Tantra's Mantra with Prakash Sangam

Ericsson held its Analyst Conference on Nov. 7, 2024, at its D-15 Labs Innovation Center in Santa Clara, CA. It was a packed event with many interesting sessions with speakers from Ericsson and scores of its partners, including Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Meta, AWS, Google Cloud, Dell, Intel, and others. The theme of the event was "Programable High Performance Networks." As expected, the emphasis was on programmability, to scale the network up and down to make it fit the use cases, network scenarios, apps, and service needs. In this episode, Leonard Lee of Next Curve and I discuss Network APIs, monetization, mechanisms that distribute the "value" across the value chain, and how Ericsson is accelerating it through its JV with operators. We also delve into the role of AI, Edge AI, rApps, and Ericsson's pilot of making cellular primary connectivity for enterprises, eliminating wire and wired connectivity.

The Lenovo Tech World and Global Industry Analyst Conference were held in Bellevue (Seattle) from October 15th to 17, 2024. During these events, the company showcased its vision for the industry through its "Hybrid AI" approach, technology, products, and services, as well as its broad industry partnerships. In this episode, Leonard Lee of Next Curve and I discuss how Lenovo, with its "pocket-to-cloud" offerings, is well positioned for "Hybrid AI,” how it is accelerating AI adoption by practicing what it preaches in its own operations, its entry into the Automotive space, Server water cooling leadership, reimagining Motorola's smartphone business, and more.

Lenovo Innovation World 2024 was held in Berlin on September 4th—5th. During this event, the company announced a slew of Copilot+ PCs powered by the new Intel Core Ultra 400v, AMD Ryzen AI 300, and Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus (8-core) SoCs. In this episode, I talk to Olivier Blanchard, Research Director, Futurum Research, about the various SoCs, their strengths and weaknesses, the need for OEMs to position them well, specifically what Lenovo should do to maintain its formidable market leadership, and finally, key takeaways from the event. Also, check out the reviews of these Copilot+ PCs powered by Snapdragon XElite SOC Lenovo Slim7x - https://bit.ly/3WK9W4n Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge - https://bit.ly/3XJSGLN

For the first time, an AMD executive joins our podcast. In this episode, I sit down with Salil Raje, SVP and GM of Adaptive and Embedded Computing Group at AMD. As a pioneer in the FPGA market, Salil provides unique insights into the industry's current landscape and AMD's strategic direction. We delve into the status of Xilinx's integration into AMD after two years of acquisition, the challenges and opportunities of Edge computing/AI, and how AMD's upcoming Versal 2 platform aims to revolutionize this space.

Galaxy Unpacked, held in July 2024, unveiled a robust lineup of devices, including two groundbreaking foldable smartphones, a trio of advanced wearables, and innovative earbuds. In this episode, I talk to Blake Gaiser, Samsung's Director of Smartphone Product Management, about the journey and evolution of the Galaxy Z Fold6 and Z Flip6, how Watch 7, Ultra, and Galaxy Ring are coming at a stage when the line between consumer and medical devices is blurring, what made Samsung make a bold design change for Buds 3, and finally, the company's overarching strategy for Galaxy AI. Also, please check out my views about Galaxy Unpacked expressed on Next Curve Rethink Webcast: https://www.tantraanalyst.com/ta/quotes/#:~:text=Next%20Curve%20Rethink%20Webcast

This is the fourth episode in our series, focused on analyzing the introduction of CoPilot+ PCs. In this, I discuss with Pooja Sathe, Director and category leader of Worldwide Commercial AI PCs at market leader Lenovo, about their “Windows on Arm” journey with Qualcomm from the early beginnings until Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus SoCs, the design principles behind CoPilot+ PCs, customer feedback, target enterprise profiles, and personas for these PCs, and what the future competitive landscape will look like when Intel and AMD SoCs enter the market. We also delve into Lenovo's efforts to ensure app compatibility of Windows on Arm, the role of AI/NPU now and their evolution, Lenovo's definition of AIPC, whether AIPCs will be a separate category or whether everything will be AIPCs in the future, and more.

The ever-expanding edge computing landscape is a tangled web of diverse hardware, software, and ecosystems. In this episode, I talk to Muneyb Minhazuddin, VP and GM of Network and Edge at Intel, about the challenges of Edge and how Intel's Tiber Edge AI platform helps its customers manage it. We delve into the need for Tiber, how it can simplify the complexities of Edge AI, go-to-market strategy, traction so far, the real-life applications and use cases, collaboration with Hyperscalers, Intel's new strategy on selling software, what the future holds, and more.

In this episode, Leonard Lee of Next Curve joins me in discussing and analyzing the key takeaways from Computex and Apple's Worldwide Developer's Conference. Computex Buzz: CoPilot+ PCs Take Center Stage: We explore how CoPilot+ PCs overshadowed everything at Computex, show and tell of Qualcomm, the announcement of Lunarlake by Intel, Ryzen Gen3 of AMD, both powering X86-based CoPilot+ PCs, opportunities during back-to-school season, changing competitive landscape by Holiday season and more. Apple Intelligence Announcement: We delve into Apple Intelligence, its current standing against competition, Apple's collaboration with Open AI, security and privacy concerns, benefits of vertical integration in Hybrid AI, and more.

