Category Archives: Cloud Computing
Tech Tip Tuesday: 5 Ways the Cloud Can Help Streamline Your Business – Hello Georgetown
Cloud computing is an excellent tool for companies that need to provide employees with simple and secure collaboration. Utilizing The Cloud allows companies to access and store important data even while on the go. There are many benefits to implementing The Cloud into the workplace such as streamlined workflow, real-time editing, collaboration, and scalability.
The top 5 benefits of utilizing The Cloud for your business are broken down below:
1. Better Access
Employees will be able to access important files from anywhere when you utilize The Cloud. As long as employees have a stable internet connection, they will be able to get the information they need as well as edit and update documents. With The Cloud, collaboration is easier than ever before.
2. Real Time Editing by Multiple Parties
With The Cloud, your employees will not only be able to work from anywhere, they will also all have the ability to access and edit documents at the same time. Each team member will be represented by their initials and everyone accessing the document will be able to see changes happen in real time and implement their own changes as well.
3. Increased Security
Many cloud computing services offer robust security and data protection. Depending on which cloud computing service you choose, moving over to The Cloud could increase your cybersecurity company-wide. When trusting a service to handle such a large amount of sensitive data, its important to make sure they are reputable. Talk to your local IT expert to find out which cloud computing service is right for you.
4. Scalability
The Cloud offers the ability to increase or decrease storage as needed depending on your business needs. You will be able to scale for growth without the need to physically implement new equipment for your office. This is a perfect option for businesses that need flexibility with their data storage.
5. Data Loss Prevention
Some cloud computing services provide backup and disaster recovery. While backing up to The Cloud should never be your only form of backup, it can provide an extra copy of data in the event of hardware failure, user error, or cyber-attack.
In conclusion, ensuring your business is utilizing Cloud Computing capabilities can increase your workflow and keep your business running securely.
For more information about implementing Cloud Computing for your business, contact us at Computek. We can help you transition over to The Cloud with ease. Call 512-869-1155 or book an initial consultation online at Computekonline.com.
Thats all for this week, well see you next time for Tech Tip Tuesday!
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Tech Tip Tuesday: 5 Ways the Cloud Can Help Streamline Your Business - Hello Georgetown
64% of organisations see their use of multi-cloud increasing in the next two years – CloudTech News
62% of organisations are currently using a multi-cloud environment, with a further 18% actively in the process of transitioning to a multi-cloud environment.
This is according to OVHclouds recent executive report on the state of multi-cloud, which examined the views of more than 500 IT decision makers of large organisations in the UK.
Matt Tebay, sales director at OVHcloud, said: Using the right cloud for the right workload is rapidly being accepted as the best way to do business today.
Almost two thirds (64%) of organisations see their use of multi-cloud increasing in the next two years, so although it can bring considerable complexity, the benefits are clear to companies today. In fact, only 3% of organisations said that their use of multi-cloud would decrease in the next two years, and fewer than 1% have no plans to use multi-cloud at all.
The flexibility of multi-cloud, allowing organisations to run workloads in the right cloud environments, was recognised by half of the study as one of its main strengths, closely followed by improved agility (41%). Cost-effectiveness and gaining access to better infrastructure on an OpEx basis (40%) as well as reduced organisational risk (39%) through having fewer points of failure were also seen as key advantages.
Running the right application on the right cloud can bring significant operational gains to organisations, continued Tebay. Although working in multiple cloud environments can require higher levels of skills and training, when done well it can bring both enhanced agility and a solid commercial ROI.
However, the report also highlighted a number of challenges with multi-cloud environments, with 27% of IT decision-makers highlighting technical complexity as one of their main concern or area of risk, and 31% being concerned with a larger physical estate implying more endpoints to secure, and as a result, more possible vulnerabilities.
This complexity may explain why just under half (46%) of the study admitted to still being on the road to multi-cloud, taking it a step at a time, concluded Tebay. Despite this, almost a quarter (23%) of IT decision-makers said that their use of multi-cloud was plain sailing and that theyre seeing significant benefits, which shows the real impact of a mature, well-thought-out approach to multi-cloud.
The research was carried out by market research agency Censuswide and surveyed 504 IT decision-makers of large organisations with 201 700 employees.
Check out the upcomingCloud Transformation Conference, a free virtual event for business and technology leaders to explore the evolving landscape of cloud transformation.Book your free virtual ticket to deep dive into the practicalities and opportunities surrounding cloud adoption.Learn more here.
