Entries by Stephanie Long, Senior Analyst

Holiday Shopping Is Becoming an AI Story: How Value-conscious Consumers, Rising Memory Costs and Connectivity Are Reshaping Retail

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As retailers invest more heavily in AI to capture increasingly value-conscious holiday shoppers, the effectiveness of those investments will depend on the infrastructure supporting them. AI recommendations, computer vision, mobile point-of-sale, real-time inventory and in-store personalization only create value when data can move reliably between devices, stores, edge systems and cloud platforms.

AI Is Changing Enterprise Networking, but Not All Disruption Looks the Same

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Our initial results show an industry in transition. HIRI and operating margins are improving across the peer group, but AI is only one part of the story. Restructuring efforts, revenue growth, subscription adoption and portfolio consolidation continue to strongly influence workforce productivity. Additionally, customer demand for AI-based solutions to support their own AI transformations boosts financial performance independent of the vendors’ internal AI investments.

Nokia Aims to Use Current Tech Transition to Strengthen Fixed Networks, Enter New Markets and Add AI Capabilities to its Core Technology

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The fixed networks market is at an inflection point, with three major technology transitions underway across access, Wi-Fi and network management. TR-069* (technical report 069) is evolving to TR-369 (technical report 369), the first major hardware refresh toward Wi-Fi 7 is underway, and the migration from GPON to XGS-PON, and selectively to 25G and 50G PON, is progressing as these technologies advance. These shifts create a favorable window for Nokia to capture demand because hardware replacement is a logical time to pull through software modernization. Operators are simultaneously reconsidering how they manage the home, automate access networks and prepare fiber infrastructure for changing traffic patterns caused by AI adoption. Nokia is approaching this wave of progress with clearly defined road maps across relevant portfolio areas (e.g., Altiplano, Corteca, Quillion, PON) and is leveraging its hardware roots as the foundation for its AI story.

Extreme Connect 2026 Showcases Coherent AI-centric Vision, but Long-term Differentiation Will Depend on Sustained Execution

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Extreme Connect 2026 demonstrated that Extreme Networks is evolving toward a more AI-centric operational platform strategy centered on Platform ONE and its underlying fabric architecture. The company presented a comparatively cohesive vision while also showing tangible execution momentum through continued revenue growth and accelerated feature delivery. However, it is worth noting that the general availability of Agent ONE Operator is more than six months away and has yet to be announced for Extreme Exchange. This is a long time to wait for actionable customer proof points, especially in the AI market. Although these new solutions were shown as demos and not presented as slides — suggesting the capabilities exist —  the time-to-market gap is notable.