Moor Insights & Strategy Two-Week Weekly Ending February 17, 2023

By Patrick Moorhead - February 17, 2023

We hope everyone had a great couple of weeks!

This week, I attended analyst meetings in Miami, FL. Matt participated as a moderator at Net Events– Digital Transformation and the challenges of CIOs and CISOs.

Our MI&S team published 33 deliverables: 

10 Forbes insight columns 
15 MI&S blogs
8 podcasts 
0 research papers

The press quoted us with 13 citations. Journalists wanted to hear about AMD, Cisco, Cloud, Crypto, Cybersecurity, Dell, Microsoft, Qualcomm, and T-Mobile.

MIS Quick Insights:

A.I./Machine Learning (Paul Smith-Goodson)

Large language models, like OpenAI's GPT-3, can generate human-like text after being trained using vast amounts of internet data. It is a mystery how these models can also learn new tasks through a phenomenon known as in-context learning, where they can complete a new task after seeing only a few examples.
This is surprising because, typically, machine-learning models need to be retrained to learn a new task. However, in-context learning allows the model's parameters to remain fixed while it appears to learn a new task without learning anything new. Researchers from MIT, Google Research, and Stanford University found that massive neural network models contain smaller, simpler linear models that can be trained using information already contained within the larger model. This phenomenon is being investigated.

AR/VR (Anshel Sag)

Carrier/Wireless (Will Townsend)

Datacenter: 

Networking- (Will Townsend) 

Server- (Matt Kimball) 

FinTech (Melody Brue)

Microsoft and Google's investment in AI has implications throughout every industry, but if Fintech and financial services utilize the technology, the efficiency of internal processes and tasks can be enhanced. This includes data analysis and report generation, providing financial institutions with valuable insights and information that can assist in informed investment and strategic decision-making. These advancements can result in more profitable and informed decisions for businesses and financial institutions. Tools like Excel incorporate natural language processing which enables the creation of complex formulas, the evaluation of financials, and the automated summarization of financial information efficiently. Although the output may not be flawless initially, the system improves as it gains more input, making audits and fact-checking crucial.
Private equity, venture capital, and M&A funding in regtech grew 53% in 2022 to $18.6 billion. This is a drastic increase on its own but even more so, as global investments in Fintech dropped 31% to $164.1 billion. Financial services institutions have cut workforce costs and rely on technology to fill gaps. The boom is likely due to regulatory demands from the war in Ukraine, Basel 4 banking reforms, and increased hacking and fraud, among other things. As more financial institutions continue their digital transformation and people expect a digital-first, on-demand experience in financial services, regtech will likely play a significant role in keeping private information safe and FIs compliant. Similarly, as non-banks embed financial services into products, they will have to do the same.

IioT and IoT (Bill Curtis)

This week, the Connectivity Standards Alliance announced the formation of a new working group focused on health and wellness technology. Matter is a smart home standard, but its underlying principles and design patterns apply equally well to other vertical industries. The concept is straightforward – connect embedded edge devices using standard Internet protocols over IP-bearing networks and define a common "language" for information exchange over those connections. Why didn't this happen years ago in many verticals? Big industry companies had to agree that instead of fighting for a bigger share of a small pie, it's better to bake a bigger pie. Google, Amazon, Apple, Samsung, and 500 other companies collaborated to build Matter for smart home applications, and other vertical industries can certainly do the same. Healthcare is the next logical step because Matter-enabled smart home infrastructure can also support healthcare devices by adding a new language for health data. The CSA folks are collaborating with the Center for Medical Interoperability (C4MI), but we haven't seen any specific use cases.

Modern Work (Melody Brue)

