Unisys has announced it has joined Google’s Cloud Partner Advantage programme.

By providing Google’s complete suite of Cloud and Infrastructure services and Digital Workplace Services, Unisys says it can offer clients more options for optimising their digital workplace environments through its’ end-to-end cloud management services.

In addition to joining the programme, Unisys will sell Google Cloud and Google Workspace solutions as part of its offering.

“This partnership announcement with Google is significant because it allows Unisys to expand our existing cloud-agnostic approach in Asia Pacific,” says Brad Bowden, director cloud & infrastructure, Unisys Asia Pacific,

“Strong vendor relationships are key to Unisys being able offer the best solutions to the client business transformation challenge,” he says.

“The success of our go-to-market strategy is directly related to the investment to partner with market leaders like Google.”

According to the company, joining the Google Cloud Partner Advantage Program expands Unisys’ ability to deliver outcome-based, end-to-end cloud services to its clients via a complete array of cloud advisory, digital transformation, application modernisation, migration, security, compliance automation, orchestration and comprehensive managed services capabilities.

Further, as a Google Workspace reseller, Unisys will assist its clients using Google Cloud to optimise their workplace environment through its extensive field services, service desk, endpoint management, productivity and collaboration offerings.

In February, Unisys was named as a Microsoft Azure Expert Managed Service Provider (MSP) for the third year in a row.

To pass the certification, Unisys had to demonstrate that it had worked successfully with its Azure clients on its Cloud Management Platform (CMP), which is powered by its CloudForte technologies.

Unisys vice president cloud and infrastructure, Mike Morrison, said at the time, “By again passing the Azure Expert MSP criteria, Unisys has proven that it can consistently and securely design, implement and manage Azure services.

“Our success with the clients for whom we are currently using AI-led automation, migrations, optimisation and security to realise the benefits of their cloud transformation is even more concrete proof.”

That same month Unisys joined the Lenovo partner ecosystem.

Unisys says its support of Lenovo’s solutions will be backed by its Digital Workplace Services, including pre-deployment, deployment, maintenance and lifecycle management supply chain services.

Lenovo president of commerical IoT group John Gordon said at the time: “Our ThinkIoT Solutions are helping to accelerate business transformation for the long-term.

In 2019, French luxury conglomerate Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) awarded the LVMH Innovation Award to 3DLook, a smartphone body-scanning app. The app used artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) to take body measurements from photographs. The startup received a one-year membership to LVMH’s accelerator program, an incubator at a Paris startup campus. Such advancements from the luxury giant reveal an essential fact: the future of luxury retail is here, and it involves the usage of modern technologies.

While digitisation was the way forward for almost every industry, the pandemic has further accelerated the process. The luxury brands industry has been riding this digital wave in full swing while embracing digital strategies. A novel development in this sphere has been LVMH’s strategic partnership with Google Cloud, to accelerate innovation and develop new cloud-based AI solutions.

According to a statement released by LVMH, the partnership aims to ’empower LVMH’s Maisons,’ its luxury brands, ‘to create new, personalised customer experiences that foster long-term growth.’

Digitalising the lux
The primary determinant of sales for luxury retailers such as LVMH and Gucci is the exclusivity of these brands. Many economists call these Veblen Goods— products that see an increase in demand as their price increases due to exclusivity or perhaps because of its appeal as a status symbol.

A vital shift in consumer patterns is taking place among the wealthy—more of them are doing their shopping online. McKinsey and Company reported in 2018 that 80 percent of all luxury sales were digitally influenced in some way. It further added that nearly one-fifth of luxury sales would be done online by 2026.

The pandemic has further accelerated the shift in purchasing patterns for luxury brands. As per Antonio Belloni, LVMH’s Group Managing Director, “The last 18-months have been transformational” and have intensified the need to leverage data and make client experiences “More fluid.” A Bain & Company report stated last month that the luxury products market’s return to revenue growth in the first quarter of 2021 was partially powered by a boost in online demand. Such developments thus require these retailers to shun the in-store exclusivity concept and bring forth new digital innovations.

Given this, Google Cloud will work with LVMH’s brands to boost demand forecasting and inventory management and help better target customers’ target product recommendations. As mentioned earlier, the pandemic has clarified the importance of delivering a smooth online shopping experience whilst maintaining inventory levels digitally. This partnership with the Alphabet Inc. unit will thus help LVMH, as per Google Cloud’s CEO Thomas Kurian, “Understand the consumer better.”

The two companies have also said that the partnership aims to integrate AI and ML technologies into Maisons’ human talent whilst maintaining LVMH’s strict privacy and security conditions. The focus here will initially be on the luxury goods giant’s top fifteen brands before spreading further.

LVMH has further stated that it will leverage Google Cloud’s technology and AI/ML tools to improve new business use-cases at scale. Additionally, LVMH will also use Google Cloud to modernise its IT infrastructure and build the agility, security, cost-efficiency, and performance required to perform its business operations at scale.

Belloni also announced that this significant partnership reflects the conglomerate’s “High ambitions in this area.” LVMH created the incubator and accelerator programme to encourage new business and innovation in the luxury market– highlighting raw material durability, reinvention of stores, and supply chain management.

In 2019, LVMH announced a new tool called Aura, created with New York-based blockchain software company ConsenSys and Microsoft technology. The instrument used blockchain technology to track goods in the supply chain to prove their authenticity.

Summing up
The new opportunities that would arise out of Google Cloud and LVMH combining their industry expertise will, as Antonio Belloni has remarked, create “A unique and unforgettable experience.” Both sides have declined to unveil any additional elements of their deal. It is, however, made known that the partnership will run for at least five years and will include training for LVMH’s staff by Google Cloud.

Earlier last year, Google Cloud partnered with French car manufacturer Groupe Renault to store the company’s manufacturing data. The Louis Vuitton contract will also benefit Google, which is in serious competition with cloud rivals Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Corp. In France, Google Cloud ranks behind the French OVHCloud—which has an 11 per cent market share in the country.

In another step towards integrating these technologies, both companies will launch a Data and AI Academy in Paris to accelerate development and innovation further. Thomas Kurian has said that Google Cloud is proud to enter “Such an innovative and extensive partnership with LVMH to power its innovation through cloud technology and AI capacities.” The two companies appear to have a clear sight of the future of luxury retail and customer service—and they hope to be the ones driving it.

Lucidworks, provider of the Connected Experience Cloud, is joining the Google Cloud Partner Advantage Program, enabling Google Cloud customers to deploy Fusion from within the Google Cloud Marketplace and allowing users to create AI-powered product discovery and knowledge management.

As a Google Cloud Technology Partner, Lucidworks offers customers the ability to provide their users with contextual, personally relevant search results and proactive recommendations powered by artificial intelligence.

Millions of users can discover insights at the moment they have a question, across hundreds of millions of documents and records, according to the vendor. With Lucidworks Fusion, customers can:

Increase control around browse and search experience to deliver the right results to users, remove friction, and increase revenue and efficiency.
Deliver a consistent and personalized experience across the user lifecycle by personalizing results based on user signals.
Leverage existing knowledge across the organization to empower employees to do their best work by eliminating information silos and quickly providing necessary insights to improve employee engagement and productivity.
Maximize the value of data discovery and enable organizations to find connections, patterns, and anomalies in data sets in order to make informed decisions.
Create connected experiences for employees and customers by collecting signals across all channels and applying those insights everywhere to deliver omnichannel personalization.
“A portion of legacy businesses that we assumed would stay on-prem is now moving to the cloud and turning to Google Cloud as the most trusted and secure platform,” said Will Hayes, CEO, Lucidworks. “Our partnership with Google Cloud means that we can power seamless support and services so our customers can focus on what they do best, and we can focus on delivering best-in-class solutions. Google Cloud customers can now create connected digital experiences for their valued customers and employees.”

Google Cloud Marketplace lets users quickly deploy functional software packages that run on Google Cloud, with no manual configuration required.

