Tag: CYBERSECURITY

  • Conference Whispers: Internet 2.0 Conference 2024

    Conference Whispers: Internet 2.0 Conference 2024

    Published: April 3, 2024                   ID: 2040

    Analyst(s): Doreen Galli, PhD MBA

    ABSTRACT

    Internet 2.0 Conference is one of five conferences that makes up 2.0 Conferences. In total the conferences had seven hundred attendees over 3 days packed with solid keynotes. Attendees seemed to agree that small but mighty was a good description of the event. Common themes including where is society going with technology as well as how these changes will impact society.

    Highlights

    • Five conferences all in one meant this tiny conference packed a powerful punch.
    • This event was all keynotes with speakers rotating between the 5 shows.

    Cautions

    •  This conference packs the sessions back-to-back. One must plan on your own for bio and physical movement breaks to avoid excessive sedentary day.

    Conference Vibe

    As a member of the collection of strategy conferences that create 2.0 Conferences, Internet 2.0 and all the conferences could best be described as small but impactful.  The event took place at Caesars in Las Vegas in their Augusta rooms. All the attendees bragged about the amazing food both for breakfast and lunch. Readers may experience the entire Conference Whispers Internet 2.0 Conference playlist.

    Where are we going?

    The biggest theme at the conference focused on where innovation in technology is going to take us. One keynote on the evolution of intelligence had a panel discuss the paradigms that go beyond AI and ML This session also included an interested example of how Yazzmoney was leveraging blockchain. Specifically, they are helping Zambia government to tokenize cattle, minerals, wildlife and renewable energy. This enables the cattle ranchers, for example to access the value of the cattle. Another keynote with an all-male panel discussed how AR, VR and MR can revolutionize customer experience.  Michael Koch keynote was a great discussion on the evolution of work, life, and play. Michael Koch discussed how technology has changed and is going to continue to change even faster with wireless power closer on the horizon than we imagine. Parts of this keynote reminded us of the 100 years of innovation exhibit at CES. One of the fascination aspects of Michael Koch’s keynote was the discussion around moving from creative and getting the ideas to adoption and conversion. There was to be another keynote on AI that looked like great potential at the start. Unfortunately the speakers time was cut in half and the deck didn’t work, thus Gary Y. Wu went Beyond AI in his talk. Futurist writer Jeffrey James Seyferth shared his vision of tech nirvana with attendees.

    One thing all agreed on is there will be an adaptation that must occur. Cyber burnout was a real concern in the keynote on wearables, robot and IoT. That session hilariously drew the parallel of the conference attendees not having breaks in between all the sessions to describe how cyber burnout occurs. With all this change, technologist need to be great communicators. To that end, Archer Now CEO, Trung Q. Pham brought his keynote, “The art of Communication Jiujitsu” to meet the demand. Trung emphasized that we retain 90% of what we teach.

    Social, Cultural and Environmental Impact

    On the keynote titled, “Leveraging tech for environmental and social Impact” the panel emphasized doing the right thing should be rewarded. Vincent Allen from VA-AV industries discussed how new and smart spaces can increase diversity and equity in the global economy. Admittedly, due to the speakers background and slant, we were having flashbacks from our coverage of last year’s NABShow. An inspirational keynote that featured Dee Jones from L3C Esports organization was hosted by gameplay. It was fascinating to learn how they are using esports and gaming to change the lives of inner-city kids in Michigan.

    Several panellists mentioned the concern of impact around generative AI hallucinations. To that end, one panellist shared that hallucinations are to be expected as the technology is in its toddler phase of reasoning. An interesting second concern on generative AI was raised concerning the massive computational requirements for a simple answer is surely not good for the planet.

    Security

    We were able to catch one interesting keynote on security. David Ronn from Zecurity shared their on-premises and edge solution to ending ransomware that blocks and examines all commands outside of a simple read command.

    Next Year’s Conference

    2.0 Conferences 2025 conference will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada at Caesars in April of 2025.

    *When vendors’ names are shared as examples in this document, it is to provide a concrete example of what was on display at the conference, not an evaluation or recommendation. Evaluation and recommendation of these vendors are beyond the scope of this specific research document. Other examples products in the same category may have also been on display.

