Federal CIO Tapped for Dual-Hatted Role at GSA
Federal Chief Information Officer Greg Barbaccia was appointed acting director of the General Services Administration’s Technology Transformation Services (TTS) and senior advisor to the GSA administrator. Barbaccia retains his titles as federal CIO, chief AI officer, and service‑delivery lead, consolidating a broad portfolio of government‑wide tech oversight. The TTS portfolio includes Login.gov, FedRAMP, and the federal identity‑proofing system, with a focus on emerging technologies and cross‑agency digital delivery. Meanwhile, former TTS director Thomas Shedd moves to a senior advisory role on fraud prevention after overseeing significant staff reductions and the shutdown of 18F.
From Lab to Gigawatt: CoreWeave’s ARENA and the AI Validation Imperative
CoreWeave launched ARENA, a production‑scale AI lab that lets customers run full AI workloads on GPU clusters mirroring live environments, delivering realistic performance, scaling and cost validation before deployment. The platform bridges the gap where sandbox tests misrepresent production behavior...
Komprise Accelerates Agentic AI With Serverless Compute for Unstructured Data
Komprise unveiled KAPPA, a serverless compute service that lets enterprises enrich metadata for unstructured data with just a few lines of Python code. The offering automates scaling and execution across petabyte‑scale datasets, eliminating the need for traditional ETL pipelines. KAPPA...
How AI Is Forcing Storage Back Into the Enterprise Conversation
Early enterprise AI projects allocated most budgets to compute, treating storage as a leftover expense. As AI moves from experimentation to production, organizations discover that data readiness and storage performance, especially for retrieval‑augmented generation and inference, are the real constraints....
Accenture Wins Competition-Free £54m From Post Office
The UK Post Office has awarded Accenture a £54 million, competition‑free contract to manage its back‑office IT services from April 2026 through June 2029. The deal covers finance, ERP, HR, process automation and application modernisation across more than 11,500 branches, but excludes the...
WaveMaker Fuses Design and Development with Architecture-First Agentic Application Generation System for Enterprise Dev Teams
WaveMaker unveiled an agentic application generation system that blends AI‑driven code creation with a design‑first, architecture‑first methodology for enterprise developers. The hybrid IDE accepts Figma files and natural‑language prompts, producing tech‑stack‑agnostic markup that is validated before deterministic code generation. By...
HHS Burrows Into Identifying Risks to Health Sector From Third-Party Vendors
HHS is intensifying its focus on third‑party vendor security after the 2024 Change Healthcare ransomware attack, which exploited a remote‑access portal lacking multifactor authentication and exposed the data of about 190 million individuals. The breach threatened the liquidity of the entire...
KPMG Launches Tax AI Accelerator Program to Advance Generative AI in Corporate Tax
KPMG has introduced a Tax AI Accelerator Program that equips corporate tax departments with generative‑AI skills and a custom Digital Gateway deployment on Microsoft Azure OpenAI. The initiative blends technical training, prompt‑engineering workshops, and a secure sandbox where participants test...
MSP Next Dimension Consolidates Security Stack on Todyl Platform
Next Dimension has entered a strategic partnership with Todyl to migrate its managed security services onto Todyl’s cloud‑native platform, unifying SIEM, EDR and MXDR under a single console. The integration replaces fragmented toolsets with AI‑driven, contextual case management, cutting investigation...
CarGurus Purportedly Breached by ShinyHunters
CarGurus disclosed that approximately 1.7 million corporate files were taken by the ShinyHunters hacking group after a voice‑phishing attack compromised its single‑sign‑on credentials on Feb 13. The attackers threatened to publish the data unless negotiations were reached by Feb 20. ShinyHunters has previously...
Report: FinOps Priorities Are Shifting Left and Expanding
FinOps practitioners are moving financial decision‑making earlier in the software development lifecycle, a shift highlighted in the FinOps Foundation’s 2026 State of FinOps report based on 1,100 respondents. Pre‑deployment architecture guidance is now a top‑requested capability, and the scope of...
