Author: Brad Shimmin

WEKA Engineers the AI Chassis to Conquer the Inference Power Paradox
July 24, 2026

WEKA Engineers the AI Chassis to Conquer the Inference Power Paradox

Brad Shimmin, VP and Practice Lead at Futurum, shares his insights on WEKA’s launch of the WEKApod 3 appliances and NeuralMesh 6 software. By taking total control of its hardware...
Solving the Distributed AI Dilemma: Oracle Base Database Cloud@Customer Brings OCI Automation to Local Workloads
July 24, 2026

Solving the Distributed AI Dilemma: Oracle Base Database Cloud@Customer Brings OCI Automation to Local Workloads

Brad Shimmin at Futurum analyzes Oracle's launch of Base Database Cloud@Customer X11, exploring how converged application VMs and local AI Database 26ai deployments solve data gravity and latency issues....
RegattaDB Arrives A Unified Engine Built for the Era of Read-Write AI
July 17, 2026

RegattaDB Arrives: A Unified Engine Built for the Era of Read-Write AI

Brad Shimmin, VP of Data Intelligence, Analytics, and Infrastructure at Futurum, explores Regatta's launch of RegattaDB. By unifying OLTP, OLAP, and vector workloads, this new architecture provides the low-latency core...
The Active Storage Revolution: VAST and Cloudera Team Up to Cure Enterprise GPU Starvation
July 15, 2026

The Active Storage Revolution: VAST and Cloudera Team Up to Cure Enterprise GPU Starvation

Brad Shimmin, VP and Practice Lead at Futurum, explores the new strategic partnership between VAST Data and Cloudera. By integrating the VAST AI OS with Cloudera data services, the vendors...
AWS Looks to Collapse the Search-Analytics Divide: How Its New OpenSearch Engine Fuels Agentic AI
July 9, 2026

AWS Looks to Collapse the Search-Analytics Divide: How Its New OpenSearch Engine Fuels Agentic AI

Brad Shimmin, VP at Futurum, explores how AWS is re-architecting Amazon OpenSearch Service. By fusing search and analytics and integrating native MCP support, AWS aims to slash log storage costs...
Databricks Data + AI Summit: Looking Beyond the Database Through Unified Transactions, Analytics, and Agentic AI
June 22, 2026

Databricks Data + AI Summit: Looking Beyond the Database Through Unified Transactions, Analytics, and Agentic AI

Brad Shimmin, Chief Analyst at Futurum, shares his insights on Databricks' 2026 Summit announcements, detailing how the unification of transactional and analytical data via LTAP lays the groundwork for truly...
GenAI Workflow Benefit Drops 6pts as Docs, Automation, and Code Gains Rise
June 18, 2026

GenAI Workflow Benefit Drops 6pts as Docs, Automation, and Code Gains Rise

Brad Shimmin, VP & Practice Lead of Data Intelligence, Analytics & Infrastructure, reveals GenAI workflow efficiency fell 6.0 points as a perceived benefit, while measurable tasks like documentation (+4.9), automation...
Can Zoho’s Nathu La Server Redefine Enterprise Stack Sovereignty and TCO for AI
June 12, 2026

Can Zoho’s Nathu La Server Redefine Enterprise Stack Sovereignty and TCO for AI?

The Futurum Group’s Keith Kirkpatrick and Brad Shimmin share their insights on Zoho’s Nathu La server, and discuss the impact on the SaaS market, end customers, and Zoho’s competitors....
From Storage to Action: Why Autonomous AI Is Forcing a Database Revolution
June 12, 2026

From Storage to Action: Why Autonomous AI Is Forcing a Database Revolution

Brad Shimmin at Futurum shares his insights on how the shift to autonomous, read-write AI agents is forcing legacy databases to evolve. Discover why strong consistency, multi-tiered memory, and speculative...
From Storage to Action- Why Autonomous AI is Forcing a Database Revolution
June 11, 2026

From Storage to Action: Why Autonomous AI is Forcing a Database Revolution

Brad Shimmin at Futurum shares his insights on how the shift to autonomous, read-write AI agents is forcing legacy databases to evolve. Discover why strong consistency, multi-tiered memory, and speculative...
Data Gravity in the Age of AI Engineering the Mission-Critical Engine for Autonomous Workloads
June 11, 2026

Data Gravity in the Age of AI: Engineering the Mission-Critical Engine for Autonomous Workloads

In our latest report, Data Gravity in the Age of AI: Engineering the Mission-Critical Engine for Autonomous Workloads, completed in partnership with Oracle, Futurum Research explores why fragmented data architectures...

Welcome

The vision behind everything in Futurum’s Custom Research practice is this: research should show you what is happening, what comes next, and what to do about it. It should be personal to each audience, easy for people to grasp, and structured so LLMs can reason over it accurately. And it should be fast and turnkey; you want answers now, not another project to carry for quarters.

Whether you are defining business, channel, or go-to-market strategy; evaluating vendors or justifying ROI; or commissioning research to fill an emerging market need, we have your back, with a program that answers your questions with the objectivity and credibility to drive real decisions.

To do it, we bring unmatched data to bear: Futurum research, surveys, and market projections; validated market feeds; ETR’s 15 years of insight from 10,000 technology decision-makers; G2’s buyer and user data; and what our analysts hear every day. Add leading primary collection, from AI-moderated voice interviews to surveys and analyst-led interviews, all turnkey, and every project comes out credible, nuanced, and actionable.

And we don’t just drop the results in your lap. For internal work, we provide analyst-led sessions, interactive dashboards, and a range of formats. For market-facing work, Futurum delivers turnkey activation and amplification that actually gets seen, by people and by LLMs, through our media and share of voice. This is research that moves decisions and markets.

We will meet you wherever you are, from a fast-turn brief to a multi-year program, and shape the work to your goals, timeline, and budget. The right program for your moment.

If any of this is useful, I would love to talk.

Benjamin Brown, VP Custom Research, Futurum Research

Benjamin Brown

VP, Custom Research · The Futurum Group

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