A new global study by data
virtualisation company Denodo identifies hybrid cloud as the most widespread
deployment path.
Hybrid configurations account for 42% of all
deployments. Public cloud takes second place with an 18% share – head-to-head
with private cloud, which accounts for 17% of enterprise configurations.
Companies pursue the hybrid approach for its versatility, which allows them to mix and match resources and IT skills to obtain the best of both worlds.
Two-thirds of respondents (66%) use the cloud for analytics and business intelligence, while 42% of companies leverage the technology for logical data warehousing. Data science applications are the focus of 41% of respondents.
Choosing the right AI stack
Research firm IDC released two new
reports that shed some light on how to choose the best AI
infrastructure stacks for your company.
IDC thinks it is a good idea for
organisations to invest in full stacks from a single vendor, as it can help
speed up deployment and promote the universal adoption of AI.
That is, of course, as long as every element in the package is thoroughly vetted to ensure proper performance and the compatibility of all elements across the board.
The company defines an interoperable framework, called the AI Plane (AIP), to help companies evaluate the myriad of AI offerings out there and choose the right one.
News from the frontlines…
One more week means one less week until
things start looking normal again. This is what the tech world is doing to help
in the fight against COVID-19…
Researchers at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York are using AI to identify COVID-19 in patients. The research, published recently in Nature Magazine, describes how the scientists are leveraging AI analysis of CT scans and clinical data to quickly detect potential infections.
Wearables like smart wristbands and watches are being used to stem outbreaks of the virus in adult care homes. The system allows staff to track contact among elders within the centre, helping curb the virus spread by isolating those infected.
How brain-like should AI be? Cloud and clear, Microsoft… News from the frontlines… Discover our Tech & IT weekly news.
How brain-like should AI be?
What constitutes intelligence and how do we
replicate it? Computer experts and neuroscientists have long been after a
universal theory of intelligence. The idea is simple — the more we understand
how the brain works, the better our AI will be.
Well, not exactly.
Kelly Clancy, a neuroscientist working with
Google’s DeepMind, delves deep into the issue in this WIRED article. Her
main point? Two different roads often lead to the same place.
AI developers should keep in mind that what works for our brain might not work in machines, and vice versa.
Speaking of AI – during its annual Built
conference, Microsoft unveiled a new partnership
with OpenAI to develop an Azure-hosted AI supercomputer.
The computer will be among the 5 most
advanced supercomputers in the world. It will be deployed to test large-scale
models and advance towards general artificial intelligence.
Microsoft also announced its first industry-specific cloud offering for the healthcare sector. The solution, which is now available in public preview, connects products like Microsoft 365 for marketing and customer service and Azure IoT.
Use cases include the development of a “patient journey” that helps manage patient care and maximises positive outcomes.
News from the frontlines…
One more week means one less week until
things start looking normal again. This is what the tech world is doing to help
in the fight against COVID-19…
If the pandemic has taught us anything about
retail IT is that, unlike larger companies, SMEs don’t always have the means to
shift to digital operations when needed. In what is big news for e-commerce,
Facebook has launched Shops, a new
service that will allow companies to sell products on its platforms.
The debate over the effectiveness of contact tracing technology rages on. Industry competitors and researchers are teaming up against all odds to create apps that respect user privacy, but poor adoption could undermine all these efforts. Nature magazine takes an in-depth look at the issue.
Plenty going on with tech these days. Even Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, used his keynote speech at this year’s Build to congratulate the tech industry’s response to the global crisis.
Rebuilding AI Infrastructure? A lot of AI models were built for a world that no longer exists. But the status quo has changed with COVID-19.
A lot of AI models were built for a world that no longer exists. We trained algorithms to interpret consumer behaviour and user patterns based on a certain notion of normality. But the status quo has changed with COVID-19. Let’s talk about the task of rebuilding AI infrastructure.
Online search terms, purchases, location data
– every metric right now is suggestive of a society that has nothing to do with
what our world looked like a few months ago.
What would you think of early-2020 humans if
you were to just look at raw data? Sedentary creatures, obsessed with acquiring
toilet paper and prompt to anger over social media.
That’s what Will Douglas Heaven, senior AI editor for MIT Technology Review, focuses on in his article this week.
We’re adapting to the new normal. The machine learning algorithms powering the modern enterprise will need to be revised as well.
Rebuilding AI Infrastructure
Customised Google search
Just like we resort to Google or any other
search engine to unearth all the existing information on a certain topic,
companies have for long struggled to make it easier for their employees and
end-users to search for information across internal data silos.