Lucidworks’ offering on Google Cloud includes applications that run on the Fusion platform, such as Predictive Merchandiser (PM) and Smart Answers.

PM helps ecommerce teams harness the power of machine learning to boost conversions. Smart Answers enhances chatbots and virtual assistants with natural language processing and deep learning to reduce time-to-resolution and support costs.

While the promise of artificial intelligence transforming the manufacturing industry is not new, long-ongoing experimentation hasn’t yet led to widespread business benefits. Manufacturers remain in “pilot purgatory,” as Gartner reports that only 21% of companies in the industry have active AI initiatives in production.

However, new research from Google Cloud reveals that the COVID-19 pandemic may have spurred a significant increase in the use of AI and other digital enablers among manufacturers. According to our data—which polled more than 1,000 senior manufacturing executives across seven countries—76% have turned to digital enablers and disruptive technologies due to the pandemic such as data and analytics, cloud, and artificial intelligence (AI). And 66% of manufacturers who use AI in their day-to-day operations report that their reliance on AI is increasing.

In fact, Bryan Goodman, Director of Artificial Intelligence and Cloud, Ford Global Data & Insight and Analytics shares, “Our new relationship with Google will supercharge our efforts to democratize AI across our business, from the plant floor to vehicles to dealerships. We used to count the number of AI and machine learning projects at Ford. Now it’s so commonplace that it’s like asking how many people are using math. This includes an AI ecosystem that is fueled by data, and that powers a ‘digital network flywheel.’”

Moving from edge cases to mainstream business needs

Why are manufacturers now turning to AI in increasing numbers? Our research shows that companies who currently use AI in day-to-day operations are looking for assistance with business continuity (38%), helping make employees more efficient (38%), and to be helpful for employees overall (34%). It’s clear that AI/ML technology can augment manufacturing employees’ efforts, whether by providing prescriptive analytics like real-time guidance and training, flagging safety hazards, or detecting potential defects on the assembly line.

In terms of specific AI use cases called out by the research, two main areas emerged: quality control and supply chain optimization. In the quality control category, 39% of surveyed manufacturers who use AI in their day-to-day operations use it for quality inspection and 35% for product and/or production line quality checks. At Google Cloud, we often speak with manufacturers about AI for visual inspection of finished products. Using AI vision, production line workers can spend less time on repetitive product inspections and can instead focus on more complex tasks, such as root cause analysis.

In the supply chain optimization category, manufacturers said they tapped AI for supply chain management (36%), risk management (36%), and inventory management (34%).

In our day-to-day work, we’re seeing many manufacturers rethink their supply chains and operating models to better accommodate for the increased volatility that has been brought about by the pandemic and support the secular trend of consumers asking for increasingly individualized products. We’ll share more on deglobalization in the third installment of our manufacturing insights series.

AI use differs by geography, but not for the reasons you may think

The extent to which AI is already being used today varies quite strongly between geographies, according to our research. While 80% and 79% of manufacturers in Italy and Germany respectively report using AI in day-to-day operations, that percentage plummets in the United States (64%), Japan (50%) and Korea (39%).

It’s tempting to state this disparity is due to an “AI talent gap.” Although the most common barrier, just a quarter (23%) of manufacturers surveyed believe they don’t have the talent to properly leverage AI. Cost, too, does not appear to be a roadblock (21% of those surveyed). Rather, from our observations, the missing link appears to be having the right technology platform and tools to manage a production-grade AI pipeline. This is obviously the focus of our efforts and others in the space, as we believe the cloud can truly help the industry make a step change.

Looking ahead: The Golden Age of AI for manufacturing

The key to widespread adoption of AI lies in its ease of deployment and use. As AI becomes more pervasive in solving real-world problems for manufacturers, we see the industry moving away from “pilot purgatory” to the “golden age of AI.” The manufacturing industry is no stranger to innovation, from the days of mass production, to lean manufacturing, six sigma and, more recently, enterprise resource planning. AI promises to bring even more innovation to the forefront.

Recently google Announcement New serverless Database Migration Service (DMS) In preview. This service supports migrating self-hosted MySQL databases on-premises or in the cloud, as well as managed databases from other clouds to Cloud SQL for MySQL.

New serverless services for database migration are aimed at enterprises migrating to Google Cloud Platform (GCP) managed database services Cloud SQL Or Google computing engine Seamlessly. In addition, according to a post on the announcement blog, customers using this service will benefit from:

Migration using DMS keeps data replication from the source database to the destination without any manual steps, minimizing downtime.
DMS uses the database’s native replication capabilities to maximize fidelity and reliability for a reliable and complete migration.
It’s serverless and secure because you don’t have to provision or manage migration-specific resources or monitor them to keep everything running smoothly.

In addition to Google, Microsoft Azure and AWS also offer database migration services. Azure for customers Azure managed SQL instance service. This allows customers to move their on-premises applications to the cloud with minimal application and database changes. AWS DMS It enables migration from Oracle to Oracle and heterogeneous migration between different database platforms such as Oracle to Amazon RDS for Oracle, MySQL to Amazon Aurora, MySQL to Amazon RDS for MySQL, and Microsoft SQL Server to Amazon RDS for SQL Server.

Hi Bill, congratulations on being named a 2021 HPCwire Person to Watch! You joined Google last year to lead their HPC strategy. Please give a brief overview of your role and what you’ve been working on.

Since joining, I’ve spent a fair amount of time simply discovering and learning. Google is a unique company, and I wanted to take the time to get to know its diverse products, technologies, and people. I’ve of course only begun to scratch the surface, but I now feel better equipped to understand the key challenges HPC users face with cloud and the opportunity that Google Cloud has to better serve the HPC community.

An important part of my role is to help drive Google Cloud’s HPC strategy and customer success, and I’m lucky to work with teams inside and beyond Google. I work closely with our product and engineering teams to ensure we have the right roadmap to address existing and emerging HPC use cases. I also spend time bringing HPC user perspective and requirements into the broader Google Cloud product portfolio. I collaborate with our partnership teams, to forge and deepen partnerships within the HPC ecosystem. And, of course, I spend a lot of time with customers, sharing our HPC vision and incorporating their feedback into our plans.

In the last few years, the tier one cloud providers have stepped up their adoption of HPC technologies (and talent!). Why is HPC important to Google, and what is Google Cloud’s differentiation as a provider of HPC in the cloud?

HPC’s impact in tackling the world’s most challenging problems is undeniable, yet it still remains available to relatively few. Google Cloud hopes to address that and bring the power of HPC to everyone via a simple, compatible, and open Cloud. We are focused on both the needs of today’s HPC workloads and on opening new horizons, via powerful Cloud capabilities, such as AI.

To meet the unique needs of HPC workloads, Google Cloud offers several specific machine types, such as compute-optimized instances, which have fixed virtual-to-physical core mapping and OS-visible NUMA architecture, critical to many HPC workloads. We also offer machine types tailored for memory-intensive HPC workloads and GPU-accelerated workloads. We have improved MPI scalability through tuned MPI libraries, HPC-optimized machine images, available 100 Gbps networking, and new placement policies that co-locate compute instances in your application or workload or a job.

Beyond infrastructure, we are making many open source contributions and forming key partnerships in the HPC ecosystem. Our goal is to simplify the deployment of compatible environments on Google Cloud, enabling hybrid HPC environments where applications and workloads run unmodified. We have a number of enhancements planned to make HPC even easier, faster, and more affordable.

It’s notable that Google Cloud is built on the same infrastructure and technologies that power Google’s globally available services, used by 1 billion+ users every day . The extreme demands of our services have driven innovations in scalability, availability, networking, and security that are now available to HPC users worldwide. Google’s private network is among the best, providing superior quality of service, end-to-end encryption, and low latency that enables teams to effectively and confidently collaborate around the world.

And, of course, Google Cloud is helping bring the power of AI to the HPC community.

How do you see the relationship between HPC and AI, both broadly and more specifically at Google?

