Far from a sleepy start, 2024 came out of the gate swinging. Continued belt-tightening, AI initiatives, and cloud security priorities are shaping the year ahead for cloud, networking, and security professionals.
The must-reads for January dig deeper into these themes from different angles – hopefully putting some fresh perspective on your strategic approach for the coming months.
Data Center Dynamics
Google Cloud removes exit fees
The community was abuzz in mid-January when Google Cloud Platform announced it removed "exit fees" for customers wishing to leave its services. However, reading into the news more closely, it became clear that there were several conditions that came into play. Ultimately, this move by Google seems to be more about compliance with the EU Data Act rather than an elimination of dreaded egress fees, but the headline stirred up some great debates either way.
Network World
Marrying network, security operations saves money, bolsters enterprise defenses
Citing new research from Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), Denise Dubie throws a spotlight on the emerging business best practice – the convergence of networking and security teams. According to the article, this collaboration (one we’ve been seeing at Aviatrix as well) can “reduce security risks, drive operational efficiencies, and resolve incidents faster while enterprises can also enjoy cost-saving benefits.”
Techopedia
Where The Cloud Goes From Here: The Big Interview With Deloitte’s David Linthicum
Kicking off the new year, the ever thought-provoking cloud expert David Linthicum sat down with tech journalist Linda Rosencrance to discuss the future of cloud computing. In the resulting article, he discusses how cloud is increasingly flexible and no longer a one-size-fits-all, the continued focus on generative AI, and the movement to ubiquitous computing. If you’re looking for a looking glass, this is about as close as you can get!
Wall Street Journal
Cyber Leaders With Tight Budgets Still Must Secure AI, Cloud
Speaking with CISOs and cybersecurity leaders, Catherine Stupp and James Rundle report that budgets are shrinking as wide belt-tightening and staff cuts among companies have impacted cybersecurity. Organizations must give preference to their most important security projects, with AI and cloud computing remaining high priorities. The decisions being made now will also have ripple effects that we can expect to see in the year(s) ahead.
Quartz
Microsoft profit soars 33% on AI, cloud-computing investments
This may strike some as unsurprising, but Microsoft’s latest earnings showed that its profit for the October-December quarter soared 33%. The spike reflects growth in its cloud-computing unit powered by its AI investments. With AWS still the dominant cloud service provider, it will be interesting to see how the growth of Microsoft changes the cloud infrastructure and multicloud dynamic within enterprises.
What do you think of these stories - any articles you loved that we missed? Are you seeing these trends play out in your organization?