When Cisco announced it would be buying Splunk, doubts were raised over the company's future within its new home. Splunk .conf24, the company's annual conference, was a proving ground to see if these fears were well founded. According to ITPro's intrepid features editor, however, Splunk's brand is as strong as it ever was, with both Cisco's CEO and Splunk's GM offering reassurances that neither company's customers or partners will suffer in the wake of the acquisition. In this episode of the ITP...
Jun 14, 2024•20 min•Ep. 228
One of the most unexpected things to happen in May was a sudden outage at the Australian pension fund UniSuper. After days of confusion and concern that the fund may have been hit by a cyber attack among its customer base, it emerged that Google Cloud had accidentally deleted UniSuper’s entire cloud subscription. We dive into what lessons businesses can learn from this freak event. Also in May, OpenAI trumpeted its goal to unlock so-called artificial general intelligence (AGI) through new advanc...
Jun 07, 2024•24 min
As the tech sector creates data at greater rates than ever before, using more cloud and on premise workloads, it’s more important than ever that firms consider their sustainability strategy and carbon footprint. Until the world has achieved net zero energy, every watt that goes into powering hardware and software adds to overall global emissions, with data center growth accounting for more and more global energy demand. Renewable energy and greater efficiency help with this but are not silver bu...
May 31, 2024•26 min
As enterprise AI becomes more widely adopted, businesses are being forced to examine whether their architecture is up to the task. The feverish hype around AI in the public cloud that started in November 2022 has given way to greater investment in open ecosystems for AI and smaller models run at a business’s edge. From chatbots stored on a laptop for offline use to AI handling data produced by sensors in smart manufacturing, there’s a huge range of ways to use AI at the edge. But where is custom...
May 24, 2024•35 min
The LockBit ransomware group recently suffered another major blow at the hands of international law enforcement, as the UK’s NCA revealed the name and face of the group’s long-sought-after leader. Dmitry Khoroshev, known as ‘LockBitSupp’ on the dark web, was unmasked by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) while the US Department of Justice announced a 26-count indictment against him. While this is a significant development in the fight against the group, what does it mean for LockBit in the lon...
May 17, 2024•20 min
Some experts will tell you the first step in adopting AI is making sure your data is in order. But what about your skills? When it comes time to put AI in the hands of their workforce, leaders need to know that they’ll be able to hit the ground running and unlock productivity benefits without delay. Achieving this will involve investing in AI skills – but where should businesses begin and how far-reaching does this AI training need to be? In this episode, Jane and Rory speak to Arun ‘Rak’ Ramcha...
May 10, 2024•26 min
April has been a month of both highs and lows. At the start of the month, AWS was ordered to pay $525 million in damages, after it was found to have infringed US patent law through some of its core cloud offerings. The month has also seen a high-profile cyber incident – a ransomware attack against Change Healthcare in which personal information was stolen. All of this has unfolded against the backdrop of more innovation in the AI space, with the launch of Llama 3 and news from Google Cloud Next ...
May 03, 2024•15 min
As AI initiatives gather steam, the public and private sectors are assessing the level of investment necessary to unlock the value of the new technology. It’s clear that large funds and a strategic approach will be necessary to bring the workforce along with employers. The UK government has announced several billion pounds in collective funding for AI projects and infrastructure deemed necessary for expanding the UK’s AI sector. As governments around the world look to unlock AI success of their ...
Apr 26, 2024•27 min
The EU’s AI Act has been approved, bringing in sweeping requirements, controls, and regulations for the development and use of AI tools throughout the region. But what are the precise measures it brings in, how can businesses prepare for the new rules, and what are the penalties for non-compliance? In this episode, Rory speaks to Nader Henein, VP Analyst at Garner, to explore the implications of the EU AI Act, how companies can prepare for the measures it brings in, and what it means for AI use ...
Apr 19, 2024•32 min
This week has seen Google Cloud’s annual Next conference in full swing, with the hyperscaler having made major announcements on generative AI and the infrastructure necessary to support it. Having spent the past year playing catch-up with Microsoft and OpenAI, Google Cloud is now in a place where it’s ready to press its advantage in AI, years after the company first declared itself “AI first”. But has it succeeded in this mission, and if so – what are the tangible benefits for Google Cloud custo...
