January 2024 Tech Upload
| The NEW Digital Alliance would like to thank J.J. Keller & Associates and KI for their support as an Executive Level investor! |  |
 |
NEW Digital News
On December 6, we celebrated the mentors and mentees and their completion of our 2nd cohort of our Investor Mentorship Program. This 3 month investor only program connects high performers across organizations with a proven mentorship framework accelerating their careers and growing their network. We are always on the lookout for new mentors and will be creating our third cohort of mentees in 2024. Visit our website to learn more. Thank you to SECURA Insurance for hosting.
Involta Acquires Data Center and Land in Green Bay
Plans For a 20-MW Colocation Campus
Involta, an award-winning colocation, hybrid IT and managed services firm, today announced the acquisition of a 24.5-acre site housing an existing data center in the Green Bay region. Through this acquisition, Involta will implement a multi-phased approach to ultimately extend the current data center footprint to an expandable campus with up to 20 MW of capacity. The future campus is poised to meet rising enterprise colocation demands with the Involta SecurePower colocation model, which provides mission-critical data center space coupled with industry-leading power, security and connectivity services directly embedded into its facilities.
Located just 40 minutes from Green Bay, the campus project will support the fast-growing needs and performance requirements of critical high-tech industries with the colocation and services needed for enterprise workloads and AI applications. In addition, the location’s proximity is highly desirable for edge deployments, which Involta is considered a tier-two market pioneer. The area provides a low-risk zone with moderate temperatures to help regulate power demands, along with attractive tax incentives and the recent designation by the Biden administration confirming the state as an official U.S. Regional Tech Hub (RTH).
“The Green Bay market is a sought-after region across our portfolio of enterprise clients spanning healthcare organizations, manufacturers and financial institutions,” said Bruce Lehrman, Founder and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors for Involta. “As this market continues to grow, our evolving footprint in this vibrant region will deliver the capacity, fiber infrastructure and hybrid IT services required to support high-performance compute for the most demanding and complex regulated industries.”
At the epicenter of Involta’s expansive data center network, the 20-MW campus will bolster the company’s future development of energy-efficient data centers and bring robust, redundant fiber infrastructure to the Wisconsin market, driving more connectivity both locally and nationally while delivering unmatched access to its Midwest data centers from Iowa to Minnesota to Ohio.
This acquisition marks Involta’s 13th data center location. Involta’s data center facilities are located across multiple edge markets, setting the standard for industry-leading security, redundant power and climate control nationwide. Involta’s superior data center services are underscored by the company’s deep commitment to community engagement through Involta Cares, making a meaningful impact within every market it serves. Sustainability is at the heart of the company’s growth trajectory, reflected in six recent ENERGY STAR® certifications and the coveted Idaho Awards for Leadership in Energy Efficiency.
To learn more about the Involta SecurePower colocation suite, visit involta.com/data-centers/data-center-services/colocation.
Generative AI: Increasing Business Growth with the Next Frontier of Innovation
As a business owner, you constantly seek ways to optimize operations, improve customer engagement, and drive growth. Generative AI, a cutting-edge technology capable of creating new content and automating tasks, is emerging as a game-changer for businesses across industries.
What is Generative AI and How Can It Benefit Your Business?
Generative AI represents a significant leap forward in the field of artificial intelligence. This technology goes beyond simply analyzing data, but instead possesses the remarkable ability to create entirely new and original content. Think of it as a powerful tool that unleashes creativity and innovation, pushing the boundaries of what was previously thought possible.
Imagine having a virtual assistant capable of crafting compelling narratives, composing engaging social media content, and even generating breathtaking artwork. This is the reality of generative AI, embodied by platforms like ChatGPT, Bard, and DALL-E. These tools empower individuals and businesses to explore uncharted territories of creativity, transforming ideas into tangible and impactful outputs. This translates into several tangible benefits for your business:
Enhanced Efficiency and Productivity using AI:
- Automate repetitive tasks: Free up valuable time and resources for strategic initiatives. A McKinsey & Company report estimates the global economic potential of generative AI to reach $10 trillion by 2030, highlighting the significant opportunities for businesses to unlock value through utilization of these technologies.
- Generate high-quality marketing content on demand: Eliminate the need for outsourced content creation. The same McKinsey report suggests AI will create more jobs than it destroys while requiring significant reskilling and upskilling efforts.
- Design engaging presentations and visuals with AI-powered tools: Save time and resources compared to traditional graphic design solutions.
AI Creates Personalized Customer Experiences:
- Analyze customer data to create personalized marketing campaigns and communications: Achieve higher engagement and conversion rates.
- Develop targeted product recommendations and offers: Boost customer satisfaction and loyalty.
- Design user-friendly websites and apps: Improve user experience and drive conversions.
Increased Innovation and Creativity with AI:
- Utilize AI to generate new ideas and concepts: Stimulate brainstorming sessions and foster a culture of innovation within your team.
