A new law restores the FCC’s authority to auction spectrum and requires at least 800 MHz to be sold, potentially pulling it from the 6 GHz and CBRS bands currently used for Wi-Fi and rural broadband. While mobile carriers like AT&T and Verizon support the move for 5G expansion, critics warn it could slow Wi-Fi and harm small ISPs that rely on those bands. The law reverses earlier efforts to protect 6 GHz for unlicensed use and reflects growing pressure from the wireless industry, now backed ...
Jul 16, 2025•35 min
Microsoft laid off 9,000 employees, about 4% of its workforce, even as it invests billions in AI technology. Company leaders say AI will eliminate many routine jobs but also create new opportunities in advanced areas. While thousands of tech workers were displaced, demand for AI experts soared, with companies offering high salaries to attract top talent. This and more on the Tech Field Day News Rundown with Alastair Cooke and guest host Gina Rosenthal. Time Stamps: 0:00 - Cold Open 0:30 - Welcom...
Jul 09, 2025•28 min
The US Department of Justice has announced a settlement in their lawsuit agains the proposed HPE acquisition of Juniper Networks. The release says that in order for the deal to move forward, HPE must sell off the Instant On line of HPE Aruba Networking access points. Additionally, Juniper must auction a license for third parties to use Juniper AIOps for Mist. The details of the auction are complicated. Up to two companies can win the rights to the license through the bidding process and Juniper ...
Jul 02, 2025•42 min
At AWS re:Inforce 2025, AWS introduced key security upgrades, including expanded identity tools, enhanced code and threat detection with Inspector and GuardDuty, and easier deployment through improved WAF and firewall features. New CISO Amy Herzog emphasized identity security, while AWS reinforced its focus on automation, secure development, and ecosystem collaboration. Time Stamps: 0:00 - Cold Open 0:24 - Welcome to the Tech Field Day News Rundown 1:36 - Simbian Launches First LLM Benchmark for...
Jun 25, 2025•43 min
Cisco Live was last week and the opening keynote was dripping with AI. Cisco's product lineup for the rest of the year and into the future is going to embrace AI agents and information for networking operations and security as well. CEO Chuck Robbins and Chief Product Officer Jeetu Patel talked all about the integration of AI into their offerings. From dashboards to NVIDIA networking technology Cisco is pushing AI into the infrastructure. One of the big discussions was around AgenticOps, the Cis...
Jun 18, 2025•42 min
At Microsoft Build 2025, Microsoft focused on agentic AI, making it central to their developer strategy. CEO Satya Nadella introduced the “agentic web,” where AI takes a bigger role in software creation. Key updates included evolving GitHub Copilot into a programming partner, new features for managing AI agents, and giving them identities and security controls. Microsoft also backed open standards like Agent2Agent and MCP. The event highlighted how AI will reshape developer roles, adoption chall...
Jun 11, 2025•41 min
New global tariffs are making it more expensive and complicated for enterprises to manage their cloud services across regions. These changes are causing unpredictable costs and creating challenges for global cloud strategies. To stay ahead, companies need to improve visibility, automate processes, and tailor governance to each region.Time Stamps: 0:00 - Welcome to the Tech Field Day News Rundown 1:12 - AI Application Delivery: Same Old, Slightly Smarter 4:29 - Is the Site Down? It's a Secret to ...
Jun 04, 2025•29 min
OpenAI has announced its largest acquisition to date, agreeing to acquire io, an AI device startup founded by former Apple executive Jony Ive, in an all-equity deal worth approximately $6.5 billion. The acquisition includes OpenAI’s existing stake in io. As part of the merger, Jony Ive will assume significant creative and design responsibilities across both OpenAI and io. Despite the merger, Ive’s design firm, LoveFrom, will continue to operate independently. Time Stamps: 0:00 - Cold Open 0:40 -...
May 28, 2025•29 min
The US government signed a new act into law that has opponents concerned about the ramifications of what it will be used to do. The Take It Down Act was proposed to allow for the rapid takedown of non-consensual intimate images, or NCII, from the Internet. The law requires social media platforms to remove identified content within 48 hours and people convicted of violating the law could face up to three years in prison. What's the catch? According ot the EFF and other freedom organizations, the ...
May 21, 2025•41 min
Last week saw the release of a big new report from the Futurum Group around cybersecurity. The research says that the market is going to grow by 11.6% per year for the rest of the decade. By then it should be worth almost $300 billion. Fernando Montenegro states that cybersecurity is a cornerstone of the boardroom and key part of the enterprise risk management strategy. Additionally there are some great suggestions about which areas of security need to be addressed by organizations in the coming...
