Category: Supplier Report

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Supplier Report: 10/3/2015

sn_pumpkin_AaronBurden

IBM’s long term plan of IoT, Big Data, and Analytics seems to be getting some traction even during a rough Q3.  HP is fighting the ghosts of old decisions as they finalize their big split.  While HP celebrates their split, EMC is telling the world they have no intention to follow that strategy.

IBM

  • IBM Is Fading Back Toward Major Support

    As October begins, it appears IBM is headed for its third straight lower monthly low. This current downtrend, which began on July 21 with a huge downside gap, has dropped shares nearly 20%. Late last month, the initial down leg of the post-earnings breakdown found support near $140. IBM began to rebound on Aug. 26, but the upside was well-contained. With very light bullish interest, despite the steep decline from the summer highs, the stock was unable to move past its massive Aug. 24 opening gap. Shares have been trading in a tight range since while the major indices went on to recover most of the mid-August selloff. The significant lagging action continues to weigh on Big Blue and will likely drive it lower in the near term.

    http://www.thestreet.com/story/13309491/1/ibm-is-fading-back-toward-major-support.html

  • IBM’s IoT Investments Are About To Pay Off

    A recent IDC survey found that nearly 75% of IoT market makers are planning to deploy or have already deployed IoT systems in the next year. This proves that IoT is moving from the planning stage to the action stage, bringing the technology to life. The survey also found that of all industries tied to IoT, transportation and healthcare are furthest along, ready to deploy IoT technologies soonest.

    http://seekingalpha.com/article/3536076-ibms-iot-investments-are-about-to-pay-off

  • IBM acquires Meteorix to expand HR service offering

    Acquiring Meteorix will make IBM one of the most experienced Workday service providers in the world, the company said, allowing it to better implement the services on behalf of customers thanks to the firm’s team of 200 consultants who specialise in delivering high-value services, while IBM will continue to focus on boosting the sales of Workday.

    http://www.cloudpro.co.uk/hr/5397/ibm-acquires-meteorix-to-expand-hr-service-offering

  • Analytics are better with shared storage and not scale-out, says IBM

    [With] Spectrum Scale Native RAID, the cluster data is managed using higher-level erasure codes to protect against multiple disk failures while offering significant disk savings over the 3x replication found in typical HDFS installations. ESS stores data using declustered RAID6 with support for either 2-fault or 3-fault disk fault tolerance… ESS distributes the data and parity information evenly across all disks in the system [which] allows for storage rebuilds triggered by a disk failure to complete faster than traditional RAID rebuilds by distributing the work across many disks rather than just a few.

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/10/02/ibm_analytics_better_shared_storage_not_scaleout/

  • IBM: Nanotube Breakthrough Will Create Low Power, Faster CPUs

    Big Blue is claiming it can not only build carbon nanotube transistors, a claim widely acknowledged as feasible, but it can also connect the nanotubes to other processor components and circuitry, a claim no one else has made so far.

    http://www.informationweek.com/cloud/ibm-nanotube-breakthrough-will-create-low-power-faster-cpus/d/d-id/1322455

Hewlett Packard

EMC

Oracle

Other

Photo: Aaron Burden, StockSnap

Posted on

News You Can Use: 9/30/2015

sn_girlwater_Christopher Campbell

  • 10 Intelligence Insights For Category Managers in 2015

    The demand for consultancy will depend often on the complexity of the processes and interactions involved with the sector and the individual business. For instance, sectors with a highly regulated environment will often use management consultants to help implement strategies with regard to new rules or to more effectively traverse the landscape of existing regulations.

    http://www.procurementleaders.com/blog/my-blog–rhiannon-evans/10-intelligence-insights-for-category-managers-in-2015-568843

  • Healthcare firms three times more likely to see data breaches

    Plus, healthcare organizations are in the process of moving all their data to electronic health records, and are increasingly sharing that data with healthcare providers, clinics, insurance companies, and other industry participants. That means that criminals have a broader attack surface, and the defenders aren’t as battle-hardened as those in other industries.

    http://www.cio.com/article/2985541/cyber-attacks-espionage/healthcare-firms-three-times-more-likely-to-see-data-breaches.html#tk.rss_all

  • Using Cloud Computing To Manage Global Risk Of Doing Business

    There has been no other technology development that has had a greater impact on the reduction of risk of operating a supply chain than cloud technology. Cloud computing has made it possible for companies to stay in touch on a real time basis with thousands of their suppliers spread all across the globe round the clock. The conventional ERP-based solutions configured to manage supply chain systems internally by inter-connecting departments within the organization do not prove to be very well positioned to handle the business processes required to manage suppliers. This is largely because supplier networks can be extremely complex and have a very large geographical footprint making them susceptible to developing faults with great ease. Supplier networks that are cloud-based are in a position to yield more options and offer additional risk management capabilities for smart companies that have switched to this technology.