This week, Amazon announced the general availability of Kendra, its own solution to this problem. The platform leverages natural language processing to let users search for anything they need through natural questions rather than keywords.
And so, automation keeps on permeating and refining enterprise systems.
News from the frontlines
Another week means a new host of tech
initiatives meant to combat the spread and effects of the pandemic.
Some weeks ago, Twitter announced a series of tools intended to dissuade users from posting harmful content. This week, Facebook made public early results outlining how its AI-based, hate-speech countermeasures are working. Promising, albeit still a ways to go.
Experts in every discipline are relying on tech to come up with ways of avoiding future catastrophes and carry better, collective lives. The Financial Times examines what one of these experts has to say about re-thinking cities for a better future.
Discover more content about artificial intelligence:
Almost two months after the start of the
global lockdown, some parts of the world are slowly starting to reopen. People
walk the streets and are allowed in stores again, albeit under strict social
distancing guidelines.
Business is ready to get back on track, but
companies now face the double challenge of ramping up activity and adapting to
a new normal. Last week we discussed how investing in IT is crucial to
enterprise survival and recovery – this week we saw some positive signs
confirming this trend.
It was not that long ago that Microsoft seemed destined to take a more secondary role in the future of enterprise technology. But the company bounced back.
This week was packed with news from the Redmond, Virginia company — from a 59% quarterly increase in cloud revenue to an upcoming update to its VMware Azure integration.
More about Microsoft’s momentum in our latest industry snapshot. Spoiler alert: you could win up to $200K if you beat the company’s new hacking challenge.
More on contact tracing
This week we got more details on the upcoming
contact tracing technology that Apple and Google are developing to help fight
the spread of COVID-19.
Addressing what has been one of the most
contentious points of debate, the duo said their app will not permit the use
of location tracking. The full system, which is expected to be
released mid-May, will rely instead on Bluetooth to safeguard user
privacy.
Meanwhile, the UK’s National Health System, started testing an app that uses a similar approach.
The solution leverages (the ironically named) Bluetooth Low Energy handshakes to tell whether a person might have been in contact or not with an infected individual.
News from the frontlines
One more week, the tech world keeps up the
fight against the pandemic. This week…
Cybercrime has spiked amidst global chaos and
the rise of remote work. Regrettably, healthcare institutions are among the
hardest hit.
A group of security companies and professionals calling themselves the Cyber Alliance to Defend our Healthcarehave struck deals to protect a series of hospitals and national health organisations across Europe. The U.S. will be their next area of focus.
Meanwhile, Ciaran Martin, chief of the UK’s National Cybersecurity Centre, has pledged to redouble the body’s efforts to protect the country’s hospitals and health system.
This global crisis has taught us a few
things. One of the most transformative outcomes of the pandemic will be the
collective realisation of what really matters in life – and in business.
Job stability and meaningful projects, health, human contact. At a time when we’ve come to question everything that was part of our day-to-day, technology has proven to be indispensable. A lifeline connecting us to the rest of the world.
Now more than ever, IT departments hold the key to organisational resilience and recovery. Find out why.
Head in the clouds
The cloud industry’s momentum seems unstoppable. It was only last week that we were discussing how cloud providers are extremely well-positioned to benefit from the current situation.
This week, we got some more good news for the cloud folk. Despite taking a considerable hit in online advertising, Google has increased cloud revenue by 52%.
Additionally, the company’s Anthos platform is now live on AWS. Additionally, Oracle has scored a major win by securing Zoom’s cloud business. Video calls have surged amidst the global lockdown. The American company has emerged as the biggest beneficiary.
News from the frontlines
A look at the week in tech news. Join us on a
tour around the globe to see how tech is facing COVID-19 head-on. This week…
Tech giants, from NVIDIA to PayPal, have made a commitment to maintaining all employees throughout the crisis. This move, again, highlights the strategic importance of having a robust IT team. Even if it hurts you in the short term, it will prove more than worthy once the storm is over.
But some are not following this advice, endangering their operations, customers and partners. Some companies are trying to reduce overall IT costs by making their security experts shift to regular IT support tasks — that can prove disastrous for cybersecurity, accentuating the strain on enterprise networks.
This week marked the 50th anniversary of Earth
Day. Created by environmentalist Denis Hayes in 1970 (go math ?) the celebration reaches its
half a century of life amidst the greatest global crisis our world has seen in
a while.
