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Microsoft has announced its plans to enable Extended Protection by default on Exchange Server later this year. Scheduled to roll out with the 2023 H2 Cumulative Update, the new security feature will help organizations to boost protection against credential theft and man-in-the-middle attacks.

Windows Extended Protection is a security feature that is designed to secure communication between client and server devices. It strengthens the NTLM (Windows NT LAN Manager) protocol that is used to authenticate users in Windows environments. The Extended Protection feature helps to protect users against various types of attacks, including credential theft and man-in-the-middle (MiTM) attacks.

Last year, Microsoft introduced Extended Protection support to mitigate specific vulnerabilities in Exchange Online. Currently, IT admins need to manually enable Extended Protection support on Exchange Servers in their tenants. Starting with the 2023 H2 Cumulative Update (CU), Microsoft will enable Extended Protection by default for Exchange Server 2019.

EP allows a binding to occur within Windows Authentication in IIS between the auth information passed at the Application layer and the TLS encapsulation at the lower levels of the protocol stack. Auth information is also supplemented by adding the namespace the client is accessing in the connection, the Exchange team explained.

Microsoft notes that organizations will be able to use the command-line CU installer to opt out of the default configuration. However, IT admins who use the unattended Setup/scripts to deploy cumulative updates will need to add the new Setup parameter manually. Microsoft recommends the following course of action:

Microsoft advises all administrators to enable Extended Protection in their organizations. If you have any servers older than the August 2022 SU, then your servers are considered persistently vulnerable and should be updated immediately. Further, if you have any Exchange servers older than the August 2022 SU, you will break server-to-server communication with servers that have EP enabled, the Exchange team added.

Its important to note that threat actors are increasingly looking to search, discover, and exploit vulnerabilities in Exchange Server. The integration of Extended Protection support should offer a robust defense against rising threats like MITM attacks.

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Exchange Server to Enable Extended Protection By Default - Petri.com

Data center News Joseph F. Kovar August 31, 2023, 10:52 PM EDT

As the number one infrastructure provider, we are clearly positioned to serve the [generative AI] market in a unique and differentiated way. And we have the worlds broadest GenAI infrastructure portfolio that spans from the cloud to the client. Customers big and small are using their own data and business context to train, fine tune, and inference on Dell infrastructure solutions to incorporate advanced AI into their core business processes, says Dell Technologies Vice Chairman and COO Jeff Clarke.

Dell Technologys latest quarterly financial numbers say the companys fiscal 2024 second quarter was a bust, but company executives say that AI and other emerging technology, along with improved macroeconomic trends, make the quarter a strong one. And investors late Wednesday showed their thumbs-up.

Dell reported Thursday a significant year-over-year drop in revenue and GAAP net income along with tiny growth in non-GAAP net income. And the companys revenue guidance for the next quarter is for another double-digit decline.

However, talk about Dells investment in AI convinced investors that Dell is moving in the right direction, giving Dell share prices a 7-plus-percent boost in after-hours trading.

[Related: Dell Technologies World 2023: Five Big Announcements]

Jeff Clarke, vice chairman and chief operating officer for Dell Technologies, said during his prepared remarks that his company had been cautious given its first fiscal quarter results.

But the demand environment improved at a faster rate than we anticipated, particularly as we moved into June and July, Clarke (pictured) said. Operationally, we executed well with expense controls, pricing discipline, and lower input costs. We sharpened our focus on pricing this quarter, and we were selective on deals particularly where shared benefits would have been temporary. While revenue was down year over year, a better demand environment and strong execution enabled extraordinary Q2 results.

Clarke said Dell is encouraged with some of the macro environment signs it sees in the second half of the year.

We saw better underlying demand in the U.S. market and EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) was better than anticipated, he said. We also saw demand growth in government and SMB, and our transactional demand improved through the quarter. However, most of our largest global customers remain careful with their spending levels.

On the technology side, Dell saw significant strength in AI-enabled servers, as well as in parts of its storage portfolio, particularly with its PowerFlex proprietary software-defined storage technology, which has recorded revenue growth for eight consecutive quarters, Clarke said.

Workstation demand grew and was another bright spot that will continue to benefit from the rise of AI, he said. Developers and data scientists can now fine tune GenAI models locally before deploying them at scale.

AI is a strong tailwind for all things data and compute, Clarke said.

When you think about the potential for workstations, and eventually all PCs, AI is expanding the TAM [total addressable market] for total technology spending and is projected to grow at an 18-percent CAGR [cumulative annual growth rate] for the next couple of years to approximately $90 billion, including hardware and services.