- Develop and test new products and marketing campaigns quickly and efficiently: Leverage AI-powered simulations and prototypes.
- Explore new markets and identify potential growth opportunities: Utilize AI-driven market research and analysis.
Tanduo’s Tech Ignite: Fueling Passion for Computer Science
When Green Bay IT consultancy Tanduo Technical Partners, Inc. was founded, its core mission was to grow self-driven IT leaders who make a difference in their communities. That same mission also sparked Tanduo to form Tech Ignite, a free educational program for Wisconsin high school students. Tech Ignite aspires to instill students with passion for computer science, introduce students to critical skills and technical concepts relevant to the industry, and empower students with the confidence to pursue a career in tech themselves.
The program is fully remote, with five one-hour sessions occurring on a biweekly basis. Sessions cover a variety of computer science topics and incorporate hands-on live programming exercises. Examples of previous topics covered by Tech Ignite include:
- Introduction to the computer science and IT fields.
- Code-along projects covering topics like HTML, CSS, Python, C#, APIs etc.
- Careers and schooling options in the computer science and IT field.
- Coaching on responsibility and accountability to prepare for a professional career.
Tech Ignite is available to any motivated Wisconsin high school student! Please visit www.tanduo.io/tech-ignite for more information, or email the Tech Ignite coaches at techignite@tanduo.io for details on joining the next cohort.
Why Physical Drive Destruction is Often the Best Option
By Sadoff E-Recycling & Data Destruction
Trying to understand what you should do with your old hard drives to ensure the proper destruction of data. There are a few data destruction methods that are used by professional services, and ultimately, the best method to use may depend on your situation, but find out why physical drive destruction is often the best option.
How Does Physical Destruction Work?
Do you want to know what physical destruction looks like for your hard drives? Imagine a wood chipper, but instead of wood, this wood chipper can tear right through metal, and it destroys the drive with some level of precision too ensuring that no piece large enough to have recoverable data on it will survive.
This machine is about the size of a compact car and it has a two small slots on the top for hard drives to fit into. One of the slots is for HDDs and one for SSDs ensuring that each goes through a shredding process that is optimized for them. This leaves no chance for error as the drives enter the shredding mechanism in the proper orientation every time. The machine is loud, but as it eats your drive, it spits out hunks of metal onto a little conveyor belt, and then it’s off to be recycled. You can see it in action with the video below.
What Happens to Material from Physically Destroyed Hard Drives?
A physically destroyed drive is reduced to just a few pieces of metal, electronic material, and plastic. After destruction, these materials are sorted and recycled appropriately just like any other electronic that would enter our facility.
Regional News
Celebration of STEM
The 71st Annual Celebration of STEM gathers local STEM advocates to inspire and celebrate local STEM heroes. Join STEM Forward and others passionate about STEM on Tuesday, February 13, 2024, at the Brookfield Conference Center. We will celebrate local STEM success by presenting The Spirit of STEM Award, presented annually to honor organizations that have significantly impacted STEM education in southeastern Wisconsin, the STEM Forward Engineer of the Year Award, and the Young Engineer of the Year Award, which have been presented annually since 1953 to outstanding contributors to the engineering profession from the greater Milwaukee area. This event includes dinner, a keynote speaker, and a celebration of the award winners. We are excited to announce our Celebration of STEM keynote speaker, Dale Kooyenga, President of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC). Be one of the first to hear Dale’s thoughts on growing capital investment, jobs, and improving the quality of life in greater Milwaukee as he assumes the Presidency of MMAC in January 2024.
Empower Your Community: Project Management Certification Program - Enroll Now!
Generative AI and the Future of HR
| Podcast
By Bryan Hancock, Bill Schaninger, and Lareina Yee
A chatbot may not take your job—but it will almost certainly change it. Here’s how to start thinking about putting gen AI to work for you.
Generative AI: It’s powerful. It’s accessible. And it’s poised to change the way we work. On this episode of the McKinsey Talks Talent podcast, talent leaders Bryan Hancock and Bill Schaninger talk with McKinsey Technology Council chair Lareina Yee and global editorial director Lucia Rahilly about the promise and pitfalls of using gen AI in HR—from recruiting to performance management to chatbot-enabled professional growth. An edited version of their discussion follows.
Top 7 Trends Shaping SaaS Security in 2024
Over the past few years, SaaS has developed into the backbone of corporate IT. Service businesses, such as medical practices, law firms, and financial services firms, are almost entirely SaaS based. Non-service businesses, including manufacturers and retailers, have about 70% of their software in the cloud.
These applications contain a wealth of data, from minimally sensitive general corporate information to highly sensitive intellectual property, customer records, and employee data. Threat actors have noted this shift, and are actively working to breach apps to access the data.
Here are the top trends influencing the state of SaaS Security for 2024 — and what you can do about it.