Gartner 2016: A grand vision, through CIOs’ eyes- Valutrics

CIO news roundup for the week of Oct. 17

DDoS attack. Sound the alarm: Netflix, Spotify, Twitter and Reddit were among the numerous websites hit by a wave of cyberattacks today. The disruptions were the result of a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack against the popular Domain Name System (DNS) service provider Dyn and mostly affected users on the U.S. East Coast. “Starting at 11:10 UTC on Oct. 21, Friday, 2016, we began monitoring and mitigating a DDoS attack against our Dyn Managed DNS infrastructure,” the company confirmed, adding that engineers are continuing to investigate and mitigate the attacks. Box, The Boston Globe, The New York Times, GitHub and Airbnb also experienced issues.

AI ascendant. This week brought more evidence that artificial intelligence is booming. AI and advanced machine learning topped Gartner’s list of top 10 technology trends for 2017, unveiled this week at Symposium/ITxpo. “Applied AI and advanced machine learning give rise to a spectrum of intelligent implementations, including physical devices (robots, autonomous vehicles, consumer electronics) as well as apps and services (virtual personal assistants, smart advisors),” David Cearley, vice president and Gartner fellow, said in a statement. The technology research company predicted that in the next three to five years, 50% of all analytical interactions will be delivered via AI. In other Gartner forecasts, worldwide shipments of 3D printers will double by the end of 2016, and more than 6.7 million units will be shipped worldwide in 2020.

Enterprise security spending exploding. With the threat of cyberattacks burgeoning, worldwide revenues for security-related hardware, software and services will rise from $73.7 billion in 2016 to $101.6 billion in 2020, at a compound annual growth rate of 8.3%, market research firm International Data Corp. (IDC) predicted. The U.S. will be the largest market for security products in 2016, according to the IDC security spending guide. Digitization and the adoption of emerging technologies are also driving the demand for more and different security tools, said Eileen Smith, program director of IDC’s customer insights and analysis group. “In addition to the traditional challenges of risk and regulatory compliance, digital transformation and the use of 3rd Platform technologies are putting even more pressure on organizations across all industries to develop and execute on a new generation of security measures,” Smith said in a statement. In 2016, the banking industry will be making the largest investments in security solutions, the guide stated. Security-related services will account for almost 45% of all security spending worldwide; security hardware revenues will reach $14 billion in 2016.

HP bleeding jobs. HP Inc. plans to lay off 8% of its workforce between 2017 and 2019. Palo Alto, Calif., printer and PC maker announced the layoffs in a regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last week. Approximately 3,000 to 4,000 job cuts are expected. “The changes to the workforce will vary by country, based on local legal requirements and consultations with employee works councils and other employee representatives, as appropriate,” HP said in the filing. The company expects the restructuring to generate an annual run rate savings of $200 million to $300 million beginning in fiscal 2020. The layoffs come on the heels of HP’s decision to eliminate 3,000 positions by end of 2016. In other downsizing news, HP’s sister company Hewlett Packard Enterprise laid off an undisclosed number of employees Monday as part of a previously announced restructuring plan, GeekWire reported.

Assistant editor Mekhala Roy contributed to this week’s news roundup.