For Dell, that meant sales of its new PowerEdge XE9680 in the quarter made it the fastest ramping of a new product in Dell history, Clarke said. The PowerEdge XE9680 is a GPU-enabled server and a key element in Dells generative AI solutions engineered to speed the deployment of a modular, secure, and scalable platform for enterprise generative AI, he said.

AI servers increased to 20 percent of our servers order revenue in the first half of the year and the 9680 was a big factor, he said. Currently, we have approximately $2 billion in XE9680 orders in backlog, and our sales pipeline is substantially higher.

Generative AP represents an inflection point driving fundamental change in the pace of innovation, productivity gains, and new ways to work, Clarke said.

As the number one infrastructure provider, we are clearly positioned to serve the market in a unique and differentiated way, he said. And we have the worlds broadest GenAI infrastructure portfolio that spans from the cloud to the client. Customers big and small are using their own data and business context to train, fine tune, and inference on Dell infrastructure solutions to incorporate advanced AI into their core business processes effectively and efficiently.

Dell is helping customers size, characterize, and build GenAI solutions, meeting their performance, cost, and security requirements, with any of these new workloads located on-premises or at the edge because of latency, data security, and cost reasons, Clarke said.

In the near term, Dell sees businesses concentrating on four GenAI use cases including customer operations, content creation and management, software development, and sales. And Dell is doing the same internally, Clarke said.

When asked by a financial analyst during the question and answer portion of the call about how Clarke sees the prospects for AI going forward, Clarke said AI is just a new series of workloads and new incremental capabilities that goes across the PC to the data center to the cloud.

And we think it is absolutely, because of the uniqueness of the workload, a growth opportunity in all three of those areas, he said. Distinct in how its built out, distinct in how its going to be used on the PC, opening a whole new opportunity to drive productivity [for] these big foundational models at cloud scale.

On the enterprise level and in business, generative AI will drive the notion of domain-specific, process-specific, or field of study-type AI using customers actual data to develop their own models and run inference on-site or at the edge, Clarke said.

So when you think about the vertical nature of this and how it will actually work in the real world, we think that technology makes its way all the way out to the edge, he said. AI follows where the data is going to be created, where the sensors are collecting the information. And that allows us to put those compute resources where the data is actually being again created. That is not specific to geography. Its not specific to size of business. Its going to be really driven by the type of application and the usage environment.

One size does not fit all, Clarke said.

We think theres a whole slew of AI solutions, again, from the PC to workstations to what happens in the data center, he said. And the data center can be a single server running inference at the edge, it could be defined as a small cluster doing a small micro or fine-level tuning, all the way into these big, foundational models for renewed cloud-scale training.

When asked by another analyst about allocation of GPUs for AI requirements, Clark said ordering a product today might result in a 39-week lead time, or delivery in late May of 2024.

So we are certainly asking for more parts, working to get more parts, he said. Its what we do. Im not the allocator. Im the allocatee. So were advocating our position, our demand. Again, we are winning business, signaled by the $2 billion dollars in backlog today.

Dell will advocate for more supply and is currently tracking at least 30 different accelerator chips that are in the development pipeline, Clarke said.

For its fiscal 2024 second quarter, Dell Technologies reported revenue of $22.93 billion, down 13 percent from the $26.43 billion the company reported for its fiscal 2023 second quarter.

This included an 11-percent year-over-year drop in its Infrastructure Solutions Group revenue to $8.46 billion, led by an 18-percent drop in server and networking revenue to $4.27 billion and a 3-percent drop in storage revenue to $4.18 billion. It also included a 16-percent drop in its Client Solutions Group revenue to $12.94 billion led by a 13-percent drop in commercial revenue to $10.55 billion and a 29-percent drop in consumer revenue to $2.39 billion.

The quarters revenue beat analyst expectations by $2.09 billion, according to Seeking Alpha.

Dell reported GAAP net income of $455 million or 63 cents per share, down from last years $506 million or 68 cents per share. On a non-GAAP basis, Dell reported net income of $1.28 billion or $1.74 per share, up from last years $1.27 billion or $1.68 per share. That beat analyst expectations by 60 cents per share, according to Seeking Alpha.

Looking forward, Dell CFO Yvonne McGill said the companys largest corporate and global enterprise customers are still measured in their IT projects investment and spending plans.

As a result, she said Dell expects fiscal 2024 third quarter revenue to be in the range of $22.5 billion to $23.5 billion, with a midpoint of $23.0 billion, which would be a 7-percent drop over last years $24.7 billion.

Dell also expects earnings per share of $1.45, plus or minus 10 cents per share.