Analysis: Palo Alto Networks Vs. Everyone
Palo Alto Networks marked the two‑year anniversary of its platformization strategy, a move that initially sank its stock but has since become an industry standard. CEO Nikesh Arora highlighted a “flywheel” effect as new customers consolidate tools onto Palo Alto’s...
Should Enterprises Upgrade to Windows 11 Now?
Enterprises face a critical decision as Windows 10 support ends in October 2025, prompting many to accelerate Windows 11 migration plans. The upgrade demands comprehensive hardware inventories to meet TPM 2.0, Secure Boot, and higher memory and storage thresholds, as well as extensive application compatibility...
Connected and Compromised: When IoT Devices Turn Into Threats
The proliferation of consumer and enterprise IoT devices continues unchecked, yet most lack basic security controls such as passwords and encryption. Research presented by Mattia Epifani at RSAC 2026 shows that devices—from Amazon Echo to smart refrigerators—store unprotected audio, credentials, and personal...
Health Systems Must Connect with Patients in More Meaningful Ways
Health systems are accelerating digital transformation post‑COVID, with HIMSS research showing that hospitals possessing advanced digital maturity are 3.25 times more likely to earn higher safety grades and experience lower infection and adverse event rates. The pandemic also shifted patients from...
StorONE Arrays Adopt External Flash JBODs in Flash Program
StorONE introduced a 9x ROI on Flash program that pairs its S1 disk‑drive array with external SSD JBODs, creating an automatic two‑tier system that places hot data on flash and warm or cold data on HDDs. The solution leverages the...
When Is Windows 10 End of Life? How to Extend Support
Microsoft will cease mainstream support for Windows 10 on October 14 2025, forcing enterprises to choose between upgrading to Windows 11, purchasing Extended Security Updates (ESU), or retiring legacy hardware. ESU offers up to three years of security patches but excludes new features and...
Google's Air Gapped Cloud Gets "Public-Like" Networking
Google Cloud has unveiled a new networking layer that gives its air‑gapped, confidential computing environments public‑like connectivity. The feature leverages zero‑trust VPC Service Controls to keep workloads isolated while allowing them to communicate with external services as if they were...
Data Stored in Glass Could Last over 10,000 Years, Microsoft Says
Microsoft’s Project Silica has demonstrated that a 120 mm × 120 mm borosilicate glass plate, only 2 mm thick, can store 4.8 TB across 301 layers and survive accelerated aging tests suggesting a lifespan of at least 10,000 years. The research replaces costly fused‑silica with widely produced...
How This Cybersecurity Firm’s Graph Database Investment Is Paying Off
Darktrace, fresh from its $5.3 billion Thoma Bravo acquisition, migrated its security platform to Amazon Neptune, a managed graph database, to map threats across complex cloud environments in real time. The shift enables multi‑hop relationship queries that relational databases struggle with at...
How MSPs Can Ensure Regulatory Compliance and Secure Sensitive Data
Managed Service Providers (MSPs) serving healthcare, finance and legal sectors must embed regulatory expertise into every service layer to meet HIPAA, SEC, FINRA and related compliance mandates. The article outlines how MSPs can implement encryption, MFA, role‑based access, documentation and...
Fractional CISO: Full Accountability, 24/7 Availability
Fractional CISO does not mean fractional accountability. Every client I work with has my cell phone. Security incidents do not respect office hours, and advisory only works if there is shared ownership.
Artificial Intelligence Drives Autonomous Networks, Customer Service Gains
Nvidia’s State of AI in Telecommunications survey of 1,038 industry leaders shows AI is now a revenue engine, with nine‑in‑ten respondents reporting cost reductions and higher earnings. Autonomous networks top the AI use‑case list, accounting for 50% of reported ROI,...
When Excellent Technology Architecture Fails to Deliver Business Results
Large enterprises now standardize clean, cloud‑first technology architectures, yet many digital transformations still miss their business targets. The piece explains that the failure stems not from technical flaws but from architecture being sidelined during day‑to‑day decision making, where cost, risk...
MTN SA Foundation Invests in Youth With ICT Learnership Programme
MTN SA Foundation, together with Helios Towers and Datacomb Development Hub, has launched a 12‑month ICT Learnership Programme aimed at transitioning South African youth from digital training to paid employment. The initiative expands on the foundation’s Digital Skills for Digital...
