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In the ever-evolving landscape of technology, few names have carried as much historical weight as International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM). However, behind its legacy and stature hides a company that has recently grappled with leveraging potential from seismic shifts in the tech industry, including cloud computing and AI, struggling to keep pace with more agile, innovative counterparts like Google (GOOG) and Microsoft (MSFT).

Trading at an implied 2024 EV/EBIT of around 18x, paired with negative fundamental and competitive momentum, I view IBM as overvalued and not suited for growth investment. According to my EPS projections for the company through 2025, in combination with a 9% cost of equity and a 3% terminal growth rate, IBM shares should be fairly valued at around $134. With neither IBM's momentum in business fundamentals nor valuation being supportive for an investment, I view the company as a "Sell".

For context, IBM stock has underperformed the broad equities market YTD, especially when compared to the "Tech" benchmark. Since the start of the year, IBM shares are up less than 15%, compared to a gain of approximately 23% for the S&P 500 (SP500) and a gain of close to 53% for the Nasdaq tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (QQQ).

Steady Revenue Loss And Earnings Contraction

Reflecting on IBM's historical performance, I cannot help thinking about the famous Warren Buffett quote: "Time is the friend of the wonderful company, the enemy of the mediocre." During the past decade, IBM has lost about one-third of its top line, with revenues falling from $96 billion in FY 2013 to $60.4 billion for the trailing twelve months, a negative CAGR of about 4.5%.

The loss of top line is especially negative in the context of the company's active M&A activity during the discussed period:

• In 2013, SoftLayer Technologies: Acquired for approximately $2 billion, SoftLayer formed the backbone of IBM's cloud infrastructure services, strengthening its cloud computing offerings.

• Also in 2013, Trusteer: Acquired for an estimated $1 billion, Trusteer's cybersecurity technology was integrated into IBM's security solutions to bolster protection against fraud and cyber threats for financial institutions.

• In 2015, Cleversafe: IBM acquired Cleversafe to enhance its cloud storage solutions. The acquisition price was approximately $1.3 billion.

• In 2016, Truven Health Analytics: IBM acquired Truven Health Analytics for around $2.6 billion, focusing on healthcare data analytics to bolster insights for healthcare organizations.

• In 2019, Red Hat: Acquired for approximately $34 billion, this marked IBM's significant move into the hybrid cloud market, leveraging Red Hat's expertise in open-source software and cloud technologies.

The loss of top line is also reflected in earnings. Over the past decade, IBM's operating profit contracted to $9.2 billion for the trailing twelve months, compared to $21 billion achieved in FY 2013 (-8% CAGR).

Meanwhile, IBM's net debt increased from $28.7 billion in 2013 to $47.5 billion as of Q3 2023. The total balance sheet grew from $126.2 billion to $129.3 billion, with outsized growth attributed to Goodwill and Other Intangibles.

In other words, IBM is consuming more capital without increasing earrings - almost the picture-book definition of a bad business, in my opinion.

Low Competitiveness Suggests Continued Underperformance

IBM's fundamental performance has been catalysed by several challenges that unfortunately do not appear to be fading away anytime soon. Firstly, I point out that IBM has historically been relatively slow in adapting to market trends. And this is not just a question of ambition or management. In fact, while the company has made efforts to pivot toward growth areas like cloud computing and AI, the company has faced challenges in attracting equally-competitive human capital and partnership opportunities as Microsoft or Google. Moreover, investors should consider that IBM's legacy business is anchored on hardware and on-premise enterprise software, a backdrop that is less nimble and agile to adapt to the changing, cloud-based software landscape. This challenge is compounded by intense competition from super-successful tech players. Lastly, some market participants have frequently criticized IBM for execution issues in implementing its strategic initiatives such as delays or inefficiencies in integrating acquisitions, transforming business models, or delivering on growth promises that have affected investor confidence.

Admittedly, IBM has undergone quite a significant business shift recently, especially after the Kyndryl spin-off, directing its attention toward two primary growth drivers: Hybrid Cloud and AI. This strategic transformation positions IBM to achieve its long-term financial goals, with a substantial 75% of its revenue now stemming from Software and Consulting. That said, however, IBM still remains a structural loser vs Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and other tech giants. According to Morgan Stanley's 3Q23 CIO Survey (dated October 9th), the U.S. most important technology-related decision makers expect that their spending on IBM's Red Hat (cloud) will decrease about 9% over the next 3 years.

