IBM vs Neon

IBM Launches AI Agent Identity and Control Suite

IBM announced new capabilities at TechXchange 2026 to secure and govern AI agents in the enterprise. The portfolio includes Agent Identity for HashiCorp Vault, which gives each agent a verified identity and enforces least-privilege access with real-time revocation. Vault 2.2 adds agent-specific accounts, auto-renewing credentials, and post-quantum encryption. IBM watsonx Orchestrate introduces Discover, Contain, and Evaluate capabilities to unify agent discovery, sandboxing, and performance testing across platforms like Amazon Bedrock, Microsoft Foundry, and Google Gemini. The company also launched Secure Hub for centralized Vault visibility, Integration Intelligence Hub for agent context, and IBM Z Atlas for mainframe change intelligence. IBM is partnering with NVIDIA to integrate with OpenShell runtime. The announcements aim to address the challenge of AI agent sprawl, citing Gartner's prediction that Fortune 500 enterprises will use over 150,000 agents by 2028.

• IBM announced Agent Identity for HashiCorp Vault, giving AI agents a governed identity with least-privilege access and real-time revocation.
• HashiCorp Vault 2.2 is generally available, featuring agent-specific accounts, auto-renewing credentials, and post-quantum encryption.
• IBM watsonx Orchestrate introduced Discover, Contain, and Evaluate capabilities for cross-platform agent management.

Enterprise Buy vs. Build Decisions Now Require UX Input

The article by Patrick Neeman argues that the classic buy-versus-build decision in enterprise software has changed due to AI. Building is cheaper with coding agents, but yearly maintenance costs are often ignored. Buying is easier but includes a vendor's legacy, roadmap, and release calendar. The real trade-off now involves UX considerations: where complexity lands, how tools integrate with chat surfaces like Teams, Slack, and ChatGPT, and who controls the data. The author suggests budgeting 30% annually for build upkeep, testing vendors against prototypes, considering the hidden costs of replacement, and deciding based on whether the component is a commodity or a differentiator. Data residency and model retirement are also critical factors. The article cites various studies, including Menlo Ventures' 2025 report showing 76% of enterprise AI use cases were purchased, and METR's study on coding agent productivity.

• Menlo Ventures found that 76% of enterprise AI use cases were purchased rather than built in 2025, up from 53% a year earlier.
• A backdoor was introduced into the widely used XZ Utils library in 2024 after an attacker spent years earning the maintainer's trust.
• Google's 2025 DORA Report found that AI adoption still hurts delivery stability.

IBM Beats Q3 Estimates as CEO Touts Super Intelligence

IBM reported better-than-expected third-quarter results, beating on both earnings and revenue. Adjusted earnings were $2.95 per share versus the $2.86 expected, and revenue came in at $17.10 billion, above the $16.82 billion consensus. Revenue grew 5% year-over-year, driven by software revenue of $7.80 billion, which grew 8% and beat expectations. The company raised its full-year free cash flow forecast to an increase of more than $1 billion. CEO Arvind Krishna highlighted client deployments of 'Super Intelligence' transforming operating models. Consulting revenue remained flat at $5.34 billion, with AI representing about 30% of consulting revenue. IBM also announced the acquisition of HRL Laboratories from Boeing and General Motors to bolster its quantum computing capabilities.

• IBM beat Q3 expectations with adjusted EPS of $2.95 and revenue of $17.10 billion.
• Software revenue grew 8% to $7.80 billion, beating the $7.66 billion consensus.
• IBM raised its full-year free cash flow forecast to an increase of more than $1 billion.

Databricks Powers Agentic Future with $7B Run Rate

Databricks, the data and AI company, has revealed it has surpassed a $7 billion revenue run rate, growing 80% year-over-year, and is valued at $190 billion. The company, which began as a Spark-based data processing platform, has evolved through multiple technology S-curves—Spark, Lakehouse, Lakebase, and now AI agents. Databricks' Lakehouse architecture unifies data lakes and warehouses, while its new Lakebase product, built on the acquisition of Neon, brings operational databases onto the same lakehouse foundation. The company is positioning itself as the 'system of record for agents,' with tools like Genie and Agent Bricks enabling employees to build and manage AI agents. With over 17 million databases launched by agents daily, Databricks is betting on the rise of agentic automation transforming the nature of work and the structure of firms, shifting from managerial hierarchy to human-agent collaboration.

• Databricks surpassed $7 billion revenue run rate, growing 80% year-over-year.
• Databricks is valued at $190 billion.
• More than 17 million databases are launched by AI agents on Databricks every day.

Major update to our Free Plan: now with 1 GB of Postgres storage per project, 100 projects included

Database storage on the Neon Free plan is now 1 GB per project, up from 0.5 GB. You still get 100 projects, with existing projects getting the new limit automatically.

Claimable Neon: Provisioned by agents, claimed by humans

Claimable Neon implements the anonymous registration method in auth.md, the open agent registration protocol authored by WorkOS, to give agents a way to provision a temporary Neon project without creating an account or collecting payment details.