I think it’s well understood that much of AI can be considered an HPC workload, in that it benefits from high-performance infrastructure. At the same time, AI is a powerful new tool for the HPC community, with scientists, engineers, and others seeking ways to apply AI to gain deeper insight into their HPC simulations, improve their productivity, and even directly accelerate simulations.

Google pioneered the popular TensorFlow machine-learning framework and has broad strengths in AI and analytics. We make these capabilities available, along with highly-tuned infrastructure, to HPC users via Google Cloud. We often hear that HPC users and even HPC centers don’t have a need for round-the-clock AI training. As such, specialized on-premise AI hardware can often lie underutilized. The cloud provides an ideal environment to implement HPC and AI, since the resources can be tailored to the workload, adjusting dynamically as the workflow progresses. With inexpensive cloud archival storage and automated lifecycle management, HPC users no longer face the difficult decision to discard large data sets that might yield future insights.

What new/emerging technologies are you most closely tracking? What trends and/or technologies in high-performance computing (and related fields, such as AI) do you see as particularly relevant for the next five years?

I was actually trained in quantum physics, so I have a keen interest in the fascinating and rapidly-advancing field of quantum computing. While it will likely be many years before the full power of quantum computing is realized, it is interesting to watch the near-term applications being developed. Now is also a good time to consider how quantum computers will be deployed and accessed. Much like supercomputers, I see quantum computers as specialized resources, available primarily through shared HPC centers or the public cloud.

Nearer term, I am watching the rapid advances in silicon packaging and interconnect technology. Just as these advances have allowed the integration of high-bandwidth DRAM on CPUs, I see the potential for new product classes that combine the strengths of CPUs, data-parallel accelerators, and networking. These could drive significant advances in both programmability and performance for HPC.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t admit cloud is an obvious and major trend on my mind. I see a future where the line between workstation and supercomputer disappears, with compute seamlessly scaling to address the problem at hand. We have the exciting opportunity to bring the power of HPC to a whole new class of users, propelling their productivity to new heights.

Outside the professional sphere, what activities, hobbies or travel destinations do you enjoy in your free time?

Outside of work, I enjoy skiing with friends, woodworking, and traveling with my wife, Lisa. We plan to visit Spain, Portugal, and France as soon as it’s safe.

Casa Systems partnered with Google Cloud to make it possible to integrate the company’s cloud-native 5G standalone core with a hyperscaler public cloud. The advantage of this type of integration, according to Casa, is that it makes it possible to deliver ultra-low latency applications even when the control plane and user plane are separated by hundreds of miles.

Casa said its engineers worked closely with engineers at Google Cloud’s ISV/SaaS Centre of Excellence to field test the solution. The field test demonstrated that it’s possible to separate the control plane and user plane of Casa’s cloud-based 5G SA core across hundreds of miles while still delivering a latency of just 10 milliseconds.

Casa said that during the field test it deployed its 5G SA core in multiple locations and placed the control and user plane functions at different locations. In this case, the control plane was located in Google Cloud’s North Virginia Region and the user plane was placed in Casa’s Andover, Massachusetts, facility.

Casa added that there are other advantages to using the hyperscale public cloud with a 5G SA core. For example, this type of integration will also make it possible for service providers and enterprises to provision services that are deployable anywhere —from the network edge to public clouds, private clouds, and carrier networks.

But Casa Systems isn’t the only company working with a hyperscaler to deliver a cloud-native 5G core. Nokia announced earlier this year that it had teamed with Google Cloud to jointly build cloud-native 5G core solutions for service providers and enterprises. And like Casa Systems, Nokia is also working with Google Cloud’s Anthos for Telecom solution, which is a platform Google built specifically for delivering workloads to the network edge on Google Cloud.

Cloud-native networking is gaining traction with telecom providers because it makes it possible for them to develop applications faster and scale them to a much larger number of subscribers than is possible with traditional applications. Cloud native applications also require less management and have lower operational costs.

Although some operators may move to 5G SA without the benefit of a cloud-native architecture, many experts view having a cloud-native network as being critical to 5G and without it, operators won’t be able to take full advantage of 5G standalone networks.

Researchers reported Friday that TeamTNT is using compromised AWS credentials to attack AWS cloud environments via the cloud platform’s application programming interface. The threat actors are now also targeting the credentials of 16 additional applications, including the AWS apps as well as Google Cloud credentials.

The researchers said the threat actors can now identify all identity and access management (IAM) permissions, elastic computer cloud instances, S3 buckets, CloudTrail configurations, and CloudFormation operations granted to the compromised AWS credentials.

This attack was significant because in hitting Google Cloud it represents the first time attackers have targeted IAM credentials on compromised cloud instances outside of AWS. Although it’s still possible that TeamTNT could target the IAM credentials of Microsoft Azure, Alibaba Cloud, Oracle Cloud, or IBM Cloud using similar methods, Unit 42 researchers have yet to find evidence that there has been an attack on the other cloud providers. TeamTNT first started collecting AWS credentials on cloud instances they had compromised as early as August 2020.

In a blog post, Palo Alto’s Unit 42 researchers said these latest discoveries followed the threat group having targeted Kubernetes clusters and creating a new malware called Black-T that integrates open source cloud-native tools to advance its cryptojacking operations.

Yaniv Bar-Dayan, co-founder and CEO at Vulcan Cyber said any enterprise using cloud services needs to understand that offloading compute and storage infrastructure to a cloud provider doesn’t mean offloading cloud security. Companies still need to apply a comprehensive vulnerability management and mitigation plan to all cyber resources utilized by a company, including cloud apps.

“Cloud vulnerabilities are not the same as application vulnerabilities and both require different remediation and mitigation actions to protect from organizations like TeamTNT,” Bar-Dayan said. “We agree with Unit 42 researchers and reiterate the immediate need to protect cloud infrastructure using the appropriate remediation steps common to cloud environments such as configuration changes, compensating controls, and workarounds.”

TeamTNT starts by infiltrating a public cloud environment – with AWS by far the most prevalent target, though Google Cloud was hit this time around – and builds a map of the environment which includes scraped credentials, workloads, and storage, said Oliver Tavakoli, CTO at Vectra.

“All this represents the equivalent of establishing a base camp prior to climbing a high summit,” Tavakoli said. “Then the insertion of cryptomining software begins with TeamTNT counting on the fact that target organizations won’t notice the uptick in usage charges for a while.”

PLEASANTON, Calif., June 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — SpringML, Inc. (“SpringML”), a leader in machine learning and advanced data analytics services, is proud to announce that it has achieved the Security Specialization in Google Cloud Partner Advantage. By earning the Partner Specialization, SpringML has proven their expertise and success in building customer solutions in the Security field using Google Cloud technology.

Partners with this specialization have demonstrated significant success securing customer infrastructure and workflows to Google Cloud. Areas of expertise for SpringML include data encryption management, identifying and masking confidential data, role based access control and network security access to data for internal and external users – all critical components to help lay a secure foundation for data driven transformation.

“We’re pleased that SpringML has achieved the Security Specialization in the Google Cloud Partner Advantage Program,” said Nina Harding, Chief of Global Partner Programs & Strategy at Google Cloud. “Acquiring this specialization is evidence of SpringML’s expertise in building security infrastructure solutions and their continued commitment to helping our customers throughout their digital transformations.”

“SpringML is an agent of change to help enterprises rapidly deploy data-driven digital transformation projects,” said Girish Reddy, CTO of SpringML. “Using Google Cloud tools, we can ensure that security and privacy compliance are maintained at the highest levels throughout a project implementation.”

As enterprises look for new ways to engage with customers, providing creative digital experiences is key. SpringML’s portfolio showcases its ability to deliver data-driven digital transformation projects having built applications for enterprises with an agile, iterative, and incremental delivery model.

Spring ML, Inc.

