We’re looking back at our reporting on the biggest enterprise IT stories of 2024 and telling you the trends that will be discussion points well into 2025. We’re reconsidering Broadcom’s moves with VMware, the fall of Intel, HPE’s acquisition of Juniper, that fab CHIPS act, the evolution of data protection companies to security, power-hungry GPUs, Co-Pilot PCs, lots of AI infrastructure, a whole lot of hacks, including Snowflake and Salt Typhoon, and the government’s actions against big tech.
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2:04 – The Fall of Intel
It’s hard to say which story from 2024 will have the most-lasting impact on the future of enterprise technology, but we can safely say that Intel’s position in the market will never be the same. We started the year on a high note, with new product launches and the execution of Pat Gelsinger’s strategy to leapfrog rivals in manufacturing processes. But rumors were swirling in the second half of the year, with rumors that not all was going to plan. This all came to a head on December 2, with the company announcing the surprise retirement of Gelsinger.
10:09 – Broadcom and VMware
VMware customers aren’t the only folks getting some interesting emails. Before the break Broadcom announced to all existing VMware partners that their agreements would be vacated on February 4. They will need to reapply to the program in order to continue to be VMware partners going forward. At that time, Broadcom will let them know if they are eligible to continue under the revised rules for the program. Insider sources have said that companies will need to be over $500,000 in revenue to be considered for the program, which could leave out a lot of smaller MSPs and other companies.
20:53 – That’s HPE’s Juniper Buy!
The biggest news in the networking industry comes from HPE’s announcement that they are buying Juniper in a blockbuster deal to take on the biggest players out there. HPE is gearing up to be an integral part of a new generation of enterprise IT focused on delivering the products and services that are necessary for new adavances like AI and hybrid cloud. The first step in this new journey is buying the backbone of the networks that power clouds, service providers, and end users in the campus.
26:59 – Fabulous Fabs and CHIPS!
The 2022 CHIPS act aimed to secure America’s access to advanced semiconductors, doling out money to build fabs in the United States. The sheer amount of money tilted the market, with every company in the space asking for cash to support their operations here. While it’s too soon to say whether these subsidies are going to work, not to mention what the next administration will do, we can say that there are more chip fabs being built in the USA than ever, with Intel, TSMC, Samsung, Micron, and others actively expanding. But who’s going to build and work in these fabs? And what products will they make? We’ll be watching in 2025 as they come online.
34:37 – Transforming Data Protection
The market for backup and recovery continues to transform into data protection to emphasize the security aspects of platforms. And it means big moves designed to turn these companies into more critical components of the infrastructure. Consolidation was a big theme of the year, with several acquisitions happening as well as a big IPO and some new advances designed to work with the way that companies consume data and the regulations that require them to keep it safe.
41:29 – Nuking GPUs in Pennsylvania
The voracious appetite of AI chips has entered pop culture, becoming just as much a criticism of the technology as hallucinations and job losses. Major IT companies have scaled back their carbon-neutral promises and are looking at nuclear energy as an option. Yet nothing has stopped them from building ever-larger AI clusters in the race to dominate this new space.
46:09 – My Co-Pilot is a Dog
Microsoft embraced AI in 2024 but it seemed to be hit or miss. Their work with OpenAI continued to be one of the bigger stories of the year. However, their implementation of the solutions they built using AI seemed to fall flat. The elephant In the room came courtesy of CoPilot Recall. Let’s see how we got there.
52:44 – AI Infrastructure Baby!
AI is the hottest topic in tech, and the enterprise IT companies are focusing on it, too. Storage and networking companies are re-tooling their products and plans to capitalize on the AI training market, announcing new offerings all year long to keep the GPUs fed. And the chipmakers aren’t slowing down, with NVIDIA, AMD, Intel, Qualcomm and others announcing new AI processors this year. AI infrastructurue even became a new Tech Field Day topic this year! Let’s take a closer look.
1:00:10 – It’s Snowing Data (Breaches)
There are three big breach stories that we wanted to cover from this year. The first invovles Christmas in the summertime. Or, more appropriately, snow fallout from Snowflake. This database hack had far reaching implications for a number of infrastructure players and services alike. Taylor Swift fans were in the same boat as storage admins and even the phone company as the world seemed to melt down around them.
1:03:25 – Crowd Strikes Back
The second big security story of the year was from a little update gone wrong that caused no end of trouble the world over. People woke up in the early morning hours of June 26th to find a whole host of services offline. People couldn’t buy things at the store. Airlines were grounded. It’s like everything went on strike.
1:07:14 – Salt Typhoon
The end of the year saw yet another huge hack that we will definitely be talking about well into 2025. The state-back group Salt Typhoon found ways into critical telecom infrastructure and started doing everything they could to upset the balance of power. Reports of political candidates being hacked had the government scrambling to react and even recommending encrypted applications they had been railing against only months prior.
1:10:18 – DOJ Gonna DOJ
While it’s too soon to say what the next administration will do, the current US Department of Justice is actively pursuing antitrust investigations into many prominent tech firms. NVIDIA, Microsoft, OpenAI, Google, Apple, and many others faced scrutiny this year, but it seems that Google will be the first to face sanctions. What’s the state of antitrust in big tech?
The Weeks Ahead:
AI Field Day 6 – January 29 – 30
Cisco Live EMEA 2025 – February 9 – 14
Cloud Field Day 22 – February 19 – 20
Networking Field Day 37 – March 19 – 20
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.
