Best of LinkedIn: ICT & Tech Insights CW 05/ 06

00:00:00: This episode is provided by Thomas Allgaier and Frennis, based on the most relevant LinkedIn posts about ICT and tech insights from CW five-and-six.

00:00:08: Frennes supports ICT enterprises with market and competitive intelligence decoding emerging technologies customer insights regulatory shifts And competitor strategies.

00:00:17: so product teams and strategy leaders don't just react but shape The future.

00:00:22: It's good to be back.

00:00:23: So we're diving into weeks five and six of twenty twenty six.

00:00:26: You can really feel a shift in the conversation.

00:00:28: Can she were just?

00:00:29: We're not talking about what if anymore.

00:00:31: No, not at all.

00:00:32: looking through the sources it feels like The playground phase is officially over.

00:00:37: we are seeing some very heavy Very concrete architecture being discussed now

00:00:41: exactly.

00:00:42: I mean If you had to summarize the vibe It's that the hype is finally settling into actual industrialization?

00:00:47: We're seeing a definite move from You know AI as a helper.

00:00:50: two AIs an operator were seen.

00:00:52: quantum computing moved from being a physics experiment To actually breaking real world encryption, and then sort of wrapping around all that is this massive focus on digital sovereignty and trust.

00:01:02: It's getting serious!

00:01:04: Okay so let's start with the first big shift.

00:01:06: you mentioned AI in automation.

00:01:09: for so long the conversation was about chatbots right?

00:01:12: Using AI to write an email a bit faster.

00:01:14: yeah it's over

00:01:15: but The posts from these last couple weeks are pointing towards these agentic architectures.

00:01:22: I mean, Vicky Makija had a really sharp insight on this.

00:01:26: He basically points out that AI agents are becoming the new cloud operations team

00:01:31: The New Ops Team.

00:01:33: Yes!

00:01:33: We're not just talking about scripts running when human press is a button anymore.

00:01:37: we talk about autonomous agents handling real-time provisioning incident response even cost optimization all of their

00:01:45: own and autonomous is the key word there.

00:01:48: Vicki mentioned that this completely shifts the model from manual toil to autonomous action, but you know if you have software making live decisions about your infrastructure?

00:01:56: That changes the risk profile completely.

00:01:59: Oh it does!

00:01:59: It requires totally new guardrails.

00:02:02: You can't just let an Autonomous agent loosen your environment without a serious fundamental rethink of your governance.

00:02:09: Its really difference between tool you hold in hand And robot release into wild

00:02:14: And according to Iraqi laborious, our current infrastructure might not even be ready for that robot.

00:02:21: He made a pretty provocative statement.

00:02:22: he said cloud native is over.

00:02:25: AI Native has started.

00:02:26: That's a headline designed to make a few engineers spill their coffee.

00:02:29: For sure yeah But he backs it up.

00:02:32: his argument Is the current stack.

00:02:34: you know things like standard Kubernetes scheduling?

00:02:37: It just wasn't built for the reality of generative AI.

00:02:40: we're dealing with constant inference really scarce GPUs and latency that users can actually feel.

00:02:46: Right, because a standard cloud app is mostly CPU bound in pretty predictable AI workloads are whole different.

00:02:52: beast he says we need AI aware platforms

00:02:55: exactly platforms that actually understand things like model memory requirements and latency constraints not just generic pods.

00:03:02: if you're running these incredibly expensive GPU's You cannot have them sitting idle cuz your scheduler is well dumb.

00:03:10: So you need things like dynamic accelerator slicing and model wear routing.

00:03:15: It's a completely different architectural challenge it is, but if we have these autonomous agents running on this new AI native infrastructure I mean that sounds Like A security nightmare waiting to happen.

00:03:25: If the software Is smarter than The firewall What do You Do?

00:03:30: Well That brings us right To the convergence point.

00:03:32: Francis Odom shared a prediction that by the second half of twenty-twenty six Which is coming up fast.

00:03:38: We're going to see a massive convergence in security.

00:03:41: the whole paradigm is shifting from securing models, to securing agents across their entire life cycle.

00:03:46: So you are almost treating an agent like remote employee with its own permissions?

