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☆ Wall Street's most important consultant might be its cloud provider
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Insider's Bianca Chan explored this trend with a piece on how cloud providers like AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud are reimagining themselves as business consultants. Many of the biggest cloud providers have stood up teams focused on interfacing with the C-suite to advise them on how a move to the cloud can be an opportunity to overhaul things. It's not hard to see how this could end up being big business for the cloud providers. Cloud providers still have a long way to go to be a real threat to consultants, but there is potential there. Click here to read more about how cloud providers are becoming the new-age consultants for Wall Street.

☆ Amazon Launches Supply-Chain Software Service
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Paul Berger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +2 min

Amazon’s launch of its cloud application, AWS Supply Chain, adds Amazon to a growing list of software suppliers, such as Manhattan Associates and Blue Yonder, that help merchants juggle increasingly complex cargo flows and inventory demands. Microsoft Corp. launched its own supply-chain management software platform earlier this month. Companies are relying more on sophisticated supply-chain software as a growing share of sales shifts away from sending goods in bulk to retailers and moves more toward direct-to-consumer online sales that require better balancing and positioning of stock. Amazon has a ready audience for its software with a phalanx of small- and medium-size businesses in its third-party marketplace. The software identifies risks and provides recommendations to guard against shortages and delays so that companies can “quickly see and respond to potential supply-chain disruptions,” said Diego Pantoja-Navajas, vice president of AWS Supply Chain at Amazon Web Services.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried's Alameda Research owes more than $50,000 to a Bahamas resort inspired by Jimmy Buffett's 'Margaritaville'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( April Joyner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A filing on Monday shows that Alameda Research owes $55,319 to Margaritaville's Bahamas resort. Alameda Research, Sam Bankman-Fried's trading firm, filed for bankruptcy in November alongside FTX. That's not great news for the Margaritaville Beach Resort in Nassau, Bahamas, to which Bankman-Fried's bankrupt trading firm, Alameda Research, owes more than $50,000. Unlike secured creditors, unsecured creditors do not have access to collateral that they can seize when the money they are owed goes unpaid. Alameda Research and Margaritaville have not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.

☆ Amazon used AWS on a satellite in orbit to speed up data analysis in 'first-of-its kind' experiment
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Michael Sheetz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Amazon's cloud computing division successfully ran a software suite on a satellite in orbit, in a "first-of-its-kind" experiment, the company announced Tuesday. AWS, or Amazon Web Services, conducted the prototype satellite software demonstration through partnerships with Italian company D-Orbit and Swedish venture Unibap. The experiment was conducted over the past 10 months in low Earth orbit, using a D-Orbit satellite as the test platform. AWS' software automatically reviewed images to decide which were the most useful to send to the ground. Peterson added that the experiment also showed that AWS can help companies perform "insight operations on the satellite, instead of having to wait until you can downlink back to Earth."

☆ FTX owes more than $55,000 to Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville beach resort in the Bahamas, bankruptcy filings show
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The Margaritaville beach resort in The Bahamas is seeking $55,319 from Alameda Research. The hotel chain was founded by singer Jimmy Buffett after the success of his song of the same name. Buffett's hotel and restaurant chain is named after his 1977 hit song of the same name, which celebrated the tropical lifestyle. Eight years after its release, he founded a restaurant chain which later expanded to include hotels, and even a $1 billion retirement community in Florida. The resort also provides a service for large meetings and corporate events, and a docking service for yachts.

☆ Public-cloud providers are reimagining themselves as consultants. Here's how AWS, Azure and Google Cloud are helping finance firms use the tech to rethink their business.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Bianca Chan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

In turn, public-cloud providers are reimagining themselves as business consultants. Wall Street firms are embracing the cloud for everything from research to risk and marketing. Cloud providers are building teams to interface with execsFinancial firms making the jump to the cloud are thinking beyond their IT divisions. Some of the largest Wall Street shops are taking the opportunity to rethink how they run their businesses entirely. Wall Street uses cloud to hit the reset buttonSelipsky's comments ring true on Wall Street, where cloud projects can have firm-wide ripple effects.

