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These are the Connecticut breweries that closed in 2022 – CT Insider

Post author By Dr Hoster
Post date January 4, 2023

The Veracious Brewing Company brewery at 246 Main Street in Monroe, Conn. on Thursday, September 8, 2016.

Brian A. Pounds / Hearst Connecticut Media file photo

Veracious Brewing Company, the popular brewery known for its dog-friendly atmosphere and its offerings such as 29 Pews, closed its doors in June. Co-owner Mark Szamatulski said he would cherish the memories, but it was time to retire.

Szamatulski said another company was moving in and taking over the space. At first, he said he planned to look for a new location, but soon realized that wouldnt be possible. They wanted the whole building, and we were looking for a place to buy, but we couldnt find a place locally that we could get into, he said. And we made a financial deal with them to leave a little early. So it was fine for both us and them.

Veracious supplies were rehomed locally to small breweries in Connecticut, New Jersey and Massachusetts. - Eddy Martinez

Read more: Last call for Monroes Veracious Brewing Co.

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These are the Connecticut breweries that closed in 2022 - CT Insider

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Warming-induced tree growth may help offset increasing … – pnas.org

Post author By Dr Hoster
Post date January 4, 2023

Warming-induced tree growth may help offset increasing ... pnas.org

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GMAs Robin Roberts reveals location after going missing from show for weeks amid TJ Holmes & Amy Robac… – The US Sun

Post author By Dr Hoster
Post date January 4, 2023

GOOD Morning America host Robin Roberts has revealed where she has traveled to as she has been missing from the news program for weeks.

Robin revealed she's enjoying a peaceful vacation in Key West amid her co-stars TJ Holmes and Amy Robach's affair.

Robin's update comes It comes as she was reportedly furious about how the ABC network handled GMA3 stars TJ Holmes and Amy Robachs alleged affair, according toDailyMail.com.

However, the rumors Robin was frustrated were quickly quashed as a spokesperson announced: This is untrue about Roberts, and she is not involved in the situation.

Robin has taken an extended time off from hosting GMA through the holidays and in the wake of the scandal.

She revealed he has been relaxing in her "happy place" with her partner Amber Laign.

The GMA host took to Instagram to share a sunny photo of palm trees and a sparkling ocean.

One eager viewer commented on Robin's post: Cant wait for you and George [Stephanopoulos] to return in 2023.

Another shared: Enjoy your holiday! I miss you, George and Michael [Strahan] but you guys deserve vacation time. See you in 2023.

A third fan told Roberts that her sunset post looked amazing and said: Missing you this week in GMA.

Simplifying digital sovereignty in a multi-cloud world – The Register

Post author By Dr Hoster
Post date December 27, 2022

Sponsored Feature Sovereignty has traditionally been defined as the ability for a state to rule itself and its subjects, and it's been on the agenda since civilisation began. But only recently has digital sovereignty - the ability to control and make decisions about your own digital assets emerged to become an issue in its own right.

"Broadly speaking, digital sovereignty means having control of your digital destiny," explains Tim Phipps, director of cloud alliances at French technology group Thales. "One level below that, it means that you're in full control of the software and the hardware and the data that your business relies on."

Having control of your digital destiny might not have seemed important when all IT did was run a batched payroll. Today, when companies live and die based on their use of technology which spans multiple devices, systems, applications, workloads and hosting locations, it's a much bigger deal.

It's a particular problem for companies using cloud service providers that don't tend to keep their data in one place anymore. Over 90 percent of organisations now have a multi-cloud strategy according to a recent Thales Threat Report. It also found companies mixing these multi-cloud environments with on-premises and collocated data centre operations, muddying the waters further.

That presents a number of challenges, including the costs involved in managing multiple encryption key stores and management processes as more data moves into the cloud for example. That means organisations often have to employ different teams to run different key management solutions (a recruitment challenge in itself). They also run the risk of extending the attack surface for hackers by fielding a series of disjointed data security solutions each of which operates differing security policies and processes.

Like the internet itself then, digital sovereignty sounds simple enough but is a deceptively complex concept with many moving parts. To help organisations fully understand and address these challenges, Thales breaks sovereignty down further into three elements: data, operations, and software.

Data sovereignty

Data is what many people think of first when they hear the term digital sovereignty. This is a state's ability to protect its own data, and that of its citizens, from intrusion by other states. This has been a defining issue at the heart of internet governance during the last two decades.

"The thing that nations were concerned about, especially in Europe, was that a lot of that cloud providers (or hyperscalers) are all American," Phipps points out. "There were all sorts of concerns around these US spy laws."

The Patriot Act included language that granted US authorities possible access to cloud service providers' business records, which Microsoft later admitted put the privacy of non-domestic customers' records in jeopardy if the US government asked for them. The CLOUD Act, introduced in 2018, later solidified government investigators' ability to obtain files from companies processing data on foreign soil.

At the same time, there was an ongoing tussle with privacy advocates over data sharing between US and European companies. The Safe Harbour provision allowed US companies transfer to data from EU partners to the US if they promised to abide by several privacy principles. Privacy advocate and lawyer Max Schrems challenged this provision in 2015, which led to it being struck down and eventually replaced with the EU-US Privacy Shield agreement. Schrems challenged that, too, and it was declare invalid in 2020.

Now, the EU and US are taking a third stab at it with the Trans-Atlantic Privacy Framework. A draft adequacy decision, that attempts to replace the "Privacy Shield Decision" that was subsequently invalidated by Schrems II, has very recently been published by EU.

Initial feedback from privacy advocate Max Schrems is that the draft decision is almost wholly based on the known Executive Order that was previously thrown out. The expectation is that Max Schrems' team is likely to challenge this in the European Courts. Consequently, companies on both sides of the Atlantic remain unclear about what happens next and this can cause digital transformation projects to stall.

