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SNIA Gets Smart with New Smart Accelerator Interface | Gestalt IT Rundown: March 1, 2023

SNIA is announcing a new way for memory to be utilized in devices. The Smart Data Accelerator Interface or SDXI, is designed to help optimize memory-to-memory data movers. If this sounds like next-gen Direct Memory Access to you then you’d be right! The goal is to help SNIA members build more integrations with CXL as well as building on the disaggregated computing research that has been going on. This and more on the Rundown.


0:40 | IBM Storage to Drop Spectrum Branding

IBM is rebranding their storage offerings to be more direct. Instead of the previous Spectrum prefix the line will now be known as IBM Storage. Big Blue had been using Spectrum since 2015. The lineup has started to include more of Red Hat’s storage offerings since last year and some of those offerings, such as Ceph, were never branded with the Spectrum moniker. IBM says this is part of a realignment to address their client needs. Stephen, is this just a fresh coat of paint? Or does the integration of Red Hat signal a sea change in IBM Storage?

Read More: Spectrum no more: IBM drops brand name for storage products


3:36 | HPE Acquires Athonet for Private 5G

HPE announced last week that they’re jumping into the private 5G market with a splash. They acquired Athonet, a company that has been providing hardware for core mobile networks as well as private options for enterprises. Athonet has been in business for over 15 years and has 450 customers. The private 5G market is projected to be a billion dollar industry in just a few short years. HPE had previously been partnered with private cellular pioneer Celona and HPE announced that customers that had purchased Celona hardware through HPE Aruba would continue to be supported. Tom, why did HPE go with Athonet?

Read More: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Doubles Down on Private 5G, Extends Leadership in Wireless Connectivity with Acquisition of Athonet


7:38 | Scale Computing Introduces Zero Touch Provisioning at Edge Field Day

The very first Edge Field Day was last week and Scale Computing had a big announcement to go with it. They debuted their new Zero Touch Provisioning capability for Scale Fleet Manager. This enables IT departments to set up edge compute devices with a minimum of effort on the part of the installer. The devices can be pre-configured to phone home when cabled to the infrastructure, where Fleet Manager allows operations teams to provision the devices and get them running without being on-site. This is a massive improvement in the way that edge nodes have typically been deployed. Stephen, you got a close look at this technology. What do you think?

Read More: SC//Fleet Manager with Zero-Touch Provisioning

Watch: Scale Computing at Edge Field Day 1


10:38 | Hackers Breached T-Mobile 100 Times in 2022

Brian Krebs broke a big story yesterday when he disclosed that SIM-swapping hacker groups had successfully penetrated T-Mobile’s internal network over 100 times in 2022. The data from three Telegram channels frequented by criminals was analyzed to determine when T-Mobile employees had successfully been phished and had their internal tool access compromised to enable this form of activity. The data suggests that attackers were very active in the summer of 2022 with access beginning to trail off by the end of the year. Tom, this is a pretty big deal for T-Mobile, isn’t it?

Read More: Hackers Claim They Breached T-Mobile More Than 100 Times in 2022


15:02 | SNIA Gets Smart with New Smart Accelerator Interface

SNIA is announcing a new way for memory to be utilized in devices. The Smart Data Accelerator Interface or SDXI, is designed to help optimize memory-to-memory data movers. If this sounds like next-gen Direct Memory Access to you then you’d be right! The goal is to help SNIA members build more integrations with CXL as well as building on the disaggregated computing research that has been going on. Stephen, what is SNIA hoping to accomplish with this new standard?

Read More: SNIA’s New Smart Data Accelerator Interface Specification


18:32 | US Levels the CHIPS Act Funding Field

We’ve covered a lot of the news that’s come out of the US Chips act and the first monies are finally starting to be handed out to firms. Of course, that’s not to say the first round of things hasn’t had its own special drama. The government has stated that the Chips Act isn’t a handout for struggling firms and is instead focused on national security. To that end, chipmakers that agree to recieve the money must also agree not to expand capacity in China for at least the next decade. The wording of the statement doesn’t specifcally cal out China but the read of it by the industry is pretty clear. Intel also caused a bit of a kerfuffle by stating that the US should prioritize US-based companies for Chips funding such as themselves over Taiwanese companies like TSMC. The White House clapped back by saying the funds would be allocated to companies as they saw fit. Stephen, now that we’re seeing this come to fruition are we going to see more arguments over the semantics?

Read More: US Takes Security-First Focus in Doling Out $39 Billion Chip Aid

Read More: Biden’s Semiconductor Plan Flexes the Power of the Federal Government

Read More: Chipmakers receiving US federal funds can’t expand in China for 10 years


31:20 | The Weeks Ahead

Tech Field Day 27 – March 8 through March 10, 2023

Storage Field Day 25 – March 22 through March 23, 2023


The Gestalt IT Rundown is a live weekly look at the IT news of the week. It broadcasts live on Facebook every Wednesday at 12:30pm ET. To watch along, “Like” our Facebook page. Be sure to subscribe to Gestalt IT on YouTube for even more weekly video content.

About the author

Tom Hollingsworth

Tom Hollingsworth is a networking professional, blogger, and speaker on advanced technology topics. He is also an organizer for networking and wireless for Tech Field Day.  His blog can be found at https://networkingnerd.net/