☆ Amazon’s AWS Aims to Reduce Water Use at Its Data Centers
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Dieter Holger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

Amazon.com Inc.’s cloud-computing arm plans to reduce the water consumption of its global data centers as companies face mounting water scarcity around the world. Data centers consume high amounts of water and energy to cool computers with a mix of water, ventilation and electric-powered air-cooled chillers. AWS is focusing on stressed regions, such as California and India, to conserve water through updated cooling systems and water recycling, Mr. Hewes said. AWS recently began reusing 96% of the cooling water from its Oregon data centers for farming, added on-site water treatment systems for reusing water for cooling and now uses recycled wastewater at 20 data centers around the world. An expansion of larger data centers, known as hyperscale data centers, is also putting pressure on water usage, Bluefield Research Chief Executive Reese Tisdale said.

☆ Duke Energy Enters Into Amazon Cloud Deal
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

Duke Energy Corp. said it has signed a three-year deal with Amazon. com Inc.’s cloud-computing unit as the electric power and natural gas holding company aims to advance its power grid improvements and clean energy goals. Charlotte, N.C.-based Duke will use Amazon Web Services to run applications that predict electricity needs on its power grid, and where and how the grid should be updated to meet those needs. Ms. Titone oversees an information-technology department of more than 2,000 people, with about 400 focused on accelerating Duke’s cloud transition. There are certainly things that we need to house and maintain in our own data center,” Ms. Titone said.

☆ How AMD became a chip giant and leapfrogged Intel after years of playing catch-up
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Katie Tarasov | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

After AMD and Intel parted ways, AMD reverse engineered Intel’s chips to make its own products that were compatible with Intel’s groundbreaking x86 software. Intel sued AMD, but a settlement in 1995 gave AMD the right to continue designing x86 chips, making personal computer pricing more competitive for end consumers. For those, AMD turned to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which now makes all of AMD’s most advanced chips. AMD’s data center customers include Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Oracle, IBM and Microsoft Azure. And so now it suddenly makes sense to do more customized solutions.”Former Xilinx CEO Victor Peng and AMD CEO Lisa Su on stage in Munich, Germany, at the AMD

Wall Street analysts put four Club holdings — Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Procter & Gamble (PG) and Honeywell (HON) — under the microscope Tuesday. Club take: We continue to see Amazon's cloud business as the industry leader that repeatedly outperforms peers. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . Analysts have been debating the demand for Apple's iPhone 14 models amid a backdrop of rampant inflation, rising interest rates and fears of a global recession.

☆ Amazon recently instructed managers to identify low performers to push out: 'Stack rank your team members asap.'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Katherine Long | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The messages were between managers from numerous divisions, including Amazon Web Services, Pricing, and Compliance. "Unregretted attrition" includes employees Amazon considers low-performing who are pressured out via notorious performance-management programs. Amazon employees have long railed against the company's performance-management process. Amazon sets a 6% target for unregretted attrition, Insider has previously reported. Amazon instructs managers not to tell their employees if they are on Focus, generating complaints that the process is opaque.

☆ Amazon remains a show-me stock but we're encouraged by some positive Wall Street commentary
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Zev Fima | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Amazon (AMZN) received several mentions Tuesday from Wall Street analysts covering a range of topics. While including commentary on Alphabet and Meta from the note as a point of reference, we're mostly focusing on Amazon. From a top-down view, Morgan Stanley maintained that Amazon remains "strategically positioned" to take market share in e-commerce and enterprise spend "through/post downturn." From a bottom-up view, the analysts acknowledged that Amazon, along with other large-cap tech names, is finally taking its medicine. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio.