Phipps recommends that organisations put appropriate controls in place to protect their digital assets, so that they can own their own data sovereignty and speed up their journey to the cloud independently of geopolitical change.

However, this can present a considerable challenge in a multi-cloud and hybrid environment. Almost one in five respondents to the Thales survey said that they did not know where all their data is stored. Around half said that managing their sensitive data in multi-cloud environments is more difficult than looking after it on-prem. It's a situation that can have grave ramifications. The Thales survey also found 35 percent of respondents suffered data breaches or failed audits of cloud-based data and applications in the last year.

Operational and software sovereignty

The second class of digital sovereignty is operational, Phipps continues. "This is where you've got your data in the cloud and you're worried about an insider threat or bad actors," he says. "That could be a cloud engineer, but it could also be your own people." A rogue employee intending to seek personal financial gain, could pilfer your data, as could a disgruntled worker of your own, potentially at the behest of a third party.

The threat to operational sovereignty might also appear in the form of malware, a corrupted application, or ransomware that has harvested the login credentials of a privileged user to gain escalated access to sensitive data or systems.

Finally, Thales lists software sovereignty as an issue for companies. "This is the ability to run your workloads wherever you want," Phipps says.

Companies increasingly want choice when they go to the cloud. They might want to run most of their workloads with a specific cloud provider to get improved commercial terms, he explains. But regulators are concerned that, if there's no possibility to perform a controlled and prompt stressed exit, those companies are effectively putting all their eggs in one basket. Organisations are being encouraged to ensure that their mission critical workloads are secure and portable which helps ensure operational resilience and business continuity should something go wrong.

For example, the Bank of England's Prudential Regulation Authority, which succeeded the Financial Services Authority, has expressed concern over banks' reliance on cloud computing from a single vendor. It recommends that Financial Services Institutions adopt multi-cloud architectures to spread risk and avoid vendor lock in, whilst the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) in the EU advocates a similar approach.

Consequently, banks are under pressure to share their workloads around and have backup cloud providers that they can switch to in the event of an outage or a breakdown in the relationship.

Protecting digital sovereignty in practice

Thales has made a business of supporting these various sovereignty requirements. It uses a four-step process to get its clients onto a positive footing where they feel completely in control of their own data, operations, and software.

The company begins with a process of discovery. You can't control what you don't know about, after all. So it seeks to answer the questions: Where is your data and what is it? How sensitive is it?

Many organisations don't know these basic facts, says Phipps. They're generating new data all the time, and it's no longer simply a case of classifying database records in known fields. "Increasingly, a lot of the sensitive data that's been generated is unstructured and appears in random locations," he posits. Increased cloud adoption and modern remote work policies have contributed to 2.5 quintillion bytes of new data being generated every day in emails, presentations and spreadsheets according to some estimates. Without outside help, it's much harder to track the location of the sensitive information those vast volumes contain.

To that end, Thales developed its Data Discovery and Classification (DDC) solution, which scans for specific data types according to compliance models in which the organisation is interested. DDC uses machine learning algorithms, and a reference library of pre-defined data privacy and regulatory templates such as GDPR, CCPA, LGPD, PCI DSS and HIPAA, to find sensitive data of interest and apply a risk score based on the client's policies and compliance. DDC can then recommend manual remediation or apply it automatically which saves time and helps minimise the attack surface.

Protection through multi-layered encryption

What does this remediation look like? This is where the second step of Thales' methodology - protection - comes in. This focuses mainly on multi-layered encryption, which it splits into three types: data at rest, in transit, and in use.

As Phipps points out, all major cloud providers encrypt data at rest by default. However, there's a caveat: many of them only encrypt it at the disk level. That may stop someone retrieving the data in the unlikely event that they steal a physical disk from the cloud data centre, but what if they hijack someone's account remotely? Few, if any, cloud providers automatically encrypt data above the disk level such as at the file, database, or application level, which can help mitigate this threat.

Thales provides solutions to encrypt data at multiple levels, including structured and unstructured data, to achieve defence in depth. Transparent encryption at the file level protects the entire database for around a two percent performance overhead, Phipps says. Clients can apply higher levels of encryption to specific fields in the database should they wish.

While that imposes an extra performance overhead, it also provides heightened levels of protection where needed. Security, compliance and performance are often subject to trade-offs. The key is to adopt a risk-based approach to ensure that the protection appropriately applied is based on desired business outcomes.

When it comes to in-transit encryption, TLS is the de facto standard. However, Phipps argues that this can often struggle under the huge volumes of data that some companies process in the cloud. Instead, Thales offers high-speed encryption in its Network Encryptor products, which Phipps says are faster than TLS and offer a higher degree of protection.

Thales also focuses on encryption of data in use, which fights tampering or snooping during cloud processing. "We've been speaking to some critical infrastructure providers like energy companies, and they're worried about running sensitive workloads in the cloud for safety critical applications," Phipps says. "If somebody injects some malware into a chip that is processing data, they could effectively perform a denial of access and take the whole system down."

To combat this, cloud providers are working on various confidential computing initiatives. In these services, a portion of the chip becomes a secure enclave under the customer's control rather than the cloud service provider's. Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and AWS all have offerings here.

Maintaining data sovereignty in the cloud

The third strut of Thales' digital sovereignty service is control. Leaving those encryption keys in the cloud theoretically puts them under the cloud service provider's control, which is a clear threat to the customer's sovereignty. This renders the customer vulnerable to malicious behaviour or mistakes from a third party such as the cloud service provider's own support engineers. It also puts the data at risk in the event of a subpoena from a foreign state.

