TOP STORIES #83
The biggest news of the week is that Microsoft is finally rolling out 24H2, and you can read more about that below.
Last week's Top Stories #82 can be found here.
Colleagues can join this newsletter by clicking here.
Did You Know?
The next "Did you Know" will be published next week, and again I'm sure it will be a surprise!
Hardware
Intel Sets a new record price.
Intel's flagship XEON 6 128-core CPU is priced at an eye-watering $17800! Though this is an exceptionally high record-breaking price for just the CPU, it brings an even higher level of compute density, which is important to consider as you can now squeeze even more compute into the same space than you could previously.
Clearly, this is only one factor of many that needs consideration, but as you consider your server refreshes and wonder if running in the cloud is really as cost-effective as you were originally sold on, planning what you could be running in your private cloud with the latest CPUs from Intel or AMD could be worth a rethink. You can read more here.
It may be a good idea to talk to your First Technology account manager to connect you with our Server hardware specialists about planning your server refresh for 2025 as these new systems will be able to give you compute capacity that you could not have dreamt of a few years ago!
Microsoft
Windows 11 24H2 is rolling out now.
If it's not showing up in your Windows update, be patient. 24H2 is the biggest update in 2 years and it still has a fair amount of problems. If you really REALLY want 24H2 NOW, then here is a guide on how to get it, but I really recommend that you wait.
Additionally, Microsoft has confirmed that Recall will be rolling out to Intel and AMD CoPilot+ computers in November. You can read more about this here.
RedmondMag has an excellent summary of what you will get in 24H2 and what you will get in Windows CoPilot+ PC's.
One feature that could be really useful in addition to the Recall feature is the Natural Language Inexact search query capability, which will even work offline.
Unfortunately, it will only work on a CoPilot+ computer.
All this means that there will be increased interest (and pressure) from users and executives in companies to get these new shiny CoPilot+ notebooks, so it is more important than ever to speak to your First Technology account manager to put you in touch with our hardware specialists to plan what models you would like to procure - it's more complicated - you have AMD, Intel and Snapdragon based machines to choose from - but regardless of type - PLEASE make sure you are buying with at least 32Gig RAM.
Microsoft Office LTSC 2024 begins rolling out
As it is an on-premise LTSC edition, it will only receive security patches for 5 years and excludes Teams and Publisher (which is being retired). Directions on Microsoft has a nice summary of the release here.
Security
CrowdStrike Aftermath Lessons learnt
Techradar published a good article on some of the lessons learned from the CrowdStrike incident and how to react when something like that happens again, as, unfortunately, it will. What's important to note is the guidance relating to maintaining heightened vigilance and a measured response to the vendor that "stuffed up."
Don’t Put Real Answers Into Your Password Reset Questions
A really easy way to get hacked is for somebody to guess or research the answers to your password reset questions, as you have probably exposed the honest answers on the internet somewhere, waiting for a hacker to find them. KnowBe4 has published a very good guide on how to deal with this issue and to make hacking your account just a little more challenging.
Please contact your First Technology account manager to understand what User awareness training courses are available - you always have to be aware of the next trick the bad guys are cooking up to to gain access and AI is making them even smarter.
Cloud & AI
AI in Organisations: Tactics to Experiment
Ethan Mollick has published an excellent paper on ways to get employees to experiment with AI and, through learning from the experimentation, use AI to benefit their jobs and, ultimately, the company they work for. He makes a very important point here: "Experimentation is hard and expensive for outsiders trying to develop new products, but very cheap for workers doing their own tasks. As users are very motivated to make their own jobs easier with technology, they find ways to do so."
He urges you to listen to what Google's NotebookLM did with his paper. It is incredible, especially because it is an early experiment in what is possible.
There are other examples on the NotebookLM site - go take a look and listen!
I know that I repeat myself every week, but it is so important that your organisation starts embracing AI, which starts with preparing and securing the environment to ensure the AI has secure access to the data that you want it to have access to and that access to the AI is also secure. We are all in this learning together. Nobody is that much ahead of the other, but if you do nothing, you will certainly be left behind. Please ask your First Technology account manager to put you in touch with our AI and security specialists to start talking to you about how we can help you secure and prepare your environment for the deployment of AI.
What's up at FTG
Huawei Cloud Summit
First Technology and Huawei invite you to the 2024 Cloud Summit, which will be held at the Gallagher Convention Centre.
When: 24 October
Where: Online - Register here
Invitation to Register for Zoomtopia by GaldonData
You are invited to register here. Please take a screenshot of your registration and send it to marketing@galdon.co.za (remember to remove the dash if the email address is wrapped to the next line) for a chance to win a Yealink BH70 Wireless Bluetooth Headset.
Zoom is recognised as a Customers’ Choice in the Gartner® Peer Insights™ “Voice of the Customer” for "Unified Communications as a Service" report, so even if you are standardised on Teams because of strategy or licensing benefits (or both) it is still always good to see what the "other side" is doing......
When: 10 October
Where: Online - Register here
CoPilot Security Demo
BUI, FTG's security division, is able to present CoPilot for Security information-sharing sessions, workshops and demos. Please contact your First Tech Group account manager to make arrangements to attend, or you can request a session here.
What does a World Class SoC look like and how does it work?
You are invited to book a tour of one of our SoC (Security Operations Center) nodes (and there are still parts we can't show you). You can book for the tour here.
BUI blog - 3rd Video Available
FTG's Azure and security division, BUI, has launched a blog focused on Security—what's new, what changed, and what you need to do to maintain a good security posture. This one, however, is about a game that Dirk learnt about while attending Black Hat in Vegas.
All BUI videos have been moved to one YouTube channel, which you can find here.
The Security Blog Video #003 is now available to view here.
This video introduces you to KC7 - a Cyberdetective game!:
Movies
Private school kids are back at school this week...
Private School Holidays: 21 September to 8 October 2024
Now Playing: Aftermath
Now Playing: Joker: Folie A Deux
Now Playing: Woman of the Hour
11 October: My Hero Academia: You're Next
11 October: Homecoming
11 October: Silent hour
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