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64% of organisations see their use of multi-cloud increasing in the next two years - CloudTech News
2024 in Telecoms: A Look Ahead with Amdocs Featured – The Fast Mode
Technology is constantly evolving, and the telecoms space is no exception as communications become ever more important. Therefore, communications service providers (CSPs) must constantly evolve and innovate to stay front of mind in such a competitive space.
To navigate this and stay ahead of the curve, telcos must anticipate emerging trends and understand how these forces will reshape our digital future.
Here are the top five telecom trends I believe will lead the way in 2024 and beyond.
#1: AI will continue to redefine the landscape
Generative AI is reaching its full potential, as vendors rush to integrate it into their applications.
Open-source language models like Googles Bard and OpenAIs ChatGPT are democratizing access to this powerful technology and propelling a wave of innovation. The impending arrival of ChatGPT 5 promises to further disrupt the status quo, and a new contender has emerged in the form of Elon Musk's x.AI, poised to challenge the existing language model hierarchy.
Simultaneously, Europe is tightening its grip on AI regulation with the rise of sovereign cloud solutions, sending ripples across the globe. This will also impact non-European providers, necessitating a strategic approach from businesses that want to navigate this evolving landscape. While regulations may reign them in, AI CoPilots will become indispensable companions, aiding us all when it comes to decision-making and streamlining complex tasks.
#2: Cloud computing's quantum leap
As 2024 unfolds, we stand on the brink of a cloud computing transformation. The convergence of AI and computing power is making Digital Twins a reality and these virtual replicas of real-world systems will unlock unprecedented capabilities for simulation and real-time data analysis. Imagine optimizing capacity, predicting overload, or testing new features all within a digital sandbox, powered by the cloud.
Specialized functional clouds are also emerging, tailored for specific tasks such as AI and Generative AI training. These functions offer bespoke performance and resource allocation for these demanding workloads.
Hardware isn't staying idle either: Intel and AMD's Confidential Computing-enabled processors are becoming as affordable as their traditional counterparts, ensuring data privacy and security remain at the forefront of cloud innovation.
Finally, enter a new era of cloud interaction with GenAI integration at the OPS/ADMIN level. This will enable you to converse with your public cloud platform in plain English, issue complex commands, and navigate its intricacies with the ease of a natural conversation.
#3: Data fabrics adoption
The explosion of data, fueled by the rapid increase of connected devices and sensors, is creating a complex web of information. To navigate this, organizations must adopt intelligent solutions for data management.
Enter Data Fabrics, a framework that seamlessly integrates data across various sources, locations, and formats. When driven by ML and AI, Data Fabrics will be essential in an Industry v4.0 future, with adoption targeted for 2024 and beyond to handle the required data complexity, management, and automation. This will make it easier to enforce data privacy regulations like the GDPR and implement data masking for security, as well as other measures. Gartner estimates that by 2024, 25% of data management vendors will offer a complete Data Fabric framework, a significant jump from the 5% we see today.
#4: NaaS unleashed: A pioneering breakthrough transforms the networking landscape
The telecoms industry is set for a dramatic shift with Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) set to become a valuable solution this year. Deployed and pioneered by Verizon, NaaS delivers a fully functional internal cloud equipped with the entire networking stack and gear, all packaged within highly optimized, energy-efficient servers. This enables the deployment of a mobile 5G network at large-scale events, without the need for complex infrastructure setup.
But NaaS is not just about speed and convenience, it's also about efficiency. The low-voltage, energy-efficient servers reduce operating costs and minimize environmental impact, making NaaS a sustainable solution for the future. With Verizon leading the charge, we can expect other major players to follow suit, transforming how we think about and deploy networks.
#5: Igniting the quantum computing inferno
The race to quantum computing supremacy will continue to intensify in 2024, with tech giants IBM and Google leading the pack. As quantum computers become more powerful, the need for post-quantum-resistant encryption will become paramount. Public cloud providers are already taking proactive measures to implement innovative mitigation strategies to protect sensitive data in this emerging quantum era.
These five distinct trends each form part of a grander technological evolution. The convergence of AI, cloud computing, data management, network advancements, and quantum computing will create unimaginable possibilities this year and beyond. Therefore, CSPs must prepare to be agile, data-driven, and digitally fluent to thrive in this interconnected landscape and meet the ever-increasing expectations placed upon them. As the industry embraces these innovations, the future promises to be brighter, more efficient, and more connected than ever before, with CSPs unlocking ever more amazing user experiences.