Last week was the start of an industry-changing Microsoft vs. Google generative AI battle that has the potential to change the way people work across nearly every industry. AI technology can be integrated into the company's productivity tools, including Outlook and Office 365. This could take the form of digital assistants, bot-suggested PowerPoint content and formatting, email sorting and suggested replies based on previous interactions, suggested next-best actions, and more.
Microsoft also announced its intention to integrate ChatGPT into Microsoft Teams in a premium plan. The chatbot will suggest templates specific to the needs of the meeting organizer, generate notes from meetings, summarize content specific to users based on their needs, and even translate notes and transcripts into 40 different languages. ChatGPT can also summarize meetings, calls, and webinars into chapters, assign titles, and flag specific names and content. This could be a game changer for reducing the number of meetings people need to attend while improving their ability to consume content relevant to them and their particular roles. This may free people to be more present and think more clearly during meetings. They won't need to spend so much energy corralling participants, taking notes, or assigning post-meeting responsibilities. Ultimately, that means they can spend less time planning and more time executing.
Google likewise has plans for AI integrations beyond search. During the company's earnings call, Google CEO Pichai spoke of integrating generative AI into most of its products, from Google Docs to Gmail. While he didn't specify what AI-assisted emails would be like, he broadly touched on designs and features Gmail might have. In an application like email AI would be able to analyze content from previous interactions and suggest replies, automate workflows and follow-ups, and integrate with scheduling tools. By linking applications like Gmail, Calendar, and Chat, Bard can act as anyone's personal assistant, freeing up employees at every level in an organization to focus on more meaningful and strategic work.
Employee monitoring software, also known as "tattleware," is a growing workplace trend, with employers tracking keystrokes, taking screenshots, and recording personal conversations in remote workers' homes. Monitoring can be necessary for data security, particularly in remote and hybrid work. Employers also want visibility into remote workers' productivity, although monitoring can be invasive, damage trust, and reduce productivity. The early versions of employee-monitoring technology were considered intrusive and often did not create a holistic view of an individual contributor. It was also primarily done in secret. ActivTrak is one workforce analytics and productivity platform that uses organizational data to pinpoint essential insights for productivity with transparency. While I understand workers' hesitation and uneasiness about tracking, I also see much to be gained from insight into allocating time and resources. At every level of an organization, data can be used to enhance strategic alignment and enable visibility into cross-functional collaboration and coordination while simultaneously monitoring employee engagement and well-being.
This platform can help workers maintain a productive schedule, break bad habits, and identify skills gaps and opportunities for coaching and upskilling. With transparency and trust, monitoring can foster collaboration and help identify burnout. The employee-tracking industry will continue to evolve and face the challenges of openness, acceptance, and regulation. There are many opportunities within the insights gained from productivity monitoring that the industry hasn't tapped into yet, and I look forward to seeing roadmaps evolve.

Personal Computing/ Collaboration (Anshel Sag) 

Quantum Computing (Paul Smith-Goodson)

Quantinuum announced that Rajeeb Hazra had been appointed as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to replace Ilyas Khan, who will move to Vice Chairman. Hazra brings a wealth of technical experience to the job with more than 30 years of executive-level experience in supercomputing and quantum computing.
- Hazra's mission at Quantinuum is to advance quantum computing and drive the commercialization of quantum products in various fields, such as drug discovery, healthcare, materials science, cybersecurity, energy transformation, and climate change. Harza steps into a role where Quantinuum has an excellent technical foundation and a realistic roadmap, with many of its future technologies founded in existing research.
- Hazra has all the experience and savvy needed to accomplish his mission. It will be interesting to see what he does in his first 6 to 12 months in terms of advancing the technology and reorganizing the company to ready it for implementation of his plans to advance the technology and drive commercialization of quantum products in various fields, such as drug discovery, healthcare, materials science, cybersecurity, energy transformation, and climate change.
SPAC-created Rigetti is on shaky financial ground. It has dwindling cash reserves, and Nasdaq has threatened to delist its stock that is perilously close to dipping below a dollar.
- Rigetti laid off 50 people, almost 30% of its employees. As part of its cash-conserving plans, it has revised its roadmap to a small 84-qubit machine, down from releasing a quantum computer with 336 qubits in 2023.

Retail Tech (Melody Brue)

ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI, has the potential to impact the retail industry significantly. It can be integrated into retail websites and mobile apps to provide 24/7 customer service, and analyze customer behavior and purchase history to make personalized product recommendations, increasing customer satisfaction and sales. Its real-time sales data analysis can provide retailers with insights for optimized inventory management, reducing waste, and increasing efficiency. By utilizing technology, businesses can gain valuable insights into market trends, customer behavior, and industry developments. These insights can help inform strategies and decision-making, leading to the identification of distribution channels and new revenue opportunities.
The pharmacist and staff shortage in the U.S. has hit some retailers so hard that they have had to reduce store hours. CVS plans to put lockers in place - similar to Amazon pick-up lockers - where customers can pick up prescriptions. The company isn't moving to replace pharmacists or pharmacy technicians; it aims to provide better service. However, the employment outlook for pharmacy technicians is expected to decline even further over the next decade, and tech solutions will likely be on the rise in the space. The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists has launched a website and tool (https://rxtechteam.org/)for addressing the nationwide shortage with recruitment and retention support. While this is a critical step, I think it's just a glimpse of the investments that will pour into addressing this problem from a technology and people perspective.