SpringML delivers data-driven digital transformation outcomes with an experimentation and design thinking mindset. We provide consulting and implementation services and industry-specific analytics solutions that deliver high-impact business value from data. SpringML is a premier Google Cloud partner with capabilities to plan, assess, deploy, and manage data-driven engagements. We have been awarded Google Cloud specializations based on our expertise and customer portfolio for Security, Data Management, Application Development, Data Analytics, Machine Learning, and Marketing Analytics.

At the recent Google I/O 2021 conference, the cloud provider announced the general availability of Vertex AI, a managed machine learning platform designed to accelerate the deployment and maintenance of artificial intelligence models.

Using Vertex AI, engineers can manage image, video, text, and tabular datasets, build machine learning pipelines to train and evaluate models using Google Cloud algorithms or custom training code. They can then deploy models for online or batch use cases all on scalable managed infrastructure.

The new service provides Docker images that developers run for serving predictions from trained model artifacts, with prebuilt containers for TensorFlow, XGBoost and Scikit-learn prediction. If data needs to stay on-site or on a device, Vertex ML Edge Manager, currently experimental, can deploy and monitor models on the edge.

Vertex AI replaces legacy services such as AI Platform Data Labeling, AI Platform Training and Prediction, AutoML Natural Language, AutoML Video, AutoML Vision, AutoML Tables, and AI Platform Deep Learning Containers.

Andrew Moore, vice president and general manager of Cloud AI at Google Cloud, explains why the cloud provider decided to introduce a new platform:

Cassie Kozyrkov, chief decision scientist at Google, highlights the main benefit of the new product, managing the entire lifecycle of AI and machine learning development

In one of the comments, Ornela Bardhi, Marie Curie PhD fellow in AI and health at the University of Deusto, praises the new service but raises a question about accountability of managed services in machine learning:

Some users on Reddit question instead if the announced platform is simply a rebranding, as user 0xnld suggests:

In a separate article, Google explains how to streamline ML training workflows with Vertex AI, avoiding running model training on local environments like notebook computers or desktops and working instead with Vertex AI custom training service. Using a pre-built TensorFlow 2 image as example, the authors cover how to package the code for a training job, submit a training job, configure which machines to use and access the trained model.

The pricing model of Vertex AI matches the existing ML products that it will supersede. For AutoML models, users pay for training the model, deploying it to an endpoint and using it to make predictions.

A recently announced multi-year deal between HCA Healthcare and Google Cloud partners the two in an intricate dance across a tightrope, balancing the enormous benefits instant data can provide in treating patients against the enormous risks the sharing of that data poses to patient privacy.

HCA Healthcare operates in about 2,000 locations in 21 states. HCA Florida is one of the largest private health systems in the state and treats approximately five million patients each year in its 50 hospitals and 31 surgery centers.

Under the agreement with Google, HCA Healthcare will consolidate and store data from digital health records and internet-connected medical devices with Google. HCA Healthcare and Google engineers will develop algorithms to improve operating efficiency, monitor patients and guide doctors’ decisions.

“While protecting patient privacy and the security of data, HCA Healthcare uses information from our 32 million annual encounters to identify opportunities to improve clinical care and support its 93,000 nurses and 47,000 active and affiliated physicians. HCA Healthcare has … developed algorithm-informed decision support tools for caregivers and identified clinical practices that reduce infections and improve perinatal care. The partnership with Google Cloud is expected to enhance efforts by HCA Healthcare to continue to improve and develop new advanced decision support to promote quality, safety, and efficiency,” said HCA Healthcare officials in its announcement of the deal.

“Next-generation care demands data science-informed decision support so we can more sharply focus on safe, efficient and effective patient care,” said Sam Hazen, chief executive officer of HCA Healthcare. “We view partnerships with leading organizations, like Google Cloud, that share our passion for innovation and continual improvement as foundational to our efforts.”

The new data platform will provide HCA physicians, nurses, and non-clinical staff with workflow tools, analysis, and alerts that will improve the monitoring of patients and guide treatments.

Google Cloud Healthcare and Life Sciences Manager Chris Sakalosky told the Wall Street Journal in an article about the partnership with HCA Healthcare, “We want to push the boundaries of what the clinician can do in real-time with data.”

The partnership will also focus on improving data and insights for nonclinical areas within the health system, such as supply chain, human resources and physical plant operations.

“The cloud can be an accelerant for innovation in health, particularly in driving data interoperability, which is critical in streamlining operations and providing better quality of care to improve patient outcomes,” said Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian. “We are honored to partner with HCA Healthcare on this unique opportunity to be at the forefront of advancing care through the power of real-time data availability to support clinical and operational workflows.”

But with the exciting benefits of deploying such information technology comes the huge responsibility to protect the privacy of those patients.

HCA Healthcare and Google Cloud emphasized the importance of privacy and security as guiding principles throughout their partnership. According to the news release, access and use of patient data will be addressed through Google Cloud’s infrastructure alongside HCA’s security controls and processes.

Patient records would be stripped of identifying information before being shared with Google’s data scientists, and the health system will have control of access to the data, HCA Healthcare CMO Jonathan Perlin, MD, told the Journal.

According to HCA Healthcare, under the partnership, HCA Healthcare will use Google Cloud’s healthcare data offerings, including the Google Cloud Healthcare application programming interface and BigQuery, a database that supports healthcare data sharing standards Health Level Seven (HL7) and Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) as well as HIPAA compliance.

HL7 refers to a set of international standards for transfer of clinical and administrative data between software applications used by various healthcare providers. The HL7 standards are produced by Health Level Seven International, an international standards organization, and are adopted by other standards issuing bodies such as American National Standards Institute and International Organization for Standardization.

Going even further, Google addressed the partnership and privacy concerns with CNBC in an email saying, “This is deal between HCA and Google Cloud follows Google Cloud’s Enterprise Privacy Commitments. We do not process customer data to create ads profiles or improve Google Ads products. We do not sell customer data or service data to third parties.”

But, all that being said, there are concerns that privacy laws have not kept up with the technology.

Arthur Kaplan, a professor at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine, told CNBC’s Shepard Smith he was concerned that, despite Google’s comments to the contrary, companies like Google, which do a lot of commercial advertising, could correlate the information coming out of the healthcare system and potentially sell it.

“Maybe they don’t have your name, but they sure enough can figure out what sub-group, sub-population might do best by getting advertised to you.”

But healthcare experts, like Mary Mayhew, President and CEO of the Florida Hospital Association, believe hospitals can walk that tightrope.

“For many years, hospitals have been focused on leveraging the latest health information technology to benefit patient care that is focused on real time, comprehensive clinical data. As technology and software has advanced, physicians are better able to identify early risks associated with diabetes, heart conditions and other health concerns that allow for treatment plans that are preventative to reduce the progression of these disease. And, while digital information and analytics are enhancing patent treatment and hospital efficiency, protecting our patient data remains the top priority of hospital systems.”

Cisco has announced new ways it is helping customers accelerate digital transformations as they move more resources to the cloud. The hyper-connected, distributed world we live in now relies on cloud more than ever, and IT teams are facing challenges to provide people with optimal digital experiences wherever and whenever they need access. As a result, businesses are migrating to a cloud-driven operational model based on speed, insight, and control to bridge the greater distribution of applications, users, and tech staff.

Enabling customers to realize better outcomes from the cloud

Cisco has made multibillion-dollar investments over the past six years to build cloud into every aspect of its business, focusing on helping customers develop complete cloud strategies with confidence across five key areas: Continuity, Insights, Security, Connectivity, and Operations.

During today’s virtual ‘Future Cloud’ event, the company will showcase how it is advancing its cloud strategy across several of these areas to help businesses connect, secure, and automate to deliver seamless digital experiences in today’s hybrid cloud world.

“User experience is key to success in a digital world,” said Todd Nightingale, SVP and GM, Enterprise Networking and Cloud, Cisco. “We are focused on empowering technology groups to securely deliver the best possible application experiences. Only Cisco can power the hybrid-cloud solutions, observability, insights and automation necessary to be truly cloud smart.”

