Every week, our editorial team chooses its favorite stories of the week. Because they are experts in their beats, we asked Dan Meyer, Nancy Liu and Emma Chervek to select from their own stories. Dan Muse and I choose from any of the stories published this week.

Our hope is that if you've been too busy to keep up with the news this week, we can give you five stories that are worth reading.

So here are our team's top five favorite stories of the week, in no particular order.

From Dan Meyer: "Nokia added another U.S.-based optical equipment manufacturer to boost its ability to support operators taking advantage of upcoming Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program funding. Will be interesting to watch how other international telecommunication vendors approach this opportunity."

Nokia expanded its U.S.-based manufacturing push by striking a deal with California-based Fabrinet to construct optical networking equipment. The vendor is also putting together an easy-to-purchase “network-in-a-box” package of networking equipment that complies with the recently implemented Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program.

From Nancy Liu: "Cisco has been struggling to offer a unified experience for its secure access service edge (SASE) solutions. Dive into this story to explore how the tech giant is addressing this issue."

The networking and security giant’s SASE solution, dubbed Cisco+ Secure Connect, combines its Meraki SD-WAN and Umbrella security capabilities. The new unified SASE option aims to create “a single pane of glass” that leverages the component unification from Cisco's SSE and networking platforms.

From Emma Chervek: "New artificial intelligence (AI) tools are ready for enterprise use, but research shows leaders might not be ready to adopt AI. Read more to learn what’s standing in the way."

“The most surprising finding was that only about half of IT leaders say their organizations will prioritize AI in the next year,” Matt Unangst, AMD sr. director of commercial client and workstation, told SDxCentral. “Given the rapid pace of innovation surrounding AI, this represents a real risk – organizations who do not have a strong focus on AI adoption may fall behind their peers,” he argued.

From editor in chief Dan Muse: "With the frenzy that surrounds generative AI, the interest in its business applications is growing right along with the media coverage. However, businesses need to tread carefully. In this month’s Deloitte on Tech column, Beena Ammanath, executive director of the Global Deloitte AI Institute, cautions businesses that 'as with all cognitive tools, the outcomes will depend on how they are used, and that includes managing the risks.'

"Ammanath asks, 'Can business users trust the outputs of this kind of AI application, and if not, how can trust be achieved?' Ammanath goes on to offer three tips to manage the risks — it's a must-read for business and tech leaders.”

Technology designed and used with ethical intent can help people and organizations pursue achievement and prosperity with more confidence and peace of mind. As enterprises wade into the fast-moving field of generative AI, there are factors of trust and ethics that should be addressed.

And last, but not least, the story I chose this week is another one from contributor Taryn Plumb. I chose this because mental health is an important topic to me personally.

Also because, of everyone affected by the pandemic of the past few years, our cybersecurity professionals have been on the front lines, enabling the rest of us who could work from home to do so. And, like those in the medical profession, there's little room for mistake when dealing with keeping the bad guys away from the heart of a person or business.

Between that and the other mental health stuff that we all experienced from living through a global pandemic, it's no surprise that there's a crisis in the security ops center.

Research by the SANS Institute found that 55% of SOC analysts have contemplated leaving their positions due to the immense pressure of their work.

“These protectors of society are in such a state of fragility,” said Peter Coroneos, founder of Cybermindz, a nonprofit dedicated to improving cybersecurity professionals’ mental health and well-being.