The solution to this threat lies in the separation of duties. Creating and storing encryption keys outside the cloud, separating them from where the sensitive data is stored, gives the customer ultimate control over the data. Should a threat to the data arise, the customer can withhold the keys. Because the cloud service provider cannot unilaterally access those keys, they cannot be compelled to hand over the data to a third party.

Some cloud providers have introduced services that allow customers to store their own keys for cloud-based workloads, creating a clear segregation of duties between cloud service provider and customer. Google Cloud's External Key Manager (EKM) is a case in point.

Thales has been working with Google Cloud to help customers manage control of their data, operations, and software while still enjoying the benefits of cloud computing. In December 2020, they worked to integrate Thales' CipherTrust Key Broker service with Google Cloud's EKM. This enables customers to generate their encryption keys for Google's cloud service while keeping the keys outside the Google Cloud environment.

Since then, the two companies have expanded the partnership to cover other services. In June 2021, CipherTrust Manager and Thales' SafeNet Trusted Access product were integrated to support client-side encryption for Google's Workspace service for example. This lets organisations encrypt Google Drive data using their own keys.

In the last year, they've also collaborated on a cloud-based platform that complies with the French government's Trusted Cloud label. This requires cloud service providers to host their servers in France and allow only European companies to operate them, while limiting data transfers to other countries. In addition they're developing a Trusted Cloud-compliant service, scheduled for release in 2024. In the meantime, Thales majority owned joint venture with Google Cloud, S3NS, is already enabling Google Cloud customers in France to restrict access to EU locations, with the help of its own key management services.

Unifying cloud operations and key management while keeping keys under customer control solves one of the biggest problems in cloud security: the complexity of key management. The Thales survey found 57 percent of companies using at least five separate key management solutions, increasing the complexity and cost of managing data encryption. Aggregating and simplifying this key management will become steadily more critical as companies manage sensitive data in an increasingly distributed environment.

Monitoring digital sovereignty over time

As companies continue to expand their digital assets across complex multi-cloud and hybrid environments, they need a way to maintain visibility. This is where the final part of Thales' digital sovereignty process comes into play: monitoring. The company's CipherTrust platform, currently available as an on-premise product but soon to be launched as a service, provides a single pane of glass view of digital sovereignty across all of their tools and processes in multi-cloud and hybrid cloud environments. The system provides access to a range of third-party products alongside Thales' DDC.

Digital sovereignty principles and practices will only become even more complex over time, says Phipps. That's why he emphasises the benefits of building in privacy by design into hybrid multi-cloud architectures. Phipps also advocates the need for building human relationships based on trust and empathy that seek to maximize the customer experience.

"Technology on its own without the right partnerships at an advisory and supplier level probably won't make it easier for the customer to understand how to move forward," he concludes. This is a difficult puzzle to unravel, and it takes third-party expertise, and a partnership approach, to do it properly.

Double Down On Innovation With Edge Computing | – Spiceworks News and Insights

Post author By Dr Hoster
Post date December 27, 2022

Cloud services do not offer enough power for latency-intensive next-gen applications like AI, machine learning, robotics, smart cities, and automated manufacturing. These applications require faster computational speed than allowed in a centralized public cloud location. Edge offers a much faster computational speed with greater reliability and data processing in distributed locations closer to where data is generated, says Steve Grabow, SVP of Lumen Technologies.

The move to the cloud brought an interesting benefit for savvy business leaders: Freedom and focus, allowing them to get in an innovative state of mind. Rather than only operating an IT infrastructure, business innovators found the cloud freed them up to focus on developing innovative new applications.

The cloud also helped businesses double down on innovation. With the cloud, they could make critical applications available to personnel regardless of their location. It helped with cutting costs and consolidating valuable data.

But innovation wont stay only in the cloud alone. The next direction for these innovators to go is to the edge recognizing its the next frontier for innovation. They will move there for speed but garner a range of other benefits. While the cloud remains a great option for hosting many applications and workloads, it may not be the best place for many of todays latency-sensitive, interaction-intensive applications. Heres why.

Artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotic automation, and video analytics require near real-time data processing. We are talking about tremendous amounts of data that must be acquired, analyzed, and acted upon nearly instantly to produce the desired outcome.

This is where edge computing comes into play. Integrating edge computing with cloud computing offers faster data processing for these next-generation applications. Here is why the edge is where its all about.

With edge computing, companies can shorten the physical distance that data needs to travel to reach a public cloud location or on-premises data center, resulting in reduced latency. A large, centralized data center could be hundreds of miles from where data is produced and collected. Edge computing allows businesses to place computing and storage where digital interactions occur. Edge devices can collect, process, and store data in a more distributed fashion than the cloud alone, leading to quicker response times and reduced latency.

There are other benefits to shortening the distance data needs to travel, and that is improved security. Security remains a top priority for global IT decision-makers. 80% are concerned about data security. By physically isolating data, applications, and other resources at the edge, customers can achieve more privacy and security than the cloud. This reduces risk and allows businesses to support industry-specific regulatory or compliance requirements better.

Many edge devices include built-in security capabilities that protect data that lives or transports through devices and out of centralized data centers. As the data lives at the farthest reaches or edge of a companys network, it becomes easier to isolate and protect key data sources allowing autonomous operations to avoid disruption.

The idea behind edge computing is beautifully simple: When you cant get your data closer to your data center, you move your data center closer to your data. Think about it, applications that would power robotics dont have time to travel to the public cloud to get the needed performance. Applications that require high volumes of interactions, like streaming analytics, are subject to costly fees for moving that data in and out of the cloud.