New hybrid cloud innovations announced today include:

§ Hybrid Cloud Operations:

o Introducing the new Cisco UCS X-Series: Cisco’s Unified Computing System™ (UCS) is used in data centers by more than 50,000 customers worldwide. Fully integrated with Cisco Intersight, UCS X-Series is a first-of-its-kind system designed for hybrid operations from the cloud and across the clouds. Blending the best of rack and blade systems and featuring revolutionary UCS X-Fabric technology, it’s built for workload versatility today and comes future-ready for the next decade of industry innovation in processors, accelerators, and computing interconnects.

o Intersight Cloud Orchestrator: Provides a low-code, easy-to-use automation framework that simplifies complex workflows, so IT Ops can easily orchestrate infrastructure and workloads and accelerate delivery of services.

o Intersight Workload Engine: A powerful platform for modern, cloud native workloads. Built on an open-source Kubernetes and Kernel-based virtual machine (KVM) foundation using container-native virtualization, Intersight Workload Engine is a Cisco operating system for HyperFlex™, featuring consistent SaaS management.

o Cisco Service Mesh Manager: A new extension to the Intersight Kubernetes Service, bringing deep observability and simplified management with policy-based security and intuitive visualization of services topologies across K8s clusters on-prem and in the cloud.

o Cisco Cloud ACI: Available on AWS, Azure, and now on Google Cloud with general availability in the Fall of 2021. The Cloud ACI® common policy and operating model drastically reduces the cost and complexity of managing hybrid and multicloud deployments.
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§ Observability and Insights:

o Integration of ThousandEyes Internet and Cloud Intelligence with the Cisco Catalyst® 8000 Edge Series for SD-WAN and Cisco Nexus® 9000 switches for data centers to provide customers with valuable insights on network health and application performance by monitoring across campus, branch, data centers, and every point of the WAN network between the user and applications.

o Nexus Dashboard Orchestrator acts a single pane of glass for configuring and managing common policies across multiple on-prem ACI sites, AWS and Microsoft Azure regions, and, announcing today, coming this fall to Google Cloud.

o Intersight Cloud Orchestrator: Provides a low-code, easy-to-use framework to create and automate complex workflows, so IT Ops can easily orchestrate infrastructure and workloads and accelerate delivery of services.

§ Customer Experience (CX) Services for Cloud

o CX Business Critical Services for Cloud provide advisory services plus expertise to architect, deploy, secure, and optimize digital transformations.

o CX Intersight Workload Optimizer Services enhance the resource consumption of applications in the cloud.

o CX Advanced Services for Thousand Eyes and SD-WAN deliver the best application experience for cloud solutions, providing expert design and integration to reduce project complexity and speed transformation.

o Custom Quick Start Solutions provide expert services for end-to-end automation and infrastructure-as-code (IaC).

Google Cloud recently entered into a multi-year agreement with national hospital chain HCA Healthcare to create customized healthcare algorithms to improve clinical decision-making.

The partnership will create a secure and dynamic data analytics platform for HCA Healthcare and enable the development of next generation operational models focused on actionable insights and improved workflows.

Previously, HCA Healthcare developed algorithm-informed decision support tools for caregivers and identified clinical practices that reduce infections and improve perinatal care.

The algorithms help to improve operating efficiency, monitor patients, guide clinical decision-making, and automate how hospital units track inventory of critical supplies.

The partnership with Google Cloud will enhance HCA Healthcare’s efforts and continue to improve and develop new advanced decision support to promote quality, safety, and efficiency.

“Next-generation care demands data science-informed decision support so we can more sharply focus on safe, efficient and effective patient care,” Sam Hazen, chief executive officer of HCA Healthcare, said in the announcement.

“We view partnerships with leading organizations, like Google Cloud, that share our passion for innovation and continual improvement as foundational to our efforts,” Hazen continued.

Overall, the partnership will empower caregivers with workflow tools to help them quickly respond to changes in a patient’s condition.

The companies will focus on impacting non-clinical support areas that may benefit from improved workflows through better use of insights, such as supply chains and human resources.

Under the agreement, Google Cloud will provide its healthcare data offerings, including Google Cloud Healthcare API, BigQuery, and HIPAA compliance. Additionally, the company’s data, analytics, and artificial intelligence offerings will power custom solutions for clinical and operational settings.

As part of the agreement, Google isn’t permitted to use patient-identifiable information and can access data when needed with consent from HCA.

HCA Healthcare, which operates across nearly 2,000 locations in 21 states, will consolidate and store data from digital health records and internet-connected medical devices. Patient records would be stripped of identifying information before being shared with Google data scientists and that the hospital system would control access to the data.

But Google can develop analytic tools without patient records, while HCA can test the models independently. This will enable the development of the healthcare algorithms.

The multi-year agreement between HCA Healthcare and Google Cloud grows both company’s reach in the healthcare space, especially during the recent shift to digital records.

“The cloud can be an accelerant for innovation in health, particularly in driving data interoperability, which is critical in streamlining operations and providing better quality of care to improve patient outcomes,” said Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud.

“We are honored to partner with HCA Healthcare on this unique opportunity to be at the forefront of advancing care through the power of real-time data availability to support clinical and operational workflows,” Kurian continued.

HCA Healthcare also recently tapped Google Cloud to launch a COVID-19 data sharing platform to enable the exchange of key information during the pandemic.

The COVID-19 National Response Portal runs on Google Cloud and promotes COVID-19 patient data sharing to uncover how the virus is spreading and help communities to prepare and respond.

The portal allows healthcare providers to safely share and display anonymous, aggregated metrics from hospital systems to other platforms. Providers will then be able to share and display information from the pandemic.

Google Cloud, which provides organisations with leading infrastructure, platform capabilities and industry solutions, has expanded its partnership with Shopify, a leading global commerce company. The expanded partnership will enable Shopify’s more than 1.7 million merchants to have access to Google Cloud’s technology across a broader set of regions.
In 2020, Shopify merchants generated nearly $120 billion in gross merchandise volume, as more businesses moved online in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and accelerated shifts in consumer behaviour. As the demand for ecommerce continues to increase, Shopify’s expanded partnership with Google Cloud will bring data processing and storage closer to merchants in more regions, to further improve store speed and performance.

In 2020, Shopify’s revenue increased 86 per cent year-over-year and Black Friday sales grew 75 per cent from the previous year. “The demand for independent, direct-to-consumer shopping is only increasing, and this extended partnership between Shopify and Google Cloud will mean small- and medium-sized businesses globally will have even more access to world-class infrastructure to effectively handle all levels of traffic,” Google Cloud said in a press release.

As a part of the partnership, Shopify will leverage Google Cloud’s global infrastructure to reduce latency and give shoppers more personalised, engaging experiences, including:

Google Cloud’s network of 25 regions and 76 availability zones around the world provides lower latency and higher reliability, allowing Shopify to provide a fast, highly-available service to merchants around the world.

Google’s Global Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) will make it easier for Shopify to write and deploy applications that span multiple regions.

In-country disaster recovery will help Shopify maintain business continuity across the globe.

Google Cloud’s services will assist Shopify in meeting various regulatory, security, and compliance requirements, which vary region-to-region and country-to-country.

The cleanest cloud in the industry, Google Cloud is helping Shopify reduce its carbon footprint and achieve the company’s sustainability goals.

Additionally, Shopify will join Google Cloud’s Partner Advantage programme, enabling the two companies to partner on joint go-to-market initiatives, bringing Shopify’s ecommerce platform to more businesses around the world.

“Our partnership with Google Cloud will mean that more Shopify merchants around the world have access to competitive computing technologies that would otherwise only be available to enterprise brands,” said Farhan Thawar, VP of Engineering, Shopify. “We know that during the COVID-19 pandemic from mid-March to mid-Sept, 84 per cent of consumers have shopped online. Improved store speed and performance will give our merchants a competitive edge by allowing them to better serve buyers where they are, and it will do so in the most energy efficient way possible through Google Cloud.”

