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Press Release: Amalgam Insights’ Tom Petrocelli: Service Mesh Market Continues to Grow

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

For more information:

​Steve Friedberg

​MMI Communications for Amalgam Insights

​484.550.2900

​steve@amalgaminsights.com

AMALGAM INSIGHTS: Service mesh market continues to grow, even as “the market is not as mature as the technology”

New research report finds while service mesh is “a required part of a system based on microservices,” platform battle causes “conflict and confusion”

BOSTON, May 15, 2019 — A new SmartListMarketGuide™ from industry analysts Amalgam Insights finds that the market for service mesh technologies and products is still evolving, saying service mesh increasingly represents a required part of a system based on microservices and is likely to be as standard as a web server in an Internet application.

Research Fellow Tom Petrocelli reports, “As is often the case with a developing market, there is an abundance of vendors, open source projects, and other resources available to system architects looking to implement a service mesh in a microservices architecture.” His new SmartList Market Guide complements Amalgam Insights’ “Service Mesh Primer,” which was issued last month.

Service mesh has become more important to companies seeking to modernize their IT infrastructure. Petrocelli notes that service mesh is highly scalable, resilient, and easier to update minimizing the amount of processing affected by a system failure and allowing for systems to scale up without losing resiliency. It also costs less to scale since microservices make better use of unused system capacity.

But the report cites an ongoing “unfortunate rivalry” between the Istio and Linkerd platforms. Companies like IBM, Red Hat, Google and Lyft are supporting Istio, with the Linux Foundation’s CNCF leading open source development efforts for Linkerd, which is championed by Buoyant and Envoy. Petrocelli says while neither side is currently winning the fight, Istio’s alignment with major organizations “is causing supporting vendors to pour resources into Istio/Envoy which practically ensures that Istio/Envoy will succeed. The concern that Amalgam Insights has with this arrangement is that the control plane (Istio) is not open governance. This calls into question its future independence.”

Petrocelli concludes that “the ongoing Istio versus Linkerd debate will act as a drag on the market. It introduces unnecessary conflict, confusion, and distraction. Not only is this unfortunate but unnecessary. There is plenty of headroom for many vendors and approaches.” Nevertheless, he says emerging innovations like a service mesh orchestrator “will be especially important for multi-cloud and hybrid environments that may be running service meshes with different technology.”

Companies prominently mentioned in the report include NGINX and Aspen Mesh, which are now part of Vamp, F5, Solo IO, Buoyant, A10, Red Hat, HashiCorp and IBM.

Petrocelli’s report is available for download at no charge for one week at www.amalgaminsights.com; after that, it will be available for individual license for $500 after that, with vendor licensing available.

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About Amalgam Insights

Amalgam Insights (www.amalgaminsights.com) is a community of visionaries focused on maximizing the business outcomes of technology. We focus on the trends, findings, and strategies that translate leading data, cognitive, and coding technologies into professional value.

Tactically, AI focuses on the following practices that augment and increase the value of technology: Technology Expense Management, IT Financial Management, FinOps, Enterprise Performance Management, DevOps, Blockchain, Open Source Development, Enterprise Training and Learning Development, and Data Science and Machine Learning.

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Webinar: Leveraging Psychology And Brain Science To Optimize Retention And Behavior Change

Recommended for: Chief Learning Officers, Chief Human Resource Officers, Chief People Officer, Chief Talent Officer, Learning & Development Directors and Managers, Corporate Trainers, Content and Learning Product Managers, Hiring Directors, Hiring Managers, Human Resource Directors, Human Resource Managers.

On Tuesday, February 5, 2019 2:00pm EST, join the most cited  and referenced learning scientist in corporate learning, Todd Maddox, Ph.D.  as he presents on the psychology of corporate training with Dr. B. Price Kerfoot, Co-Founder of Qstream. 

Together, they will show why corporate learning and development professionals need to learn how to leverage the brain science and technology that change behavior.

In this webcast, you will learn:

  • the psychology of continuous learning for hard and soft skills development
  • the proof behind best practices in microlearning
  • the impact of spaced learning on knowledge retention and behavior change
  • the application of microlearning in corporate enterprise.

