You don’t need an algorithm to know that AI is the hottest investments right now outside of frozen concentrated orange juice. Investors are seeing the mountain of money that NVIDIA is making and giving startups all the funding they could hope for. While massive funding for startups in Silicon Valley is old news this recent wave has seen the huge investments coming in the very early stages instead of later rounds after a product has been developed and is ready to be put on the market. 2023 saw almost $22 billion in AI startup funding, with an average deal of $55 million per company, which is well above the $8 million startup average. Investors are starting to ask questions about revenue and startups are having a hard time answering. This and more on the Rundown.
1:06 – NVIDIA Finally Acquires Run:ai
Our first story has been rumored ever since Nvidia GTC. NVIDIA has acquired Run:ai Labs. The deal is valued as high at around $700 million according to reports, down from the projected high of up to $1 billion. Run:ai has created a virtualization layer for deep learning workloads that allows for accelerated training for AI models while also reducing the amount of resources used. Part of the way this is accomplished is through parallel computing algorithms that break the models into smaller units for faster completion.
Read More: GPU Giant Grabs AI Acceleration: NVIDIA’s Acquisition of Run:ai
Watch: VAST Data Showcase
4:58 – Net Neutrality Restored by FCC
Last week the FCC restored Title 2 classification of broadband providers, commonly known as net neutrality. The move means the FCC is once again has the power to enforce service levels and protect against national threats. Net neutrality was a popular regulatory move in 2015 when it was first introduced before being repealed by Ajit Pai in 2017. The decision was largely seen as positive, with critics merely claiming that the FCC should have an explicit mandate from Congress to make the move.
Read More: Safeguarding and Securing the Open Internet
9:39 – Amazon to Build Data Centers in Indiana
Amazon will be forking out $11 billion to build new data centers in the Hoosier State. The move bolsters the bookstore’s presence in Indiana, where it employs nearly 26,000 people already. There are some substantial tax breaks on the table for the project, which is expected to have a 50-year term. The total number of tax credits could be up to $80 million. Amazon released a statement that they have long been a partner in the economic development of Indiana and welcome the opportunity to add AWS data centers to the lineup.
Read More: Amazon to invest $11 billion in Indiana to build data centers
12:44 – Hackers Spying on Governments says Cisco
Cisco released a statement that some of their Adaptive Security Appliances (ASA) had been compromised by hackers. The group, known as UAT4356, is reportedly state sponsored. The post went on to futher claim that attackers were looking to specifically target government networks and were looking to compromise other systems, such as those from Microsoft. Microsoft did not comment on the story and the CISA was not able to verify the report from Cisco as of the time of this writing. The affected devices have been patched and Cisco is urging users to apply the patches as soon as possible.
Read More: Cisco says hackers subverted its security devices to spy on governments
Read More: UK outlaws awful default passwords on connected devices
16:39 – Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Noble Numbat Released by Canonical
Right on schedule, Canonical released Ubuntu version 24.04. Code-named Noble Numbat, this is the latest long-term support version of the leading Linux operating system, which means we’ll see support until 2036, assuming Canonical, Ubuntu, and the human race lives that long. Ubuntu releases tend to be incremental, but those of us who stick to LTS images have been using a fairly old kernel and associated tools since 2022.
Read More: Canonical releases Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Noble Numbat
21:04 – Broadcom Introduces Omnissa
Would an End User Computing division by any other name smell as sweet? VMware by Broadcom is hoping so as they have announced that their former EUC business will now be known as Omnissa. The rebranding is part of the spin-off of the business to KKR. The move is widely seen as a sign that Broadcom is focused on the data center market and is eschewing anything not directly related to the consumption of cloud and hybrid cloud licenses. The new name was apparently chosen in a process the invovled employees, customers, and partners and probably has no bearing on the trademark implications of a fancy new name. Also of note is that the new brand is in no way affiliated with Omnidirectional Space Situational Awareness, or OmniSSA, which is used to enhance the resolution of space imaging.
Read More: Introducing Omnissa, the former VMware End-User Computing business
24:41 – AI Startups Investment vs. Business Reality
You don’t need an algorithm to know that AI is the hottest invements right now outside of frozen concentrated orange juice. Investors are seeing the mountain of money that Nvdia is making and giving startups all the funding they could hope for. While massive funding for startups in Silicon Valley is old news this recent wave has seen the huge investments coming in the very early stages instead of later rounds after a product has been developed and is ready to be put on the market. 2023 saw almost $22 billion in AI startup funding, with an average deal of $55 million per company, which is well above the $8 million startup average. Investors are starting to ask questions about revenue and startups are having a hard time answering.
Read More: AI Startups Have Plenty of Cash. They Often Don’t Yet Have a Business.
36:44 – The Weeks Ahead
Mobile Field Day 11 – May 15 – 16
AppDev Field Day 1 – May 29 – 30
Tech Field Day Experience at Qlik Connect – June 3 – 5
The Six Five Summit – June 11 – 13
Gestalt IT and Tech Field Day are now part of The Futurum Group.
The Gestalt IT Rundown is your look at the IT news of the week. Be sure to subscribe to Gestalt IT on YouTube for even more weekly video content.