Hayes sat down with
Thomson Reuters to reflect on the event’s trajectory and discuss how much we’ve
done vs. how much is left to do.
Among his main criticisms — the system’s failure to leverage technological innovations to produce cheaper, more efficient and cleaner energy.
He is hopeful that being stuck at home makes us more aware of what’s at stake should we not tackle climate change head-on and collectively.
It is precisely this message of unity that the European Space Agency wanted to emphasize, reminding us of the late Stephen Hawkins’ last message to humankind.
“How will we feed an ever-growing population, provide clean water, generate renewable energy, prevent and cure disease and slow down global climate change?
I hope that science and technology will provide the answers to these questions, but it will take people, human beings with knowledge and understanding to implement the solution.”
The message was broadcasted to all planet Earth, with accompanying music by Greek composer Vangelis.
It’s a mixed bag for IR35
The UK’s controversial IR35 regulation,
which was set to enter into force earlier this month, was delayed to April 2021
due to the advance of COVID-19. The decision was welcomed with relief by
workers and the enterprise world alike.
The legislation could have endangered
independent work by asking companies to pay higher taxes for contractors who
were not deemed independent enough.
But both industry and legislators at the House of Lords Finance Bill Committee believe the law needs to be further postponed, as an extra year might not be enough time. Some go beyond that, arguing for a bill revision rather than a delay.
However, the Treasury announced yesterday it had no intention at this moment of changing its plans.
News from the frontlines
One more week, we look at the various tech
initiatives being launched around the world to help fight the novel
coronavirus.
Cisco has created two new
programs to help healthcare organisations get the networking equipment they
need. The platforms match companies looking to donate unused wireless equipment
with healthcare facilities that need it.
Google has opened its
Healthcare API in a move to facilitate the sharing of medical data and promote
a coordinated response to the virus.
Facebook is launching a nation-wide symptom survey in the UK. The survey, which had already been rolled out in the U.S., will provide data to predict hospital admissions in specific areas.
Finally, the innovation arm of the UK’s National Health Service has announced a £500,000 funding competition for innovators and startups to come up with digital tools to help against the virus outbreak.
Beyond a shadow of a doubt, the tech news
story of the past few days has been the Apple-Google partnership against
COVID-19.
Announced last week, the unlikely union
between the two giants will focus on developing an app to help determine if a
person has been in close contact with an infected individual.
The system will let users opt-in, providing
anonymous and decentralised tracing. Much like a tool previously proposed by
MIT researchers, the app will theoretically ensure privacy by leveraging
Bluetooth connectivity.
Is anonymity really guaranteed? Should this
power be in the hands of private companies or controlled by public
institutions?
The two companies held a media call earlier this week to answer questions by reporters. Here’s TechCrunch’s account of what was discussed in that call.
If you’d like to dive deeper into the specifics, here’s a look at how these tracing tools work.
And they keep burning 5G towers…
Last week we touched on an ongoing phenomenon
that sounds surreal even in these strange times.
Some people in the UK are attacking 5G cell
towers, believing them to be linked to COVID-19.
Well — it looks like events keep escalating,
fueled by ludicrous conspiracy theories and social media claims that 5G is
behind the spread of the disease.
According to industry body Mobile UK, the country’s
network received more than
20 attacks over the weekend.
It turns out that one of the attacks was
directed at — wait for it — a 5G tower servicing a nearby hospital.
Genius.
Like the virus itself, this wave of disinformation seems to be spreading like wildfire, with incidents now being reported in the Netherlands.
Cybersecurity
Now more than ever, ensuring your network and
data security is critical for business success.
Remote
work has multiplied the number of potential points of entry for attackers,
while phishing attacks are easier to carry out thanks to greater use of social
media and email tools.
Just in
the US, a cybersecurity consultancy firm claims to have experienced a 500% increase in
attacks directly related to work-from-home individuals.
Now is the time to strengthen your IT security team, if you haven’t done so yet.
One more week equals one more look at the new
tech initiatives being launched to help fight the novel pandemic.
Speaking
of cybersecurity, Microsoft announced
that its
AccountGuard security service is now available for free for healthcare staff,
as well as for human rights and humanitarian organisations.
The
company has also released
a new
security patch addressing 113 bugs. Make sure to update your system.
Cloud provider DigitalOcean has created a hub where developers can share their projects aimed at tackling the crisis. The various initiatives go from hackathons to remote learning and quarantine support platforms.
A start-up called Thoughtful Human has partnered with BetterHelp to offer a free month of emotional support with licensed therapists.