Apr 12, 2024•11 min
March has been a month of concern for those in the cyber security community following revelations of extensive hacking campaigns carried out by state-backed groups. In the latter part of the month, it was reported that APT 31, a Chinese state-backed threat group, had accessed information on tens of millions of UK voters in a breach of the Electoral Commission. Threat actors had also targeted US politicians and businesses. What can we learn from the breach and how can organizations protect themse...
Apr 05, 2024•22 min
Is your firm missing out on AI? It’s a question that has weighed heavy on the minds of tech leaders for the past 18 months and as new developments are announced leaders are presented with an ever-increasing buffet of AI products. While the pressure to commit to AI adoption can be intense, it’s essential that leaders integrate AI in a strategic fashion. But what does this mean in a practical sense and how can leaders match this need for caution against their fear of missing crucial AI opportuniti...
Mar 29, 2024•33 min
This classic episode of the ITPro Podcast was first published on 9 June 2023. Quantum computing is an inevitable technology, with the private sector and nation-states racing to be the first to unlock its potential. While it can be used for all kinds of good, quantum computing could also be used to unravel critical systems. The UK is one of several nations investing in quantum computing, with its government having announced £900 million for its own exascale quantum computer. Stakes are high as we...
Mar 22, 2024•38 min
As technological innovations happen, it can be easy to forget that even the most complex systems rely on large networks of basic infrastructure to operate. At the most fundamental level, all tech products rely on effective data storage But this is easier said than done. Each byte of data has to be stored somewhere, on a rack, disk, tape, or flash device. As the world embraces hardware and software that creates data at an even faster rate, businesses will be forced to push the frontiers of data s...
Mar 15, 2024•33 min
The tech sector still has a long way to go when it comes to gender equality. While progress has been made over the years, women in tech face hurdles such as discrimination and outdated hiring processes. All of this works to drive women out of tech and uphold ingrained, sectoral biases. Female founders come up against these same challenges time and time again, which robs the industry of innovative firms and stems the flow of progress. For a more diverse sector, more work needs to be done on initi...
Mar 08, 2024•30 min
February has been an eventful month in the tech sector as ransomware operator LockBit, which has accrued billions of dollars in ill-gotten gains in its approximately four-year history, was taken down by an international task force spearheaded by the UK’s National Crime Agency. Elsewhere, ChatGPT suffered a major setback as users noticed the industry-leading chatbot had taken to answering prompts with complete gibberish. Though the issue was fixed within a day of being reported, it has raised imp...
Mar 01, 2024•22 min
STEM careers are often touted as those with the best prospects, but when it comes to job satisfaction things may not be quite so rosy. A stark number of workers in the tech industry are currently looking to move jobs – either into a different tech role or into another field entirely. Many more are facing the looming prospect of job cuts, while an increasing number are reporting poor working conditions. All this adds up to a disaffected and disengaged workforce – something leaders need to fix or ...
Feb 23, 2024•24 min
As organizations look to integrate AI tools into their business models, key questions will have to be answered around how this fits in with their wider strategy. This doesn’t just mean data analysis or adoption of generative AI tools, but less directly connected initiatives such as sustainability goals. The adoption of AI is also running up against concerns around skills. Many organizations, if not most, are yet to truly determine which roles and tasks can be augmented and improved by AI service...
Feb 16, 2024•31 min
It’s becoming something of a tradition for companies to ring in the new year with a wave of layoffs. In 2024, as in 2023, workforce reduction has been a major theme in the tech sector and beyond for January. As technologies such as AI take root, the nature and pace of layoffs is likely to change in the near future. Competing pressures of economic downturns and productivity shortfalls could change the tech workforce dramatically. In this episode, Jane and Rory are joined by Ross Kelly, ITPro’s ne...
Feb 09, 2024•26 min
If you’ve seen Oppenheimer, Dune, or Blade Runner 2049, then you’ve seen the work of DNEG. The British visual effects firm, formerly known as Double Negative, has had to contend with growing compute and data demands in its 26 year history, with thousands of hours of rendering required to bring the latest visuals from servers to the cinema screen. In recent years, DNEG’s legacy infrastructure began to feel the strain of this task, leading the firm to work with Red Hat to adopt a cloud-native appr...