“Shopify is trusting Google Cloud to help the company scale across the globe, allowing its merchants to handle peak traffic at any time of the year,” said James Lambe, managing director, Google Cloud. “Over the last three years, we’ve worked with Shopify engineering to ensure its business can scale as it continues to experience rapid growth. We’re thrilled to continue on this journey together.”

If there’s one constant on Wall Street, it’s that nothing remains constant for long. The combination of technological innovation, competitive advantages, acquisitions, and other tangible and intangible factors has a tendency to shake-up the world’s largest companies on a regular basis.

For example, in 2004, General Electric, ExxonMobil, Pfizer, Citigroup, Walmart, BP, AIG, Intel, and Bank of America were nine of the 10 largest publicly traded companies by market cap. None are still in the top 10 just 17 years later. In fact, AIG isn’t even in the top 250 anymore.

What might the top 10 look like in 2035? Frankly, we don’t know. But given a number of proliferating high-growth trends, it won’t stop me from making a prediction. In 14 years, these are likely to be the world’s 10 largest publicly traded companies, presented in no particular order.

Amazon
Unless e-commerce giant Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) decides to spin off its leading cloud infrastructure segment, Amazon Web Services (AWS), I consider it to have the best chance of being the largest company by market cap in 2035. Amazon currently controls more than 40% of all online sales in the U.S., and it’s signed up 200 million people to Prime worldwide. The fees it collects from Prime memberships help to ensure it can undercut brick-and-mortar retailers on price.

As for AWS, it grew sales by 30% in 2020 (i.e., during the worst economic downturn in decades). AWS has a current run-rate of $54 billion in annual sales, meaning it alone could fetch a valuation north of $600 billion and still be valued cheaply within the cloud space. Because AWS generates considerably higher margins than retail, it’s Amazon’s key to a cash flow explosion in the years to come.

Microsoft
Despite a myriad of change since 1999, tech stock Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is the only company to remain in the top 10 by market cap in 1999, 2004, 2009, 2014, 2019, and currently. Thus, it’s a safe bet to suggest it’ll hang onto a top-10 spot over the coming 14 years.

Although Microsoft is still generating plenty of cash flow from its legacy software and Windows operating system, the cloud is its future. Cloud infrastructure service Azure, along with enterprise and consumer cloud products across all of its core brands (Office, Dynamics, and Windows), can fuel sustainable double-digit or high single-digit growth for a long time to come.

Plus, Microsoft is loaded with cash, meaning it can use acquisitions as a means to boost its growth prospects and remain competitive.

Apple
Speaking of cash cows, I believe Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) remains safely in the top 10, even if its growth rate were to taper a bit. Keep in mind that Apple generated nearly $100 billion in operating cash flow over the trailing 12 months, which means the company has an abundant cash pile to buy back its stock, pay dividends, reinvest in innovation, and make the occasional acquisition to bolster its product portfolio.

In the years to come, Tim Cook will continue to oversee Apple’s transition to a services company. Subscription services boast higher margins than most products Apple sells, and will help reduce the revenue lumpiness associated with tech replacement cycles.

Facebook
The social media space has proved especially fickle over the past 15 years, so there’s certainly the risk Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) won’t be one of the 10 largest companies by 2035. It could also be broken up by regulators, which would potentially remove it from consideration.

However, I chose to keep Facebook in the top 10 for two simple reasons. First, it had 44% of the world’s population visit one of its owned assets in the first quarter. This makes it unlikely that any social media company will unseat it in the eyes of advertisers anytime soon.

Second, Facebook has only monetized two of its four prized assets (its namesake site and Instagram). When it decides to meaningfully monetize WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, it’ll enjoy a massive multiyear growth spurt.

Alphabet
As with Facebook, ad-driven operating models come with risks. Thankfully, Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)(NASDAQ:GOOG) has ancillary operations and history on its side.

In terms of ancillary businesses, streaming content provider YouTube has grown into a top-three social media destination, and cloud infrastructure service Google Cloud now has an annual run-rate of more than $16 billion. Eventually, Cloud is going to do for Alphabet what AWS has done (and will continue to do) for Amazon.

Meanwhile, Alphabet’s core business — its Google internet search engine — should benefit from long periods of economic expansion and the company’s insane global share of internet search, which has ranged from 91% to 93% for two years.

Airbnb
Perhaps the first big surprise is that I expect stay-and-hosting company Airbnb (NASDAQ:ABNB) to work its way into the top 10. That’s because Airbnb is disrupting both the hotel stay side of the industry as well as the travel side of the equation.

At the moment, Airbnb has 4 million hosts worldwide. This is just a fraction of what the platform is capable of handling given the more than 130 million residences in the U.S. and around 1 billion residences worldwide.

Airbnb has also been pushing its Experiences platform — i.e., adventures led by local experts. Nothing can stop Airbnb from entrenching itself further in vacation experiences. We’re witnessing the early innings of true leisure industry disruption.

Square
Fintech stock Square (NYSE:SQ) also has a very real opportunity to surpass PayPal over the next 14 years and work its way into the top 10.

Although Square should see steady growth from its seller ecosystem, the company’s primary driver will be peer-to-peer digital payments platform Cash App. In three years, Cash App’s monthly active user count has more than quintupled to 36 million. It’s been a more popular download than PayPal’s Venmo, and Square has been generating $41 in gross profit per user, compared to less than $5 in acquisition costs per user.

Square also completed the charter process to operate its own bank in March. This gives the company a full gamut of financial services it can offer in the high-margin digital banking space.

Visa
As of May 25, payment processing giant Visa (NYSE:V) was clinging the No. 10 spot with a $487 billion market cap, $3 billion ahead of JPMorgan Chase. I believe in 14 years it’ll still be clinging to a top-10 spot and likely pushing above a $1 trillion valuation.

Visa is a cyclical business, which is a simple way of saying that it does really well when the U.S. and global economy are expanding and it struggles a bit when recession arise. However, this is a numbers game Visa is well-prepared to play. Periods of expansion last significantly longer than contractions. What’s more, Visa isn’t a lender, which means it’s not required to set aside cash for delinquent loans when recession strike. Thus why it bounces back so quickly from economic contractions.

With a majority of the world’s transactions still conducted in cash, Visa’s growth runway extends decades into the future.

Berkshire Hathaway
In 14 years, it’s unlikely that Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger are going to be running Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A)(NYSE:BRK.B) or dictating its investments. Thankfully, Buffett has laid out a winning game plan for his successors that should result in continued growth.

Similar to the Visa growth thesis (Visa is one of Berkshire’s four-dozen holdings), most of Buffett’s investment portfolio is tied up in cyclical businesses. The Oracle of Omaha has always thrived on playing the numbers game and betting on multiyear periods of economic expansion. He also loves a good dividend stock, which is why Coca-Cola and American Express have been so valuable.

The wildcard here will be investment lieutenants Todd Combs and Ted Weschler. If they maintain Buffett’s long-term approach and avoid trying to time the market, Berkshire Hathaway should be one of the 10 largest stocks come 2035.

Sea Limited
A final surprise that could find its way into the top 10 is Singapore-based Sea Limited (NYSE:SE). A veritable no-name a couple of years ago, Sea has three extremely fast-growing businesses that could all help it reach a trillion-dollar valuation by 2035.

While mobile gaming is its primary generator of positive adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) for the time being, it’s e-commerce platform Shopee that’ll be Sea’s core sales and profit driver over the long run. “But what about Amazon?” you ask? Don’t fret. Sea is primarily focused on emerging markets where the middle class is still taking shape. Sea and Amazon can thrive in their own separate niches.

Sea also has a nascent mobile wallet segment that could provide financial solutions to largely underbanked regions of Southeastern Asia. It has all the tools needed to be one of the world’s largest companies.