For all of fiscal 2024, Dell is raising revenue expectations to be in the range of $89.5 billion to $91.5 billion, which at the midpoint would be down 12 percent year-over-year.

Joseph F. Kovar is a senior editor and reporter for the storage and the non-tech-focused channel beats for CRN. He keeps readers abreast of the latest issues related to such areas as data life-cycle, business continuity and disaster recovery, and data centers, along with related services and software, while highlighting some of the key trends that impact the IT channel overall. He can be reached at jkovar@thechannelcompany.com.

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Dell 2Q24: Massive AI Opportunities To Drive Future Growth - CRN

MANILA, Philippines, Sept. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In pursuit of its ambitious vision to revolutionise the financial landscape in the digital age within the Philippines, Huawei hosted the prestigious Huawei Cloud Finance Summit Philippines 2023at the exquisite Shangri-La The Fort, situated in the heart of Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, Manila. This summit served as a dynamic convergence point for prominent figures and forward-thinking innovators in the Philippine finance sector, fostering deep discussions on propelling the industry forward through groundbreaking innovations.

Sylvia Wang, CEO at Huawei Cloud Philippines, kicked off the event with a welcome address, where she emphasised the encompassing benefits of digital transformation in the world of finance and why it needs to be foundational to the finance industry moving forward.

Wang also observed that the financial industry stands as the vanguard for the most advanced technologies, often serving as the pioneering frontier where numerous innovations take root. This further emphasises the imperative for all stakeholders, ranging from business leaders to financial institutions and intermediaries, to actively explore the digital solutions now accessible within the industry.

Sylvia Wang, CEO of Huawei Cloud Philippines

Bridging the Digital Gap in the Finance Sector

Huawei has established itself as one ofthe provider of fintech solutions worldwide. Today, Huawei remains steadfast in maintaining this position and aims to assist an expanding network of financial industry players in harnessing innovation to deliver essential services and promote comprehensive financial inclusion for all.

"Over the past years, we have tried our best to provide the best solutions and services to serve all our industry customers," Wang noted about the breadth of Huawei's client base. This client base currently includes 300 financial customers globallyincluding those in Thailand, Singapore, and the Philippines, where Huawei has been in business for over two decades now.

"Huawei has already been in business in the Philippines for 21 years," Wang pointed out proudly. "In the past 21 years, Huawei has accumulated a lot of localised experience and has been giving its best cloud services to support local enterprises. We have gained various certifications and professional recognitions, and also comply to the BSP regulation in Philippines as well. Meanwhile, we are also expected to have our local region in the Philippines in the near future."

Wang added that in this era dominated by cloud-first strategies, Huawei is diligently ensuring that stakeholders within the financial industry have the seamless capability to transition to the cloud and fully capitalise on its advantages.

Huawei Cloud 20-fold Growth in 4 Years, Fastest-Growing Cloud Presence in APAC

Huawei Cloud is, indeed, at the forefront of the cloud revolution in fintech, particularly in the greater APAC region. In his keynote, "HUAWEI CLOUD: Building a Trusted, Innovative Cloud for the Financial Industry", Huawei Cloud APAC President Zeng Xingyun detailed the unprecedented growth of Huawei Cloud in APAC, where it has seen an 86% growth in revenue over the past four years, along with a 62% increase in its customer base and an 80% increase in the number of its partners.

These impressive gains should come as no surprise as Huawei Cloud, according to Zeng, puts the customers' needs above all else. This customer-centric approach is facilitated by Huawei Cloud's extensive network of 14 Availability Zones (AZs), set to expand to 17 with the imminent. Additionally, Huawei Cloud ensures robust local support through a dedicated team of over 30 local experts, ready to provide round-the-clock assistance to its valued customers.

In financial markets, meanwhile, Huawei Cloud saw its revenue increase by 170% last year, thanks to an additional 26 new customers, including some VIP customers such as SCB, KTB, and KTC Bank in Thailand; GLDB Bank and APEX in Singapore; BNC Bank in Indonesia; KBZ Bank in Myanmar, Tune Insurance in Malaysia; and Akulakuin the Philippines.

Zeng Xingyun, President of Huawei Cloud APAC

Why Cloud-Native Is the Way Forward

Undoubtedly, the cloud has taken a primordial role in the finance sector, and Wu Shiwei, CTO at Huawei Cloud APAC, touched on why this is the case in his keynote, "Financial Cloud: Everything as a Service, Building Agile and Smart Finance Together."

