Staying informed is a constant challenge. There’s so much to do, and so little time. But we have you covered. Grab a coffee and take five while you nibble on these tidbits.
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New rules for Android developers coming soon: Google
After announcing an expanded set of verification requirements for developers seeking to publish Android apps in Google Play earlier this year, Google this week said that developers with newly created personal Play Console accounts will soon be required to test their apps with at least 20 people for a minimum of two weeks before applying for access to production.
The company explained in its blog post, “this will allow developers to test their app, identify issues, get feedback, and ensure that everything is ready before they launch. Developers who create new personal developer accounts will start seeing this requirement in Play Console in the coming days.”
Zoho opens two Canadian data centres
SaaS business software provider Zoho has announced the opening of two Canadian data centres, in Toronto and Montreal, offering Canadian customers localized storage and processing. Effective immediately, all new Canadian customers will be serviced from those locations, the company’s 13th and 14th globally, with existing customers being migrated over time.
Chandrashekar LSP, managing director of Zoho Canada, said that data will be replicated between the sites to provide redundancy and disaster recovery capabilities.
“Given the significance of privacy regulations and performance requirements, many Canadian organizations are placing an increased emphasis on data sovereignty, data residency and enhanced security,” he said. “This emphasis is especially applicable for large enterprises, including those in government, banking and financial service sectors.”
SAP launches tools for developers creating GenAI apps
At last week’s 2023 SAP TechEd event in Bangalore, India, SAP announced a series of generative AI (GenAI) capabilities and advancements aimed at empowering developers of all skill levels to, it said, “supercharge their businesses in the age of AI.”
Key among them was the launch of SAP Build Code, which it said streamlines cooperation with business experts who use the low-code SAP Build solutions launched at the event in 2022.
Built for SAP applications and the SAP ecosystem, SAP Build Code solutions offer AI-powered productivity tools for developers and are optimized for Java and JavaScript development. SAP Build Code also draws on the power of SAP’s new generative AI copilot, Joule, to further boost productivity, embedding code generation capabilities for data model, application logic and test script creation, SAP said in a release.
Good data is the foundation of good AI, the company said, and thus SAP HANA Cloud has added new vector database features to its multimodel offerings at no additional cost. Vector data stores manage unstructured data – such as text, images or audio – to provide long-term memory and better context to AI models.
SAP also announced AI Foundation, which it described as a “new one-stop-shop for developers to create AI- and generative AI-powered extensions and applications on the SAP business technology platform (BTP) which includes everything developers need to start creating business-ready AI tools on SAP BTP – from ready-to-use AI services and access to the top large language models to vector database capabilities and AI runtime and lifecycle management.”
Market update: Telecom server market to grow 19% CAGR over next 5 years
Analyst firm Dell’Oro has released its latest telecom server report, in which it has lowered its growth forecast compared to the October 2022 report due to, it said, “economic headwinds leading to reduced spending on mobile network infrastructure, challenges with the adoption of Open RAN and MEC, and a realization that our previous estimates for servers deployed for Operation Support Systems (OSS) and Business Support Systems (BSS) were overstated.”
The transition of telecom appliances to server-based architectures is still in its early stages, even when compared to the evolution of cloud computing, it said. Dell’Oro anticipates the telecom server market to experience a 19 per cent five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR), reaching US$12.5 billion by 2027, slightly outpacing the overall data centre growth rate of 15 per cent.
It noted, “this adjustment comes as we’ve raised our projections for the data centre market, driven by increased investments in accelerated computing for artificial intelligence (AI) applications.”
The edge, projected to represent 45 per cent of telecom server revenue by 2027, promises resilience, efficiency, and immersive experiences, prompting vendors to compete for dominance in this evolving landscape, the company said.
In addition, it said, “we anticipate the implementation of AI at both the network core and edge. At the core, AI engines could be utilized to automate real-time and near-real-time decision-making based on raw data from internet traffic and allocate network resources in real-time dynamically. At the edge, new AI use cases, primarily related to computer vision, that could enable applications such as industrial automation, autonomous driving, security, and various consumer services.”
Palo Alto Networks introduces AI-powered Zero Trust security offering
Palo Alto Networks this week launched introduced Strata Cloud Manager, which it described as the “industry’s first AI-powered Zero Trust management and operations offering”.
According to the company, with Strata Cloud Manager, security teams can accomplish the following:
- Ensure continuous network uptime: With predictive analytics, Strata Cloud Manager helps organizations anticipate capacity bottlenecks and assess deployment health up to seven days ahead, enabling security teams to prevent operational disruptions effectively.
- Enhance network security with industry best practices: Leverage AI-powered analysis of policies and real-time compliance checks to fortify network security.
- Streamline network security management for enhanced efficiency: Oversee configuration and security policies across all form factors, including SASE and both hardware and software firewalls, ensuring consistent protection and minimizing operational overhead, the firm said.
CIQ launches Rocky Linux for CentOS Migration on Google Cloud
CIQ Inc. this week announced a collaboration with Google Cloud which it said will help its customer base accelerate their migrations from CentOS with its new Rocky Linux offerings built for Google Cloud.
According to CIQ, with the “upcoming end-of-life of CentOS 7 on June 30, 2024, many are still evaluating the best path forward to secure and operate their Linux environments. Customers running CentOS must make a decision soon that involves many factors beyond just technical considerations.”
CIQ is partnering with Google Cloud to provide customers with a simple, secure path from CentOS through a new Rocky Linux migration program built exclusively for Google Cloud, a release stated.
Nirav Mehta, senior director of product management, cloud infrastructure solutions at Google Cloud, said, “our customers are asking for help moving on from CentOS to address security, performance and support concerns. Our partnership with CIQ offers customers a viable solution that can help them move quickly and securely to Rocky Linux on Google Cloud without disruption.”