Security (Will Townsend)

Space (Paul Smith-Goodson)

Columns Published

An Open Approach To Hybrid Data Clouds, by Patrick Moorhead
Overcoming Challenges Facing Data Leaders, by Patrick Moorhead
Zoho Continues To Unify Its Platform With Zoho Trident, by Patrick MoorheadOracle Cloud Made All The Right Moves In 2022, by Patrick Moorhead
Renesas Positions Its Microcontrollers For The Digitally Transformed Automotive Industry And Consumer And Industrial Markets, by Patrick Moorhead
Qualcomm's New Snapdragon X75 And X35 5G Modems Move The 5G Goalposts Even Further Out, by Anshel Sag
ActivTrak Provides Insights, Not Surveillance, To Maximize Employee Productivity, by Melody Brue
IBM Demonstrates Groundbreaking Artificial Intelligence Research Using Foundational Models And Generative AI, by Paul Smith-Goodson
Cisco Live EMEA 2023—Simplicity, Security, And Sustainability, by Will Townsend
Microsoft Announces New Generative AI Search Using ChatGPT; Bada BING, Bada Boom—The AI Race Is On, by Melody Brue

Blogs Published (MI&S)                                                              

Samsung Announces Its Next Generation Flagship S Series Devices And Galaxy Book3 Laptops, by Patrick Moorhead
NVIDIA's RTX And DLSS3 Cyberpunk Support Demonstrate Why These Features Are The Future Of Gaming, by Patrick Moorhead
Intel's Future Is Prettier Than Its Past Quarter And Guide, by Patrick MoorheadZoho – Running A Software Enterprise From A Village, by Patrick Moorhead
Kyndryl – Spinoff From IBM Making The Right Moves, by Patrick MoorheadAre The EU Concerns With Broadcom's VMware Deal Justified? By Patrick Moorhead
A First Chat With New Infoblox President And CEO Scott Harrell, by Patrick Moorhead
T-Mobile Sets Industry-Leading 2040 Net-Zero Commitment, by Melody Brue
DARPA Gets Serious About Quantum: Five-Year Funding To Build Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computers Goes To Atom Computing, Microsoft And PsiQuantum, by Paul Smith-Goodson
HP Poly Unveils Mini Conferencing PC And Other Microsoft Teams-Certified Solutions For Hybrid Work Collaboration, by Melody Brue
Samsung's New Galaxy S23 And Galaxy Book Bring Incremental Changes To Samsung's Lineup, by Anshel Sag
CES 2023: Matter — Unlocking The Smart Home, by Bill Curtis
Fintech: 10 Expert Predictions For 2023, by Melody Brue
How Are Server Vendors Embracing Intel's Sapphire Rapids? By Matt Kimball
Seamless Checkout, AI, Robotics News From Microsoft, Google, Brain Corp, And More At NRF 2023, by Melody Brue

Research Paper(s):

Podcasts:

The G2 on 5G by Moor Insights & Strategy, with Anshel Sag and Will Townsend

The Six-Five Podcast by Moor Insights & Strategy and Futurum Research, with Patrick Moorhead and Daniel Newman

Moor Insights & Strategy Podcast

DataCentric Podcast

Press Citations: 

