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Thursday, June 29th, 2017
| Time | Event |
| 7:06p | Sinequa Expands AI Chops to Attack the New Digital Divide Among Enterprises Paris-based Sinequa is a privately held software solutions company which provides its customers with insight engines for big data. On July 27, Sinequa announced it is expanding its cloud AI for image recognition and video speech-to-text and natural language translation (NLP), adding Google Vision and Translate and IBM Watson Alchemy for Image Recognition to its platform. These additions bolster related capabilities already in place with the existing integration for Microsoft Azure Media Services for image and video treatment. “The ability to ingest, understand, organize, and query digital content from multiple data sources whether on-premises or in the Cloud will be a key differentiator for enterprise solutions in general and Sinequa in particular,” said David Schubmehl, IDC Research Director for Cognitive/AI Systems, in Tuesday’s announcement. Sinequa senior product marketing manager Scott Parker told Data Center Knowledge in an interview there is a rapidly expanding digital divide among Fortune 2000 companies. He believes large enterprises that harness the power of extracting insights from company data will inevitably gain a valuable edge over industry peers. Notably, Parker had previously worked within the IBM Watson group, after IBM purchased the software firm Vivisimo in 2012. Sinequa, a founding sponsor of the Cognitive Computing Consortium, was recognized as a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Insight Engines in 2015, and again in 2017. Adding IBM Watson and Google Cloud capabilities appears to be a natural extension of an industry leading platform. Sinequa OverviewSinequa software uses Machine Learning algorithms for deep analytics of diverse data sets and user behavior to provide insight and suggest actions for users in their work context.
Source: Sinequa – (for all presentation slides) Notably, Sinequa is agnostic when it comes to data sources. If an application and related data are deployed in multiple locations globally, and/or hosted in the cloud, Sinequa can crawl and index all locations to create a Logical Data Warehouse (LDW). Sinequa’s grid architecture then provides an efficient way to scale, integrate, and distribute data while maintaining each customer underlying security rules and access. Why Cognitive Search MattersEnterprise users often need the ability to extract information quickly and cost effectively from both on-premises and cloud-based sources. According to The Forrester Wave in a recent report, “keyword-based enterprise search engines of the past are obsolete.” The report explains, “Cognitive search is the new generation of enterprise search that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to return results that are more relevant to the user or embedded in an application issuing the search query.”
Source: Forrester Wave Cognitive Search report – Q2 2017 Forrester defines cognitive search and knowledge discovery as:
Sinequa technology allows customers to translate text in a large number of languages, analyze and tag images, and transcribe video conversations which are embedded in rich media content. Industry Verticals – Diverse Use CasesImproving customer service, locating experts, avoiding duplicate work and assessing the competitive environment are ways Sinequa customers derive returns on their investment utilizing this technology. In addition, when it comes to highly regulated industries a business case could be made for cost avoidance through utilizing AI, or “cognitive services,” to avoid compliance issues and related penalties. Parker shared a simple example where video of a job site or factory floor could be automatically searched and screened for potential safety violations.
The power of overlaying Sinequa’s software engine over data from 150-plus inputs can be leveraged for more complex tasks, including: financial institution fraud detection, insurance risk assessment, military intelligence, discovery of terrorist networks and money laundering, legal case management, pharmaceutical clinical trials and related research, are all examples of use cases. Big Data is Big BusinessPrivately-held Sinequa has been profitable for five consecutive years, and doubled its revenues in 2016. Customers include governmental agencies and information-intensive organizations, including Airbus, AstraZeneca, Atos, Biogen, NASDAQ, European Union, IMF, Credit Agricole, Total, and Siemens. Parker told DCK, “industry use cases developed by Sinequa can create a virtuous cycle where each customer deployment is better than the last.” Sinequa software is a usage-based subscription model where the amount of customer data being analyzed dictates pricing – an elastic model similar to public cloud. Adding IBM Watson and Google Cloud capabilities appears to be a natural extension of a successful technology. Sinequa has its own proprietary algorithms. However, this latest integration with IBM’s cognitive services and Google’s meta-data underscores how Sinequa also provides an easy path for large enterprise to utilize the latest AI innovations from partners under a single umbrella. |