All that said, IBM is seeing negative momentum on consensus EPS expectations, with earnings estimates trending downward for over 3 years now.

Valuation: Set TP At $134/Share

In my opinion, companies with steady and relatively predictable business fundamentals like IBM are quite easily and precisely valued with a residual earnings model, which anchors on the idea that a valuation should equal a business' discounted future earnings after capital charge. As per the CFA Institute:

Conceptually, residual income is net income less a charge (deduction) for common shareholders' opportunity cost in generating net income. It is the residual or remaining income after considering the costs of all of a company's capital.

With regard to my IBM stock valuation model, I make the following assumptions:

• To forecast EPS, I anchor on the consensus analyst forecast as available on the Bloomberg Terminal till 2026. In my opinion, any estimate beyond 2025 is too speculative to include in a valuation framework. But for 2-3 years, analyst consensus is usually quite precise.
• To estimate the capital charge, I anchor on IBM's cost of equity at 9%, which is approximately in line with the CAPM framework.
• For the terminal growth rate after 2025, I apply 3%, which is about 25-50 basis points above the estimated nominal global GDP growth. The growth premium should reflect the elevated potential for technology businesses in general. At the same time, knowing that IBM has a history to underperform the tech industry, I don't want to be too optimistic in my post-2026 outlook.

Given these assumptions, I calculate a base-case target price for IBM stock of about $134/share.

As I argued that my estimates for growth and equity charges may be conservative, I acknowledge that investors may hold varying assumptions regarding these rates. Therefore, I've included a sensitivity table to test different scenarios and assumptions. See below.

Upside Risks

I am bearish on IBM stock. However, there may be a few "upside risks" that may render IBM's negative momentum and valuation less notable. Specifically, I highlight that a strengthening global GDP outlook could stimulate increased IT spending, especially in segments like Consulting and Software, exerting upward pressure on consensus EPS estimations and bolstering IBM's financial outlook. Moreover, while I do not think IBM has significant potential for industry-leading innovation and software commercialization, IBM's ongoing product transition toward cloud and AI may nevertheless present an opportunity for R&D upside and renewed customer interest.

Investor Takeaway

IBM has struggled to leverage potential from shifts in the tech industry, falling behind and losing share vs. more agile competitors like Google and Microsoft. As a consequence, the company has experienced steady revenue loss and earnings contraction over the past decade, despite active M&A activity.

With challenged fundamentals, trading at an implied 2024 EV/EBIT of around 18x, I view IBM as overvalued. According to my EPS projections for the company through the next 3 years, paired with a 9% cost of equity and a 3% terminal growth rate, IBM shares should be fairly valued at around $134. "Sell".

Some of the most visible vendors in the channel brought significant announcements to the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference in Atlanta this week. Here's a look at major vendor newsmakers from the show.

Cisco Launches HealthPresence

Cisco earlier this weekend launched HealthPresence, a telemedicine platform that brings Cisco's Telepresence immersive video and collaboration technology into health care settings. In essence, HealthPresence is a combination of TelePresence and Cisco's unified communications portfolio, and includes vertical-specific tools like Cisco Vitals Software, a feature for physiological data capture and high-definition video streaming, and specialized medical equipment like an ear-nose-throat camera, a digital stethoscope and vital signs testers.

According to Cisco, HealthPresence is available immediately, was piloted by Cisco's Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG), and is designed for both permanent facilities and mobile units.

Dr. Kaveh Safavi, vice president and global lead for the health-care practice at IBSG, said in an interview that HealthPresence isn't so much intended to be a catch all device as drive the collaboration agenda in the vertical.

"We're creating an alternative to an onsite clinic," he said. "You have doctors' offices in different locations, and this is as good as being there."

IBM Closes Acquisition of Initiate Systems

IBM earlier this week completed its acquisition of Initiate Systems, which develops data integrity software for health care organizations, insurance providers and the government. IBM's Dan Pelino, general manager of Big Blue's Healthcare and Life Sciences group, said the move would help expand IBM's health care expertise -- including what it can offer its healthcare channel -- and speaks to the ongoing consolidation of healthcare software companies.