Enter edge data centers, which can facilitate much faster response times. 77% of global IT decision-makers say that only edge computing can solve their latency challenges, and 56% say that their mission-critical applications will require five milliseconds of latency or less in the coming years. Thats because data flow must be seamless and data processing lightning fast to enable things like cashier-less checkout at retail or robotic automation on the manufacturing floor. If a system or application takes too long to respond or put in place an action, the result will be a poor customer experience.

Edge computing can deliver that ultra-low latency and improved reliability. Processing data locally at the edge also reduces the traffic flowing to and from central servers, which can cut those costly data transfer fees and improve overall network performance.

See More: 4 Reasons Why Enterprise Innovation Will Come From the Cloud

Cloud computing and edge computing are distinct but complementary. However, a central cloud often cant provide the performance, low latency, and scale businesses need for their next-generation applications. A more agile, distributed environment that extends the cloud is now necessary.

Edge computing brings a unique combination of local computing and storage with built-in security and unified orchestration. Businesses can still manage applications with similar ease as the cloud but achieve reduced latency and better performance.

This does not mean that the edge replaces the public cloud or data centers. Rather, the edge is an additional place to run workloads when it makes sense and when end users can benefit from more speed.

According to Gartner, enterprise-generated data processed outside a traditional data center or cloud will jump to 75% by 2025. On their own, more than cloud services are needed to manage this growing amount of data. Businesses are grappling with creating better ways of acquiring data, analyzing it for insights, and acting upon it to drive a specific outcome. With edge computing, businesses can bring millions of smaller cloud environments closer to billions of connected devices to do more with their data.

Driving unique digital experiences is how businesses compete and win. And at the heart of those digital experiences is data. Innovators will lead the way to the edge. Future-ready businesses will be prepared at the edge for the data-intensive applications of the 4th Industrial Revolution.

Why do you think data will require edge and cloud in the future? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

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Double Down On Innovation With Edge Computing | - Spiceworks News and Insights

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EDNS inks a partnership deal with Alibaba Cloud to explore the … – PR Newswire

Post author By Dr Hoster
Post date December 27, 2022

SINGAPORE, Dec. 23, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --Ether Domain Name Services (EDNS) proudly announces that it inked a partnership deal with Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, to explore the possibilities of Web3 adoption.

Under the partnership, EDNS, a Web3 pioneer and enthusiast, will work with Alibaba Cloud, Asia Pacific's leading infrastructure as a service (IaaS) provider, to discover the potential of integrating their scalable, high performance and stable infrastructure with blockchain to bring products to Web3 frontiers.

The collaboration between EDNS and Alibaba Cloud was launched at a workshop themed "The Power of Web 3.0" on November 29, 2022, where Joey Lam, EDNS Founder & CEO and Derek Wang, General Manager of Singapore, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

Joey Lam, EDNS Founder & CEO and Mike Ng, EDNS Co-founder & Technical Director discussed extensively about Web3, followed by a panel on the future of Web3 projects led by Emil Chan, Chairman of The Association of Cloud and Mobile Computing Professionals, and blockchain Lawyer Henry Yu.

Consequently, EDNS will also participate in "Web3.0 Cloud Day Singapore 2022" co-hosted by Alibaba Cloud and Odaily. "At EDNS, we are actively building the infrastructure for the upcoming Web 3.0 revolution. Right now, is the best time to reach out for strategic partnerships to strengthen our ecosystem. We are honored that what we have achieved so far has been recognized by Alibaba Cloud.

"The motivation behind this partnership is joining hands to deliver disruptive Web3 solutions that are demanded by the market, especially in the storage area," said EDNS CEO Ms Joey Lam.

About EDNS Domains

Ether Domain Name Services (EDNS) is an Ethereum-based lookup service built on the polygon blockchain. It also leverages name and lookup service built on the Polygon blockchain. Since it is compatible with Ethereum, crypto users can translate their machine-readable addresses to human-readable addresses. It provides a Decentralized Domain Naming Service for Web 3.0-related demands, including NFT, digital assets, Web hosting, and DeFi in the Digital world. More info: https://www.edns.domains/.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1973329/From_Left_Right_Ms_Joey_Lam_Tsz_Yin_Founder_EDNS_Domains.jpg

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EDNS inks a partnership deal with Alibaba Cloud to explore the ... - PR Newswire

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2 Metaverse Stocks That Could Make You Richer in 2023 – The Motley Fool

Post author By Dr Hoster
Post date December 27, 2022

It wasn't all that long ago that investors were excited about the potential for the metaverse. Some analysts were tossing around projections that the market for the virtual world could eventually be in the trillions of dollars. The stocks of companies with major metaverse initiatives were on fire.

That was then. Today, there isn't nearly as much talk about the metaverse. Most of those once-sizzling stocks have flamed out.

But don't think for a second that the metaverse opportunity isn't significant. There's still a lot of money to be made -- by companies and investors.Here are two metaverse stocks that could make you richer in 2023.

You might not think ofAmazon (AMZN 1.74%) as a metaverse stock. After all, the company's head of devices Dave Limp said earlier this year that Amazon is focused on "the real world" and not the metaverse.

However, there's more to the story. In February, Amazon posted a job opening for a product manager on its Amazon Web Services (AWS) team who "will own the delivery of cloud-based metaverse services." This job posting shows that the company actually is more focused on the metaverse than you might think.

This shouldn't be surprising. AWS reigns as the leading provider of cloud hosting services. The metaverse will present a massive growth opportunity for the cloud hosting market.

Amazon would be crazy to ignore the metaverse. And it isn't crazy.

I predict that Amazon will ultimately be among the big winners if and when the vision of the metaverse becomes a reality. Before that happens, though, the stock could (and will, in my view) make investors money in 2023 for a completely different reason.