The key takeaway is to embrace this evolution, remain curious and adaptable, and see challenges as opportunities for growth.
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2024 in Telecoms: A Look Ahead with Amdocs Featured - The Fast Mode
Enhancing Observability: Amazon CloudWatch Logs Introduces Account-Level Subscription Filter – InfoQ.com
The recent update to Amazon CloudWatch Logs introduces support for account-level subscription filtering. With this enhancement, developers can now access a real-time feed of CloudWatch Logs from all logs groups and have it delivered to a single destination for further processing.
The implementation of a single account-level subscription filter enables customers to deliver real-time log events that are ingested into Amazon CloudWatch Logs to a Kinesis Data Stream, Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose, or AWS Lambda for custom processing, analysis, or redirection to alternative destinations. It is possible to set an account-level subscription policy that includes a subset of log groups in the account.
All the logs that are sent to a receiving service through an account-level subscription policy are base64 encoded and compressed as gzip files. Designed to reduce the overhead of managing large and complex AWS deployments, the account-level subscription filter applies to both existing log groups and any future log groups that match the configuration. Jeremy Daly, CEO and Founder of Ampt, comments:
This is a dream come true for those of us who wrestle with tens (if not hundreds) of log group subscription filters.
The put-account-policy API can be used to set the CloudWatch Logs account-level subscription. For example, using the AWS CLI, the following command sends all log data to the helloWorld Lambda function, excluding the group names LogGroupToExclude1 and LogGroupToExclude2.
Source: AWS documentation.
Regardless of the chosen destination, AWS stresses the importance of evaluating upfront the volume of log data that will be generated to avoid throttling. Developers should make sure that the Kinesis Data Firehose stream or Lambda function can handle the volume, or that the Kinesis Data Streams has enough shards. With Kinesis Data Streams, throttled deliverables are retried for up to 24 hours and then dropped.
The cloud provider warns as well about the risk of infinite recursive loops with subscription filters, triggering large increases in ingestion billing. The team provides advice on recursion prevention:
To mitigate this risk, we recommend that you use selection criteria in your account-level subscription filters to exclude log groups that ingest log data from resources that are part of the subscription delivery workflow (...) When excluding log groups, consider the following AWS services that produce logs and may be a part of your subscription delivery workflows: Amazon EC2 with Fargate, Lambda, AWS Step Functions, and Amazon VPC flow logs that are enabled for CloudWatch Logs.
Referring to the new features added at re:Invent, and the recent announcement that CloudWatch alarms now support AWS Lambda functions as an action for state changes, Ran Isenberg, principal software architect at CyberArk, notes:
CloudWatch is on a roll lately and is making up lost ground in comparison to third-party observability tools.
CloudWatch Logs Account-level Subscription Filter is available in all AWS commercial regions except Israel and Canada West.
Each AWS account can create one account-level subscription filter.
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Enhancing Observability: Amazon CloudWatch Logs Introduces Account-Level Subscription Filter - InfoQ.com
Red Hat Extends Enterprise Java to the Cloud with JBoss EAP 8 – ITPro Today
IBM's Red Hat business unit is updating its flagship JBoss Enterprise Application Platform (EAP) with a series of new capabilities for building, running, deploying, and managing enterprise Java applications.
JBoss EAP 8 is the first enterprise Java platform release from Red Hat to support the open source Jakarta EE 10 specification. Jakarta EE is the open source successor to the platform that has had multiple names over the last two decades, including J2EE and more recently Java EE. The Jakarta EE name and platform came about in 2019 with a governance move for the effort from Oracle to the Eclipse Foundation. Jakarta EE 9 came out in 2020, but it was not supported by Red Hat JBoss EAP.
Related:Should Developers Learn Java Programming Language?
With Jakarta EE 10 support, companies can modernize legacy Java applications while continuing to leverage their existing investments. The platform's improved provisioning tools also empower developers to more easily manage and optimize Jakarta EE application deployments across bare metal, virtual machines, cloud environments, and Red Hat's OpenShift platform for Kubernetes container management.
In addition to Jakarta EE advancements, JBoss EAP 8 provides security enhancements such as native support for OpenID Connect.