    http://www.hostreview.com/blog/150923-using-cloud-computing-to-manage-global-risk-of-doing-business

  • The 20 jobs with the biggest salary increases this year
    Nothing shocking here, but interesting to review. 
    http://www.fastcompany.com/3051405/the-future-of-work/the-20-jobs-with-the-biggest-salary-increases-this-year
  • Dropbox wants shadow IT to drive enterprise adoption

    There’s one key thing that Dropbox has going for it: users inside companies are already using its product without the authorization of administrators. When the company goes to pitch a large business like News Corp. on adopting Dropbox for Business, salespeople can already point to the thousands of users of its technology inside the company.

    http://www.cio.com/article/2985095/dropbox-wants-shadow-it-to-drive-enterprise-adoption.html#tk.rss_all

Photo: Christopher Campbell, unsplash

Posted on

Supplier Report: 9/26/2015

sn_leaf_Ales Krivec

It was another big week for IBM and Watson with the announcement of Watson offices moving to Silicon Valley.  IBM wants to be close to the disruptions and maybe cause a few.  But as businesses expand into the unfamiliar world of AI, cloud, and SaaS, are they locking themselves into environment they can’t get out of easily?

As datacenters and server budgets shrink, is there an exit strategy to the externally hosted ecosystem?

IBM

  • IBM Watson sharpens its cognitive skills: New APIs help make it more ‘human’

    As part of this announcement, IBM also said it will expand the company’s presence in Silicon Valley and the greater Bay Area with a new Watson Hub, South of Market in San Francisco. IBM believes it will put them closer to, and increase collaboration with, the local start ups, developers, venture capital groups, established businesses and academic experts the company is currently working with to take cognitive computing into new markets. The location will also serve as the new global headquarters for IBM Commerce, a high-growth industry opportunity for IBM and Watson. The facility is scheduled to open in early 2016.

    http://www.firstpost.com/business/ibm-watson-sharpens-its-cognitive-skills-new-apis-help-make-it-more-human-2445566.html

  • Watson to become a huge sales engine…

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2015-09-24/ibm-s-watson-said-to-become-huge-engine-for-sales
  • Massachusetts gives IBM a $2.5M tax break for absolutely no reason whatsoever

    IBM has promised to create 500 new jobs in exchange for its tax break. If they don’t, there will be hell to pay … or at least they’ll have to give back some of the $2.5 million.

    http://www.networkworld.com/article/2986116/big-data-business-intelligence/massachusetts-gives-ibm-a-2-5m-tax-break-for-absolutely-no-reason-whatsoever.html

  • IBM boosts security of bring your own cloud apps

    The technology helps a company discover the cloud-based apps its employees are using on their computers and mobile devices and then helps roll out a safer way of using them, without impacting productivity. Hosted on IBM Cloud, the solution scans a company’s network to find the apps being used, which are then analysed using deep threat analytics from IBM X-Force.

    http://www.cloudpro.co.uk/it-infrastructure/security/5376/ibm-boosts-security-of-bring-your-own-cloud-apps

EMC

  • Cloud takes a bite out of backup boss EMC’s top line in Q2

    The storage titan saw its quarterly sales drop 16.9 per cent annually to $414.4m, and its share of the market came in more than six points lower than in the corresponding period last year. Second-placed Symantec – whose $104.5m revenue accounted for 14.4 per cent of the worldwide total – endured a decline of a comparatively modest 3.7 per cent

    They added:

    “Focus continues to shift away from hardware-centric, on-premise PBBA systems to hybrid/gateway systems,” she said. “The results [of this] are greater emphasis on backup and deduplication software, the ability to tier or push data to the cloud, and the increasing commoditisation of hardware, all of which require market participants to adjust product portfolios accordingly.”

    http://www.channelnomics.eu/channelnomics-eu/news/2426707/cloud-takes-a-bite-out-of-backup-boss-emcs-top-line-in-q2

Hewlett Packard

Other

Posted on

News You Can Use: 9/23/2015

sn_arc_BogdanDum

  • Slack’s Workplace Revolution

    “We’re really conscious of solving problems in a way that doesn’t fetishize the purity of UI design at the expense of the user,” says Slack’s design director, Brandon Velestuk, who has worked closely with Butterfield since joining Slack in 2014. “There was always an understanding that this was a tool people were going to spend their entire day in, so we sought to bring an empathy to the design.”

    http://www.fastcodesign.com/3050294/innovation-by-design/slacks-workplace-revolution

  • The AI productivity opportunity

    I expect AI to start to play a part in most industries over the next five years, it will start in data intensive areas such as customer profiling, but before long we will have AI customer service desks and call centres. Other areas that will be revolutionised will be planning and forecasting, where computers will soon outperform humans, and security where a CCTV images can be monitored by a machine. The CCTV pictures might be coming from a drone that has decided to the factory perimeter fence.