"You're going to see a consolidation of EMR companies and a greater level of applications," Pelino said. "They're [Initiate] best in show according to Gartner -- the gold standard."

Pelino and Sean Cassidy, vice president of product management at Initiate, said there are no plans to disrupt any of Initiate's existing partnerships, which include agreements with IBM rivals like Oracle.

"It can be co-opetition," Pelino said.

"Almost to a partner, we've seen no negative reaction," Cassidy insisted. "We can collaborate, and it can be mutually beneficial for everyone."

Avaya Intros New UC Tools

Avaya debuted four new unified communications products at HIMSS: an updated version of its Mobile Device Checkout system for tracking mobile devices; a Nurse Call Response system that allows patients to reach nurses directly; Patient Admit Coordinator, a system that uses various messaging tools like e-mail and IM to notify individual departments about patients from an emergency room; and Patient Appointment Reminder, a patient notification system that sends automated messages to patients to remind them about appointments.

Sanjeev Gupta, general manager of Avaya's Healthcare Solutions group, told Channelweb.com that the new products are designed to advance mobility in the health care space and help organizations grapple with ongoing problems such as staff shortages.

"Most healthcare CMIOs spend a lot of time on process improvement, and many nurses spend a lot more time on care coordination than patient care," he said. "These are designed to relieve bottlenecks."

The new products will role out to the channel over the coming months, according to Avaya, with Mobile Device Checkout available now, Nurse Call Response and Patient Appointment Reminder arriving in June, and Patient Admit Coordinator ready by July.

Avaya's accurate acquisition of Nortel's enterprise unit significantly ups the company's stake in health care. Gupta was formerly Nortel's general manager for healthcare solutions and was among executives who transitioned to Avaya following the acquisition.

Next: Health Care Releases From Symantec, Verizon, Microsoft And Oracle Microsoft Expands HealthVault

Microsoft at HIMSS launched HealthVault Community Connect, an extension of its HealthVault patient health record platform that's designed to unify disparate health IT systems and make patient data available for sharing between hospitals, patients and referring physicians. Patients can also view, store and share medical information on their own, and perform functions like pre-register for hospital visits.

"We're enabling the entire ecosystem to the continuum of care. Data that resides on disparate back-end systems is liberated, extracted out and then passed to the consumer," said Chris Sullivan, industry solutions director for Microsoft's U.S. Health and Life Sciences Group, in an interview. "We now have information that is flowing from the enterprise to the consumer in safe, private way."

Sullivan suggested the opportunities for Microsoft solution providers and app developers in health care would continue to grow as the push toward interoperable data systems creates need for rich applications.

Symantec Wants To Host

Symantec used HIMSS to unveil Symantec Health, a new service that enables healthcare providers to securely store, archive and share medical records. It's a hosted offering, consisting of Symantec Health Safe and Symantec Health Image Share.

The former component offers storage for medical images and also business analytics and business continuity features, and the latter enables healthcare facilities to share and download images between providers and hospital networks.

"Health IT executives continually cite the soaring costs associated with medical image storage as one of the biggest challenges they face," said Lori Wright, vice president and general manager of the Electronic Health Group at Symantec, in a statement. "Symantec's security and storage management expertise and its leading Software as a Service portfolio are key reasons why many healthcare industry leaders trust Symantec to deliver these new hosted offerings in a cost-effective and secure way."

Verizon Debuts New EHR Platform

Verizon on Wednesday introduced Verizon Medical Data Exchange, a platform the telecommunications giant says will accelerate adoption of electronic health records (EHR) by allowing healthcare organizations to share physician notes more easily. It uses a central directory to verify identities of both senders and recipients to make sure sensitive medical data reaches the right users, and transmits it over an encrypted platform.

"Pervasive sharing of patient information can save lives, but complex challenges have stood in the way of health IT solutions," said Peter Tippett, vice president, security solutions and enterprise innovation for Verizon Business, in a statement. "Digital record sharing among the entire health information ecosystem can help speed patient diagnoses while enabling health care organizations to operate more efficiently and cost-effectively."

