And that's certainly an area Smarts has been developing strongly of late. The OSS firm's president, Shaula Alexander Yemini, says a greater focus on carriers' needs is reaping rewards, and means "Smarts isn't viewed so much as just an enterprise shop. We're hoping to announce our biggest carrier customer ever very soon," she says, adding that Smarts is already one of AT&T Corp.'s (NYSE: T) suppliers for its Concept of One project and has growing traction with Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ). (See AT&T Needs New 'Underware,' Says CEO).
But Kelly believes the EMC acquisition spells good news for Smarts's main competitors in the carrier market, namely Micromuse, Aprisma Management Technologies Inc., and Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ).
Conversely, the deal gives Smarts more muscle, increases its potential customer base, and solidifies its growing relationship with Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO), already a key partner of EMC (see EMC, Cisco Do the Deed).
Yemini says a wide-ranging OEM agreement was signed with Cisco in August that covers almost all of Smarts's products, though it's still too early for that agreement to be having any noticeable impact on revenues.
Yemini says this is a critical deal for Smarts, as Cisco has, indirectly, been more of a competitor in the past, as it has long been a major reseller of Micromuse's Netcool software.
To realize the benefits of cloud-native software, an application must actually be cloud-native—designed to run in the cloud, interacting with disaggregated cloud services, fully manageable as code—to deliver the expected benefits.
By combining resources and expertise, the AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium will offer a blueprint for how industries can adapt to an AI-dominated future.
IT leaders should heed the guidance of cybersecurity insurance providers who think businesses should prioritize security education, incident preparedness, regular internal audits, and ongoing vulnerability scanning and patching.
