of open source providers is on display, as Open Core revenue models are realigned. FinOps efforts try to tame operational costs and evolution of platform engineering approaches continues.

The curtain has come down on Mobile World Congress for 2024, but the repercussions are just beginning to settle out. Brian Patridge and Rich Karpinski join host Eric Hanselman to look at what happened at the Congress and how the implications are panning out. 5G advanced and 6G were being soft pedaled as operators look to monetize the investments they’ve already made in 5G. The promise of AI loomed large and the promise of API delivered network services offered a new service opportunity.

The world of gen AI is complex, but the web of investments in both cash and infrastructure that are supporting the many AI companies is wildly intertwined. Analyst Melissa Incera returns to look at what these interrelationships mean with host Eric Hanselman. Typical investment priorities have been contorted with strategic investors, in many cases competitors, are vying for stakes in what has become the must-have technology. Funds keep pouring in, but returns are far from assured.

Digital customer interactions are critical to business success. The effect on customer satisfaction can be dramatic, but the technology behind those interactions is often hidden. Raul Castañon Martinez joins host Eric Hanselman to look at Communications Platform and Contact Center as a Service (CPaaS and CCaaS) technologies and how they’re evolving. Gen AI can improve interactions, but is also increasing fraud. Check out the research here.

What has been the premier telecom conference has expanded to be a technology showcase for everything from IoT to AR/VR. Lynnette Luna, Julber Osio and Mohammed Hamza, part of the analyst team braving the 100,000 or so attendees converging on Barcelona, join host Eric Hanselman to discuss what they’ll be looking for. Will satellite have an impact on fixed wireless access? Could spectrum allocations shift focus to the Chinese consumer markets? There’s a lot to digest ahead of this massive event.

Many thought that supply chain woes faded with pandemic concerns, but they’re back and with new dimensions. Analyst Mark Fontecchio returns to explore its cyclic nature and the challenges technological approaches are facing with host Eric Hanselman. Shippers and logistics firms are refocusing on digitizing core processes and data handling. ROI justifications have become critical gates to projects. Recent research and our Digital Infrastructure webinar have more details.

While visions of smart cities might conjure up flying cars and robot delivery, the reality is that many are leveraging digitization today with significant impacts on a smaller scale. Analyst Zoë Roth looks at what’s going on today and the potential for the future with host Eric Hanselman. Digital infrastructure is a key foundation, but effective data management is needed to develop the full potential of smart cities. Recent research and our Digital Infrastructure webinar have more details.

The intersection of technology and financial markets in security is creating interesting dynamics. Analysts Thomas Mason, Dan Kennedy and Scott Crawford join host Eric Hanselman to dig into the complexities of cyber insurance and the technologies surrounding it. Insurers have struggled in the rapidly evolving information security market. Insurance is a key part of managing risk in any business, but the existential risk presented by attacks, like ransomware, has shifted those calculations.

Security in cloud-based infrastructure has different possibilities, but enterprises don’t always leverage cloud’s potential to improve security footing, particularly in networking. Quint Van Deman, senior principal within the office of the CISO at Amazon Web Services joins host Eric Hanselman to look at what can be done better to improve cloud security posture. There’s a lot more telemetry available and enterprises have to step beyond on-premises thinking to put it to work effectively.

Technology’s impacts are felt in many areas, including podcasts! We pull back the curtain a little with producers Darren Rose and Kyle Cangialosi joining host Eric Hanselman to look at the transformations that are driving media production. Concerns about deep fakes are all the rage, but the realities of the technical capabilities are still progressing in their ability to deliver professional quality media. Our podcast is benefiting from AI-powered studio tools, too.

It might seem like generative AI has eclipsed the metaverse as a buzzy tech topic, but the two are intersecting in ways that are impacting autonomous vehicles and wealth of pursuits beyond gaming. Ian Hughes returns to the podcast to explore what this interaction is creating today and where it’s headed. The complexities of the real world are difficult to recreate in training and simulation settings, but are critically needed, particularly those of unpredictable humans…

A set of significant deals in sports media rights have just closed and Richard Berndes returns to explore their impacts with host Eric Hanselman. There’s a shifting mix of free-to-air, pay TV and streaming providers competing for the rights to air games. The English Premier League just settled a four year deal with a record total valuation and the U.S. National Women’s Soccer League closed one at forty times its previous. All of this cash may be aiding gender parity in coaching pay, as well.

Increasing power densities in the devices that are populating datacenters are pushing their cooling capabilities to new technologies. Perkins Liu returns to dig into liquid cooling and progress at the Open Compute Summit with host Eric Hanselman. The OCP is working on extending its ecosystem efforts to liquid cooling as generative AI and other high performance computing uses look to leverage its greater capacity and sustainability. High powered GPU’s are driving direct to chip cooling.

As semiconductor vendors wrestle with building more capable devices, they’re turning to innovations to manage cost, improve yields and get to market faster. Chiplets let them pull together the best capabilities from different processes and geometries and build better parts. John Abbott returns to discuss the benefits and where chiplets are being put to work with host Eric Hanselman. Driven by the efficiency and power demands of AI, they’re being used in next-generation GPU’s and processors.

Many aspects of technology are interlinked with energy, but there are even more complex interactions that are in play. Our annual Big Picture reports are out and Veronica Retamales Burford and Nick Patience join host Eric Hanselman to explore the connections between water, both its use in datacenters and the issues caused by flooding and drought, energy, with its generation and consumption, and the demands and uses of AI. spglobal.com/bigpicture 

Vectors have an important property - they have both scale and direction. A new research product, the Technology Demand Indicator, offers this perspective in evaluating tech trends. Research Director Liam Eagle and Analyst Malav Parekh join host Eric Hanselman to discuss how it was developed and where it can be used. The panels, built from the 451 Alliance, generate insights that can provide direction.   To learn more about the 451 Alliance, visit: 451alliance.com

There are significant concerns about the security of the various publicly accessible generative AI tools that are available. Many organizations have enacted outright bans on their use for fear of exposing sensitive data. There’s a path to access the benefits of these tools while managing the risk and Steve Riley, field CTO for Netskope, joins host Eric Hanselman to explore it. Starting with role-based controls and moving in to more specific shades of access can simplify security policies.

As the holiday shopping season kicks into high gear, customer experience becomes an even more critical part of retail. Sheryl Kingstone returns to discuss data from recent studies with host Eric Hanselman. Customers are expecting better integration of their online and in-person experiences and effective blending of digital capabilities is needed to keep from missing out on potential revenue. Digital infrastructure has to extend into stores, alongside a full complement of payment options.