Oracle Tees Up Analytics Tools

Oracle used HIMSS to debut a number of business analytics tools tailored to health care settings. Among them are Oracle Healthcare Data Warehouse Foundation, a database for healthcare analytics app developers, and Operating Room Analytics, a performance management application geared toward surgical services directors and nursing leaders to judge operating room efficiency. The goal with the applications and others like it is to spur app development in Oracle's health care partner ecosystem, the company explained.

"It is critical for healthcare providers to have key business information such as daily volumes, financial indicators, productivity variances, service line metrics, and revenue cycle performance at their fingertips," said Roy Mathews, CEO of Oracle partner Anthem Healthcare Intelligence, in a statement. "However, enterprise performance dashboards become meaningful only when founded on a credible, comprehensive data warehouse. Because it is designed specifically for healthcare providers, they see tremendous value in Oracle's new enterprise healthcare analytics and its ability to help providers vastly Boost their overall productivity and Boost quality of care."

Oracle further announced an update, version 6.1, of its Oracle Healthcare Transaction Base, a data repository for use with administrative, clinical and financial health-care data. The 6.1 release adds new Web services support, and according to Oracle, now supports more than 10 million patient records around the world.

Speeds and feeds in the storage market are so 2020. Now the conversation is all about data security and how storage can enable artificial intelligence to drive business results.

This was one of the key messages that emerged from two major events hosted by theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, and IBM Corp. in July and October. Executives from IBM, company partners and industry experts appeared on the programs to share their insights into how the world of storage has undergone its own transformation.

“Although storage has presented itself mainly as a background service, it’s becoming more and more forefront in the consideration for what an appropriate data strategy needs to look like,” said Scott Baker, chief marketing officer and vice president of IBM Infrastructure Portfolio product marketing at IBM. “The future of storage is expected to be characterized by the extensive use of AI to unlock data value and provide a solid foundation for businesses to anticipate and withstand market shifts.”

Baker spoke to theCUBE in July during the IBM Storage Summit, an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE that focused on new capabilities for data and AI. In October, theCUBE offered a second exclusive broadcast, “Beyond Firewalls: Resilience Strategies for All,” that featured interviews with IBM executives and partners to discuss how storage now plays an important role in strengthening cyber resilience against data attacks. (* Disclosure below.)

Shifting workloads for the right data, in the right place

The influence of AI in storage gained significant momentum in 2023 as organizations pursued uses for the technology in several operational areas. IBM noticed a shift in workloads among its customers that required a different approach to the challenge of scale and management of data flows through the information supply chain.

“We’ve started to see changes in workloads from media and entertainment, healthcare, life sciences [and] financial services sectors,” said Christopher Maestas, worldwide executive solutions architect at IBM, in an interview during the Storage Summit in July. “AI really has changed it, because it picked the middle of the road — not the itty-bitty files that you see or the large streaming data that you’ve been doing. We’re really seeing that data size change and, again, having to adapt to a different data size that we’ve not traditionally handled in the past.”

To accommodate shifting changes in data size driven by AI, IBM launched several new initiatives for its storage portfolio. These included introduction of the IBM Storage Scale 6000, scale-out storage for file and object that’s targeted at unstructured data and AI and machine learning workloads.

The enhancements to IBM’s Storage Scale platform highlighted the company’s focus on compression, an ability to shrink the size of stored data. Compression can maximize storage capacity, Boost the speed of file transfers and lower overall costs. Updates to Storage Scale System 6000 included inline hardware accelerated data compression using 38TB Flash Core Modular drives.

“Compression is a huge concept in storage, said Sarbjeet Johal, guest analyst, during a panel discussion on theCUBE’s broadcast in July. “How much you can compress and where they are storing it, that also matters. They still have a long way to go to bring intelligence into storage, because they are storing a lot more data.”

IBM also enhanced its Storage Fusion offering, a data services solution that integrates compute, storage and networking into a hyperconverged system. The objective was to eliminate frustration among data scientists who were bogged down by endless searches for the right information, according to Pete Brey, global product executive, IBM Storage Fusion.

“We have unique capabilities in terms of being able to catalog and label and tag the data so it’s quickly and easily found,” said Brey, during an interview on theCUBE. “The number one problem for the data scientists today is not how long my inferencing takes or not how long it takes to do model training; can I get to the right data quickly? Some of the estimates are like 80% to 90% of their time is spent just trying to find the right data, and that’s the problem that they solve.”