Amazon stock is historically cheap after plunging close to 50% this year. Much of this decline is related to macroeconomic factors, rather than anything specific to the company. I'm not in the camp that believes a new bull market is imminent. But I do think it's quite possible that we could see a big stock market rebound in the second half of next year.

Meta Platforms (META 0.79%) provided the main catalyst for investors' initial enthusiasm about the metaverse opportunity. The company even changed its name from Facebook to reflect its big focus on it.

That metaverse pivot appears to have backfired badly. Meta stock has plunged close to 65% this year. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been raked over the coals by some investors for spending too much money on what they view as a quixotic dream.

It's true that Meta's Reality Labs, the home to its metaverse initiatives, is burning through cash. However, Zuckerberg made a pretty good case for this spending in an interview earlier this month.

He noted that 90% of Reality Labs' research and development investments are going toward virtual-reality headsets and augmented-reality glasses. Those efforts could pay off handsomely, even if Zuckerberg's metaverse vision isn't achieved.

The metaverse won't be a moneymaker for Meta anytime soon. But the company's social networking apps continue to generate enormous revenue. In the third quarter alone, Meta raked in $27.7 billion in sales with profits of nearly $4.4 billion. Although both numbers reflected year-over-year declines, that's still a lot of money.

Like Amazon, Meta is feeling the impact of macroeconomic headwinds. Advertising spending has fallen. However, if a recession is avoided (as Goldman Sachsexpects), the ad market could regain momentum next year. Even if a recession comes, many economists predict that it will be short and mild.

Importantly, Meta's user base continues to grow. In Q3, the numbers of daily and monthly active users across its family of social apps both increased by 4% year over year to 2.93 billion and 3.71 billion, respectively.

The company is also rolling out new products that should retain existing users and attract new ones. It's retooled its feeds to focus more on content curated by artificial intelligence (AI). And Meta is working hard to increase monetization, as well, especially with its WhatsApp messaging app.

Meanwhile, Meta stock is attractively valued. Shares trade at only 14.5 times expected earnings. Aswath Damodaran, the NYU finance professor who literally wrote the book on valuing companies (actually, he's written several of them), believes that the stock has practically all upside potential based on its current valuation.

With all of this in mind, Meta looks like a stock that could very well make investors richer in 2023. If its monetization and metaverse efforts pay off, that increased wealth could be multiplied over the long term.

John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Keith Speights has positions in Amazon.com and Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon.com, Goldman Sachs Group, and Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

2 Metaverse Stocks That Could Make You Richer in 2023 - The Motley Fool

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St. Cloud hockey games scheduled in honor of player killed in crash – SC Times

Post author By Dr Hoster
Post date December 27, 2022

ST. CLOUD St. Cloud Crush Hockey will be hosting two hockey games in remembrance of Charlie Boike, a 17-year-old Technical High School student who died in a car accident Dec. 10 on his way home from his high school hockey game.

The games will take place on Dec. 30 and "will transform the annual battle between cross-town rivals St. Cloud Crush and St. Cloud Cathedral into a celebration of Charlies impact on both teams, their families, and the community," said the St. Cloud Crush Boys Hockey Booster Club in a press release Thursday.

A junior varsity game will start at 3 p.m. and the varsity game will start at 7 p.m. at the St. Cloud Municipal Athletic Complex.

There is no better way to celebrate Charlies approach to life than his friends and teammates competing in the arena that houses so many fond memories, said St. Cloud Youth Hockey Association President Jared Smith.

More:Tech High School hockey player dies in rollover crash

Community members are asked to wear white clothing to the game in celebration of Boike's life and impact. The first 1,000 attendees will receive a commemorative t-shirt at the door.

You can buy tickets to the games at the door or online at http://www.stcloudmac.com.

A GoFundMe started to support the Boike family surpassed $57,500 as of Thursday morning, exceeding the family's initial $10,000 goal. According to a post on the site, the family is planning to create a Charlie Boike Memorial Fund that will help others play hockey, whether it be with equipment, registration costs, team fees or more.

"They hope to help as many kids experience the sport that meant so much to Charlie and so much to the entire Boike family," wrote organizer Amber Hedin, speaking on behalf of the family. "They want to have Charlie live on (through) so many as they take the ice."

Becca Most is a cities reporter with the St. Cloud Times. Reach her at bmost@stcloudtimes.com. Follow her on Twitter at@becca_most.

Support local journalism. Subscribe to sctimes.com today.

St. Cloud hockey games scheduled in honor of player killed in crash - SC Times

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The Global IT Services Market size is expected to reach $2,013.6 billion by 2028, rising at a market growth of 8.4% CAGR during the forecast period -…

Post author By Dr Hoster
Post date December 27, 2022

ReportLinker

In addition to assisting with other business operations, corporations employ information technology (IT) services to create, manage, and deliver information. Services include hardware deployment, training, consulting, software development, and systems integration.

New York, Dec. 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global IT Services Market Size, Share & Industry Trends Analysis Report By Type, By Enterprise Size, By Industry, By Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2022 - 2028" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06374139/?utm_source=GNW Outsourcing, managed services, security services, data management, and cloud computing are some of the areas that make up the overall market for IT services.

Generally, an industry companys profitability depends on its capacity to develop its technical know-how and improve its services. Both smaller and larger businesses can compete in this sector. While larger businesses tend to offer a wider range of services and have a global presence, smaller businesses typically target specialized markets and cater their products more closely to the demands of their target audiences.

Cloud computing, which stimulates IT-related innovation, is the section of IT services that are developing at the fastest rate. Some IT services, such as hardware installation, support, and maintenance, are frequently outsourced on demand since they frequently involve replacing or repairing out-of-date equipment.