Working on Mars — from home
Nothing better to remind you that you’re not
alone working from home.
NASA’s Curiosity team keeps operating the Mars rover from the comfort of their households. Inspiring to say the least.
If they can coordinate across time zones and different computing setups to drive a robot that’s millions of miles away, we can all weather this storm.
Things really escalate quickly sometimes. A few baseless claims here, some conspiracy theories there, and boom -- people start burning 5G telecommunication towers.
Things really escalate quickly sometimes. A few baseless claims here, some conspiracy theories there, and boom — people start burning 5G telecommunication towers.
At least that’s what’s happened in
the UK in recent weeks. A perfect-storm combination of public
disinformation and fake news has prompted some citizens to link 5G to
COVID-19.
The theories are as varied as they are full
of nonsense.
Some say 5G is making the effects of the
virus worse. Others believe that there is no coronavirus at all, that
governments are making it all up to hide the real cause of the symptoms: 5G.
A good reminder of
how important it is to communicate technological advances properly.
News from the frontlines…
Another week has gone by, bringing with it
new tech initiatives to fight the spread of COVID-19. Here are some of this
week’s most note-worthy new developments:
A team of researchers created an AI tool capable of predicting the chance of a patient developing acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). This promising algorithm provided 80% accuracy during initial tests, opening new possibilities to identify potentially critical patients early on.
Other efforts are also leveraging data and computation to find a solution to our current situation. AI and public health researchers at MIT and Harvard have pointed at the importance of Big Data in the fight against the coronavirus.
Finally, the big names in tech keep
announcing pandemic-related initiatives.
Intel pledged
$50
million to accelerate access to technology at the point of patient care.
Meanwhile, the CEO of Twitter and Square, Jack
Dorsey, offered
$1 billion (roughly 28% of his wealth) to
fund global COVID-19 relief efforts.
If the crisis found you in the middle of a
job hunt, you might now be wondering if you’ll be able to find a job at all in
the current climate. Or perhaps your projects were put on hold and you need new
ones ASAP.
No need to worry.
With the surge in remote work and internet
traffic, businesses need IT professionals now more than ever. Cloud computing
services like Microsoft Teams and Azure are skyrocketing. So is
videoconferencing. But that’s not all.
Many businesses weren’t ready for this sudden digital transformation and need all the help they can get. Additionally, the rise in digital operations has accentuated the cybersecurity skills shortage.
Find out what industries are booming and how you can seize the moment in this article.
News from the frontlines…
With every day that goes by, we hear of
another tech initiative being launched to halt the spread of COVID-19. These
are certainly inspiring new developments, and we thought they deserve a space
in our weekly MCC update.
Stay
tuned every week to learn how vital the IT world is becoming in this global
fight ?
In the
meantime, you can get acquainted with all ongoing efforts with this
great article.
This week’s highlight?
Quantum computing leader D-Wave Systems is giving free cloud access to their quantum computers to anyone working on responses to the pandemic.
The power of comedy
As psychologists often remind us, seeking
solace in humour is a very healthy response to difficult situations — You
surely have noticed an increase in the number of memes you are receiving as of
late.
So…
here’s another weekly section! This week…
A software engineer at Dell has created a great (and fun) comic on why we shouldn’t be afraid of AI.
Plus, seriously — be careful with videoconference filters. These guys’ boss spent a whole meeting being a potato:
It was the first purely electronic computational machine : brief Intro to Quantum Computing with Mission Control Center news by Mindquest.
The advent of quantum computing marks a pivotal moment in the ever-evolving landscape of technology. From the inception of ENIAC nearly 80 years ago to the present day, the pursuit of computational power has driven innovation, leading us to the frontier of quantum mechanics. With traditional computing reaching its limits, the emergence of quantum computing offers unprecedented possibilities, revolutionizing how we process information and tackle complex problems.
Need advice on how to start or develop your freelance consulting business in tech or IT? Need to start a new permanent or freelance assignment? Join Mindquest and get support from our team of experts.
Quantum computers, how they were created
Computer manufacturers have been pushing the frontiers of engineering since then. To achieve exponentially more powerful computing while reducing hardware size. Intel co-founder Gordon Moore famously predicted that the continuous shrinking of transistors would allow computer chips to double their processing power every two years. The forecast became known as Moore’s Law, and it has guided the semiconductor industry for over half a century. But things are changing.