With Jakarta EE 10, there are a number of new critical capabilities that JBoss EAP users will now benefit from.
"Much of the new innovation in Jakarta EE 10 is in the area of lightweight, cloud-native Java development and an effort to bring the specification in line with how developers are building and deploying modern applications," James Labocki, senior director of product management for Red Hat Runtimes & Migration Tools, told ITPro Today.
Related:What Is the State of the Java Ecosystem?
For example, Labocki explained that Jakarta EE 10 introduces a new Core Profile, defined as a small subset of the most useful Jakarta EE features needed when building lightweight Java microservices. But what's more important is that this also reduces the friction of modernizing existing enterprise Java applications by not requiring developers to learn a new framework to bring apps forward, he said.
Another key feature highlighted, according to Labocki, is CDI Lite, which enables the rising trend of using ahead-of-time (AOT) compilation techniques and natively compiled Java applications, first popularized by GraalVM and implemented by next-generation Java frameworks such asQuarkus and Spring Native.
"This has brought new life to Java in the age of cloud and containers, and represents another path forward to extend the life of enterprise Java apps," Labocki said.
Beyond supporting Jakarta EE 10, the new JBoss EAP release integrates improved provisioning tools.
Labocki said that the new provisioning system includes a new installation manager for bare-metal or virtual machine installations and a new Apache Maven plug-in for OpenShift builds. He explained that for OpenShift, the JBoss EAP Maven plug-in allows users to specify what they want in their server footprint and configuration for example, to specify a feature pack to include database drivers. The JBoss EAP Maven plug-in uses Galleon trimming capability to reduce the size and memory footprint of the server; it also supports the execution of JBoss EAP CLI script files to customize server configuration.
"For bare-metal or virtual machine installations, the new installation manager allows users to install JBoss EAP, apply patches, revert patches, and apply feature packs," he said.
In addition to making it easier for operations teams to install and maintain JBoss EAP instances, Labocki said the installation manager introduces similar layering concepts to container deployments, providing a more consistent experience across bare metal, VMs, and OpenShift.
Going a step further, JBoss EAP 8's OpenShift integration includes new lightweight OpenShift container images for running the server and the ability to build even lighter-weight containers with a smaller attack surface.
Labocki added that the new release also includes an update to the JBoss EAP Operator, which is similar to the Kubernetes Operator concept, that can manage container images for this release as well as the previous release (JBoss EAP 7.4), and includes new support for managing health probes directly in the custom resource managed by the Operator.
"Prior to JBoss EAP 8, this had to be done in the application container itself, which could result in configuration drift or developers specifying values outside of IT policy," he said.
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Red Hat Extends Enterprise Java to the Cloud with JBoss EAP 8 - ITPro Today
Microsoft in talks to end trade body’s cloud computing complaint – iTnews
Microsoft is in talks with CISPE in an attempt to resolve its European Union antitrust complaint about the US software giant's cloud computing licensing practices, the trade group said.
Working the issue out bilaterally could help Microsoft stave off a possible lengthy EU investigation that could lead to a possible fine and an order to change its business practices.
CISPE, whose members include Amazon and 26 small EU cloud providers, filed a complaint with the European Commission in late 2022 alleging that Microsoft's new contractual terms imposed on October 1 were harming Europe's cloud computing ecosystem.
Microsoft, which ranks behind market leader Amazon in the cloud computing sector but ahead of Alphabet's Google, amended its licensing terms in mid-2022 after rivals in Germany, Italy, Denmark and France took their grievances to the EU competition watchdog.
However, Amazon, Google, Alibaba and Microsoft's own cloud services are excluded from the changes.
"Today, CISPE confirms that it has opened discussions with Microsoft aimed at resolving ongoing issues related to unfair software licensing for cloud infrastructure providers and their customers in Europe," the trade body said in a statement.
"Both parties are exploring potential remedies."
"We continue to work constructively with CISPE to resolve concerns raised by European cloud providers," a Microsoft spokesperson said, declining to provide details.
The Commission said it had received several complaints about Microsoft, including in relation to its Azure platform, which it was assessing based on its standard procedures, but declined to comment further.
CISPE said the discussions were at an early stage and it was uncertain whether these would result in effective remedies but said "substantive progress must be achieved in the first quarter of 2024".
"We are supportive of a fast and effective resolution to these harms but reiterate that it is Microsoft which must end its unfair software licensing practices to deliver this outcome," said CISPE secretary general Francisco Mingorance.
