Latest news with #Quest
Techday NZ
6 hours ago
- Business
- Techday NZ
Quest Software boosts Australian channel strategy with new leaders
Quest Software has announced new leadership appointments to strengthen its channel partner strategy across Australia, signalling an increased commitment to the country's enterprise sector and its partner ecosystem. Maureen Perrelli has been appointed as Chief Channel Officer to lead Quest Software's global channel strategy. Perrelli's previous roles include Vice President of Worldwide Channel Sales at NCR and Chief Revenue Officer at Brivo, alongside her experience at Oracle, GE and Secureworks. Within the Asia Pacific and Japan region, Angela Maniscalco steps into the Head of Channel post after five years leading erwin sales across APJ and ANZ, including during and after its integration into Quest. Maniscalco's earlier experience includes serving as Head of Strategic Partnerships and Marketing APAC at Insight. Channel focus These appointments are positioned as part of a targeted effort to grow Quest's local presence by delivering enhanced partner programs, increased enablement, and new opportunities for enterprise collaboration. Quest sees the Australian partner ecosystem as a central component in driving growth, particularly in sectors faced with high regulatory requirements. "Australian partners are at the heart of Quest's growth strategy as we expand our cybersecurity, data, and modernisation portfolios. Our goal is to build deeper and more strategic partnerships that deliver strong customer outcomes, especially in complex, highly regulated sectors such as finance, government and healthcare," said Maureen Perrelli, Chief Channel Officer at Quest Software. The company has outlined plans to expand and improve its partner program. Central to this refreshed approach are enhanced enablement resources, new certification pathways, and a suite of benefits across Quest's solution areas. Three solution pillars Quest Software is grouping its offerings into three primary areas. The first is Cybersecurity & IT Resilience, which includes tools for Active Directory protection, threat detection and recovery. Among the upcoming products, the GenAI-enhanced Security Guardian is scheduled to launch later in 2025, promising to enhance detection and response capabilities for environments using Active Directory and Microsoft Entra ID. The second area, AI-ready Data & Governance, equips organisations with support for discovering, governing, and preparing enterprise data for compliance, analytics and future AI initiatives. This emphasis responds to increasing regulatory scrutiny and the drive toward making enterprise data audit-ready for statutory compliance and analytics. The third core pillar, Migrations & Modernisation, encompasses migration solutions for Microsoft platforms such as Active Directory, Exchange, and SQL Server. Quest points to its On Demand Migration platform, the first migration product to achieve Microsoft 365 Certification, providing assurances to partners involved in cloud transformation projects. Quest expects these solution pillars to be strengthened by the new leadership structure and targeted partner program enhancements. Deeper partner engagement The company is also investing in joint go-to-market initiatives and field engagement, aiming to equip its Australian partners to address customer challenges more effectively and grow their own businesses. "Our strategy is simple: put customer outcomes first by working closely with trusted partners. It's not just about building great products, it's about how we take them to market together and create real value for customers," Perrelli added. Quest Software states its ongoing commitment is to deliver technology and solutions that support enterprise needs around data management, cybersecurity and platform modernisation. The company's larger client base includes over 45,000 organisations worldwide, among them more than 90% of the Fortune 500.