AMD / Cryptovibes https://www.cryptovibes.com/blog/2023/02/03/amd-revenue-surpasses-targets-wall-street-relieved-after-intels-grim-outlook/ Anshel Sag
Cisco/PRnewswire https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1996377/Press_Release_Quote_Sheet.pdf?p=original (Will Townsend)
Cisco / Iotworldtoday https://www.iotworldtoday.com/iiot/cisco-introduces-new-cloud-tools-for-iiot-applications (Will Townsend)
Cloud / Wolfshop https://wolfshop.in/go-hybrid-multi-cloud-or-dont-go/
Dell / Austin American Statesman https://www.statesman.com/story/business/economy/2023/02/06/dell-layoffs-announced-five-percent-global-tech-workers/69876474007/
Dell / Yahoo News https://news.yahoo.com/dell-technologies-lay-off-6-150758096.htmlMicrosoft / CNET https://www.cnet.com/tech/ai-as-co-pilot-your-online-life-is-about-to-change-like-it-or-not/
T-Mobile / Biz Crast https://biz.crast.net/t-mobile-sets-industry-leading-2040-net-zero-commitment/
T-Mobile / Headtopics https://headtopics.com/us/t-mobile-sets-industry-leading-2040-net-zero-commitment-34946516
https://siliconangle.com/2023/02/17/cybersecurity-gaps-grow-consolidation-takes-new-meaning-hybrid-cloud-hpecomputesecurity/
https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/why-sec-ripple-ruling-will-be-a-game-changer-for-crypto/article_18a5e48e-ad5a-11ed-ba3f-db3caa44997c.html
https://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/qualcomm-prepares-5g-advanced-x75-chip
https://www.rcrwireless.com/20230215/chips/qualcomm-eyes-5g-advanced-with-snapdragon-x75

Company:

New Gear or Software We are Using and Testing that is Public Knowledge 

Inseego MiFi X Pro 5G hotspot
OnePlus 11 5G
OnePlus Buds 2 Pro
Solis Lite Global Mobile Wi-Fi hotspot

Events MI&S Plans on Attending In-Person or Virtually (New) 

February
- Mobile World Congress – Barcelona, February 27 – March 2 (Anshel Sag, Will Townsend)
March
- Mobile World Congress, March 1 (Patrick Moorhead)
- APS Quantum, Las Vegas, March 5-10 (Paul Smith-Goodson)
- LoRa Alliance Event - Orlando, March 14-16 (Will Townsend)
- Adobe Summit 2023, Las Vegas, March 21-23 (Melody Brue)
- Enterprise Connect, Orlando, March 27-30 (Melody Brue)
- Connected America – Dallas, March 28-29 (Will Townsend)
April
- Fortinet Accelerate – Orlando, April 3-6 (in person) (Will Townsend)
- RSA Conference – San Francisco, April 24-27 (virtual) (Will Townsend)
May

The Team 

Analysts, Analysts In-Residence, Contributors

Patrick Moorhead, Founder, CEO, Chief Analyst; Broad technology coverage plus deep insights into Cloud & SaaS, Personal Computing, Semiconductors, & Automotive 
Bill Curtis, Analyst In-Residence, IIoT, and Deep IoT Technology 
Matt Kimball, Principal Analyst, Datacenter Servers, CI, and HCI 
Melody Brue, Principal Analyst, Financial Tech
Anshel Sag, Principal Analyst; VR, PC Gaming, Mobile Platforms 
Paul Smith-Goodson, Principal Analyst; Machine Learning, A.I. and Quantum Computing 
Will Townsend, Principal Analyst; Security, Carrier Services, Networking 
Chris Wilder, Contributor, Security 
Jacob Freyman, Junior Analyst

Operations 

Dan Pickens, Business Director 
Paula Moorhead, Marketing Director, Website and Social Media 
Zane Pickett, Office Manager, AP, AR, travel, writer 
Lee LeClercq Williams, Business Associate 
Nigel Church, Business Associate, Writer, Editor
Connor Kenyon, Six Five Sales & Business Development

Patrick Moorhead

+ posts

Patrick founded the firm based on his real-world world technology experiences with the understanding of what he wasn’t getting from analysts and consultants. Ten years later, Patrick is ranked #1 among technology industry analysts in terms of “power” (ARInsights) in “press citations” (Apollo Research). Moorhead is a contributor at Forbes and frequently appears on CNBC. He is a broad-based analyst covering a wide variety of topics including the cloud, enterprise SaaS, collaboration, client computing, and semiconductors. He has 30 years of experience including 15 years of executive experience at high tech companies (NCR, AT&T, Compaq, now HP, and AMD) leading strategy, product management, product marketing, and corporate marketing, including three industry board appointments.