Are you ready for some football? Thursday’s game last night kicked off the 2023-2024 NFL season with an upset of the Super Bowl champ Kansas City Chiefs by the Detroit Lions (no, really, look it up). There are now 30 teams who believe they can reach the Super Bowl. Delusional as that might be, cheer for your choice before reality sets in.
News from Google Cloud Next. According to the gurus, we all need an AI collaborator, and Google offers up its Duet AI for that position by expanding the Duet AI in Google Cloud preview with some new capabilities. It goes wide later this year.
More on Duet AI: its security credentials were announced, such as Duet AI in Mandiant Threat Intelligence (pictured), Chronicle Security Operations, and Security Command Center.
Exabeam and Google announced a partnership to add generative AI models to Exabeam’s cloud-native New-Scale SIEM product portfolio, a logical step since Exabeam’s Secrity Operations Platform is built on Google Cloud.
Security news. The new Sophos AP6 Series of wireless access points supports the shift to hybrid environments with a new generation of remotely managed Wi-Fi 6 devices.
Fortinet expanded its security reach by integrating FortiSASE with its WLAN portfolio to support remote workers and distributed edges.
IGI CyberLabs’ Nodeware announced upcoming automated patching and remediation upgrades to its continuous vulnerability management platform, slated for Q4.
Keeper Security and Atera teamed up to integrate the former’s zero-trust security tools with the latter’s AI-powered IT management software.
The revved up 365 Total Protection Plan 4 for Microsoft 365 from Hornetsecurity offers compliance and awareness features, including a new “AI Recipient Validation” tool to prevent misdirected email that can lead to accidental data exposure.
Proofpoint launched a unified set of tools across its Aegis Threat Protection, Identity Threat Defense, and Sigma Information Protection platforms to break the attack chain.
Combining the SIEM platform from LogRhythm with Cimcor’s file integrity monitoring tools offers a way to identify zero-day attacks and other configuration vulnerabilities and take quick action.
IoT news. Our friends at Parks Associates report that consumer demand for security solutions may be slowing, but professional installation and monitoring has rebounded. Recurring revenue from consumers is a growing area.
Supply Chain Digital dives into industrial IoT and reiterates that data is the real reward, and that you can ignore most readings from IIoT sensors and keep only the exceptions, such as when temperatures fall outside an optimal range.
NFTs may be a bust for collectibles, but Yahoo! Finance reports that luxury brands are using non-fungible tokens from WISeKey embedded in product-specific ePassports to create a unique digital footprint that authenticates unique products.
IEEE Spectrum includes an article on how WSense designed networks to support the building of the Internet of Underwater Things (IwT?).
If provisioning for IoT networks freaks out your developers, this article from All About Circuits may calm them down by describing registration, configuration, and deployment.
Other product news. The Summer 2023 release from NinjaOne turbocharges automation capabilities, augments visibility, and adds more than 30 other goodies.
Soon they’ll have to change the warning from, “this conversation may be recorded for training purposes,” to “this recording will be analyzed by your AI overlords.” One example? GoTo Contact Center now has OpenAI-based tech for AI chat analysis.
Started your Christmas shopping list yet? Be sure to add the new Lenovo Legion Go handheld device (pictured), Lenovo Legion Glasses, and Legion E510 7.1 RGB Gaming in-Ear Headphones to get your improved game on.
Now generally available, the Dell NativeEdge software platform simplifies application orchestration and infrastructure management as it collaborates with ISVs, SIs, and more to support new edge solutions.
ViewSonic launched a series of portable 15.6-inch monitors with resolutions from 1920×1080 to native 4K Ultra HD (3840×2160).
Celebratory glass clinking signaled the new partnership of US Signal and Cato Networks to enhance and secure SD-WANs.
Non-product vendor news. New business cards for Brett Cheloff (pictured) at Zorus as he moves up from CTO to CEO.
The red carpet up to the door of Pax8 was for Mary Gill, stepping into the newly created position of chief compliance officer.
The Welcome Wagon in front of KnowBe4 delivered Hein Hellemons, the new chief revenue officer.
The new guy at Infoblox looking for the breakroom with the best snacks is Mukesh Gupta, who joined as chief product officer.
If someone parked in your place by accident at Igel, it may be new Vice President, Product & Vertical Marketing James Millington.
Global players Cisco and Nutanix partnered to help customers with hybrid multicloud adoption, faster innovation, maximize resiliency, and other goodies.
Who loves digging deep into billing minutia? If not you, perhaps the new team-up of Keeper Security and Gradient MSP to make your password management billing easier.
Wasabi signed with TD SYNNEX to offer its storage and security products through the TD SYNNEX reseller network.
Need help with compliance and regulations? Of course you do, so check out the new “MSP Guide to Compliance and Regulation,” from Beachhead Solutions to learn about FTC rules, HIPAA, cyber insurance, and more.
This week’s stats ticker:
Zoho commissioned the 2023 State of customers operations for U.S. Small Businesses report from the SMB Group to shed light on CRM solutions. More than 1,000 small businesses with fewer than 100 employees reported the most popular factors in finding the right CRM software for a small business were ease of use (53%), time efficiency (47%), quick deployment (39%), and value (36%). Only 5% use a free CRM, while more than half spend over $100 per month on their solution of choice, and 42% of respondents say they save 5-10 hours per week with their CRM. Unfortunately, 56% of respondents don’t have a CRM, using a combination of spreadsheets, email, and personal productivity tools. Two-thirds of those agreed that a CRM would help, but nearly half felt their company was too small to need one. Nope.
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) business services may have started as a nebulous and vague market but have become one of the fastest-growing spaces in business and will add up to $65 billion in 2027 according to IDC. ESG Business Services analysts tracked the development of the sustainability-related market services to respond to threats of extreme weather events and resource shortages caused by climate change. A 2022 IDC survey found that nearly two-thirds of respondents planned to allocate more than half of their professions services spending to sustainability services over the next two years.
Two-wheeled streaking. For the 14th year, Philadelphia hosted the Philly Naked Bike Ride at the end of August. Over 100 brave souls followed the mantra of “as bare as you dare,” for the 13-mile bike ride past famous Philly historic sites, including City Hall, Rittenhouse Square, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where the steps Rocky conquered are located.
Part of the plan is to “desexualize nudity.” OK, maybe that explains the paint and glitter on many of the participants. Or streaking is legal one day a year in Philadelphia.
Photo: AP Photo/Tassanee Vejpongsa