Indian Express
18 hours ago
- Business
- Indian Express
Meta may revive its smartwatch project with a focus on camera
Due to its collaboration with Ray-Ban on smart glasses and a line of virtual reality headsets, Meta has found itself at the centre of a wearable revolution. According to a DigiTimes report, Meta has plans to revive the smartwatch project it abandoned in 2022. It said that the company may be considering reintroducing wrist-based devices after it first discontinued its smartwatches several years ago. The report suggests that Meta's wearable is designed to work with both its smart glasses and Quest headsets, unlike most other smartwatches from companies like Samsung and Google. Its main function is to scan the environment using built-in cameras, rather than to monitor health or deliver notifications. What Meta is developing seems quite similar to what the company was working on in 2021. To differentiate itself from competitors, sources at the time indicated that Meta, then still known as Facebook, aimed to launch a pair of smartwatches in summer 2022. These devices were said to include a pair of cameras. A 12MP main sensor on the underside, which would require the user to remove the watch, and a 5MP front-facing camera was intended for wrist-based video calls. During Facebook's earlier venture with the Portal smart display, the company was heavily invested in video conferencing. Images of the initial Meta smartwatch prototype that were leaked. Pictures of Meta's discarded smartwatch prototype, leaked by Bloomberg. Although users might expect Meta to have revisited its original smartwatch idea over the years, it appears that this revived project isn't significantly different from its predecessor. With at least one built-in camera, it is reportedly an attempt to 'enhance the metaverse experience.' Given that the company plans to launch 'half a dozen' AI wearables this year, its current focus on AI and expansive language models is likely to play a role in this endeavour. Regardless of what Meta's final smartwatches look like, we might not have to wait long to find out. Meta Connect, the company's annual developer conference, is scheduled to commence on September 17th, and according to reports, this year's event could showcase this resurrected project.
CNBC
a day ago
- Business
- CNBC
Qualcomm beats on earnings, highlights growth in Meta smartglasses
Qualcomm reported fiscal third-quarter earnings on Wednesday that beat Wall Street expectations and provided a stronger-than-expected guide for the current quarter. Here's how the chipmaker did for the quarter ending June 29 compared to LSEG consensus expectations: In the current quarter, Qualcomm said it expected $2.85 per share at the midpoint of adjusted earnings on $10.7 billion in revenue at the midpoint. Analysts polled by LSEG were expecting $2.83 in adjusted earnings per share on $10.35 billion in revenue. Net income during the quarter ending in June was $2.66 billion, or $2.43 per share, versus $2.13 billion, or $1.88 per share a year ago. Qualcomm's most important business is selling chips for smartphones, including the central processor and modem for high-end devices made by Samsung. It also provides modems to Apple. Its handset chip business reported $6.33 billion in revenue during the quarter, just shy of Wall Street expectations of $6.44 billion. Qualcomm expects to lose Apple as a customer for its modem business in the coming years. But the company has been working to diversify its business by making chips for other devices, including Windows PCs and Meta's Quest virtual-reality headsets and Meta Ray-Bans smart glasses. Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon highlighted the company's work with Meta in a short interview on Wednesday. He said that making chips for devices like Meta's Ray-Bans smart glasses was a good example of the chipmaker's AI strategy, which was to embrace "personal AI," or AI applications that run on devices, not the cloud. Qualcomm reports its Meta revenues under its "Internet of Things" division, which had $1.68 billion in revenue during the quarter. Amon referenced Mark Zuckerberg's AI vision statement Wednesday that focused on "personal superintelligence," saying "the upside we had in the quarter within IoT is what we do in with smart glasses." CFO Akash Palkhiwala said that Meta had stronger-than-expected chip consumption during the quarter. On Monday, Ray-Ban parent EssilorLuxottica said that sales of the smart glasses more than tripled on an annual basis. "Mark put out a video today, just with a very clear vision of how they see personal AI and super intelligence evolving, and we are a key part of making that division happen," Palkhiwala said. Amon also said Qualcomm would start to provide data about how much its chip business is growing without Apple — about 15% this year, he said. The company's automotive business has been highlighted by Amon as one of the biggest growth opportunities for the company, but in the third quarter, it grew 21% to $984 million, below the 24% growth rate of the company's IoT business. Qualcomm's other major division is QTL, which includes licensing fees for technology that Qualcomm developed and patented, including parts of the 5G standard. Overall, QTL revenues rose 11% to $1.32 billion. Qualcomm said it spent just under $1 billion on cash dividends and $2.8 billion repurchasing 19 million shares of its stock during the quarter.