Microsoft, which notched up 1.6 billion euros ($2.6 billion) in EU antitrust fines in the previous decade, has in recent years changed its approach towards regulators to a more accommodative one.
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Microsoft in talks to end trade body's cloud computing complaint - iTnews
What is cloud modernization? Benefits and best practices – TechTarget
What is cloud modernization?
Cloud modernization is a multistep process where existing on-premises applications, infrastructure and data sources are migrated, updated and transformed into a cloud-based architecture and environment.
Simply moving an on-premises application to the cloud -- tempting initially from a time and financial viewpoint -- fails to take advantage of all the cloud offers. Besides, if the application can be moved to the cloud in the first place, it might not work correctly once it's there. A proper cloud migration and the accompanying update are required.
Among its many benefits, cloud modernization delivers:
As one of many examples, on-premises applications are written to operate at a specific level of performance. If demand increases, such as excessive use of a database application, work can slow or degrade due to overtaxed resources. The application cannot scale up to meet demand.
In a cloud-based environment, because of cloud elasticity, more hardware resources can absorb any excessive workload, avoiding performance degradation. Likewise, if demand tapers, the application can scale back resource use, saving energy and money on computing and storage needs.
There are several cloud modernization strategies to address different migration needs, each with its strengths and weaknesses. Scrutiny of each application is required to determine the optimal strategy for modernization based on a user's specific needs.
Upgrading applications and data to a cloud-first model requires forethought and diligence. There are several steps in the process, including the following:
Here are some examples of various cloud modernization projects and their unique solutions:
The terms "cloud modernization" and "cloud migration" are used interchangeably, but they are different processes. A migration involves less effort than a modernization, usually just enough to get the application working in the cloud and take advantage of its benefits. Cloud modernization is far more comprehensive and is nearly a complete rewrite of the application.
Cloud migration is a simpler process that requires less time, fewer resources and less expertise to complete. While a cloud modernization effort takes longer and costs more, it also provides more benefits. The application is far better suited to the cloud, and in the process of modernization, new features may be added, further increasing its utility.
So cloud migration is faster, simpler and cheaper, but cloud modernization delivers better long-term results. Each application must be judged on the benefits of choosing migration or modernization and which is likely to deliver the better return on investment.
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What is cloud modernization? Benefits and best practices - TechTarget
Tamkeen renews support for AWS Cloud Innovation Center to enhance digital capabilities – ZAWYA
Manama, Bahrain: The Labour Fund (Tamkeen) announced the renewal of its ongoing collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS), which is aimed at furthering support for the Cloud Innovation Center (CIC) at the University of Bahrain and Bahrain Polytechnic. This collaboration, now in its fourth year, is dedicated to bolstering students' digital proficiency, expediting Bahrain's digital transformation, and addressing challenges faced by some organizations within the public sector. As a leading global tech institution, AWS brings invaluable practical expertise, diverse services, and access to cutting-edge technologies, enriching the CIC initiative.
Tamkeen's support encompasses the cost of training, including consultancy services focused on cloud innovations and the creation of prototypes. The initiative is designed to equip students with essential digital skills through comprehensive training.
Over the past years, the Cloud Innovation Centers supported over 100 students in their endeavors to develop innovative solutions through intensive practical training with AWS experts. This resulted in 34 prototypes developed as proposals for a number of public sector organizations.
The challenges that were addressed include the labor-intensive and time-consuming manual procedures for monitoring and documenting the water temperature in fish farms, which were carried out based on the knowledge and expertise of the employees rather than a scientific base. In addition to developing solutions aimed at farmers to support them with monitoring crops and detecting pests and diseases in real-time, enabling the farmers to make quick and informed decisions.
Tamkeen Executive Director of Programs and Partnership Development, Ali Hasan said, This initiative aligns with Tamkeen's mission to develop the skills of Bahraini talent, ensuring their readiness for the labor market and bolstering their competitiveness, both locally and internationally, therefore enhancing their position as employees of choice in the labor market.
He added: The Cloud Innovation Centers play a pivotal role in cultivating a robust pool of skilled Bahrainis, in addition to serving as advanced platforms focused on tackling challenges encountered by the public sector, educational institutions, and non-profit organizations. By facilitating collaboration among relevant authorities and empowering local talent with cloud computing expertise, these centers help bring about innovative solutions that transform challenges into rewarding job opportunities of high quality and impact."