IBM’s work with Storage Fusion also offers insight into its integration with the cloud-native world and Red Hat Inc. A combination of Storage Fusion with Red Hat OpenShift has created a comprehensive platform that can support both Kubernetes applications and virtual machines.

“We work very closely with their friends at Red Hat … they have a technology called OpenShift Virtualization based on KubeVirt,” Brey noted. “Customers bringing these VMs over want to be able to co-host not just the containers, but also the VMs together and have a single substrate to support it all. That’s really what Fusion is all about.”

Rising data breach costs

IBM’s storage architecture has also been designed with cybersecurity in mind, an important element given the speed and preponderance of attacks plaguing businesses today. While IBM built elements into its FlashCore Modules that can detect threats, adoption of AI has complicated the picture for security operations teams.

“Just like they have access to AI to help with detection, the bad guys have access to the same AI to help cause attacks faster,” said Ram Parasuraman, executive director of IBM, during an interview with theCUBE in October. “It’s about how you use and harness the tools. There’s research from IBM that states what used to take attackers 60 days to cause these attacks today take less than four days.”

Part of IBM’s message is that cyber vulnerability comes at a cost. The company’s annual “Cost of a Data Breach” study pegged the average financial hit from a breach globally at approximately $4.5 million per incident. This is where AI could make a significant difference, according to Jeff Crume, distinguished engineer, cybersecurity architect and chief technology officer of IBM Security Americas, in his appearance on theCUBE in October.

“One thing that came from that report is that the most significant way to cut the cost of a data breach was organizations who had an extensive use of AI and automation,” Crume said. “They saved on average $1.76 million off that $4.5 million. That was the most significant way to cut the cost of that data breach.”

While IBM’s customers have invested in perimeter defenses, many of them have also turned to the company for guidance in data resilience, driven by the harsh reality that breaches have become inevitable. IBM’s executives noted throughout their discussions on theCUBE that the process for protection is a journey to be followed one step at a time.

“You can take baby steps — cybersecurity [and] data resilience is not about an on/off switch,” said Del Hoobler, principal storage software advanced technology specialist at IBM, during the broadcast event in October. “It’s a spectrum, from very weak to very strong. You never can be perfectly data resilient. The most important thing is to get started.”

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the IBM Storage Summit and the “Beyond Firewalls: Resilience Strategies for All” event. Neither IBM Corp., the sponsor of theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Image: Created with the assistance of DALL·E

From individuals using ChatGPT for fun or function to enterprises applying artificial intelligence (AI) to automate tasks, the use of AI tools has exploded over the last few years. AI tools are becoming commonplace in today’s business.

According to IBM, 43% of CEOs are using AI to inform strategic decisions, and 75% of CEOs believe having the most advanced generative AI is the key to success.

The possibilities offered by AI are staggering, with almost limitless global potential. But to achieve that promise, operators of critical enterprise and government infrastructure, like transit systems, hospitals, and financial institutions, need to start with the right technology foundation.

The limitless potential of AI

Commercialization of AI has made massive leaps forward in accurate years and 2024 stands to mark another year of advancement. At the same time, innovations in quantum computing and digital twins for industrial environments are closely coupled with applications of AI. Together, these technologies are poised to help industries achieve unprecedented levels of productivity. AI alone is expected to support the creation of 97 million jobs by 2025 and contribute upwards of $4.4 trillion to the world economy every year. Goldman Sachs estimates that AI could raise the global GDP by 7% over the next decade.

Many of these gains will come from increased efficiency through the mainstream application of predictive analytics and other operational optimizations. It is claimed that AI could augment or automate up to 70% of work tasks. That could boost overall productivity by up to 3.3% and supply workers time to focus on higher-value, more strategic growth tasks. But it’s not all about automation. AI can also support critical thinking and problem-solving, offering value to nearly every industry.

All of these capabilities help businesses do more with less, which is critical in the face of an aging workforce.

AI needs a strong technical foundation

As exciting as the potential of AI is, enterprises and governments need to consider what’s required to maximize the benefits, and start taking steps now to put those critical foundations in place.

Data is at the heart of AI. Processing massive lakes of relevant data requires significant compute resources. As the use of AI expands, so do the data lakes demanding more and more computing power across distributed (edge) and central locations, and relying on routing, transport, and data center infrastructures and architectures that can perform flawlessly and efficiently.

