Digital Lifescapes

Two years after ChatGPT captured the world's imagination, there's a dichotomy in the enterprise artificial intelligence (AI) market. On one side, technology vendors are making unprecedented investments in AI infrastructure and new feature capabilities. On the other, there's measured adoption from customers who carefully weigh the AI costs and proven use case benefits. Artificial Intelligence Market Development The scale of new investment is significant. Cloud vendors alone were expected to invest over $150 billion in capital expenditures in 2024, with AI infrastructure being the primary driver. This massive bet on AI's future is reflected in the rapid growth of AI server revenue. Looking at just two major players - Dell Technologies and HPE - their combined AI server revenue surged from $1.2 billion in Q4 2023 to $4.4 billion in Q3 2024, highlighting the dramatic expansion. Yet despite these investments, the revenue returns remain relatively modest. The latest TBR resea...

Most CIOs would prefer to be freed from the ongoing burden and rising cost of managing software license compliance. It's one of the primary reasons why open source software subscriptions -- that don't require traditional licenses -- are so appealing. It's also a key driver of pay-as-you-go cloud service adoption. Forward-looking software vendor executives also acknowledge the apparent shortcomings of the legacy licensing model. Some are choosing to change. Others are stubborn and continue to seek ways to extend the life of an obsolete approach to revenue attainment. Demand for Short-Sighted Software Monetization The three software license management (SLM) functions include defining software versions and licensing rules (development), automating license issuance and invoicing (deployment) and ensuring software is used in accordance with terms of a purchased license (enforcement). The latest global market study by Frost and Sullivan discovered that market participants...