Consumer hardware will be properly disposed of by a qualified provider, who will also format hard drives to remove all potentially sensitive data. Computers, hard drives, printers, modems, and routers that the company needs to run smoothly are typically installed by IT departments. On the other hand, there is a constant need for repairs anywhere there is a ton of hardware equipment. Error troubleshooting is a part of the repair.

COVID-19 Impact Analysis

In recent years, the interconnection of the global economy has increased substantially. Indicators of the negative effects of various containment-related actions such as Disruptions in the global supply chain, a decline in demand for imported products and services, and an increase in the unemployment rate. The financial market has grown more volatile as a result of historically low-interest rates, huge decreases in equity and commodity prices, and heightened risk aversion. Most organizations have stabilized and enhanced their infrastructure to improve operations and facilitate operations during the pandemic.

Market Growth Factors

Demand for cloud-based it services is growing

The majority of businesses and industries have replaced on-premises software with cloud-based software. The cloud-based software enables access to all enterprise applications at a reasonable cost and without requiring a significant initial investment in software or hardware. Similarly, the adoption of cloud computing facilitates the expansion and contraction of commercial operations. Consequently, cloud-based IT services have become a more advantageous and cost-effective option for SMBs in recent years. In addition, cloud computing provides SMBs with new business possibilities and opportunities.

Increased Investment Return With Reduced Infrastructure And Storage Costs

The initial implementation and ongoing costs of hosting data on-premises are a problem for businesses. In addition, labor expenses and downtime difficulties are additional challenges for businesses. Existing rivalry and global economic conditions have hastened the adoption of cost-effective business model restructuring strategies. Increasing enterprise embrace of digital transformation and speeding customer experience are other drivers driving the growth of cloud computing services, which eventually reduce enterprise costs.

Market Restraining Factors

Insufficient Standardization

The effectiveness of IT services in businesses depends on a variety of criteria and varies significantly between firms. Similarly, each organization is unique and, as a result, utilizes specialized technologies to satisfy its distinct business needs. Due to the lack of standardization, it is difficult for businesses to assess the viability of IT services based on the success rate of the same technology in another organization. A typical IT service setup may cost up to $75 to $300 per user. Insufficient IT services may therefore place a significant cost strain on enterprises.

Type Outlook

Based on the Type, the IT Services Market is segmented into Security Outsourcing, IT Support, Managed Security Services, Systems and Network Implementations, and Security Strategy and Planning. The security outsourcing segment witnessed a significant revenue share in the IT services market in 2021. The prevalence of cyberattacks, which is constantly rising, is a major worry for business owners everywhere. In-house IT security is more expensive than security outsourcing. As a result, small and medium-sized organizations typically choose to contract out their security needs.

Industry Outlook

On the basis of Industry, the IT Services market is segmented into BFSI, Telecommunication, Healthcare, Retail, Manufacturing, Government, and Others. The Telecommunication segment recorded a substantial revenue share in the IT services market in 2021. Communication service providers were confronted with pertinent issues associated with the optimization of an existing company and the hunt for new niches to offer innovative services. The market shifts fundamentally owing to alterations in the nature and methods of providing new services.

Organization Size Outlook

By organization size, the IT Service Market is divided into Large Enterprises and Small & Medium Enterprises. The small & medium enterprises segment registered a significant revenue share in the IT services market in 2021. It improves small businesses competitiveness, operational efficiency, and growth. Internationally, company executives are placing a larger focus on the adoption of information technology to develop dynamic capabilities.

Regional Outlook

Region-wise, the IT Services Market is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and LAMEA. The Asia pacific segment acquired a promising growth rate in the IT services market in 2021. The increase in IT service spending by businesses in the Asia Pacific region coincides with COVID-19 accelerating digital transformation and the shift to the cloud and a record-high level of demand for IT services globally. The majority of businesses in the Asia Pacific region have expanded their investments in cutting-edge technology to quickly implement and respond to market changes.

The major strategies followed by the market participants are Partnerships. Based on the Analysis presented in the Cardinal matrix; Accenture PLC and IBM Corporation are the forerunners in the IT Services Market. Companies such as Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., Infosys Limited and Capgemini SE are some of the key innovators in IT Services Market.

The market research report covers the analysis of key stake holders of the market. Key companies profiled in the report include Microsoft Corporation, Accenture PLC, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation, Wipro Limited, HCL Technologies Ltd. (HCL Enterprises), Capgemini SE, IBM Corporation, Infosys Limited, DXC Technology Company, and NTT Data Corporation.

Recent strategies deployed in IT Services Market

Partnerships, Collaborations & Agreements

Oct-2022: DXC Technology formed a partnership with Dynatrace, which provides a software intelligence platform based on artificial intelligence and automation. Under this partnership, Dynatrace Software Intelligence Platform would become the selected DXC Platform X software for monitoring and artificial intelligence-powered automated management of a consumers IT estate. Moreover, the addition of Dynatrace, with its cooperative and smart view across software products and technologies, helps reinforce predictive AIOps abilities and drive cost optimization.

Oct-2022: Capgemini joined hands with Microsoft Corporation, an American multinational technology corporation. Together, the companies aimed to provide a first-of-its-kind, serverless, cloud-native, Azure-based digital twin platform, known as ReflectIoD. Additionally, ReflectIoD is a safe, highly scalable platform that would utilize best-in-class architecture and technological features from the Azure portfolio to assist transform an organizations procedures and maintenance effectiveness, allowing intelligent industry and operating sustainable business value.

Oct-2022: Accenture partnered with Google Cloud, an American multinational technology company. This partnership aimed to increase their respective talent, increase their joint abilities, create new solutions utilizing data and AI, and deliver improved support to help customers build a strong digital core and reimagine their companies on the cloud. Moreover, Cloud presents boundless opportunities for companies to be more creative and resilient.

