IBM is making friends again. During their InterConnect conference, they announced a new partnership with VMWare, introducing their products on IBM’s cloud services. They also renewed their partnership with Apple, helping the company make progress towards enterprise customers.
Dell is making progress on their acquisition of EMC. The FTC finally approved the merger and the banks lending Dell the money are shopping around portions of the loans (which is seen as a good sign).
HP Inc had a very bad week. PC sales are down over 10% (blaming Windows 10), the stock is down, and they announced an additional 1800 job eliminations.
IBM
- IBM makes major strategic alliance with VMware
VMware and IBM have had a reseller agreement in place until now, with today’s announcement being the first strategic partnership between the two technology firms. It marries together the infrastructure management capabilities of VMware’s products with IBM’s real estate to create a hybrid cloud infrastructure solution that should benefit both companies.
http://www.computerdealernews.com/news/ibm-makes-major-strategic-alliance-with-vmware/46665
VMware undermines its own public cloud with IBM arrangementIt’s easy to see how this is good for IBM, since it brings the large base of VMware shops to IBM’s cloud. But it’s not totally ideal for VMware. With this agreement VMware makes it easy for its customers to use IBM’s cloud rather than its own. However, the arrangement continues to rely on VMware products under the hood so VMware still has a role to play.
http://www.fiercecio.com/story/vmware-undermines-its-own-public-cloud-ibm-arrangement/2016-02-22
- IBM poised to gobble Resilient Systems, says report
The vendor, which helps firms respond to cyber attacks, touched down in Europe a year ago when it went by the name CO3 Systems, and counts Nebulas and NTT Com Security among its UK partners.
Citing two sources with knowledge of the deal, the report said IBM is buying the Massachusetts-based outfit, with one of the two sources putting the acquisition price at more than $100m.
http://www.channelweb.co.uk/crn-uk/news/2448320/ibm-poised-to-gobble-resilient-systems-says-report
- Through Machine Learning, IBM Braintrust Sees Better Days Ahead
John Kelly, IBM’s senior vice president of cognitive solutions and research said most of that $2 trillion will come from eliminating waste in supply chain, research and development, and other processes across industries.
And, in healthcare, a market that’s becoming a big priority for IBM as evidenced by a $4 billion string of acquisitions, there is a lot of waste from missed diagnoses, lack of drug efficacy, and staffing. “We think $200 billion of that is addressable by cognitive solutions,” Kelly said.
- IBM: It’s Not All Gloom
Big Blues’ “blues” are well documented recently. Questions about the CEO being overpaid and the company’s ability to produce miracles are all too common. While we agree that IBM and technology companies in general have to answer the “what next” question emphatically, the stock isn’t without its own set of positives.
- Will Watson Health Cloud Pay off for International Business Machines Corp.?
By 2020 healthcare analytics will be a $21 billion market. And IBM will dominate this market due to Watson. The opportunity of Watson, however, spans beyond healthcare analytics and into Big Data as a whole.
While this is a much more crowded market, it is growing at an annualized rate of 26.5% through 2018, at which point it will be valued at $41.5 billion. Combined, this is a massive market opportunity that can add to IBM’s data, cloud and engagement businesses. Last year, these businesses accounted for 35% of total revenue according to Morgan Stanley, and grew 17% compared to 2014.
http://investorplace.com/2016/02/ibm-stock-watson-health-cloud/
- IBM Cements Security Standing With Redoubled Check Point Alliance
By combining forces, IBM and Check Point aim to thwart what the United Nations estimates is the $445 billion cybercrime underworld. Check Point’s and IBM Security’s researchers will be free to cross company borders to discuss threat data. And several Check Point applications will be folded into IBM technology, Check Point’s vice president of security services, Avi Rembaum, told IBD. The alliance redoubles an 18-year relationship between IBM and Check Point.
- H.I.G. Capital Acquires Portfolio of Compensation Assets from IBM
Todd Ofenloch, Managing Director at H.I.G., added, “We believe as a standalone, focused business with the resources to grow and expand the product offering, Salary.com is capable of furthering its leading market position and compelling potential customers to select its solutions over competitive offerings or continuing to utilize in-house options.”
Microsoft
- Here’s What Steve Ballmer Thinks About Microsoft and Satya Nadella
Ballmer did tell BI that he spoke to the company’s CFO Amy Hood each quarter and acknowledged meeting with Nadella four or five times a year “to brainstorm something or just as a shareholder, we’ll sit down and chat.” But, he was clear to point out, because he’s not a board member or an employee, the company cannot share any information with him that is not shared with other shareholders.
- Microsoft Buys Xamarin To Help Developers Create Cross-Platform Apps
Microsoft has acquired Xamarin, a cross-platform mobile app development platform provider, which will help developers create apps will easily work across iOS, Android and Windows mobile operating systems. This is part of Microsoft’s efforts to woo developers into making apps for the Windows 10 Mobile platform. Here’s what you need to know.