CNBC
a day ago
- Business
- CNBC
Meta's Reality Labs posts $4.53 billion loss in second quarter
Meta's Reality Labs, the unit tasked with building the futuristic metaverse, continues bleeding money. The social media company reported its second-quarter earnings on Wednesday and revealed that Reality Labs logged an operating loss of $4.53 billion while recording $370 million in sales during the period. Analysts were projecting that unit to post a second-quarter operating loss of $4.99 billion while generating $381 million in sales. The Reality Labs division oversees the Quest line of virtual reality headsets in addition to the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, which are jointly developed with the French-Italian eyewear giant EssilorLuxottica. Meta wants Reality Labs to create cutting-edge products similar to the prototype Orion augmented reality glasses that could underpin a new, immersive computing platform. But developing VR, AR and other new devices is an expensive endeavor, with the Reality Labs division logging nearly $70 billion in cumulative losses since late 2020. Meta in April said Reality Labs recorded an operating loss of $4.2 billion during the first quarter while bringing in $412 million in sales. Although the Quest VR headsets haven't become breakout hits, the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses are showing signs of success. EssilorLuxottica on Monday said Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses sales more than tripled year over year for the first half of 2025. The eyewear giant and Meta debuted in June the new Oakley Meta smart glasses, which is the latest product spawned from their partnership. Meta said in April that an undisclosed number of Reality Labs employees who were part of its Oculus Studios VR and AR software unit were laid off.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Quest, Labcorp downplay ‘Big Beautiful Bill' impact
This story was originally published on MedTech Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily MedTech Dive newsletter. Historic Medicaid cuts in Republicans' 'One Big Beautiful Bill,' signed into law earlier this month, are unlikely to have a negative impact on laboratory testing volumes in the near term, executives at Labcorp and Quest Diagnostics reassured investors on earnings calls last week. Labcorp CEO Adam Schechter, answering an analyst's question on potential fallout from the legislation, described the impact as manageable. While lab testing is an essential tool used in almost every healthcare decision, it accounts for a 'very small fraction' of U.S. healthcare spending, the CEO said. The new tax and domestic policy law overhauls Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act to align with Republican priorities, including funding cuts, Medicaid work requirements and stricter eligibility verification for the safety net insurance program and the healthcare exchange. The legislation decreases federal healthcare spending by $1.1 trillion over the next decade and is expected to cause 10 million Americans to lose health insurance. Schechter said he doesn't foresee an impact on Medicaid until 2028, 'and the key is going to be, do people find insurance through other ways, through states or spouses that might have insurance?' If a large group of people become uninsured, Schechter said he would be concerned, but he doesn't expect that to happen. 'I don't think it's very likely in the United States that you'll have a very big group of people automatically become uninsured in a specific period of time,' he said. On the healthcare exchange, the expiration of tax credits could have a negative impact for Labcorp of as high as 30 basis points, Schechter said. The legislation will be harder on Labcorp's hospital customers, he said, which could accelerate deals for outreach businesses and running hospital laboratories. Quest Diagnostics CEO Jim Davis said the cuts to Medicaid would have no impact next year and 'very little' impact in 2027 because states will have time to react to the changes. In addition, no more than 4% to 5% of Quest's revenue comes from the healthcare exchange. CFO Sam Samad said the company expects an impact of about 30 basis points on Quest's testing volumes in 2026 if exchange subsidies are not renewed at the end of this year. Davis said people who buy their insurance on the exchange may be able to pay higher premiums to keep their coverage or could switch to their employers' health insurance. Both Quest and Labcorp raised their revenue forecasts for 2025. William Blair analyst Andrew Brackmann, in a note to clients Friday, said Labcorp investors are likely to remain focused on potential impacts from Washington. However, 'looking to the second half of the year and into 2026, expectations appear appropriately set.' Recommended Reading Labcorp to buy some Community Health assets for $195M Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