    ©2019-20204 TBW Advisors LLC. All rights reserved. TBW, Conference Whispers, Technical Business Whispers, Whisper Reports, Whisper Studies, Whisper Rankings and Fact-based Research and Advisory are trademarks or registered trademarks of TBW Advisors LLC. This publication may not be reproduced or distributed in any form without TBW’s prior written permission. It consists of the opinions of TBW’s research organization which should not be construed as statements of fact. While the information contained in this publication has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, TBW disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. TBW does not provide legal or investment advice and its research should not be construed or used as such. Your access and use of this publication are governed by the TBW Usage Policy. TBW research is produced independently by its research organization without influence or input from a third party. For further information, see Fact-based research publications on our website for more details.

  • Conference Whispers: CONEXPO-CON/AGG & IFPE 2023

    Conference Whispers: CONEXPO-CON/AGG & IFPE 2023

    Analyst: Dr. Doreen Galli

    Photojournalist: Dr. Doreen Galli

    ABSTRACT

    North America’s largest construction trade show, CONEXPO-CON/AGG and IFPE are held together every three years in Las Vegas. The conference featured over 3 million net square feet of exhibits, over 2400 exhibitors, 200 educational courses, and 139,000 attendees from 133 countries. There were endless examples of Industrial Intelligence of Things (IIoT) and early examples of digitally transformed construction sites. The digital transformation of the construction site is well underway enabling multivendor views to optimize asset use and the total carbon footprint of a given job.  

    The Conference

    • The first CONEXPO was held in 1909 in Columbus, Ohio. The first CON/AGG was held in Detroit Michigan in 1928. CONEXPO and CON/AGG merged for the 19961 show held in Las Vegas. The Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) is responsible for putting on the show. Today, CONEPXO is one conferences with three domains: specifically, CONEXPO, CON/AGG and IFPE. Due the size and complexity of bringing all the equipment together, it is held every 3 years at the LVCC – the only location that can physically accommodate the weight of the equipment.
    • CONEXPO-CONN/AGG and IFPE was held in Las Vegas and leveraging the entire expanded LVCC including West, Central, South and North Halls and the festival lot. The Conference featured with 139,000 registered attendees including international attendees from 133 countries. The exhibitions featured over 2400 exhibitors in over 3 million net square feet of exhibits. There was a significant presence of women at the conference not simply joining attendees.
    • Attendees at CONEXPO-CONN/AGG and IFPE 2020 held titles such as Job Site Director, Director Heavy Equipment Rentals, Machine Operator, Logistics Manager, Electrical Engineer, Mechanical Engineer, Director of Product Management, Director City Planning, and new this time – data scientist.

    Highlights

    • Sensors is standard on heavy equipment this time around. Today’s sensor solutions are more intelligent than ever. Predictive maintenance is a reality when information from telematics systems is integrated into maintenance systems.
    • Digital transformation is arriving at construction job sites and heavy equipment rentals.
    • While there are new Government regulations such as US bidding requirements to disclose carbon footprint and plan to reduce emissions, OEM (original equipment manufacturers) equipment itself does not provide this information. Additional work is required to understand one’s footprint.

    Cautions

    • The industry would benefit from leveraging six sigma or other practices common in manufacturing to formally document the business benefit of their digital transformation.
    • There are many lessons learned in IT data management and manufacturing transformations that can benefit the construction digital transformation. Hopefully, these lessons will be shared so maximum success can be achieved.

    Conference Vibe

    The largest North American construction conference surpassed the attendance of their last conference which was held while Covid 19 was declared a pandemic2. The conference requires an entire month to set up – complex enough that it is only held every 3 years. The exhibits leveraged the entire Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC). It spanned the parking lots, South Hall, North Hall, Central Hall, the new West Hall, and the Las Vegas Festival Grounds. When asked attendees reported meeting their business objectives, the answer was a resounding Yes. Some indicated the expected deals came through along with a few pleasant surprises. Once again – the quality of attendees itself was mentioned by the exhibitors. Fortunately, the press room and many exhibits had coffee available – both regular and decaffeinated AND hot water for tea this time around.

