2024 milestones: March

Tech highlights for March 2024 include:

- Bitcoin, which hit an all-time record high of US$73,750.

- Bytedance, TikTok's owner, had hundreds of generative AI-related job openings online.

- Databricks introduced DBRX, a general-purpose large language model (LLM) that it said outperforms all established open-source models on standard benchmarks.

- FS-ISAC reported that a 15% year-on-year increase in cyberattacks across the Asia Pacific region, with ransomware leading the charge. 

- Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has expanded its AIOps network management capabilities by integrating multiple generative AI (gen AI) LLMs within HPE Aruba Networking Central, HPE’s cloud-native network management solution, hosted on the HPE GreenLake Cloud Platform.

- A global outage occurred for Meta's Facebook and Instagram. Elon Musk tweeted on competitor X that they were still up: "If you’re reading this post, it’s because our servers are working".

Source: NVIDIA. The NVIDIA GB200
NVL72. The Blackwell platform is
NVIDIA's most advanced yet.

- NVIDIA launched the most powerful chip to date as part of its new Blackwell platform.

- Lendlease and Princeton Digital Group completed phase 1 construction for TY1, a 96 MW data centre campus, making it one of Japan's largest.

- Vipin Chandran is the new MD of SAP Malaysia.

- Siemens will deepen its collaboration with NVIDIA to help build the industrial metaverse, bringing visualisation powered by new NVIDIA Omniverse Cloud APIs to the Siemens Xcelerator platform, driving increased use of AI-driven digital twin technology.

- Singapore announced that it is studying the introduction of a Digital Infrastructure Act (DIA) to enhance the resilience and security of key digital infrastructure and services.

Matthew Oostveen, VP & CTO, APJ, Pure Storage commented: "As it sets sights on becoming a global economic powerhouse, Singapore needs to approach resilience more holistically to prevent service disruptions that could impact the economy.

"Recent outages stemmed from misconfiguration issues within the facilities and utilities supporting critical infrastructure. Given the interconnected nature of IT supply chains, regulations today must encompass the entirety of the ecosystem, including aspects such as energy supply and cooling. 

"It is encouraging to hear that the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) is working on a new Digital Infrastructure Act to address risks arising from non-cyber incidents like misconfigurations and data centre outages. Beyond legislation, it is critical to provide industries with clearer guidance on best practices – particularly around rapid restoration and data location – to ensure business continuity in the face of disruptions.

"Spreading data across multiple domains and geographies acts as a robust insurance policy that can enhance organisations’ protection against unforeseen incidents. In addition to secondary facilities and failover functionalities, the ability to rapidly restore data at scale allows organisations to resume business operations immediately in the event of an outage."

- ServiceNow announced new generative AI capabilities in its Washington, D.C. platform release. The new features enhance the Now Assist GenAI experiences. Now Assist for IT Operations Management (ITOM) AIOps, Now Assist in Virtual Agent enhancements, and ServiceNow Impact AI Accelerators extend ServiceNow’s innovation in AI.

- Singtel outlined a new environmental sustainability strategy that are aligned with evolved environmental ambitions and a refreshed set of science-based targets initiative-validated (SBTi) targets and a net-zero target of 2045. 

- The US imposed sanctions on Chinese hackers, accusing them of being a front for Beijing's top spy agency to target critical American infrastructure. The move was supported by Australia.

Amit Yaran, Chairman and CEO, Tenable said: “Sanctions and government actions, while a positive step, should not create a false sense of cybersecurity, especially among those who operate critical infrastructure. We couldn’t be further away from a 'mission accomplishment', to insulate ourselves from Chinese influence and attacks. China is a well-funded and sophisticated cyber adversary that employs multiple vectors for attacks. They have a cyber army trained on Western powers and have shown creativity and a long-game mentality. To date, we have not taken this threat seriously enough nor galvanised the political will to take decisive action.

"The best way for countries like the US, UK and Australia to combat these attacks is to work these issues holistically, not just in the cyber domain, and to employ technical and non-technical means - offensively and defensively - to impart cost and deterrence to our adversaries.”

- Xiaomi launched the SU7 electric sedan and undercut Tesla pricing.

- Zoom announced Zoom Workplace, an AI-powered, open collaboration platform which will deliver new innovations to help businesses reimagine teamwork, improve productivity and optimise flexible work experiences.