Cloud computing plays a pivotal educational role by providing students invaluable opportunities to refine their skills for future employment. It fosters a collaborative learning environment and a deep understanding of cutting-edge technologies. Recognizing cloud computing as a distinct competitive advantage for students in the jobs market is increasingly crucial due to its role in honing adaptability and problem-solving skills, both vital aspects of success in today's tech-driven world.
The information and communication technology (ICT) sector made a significant contribution of 6.8% to Bahrains real GDP in 2022, marking a consistent upward trajectory. Notably, there has been a surge in the demand for cloud services in Bahrain, driven by companies migrating their ICT infrastructures to the cloud. This trend presents opportunities for firms to offer cloud storage services, software, and other cloud-based solutions.
This initiative is aligned with Tamkeens 2024 strategic priorities, which are focused on economic impact and the private sector under three pillars: increasing economic participation through new employment opportunities for new entrants, expanding career development opportunities available to the Bahraini workforce, and further developing the private sector by supporting enterprises and boosting productivity and the adoption of technology.
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Tamkeen renews support for AWS Cloud Innovation Center to enhance digital capabilities - ZAWYA
Broadcom’s Growth Backed by Promising Prospects in AI and Cloud Computing – Clayton County Register
Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO) has experienced an impressive 91% increase in share prices over the past year, despite relatively slower revenue growth. While the companys fiscal 2023 revenue only increased by 8% to $35.8 billion, its earnings saw a 12% increase to $42.25 per share. This success can be attributed to Broadcoms recent acquisition of cloud computing and virtualization company VMware, as well as its potential in the artificial intelligence (AI) chip market.
Although the stocks rally has brought it close to the top of its 52-week range, some speculate that Broadcom management may consider a stock split. This cosmetic move would multiply the number of outstanding shares, making them more affordable to smaller investors. While a stock split may have a psychological impact on the stocks value, it does not affect the companys business or fundamentals.
However, investors looking to add Broadcom to their portfolios should focus on its long-term prospects, which appear promising. The integration of VMware is predicted to accelerate Broadcoms revenue growth, with fiscal 2024 revenue forecasted to reach $50 billion. Analysts forecast a further 10% jump in revenue for fiscal 2025, reaching $55 billion.
Furthermore, Broadcoms business is benefiting from the growing demand for AI chips. The companys AI chip revenue accounted for 20% of its semiconductor solutions revenue and is expected to exceed 25% in the future. With the AI chip market projected to grow at an annualized rate of 29% through 2030, Broadcoms AI-related revenue is anticipated to experience solid long-term growth.
Despite these positive prospects, Broadcom currently trades at just 20 times forward earnings, making it a relatively cheap investment compared to its competitors. If the market rewards the companys accelerating growth with a higher earnings multiple, the stock could experience even greater upside.
In conclusion, while a stock split may be a possibility for Broadcom, investors should focus on the companys strong potential in AI and cloud computing. With promising revenue forecasts and a relatively undervalued stock, Broadcom presents an attractive investment opportunity for those considering long-term growth in the tech sector.
FAQ Section:
1. How much did Broadcoms revenue increase in fiscal 2023? Broadcoms fiscal 2023 revenue increased by 8% to $35.8 billion.
2. How much did Broadcoms earnings increase in fiscal 2023? Broadcoms earnings saw a 12% increase to $42.25 per share in fiscal 2023.
3. What contributed to Broadcoms success in the past year? Broadcoms success can be attributed to its recent acquisition of cloud computing and virtualization company VMware, as well as its potential in the artificial intelligence (AI) chip market.
4. Is Broadcom considering a stock split? Some speculate that Broadcom management may consider a stock split, but it is not confirmed.
5. What impact does a stock split have on a companys business or fundamentals? A stock split has a psychological impact on the stocks value but does not affect the companys business or fundamentals.
6. What is the revenue forecast for Broadcom in fiscal 2024? The integration of VMware is predicted to accelerate Broadcoms revenue growth, with fiscal 2024 revenue forecasted to reach $50 billion.
7. What is the predicted revenue jump for Broadcom in fiscal 2025? Analysts forecast a further 10% jump in revenue for fiscal 2025, reaching $55 billion.
8. What percentage of Broadcoms semiconductor solutions revenue comes from AI chips? Broadcoms AI chip revenue accounted for 20% of its semiconductor solutions revenue and is expected to exceed 25% in the future.
