Friday Tech News

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Good morning and welcome to another edition of Friday Tech News! I hope you’ve had a wonderful week.

What’s up friends? Hope you’ve had a good week. This week was fun for me and I hope you enjoyed time with family, friends, clients, & colleagues. The week saw a lot of cool announcements and major funding in the Cybersecurity market. Of particular refreshment was the fact that I didn’t just report on AI announcements and people actually have good items coming out. With the AI announcements in there, I think they’re really positive, especially the OpenAI roadmap article.

Take a read, enjoy some coffee, and as always, feel free to comment or reach out!

Stay physically and digitally safe,

Phil

OEM News & Updates 📰

GitHub | GitHub’s new Agent Mode for Devs

• GitHub’s new Agent Mode feature enables Copilot to iterate on its own outputs, complete entire user requests in one go, and automatically fix errors.

• Also introduced Copilot Workspace with agentic capabilities to allow collaboration between users to leverage a system of sub-agents for generating plans, implementing code, and fixing errors.

• Additional features like “Next Edit” and “Vision for Copilot” allow for automatic edit suggestions and the creation of code snippets or images respectively.

Databricks | Databricks and Confluent Partner

• This partnership aims to eliminate data silos by integrating Confluent’s Data Streaming Platform to DB’s Data Intelligence platform.

• Additional integrations provide seamless governance of data across operational and analytical systems. This is a first of it’s kind for connecting Confluent’s Tableflow and DB’s Unity Catalog.

• They’re trying to help businesses build purpose driven and sophisticated AI apps for critical use cases.

Commvault | Commvault’s New CIS hardened Images for Cloud Security

• Commvault has introduced CIS hardened images for major cloud platforms (including Vmware) ensuring secure and simplified cloud deployments with preconfigured security recommendations from CIS.

• The hardened images align with NIST CSF, HIPAA, PCI-DS, and ISO 27001.

• Provides a strong baseline for businesses moving to the cloud with streamlined regulatory compliance.

OpenAI | OpenAI’s new Roadmap

• OpenAI has decided to integrate its upcoming o3 model into GPT-5 instead of releasing it as a separate offering. This aims to simplify the AI landscape by providing a more unified and controlled AI model.

• Could be a response to rising competition and cost pressures from other competitors.

• OpenAI plans to launch GPT-4.5 codenamed "Orion” as its final model without chain-of-thought reasoning. They’re going for less models, not more.

PANW | Palo Alto Introduces Cortex Cloud

• PANW has launched Cortex Cloud, the next version of Prisma Cloud, merging CDR with CNAPP capabilities. This unified platform now aims to stop attacks in real-time by integrating data and automating workflows.

• Cortex Cloud leverages AI-powered prioritization, automated remediation, and a new user experience to enhance cloud security.

• Relly curious how they’ll license this and “incent” customers to adopt the platform.

Articles I Liked This Week 💡

Hosting Journal | AWS Plans 100B Investment to Top MSFT

TechCrunch | This Week In AI - Elon vies for OpenAI

Wired | US Treasury sees an Insider Threat

Wired | DOGE cutting key Technology Agency

Wired | Palantir CIO appointed to Government agency amongst other CIO’s

• sorry for all the wired content - just a lot of good stuff from them this week.

Tech Funding & M&A 💸

Nirmata | Nirmata raises 9.6M

• Nirmata is a California based company specializing in providing SaaS solutions for unified governance, security, and compliance against cloud native apps and infrastructure. They make Kyverno, an OSS K8s policy engine that has become a standard for K8s policy management.

Sardine AI | Sardine AI raises $70M series C

• Sardine AI is a California based company specializing in AI powered risk management solutions for businesses.

Tines | Tines raises $125 Series C

• Tines is an Ireland based company that specializes in workflow automation.

Drata| Drata acquires SafeBase

• SafeBase is a California. based compliance automation and trust management solution for businesses.

Suger | Suger raises $15M Series A

• Suger is a California based that provides an API first platform that helps software companies transact on cloud marketplaces.

A10 Networks | A10 acquires ThreatX

• ThreatX is headquartered in Louisville Colorado and they specialize in API and AppSec. They make a web app and api protection platform (WAAP).

CyberArk | CyberArk buys Zilla for $165M

• Zilla is a Massachusetts based company specializing in Identity Governance and Administration (IGA). They’re focusing on automation with AI for businesses.

Harness | Harness and Traceable Merge

• more consolidation in the industry, this time from the founder of both companies. Interesting to see from API security - is this category going by the wayside?

• Traceable makes API tracing security software and they’re based in California.

Sophos | Layoff

Meme of the week 🤣

Recommendations 👉🏻

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Thank you so much for making this a part of your Friday morning coffee time. I'm Phil Moroni, and I'm an Account Executive in the Information Technology industry here with another edition of Friday Tech News!

What is this? This is a newsletter that provides updates and insights on the latest trends and developments in the technology industry. I am a professional who specializes in supporting IT leaders in evaluating, investing, and managing people, processes, and technology tools that support their businesses.

Each week, I summarize relevant industry updates from popular Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM's), software publishers, and managed providers. The goal of my research and newsletter is to keep you informed about current trends and events that may impact your business from a trusted and reputable source. It's just information I'm sharing, and I follow and work with hundreds of partners in the industry, keeping track of their growth, changes, and evolution so that you don't have to.

Bottom Line: As you focus on improving your business through digital initiatives, my commitment is to keep you informed of the fast-paced changes and trends taking place so that you can plan ahead and stay ahead of the game.

Key areas of focus for me are:

1. Cloud Computing, Security, Trends

2. Developer & Security Tools

3. Networking & Infrastructure Tools

4. End User Tools & Workspace Tech

5. Emerging Technologies and Future Concepts

If you have any questions, would like information about any specific vendors I follow, or would like to have a conversation about any topic that is challenging you, I invite you to engage with me! I value feedback immensely and would love to know what you find valuable about this newsletter so feel free to reach out!

Thank you for reading and stay digitally and physically safe!

Phil