UAE Data Centers: Powering the Middle East’s AI and Cloud Revolution
The United Arab Emirates is rapidly emerging as a pivotal data‑center hub for the Middle East and Africa, with live capacity surpassing 376 MW in 2025. Hyperscale players such as Microsoft, G42, and OpenAI are expanding AI‑focused facilities, targeting an additional...
Why Traditional Upskilling Strategies Fall Short in Cybersecurity
Traditional cybersecurity upskilling programs are losing relevance as threats and technologies evolve rapidly. Ha Hoang, CIO of Commvault, argues that organizations now need hybrid talent that blends security fundamentals with automation, cloud, and data‑governance expertise. Conventional certification‑centric paths are too...
Which Blockchains Are Best for Web3 Crypto Domains?
Web3 crypto domains, minted as NFTs, are emerging as portable digital identities that replace long wallet addresses. The choice of blockchain—Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, Base, or Handshake—directly influences cost, security, and ecosystem compatibility. Ethereum’s ENS remains the most widely adopted, offering...
How AI Is Rewriting the Rules of Consulting
AI is fundamentally reshaping consulting by replacing lengthy analysis and PowerPoint‑heavy engagements with faster, outcome‑focused projects. Firms are leveraging in‑house and public AI tools to accelerate insight generation, while clients increasingly use the same technology, shifting value from “what is”...
More Than 40% of South Africans Were Scammed in 2025
South Africa experienced a staggering 77% scam victimization rate in the 12 months to early 2025, with 42% of adults losing money, averaging $130 per incident. GASA estimates scammers extracted roughly $2.3 billion from over 17.5 million South Africans, equating to about...
Ericsson Strikes Microsoft, AWS Deals for Enterprise 5G
Ericsson announced strategic deals with Microsoft and Amazon Web Services while unveiling a new telecoms innovation R&D centre in Yokohama, Japan. The Microsoft partnership embeds AI‑driven 5G laptop management into Windows 11, using Intune and Ericsson Enterprise 5G Connect to automate connectivity, eSIM...
Customers Have New Expectations. Is Your CX Ready?
Customer experience is evolving as technology delivers practical benefits through better design, integration, and intent. Modern voice bots, unified CX platforms, and structured knowledge bases enable faster, more consistent service while reducing pressure on agents. Proactive, AI‑first approaches shift support...
EGI Innovations Hires Jon Hatchuel as First Aussie Country Manager
eG Innovations, a US‑based software vendor, has appointed Jon Hatchuel as its first country manager in Australia, marking the firm’s first dedicated employee in the market. Hatchuel, who brings over 20 years of senior IT experience, will focus on expanding...
South Africa’s Cybersecurity Challenge Is Not a Tool Problem
South African enterprises are pouring significant budgets into cybersecurity tools, yet breach rates keep rising. The core issue is execution: security teams are overwhelmed by data and lack the capacity to turn visibility into action. Unified platforms like Rapid7’s Command...
Agentic AI Era: Cloud Security Shifts From Asset Protection to Identity-First Zero Trust
At the ETCIO Cloud Summit, leaders from Starbucks India and Jio argued that cloud security must shift from protecting static assets to continuously validating identities, especially as AI agents and autonomous workloads proliferate in hybrid environments. They emphasized that bots,...
Agent Identities Demand New Sandboxing and Access Controls
Agent identities is going to be a super fun and hard problem for software in the coming years. Most agentic systems today assume that the agent can do everything the user can do, and just operate as an extension of...
Turn IT From Gatekeeper to ROI Enabler
If your business units are bypassing IT to build their own AI "solutions," you don’t have a shadow IT problem—you have a value delivery problem. Stop being the "No" department and start being the "ROI" department. Watch @mkrigsman, @tcrawford, and @nyike:...
Remote Access Abuse Drives Majority of Breaches
Arctic Wolf’s 2026 Threat Report reveals a dramatic shift toward data‑only extortion, which surged from 2% to 22% of incidents in 2025. Remote‑access tool abuse initiated 65% of non‑BEC breaches, while AI‑enhanced phishing powered 85% of BEC attacks. Ransomware remains common,...