May-2022: NTT DATA joined hands with NTT, a completely owned subsidiary of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation. Through this collaboration, the companies aimed to integrate their system connectivity capabilities with NTT Ltd.s Edge to Cloud service operation abilities. Moreover, the integration would allow the business to combine IT services and Connectivity and react to increasingly complicated and various client needs on a global level by centrally creating a service offering necessary for digital transformation.

May-2022: IBM joined hands with Amazon Web Services, which provides on-demand cloud computing platforms. Through this collaboration, the companies aimed to provide IBM Software-as-a-Service on AWS. However, the presence of the IBM SaaS portfolio on AWS would permit businesses to concentrate on providing clients value without concern about IT infrastructure management, allowing innovation at a faster clip.

Mar-2022: Cognizant joined hands with Microsoft, a technology corporation creating computer software. Through this collaboration, Cognizant aimed to improve its Multiphase Solutions Rollout, helping its expanding healthcare practice and capability to modernize payers and suppliers with digital abilities.

Mar-2022: HCL Technologies signed an agreement with NEORIS, a global digital accelerator that co-creates disruptive solutions. This agreement would bring special abilities to customers in global markets, including the capabilities to improve application utilization time, business management operations, and combined IT services. Additionally, the companies aimed to boost up digital transformation, reduce risks, assign teams based on product development, develop a zero-incident culture and save expenses.

Feb-2022: HCL Technologies partnered with VMware, an American cloud computing and virtualization technology company. This partnership would expand its Cloud Smart portfolio of services powered by VMware technology to include support for VMware Telco Cloud 5G Core and VMware Telco Cloud RAN. Moreover, this collaboration would provide combined solutions for service providers across the world.

Dec-2021: NTT DATA teamed up with AWS, a subsidiary of Amazon. Together the companies aimed to utilize their proven track record and high delivery abilities in Japan to establish a supreme position in digital business, advance their enterprise on a global scale, and contribute to business development for their clients. Moreover, NTT DATA would reinforce a framework to support customers that consider shifting their IT infrastructure to the cloud.

Nov-2021: Wipro Limited came into a partnership with TEOCO, a privately owned telecom software vendor. Through this partnership, the companies aimed to create solutions that help communication service providers (CSPs) enhance network automation, efficiency, flexibility, and dependability. Moreover, TEOCO would help CSPs create a cooperative process to ensure service quality, network performance, and defect management, eventually allowing the rapid adoption of next-generation services.

Dec-2021: Wipro partnered with HERE Technologies, the location data, and the technology platform. This partnership would deliver location-based services, to customers from Telecom, Energy & Utilities, Transport & Logistics, Manufacturing, and Automotive industry verticals.

Nov-2020: Tata Consultancy Services came into a partnership with Zoho, a developer of web-based business tools. This partnership aimed to deliver premium IT Service Management, Customer Relationship Management, and e-Commerce solutions to solve issues for large companies. Additionally, Partnership would deliver end-to-end business solutions to global businesses and mid-market enterprises.

Jun-2020: NTT DATA joined hands with Microsoft, an American multinational technology corporation. Under this collaboration, companies aimed to combine NTT DATAs best-in-class global IT services with Microsofts authorized cloud platform, AI technologies, and offering of productivity tools aimed at supporting business digitally transform, growing efficiencies of business productivity and procedures.

Mergers & Acquisition

Oct-2022: Accenture completed the acquisition of Stellantis, World Class Manufacturing Training & Consulting Business. This acquisition would reinforce Accentures abilities in business process optimization. Additionally, the acquisition permits Accenture to combine the World Class Manufacturing (WCM) process in its solutions that permit clients to convert their manufacturing process and supply chain networks to be more endurable, efficient, and robust.

Sep-2022: Accenture took over The Beacon Group, a growth strategy consulting firm serving Fortune 500 corporations. This acquisition would enhance Accentures abilities that permit C-suite leaders to make fact-based conclusions for segmentation, targeting, and ways to growth powered by market insights and flexible solutions to manage enterprise transformations at scale.

Sep-2022: IBM completed the acquisition of Dialexa, a foremost digital product engineering consulting service. This acquisition would improve IBMs hybrid cloud and AI abilities, and boost growth for customers. However, the acquisition is expected to enhance IBMs product engineering expertise and provide end-to-end digitalization services for consumers.

Apr-2022: NTT DATA completed the acquisition of Business Services and Technologies OOD, one of the foremost SAP service providers. This acquisition aimed to improve flexibility and scalability in international shoring systems in consulting and managed services and highlight the claim of multinational capacities, and local proximity. Under this acquisition, NTT is developing its shoring portfolio in the European Union.

Feb-2022: IBM completed the acquisition of Neudesic, a foremost U.S. cloud services consultancy. This acquisition would significantly expand IBMs offering of hybrid multi-cloud services and further enhance the companys hybrid cloud and AI strategy. Moreover, Neudesic brings deep Azure data engineering, cloud, and data analytics expertise to boost customers hybrid cloud journeys.

Mar-2021: Accenture acquired REPL Group, a U.K.-based technology consultancy. This acquisition aimed to expand Accentures abilities that help customers across retail and adjacent industries transform their supply chains and procedures and provide seamless consumer and employee experiences. Moreover, REPL utilizes its deep retail expertise, along with cutting-edge technology skills, to support global businesses and provide sustainable value.

Mar-2020: Infosys completed the acquisition of Simplus, one of the fastest-growing Salesforce Platinum Partners. Under this acquisition, Infosys further advances its standing as an end-to-end Salesforce enterprise cloud services and solutions provider, delivering clients unparalleled abilities for cloud-first digital transformation.