00:03:51: In way yes!

00:03:53: Odom describes it as new control plane where identity security cloud security and data security.

00:03:59: all have to merge what it's allowed to touch and have the ability to shut it down instantly if he tries to exaltrate data.

00:04:06: And that who-the-agent is part, really tricky?

00:04:09: When was sick Dr.

00:04:10: Sue hammered this point on identity?

00:04:12: He warned many architectures are dangerously unprepared because these agents are operating without unique verifiable identities...

00:04:21: He calls for zero trust from machines which a fascinating concept I mean.

00:04:25: think about it.

00:04:26: If one AI agent can spawn other agents a simple static API key just isn't going to cut it anymore.

00:04:33: Not

00:04:33: even close!

00:04:34: You need continuous behavioral authorization, you need to verify that this specific instance of the agent is authorized to do THIS specific task right now.

00:04:43: Because if an agent goes rogue or gets jailbroken... ...you have to be able revoke its access instantly.

00:04:48: You can't just hope for the best.

00:04:50: Precisely And G-toot Patel from Cisco weighed in on this too.

00:04:55: He noted, we are at an inflection point where agents don't just suggest work they execute it and that distinction execution is critical.

00:05:04: if an agent's actually executing work deleting files spinning up servers moving money you need a fundamental rethink of your entire infrastructure to protect against the agent doing something destructive.

00:05:14: It's a brave new world for sure.

00:05:17: Okay!

00:05:17: Moving On This idea of control segues perfectly into our second theme digital sovereignty.

00:05:24: But based on the posts from weeks five and six Sovereignty doesn't just mean data localization anymore.

00:05:29: It's not just about keeping your data inside.

00:05:31: The borders have say Germany or France

00:05:33: know that definition has gotten much broader.

00:05:35: Yeah, Sandy Patel from IBM really pushed this forward.

00:05:39: He argues that sovereignty now has to include who governs?

00:05:42: The platforms in the models themselves.

00:05:43: he introduced his concept of the IBM sovereign core.

00:05:46: right

00:05:47: yes And the focus is on what he calls operational sovereignty.

00:05:51: It's about ensuring resilience and continuity, especially in regulated sectors.

00:05:56: You need to be able to prove you have control over the entire life cycle from data... ...to model or inference itself.

00:06:03: So it's not enough to just say, oh the server isn't Frankfurt.

00:06:06: Exactly!

00:06:06: Not if the model running on is a black box controlled by a company in California.

00:06:11: And

00:06:11: Mostafa Zaefer took that even further specifically for the MEA The Middle East and Africa region.

00:06:17: He's predicting that by twenty-twenty six sovereign AI frameworks will be strategic imperative there...

00:06:23: ...and he made an interesting point It about provable ownership of control plane.

00:06:27: He also noted shift accountability.

00:06:30: This isn't just a CIO problem anymore.

00:06:32: Yeah, AI is moving up to become a CEO problem.

00:06:35: When national sovereignty as at stake.

00:06:37: this becomes a board level issue fast.

00:06:39: There's also a hardware component to this that I found really interesting.

00:06:42: We always talk about the software but Georgine D highlighted what media tech is doing with sovereign AI chips?

00:06:48: This is such a great example of the practical side of sovereignty.

00:06:51: They're working on The Breeze LLM which has trained specifically on traditional Chinese

00:06:57: and the benefit Isn't Just we own it Right?

00:07:00: There's a real technical efficiency gain

00:07:02: there.

00:07:02: A huge one!

00:07:04: Because the model understands cultural nuances and language structure natively, it actually uses fewer tokens to say more.

00:07:12: That slashes latency in cost.

00:07:15: It shows that sovereignty isn't just about compliance or politics... ...it can drive better performance.

00:07:20: And we can't talk about sovereignty without talking about the actual physical pipes connecting us.

00:07:25: Nicholas Babin shared some insights on The European Commission's strategy for submarine

00:07:35: cables, It

00:07:50: really emphasizes that digital sovereignty is a full-stag game, from the undersea cable to the chip.

00:07:56: To the model all the way up to the governance framework.

00:07:59: absolutely

00:08:00: and that whole foundation relies entirely on trust which uh leads us right into our third theme cyber security and trust.