☆ Amazon's job cut plans show that tech isn't out of the woods just yet
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Matt Weinberger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Indeed, as Insider reported last week, Mark Zuckerberg isn't ruling out the possibility of more layoffs at Meta. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy Dan DeLong/GeekWire1. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg Photo by Liu Jie/Xinhua via Getty2. The tech titans are known for paying the big bucks, but that's not the only way to make it in tech. Tech leaders like Ancestry CEO Deb Liu and Scale AI CEO Lucy Guo will appear on stage.

☆ The method to Elon Musk's Twitter madness reveals itself
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Matt Weinberger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The theme of last week was chaos and hubris, amid a massive wave of tech layoffs and the turmoil at Twitter under new owner Elon Musk. The method to the Twitter madness emerges. Salesforce insiders say they were set up to fail. Last week, Salesforce laid off workers who it said were underperforming. The jokester behind the popular Jesus Christ account on Twitter tells Insider how Elon Musk's new Twitter Blue got him verified after 14 years on the platform.

☆ If you want to land a job or get a raise in the tech industry, you have to past a test — and pretty much everyone is cheating on the exams
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Rob Price | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +18 min

It was one in a long line of tech certifications that Bill freely acknowledges he earned, at least in part, by cheating. And he's far from alone: In the tech industry, it's an open secret that there are thousands, if not millions, of cheaters just like Bill. The rise of exam dumps for tech certifications could have devastating consequences. But the cheating is clearly having a corrosive effect on the tech industry, particularly the hiring process. But the perception that workers from poorer countries are more likely to be cheaters can also fuel racism against foreign-born tech workers.

☆ A surplus of fintechs focused on wealth management has financial advisors scrambling to stitch them together
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Asia Martin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

RIAs are solving the problem of limited tech integration by creating their own overlay tools. An abundance of wealth management-focused fintechs to choose from combined with a lack of integration between systems has led some advisory firms scrambling to piece them all together. In turn, the company decided to make that a value proposition by taking customers' data and entering it into a database for them. Once those customers created a Redshift data warehouse, they then could connect with Orion's warehouse and pull their data from there. Orion met with AWS' strategic-partnerships team and walked them through their use cases of applying Redshift technology.

☆ Investors have been fleeing Big Tech for 'old economy' stocks. Here’s what it means for our holdings
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

The largely abysmal results for the last quarter led Jim Cramer to urge investors to limit their exposure to tech and semiconductor stocks . The market cap of the Club's five Big Tech stocks are collectively down 42% over the last 12 months, as of Thursday's close, according to FactSet. Here's a closer look at each of our tech stock's valuation changes, along with our analysis, too. Being close to its 5-year average valuation doesn't make it the most enticing P/E compared to other tech stocks whose valuations have dropped more than their historical averages. Meta Platforms (META) Meta currently trades at 13.6 times forward earnings estimates, compared with the 5-year average of 21.8 times.

☆ Jim Cramer says these 10 ‘old guard’ stocks are making a comeback
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Krystal Hur | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

CNBC's Jim Cramer on Tuesday offered investors a list of 10 companies that he believes are rising to the top as tech stocks collapse. "It's the revenge of the old guard right now, right here. Here is his list:Cramer also warned that many investors refuse to embrace the "new reality" of the market's distaste for tech stocks. He attributed the collapse of tech stocks largely to the plethora of competition in the industry. Disclaimer: Cramer's Charitable Trust owns shares of Amazon, Alphabet, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, Honeywell, Microsoft and Starbucks.

☆ Airbnb Details Road Map to Lower Cloud Costs
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

PREVIEWMany companies that have shifted their enterprise-technology tools to the cloud in recent years are similarly seeking to reduce their cloud costs, especially in the market downturn. Corporate cloud spending will moderate from recent highs, analysts say, as companies seek more discipline in that spending. “That reduced a significant amount of our storage costs right off the bat,” Mr. Nagle said. Airbnb, one of Amazon’s largest cloud customers according to Amazon, also worked with the cloud provider to figure out what it was overpaying for. By putting its spending toward lower-cost cloud services it uses more often, Airbnb is allocating its cloud budget “in a smarter way,” Mr. Bala said.