May 14, 2025•34 min
The demand for AI services is driving more growth in public cloud platforms, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google have all continued investment in the public cloud platforms to keep up with generative AI. Andy Jassy highlighted triple-digit growth in AI revenues, Microsoft has committed to 40% more capacity in Europe, and Google is investing $17 Billion in cloud infrastructure. Time Stamps: 0:00 - Welcome to the Tech Field Day News Rundown 1:13 - Amazon Internet from Space in 2026 3:07 - Palo Alto Netw...
May 07, 2025•23 min
Intel is still looking to smooth out their operations under new CEO Lip-Bu Tan. The announcement came last week that Intel is going to be cutting more positions. Initial reports rumored that it could be as much 20,000 employees but CFO David Zinsner refuted that number last Friday. Instead, each department will assess their structure and decide whether to cut positions or offer voluntary packages. Zinsner cautioned that not all buyout offers would be accepted. Additionally, early retirements wou...
Apr 30, 2025•36 min
Chris Krebs is a well-known figure in the cybersecurity space. As the former head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Krebs was responsible for directing security for the US federal government starting 2018. Krebs was fired from CISA in 2020 by President Donald Trump for his stance on the 2020 election. Last week, President Trump stripped Krebs of his security clearances for this 4-year-old issue. Krebs then announced that he would be stepping down from his role at security ...
Apr 23, 2025•27 min
At Intel Vision 2025, CEO Lip-Bu Tan emphasized a customer-centric strategy, focusing on advancements in AI PCs, Gaudi 3 accelerators, and the 18A process node. He introduced the concept of “Physical AI,” highlighting Intel’s commitment to integrating AI into hardware solutions across various sectors. Tan’s leadership aims to position Intel at the forefront of AI-driven innovation by enhancing its product portfolio and foundry capabilities. This and more on the Tech Field Day News Rundown. Time ...
Apr 16, 2025•43 min
Half a century is a long time for an IT business, and Microsoft is justified in making a lot of noise to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary. The celebration brought together three Microsoft CEOs: Gates, Balmer, and Nadella. Microsoft CoPilot isn’t quite as old as the company, but it was still at the center of the celebrations. Many Microsoft products have come and gone over fifty years. Is CoPilot going to be one of the keepers? This and more on the Tech Field Day News Rundown. Time Stamps: 0:00...
Apr 09, 2025•37 min
During the keynote for Intel VIsion 2025, new CEO Lip-Bu Tan told the attendees about his vision for the return of Intel. He said that intel needs to attract engineering talent, fix the balance sheet issues, and look at manufacturing processes. One of the biggest ways to take care of those last two that was proposed was Intel spinning off non-core business units. He also asked customers to be "brutally honest" with the company going forward. He also reiterated his focus in going to be on enginee...
Apr 02, 2025•44 min
For shownotes, head to the episode website post This week has been a big one for messaging privacy. The news broke on Monday that the Editor-in-Chief for The Atlantic magazine was accidentally added to a Signal group where members of the US government were talking about highly classified military actions. The report kicked off a firestorm of Congressional hearings about the nature of data sharing and privacy for not only government officials but members of the defense and intelligence community....
Mar 26, 2025•41 min
Visit Episode Post for Show Notes NVIDIA unveiled new AI-focused chips at its GTC conference, including the Blackwell Ultra series launching this year and the next-gen Vera Rubin GPUs set for 2026. CEO Jensen Huang emphasized the company’s shift to an annual release cycle, a departure from its previous biennial schedule. This move reflects NVIDIA's response to the growing AI market and increasing competition. This and more on the Rundown . Episode Time Stamps: 0:00 - Welcome to the Rundown 2:29...
Mar 19, 2025•44 min
Visit Episode Post for Show Notes We've spoken at length about the CHIPS Act for the past year or so and you know that we've been big proponents of bringing semiconductor manufacturing back to the US. The latest news from the federal governement isn't so rosy though. According to reports, the current administration is trying to find ways to prevent the funding for the act from being disbursed. Options floated include firing the staff at NIST responsible for sending out the money as well as clawi...
Mar 12, 2025•46 min
I want to take you back to the halcyon days of just a few weeks ago when we discussed the ways that NVIDIA AI chips were showing up in China even though they were under US embargo not to be able to get this advanced technology. This came as a result of a last minute policy decision from the outgoing Biden administration that blocked the Chinese from buying these chips. Now, companies like Microsoft are urging the new presidential administration to rescind the ban to give them access to the growi...