00:08:08: And this was a heavy couple of weeks for Cyber Insights, one thing that really stood out is the emphasis on implementation over just buying

00:08:15: more tools.

00:08:17: Steven Schmidt from Amazon shared his story about their midway authentication system.

00:08:22: That's powerful case study.

00:08:24: they protect one-and-a half million employee accounts.

00:08:29: No exceptions.

00:08:30: that's the hard part isn't it usually?

00:08:32: The CEO gets an exception because the security key is annoying.

00:08:35: It Is yeah, he pointed out this massive gap between knowing you need strong authentication and actually implementing it consistently.

00:08:42: It's always the exceptions to kill you the legacy system.

00:08:45: You didn't upgrade the executive who didn't want a friction.

00:08:48: Amazon proved that no exceptions policy is actually possible at scale, but it takes enormous cultural will.

00:08:54: Christopher

00:08:55: Cook from Microsoft connected this to the broader zero trust concept.

00:08:59: he was talking about conditional

00:09:00: access.

00:09:02: This is where security gets really smart.

00:09:04: static rules like allow everyone from this IP address.

00:09:08: They just don't stop modern attacks.

00:09:10: you need engines that evaluate risk in real time.

00:09:12: so its dynamic

00:09:14: completely.

00:09:15: What is the device posture?

00:09:16: Is it a managed device, where's user logging in from.

00:09:20: If anything creates red flag you block access or demand MFA

00:09:23: instantly.".

00:09:24: But even with best tools seems like always comes back to people.

00:09:28: Jane Franklin posted about how cyber attacks test organizational culture not just your tech

00:09:33: stack.

00:09:33: She's absolutely right.

00:09:34: And Florian Freese added a very human dimension to this, especially about the talent gap in Europe.

00:09:39: He suggests that a toxic blame culture is just burning out experts.

00:09:43: I

00:09:43: saw companies are chasing these unicorn profiles people who know everything instead of building sustainable teams

00:09:49: and it's frightening To think burnout could be major security vulnerability.

00:09:53: If your defenders are exhausted, you're wide open to attack.

00:09:56: And

00:09:56: speaking of attacks, Nizar Timashik from Sirtiway gave us a major reality check from the front lines in Ukraine.

00:10:02: Yeah that was his sobering read.

00:10:04: He's been analyzing three years of Russian cyber operations

00:10:08: and his conclusion

00:10:09: His conclusion is despite all modern tools The tactics map directly back into the art deception, disruption psychological pressure.

00:10:18: He warned that Europe is still unprepared for this coordination of kinetic and cyber threats.

00:10:23: We tend to think a cyber as the separate digital thing but he's seeing it coordinated with actual physical attacks.

00:10:29: It's a holistic threat that requires a holistic defense, you can't just have the IT guys handle it in a basin

00:10:34: somewhere.".

00:10:35: And on the regulatory side Davide Maniscalco broke down The New EU Cyber Resilience Act—the CRA —it sounds like complete reset for security standards.

00:10:47: If you sell any product with digital elements in the EU, You have to meet essential security requirements throughout its entire life cycle.

00:10:54: You can't just ship it and forget it.

00:10:56: It forces accountability back onto the manufacturer.

00:10:59: Okay To wrap this section Rob Ikerchik brought up the concept of IT for IT.

00:11:03: He thinks we're managing things all wrong.

00:11:06: His argument is that The bottleneck isn't a lack of tools.

00:11:08: We've plenty of tools.

00:11:09: Its' the lack an end-to-end system.

00:11:12: We manage these islands of tools, a silo for security.

00:11:15: A Silo For DevOps.

00:11:17: He's calling us to manage the entire IT value network as single connected system.

00:11:22: It is about visibility from idea to production.

00:11:24: That visibility will be crucial especially when we enter our final theme Quantum computing and innovation ecosystems.

00:11:32: And this isn't science fiction anymore?

00:11:34: Not at all!

00:11:36: If there was one mic drop moment it would have been Enrico Giacomelli at Numerial Group.

00:11:42: They successfully demonstrated quantum computing applied to digital security, right?