As my colleague Hardik Gohil explained in a accurate interview, this often involves multiple Data Processing Units (DPUs), Central Processing Units (CPUs), and Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) all working together to process data and transfer it across workflows and between sites. Transferring data alone accounts for 25% of processing time. That means “networks must be efficient, lossless and have higher capacity because any bottleneck in a sub-optimal network would lead to a substantial impact on job completion time.” The bottom line is... your AI objectives may not be met otherwise.

Key elements of AI infrastructure that need to be in place to support your business applications integrated with AI in the future include:

• Computational power and accelerators – Massive amounts of data gathered from your operations (IoT data, performance data, and more) coupled and interpreted to make intelligent AI decisions require massive computing power.
• Scalable data storage and management – Data systems and storage must be able to expand rapidly as data demands grow and as data is harvested for decision-making.
• Cloud computing platforms – These systems offer access to virtually limitless data resources for training AI models, analyzing huge data sets, and extracting actionable insights.
• Fast, reliable network infrastructure, especially for cloud services – Cloud services depend on the ability to move data quickly, securely, and reliably. Modernized routing and optical transport networks deliver the capacity and performance needed to support the AI era.
• Data security and integrity systems, including robust protocols and governance frameworks – With more data in use and transit, it’s more important than ever to keep it safe and look to quantum-safe security to help future-proof data integrity.
• APIs and integration with existing systems – Introducing AI doesn’t mean replacing every system and component, so interoperability and compatibility with existing systems is a must.
• Monitoring and automation tools for system maintenance – As system complexity grows, it’s vital to automate monitoring and issues handling to ensure everything is running at the right performance levels.
• Compliance – Companies must ensure they remain fully in compliance with laws and regulations governing IT systems, data handling, and more.
• Scalability – Systems must be flexible to accommodate continuously growing and shifting application, bandwidth and performance requirements.
• Expertise and training – Continually evolving technology requires ongoing upskilling and reskilling. Choosing trusted partners and experts who are knowledgeable on AI, your operations and their unique challenges, as well as the foundational technology elements can accelerate your AI journey.

What well-implemented AI could look like

Enterprises and governments will need to make necessary investments to build the right foundations. With those elements in place, AI can help make their businesses and communities more productive and efficient.

Power utilities can integrate AI into their operational systems that intelligently shift electricity resources to better meet demand and detect anomalies in the grid before they become outages. AI tools can help better predict potential service-effecting scenarios to proactively avoid or minimize service disruptions. AI-enabled systems also can optimize the grid for maximum efficiency and sustainability.

In the finance and banking sectors, AI-enabled operations can Boost transaction security, deliver advanced fraud protection, enhance analytics and forecasting, upgrade customer service, and boost regulatory compliance.

The healthcare industry is responsible for about 30% of the data generated worldwide, creating an opportunity to use AI to Boost patient care, advance medical research, and optimize operations for efficiency, all while preserving the security of patient data.

Transportation operations like railways, aviation and logistics companies can use AI to make more accurate weather predictions so they can plan accordingly, Boost capacity planning, and optimize routing to get people and goods to where they need to be faster and more efficiently.

Governments and first response teams can use AI paired with advanced sensing technologies to better predict and handle climate change impacts like forest fires, floods and other natural disasters. With training augmented by AI and industrial metaverse simulations, as well as enhanced situational awareness tools, agencies can respond more effectively and save more lives.

It’s time to build the foundations

The usefulness of AI depends on speed, capacity and intelligence to process mass amounts of data from various sources and meet substantial real-time data transfer requirements. It will take network infrastructure that’s resilient and robust and provides fast, low-latency connectivity, along with cloud systems that are automated, open and flexible. Indeed, each of these business-critical, mission-critical and society-critical outcomes are heavily network-dependent, and rely on a robust, performant and secure underlying network infrastructure that includes data centers as well as the routers and optical transmission equipment that seamlessly interconnects them.

With these foundations in place, AI can live up to its limitless potential, improving operations and productivity exponentially. It can enhance business operations, deliver the optimized augmented work environments they envision, and help us solve some of society’s most difficult challenges. The potential is clear, and now is the time to modernize the network infrastructure that will accelerate the future.