    http://www.procurementleaders.com/blog/my-blog–thomas-seal/the-ai-productivity-opportunity-567152

  • Healthcare leads all industries in data breaches

    The key finding is perhaps that the healthcare industry had 34 percent of its total records breached, amounting to 84 million data records compromised, the highest rate of any industry. Government accounted for the second highest rate of breaches at 77.2 million records lost, or 31.4 percent.

    http://www.govhealthit.com/news/healthcare-leads-all-industries-data-breaches

  • 6 Ways to Demonstrate Kindness in Business and the Rest of Your Life

    Most often, your best clients come to you by referral. Look for ways to help others succeed by referring potential business or influencers to those you know and like. If someone is struggling with an aspect of their business and asks for your advice, jump in and offer your expertise. You’ll build a deeper relationship and a trust that will provide mutual rewards for years to come.

    http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/250738

  • Hadoop, in trouble? Only in Gartner-land

    Most companies don’t have “big data” — only many new unstructured or semistructured data sources — and they’d like to gain insight by aggregating them and hooking up a visualization tool. In fact, according to the study, most want to gain insight using Tableau or Excel. If they’re already using Hadoop, they are probably also working with Tableau (51 percent). If they aren’t, they’d like to use Excel (60 percent).

    http://www.cio.com/article/2984609/data-management/hadoop-in-trouble-only-in-gartner-land.html#tk.rss_all

  • 4 Warning Signs Your Team Is Working in Silos, and How to Destroy Them

    The best way to avoid groupthink is to model disagreement at the leadership level. This doesn’t mean hosting debates or shouting matches, but it does mean letting your teams into the room when hard decisions need to be hashed out. It also means rewarding disagreement, celebrating differences and making it clear that you, as a leader, don’t have all the answers.

    http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/250477

Photo: Bogdan Dum

Posted on

Supplier Report: 9/19/2015

sn_oldtv_Pablo GarciaSaldaña

The news this week seem to be reacting to HP’s announcement that they are cutting 33,000 jobs over 3 years.  Journalists are looking at HP, IBM, and EMC and re-stating the now-familiar critique of “these companies are bloated and not nimble”.

Are the critics right?  Time will tell.  Today, three companies are trying to transform and become more responsive to the market.  IBM is focused on the emerging internet of things and supporting that entire eco-system of devices.  HP is trying to slim down and become more reactive (with an offshore consulting team).  EMC has been struggling with their own potential reorganization.

Can companies that have enough employees to fill a mid-sized American city find a way to compete with companies that can support 900 million users with 60 employees? And are the sales models that those large companies rely upon still relevant in the age of open source software and ad-driven profits?

IBM

  • IBM working on blockchain technology

    Krishna told the publication house that “they are modifying the original bitcoin ideas to build a blockchain that operates without currency, ensures that contract details remain private and makes it easier for companies to embed business rules into their smart contracts”.

    http://www.econotimes.com/IBM-working-on-blockchain-technology-91011
    What is blockchain?

    The blockchain is seen as the main technological innovation of Bitcoin, since it stands as proof of all the transactions on the network. A block is the ‘current’ part of a blockchain which records some or all of the recent transactions, and once completed goes into the blockchain as permanent database.

  • HCL, IBM team up to jointly develop IoT solutions

    As part of the partnership, HCL and IBM will combine their technical knowhow and manpower to enable seamless integration of device, connectivity, data platform and analytics for organisations to address some of the most complex enterprise and industrial IoT challenges.

    http://www.firstpost.com/business/hcl-ibm-team-up-to-jointly-develop-iot-solutions-2438274.html
    Additionally, IBM opens IoT & Big Data units, appoints Harriet Green as GM

    Harriet Green, now VP and GM at IBM said: “The Internet of Things will help enterprises and governments at every level unlock entirely new areas of opportunity and growth, and no company is better positioned than IBM to be the partner of choice as these organizations embrace its potential.

    http://www.cbronline.com/news/verticals/the-boardroom/ibm-opens-iot-big-data-units-appoints-harriet-green-as-gm-4670303

  • Leadership Depends on Clarity and Agility: IBM’s CIO

    “As [organizations] get bigger, we tend to isolate roles so people’s skills get too segmented,” Smith said. “We’re working to give people broader roles where people are expected to do role rotations and gain skills that enable them to get better and hone their craft. We have a concept that we’re going to take large teams and keep breaking them down so we know the purpose of each team.”

    http://daily.financialexecutives.org/leadership-depends-on-clarity-and-agility-ibms-cio/

Hewlett Packard

  • HP’s Job Cuts Reflect EDS Legacy
    HP announced 33,000 job cuts over three years this week…

