This was a big week for Palo Alto Networks Inc., as the cybersecurity market leader celebrated turned 20 this week with multiple activities, including its “Ignite on Tour” event in New York and ringing the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange. At Ignite Wednesday, Palo Alto announced a multiyear partnership with the National Hockey League to strengthen cybersecurity across the league — from behind-the-scenes operations to what fans experience online and in arenas.
Two words are practically ubiquitous in technology discussions these days: artificial intelligence and cloud. At last week’s Nvidia GTC conference in San Jose, many emerging technology companies discussed and demonstrated how they leverage AI and the cloud to deliver innovative products and solutions to their customers.
Last week all eyes were on Nvidia Corp.’s GTC, also known as the artificial intelligence show. But there was another event going on across the country as Enterprise Connect, the communications industry’s largest event was going on in Orlando, Florida. AI was the theme at EC as the technology is changing the way we interact with each other and with customers and that’s where Zoom Communications Inc. unloaded a salvo of 45 agentic AI skills and agent enhancements for its Zoom AI Companion.
In its 18th annual GTC conference last week, Nvidia Corp. not surprisingly aimed to get audience members’ hearts pumping for what’s next — which obviously is the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence. Nvidia co-founder and Chief Executive Jensen Huang once again played his traditional keynote speaker role. As usual, he was dressed in all black, including a leather jacket. On Tuesday, Huang held court without a script for more than two hours, introducing Nvidia’s upcoming products.
Artificial intelligence continues to be a focal point for companies in all areas of technology and communications as demand from enterprise customers continues to soar, but one of the underappreciated aspects of AI is that a network plays a critical role in the success of AI initiatives. Despite the same type of “AI bump” the capital markets have given the chip companies; the network vendors have been aggressive with evolving their products to meet the demands of AI.