CIOs Must Choose Cloud Strategy and Rebuild Capabilities
#CIOChat Q4: Endgame: Is the future cloud-first, cloud-smart, or cloud-selective? What does your next-gen operating model look like across on-prem, edge, sovereign cloud, hyperscale? What strategic capability must CIOs rebuild, refactor, or pay down tech debt to make it work? https://t.co/eKYQWD41ZW
Sovereign Stacks: Balancing Scale, Regulation, and Control
#CIOChat Q3: Data residency, sovereignty mandates, and geopolitical risk are rapidly reshaping architectural decisions right now. Are we entering a “sovereign stack” era? How are you balancing hyperscaler scale with regulatory exposure and enterprise control? https://t.co/VK5lLC7gA0
GlassFish 8 Java Server Boosts Data Access, Concurrency
The Eclipse Foundation announced the final release of GlassFish 8, the reference implementation for Jakarta EE 11. The server now includes Jakarta Data repositories, allowing developers to work with JPA and NoSQL entities through a unified repository pattern. It also...
CIOs Reevaluate Cloud‑First Doctrine Amid Rising Risks
#CIOChat Q1: For a decade, “cloud-first” was treated as doctrine. With the “public” prefix unsaid. Are CIOs now quietly reassessing that orthodoxy? What signals (cost volatility, lock-in, latency, resilience, or control) made you question assumptions we once considered settled? https://t.co/Eecmzn4rTh
Smashing Security Podcast #455: Face Off: Meta’s Glasses and America’s Internet Kill Switch
In episode 455 of the Smashing Security podcast, host Graham Cluley and journalist James Ball examine the growing threat of tech sovereignty, questioning whether the United States could effectively shut down Europe’s internet by leveraging Gmail, cloud services, and critical infrastructure. They also...
Telstra Posts Strong First Half FY26 Profit Amid Job Cuts
Telstra reported an 8.1% profit increase to $1.2 billion for the first half of FY26, with revenue edging up 0.3% to $11.6 billion and earnings rising 4.7% to $4.4 billion. The company achieved 3.1 percentage points of operating leverage by cutting $179 million in...
Update Governance Now or Drown in Agentic AI Chaos
Agentic AI is rising, but are your governance frameworks still stuck in 2023? Autonomous systems don't wait for committee approval. CIOs: lead the orchestration or get buried by the chaos. 🤖⚡️ Deep dive here: https://t.co/dJs86sTyRD #CXOtalk #AgenticAI #TechLeadership
IRS CIO Says Agency Lost 40% of Tech Workers Last Year
The Internal Revenue Service’s Chief Information Officer disclosed that the agency shed roughly 40% of its IT workforce and almost 80% of its technology leadership last year, marking the deepest attrition in two decades. The cuts stemmed from voluntary separations,...
Inside the DOE’s 26 AI Challenges for Genesis Mission
The U.S. Department of Energy unveiled 26 artificial‑intelligence challenges that underpin its Genesis Mission, spanning nuclear systems, grid modernization, materials science, advanced manufacturing, microelectronics and national security. The announcement shifts AI from a purely analytical tool to the connective tissue...
Opkey Launches Design Studio for ERP Implementation Planning
Opkey introduced Design Studio, an AI‑driven module within its application lifecycle automation platform that streamlines ERP and HCM implementation planning. The visual canvas embeds more than 20 domain‑specific AI agents to automate discovery, requirements capture, process mapping, and configuration design....
AI Won’t Replace SaaS: Key Misconceptions Clarified
When asking if AI will replace SaaS, here are some very key aspects to consider and questions to ask. I will have more to share, but there is a LOT of misunderstanding and assumptions being inserted into the public conversation that...
Zoho Debuts ERP Targeting Manufacturing, Retail, Distribution, Non‑Profit
It’s official: @Zoho launches Zoho ERP. Zoho is stepping into a quickly evolving space focusing on four verticals: manufacturing, retail, distribution and non-profit. #cio #erp #zohoday26 https://t.co/ZHXSetWIbM