And by attending this webcast, you will:

  • Be armed with evaluation criteria for identifying best-of-breed microlearning solutions.
  • Become expert in how to affect behavior change at scale in the corporate learning environment.
  • Provoke thinking that applies proven spaced education research your own workplace L&D programs.

To attend this webinar, sign up on the ATD website and learn more about how to influence behavior, knowledge retention, and skills development based on the science of the brain. And Amalgam Insights thanks QStream for underwriting this opportunity for W. Todd Maddox Ph.D. to share his 25+ years of brain science knowledge with the corporate learning community.

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Tom Petrocelli to Appear on DM Radio to Discuss Containers and Hybrid Cloud

On January 24, 2019 at 3 PM Eastern, Amalgam Insights’ DevOps and Open Source Research Fellow, Tom Petrocelli will be sharing his perspectives on the importance of containers in multi-cloud management on the DM Radio episode Contain Yourself? The Key to Hybrid Cloud

This episode will be hosted by Eric Kavanagh, CEO of The Bloor Group and Petrocelli will be accompanied by Samuel Holcman of the Pinnacle Business Group and Pakshi Rajan of Paxata.

Don’t miss this opportunity to get Tom Petrocelli’s guidance and wisdom on the current state of containers and cloud management!

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Amalgam Insights Issues Vendor SmartList™ of Software Solutions That Help Build Better Leadership Brains

BOSTON, September 11, 2018 — A new report from industry analyst firm Amalgam Insights cites nine leaders in software solutions designed to effectively train the hard skills, people skills, and situational awareness of leadership.

The Vendor SmartList™, authored by Amalgam Insights Research Fellow Todd Maddox, Ph.D., takes on added significance given the increasing number of news reports about inappropriate conduct by corporate leaders or the lack of trained behavioral skills among a company’s employees.
“Companies must continuously educate their workers, top to bottom, about the ‘what,’ ‘how,’ and ‘feel’ of effective leadership by leveraging brain science to ensure that their behavior doesn’t land them in trouble,” Maddox says. “The companies in our report have succeeded in mapping these systems to the leadership processes needed in today’s business environment.”

Maddox lists nine companies as leaders, with comments about each company’s strength:
• CrossKnowledge: “Path to Performance uses digital solutions that can combine with facilitator training and a dedicated dashboard to provide effective leadership training paths.”
• Development Dimensions International: “DDI uses a broad range of online and offline solutions, tools for practice and simulation, and ‘what if’ scenarios to train leadership skills that meet tomorrow’s business challenges.”
• Fuse Universal: “(Its) use of science and analytics help clients build content that reflects their company DNA, vision and brand.”
• Grovo: “Its use of microlearning content and training programs that power modern learning and improve business outcomes.”
• Learning Technologies Group: “Its broad portfolio of providers, combined with its emphasis on rich scenario-based training and the importance of business outcomes.”
• Rehearsal: “The use of video role-play training that helps leaders improve their people skills through practice, coaching and collaboration.”
• Skillsoft: “Its combination of content and delivery tools that effectively train hard skills, people skills and situational awareness in leadership.”
• TalentQuest: “The use of personality and behavioral science to empower leaders to better manage, coach and develop their people.”
• Valamis: “Its use of technology and data science to build a system for each client that delivers learning aligned with the client’s business goals.”

Maddox cautions, however, that companies deploying any of the systems listed above, or others, must be prepared to do so on an ongoing basis. “One-off training does not work,” he notes.

The report is available for download at https://amalgaminsights.com/product/vendor-smartlist-2018s-best-leadership-training.

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Amalgam Insights Releases List of 2018’s Best Enablement Solution Vendors for “Building Better Sales Brains”

Optimized sales training requires three critical aspects; combining effective sales enablement, people skills, and situational awareness

July 31, 2018 08:30 ET | Source: Amalgam Insights

BOSTON, July 31, 2018 — It turns out that the traits common to the best salespeople aren’t necessarily innate; research indicates they can be scientifically coached to be top producers. A new report, issued today from Amalgam Insights, evaluates the technology vendors who are leading the industry in optimizing this kind of training.

