Top 5 Stories of the Week: News from Nvidia GTC, Dreamforce and Gartner

Two major industry events for tech makers led our coverage this week: Nvidia GTC and Dreamforce. Nvidia showed off several AI-infused updates, with a focus on expanding its technologies to equip businesses with the tools to succeed in the metaverse. Highlights include the release of its first software and infrastructure-as-a-service offering: Nvidia Omniverse Cloud. In addition to this, the tech giant also announced that its partnership with Deloitte is growing with the aim of accelerating enterprise-level AI adoption to propel metaverse technology innovation.

In a similar vein, at Dreamforce this week, Salesforce showcased a new Customer Data Platform (CDP) to automate and analyze large volumes of customer data in an effort to further support data-driven digital experiences. for consumers in an ever-changing world. ahead with technology. A guest post for VB, written by Olga Dogadkina at Emperia, examines the evolution of customer experiences in the metaverse and digital spaces. She notes that while the metaverse and associated experiences have yet to be defined in many ways, it’s important that brands begin research and action toward developing these experiences as soon as possible.

Of course, as new technologies emerge in these ecosystems and across industries, security risks will also emerge. On that note, Gartner’s latest Magic Quadrant for Unified Endpoint Security suggests that consolidating these tools into technology stacks will be increasingly important for enterprise security teams to keep tabs on endpoint security as that they strive to proactively protect businesses against attacks and vulnerabilities.

Here are more of our top five tech stories of the week:

1. Nvidia launches Omniverse cloud services in 100 countries to power the metaverse
   At its GTC event, Nvidia announced its first software and infrastructure-as-a-service offering – Nvidia Omniverse Cloud – a suite of cloud services enabling artists, developers and enterprise teams to design, publish, operate and experience metaverse apps anywhere.

   The technology uses the cloud to harness the power of data centers to enable Omniverse tools wherever users are. The company says more than 700 companies and 200,000 people now use its Omniverse technology.

   Omniverse Cloud is based on the Universal Scene Description (USD) open standard for interoperable 3D assets.

   “The Metaverse, the 3D Internet, connects virtual 3D worlds described in USD and visualized through a simulation engine,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in a statement. “With Omniverse in the cloud, we can connect teams around the world to design, build and operate virtual worlds and digital twins.”

2. Dreamforce 2022: Salesforce launches Genie CDP to optimize real-time customer experiences
   This week at its annual Dreamforce conference, Salesforce announced the launch of Genie, a real-time customer data platform (CDP) that can help businesses deliver enhanced experiences to their customers.

   The volume of data is growing rapidly and businesses need a way to act on the information as soon as it is generated to acquire new customers, retain them and delight them. That’s where Salesforce’s latest innovation, Genie, comes in.

   “Milliseconds matter to every line of business in every industry in this new world of data-driven digital experiences,” said Bret Taylor, co-CEO of Salesforce. “That’s why we developed Genie, the most significant innovation in the history of the Salesforce platform. Genie makes every part of Customer 360 more automated, intelligent, and real-time, enabling customer experiences that weren’t possible before and deepening every relationship.

3. Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) Tools: What’s New in the Gartner Magic Quadrant
   Consolidation and its effects on the strategies of leading Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) vendors is a central theme that resonates in Gartner’s latest Magic Quadrant for Unified Endpoint Management tools.

   “If I have five different agents, five different vendors on one endpoint, that’s a lot of overhead to manage, especially when I have all these exceptional cases like remote users and vendors. So number one is consolidation,” said Kapil Raina, VP of Zero Trust Marketing, Identity and Data Security at CrowdStrike.

   There’s plenty of room for consolidation as the number of security checks per device increases, to an average of 11.7 per device, according to Absolute Software’s 2021 Endpoint Risk Report.

   CISOs are turning to UEM vendors for better integration and cost savings, another dominant theme in this year’s MQ.

4. The Metaverse: Land of Opportunities for Retailers
   While everyone agrees that the Metaverse is coming, there’s no broad consensus on what it really is and how it’s going to work.

   Consumers may be excited about shopping in the metaverse, but businesses still have a lot to learn about designing engaging virtual retail spaces that consistently lead to sales conversions.

   The Metaverse is a work in progress, requiring innovative technology, up-to-the-minute data management and analysis, fresh produce, and a pioneering approach to commerce. Yet even though “everything is changing,” metaverse expert Cathy Hackl believes brands need to start building their metaverses now. “If you wait a year and a half or two years to do something, to have a clear strategy”, she warns, “it may be a little too late”.

5. Nvidia-Deloitte partnership aims to accelerate AI adoption
   Nvidia and Deloitte today announced an expanded alliance at Nvidia’s GTC. This new partnership will help Deloitte clients innovate and scale AI and metaverse services.

   “Artificial intelligence and metaverse technologies are reshaping the foundations of our economy,” Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia, said in a statement. “Together, Nvidia and Deloitte can help companies apply AI to create new products and services that reinvent their industries.”

   The “preferred partnership” announced today builds on a two-year Deloitte-Nvidia relationship. Deloitte customers will now have access to Nvidia AI and Nvidia Omniverse enterprise platforms, enabling the development, implementation and deployment of cutting-edge tools such as edge AI, voice AI, systems recommendations, cybersecurity, chatbots and digital twins.