Google Cloud has announced the launch of Datashare for financial services, a new solution designed to empower the entire capital markets ecosystem including market data publishers like exchanges and other providers, and data consumers, like investment banks, asset managers, and hedge funds, to share market data more securely and easily.

“Data publishers and data consumers are in need of processing large volumes of data from disparate sources quickly, and need access to it all in one place at the touch of their fingertips. According to our research, over two-thirds of end users of market data across the globe believe it is critical for market data providers to have improved accessibility via the cloud,” said David Easthope, senior analyst, Coalition Greenwich.

Datashare is built on Google Cloud analytics services like BigQuery and will leverage Analytics Hub. The new solution addresses both market data publisher and data consumer needs by organizing third-party data and making it more accessible and useful. With Datashare, data publishers can onboard their licensed datasets to Google Cloud securely while data consumers can access that data in tools like BigQuery.

Features of Datashare include:

Batch data delivery: Datashare provides a batch data delivery mechanism for reference, historical tick, and alternative market data sources via BigQuery cloud-based delivery, reducing the administrative burden on data consumers to extract insights.
Real-time data streaming: By using this event-based data delivery channel for rapidly changing instrument prices, tick data, orders, news and others via Pub/Sub, data consumers can reliably process individual messages or rewind to a point in time to replay a prior market scenario and test model changes.
Data monetization: Market data publishers can onboard their licensed datasets to Google Cloud, and make them available via Google Cloud Marketplace, providing new sales channels and expanding their customer reach.
To bring Datashare to life for the industry and connect more sources to potential customers, Google Cloud is working with multiple data publishers. Datashare publishers currently signed onto the solution include OneTick and Accern.

“As the global data landscape continues to evolve, market data publishers need to consider cloud-based models to keep up with the demands of their customers who expect easy, flexible and cost-efficient ways to consume market data. Stakeholders in the ecosystem, including consumers, corporate and investment banks, asset managers, and hedge funds, are increasingly asking data publishers for data delivery via the cloud. Datashare solves this problem by making market data accessible and beneficial to both publishers and consumers,” said Christin Brown, global Financial Services industry technical solutions leader, Google Cloud.

The preview is available for its solutions Dataplex, Analytics Hub and Datastream.
Google Cloud, at its inaugural Data Cloud Summit, has announced three new solutions across its database and data analytics portfolio.

The company has announced the preview availability of its solutions Dataplex, Analytics Hub and Datastream.

Datastream is the tech giant’s new serverless Change Data Capture (CDC) and replication service.

It enables customers to replicate data streams in real-time, from Oracle and MySQL databases to Google Cloud services such as BigQuery, Cloud SQL, Google Cloud Storage, and Cloud Spanner.

“This solution allows businesses to power real-time analytics, database replication, and event-driven architectures,” Google said.

Analytics Hub is a new capability that will enable companies to create, curate, and manage analytics exchanges securely and in real-time. The solution will allow customers to share data and insights, including dynamic dashboards and machine learning models inside and outside their organisation, securely. In addition, Analytics Hub enables organisations to combine enterprise datasets with unique Google, commercial, industry and public data, Google said. The preview for Analytics Hub will be launched soon.

Available in preview, “Dataplex is an intelligent data fabric which provides an integrated analytics experience.”

It will bring together Google Cloud capabilities and open-source to enable customers to rapidly curate, secure, integrate, and analyse their data at scale.

It has built-in data intelligence that leverages Google’s Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning capabilities.

“Data must be thought of as an ability that integrates all aspects of working with it. Every industry is accelerating their shift of being digital-first as they recognize data is the essential ingredient for value creation and the key to advancing their digital transformation,” said Gerrit Kazmaier, Vice President and General Manager, Databases, Data Analytics and Looker, Google Cloud.

“At Google Cloud, we’re committed to helping customers build the most powerful data cloud solution to unlock value and actionable, real-time insights, needed to future-proof their business,” added Kazmaier.

Cloudera has announced a collaboration with NVIDIA, which will enable the Cloudera Data Platform (CDP) to integrate the RAPIDS Accelerator for Apache Spark 3.0, deployed on NVIDIA’s computing platforms.

The RAPIDS Accelerator for Apache Spark 3.0 will enable enterprises to create data pipelines around artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), without the need to change code, whilst delivering analytics and insights.

According to Cloudera, datasets are growing larger and used for more purposes, such as responding to fraud, developing products, and transforming the supply chain. However, that data creates bottlenecks for data scientists who cannot work quickly enough to train and operate models across their organisations.

Organisations can use an open source, GPU-accelerated platform, such as Apache Spark 3, to train models using AI and ML. As Cloudera Data Platform now supports this functionality, there are more opportunities for high-performance compute, data science, and AI support from research right through to production.

Cloudera chief product officer Arun Murthy says, “At a time when speed is everything, businesses are relying on the power of data more than they ever have. Our collaboration with NVIDIA will give customers the rocket fuel they need to better understand their data and realise the true transformational potential of AI.”

Murthy adds that the deeper integration with NVIDIA is the natural next step for the company.

NVIDIA data science product group senior director Scott McClellan adds, “Apache Spark is a cornerstone of the machine learning and data analytics pipelines enterprises rely on to remain competitive.”

“The processing power of NVIDIA-accelerated computing and Spark analytics running on Cloudera Data Platform provides the flexibility to meet deadlines when time is of the essence, and save on costs when the bottom line is most important.”

RAPIDS Accelerator for Apache Spark will be available in CDP Private Cloud this year. Cloudera and NVIDIA will also roll out other offerings over time, including Accelerated Deep Learning and Machine Learning in CDP Public Cloud in May.

Earlier this month Cloudera announced that CDP will be available through Google Cloud Platform. CDP on Google Cloud helps to create data lakes within any organisation’s Google Cloud. This enables organisations to run analytics and machine learning, migrate pipelines to Google Cloud, and create new pipelines.

“Cloudera Data Platform on Google Cloud is an ideal first step for our joint customers to support hybrid cloud,” says Murthy.

Is Google powerful? Very powerful! If you ask any tech insider, they will tell you that Google knows more about you than your family, the government or your pastor. In terms of percentage of usage share of web browsers, Chrome is the clear winner, with Safari and Microsoft Edge trailing behind. Over 70% of search advertising is done on Google Search. Google’s YouTube is the world’s biggest video content site, Gmail is a top email service, and Google Maps is probably the map that most people use to get from point A to B. As of January 2021, Google’s Android OS powers 71.9% of the world’s mobile phones. Google permeates our daily lives – from the news and entertainment we consume, to the way we work and communicate, shop, choose restaurants and go places.

If you were to ask governments and regulators if Google is powerful, the answer might be that more policing and regulation is needed for it not to abuse its power. This is in fact the case here in Europe, where since 2010, the European Union has launched three separate antitrust investigations into Google for violating the EU’s competition laws due to its dominant position in the market. These cases have resulted in formal charges against Google related to Google Shopping, Google AdSense and the Android operating system. To date, Google has been found guilty of antitrust behaviour in the cases related to Google AdSense and Android and has been fined over €8 billion. The latest slap on the wrist was in March 2019, to the tune of €1.49 billion, was in relation to unfair competition in online advertising. The US is catching-up with three governmental anti-trust lawsuits filed against Google in last quarter of 2020. Calls for its break-up became a campaign agenda by then 2020 US presidential hopefuls Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. Dubbed as the “Breakup of Big Tech”, the campaign was not limited to Google but also to other tech behemoths like Facebook, Amazon and Apple.

Here we examine the three antitrust lawsuits lobbed by the EU, for unfair shopping comparisons, abusing its dominance in Android to unfairly favour its own services and stifling competition in online advertising. You can think of Google as the internet shop window; it displays its own stuff right at the front. This leaves competitors’ services languishing in the stockroom equivalent of page two of the search results. In all of these lawsuits and in the arguments for its breakup, you will see the phrases “unfair competition” and “stifling competition/innovation”. Collection of personal data and getting first-hand knowledge (and therefore, first leverage) of global trends are also cited as reasons to regulate or hold Google more accountable.