It turns out you can only squeeze so much out of a single technological development. With time, chip components have become so small that their innovation and manufacturing are becoming prohibitively costly and slow. Just the research needed to stick to Moore’s Law costs silicon chip producers 18 times more than it did in 1971; according to economists at Stanford and MIT.
As a result, we must put the focus on developing a technological successor that allows us to keep up with our current pace of progress – enter quantum computing.
Quantum vs traditional computers
Traditional computing is based on the accumulated interactions of basic units of information: bits. These can hold two possible values, either 1 or 0 – hence the binary denomination.
However, quantum computers operate by leveraging quantum mechanics and information theory (i.e. the properties of atoms, of matter itself). The basic unit of information in quantum information theory is called a qubit. It can hold the value of 1 and 0, but also of everything in between – all at the same time. This property called quantum superposition describes the uncertainty of a particle’s state until this is measured. And also it is best explained by using the example of Schrodinger’s cat.
Schrodinger theory application
In this classic problem of logic, Schrodinger puts a cat in a closed box with a deadly poison. While the box remains closed, it is impossible to tell if the cat has taken the poison and is therefore dead, or if the poison lays untouched and the cat is still alive. The cat being dead or alive represents the 1 or 0 in a qubit. But here it’s where it gets tricky.
Since we can’t really say whether the cat is still alive or dead; quantum mechanics tells us that the cat is both alive (1) and dead (0). And everything in between at the same time. That is, of course, until we open the box and see what happened. In this example, opening the box would be equivalent to measuring the state or value of a qubit.
Down to the practical level; and beyond giving some of us a mild headache; what all of this essentially means is that quantum computers can perform some calculations incredibly faster than traditional ones. And that is because they offer a completely different approach to mathematical problems.
Let’s say we find ourselves in the middle of a labyrinth… And need to find the way out as quickly as possible. Whereas a traditional computer would try the various possible routes one at a time, a quantum computer can try all the paths at once. This allows these machines to be way better than traditional computers at solving certain types of problems. Like factoring large numbers or cracking a code.
Quantum supremacy
The triumph of quantum computers over traditional ones is what is known as quantum supremacy. Such a milestone will be reached when a quantum computer can beat the most advanced supercomputer at the planet at a particular task or benchmark test.
Google claimed to have achieved quantum supremacy last year. Although many have cast a shadow of doubt over that claim, it gives us a good idea of what this technology can achieve. But also what this technology will achieve soon enough. The company’s quantum computer allegedly took 200 seconds to perform a task that would take IBM’s Summit (the world’s fastest supercomputer) 10,000 years to complete.
Quantum Computing and Cybersecurity
In the realm of cybersecurity, quantum computing presents both opportunities and challenges. On one hand, the immense computational power of quantum systems has the potential to revolutionize encryption algorithms. Rendering current cryptographic methods obsolete. Quantum-resistant cryptography, such as lattice-based cryptography and quantum key distribution, offers promising solutions to mitigate the threat posed by quantum computers to conventional encryption methods.
However, the same quantum capabilities that enable advancements in cryptography also pose a threat to cybersecurity infrastructure. Quantum computers could theoretically break widely used encryption protocols, jeopardizing the confidentiality and integrity of sensitive data. As quantum computing continues to advance, it becomes imperative for cybersecurity professionals to adapt and develop quantum-safe cryptographic techniques. This to safeguard digital assets in the quantum era.
What lies ahead for quantum computing
So, when will I be able to buy a quantum computer? Well, it is highly unlikely that you’ll be carrying around a quantum laptop in the year 2050 – or any time after that for that fact. And that’s not only because of technical limitations (which of course are plenty), but also because you will not need to.
On the hardware side of things, the biggest limiting factor is the high instability of quantum states. Maintain qubits stable and superposed requires cooling them at temperatures near absolute zero. In plain language: to have a controllable and accurate quantum computer, you need, as of today, a huge refrigerating apparatus.
As for their potential applications — quantum computers cannot only be extremely advantageous in certain fields and problems of today; they also open the doors to a new realm of capabilities that we are not even able to imagine at this point. However, all these applications will probably have nothing to do with the everyday tasks reserved for personal computers and smartphones.
The true power of quantum computing, at least in theory, resides in their power to make endless calculations possible in a reasonable amount of time. There are already many algorithms designed to exploit these capabilities, promising great leaps forward in areas like data analysis, cryptography and artificial intelligence. Additionally, there are other quantum properties, like entanglement, which we are barely starting to study – we will be discussing them in a future article.
Only time will tell which paths are viable. The clock is ticking, and it’s a quantum one.