This is the third in the series of Tantra's mantra episodes analyzing the CoPilot+ PCs from the market, SoC, and OEM perspectives. In this episode, I talk to Hassan Anjum, Head of Product Management for Samsung New Computing Business, which covers the Galaxy Book series of premium laptops. We discuss the needs of premium PC customers, why Windows on Arm is different this time, app compatibility, competitive landscape, Samsung differentiation, positioning when CoPilot+ PCs with Intel and AMD arrive later in the year, and much more. Hassan says this will be Samsung's biggest PC launch ever with Qualcomm and Microsoft.

TELUS will be the first operator to use Open RAN for not only new 5G deployment but also to replace the legacy 4G network. Although the Government mandate necessitated the replacement, it was still a bold decision. TELUS will also be a multi-vendor true Open RAN deployment, with radios, cloud platform, RAN software, servers, and processors, all coming from different vendors. It expects almost 50% of the network to be Open RAN by the end of 2025. In this episode, I talk to Nazim Benhadid, CTO of TELUS, on the factors that led to choosing Open RAN, their large-scale live network performance testing, the decision to use look-aside accelerator configuration, and being their own Systems Integrator, as well as his recommendations to the other brownfield operators looking to deploy Open RAN.

On this landmark day for “Windows on ARM,” where over 20 AIPC models from seven OEMs powered by Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus were announced, I sit down with Nitin Kumar, Qualcomm’s VP of Product Management for compute chipsets. In this extensive discussion, we explore Qualcomm’s business strategy, the needs of PC OEMs, and the positioning of the X Series platforms. We also examine the competitive landscape, the app developer ecosystem, and more. Additionally, we delve into Copilot+, current and future use cases for on-device AI, app compatibility, and go-to-market strategies.

The PC industry is on the cusp of a revolution, with major Windows OEMs poised to launch a wave of premium Arm-based AIPCs (laptops) powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon XElite and XPlus processors. In this episode, Leonard Lee from Next Curve and I delve deep into what makes "Windows on Arm" a game-changer this time around. We explore performance improvements, the evolving app ecosystem, the focus on AI, and more. We also discuss the competitive landscape and the delicate balancing act OEMs face in navigating their relationships with Intel and Qualcomm.

"2023 was the year of experimentation and 2024 is the year of implementation, for Gen AI" was the clear message from the Adobe 2024 Summit. In this episode Bob O'Donnell of TEChnalysis and I delve into key takeaways from the summit and analyze how Adobe's firefly is improving the efficiency of "Digital Content Supply Chain" helping enterprises traverse their Digital Transformation journey. We also talk about Adobe's customer focus and its surprise strategic collaboration with Microsoft. Reference Articles: https://www.tantraanalyst.com/ta/iot-ai-compute/ https://www.technalysisresearch.com/blogs/2024%20Blogs/march_26_2024_blog.html

After the successful launch of eMBB, everybody is eagerly looking at the next phase of 5G. Industry observers are wondering where the subsequent growth will come from, how the mobile network operators will recoup the enormous investments they have made in deploying 5G, when the exciting applications and use cases we have discussed for years will come to fruition, and what the key enablers will be. In this long-ranging discussion with John Smee, SVP and Head of Wireless Research at Qualcomm, I explore 5G Advanced, drivers of wide deployments of 5G Stand Alone, and the role of AI in the evolution of 5G, 6G, and beyond.

Intel Foundry Services (IFS) marked a significant milestone on Feb 21, 2024, with its highly anticipated debut event, where the company unveiled its comprehensive strategy and roadmap. The occasion was also highlighted by the enthusiastic backing from its key customers and partners. In this episode, Bob O'Donnell, President and Chief Analyst at TECHnalysis Research, and I analyze IFS's present status. We explore the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for them, shedding light on the dynamic landscape of their business. Additionally, we examine CEO Patrick Gelsinger's pivotal role in orchestrating the IFS's transformative journey.

Apple's Vision Pro has the potential to change the XR landscape entirely because of its high-end feature set, pricing point, and ecosystem. Its impact on the consumer market is very profound. But not yet clear on the Enterprise market. In this episode, I talk to Vishal Shah, GM of XR and Metaverse business for Lenovo, about the needs of the enterprise market, the impact of Vision Pro, and how Lenovo differentiates its XR offerings.

In this episode, fellow analyst Leonard Lee from Next Curve and I discuss our impressions and the key takeaways from the recently held Industry Analyst Day 2023 of Marvell Technology. Marvell executives pitched how they are well positioned to exploit the massive surge in interest in Gen AI through their custom silicon and interconnect offerings. They also talked about the roadmap for leadership in Automotive Ethernet.

Recent market developments, like license litigations and the need for high-performance, low-power processors, have heightened the focus on RISC-V, the open standard Instruction Set Architecture (ISA).In this wide-ranging discussion with the RISC-V International CEO, Calista Redwood, I discuss where the ISA currently stands, how the ecosystem is expanding, what the challenges are, and when the market can expect RISC-V to support more complex, high-performance workloads, and be a formidable competitor for the incumbent Intel's X-86 and Arm architectures.

While everyone is looking for the proliferation of 5G IoT, LoRAWAN has been revolutionizing the low-power, long-range IoT industry for a long time. In this episode, I discuss with Donna Moore, the CEO and chairwoman of LoRa Alliance, the current state of LoRa WAN, its unique characteristics, the most suitable use cases, how it complements 5G IoT, and how the Alliance is helping the ecosystem.

Apple's announcement of the Vision Pro XR headset fundamentally changed the dynamics of the XR industry. My good friend and fellow analyst Leonard Lee from Next Curve and I discuss Apple's positioning of the device, its impact on the XR industry, especially existing players, and strategies they can utilize to compete with Apple.