Todd Maddox, the most-cited researcher in corporate learning and Learning Science Research Fellow at Amalgam Insights, authored this report. This research uniquely identifies learning science approaches of optimizing sales training, which Maddox says requires a combination of effective sales enablement, people skills, and situational awareness.

The companies recognized in this research are (in alphabetical order): Allego, Brainshark, CrossKnowledge, Gameffective, Highspot, JOYai, Lessonly, Mindtickle, Qstream, myTrailhead, Seismic, and Showpad.

“Companies are continually looking for a competitive edge; leveraging technology to develop a top-tier sales force is a key area for improvement,” Maddox says. “If you want sales enablement and training tools that are highly effective, they must be grounded in learning science – the marriage of psychology and brain science. Many sales teams and sales-focused vendors have access to these tools. What is needed is an effective way to leverage these tools to maximum advantage,” he added.

Maddox’s report notes that successful companies work to map sales processes to three distinct learning systems in the brain:

  • The cognitive skills learning system is about knowing facts (the “what”) and is directly linked to sales enablement;
  • The behavioral skills learning system is about behavior (the “how”) and is directly linked to people skills training; and
  • The emotional learning system, which is about “reading” people and situations (the “feel”) and is directly linked to situational awareness.

“When these three traits are combined, salespeople become far more effective in understanding both the tangible and intangible needs of their customers and can craft and deliver solutions that continually produce solid results for their companies,” Maddox said.

Maddox’s report, “2018’s Best Sales Enablement Solutions for Building Better Sales Brains,” is available for Sales VPs, Directors, and Managers at www.amalgaminsights.com.

About Amalgam Insights:
Amalgam Insights (www.amalgaminsights.com) is a consulting and strategy firm focused on the transformative value of Technology Consumption Management. AI believes that all businesses must fundamentally reimagine their approach to data, design, cognitive augmentation, pricing, and technology usage to remain competitive. AI provides marketing and strategic support to enterprises, vendors, and institutional investors for conducting due diligence in Technology Consumption Management.

For more information:
Hyoun Park
Amalgam Insights
hyoun@amalgaminsights.com
415.754.9686

Steve Friedberg
MMI Communications
steve@mmicomm.com
484.550.2900

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Tom Petrocelli Advises: Adopt Chaos Engineering to Preserve System Resilience

Today in CMSWire, Amalgam Insights Research Fellow Tom Petrocelli advises the developer community to support chaos engineering on CMSWire.

As it becomes increasingly important for organizations reliable IT infrastructure, traditional resilience testing methods fall short in tech ecosystems where root-cause troubleshooting is increasingly difficult to manage, control, and fix. Rather than focusing purely on the lineage of tracing catastrophic issues, Petrocelli advises testing abrupt failures that mimic real-world issues.

To learn more about the approach of chaos engineering to managing scale-out, highly distributed, and varied infrastructure environments, read Tom’s full thoughts on CMSWire.

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Hyoun Park Interviewed on Onalytica

Today, Onalytica, a leader in influencer marketing, published an interview on Hyoun Park as a key influencer in the Business Intelligence and Analytics markets. In this interview, Hyoun provides guidance on:

  • How he became an expert in the Analytics and BI space based on over 20 years of experience
  • The 4 Key Tipping Points for BI that Hyoun is excited about
  • Hyoun’s favorite BI influencers, including Jen Underwood, Doug Henschen, John Myers, Claudia Imhoff, and Howard Dresner
  • And then the 4 trends that will drive the BI industry over the next 12 months.

To read the interview and see what inspires this influencer, read the interview on the Onalytica website.

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AMALGAM INSIGHTS MEDIA ALERT: Starbucks is closing its stores. Is It Enough?