| 7:49p | Platform9 Raises $22M to Make Open Source Cloud Infrastructure Tech Easier Platform9, a startup whose Software-as-a-Service platform takes much of the pain out of using open source cloud infrastructure technologies, has raised $22 million in Series C funding. It supports frameworks like Kubernetes, OpenStack, and Fission. The funding round was led by Canvas Ventures, along with existing investors Redpoint Ventures and Menlo Ventures, with Hewlett Packard Enterprise also participating. In 2015 Platform9 raised $10 million in Series B funding. The company says the current round will be used to scale its sales force, product and marketing teams, as well as put resources toward expanding its product line, which it calls “open source as a platform.” “Enterprises today are racing to adopt the cloud, but struggle with managing numerous infrastructure silos, ranging from legacy virtualized data centers to pockets of public cloud deployments,” Sirish Raghuram, Platform9’s CEO, explained. “With our novel SaaS approach to complex cloud frameworks, we enable infrastructure anywhere to be easily managed using industry-leading open-source frameworks such as Kubernetes and OpenStack. Today, Platform9 is enabling DevOps, reducing costs and accelerating cloud transformation for more than 200 clouds worldwide.” It’s easy to understand why VCs would find Platform9 an attractive investment. The company says its revenue grew by 300 percent last year, while its customer base grew by 360 percent. It also boasts a revenue retention rate of 125 percent, made possible by existing customers increasing their annual subscription. Customers utilizing the service include such names as Cadence Design, Autodesk, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Sony Playstation. In all, the company says that it has more than 60 enterprise-level customers. “Enterprises know they have to move to the cloud sooner or later,” said Gary Little, a partner at Canvas Ventures who is now joining Platform9 as a board member. “But getting there is no small feat. Platform9 simplifies the challenge, helping companies migrate to cloud computing more quickly and cost effectively than any other solution. It also helps customers avoid being locked into a single cloud provider. That’s something that resonates with chief technology officers across industries.” It’s also easy to understand HPE’s interest. Anything that removes roadblocks getting in the way of new cloud deployments will help sell servers, and the company doubtlessly hopes that it’s stake in the company will give it a competitive edge. The need for a simplified method for using platforms such as OpenStack and Kubernetes isn’t difficult to grasp. Although essential for building modern and open customized clouds, the deployment and management of such systems can be daunting even for experienced developers, especially if they need to be integrated into an existing infrastructure. SaaS running on an on-prem server might be a little less intuitive, however. To use the service, a customer installs an agent on its servers that is then paired with a Platform9 account. Once deployed, the agent makes a connection to Platform9’s cloud-based controller to create a channel through which the service can discover information about the customer’s environment and configure that environment into an OpenStack-based private cloud. “On creating a Platform9 private cloud for their environment, administrators can import their existing servers and workloads into Platform9 non-disruptively within minutes,” the company explains in a FAQ. “Existing storage and networking are seamlessly discovered and reported into Platform9 interface on pairing your server infrastructure with Platform9.” The service can also integrate with any compute, storage and network infrastructure, using virtualization technologies including KVM, Docker or vSphere. In addition, public cloud deployments are not limited to a single provider, with customers free to choose between Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, or other. “While the industry at large struggles with the complexity of running open-source frameworks such as OpenStack and Kubernetes using traditional models, we have proven beyond doubt that SaaS makes it easy to deploy, manage and maintain cloud frameworks,” Raghuram said in a blog post about the funding. “Our belief is that SaaS represents the future for consumption of all open-source cloud technologies, and we look forward to further expanding our offering, by scale and by range of services offered.” |
| 8:19p | Cyberattack Fallout Engulfs FedEx, Shuts Terminals and Email Molly Schuetz, Jordan Robertson and Nico Grant (Bloomberg) — The global cyberattack that has been wending its way across continents since Tuesday started creating real consequences at some businesses even as the virus’s spread seemed to be abating. FedEx Corp. said it could suffer a “material” financial impact after the bug affected the worldwide operations of its TNT Express delivery unit. Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S shut down systems across its operations to contain the cyberattack and said the impact on its business is “being assessed.” The company’s APM Terminals unit closed its Port Elizabeth facility in New Jersey Wednesday and suspended gate operations Thursday. Other companies were forced to resort to old-school business practices after taking corporate email offline to contain further contamination. Employees at global snack giant Mondelez International Inc. were working via cellphones, text messages and personal email, while law firm DLA Piper closed its systems as a “precautionary measure,” meaning clients couldn’t contact its team by email or land-line. No Kill SwitchThe cyberattack began in Ukraine Tuesday, infecting computer networks and demanding $300 in cryptocurrency to