Wu highlighted that enterprises have made the strategic choice to adopt cloud-native infrastructure as the cornerstone of their digital transformation efforts. This decision signifies that those already integrated into the cloud ecosystem will have the initial and more streamlined access to cutting-edge innovations, while those yet to migrate or are in the midst of the transition may find it challenging to access the latest technological advancements in a timely and convenient manner.

Additionally, Wu introduced a few of Huawei Cloud's cloud-native core banking solutions, starting with its GaussDB database, which replaced more than 600 sets of Oracle databases in Huawei-owned IT systems.

the launching of Huawei Cloud GaussDB in the Philippines

Wu also introduced Huawei's data-AI convergence, which optimises an institution's decision-making by enhancing its competence and capability to maximise the value of its data. The first thing to do in this case, Wu explained, is to converge the data wherever it is residing, before integrating the data into machine learning operations and DevOps.

Expanding on this pivotal concept, in his keynote "Banking in the Digitalisation Era," Huawei's Chief Digital Transformation Officer of Global Digital Finance, K.T. Chen, delved deeper into how exactly cloud-native is accelerating the digitalisation of the financial sector that is now entering a well-connected world.

Chen, in particular, highlighted technology's growing role in the digital economy and how it is shaping finance in the Philippines with trends such as digital customer experience, big data and AI, and digital currency. Given this, Chen implored the attendees to always provide customers with "the best-class digital experience with your financial services."

Driving Finance Forward in the Philippines via the Cloud

Notably, Wang made sure to emphasise in her opening address Huawei's commitment to enhancing the Philippines' financial sector through its diverse cloud and innovation solutions.

"As we are already part of the Philippines, we trust that we can bring the most valuable cloud to the nation as we know how to translate our technological capabilities and solutions to meet the specific requirements and scenarios in the Philippines," said Wang. "We have a dedicated team and dedicated resources right here, and in the very near future, we'll establish availability zones here in the Philippines. We're committed to harnessing all our capabilities and resources to ensure that Huawei Cloud doesn't just soar in the digital skies but stays firmly grounded, close to you!"

In summary, the Huawei Cloud Finance Summit Philippines 2023 was an unequivocal success, leaving a lasting impact on the Philippine financial industry. As the summit came to a close, it was evident that this dynamic collaboration had set the stage for a new era of financial excellence in the Philippines, driven by the power of the cloud.

Speakers Quotes

Chester Velasco, Vice President, Head of IOCS, UnionBank

"Our journey with Huawei Cloud is not just about immediate gains; it's about building a foundation for long-term success. The hybrid cloud approach offers the scalability required to accommodate future growth, ensuring Unionbank remains agile and responsive as customer needs evolve."

Samuel Tan, Country Manager, Philippines at Sunline

"Through a dual-core transformation strategy integrating legacy and digital cores, enhanced by cloud hosting, banks can now revolutionise digital finance to meet customer demands securely and efficiently."

Mary Cheung, Vice President, Business management, Akulaku

"It is a epitome of technology aiding creativity, a testament to the power of partnership, and a collaboration that we can learn, grow and inspire together."

Michael Calma, Country Manager, Philippines, AdvanceAI

As a young, but amply funded start-up, we need to relentlessly focus on product-market-fit if we are to be successful in a fast growing market such as the Philippines. As Advance.AI, this involves customer-focused innovation and partnerships in localizing global AI technology and best practices into the Philippine context.

Haekal Aufar Amriel, Technical Consultant Manager at Seclron

"In this interconnected world, let's prepare today to secure tomorrow. Mobile app usage has accelerated over the years, and it is now time to help everyone safeguard against the evolving cybersecurity threats in the digital landscape."

Elaine Cheong, Head of Marketing at TrustDecision

"In an era of abundant information but scarce trust, we stand as a beacon of reliability and authenticity. We build a global trusted intelligence network for businesses to combat fraud, deliver comprehensive credit risk analytics and ensure compliance with regulations."

Clarisse Raymundo, Fintech Account Head, Philippines at Wiz.AI

"Harness AI-powered omnichannel customer engagement that impacts customer experience, agent performance, and overall business outcomes with Wiz.AI."

About Huawei Cloud

Huawei Cloud is a global cloud service provider based in China, offering on-demand cloud computing and APIs to individual customers, businesses, and governments, on a metered pay-as-you-go system.

Huawei Cloud leverages over three decades of Huawei's expertise in ICT and digitalisation. We work with our customers, partners, and developers to dive into the digital realm and provide Everything as a Service. Together, we are building the cloud foundation for an intelligent world.

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Huawei Cloud Reaffirms Commitment to the Philippine Finance ... - PR Newswire Asia