Our Thoughts on IT MattersKeep Posted on Industry News and Events

Steven Zolman

Dec. 22,2025 | Acquisition, IBM

The Reality Check: Why the $11B acquisition is less about synergy and more about value extraction, and how to protect your own estate. Let’s dispense with the pleasantries. IBM’s definitive agreement to acquire Confluent for roughly $11 billion is not a "strategic partnership" to accelerate hybrid cloud innovation. It is a textbook consolidation move by a legacy giant eyeing a critical data streaming asset to shore up its portfolio. At NET(net), we aren’t buying the "kumbaya" narrative of synergy. We are bracing our clients for impact. In the high-stakes arena of IT cost and value optimization, the old playbook of handshake deals is ancient ...

Steven Zolman

Dec. 22,2025 | Insider, Security

The saying that ‘there is a time and a place for that’ can apply to almost anything in our daily lives, but nowhere is it truer than in technology. The pace of change in some tech areas go at breakneck speed, while others move slower. But the constant for either is that there is always change. For example, there was a ‘time and a place’ for 2-way pagers years ago, but that time is gone now replaced by all manner of smartphones, tablets, and even the IoT’s. Just as there was a ‘time and a place’ for MPLS, it will be - in the not too distant future, added to the historical shelf of technology there was a ‘time and a place for’, just like Frame ...

Michael Welsh

Dec. 22,2025 | Insider, Security

The saying that ‘there is a time and a place for that’ can apply to almost anything in our daily lives, but nowhere is it truer than in technology. The pace of change in some tech areas go at breakneck speed, while others move slower. But the constant for either is that there is always change. For example, there was a ‘time and a place’ for 2-way pagers years ago, but that time is gone now replaced by all manner of smartphones, tablets, and even the IoT’s. Just as there was a ‘time and a place’ for MPLS, it will be - in the not too distant future, added to the historical shelf of technology there was a ‘time and a place for’, just like Frame ...