unlock systems. The virus spread throughout Europe before jumping to the U.S. and eventually touching Asia and South America. As of midday Tuesday in North America, Kaspersky Lab analysts said about 2,000 users had been attacked. There was no new update Wednesday. So far, cybersecurity researchers haven’t found a kill switch, which had allowed them to stop the similar WannaCry virus in May. While many computers have been patched to protect the systems from being vulnerable to malware such as WannaCry, this new infection has additional capabilities that let it spread by other means through internal networks. Anyone who clicks on a malicious email attachment could put their entire organization at risk. Port operators around the world were among those with the most tangible consequences. While goods were still being moved, the process was severely slowed as terminals were forced to revert to manual or backup operations. In Argentina, the world’s largest exporter of soy derivatives, grain traders resorted to backup mechanical processes, without help from computers, to load trucks full of grain at Rosario, a port on the Paraná River that handles 80 percent of the nation’s grain shipments. Nidera B.V., Cargill Inc., Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. and COFCO Corp. all operate from Rosario. ‘Portal Down’An APM Terminals facility at the Alabama State Docks in Mobile was reopened Wednesday to service trucks loading and unloading goods, but it wasn’t quite business as usual. “The process is a lot slower than their automated system or their computer system,” said Judith Adams, a port representative. “While the trucks are stacked up, they’re moving. They’re keeping gate hours.” “Our portal is down and we are not able to take on new orders until we get it back up,” Maersk Line Chief Commercial Officer Vincent Clerc said, declining to say when systems would return to normal. “We’re being very cautious to ensure that as we bring the applications back up, the attack is contained and rolled back. It limits the accessibility we have at the moment.” A terminal operated by Maersk at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, a facility near Mumbai, which is India’s biggest container port, was unable to load or unload shipments because of the attack. With the Gateway Terminal India facility unable to identify which shipment belongs to whom, the port was clearing cargo manually, Chairman Anil Diggikar said. Seventy-five Maersk group terminals were hit by the attack, he said. APM Terminals said a “majority” of its terminals were operational by late afternoon in New York, though some were operating slower than usual and with limited functionality. At the Port of Los Angeles, the Maersk-affiliated terminal shut at 6 a.m. local time Tuesday and remained closed the following day, according to Phillip Sanfield, a spokesman. Other companies including France’s BNP Paribas SA, U.K. advertising giant WPP Plc and Hamburg-based Beiersdorf AG, the maker of Nivea and Labello lip balm, were also coping with the fallout. “With there being no global kill switch for this one, we’ll continue to see the numbers rise in different parts of the world as more vulnerable systems become more exposed,” said Beau Woods, deputy director of the Cyber Statecraft Initiative at the Atlantic Council in Washington. Unlike traditional forms of ransomware, which often provide secure forms of payment in order to release control of networks, the new hack has seemingly concentrated on crippling systems, rather than obtaining a ransom. The email address posted on users’ locked screen, used by victims to receive decryption keys, was easily and swiftly shut down by the email provider. U.K. media company WPP’s website was knocked offline, and employees were told to turn off their computers and not use WiFi, according to a person familiar with the matter. Sea Containers, the London building that houses WPP and agencies including Ogilvy & Mather, was shut down Tuesday, another person said, and workers Wednesday were encouraged to work from home and avoid logging into the central network. |
| 9:09p | Microsoft Acquires Cloud Management Company Cloudyn  Brought to you by IT Pro Today Microsoft announced that it has acquired the Israel based company Cloudyn which offers management and monitoring tools for companies to keep an eye on their cloud service usage and stay within budget targets. There is no doubt that more companies are moving to the cloud for many of their formerly on-premises services but one aspect that is critical in their success is the ability to monitor and control those costs. Although many may see the cloud as an unlimited resource, that is far from the case and the capabilities Cloudyn brings to Microsoft Azure will continue to improve that process for end users. According to Cloudyn’s website they currently support cloud services on Microsoft Azure but also for Amazon, Google, and Openstack. There is no word in either Microsoft’s or Cloudyn’s announcements about this acquisition whether or not the other competitor cloud services will continue ot be supported. Microsoft’s Jeremy Winter, Director of Program Management for Azure Security and Operations Management, stated that Cloudyn will slowly be fully integrated across Azure:
There are no details relating to the amount Microsoft has paid for Cloudyn or a timeline for the deal to be finalized with work beginning on the integration between Cloudyn and Azure. This article originally appeared on IT Pro. |
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