Sandbox AQ is Alphabet’s new bet on the future of quantum cryptography

Google’s parent Alphabet has spun out a new company, Sandbox AQ, offering enterprises artificial intelligence and quantum computing software as a service. The company is starting life with two major research objectives. The first is the creation of post-quantum cryptosystems and related privacy-enhancing technologies, in an attempt to keep data secure should quantum computing develop…

Your 5-Step Journey from Analytics to AI

Most organizations have come to understand the importance of being data-driven. To compete in a digital economy, it’s essential to base decisions and actions on accurate data, both real-time and historical. Data about customers, supply chains, the economy, market trends, and competitors must be aggregated and cross-correlated from myriad sources.  But the sheer volume of…

Nvidia speeds AI, climate modeling

It’s been years since developers found that Nvidia’s main product, the GPU, was useful not just for rendering video games but also for high-performance computing of the kind used in 3D modeling, weather forecasting, or the training of AI models—and it’s on enterprise applications such as those that CEO Jensen Huang will focus his attention…

Private 5G test beds arise to help CIOs vet use cases

Long touted, private 5G networking holds significant promise for the enterprise, with a very specific caveat: Few enterprises have the IT wherewithal in-house to vet it. Live entertainment service provider Clair Global, which hosts music festivals such as Coachella, BottleRock, and Soundstorm, is one entity exploring the potential of 5G, kicking the tires of Cisco’s…

19 organizations advancing women in tech

Despite national conversations about a lack of women in tech, women remain largely underrepresented in STEM roles, according to a study by the National Science Foundation. And the pipeline doesn’t suggest a near-term correction, as only 19% of computer science degrees were awarded to women in 2016, down from 27% in 1997. Women also typically…

Data-driven financial planning is still falling short of its potential

Among the relationships that technology teams have with other business departments, the potential for improved IT-finance collaboration is quite possibly the most under-explored. It’s especially poignant when we consider the extent to which financial data can steer business strategy for the better. Take, for example, the ubiquitous and unassuming concept of free shipping in ecommerce.…

Thoma Bravo acquires SaaS company Anaplan for $10.7B

Business planning SaaS (software-as-a-service) software maker Anaplan is being acquired by private equity firm Thoma Bravo for $10.7 billion. Founded in the UK and now based in San Francisco, Anaplan offers cloud-based finance and planning software and counts almost 2,000 customers worldwide, including Coca-Cola, Shell, Thomas Cook and VMware. The company went public in 2018,…