Blog

HPE Strengthens Cloud and Edge Security Posture

Michael McDowell May 12, 2025

HPE rolled confidently into RSAC Conference recently, and, I must say, they brought some interesting tech to the table. HPE has been around the network security block a time or two. But these latest moves, especially around GreenLake and the Aruba Networking gear, show that they’re serious about stepping up their security game.

Quick Take: UALink & OCP Join Forces

Steve McDowell May 6, 2025

The Open Compute Project (OCP) Foundation and the Ultra Accelerator Link (UALink) Consortium have announced a strategic collaboration to standardize and deploy high-performance, open scale-up interconnects for next-generation AI and HPC clusters.

Quick Take: Palo Alto Networks to Acquire Protect AI

Steve McDowell April 29, 2025

Today, Palo Alto Networks announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Protect AI, which secures AI and ML applications. The deal is part of Palo Alto Networks’ broader strategy to expand its cybersecurity portfolio into AI risk management.

Quick Take: Databricks Acquires Fennel

Steve McDowell April 18, 2025

Databricks announced the acquisition of Fennel, a specialized platform focused on feature engineering for machine learning applications. This acquisition bolsters Databricks’ capabilities in feature engineering, especially for real-time and streaming data applications.

OFC 2025: Optical Interconnects Take Center Stage in the AI-First Data Center

Steve McDowell April 14, 2025

AI is reshaping the data center, bringing networking along for the ride. It’s clear that optical networking is rapidly moving from a back-end concern to a front-line enabler of next-generation infrastructure.

AI workloads, with their massive datasets, distributed training pipelines, and high-performance compute requirements, demand interconnect solutions that combine extreme bandwidth with low power consumption and low latency. At last month’s OFC 2025 event in San Francisco, this shift was unmistakable.

Key Takeaways: Microsoft FabCon 2025