Mar 05, 2025•38 min
We've talked about quantum computing before but Microsoft created a quantum quake in the tech space last week. They announced a new quantum computer chip that took seventeen years to make. The Majorana-1 uses a brand new Topological Core technology that reduces error rates significantly and could create chips with as much as one million qubits of processing power per unit. Microsoft's researchers reportedly created a new state of matter in the accompanying research paper published to Nature to h...
Feb 26, 2025•37 min
A report this week claims that Broadcom is investigating Intel's chip design business and is contemplating an acquisition. The news comes from the Wall Street Journal and says that while Broadcom is interested in chip design they are not interested in the foundry business. Analysts are intriguied because that means that Broadcom could either use Intel's designs to augment their existing lineup or perhaps package the businesses for sale to other partners or even competitors. Keith, do you think B...
Feb 19, 2025•29 min
A group of investors, led by Elon Musk’s startup xAI and other backers, has made a $97.4 billion bid to take control of OpenAI, aiming to refocus the organization on open-source AI and safety amid rising tensions between Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman over its shift to a for-profit model. Meanwhile, OpenAI is advancing its AI hardware strategy with plans to launch a custom-designed AI chip in 2024, fabricated by TSMC using 3-nanometer technology to reduce reliance on Nvidia. Initially deployed o...
Feb 12, 2025•41 min
We heard the rumors back in November that the HPE deal to acquired Juniper Networks was getting a closer look from the Department of Justice. Last week we got confirmation that the DoJ will be filing suit to half the deal. The arugument from the government is that the result of the deal would be 70% of the market for networking equipment being held by just two companies. Specifically cited was the wireless LAN component, where the DoJ said there were only three major players. This was refuted qu...
Feb 05, 2025•35 min
As we mentioned earlier, the early days of a US government change invovle a lot of new orders and announcements. After a week in office the current US administration announced a plan to impose import tariffs on Taiwan for a variety of goods, including pharmaceuticals, steel, and chips. The tariff was reported to be 25% but could be as high as 100%. In further comments the president said the goal of the move was to lure companies back to the US to manufacture chips domestically. However, the CHIP...
Jan 29, 2025•34 min
We spoke last week about the executive order issued by former President Biden around AI export controls. There has been some more information released about the reasoning behind the controls. One of those was that, as mentioned, third party actors are shipping restricted hardware to countries that were already banned from receiving it. Still others were able to access those systems through cloud computing in countries such as Malaysia and Brazil. The AI Diffusion Framework names 18 "friendly" co...
Jan 22, 2025•41 min
The Biden presidential administration might be winding down but thre are still some things that are making news. Yesterday the president proposed a new framework for the export of chips used to developer AI. The rules seek to limit exports of the chips to some 120 countries, including Mexico, Israel, and Switzerland. The rules appear to be aimed at protecting US national security and the undercurrent in the order is aimed squarely at China. The administration says this is designed to close some ...
Jan 15, 2025•35 min
At CES 2025, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang introduced Cosmos, a new AI model trained on 20 million hours of video to help machines better understand and interact with the physical world, available via Hugging Face and NVIDIA’s GPU Cloud. He also urged businesses to adopt a three-computer AI system, featuring tools like Project DIGITS for AI development and the Llama Nemotron models for autonomous agents. Meanwhile, Dell announced a full rebrand, replacing familiar names like XPS and Latitude with Dell...
Jan 08, 2025•58 min
We're looking back at our reporting on the biggest enterprise IT stories of 2024 and telling you the trends that will be discussion points well into 2025. We're reconsidering Broadcom's moves with VMware, the fall of Intel, HPE's acquisition of Juniper, that fab CHIPS act, the evolution of data protection companies to security, power-hungry GPUs, Co-Pilot PCs, lots of AI infrastructure, a whole lot of hacks, including Snowflake and Salt Typhoon, and the government's actions against big tech. Tim...
Dec 18, 2024•1 hr 18 min
The big story this week is the continued fallout from Salt Typhoon. The US government is feeling the heat from the exposure of so many telecom companies and they want answers. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has announced a proposed set of rules that would require companies that participate in the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) to have a yearly requirement to certify their cybersecurity risk management plans to prevent hackers from getting in. Senator Ron Wyden of O...
Dec 11, 2024•36 min