☆ Arctic Wolf: 2022 Top Startups for the Enterprise
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Cnbc.Com Staff | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Rather than a single cybersecurity tool, its managed security approach builds a centralized operations platform internally for an organization's overall monitoring of threats. It has gained thousands of clients including banks, hospitals and municipal governments seeking to limit cyber risks. Partnering with U.S. tech titans has also contributed to its expansion, as its platform integrates with several third-party security tools. Last year, Arctic Wolf named Amazon Web Services as its primary cloud provider to power its security operations platform. The company also joined the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association, a coalition of partners with a shared mission to provide better security.

☆ Lacework: 2022 Top Startups for the Enterprise
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Cnbc.Com Staff | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Lacework is a cybersecurity company that relies on a patented form of machine learning built specifically within the cloud to protect an organization from the inside out. This approach provides insights internally to automatically learn patterns, flag deviations and provide alerts at the right time, without wasted time investigating false positives. Lacework prides itself on a comprehensive cybersecurity service that can be accessed from a single platform across Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and other cloud platforms, and it has a recent integration with Snowflake. Its investors include Altimeter Capital, Tiger Global Management, Morgan Stanley's Counterpoint Global, Franklin Templeton, General Catalyst and Snowflake's venture arm. The 2022 Top Startups for the Enterprise list is powered and inspired by the members of CNBC's Technology Executive Council (TEC).

☆ Databricks: 2022 Top Startups for the Enterprise
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Cnbc.Com Staff | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Companies across the economy are storing massive amounts of data and across more categories. Databricks removes the hassle of configuring and updating third-party software to perform data analytics, and doesn't require clients to copy data into its software in order to work with it. Instead, data can stay where it already is, such as in Amazon Web Services' widely used S3 object-storage system, and Databricks can still crunch the numbers. The 2022 Top Startups for the Enterprise list is powered and inspired by the members of CNBC's Technology Executive Council (TEC). Learn more about CNBC Councils.

☆ Vanguard's head of tech details the asset manager's move to the public cloud that's already helped it cut costs by 30%
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Bianca Chan | Carter Johnson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Vanguard's tech chief is ready to play the field when it comes to the public cloud. Since Vanguard's first big push into public cloud in 2019, the firm has primarily relied on Amazon Web Services for much of its cloud tools. Similarly, he referenced the potential of Google Cloud Platform's "analytics capabilities" as another potential selling point. The public cloud is one of five main pillars of Vanguard's broader modernization of its application portfolio that began around 2019. In 2021, AWS detailed how the tech giant meets with Vanguard's Cloud Business Office monthly to review costs, and in one instance reduced its serverless compute expenses by 50%.

☆ After months of a slumping economy, layoffs are finally starting to hit finance firms
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The economy has been trending downward for months, but it seems the shoe we've all been waiting to drop — layoffs — is starting to come down. Over on the tech side, Insider is covering the mass layoffs at Twitter, which started last night. Bloomberg reports that Twitter has been hit with a class action lawsuit, alleging staffers were not given enough notice before the cuts. Click here to see all the companies across industries that have already conducted layoffs. Keep updated with the latest business news throughout your day by checking out The Refresh from Insider, a dynamic audio news brief.

☆ Layoffs have already started at Elon Musk's Twitter. Here's what we know so far.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Jordan Parker Erb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Elon Musk began to terminate Twitter staffers last night, insiders told us. Last night Elon Musk's Twitter broke its silence with employees and sent a memo to staffers confirming that much-anticipated layoffs were happening the following day (so, today). But staffers told us the terminations started shortly after that email went out. Workers suddenly started to get locked out of services like Slack and email around 8 p.m. PT on Thursday night, multiple employees told Insider. Citing an "unusual macro-economic environment," Amazon told staff it'd put a pause on new corporate hires.

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