So, does Google have “the curse of bigness”? Is it right to call for its breakup? Is curtailing its “unbridled power” warranted? What will a breakup accomplish? How will it affect the tech innovation ecosystem? What could it mean for startups, not just in Europe but globally?

Google’s Product Integration

There is a whole ecosystem of Google products that captures the majority of internet traffic and keeps that traffic by putting in place a tight integration among Google products. Google search is integrated with Google Flights, Google Analytics, Google AdSense, YouTube, etc.

The unbundling of Google’s integrated products and allowing them to interface with third parties will help level the playing field for new players in the market. For example, Google Flights search results may no longer be prioritized in flight searches. YouTube videos will no longer be automatically highlighted in song searches, giving other video platforms a fighting chance.

Let us look closer at YouTube. YouTube is not only a video delivery platform but is also an advertisement and monetization platform. If you are a video content provider, YouTube’s monetization may not be favourable to you and you might want to monetize via other platforms. But YouTube does not allow integration of third-party advertising and monetization platforms, so this constrains the content provider and keeps at bay third-party platforms for advertising (e.g. Criteo) and monetization (e.g. Patreon).

Edging out existing competing platforms and keeping out potential new players stifles both competition and innovation. Competitors and new players always start as challenger startup companies – Patreon for example came out of one musician’s desire to make a living from his YouTube videos. Now you can see the same scenario playing out with other bundled Google products – Google Search with Google Maps, Google Search with Google Flights, etc.

Google has the capability (and resources) to easily reproduce fledgling startups services or products. The Google Cloud Platform (GCP) for example, is a major provider of cloud computing infrastructure which is used by startups. Imagine that there is a startup that wants to offer speech to text processing using AI who uses GCP and discovers that now Google Cloud has a similar (and competing product) under its ”AI and Machine Learning” product offering. From a technology enabler, Google is now a competitor. And what a mighty competitor it is! The ease at which Google can integrate or add a new product is astounding. This has something to do with Google’s massive resources and buying power.

Google’s Massive Resources and Buying Power

Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company is one of the largest technology companies by revenue and one of the world’s most valuable companies in terms of market capitalization. That being said, Google has the cash to gobble up any company it fancies. And it has been doing so since its foundation in 1998. Here is a list of 241 mergers and acquisition by Google, dating back to its early days. If you examine the list, the acquisitions range from web search engines, to blogging, to map analysis and you will see that they are either integrated or used under current Google products. Google (and other big tech like Apple, Facebook and Amazon) is also known to acquire startups to expand its knowledge and technology in “hot” or cutting-edge tech.

Since 2009, Google has acquired the most number of AI startups – a total of 30 according to a compilation by research firm Crunchbase. Among its notable acquisitions is Nest Labs in 2014 (for around 2.6 billion), which heralded Google’s foray into the connected home. Nest Labs is now ‘Google Nest’. Another 2014 major acquisition is London-based AI startup DeepMind (for around 419 million). Its latest recorded acquisition was in 2019 with a customer service automation startup Onward. The record AI acquisitions by big tech prompted an FTC query into underreported acquisitions and the mounting concerns over big tech’s overall role in tech monopolization.

This is perhaps the most important effect of breaking up a big tech like Google. The reduction of its capability to buy out potential competitors, because the assets of, say, YouTube as a single company is way less compared to Google’s holding company, Alphabet.

When a big tech company sees an innovative startup, and they feel that the startup’s product or technology poses a threat to the big tech’s existing product, they can quickly raise capital to acquire that startup. That startup’s innovative technology either becomes an enabling technology to enhance the big tech’s existing product or this technology (and by extension innovation) gets suppressed. The same stifling effect on innovation can be said about its ability to absorb players in new tech – potentially altering the direction or swaying it in the direction beneficial only to them.

Google has appealed against all of the antitrust penalties handed down by the EU. These lawsuits, including the ones in the US and around the world, have not dampened Google’s revenue, though. Shares of its parent company Alphabet have rocketed nearly 30% in 2020. On January 16, 2020, Alphabet became the fourth US company to reach $1 trillion market value entering the trillion dollar companies club (along with Apple, Microsoft and Amazon) for the first time.

If you are a startup in Europe (or anywhere else, for that matter) and your exit strategy is to get acquired by Google, it is probably better for you that things stay the same. Google can very well afford it! On the flip side, if you do not want to get acquired, want to genuinely innovate, or want an ‘IN’ into its tightly integrated product portfolio to scale – then watch out for Google!

The Consumer Cloud Subscription Market report offers an in-depth assessment of market dynamics, the competitive landscape, segments, and regions in order to help readers to become familiar with the Consumer Cloud Subscription market. It particularly sheds light on market fluctuations, pricing structure, uncertainties, potential risks, and growth prospects to help players to plan effective strategies for gaining successful in the Consumer Cloud Subscription market. Importantly, it allows players to gain deep insights into the business development and market growth of leading companies operating in the Consumer Cloud Subscription market.

Consumer Cloud Subscription market is split by Type and by Application. For the forecast period, the growth among segments provides accurate calculations and forecasts for revenue by Type and by Application. This analysis can help you expand your business by targeting qualified niche markets.

On The Basis Of Types, The Consumer Cloud Subscription Market Is Primarily Split Into

Direct Consumer Cloud Subscription

Indirect Consumer Cloud Subscription

On The Basis Of End Users/Application, This Report Covers

Personal Use

Enterprise Use

The regions are further sub-divided into:

-North America: US, Mexico, Canada
-Europe: Russia, Ukraine, France, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Finland, Poland, Italy, United Kingdom, Greece, Austria, Denmark, Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium, Turkey, Luxembourg
– Asia-Pacific: China, Japan, India, Australia, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore
– South America: Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Chile
– Middle East and Africa: Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, South Africa

Following are major Table Of Content of Consumer Cloud Subscription Market:

–Overview of Consumer Cloud Subscription Market
–Global Market Status and Forecast by Regions
–Global Market Status and Forecast by Types
–Global Market Status and Forecast by Downstream Industry
–Market Driving Factor Analysis
–Market Competition Status by Major Manufacturers
–Major Manufacturers Introduction and Market Data
–Upstream and Downstream Market Analysis
–Cost and Gross Margin Analysis
–Marketing Status Analysis
–Market Report Conclusion
–Research Methodology and Reference

What Are The Market Factors That Are Explained In The Report?

Key Strategic Developments: The study also includes the key strategic developments of the market, comprising R&D, new product launch, M&A, agreements, collaborations, partnerships, joint ventures, and regional growth of the leading competitors operating in the market on a global and regional scale.

Analytical Tools: The Global Consumer Cloud Subscription Market Report includes the accurately studied and assessed data of the key industry players and their scope in the market by means of a number of analytical tools. The analytical tools such as Porter’s five forces analysis, SWOT analysis, feasibility study, and investment return analysis have been used to analyze the growth of the key players operating in the market.

Key Market Features: The report evaluated key market features, including revenue, price, capacity, capacity utilization rate, gross, production, production rate, consumption, import/export, supply/demand, cost, market share, CAGR, and gross margin. In addition, the study offers a comprehensive study of the key market dynamics and their latest trends, along with pertinent market segments and sub-segments.

Finally, Consumer Cloud Subscription Market report is the credible hotspot for acquiring statistical market that will exponentially grow your business. The report gives the guideline area, monetary circumstances with the product value, advantage, limit, generation, supply, solicitation, and market improvement rate and figure, etc. Consumer Cloud Subscription Market report furthermore Presents another SWOT assessment, theory feasibility examination, and venture return investigation.

Market Insights Reports provides syndicated market research on industry verticals including Healthcare, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Technology and Media, Chemicals, Materials, Energy, Heavy Industry, etc. Market Insights Reports provides global and regional market intelligence coverage, a 360-degree market view which includes statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.