00:11:46: Yes they factorized an RSA key on an operational quantum computer.

00:11:51: Whoa okay let's unpack that!

00:11:53: RSA is the encryption standard that protects well pretty much everything online right now.

00:11:58: Everything... The security of RSA relies on the fact that classical computers are just terrible in factorizing enormous numbers.

00:12:09: It signals that post-quantum security isn't something to worry about in ten years.

00:12:13: it's an immediate need now

00:12:15: and That aligns perfectly with what Steve Suarez who is Google's quantum AI lead was warning About the whole store.

00:12:23: Now decrypt later threat,

00:12:25: that's The really scary part.

00:12:26: bad actors can steal your encrypted data today.

00:12:29: They Can't read yet But if they just store it And wait for a quantum hardware To mature which we Just saw as Happening they could Decryp it Later.

00:12:36: So if you have sensitive data with a long shelf life and you wait to adopt post-quantum cryptography It's already too late.

00:12:43: Your old data is already compromised.

00:12:45: the timeline has massively accelerated And we're seeing the infrastructure emerge to support this.

00:12:50: Tanja Scheller toured IBM first quantum data center in Europe over an ending end, and she emphasized that This is about accessible compliant Quantum computing.

00:13:00: it's not just in a lab anymore.

00:13:02: It's in a proper data Center.

00:13:04: Christian B. also reported that functional quantum systems are now a reality.

00:13:08: He basically declared it.

00:13:09: someday has become Now,

00:13:11: It's just amazing how fast this is moving.

00:13:14: but innovation isn't Just about the raw computing power?

00:13:17: It's About How you apply it.

00:13:18: we saw A ton of activity around Innovation hubs Particularly in Munich.

00:13:23: yes The t-Systems Innovation Center In munich seems to be A major focal point right now.

00:13:28: Elkanderl Dr.

00:13:29: Ferry, Abel Hassan and Philip Sourtaig all posted about it

00:13:33: And its located right next to an AI factory isn't there?

00:13:35: It

00:13:35: is!

00:13:36: The whole focus on making Its not a showroom for PowerPoint slides.

00:13:40: They're actively working on robotics digital twins industrial ai clouds.

00:13:44: About co-creation with customers.

00:13:46: That's how you bridge the gap between cool tech and actual business value.

00:13:50: Well

00:13:50: speaking of Business Value I want close this theme with Jan Gilg's post about ExxonMobil.

00:13:54: they underwent massive transformation with SAP.

00:13:57: This was such a great counterpoint to all the new tech hype.

00:14:00: Their transformation resulted in ninety-seven percent fewer profit centers.

00:14:04: Ninety seven percent, that is just insane!

00:14:06: It

00:14:07: is but it proves a vital point.

00:14:09: their transformation wasn't just about plugging in AI...it was about simplification discipline.

00:14:14: you cannot effectively apply AI on top of a messy overly complex organization.

00:14:20: ExxonMobil proved that clarity is the absolute foundation for applying any of these advanced technologies.

00:14:26: That's such a crucial takeaway, we talk about agents and quantum and sovereignty but ultimately if your own house isn't in order none it will work!

00:14:34: Exactly you have to have discipline to simplify before you can automate.

00:14:38: So bringing all together then CW-Five & Six of twenty twenty six painted picture world where this technology just maturing at an incredible rate.

00:14:46: AI becoming operator.

00:14:48: Quantum is breaking current encryption standards.

00:14:51: Sovereignty is redefining our entire infrastructure and

00:14:54: I think for you the listener, The message is pretty clear You can't just be an observer anymore?

00:14:58: You have to be actively preparing your architecture For agents upgrading Your security for the post quantum era And ensuring your governance Can actually handle autonomous machines.

00:15:09: as we always say check your foundations.

00:15:11: don't automate a mess.

00:15:13: Couldn't have said it better myself.

00:15:15: If you enjoyed this episode, new episodes drop every two weeks.

00:15:18: also check out our other editions on cloud defense tech digital products and services artificial intelligence sustainability in green ICT Defense Tech and HealthTech.

00:15:27: Thank You for listening.

00:15:28: make sure to subscribe so you don't miss the next deep dive.

00:15:31: see ya then.