Through the Xamarin platform, developers can develop, test and deliver mobile apps to any device. Xamarin had already works with the Visual Studio development environment and this acquisition will provide even more integration. With Xamarin now a part of the Microsoft family, Visual Studio developers can use a singe shared C# codebase to build native apps on iOS, Android and Windows. This would be welcome news for developers that are interested in building cross-platform native apps.
Dell | EMC
- Dell-EMC Merger Gets FTC Approval, Remains On Track To Close
IT behemoth Dell and data storage giant EMC announced this week that the waiting period for U.S. antitrust regulations regarding the proposed Dell-EMC merger had expired. In addition to the U.S. FTC, both parties are on course to get the required EU approval at the end of the month. Moreover, Chinese authorities are also likely to approve the merger despite the possible impact it might have on Huawei, the current market leader in the data storage space in China. With this regulatory hurdle crossed, Dell can now proceed with the merger pending approval from EMC EMC +1.97% shareholders.
- Banks backing Dell’s EMC deal hit reset button
The banks underwriting the deal, including Credit Suisse, are in the process of selling the most senior portion of loans — about $7 billion — to other banks and are several weeks behind schedule. But there’s enough interest that the bank group is increasing the offering to as much as $9 billion.
http://nypost.com/2016/02/26/banks-backing-dells-emc-deal-hit-reset-button/
Oracle
- Oracle Corporation Boosts Cloud Credentials With Ravello Systems Acquisition
Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) is the latest entity to complete a tech-sector acquisition as it announced the purchase of Ravello Systems, a company specializing in operating enterprise workload in public cloud setups. Although the acquisition fee remains officially undisclosed so far, VentureBeat reports the deal could be worth $500 million.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise | HP Inc
- HP Sales Down on Weak Printer, PC Revenue
The Palo Alto, Calif., company said earnings from continuing operations declined 16% in the first fiscal quarter ended in January, while revenue fell 12% from the year-earlier period. Total printing revenue declined 17%, with revenue from ink and other supplies down 14% and hardware unit sales off 20%. HP’s PC revenue declined 13% in the first quarter.
http://ww2.cfo.com/technology/2016/02/hp-sales-weak-printer-pc-revenue/
HP Inc blames Windows 10 for drop in PC sales“I still believe [Windows 10 is] a tremendous operating system,” Weisler told investors on conference call this week, transcribed by Seeking Alpha. However, he added: “We have not yet seen the anticipated Windows 10 stimulation of demand that we would have hoped for, and we’re carefully monitoring any sort of price developments that could further weaken demand.”
And Wiesler’s claims are supported by a Gartner report last month that found a lack of Windows 10 uptake at the end of 2015 contributed to a year-on-year drop of 8.3 per cent in the PC market.
- HP wants to “reinvent computing” with a phone called Elite x3
One feature in particular has the company especially excited – Windows Continuum. This technology allows the smartphone operating system to turn into a desktop operating system (on a larger display) once the smartphone is plugged in to a larger display.
http://www.slashgear.com/hp-wants-to-reinvent-computing-with-a-phone-called-elite-x3-21427943/
TechCrunch doesn’t seem to think it will be successful…
HP Announces Yet Another Mobile Product That Will FailAn industry report published earlier last week pegs Windows Phone with only a 1.1% worldwide marketshare in the fourth quarter of 2015. That’s down from 2.2% from 2014 levels. Worse yet, Microsoft’s Windows Phone shipments dropped 57% in the most recent quarter over the previous year. The company only sold 4.5 million Lumia devices compared to 10.5 million from the same time last year.
Essentially, HP built and announced its first modern smartphone on a platform that most indicators say is dying.
http://techcrunch.com/2016/02/21/hp-announces-yet-another-mobile-product-that-will-fail
- HP Inc to cut another 1800 jobs this year
“This move is basically HP Inc embracing the tough pricing environment and shifting their focus to building their portfolio,” says Shannon Cross, an analyst for Cross Research.
http://www.crn.com.au/News/415634,hp-inc-to-cut-another-1800-jobs-this-year.aspx
Other
- Verizon and Splunk are teaming up to deliver threat protection
Verizon has enhanced its flagship Managed Security Services platform by integrating analytics from Splunk Enterprise Security solutions. The combination of Verizon’s platform and Splunk software facilitates the ingestion of data for enrichment with Verizon’s massive amount of threat context data that can be analyzed and correlated to provide more actionable security intelligence to enterprises. Verizon’s ability to manage risks is further enhanced by the visibility gained from owning and operating one of the largest global IP networks. Processing more than one million security events daily places Verizon into the unique position of being able to deliver exceptional insights into how cybercriminals attack and breach organizations.
- Data analytics provider Splunk’s revenue forecast beats estimates
Splunk, whose customers include Tesco Plc and the U.S. Department of State, forecast revenue of about $880 million for the year ending January 2017, well above the average analyst estimate of $650.8 million.
Photo: Мартин Тасев