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Today’s topics include Google shutting down Google+ for consumers while keeping the enterprise version intact, and IBM opening up a series of AI, cloud and security initiatives.
After seven years in the market, Google announced on Oct. 8 that it was shutting down the consumer version of Google+, while the enterprise edition that is integrated with G Suite will continue.
The Google+ shutdown was not triggered directly by low usage as many had suspected would eventually happen, but rather due to a security bug. That security bug could have enabled third-party applications to get access to user data not marked as being public.
The data was limited to Google+ profile fields and did not include other data, according to Google. Up to 438 applications may have used the API that had the security bug, and the profiles of up to 500,000 Google+ accounts were potentially affected.
Google shut down the consumer version of Google+ because it felt the resources needed to keep Google+ and its associated APIs safe were no longer a wise investment. Google decided to keep the enterprise edition running because it still serves a critical collaboration feature within G Suite.
Positioning itself as an open vendor, IBM on Oct. 15 announced its new AI OpenScale, MultiCloud Manager and Security Connect platforms.
AI OpenScale enables organizations to use multiple artificial intelligence frameworks including TensorFlow, AWS SageMaker, AzureML and others on the IBM cloud. It also has a new system that will use AI to build new AI models.
The new IBM MultiCloud Manager is a service designed to help organizations automate and manage workloads across different cloud providers. Finally, the IBM Security Connect offering provides an open cloud-based platform for integration of multiple security tools.