    Most from the technology services group it had built from Electronic Data Systems Corp., a $13.9 billion acquisition. The job cuts are H-P’s way of creating a more nimble business that can better match customer needs for help with cloud-based computing, or off-loading computing and software to the Internet. It is also a recognition of how badly H-P miscalculated developments in the information technology services market.

    http://www.wsj.com/articles/h-ps-job-cuts-reflect-eds-legacy-1442447023

  • Hewlett-Packard Company Plans offshoring 60% of Enterprise Service

    In fact, Enterprise Services division is not an organic segment of the larger HP group. In 2008 HP acquired the H. Ross Perot founded Electronic Data Systems for $13.9 billion. At that time, HP’s CEO, Mark Hurd was intent on pushing HP towards enterprise IT services. IBM had by then a sizeable market share in this segment due to some strategic acquisitions such as PriceWaterhouseCooper’s for $3.5 billion in 2002. Hurd in 2008 wanted HPQ to acquire a big-revenue earner in enterprise-level IT services segment. The result was the expensive purchase of EDS.

    http://www.wallstreetscope.com/hewlett-packard-company-nysehpq-plans-offshoring-60-of-enterprise-service/25429003/

  • HP Plans To Keep The Struggling Enterprise Services Unit Contrary To Common Belief

    According to Whitman, Enterprise Services is essential to the success of the greater HPE as it starts a life of its own, separate from the parent. For example, she envisions a situation where companies will be hiring HPE’s consultants to help with their cloud implementations, digitization of paper processes and so on. Such consulting works perfectly fit in the domain of Enterprise Service, and that explains why Whitman believes the unit is essential to the overall success of HPE.

    http://investcorrectly.com/20150917/hewlett-packard-company-nysehpq-plans-keep-struggling-enterprise-services-unit-contrary-common-belief/

  • HP Has Enough Workers to Fill a City—And It Needs Them All

    The HPs and IBMs of the world have responded to these shifts by offering cloud services and ready-made business applications of their own. That’s a big part of why HP and IBM are shedding jobs right now. “In general software companies are better for owners than services businesses are,” Burris explains. “In a software business, a programmer can write a piece of code that can be used by millions of different customers and users. That intellectual property, that information about a problem, is now made available to a whole pile of people at the same time.”

    http://www.wired.com/2015/09/hp-enough-workers-fill-cityand-needs/

Other

  • Age-old question: Can commercial software succeed in an open-source world?

    Now, Salesforce chief executive Marc Benioff’s dream of taking on not just Oracle but SAP in other enterprise software categories puts it at risk, according to the story. That may be why Salesforce is building up its skills in PostgreSQL, an open-source database favored by many companies that are increasingly wary of relying on pricey databases from Oracle, SAP, and even Microsoft.

    http://fortune.com/2015/09/18/open-source-software-threat/
    Additionally:

    As one data point, note that Red Hat, which sells support and service for Linux, is arguably the most successful company built on open-source. It became the first $1 billion open source company three years ago and closed its last fiscal year in February at almost $1.8 billion in revenue. That is not chump change, but it’s a far cry from the run rates proprietary software companies tout. Here’s guessing that the new normal for software companies in the open-source era will look a lot more like Red Hat and a lot less like Oracle, SAP, and Microsoft. And that has to be a sobering thought.

  • Can GE buy IBM or EMC?

    GE could easily sell those parts of IBM it didn’t want, or spin them off into a new company, and get back most of the cash needed to do this deal. By installing new management and focusing on the Internet of Things, GE would give IBM a new story to tell and, in the process, dramatically increase its value to investors. Buying IBM would also cement Immelt’s own industrial strategy into place, making it nearly impossible for a successor to do to his company what he did to Jack Welch’s outfit.

    http://seekingalpha.com/article/3510876-ge-could-buy-ibm

  • Key Takeaways from the Wells Fargo Healthcare Conference: Johnson and Johnson

    “Five years ago, our pharmaceutical division at that time was about $24 billion in annual sales, and we lost $8.5 billion to patent expiry, literally over about a 18 month to 24 month period, and you know the margins in that business, you know the challenges that something like that presents. And we made a real decision not to go out and do a major acquisition, which I think would be a challenge to demonstrate value creation for many, if not most of those…We continue to invest in R&D. We’ve got much more focus in our therapeutic categories. And today, literally, five, six years later, we launch 14 compounds, seven of which have been $1 billion brand and things are really making a difference and things like prostate cancer, thrombosis, Type 2 diabetes, range of conditions, and there’s no way we could have done that, if it was an only a pharma business, because it wouldn’t have survived. We had a strong MD&E and strong consumer business. So financially, we think it’s important.”

    http://seekingalpha.com/article/3508116-johnson-and-johnson-3-key-takeaways-from-the-wells-fargo-healthcare-conference

Photo: Pablo GarciaSaldaña