9. What is the projected annual growth rate for the AI chip market? The AI chip market is projected to grow at an annualized rate of 29% through 2030.
10. How does Broadcoms current valuation compare to its competitors? Broadcom currently trades at just 20 times forward earnings, making it a relatively cheap investment compared to its competitors.
Key Terms/Jargon: Revenue growth: The increase in a companys total revenue over time. Stock split: A corporate action in which a company divides its existing shares into multiple shares to increase the number of shares outstanding. AI chips: Semiconductors specifically designed to perform tasks related to artificial intelligence. Valuation: The process of determining the current worth of an asset or company. Undervalued: When a stocks price is lower than its intrinsic value. Tech sector: The portion of the stock market that includes companies in the technology industry.
Suggested Related Links: Broadcom website NASDAQ: AVGO VMware website Article on Broadcoms stock performance
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Broadcom's Growth Backed by Promising Prospects in AI and Cloud Computing - Clayton County Register
After Gaining 80% in 2023, Is Amazon Still a Buy? – The Motley Fool
After a stock has skyrocketed, it's fair to take a step back and ask whether that particular player still makes a good buy. You may be thinking that this kind of momentum can't last forever and the stock is looking pretty expensive now. Often, you could be right.
But some stocks, even after enormous gains, have what it takes to keep the good times rolling. If you avoid them because they increased a lot in value, you may miss out on a very valuable investment opportunity.
All of this means it's important to look at every stock market winner on a case-by-case basis before deciding whether to buy, sell, hold, or avoid. Considering all of this, let's take a look at e-commerce and cloud computing giant Amazon (AMZN -0.39%), a stock that delivered an 80% gain last year. Is this consumer goods and technology giant still a buy?
Image source: Getty Images.
Amazon stock was on fire last year, following a difficult 2022. The company reported its first annual loss in almost a decade after facing a variety of challenges -- from the pressure of higher interest rates to overcapacity across its fulfillment network. The tough times prompted Amazon to improve its cost structure, something that quickly set the company on the road to recovery.
Amazon cut tens of thousands of jobs, improved efficiency across the company, and shifted investment to high-growth areas -- such as technology infrastructure to support its cloud computing business, Amazon Web Services (AWS). The company also switched its U.S. fulfillment model to a regional one from a national one, making delivery cheaper and faster.
As a result, Amazon reported quarterly profits last year and progressively improved other financial metrics. By the third quarter, the company announced a double-digit increase in sales to $143 billion, net income more than tripled, and free cash flow advanced to an inflow of more than $21 billion from an outflow a year earlier.
Importantly, the changes Amazon made to its cost structure aren't just moves to help the company during difficult times. Instead, these steps should help Amazon gain customers, keep costs in check, and grow its business well into the future -- and all of this could equal earnings and share-price growth during better economic times, too.
For example, by making key inventory items available in eight regions around the country, Amazon is able to lower its cost to serve. By ensuring speedy delivery, the company is increasing its chances customers will keep coming back. That scores two wins for Amazon and should help the company maintain its dominance in the high-growth e-commerce market.
Another example is Amazon's investments in artificial intelligence (AI). The company uses AI for its own purposes, such as optimizing warehouse operations. It also offers AWS customers platforms so they can launch their own generative AI projects -- without having to do any heavy lifting.
This is thanks to services like Amazon Bedrock, a platform that gives companies access to top foundation models they can customize to suit their needs. AWS already is the world's No. 1 cloud computing services provider, and its prioritization of AI should help it keep that spot.
All of this points to Amazon having what it takes to gain over time. And analyst forecasts for more than 79% growth per year over the next five years reinforces that.
But could the stock possibly climb in the near term, too? Amazon has only just started reaping the rewards of its cost-structure improvements and other efforts.
In the most recent earnings report, CEO Andy Jassy said, "We have a long way before being out of ideas to improve cost and speed" of delivery. And the company, from e-commerce to cloud computing, also should benefit as economic pressures lift.
This means that right now, Amazon is trading at 43x forward earnings estimates, about half of its valuation by this measure a couple of years ago. This looks reasonably priced. And that's why this top technology stock still is a great buy right now, even after soaring last year.
John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Adria Cimino has positions in Amazon. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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After Gaining 80% in 2023, Is Amazon Still a Buy? - The Motley Fool