Product Launches & Product Expansion

Mar-2022: HCL Technologies introduced Quality of Experience (QoE) and Energy Savings applications, new 5G applications to help mobile network operators optimize the customer experience. The applications improve network performance in places with high traffic congestion, such as city centers and large sporting events, HCLs QoE application enables mobile network operators to deliver seamless, fast, and dependable 5G services, by utilizing artificial intelligence (AI). Additionally, HCLs Energy Savings application decreases the operating costs of providing 5G, utilizing AI-based network automation abilities.

Dec-2021: Wipro introduced VisionEDGE Solution, a digital signage and omnichannel ad solution. The Wipro VisionEDGE delivers a centralized platform for innovation and enables brands to control and stream content to heighten consumer attention. Moreover, Wipro VisionEdge would utilize the potential of Wipro FullStride Cloud Services to provide customers the capability to unlock new enterprise value from their brand belongings and develop new income streams.

Apr-2021: IBM introduced revamped model ESS 5000, the IBM Elastic Storage System (ESS) family of high-performance solutions that are highly flexible and developed for easy deployment. The ESS 5000 provides 10% greater storage ability and the new ESS 3200 which delivers dual the read performance of its prototype.

Scope of the Study

Market Segments covered in the Report:

By Type

Managed Security Services

Security Outsourcing

IT Support

Systems & Network Implementations

Security Strategy & Planning

By Enterprise Size

Large Enterprises

Small & Medium Enterprises

By Industry

BFSI

Telecommunication

Healthcare

Retail

Manufacturing

Government

Others

By Geography

North America

o US

o Canada

o Mexico

o Rest of North America

Europe

o Germany

o UK

o France

o Russia

o Spain

o Italy

o Rest of Europe

Asia Pacific

o China

o Japan

o India

o South Korea

o Singapore

o Malaysia

o Rest of Asia Pacific

LAMEA

o Brazil

o Argentina

o UAE

o Saudi Arabia

o South Africa

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The Global IT Services Market size is expected to reach $2,013.6 billion by 2028, rising at a market growth of 8.4% CAGR during the forecast period -...

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Looking for a Surefire Winner in the Next Bull Market? Buy Amazon … – The Motley Fool

Post author By Dr Hoster
Post date December 27, 2022

You can easily find numerous predictions online that a new bull market is coming. I personally don't expect we'll see the stock market surge in the near term. Warren Buffett doesn't seem to think a bull market is imminent, either.

However, you can rest assured that there will be a new bull market on the way -- at some point. It's not too soon to begin planning your investment strategy for the eventual and inevitable stock market comeback. If you're looking for a surefire winner in the next bull market, here's a compelling case to buy Amazon (AMZN 1.74%) stock.

You've probably heard the old saying that "history doesn't repeat itself" more times than you can count. While it's true, the adage shouldn't be construed to mean that we can't learn from the past to gain a better understanding of how the future might unfold. I think it's helpful to look at how Amazon stock has performed in previous bull markets.

Amazon conducted its initial public offering (IPO) in the midst of the dot-com boom. The chart below shows how the stock performed as compared to the S&P 500 from its IPO in 1997 through the end of 1999.

AMZN data by YCharts.

To say that Amazon outperformed the S&P during the heady dot-com bull market is an understatement. However, Amazon (like many other tech stocks) began to decline significantly well before the S&P 500 entered into a bear market.

But the e-commerce stock started to rally well in advance of the S&P's next bull market, too.Amazon again trounced the S&P 500 in the bull market that began in late 2002.

AMZN data by YCharts.

When the bear market associated with the Great Recession began, Amazon stock began to fall before the S&P did and plunged much more deeply. As it did in the previous cycle, though, Amazon's shares rebounded sooner than the major index. The stock also delivered a much greater gain during the subsequent 11-year bull market.

AMZN data by YCharts.

There's been a clear pattern for Amazon stock in the past. It falls well before the S&P 500 enters a bear market. It begins to rebound well before the S&P does. And it rises a lot more than the index does in the following bull market.

Maybe Amazon will break this cycle in the next bull market. But is there any reason to expect that it will? I don't think so.

Some might point out that, unlike in the past, the company's growth is slowing. However, the reasons why Amazon's growth is slowing appear to be primarily related to the highest inflation rates in four decades. If you believe that the next bull market will be accompanied by lower inflation (which seems to be a good bet), Amazon's biggest current headwinds shouldn't be so problematic.

The reality is that Amazon still has a huge competitive moat. No other player comes close to beating Amazon in e-commerce. The company's brand and infrastructure are simply unmatched. Amazon also reigns as the leader in the cloud-hosting market, a position that it doesn't appear likely to relinquish anytime soon.

Growth opportunities for Amazon are easy to find. E-commerce only made up 14.1% of total retail sales in the U.S. in the third quarter of 2022. There's more room to run for the cloud-hosting market, especially as artificial intelligence systems advance in capabilities. Amazon's digital advertising business is growing by leaps and bounds. Don't forget new markets, notably including healthcare.

One reason why Amazon stock has beaten the S&P 500 in bull markets is that it gets beaten down a lot more in bear markets. That's exactly what has happened this time around.

But investors should recognize that Amazon stock has never been this cheap -- at least not based on share price-to-projected free cash flow. The last time Amazon's shares were down this much from the previous high was in early 2009. And we know what happened afterward.

No one knows for sure when a new bull market is coming. Make no mistake, though, the stock market will roar again. When it does, Amazon should be a surefire winner.

John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Keith Speights has positions in Amazon.com. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon.com. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Continued here:

Looking for a Surefire Winner in the Next Bull Market? Buy Amazon ... - The Motley Fool

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