    Digital Transformation of Commercial Fleets and Job Sites

    According to IFM3, 85% of vehicle telematics is used for vehicle tracking with only 27% used to track fatigue management. While the 2020 conference had education modules on digital transformation, in 2023 there were competing modules. CONEXPO 2023 live forced one to choose between ‘Top 10 Uses Cases using advanced Machine Data4and ‘Predictive Maintenance: Plan the Work and Work the Plan’. In 2020 participants were told the value of sharing one important piece of data5. In 2023, the conference offered a plethora of machine data transformational use cases.

    Attendees saw a Plante Moran’s customer discuss how they learned to leverage data to better manage their fleets6. ICC provided a great session on crane operation safety using data analysis of standards and incidents. When all was finished, the audience understood that less than 23.8% of crane safety responsibility falls on the operator’s shoulders7.

    POLARIS Laboratories® demonstrated the advantages of simply connecting one’s fluid analysis to the maintenance management system8. In another session, participants learned how to use their machine data for 10 separate use cases. The use cases varied from maximizing the ROI of their machines, saving money by maximizing use of remote investigation to minimizing the costs of batteries9. Another topic growing in popularity due to federal contracting requirements was understanding the carbon footprint of a job site. A complete solution set with various accuracy levels to measure fleet emissions was presented by Clue10. DOKA presented a platform that can estimate your carbon footprint. In addition, DOKA platform can optimize most metrics for job sites across the company and across machine vendors11. Furthermore, DOKA offers an augmented reality solution to help customers and teams picture the job site before it is realized12.

    Finally, one cannot discuss all this technology and data without a great session on cybersecurity. To that end CONEXPO did not disappoint with a great panel revealing ransomware and DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks are top of mind13.

    In conclusion, it was exciting to see how far and how fast the construction and agricultural industries are progressing toward digital transformed job sites and enterprises. Unfortunately, transformations stories frequently could not communicate their business impact. If I had one piece of advice to share with the industry it would be leverage six sigma or some business process impact/improvement (BPI) assessment during the transformations. These types of processes capture the financial advantage of the actual transformation. Despite the lack of BPI assessment, construction benefits from the constant turnover of construction equipment within companies. Thus, I would not be surprised to see the construction industry successfully transform faster than manufacturing.

    Next Year’s Conference

    CONEXPO-CON/AGG is held every three years. The next CONEXPO-CON/AGG and IFPE will occur March 3-7, 2026, in Las Vegas, NV. One may find more information here: The Future of Construction on Display: CONEXPO-CON/AGG Exhibitors Take the Industry.

    Citations

    1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conexpo-Con/Agg
    2. https://abcnews.go.com/Health/coronavirus-cases-surpass-1000-us-tsa-agents-test/story?id=69525688
    3. https://youtu.be/IbvC4mMd-l8
    4. https://youtu.be/_jZawl8zD0I
    5. https://youtu.be/btAlIcG9rEw
    6. https://youtu.be/dzjPV2WrXY8
    7. https://youtu.be/t1BLnp0iNNg
    8. https://youtu.be/MG2R9badaW4
    9. https://youtu.be/_jZawl8zD0I
    10. https://youtu.be/Xgl0z1xQZGc
    11. https://youtu.be/oI4phMkytB0
    12. https://youtu.be/QbbkZl4u-04
    13. https://youtu.be/EFx-SqwNDMw

    ©2019-2023 TBW Advisors LLC. All rights reserved. TBW, Conference Whispers, Technical Business Whispers, Whisper Reports, Whisper Studies, Whisper Ranking and Fact-based Research and Advisory are trademarks or registered trademarks of TBW Advisors LLC. This publication may not be reproduced or distributed in any form without TBW’s prior written permission. It consists of the opinions of TBW’s research organization which should not be construed as statements of fact. While the information contained in this publication has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, TBW disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of such information. TBW does not provide legal or investment advice and its research should not be construed or used as such. Your access and use of this publication are governed by the TBW Usage Policy. TBW research is produced independently by its research organization without influence or input from a third party. For further information, see Fact-based research publications on our website for more details.