Feb 02, 2024•41 min
Computers and technology have well and truly permeated our professional and private lives. While this has led to great strides in efficiency, opened up new opportunities for businesses and individuals, and helped us become more connected than ever before, there are also downsides. As the world becomes more digital and even menial tasks are increasingly outsourced to computer systems, a simultaneous shift in accountability and oversight needs to take place. Trust in computers is all too often aut...
Jan 26, 2024•33 min
Business intelligence tools already help leaders learn more about the data that drives their business and make more informed decisions. BI dashboards, in particular, help business leaders quantify their successes and identify areas for improvement from one central point of access. When it comes to adopting AI effectively, proper oversight and understanding of your data can be of the utmost importance. On paper, there could be a strong role for a combination of BI and AI, with intelligent identif...
Jan 19, 2024•34 min
This classic episode of the ITPro Podcast was first published on 6 January 2023. Passwords can be tricky at the best of times. Proper password hygiene is one of the most important factors in endpoint security, as it keeps sensitive data secure and prevents threat actors from getting into important systems. Despite the risks, the use of weak or recycled passwords continues to be a problem even amongst IT professionals and remembering too many unique passwords is a strain. While systems such as mu...
Jan 12, 2024•31 min
The UK’s data privacy landscape has long come with strict responsibilities for businesses, requiring detailed justifications for all customer data stored and processed. After the UK formally exited the European Union in 2020, the UK retained regulations for controllers and processors via the UK GDPR which sits alongside the Data Protection Act 2018. Businesses have often criticized the red tape present within GDPR, arguing that it holds them back from carrying out the core functions of their bus...
Jan 05, 2024•29 min
As business leaders reflect on the past 12 months and look forward to what the next might hold, a number of trends and technologies stand out. While AI is dead set to continue its large role in 2024, the impact of high-performance computing (HPC), the spread of new 5G technologies, and the pernicious role that increasingly sophisticated fraud tech will play is also worth exploring. For this new year’s edition of the podcast, Jane and Rory eschew predictions to focus on the top trends from this y...
Dec 29, 2023•38 min
So much has happened this year, not least in the areas of AI and social media, but at the same time some events have been some notable omissions. While generative AI has taken the world by storm, there is still much to prove about its business use cases and how it should be regulated. Security and hardware are also in a similar place to previous years, with the same threats and designs coming to the surface in 2023 in place of any revolutionary shifts. For this festive episode of the podcast, Ja...
Dec 22, 2023•37 min
Machine learning (ML) has been a field of research for more than 50 years, and as a subset of artificial intelligence has also been the focus of great innovation in that time. Many businesses use machine learning throughout their stack and some will have relied upon ML frameworks without realizing it. With the rise in popularity of newer forms of AI developments such as generative AI, however, some have questioned the extent to which traditional approaches such as machine learning algorithms sti...
Dec 15, 2023•26 min
The promise of algorithms and AI has always been simple at its core. Workers can automate manual and laborious tasks, to free up their time for more complex or meaningful activities. This comes under scrutiny in some fields more than others. For example, the use of algorithmic processing in HR and hiring has had some very public horror stories in the past few years. While one could theoretically use the perfect algorithm to quickly pick the best hires out of a stack of applications according to ...
Dec 08, 2023•21 min
It’s been a whirlwind month, and not in the way that one might have predicted. Opening with the UK’s AI Safety Summit and ending with the anniversary of ChatGPT, November was already set to be a big month for the field of AI, particularly when it came to global legislation. As the month progressed, it turned out that November had even more planned, in the form of a huge upheaval at OpenAI. In this episode, Jane and Rory look at some of the standout moments of November 2023 and draw a line betwee...
Dec 01, 2023•30 min
It’s now been four years since the ITPro Podcast’s first episode and so much has changed in that time. Across almost every sector, we're working in different ways, in different places, and through the use of different hardware and software. Remote work and AI have unsettled our idea of the office and the working day, while promises such as the metaverse have flared and burned. In this special 200th episode, Jane and Rory take a look back at how far we've come since 2019. Read more: CEOs are livi...
Nov 24, 2023•44 min
