Jim Robbins is shaking up the status quo once more before he retires from the helm of Atlanta-based Cox Communications at year's end. He is pursuing an industrywide wireless alliance to transport cable's bundled services outside the home and placing retransmission reform back on the Washington agenda. "The one thing I want to accomplish before I retire, if I can, is a wireless deal for the industry," Robbins said in an interview. Even without an industry consensus, Cox will partner with at least one larger cable operator, most likely Time Warner, to give a wireless provider the largest cable footprint possible to make cable's service triple-play portable. Although Cox has chipped away at wireless for nearly a decade, beginning with an early Sprint PCS deal, the cable industry has been caught off guard recently by the rapid prominence and power of wireless adoption. Telephone companies have moved swiftly to offer a voice and data bundle to which they are now adding video on both wireless and wire line platforms. The absence of a wireless strategy outside the home will challenge the cable industry's future growth, Robbins says. Cable could find itself competitively disadvantaged at a time when every subscriber counts.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly become the defining force in business technology development, but integrating AI into applications remains a formidable challenge. According to a recent Gartner survey, 77 percent of engineering leaders identify AI integration in apps as a major hurdle for their organizations. As demand for AI-powered solutions accelerates across every industry, understanding the tools, the barriers, and the opportunities is essential for business and technology leaders seeking to evolve. The Gartner survey highlights a key trend: while AI’s potential is widely recognized, the path to useful integration is anything but straightforward. IT leaders cite complexities in embedding AI models into existing software, managing data pipelines, ensuring security, and maintaining compliance as persistent obstacles. These challenges are compounded by a shortage of skilled AI engineers and the rapid evolution of AI technologies, which can outpace organizational readiness and...