Amalgam Insights Logo

For release 830am May 28, 2018

For more information:

Hyoun Park Steve Friedberg
Amalgam Insights MMI Communications
hyoun@amalgaminsights.com steve@amalgaminsights.com
415.754.9686 484.550.2900

AMALGAM INSIGHTS MEDIA ALERT:  Starbucks is closing its stores and doing awareness training for all of its employees this week.  Learning researcher asks, “Is it enough?”

WHAT:  Starbucks says it’s closing its 8,000 stores tomorrow, May 29, for what it calls “a conversation and learning session on race, bias and the building of a diverse welcoming company.”

Todd Maddox, Ph.D., an Amalgam Insights Learning Scientist/Research Fellow, applauds the company’s commitment to ongoing training, saying that approach may work, but warns that unless the training is continuous, Starbucks runs the risk of backsliding:

“My hope is that the company utilizes training content that focuses on true behavior change, as opposed to simply teaching people to identify inappropriate behavior. I also hope that Starbucks goes beyond training during the onboarding process, and incorporates it as a regular, ongoing part of employee training. The brain is hardwired to forget and requires refreshers to consolidate information in long-term memory.


“Just as sexual harassment prevention and many other people skills are about behavior, so is unconscious (racial) bias and all other aspects of appropriate interaction. People skills matter in all facets of society and corporate life. It is time to embrace the science of learning and work to address these shortcomings with effective training.”

 

WHO:  Todd Maddox, Ph.D. has more than 200 published articles, 10,000 citings, and $10 million in external research funding in his 25+ years researching the brain basis of behavior.  He’s been quoted in Forbes, CBS Radio, Training Journal, Chief Learning Officer, and other publications on topics such as the use of virtual reality in workplace sexual harassment avoidance training.

 

Todd’s available for comment on this or other topics; if you’d like to speak with him, please contact steve@amalgaminsights.com.

 

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Amalgam Insights Debuts Business Value Analysis Reports, Taking Into Account Collaborative, Executive and Financial Value Of Enterprise Software Deployments

Report moves beyond traditional money-only ROI, includes analysis of improved departmental collaboration, executive benefits, work-life balance

BOSTON, April 03, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Amalgam Insights (www.amalgaminsights.com), a consulting and strategy firm focused on Technology Consumption Management, today announced the launch of its Business Value Analysis (BVA) reports.  The reports, the company said, deliver far greater usefulness than traditional reports from other analyst firms because of their enhanced focus on more than merely a simple financial return on investment (ROI).

Amalgam Insights’ BVA reports are designed to not only communicate the primary value of software to a firm, but also how it can positively affect the lives of its users, managers, even C-level officers throughout an organization.  A typical Amalgam Insights BVA report analyzes multiple factors that can contribute to the success of enterprise-based software in addition to financial ROI, such as:

  • Improved productivity and collaboration with other departments;
  • Achieving executive benefits that the C-Suite identifies as key differentiators; and
  • Work-life balance that improves morale, accelerates business outcomes, and leads to employee promotions.

“Close management software is an emerging category and as such, prospects typically have not set aside budget to purchase it,” said Wynn White, chief marketing officer at FloQast, a California-based financial Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider. “Amalgam Insights’ BVA report has been key to helping us spotlight the cost of not taking action and the value lost due to inactivity—both monetarily and strategically. Packaged as a report, webinar and online calculator it is a turn-key campaign unto itself.”

In FloQast’s case, the Amalgam Insights BVA was able to not only quantify a first-year financial ROI of almost 650 percent to FloQast’s clients, but also found that companies using FloQast reported “enhanced teamwork and shared working environments by increasing transparency and flexibility.”  Because FloQast is a cloud-based solution, the BVA noted, “employees were able to verify, authorize, and update results regardless of physical location to enable greater work-life flexibility and balance.”

“More than ever, companies are seeking the kind of understanding that goes far beyond just the financial impact on their bottom lines,” said Hyoun Park, CEO and principal analyst at Amalgam Insights.  “Our Business Value Analysis reports deliver on that need, helping firms gain the greater knowledge, stretching beyond a pure ‘dollars-and-cents’ perspective, that enables them to operate more effectively and profitably to compete in today’s marketplace.”