This was a big week for IBM due to the acquisition of Clearleap (this is the 12th company in 2015). Clearleap focuses on scaling video, allowing greater numbers to access/stream video.
Not all news was good. IBM’s #HackAHairDryer campaign blew up on social media with backlash from female scientists questioning why IBM would focus on a superficial item to promote girls in science instead of… rocket ships (direct quote).
The other suppliers were quiet this week… just more details on some of the topics we have been covering over the last two weeks.
IBM
- IBM Acquires Clearleap To Bolster Its Cloud Portfolio
IBM’s push in cloud computing continues with the acquisition of Clearleap, a video services company, for an undisclosed amount. Clearleap will be integrated into the IBM Cloud platform to manage, monetize and grow user video experiences, and deliver them securely over the Internet and mobile devices.
Clearleap is a video platform that enables massive scalability of videos, thus helping its clients to ramp up and support millions of concurrent users within seconds to support special events. Within a short time, it has marquee clients such as HBO, A+E Networks, the NFL, BBC America, Sony Movie Channel, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon Communications, among others.
- IBM On An Acquisition Spree
Another big focus area of IBM’s recent acquisitions is the cloud. Earlier in the year, it picked up Blue Box to accelerate open hybrid cloud and Compose to expand cloud data services. In October, IBM announced its plans to acquire hybrid storage specialist Cleversafe for an undisclosed sum. IDC estimates that 80% of new cloud applications will be “big data intensive” and that the object storage market will reach $28 billion by 2018.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/3750436-ibm-on-an-acquisition-spree
- Novo Nordisk and IBM create Watson Health, a virtual doctor for people with diabetes
The virtual doctor is a supercomputer known as Watson Health. It uses a broad range of health data to generate precisetreatment advice for people with diabetes, such as insulin dosecalculations. Initially, the researchers plan to input data fromcontinuous glucose monitors for the computer to use, but the potential scope is much wider: food intake, insulin injection information and exercise data could also inform the advice given out by Watson Health.
- IBM in sexism row over #hackahairdryer
The initiative focussed on getting women into STEM subjects by encouraging them to “hack a hairdryer”. Many women argued that by playing up to the gender stereotype of women caring more about their looks, the campaign had lost sight of the gender stereotype it was trying to lambaste.
http://felixonline.co.uk/news/5812/ibm-in-sexism-row-over-hackahairdryer/
- Former IBM employee arrested for source code theft
Prosecutors said a former software engineer for IBM in China has been arrested by U.S. authorities for allegedly stealing proprietary source code, Reuters reported.
http://www.ciodive.com/news/former-ibm-employee-arrested-for-source-code-theft/410485/
Hewlett Packard Enterprise | HP Inc
- Why It’s Time to Get Out of HP Inc. (HPQ)
For the full year of 2016 — when I expected synergies to be reversed and some cutting-edge technology like 3D printers to potentially provide a tailwind — the company actually slashed its guidance. Management said it expects to earn $1.59 to $1.69 a share excluding items, vs. the aforementioned consensus of $1.70. The lower end of the range was 7% lower than the consensus, while the value of HPQ’s stock had gained more than 7% since I was originally bullish and snagged some shares.
- HP the only big firm to grow in storage market in Q3
EMC saw its sales in the market slump eight per cent, but it managed to hang on to the top spot even though its share fell from 20.5 per cent to 18.4 per cent. In third place, Dell – which is in the process of closing a $67bn takeover of EMC – saw its sales fall 1.6 per cent, prompting its market share to fall marginally from 10.3 per cent to 9.9 per cent.
http://www.channelweb.co.uk/crn-uk/news/2438055/hp-the-only-big-firm-to-grow-in-storage-market-in-q3
EMC
- EMC insists its enterprise-only days are behind it
The storage giant hosted a mid-market-focused media event yesterday in which it talked up its role in the space along with some of its partners. During the gathering, partners called on the vendor to better reward its mid-market partners, some of which feel locked out of its new Business Partner Program.
http://www.channelweb.co.uk/crn-uk/news/2438760/emc-insists-its-enterprise-only-days-are-behind-it
- Why Huawei Thinks It Can Enter Storage Market Top 3 by 2018
Like its counterparts Verizon, AT&T, Orange and others, Huawei built its own data centers years ago, and, with the advent of data center converged servers, networking and storage, found out that it now has lots of data center real estate it could put to work. It intends to use that capacity for cloud storage — competing directly with Amazon, Microsoft, Google and others — as well as start producing storage hardware and software for enterprises
http://www.eweek.com/storage/why-huawei-thinks-it-can-enter-storage-market-top-3-by-2018.html
Other
- How Red Hat saved Cox Auto nearly $5M
“We analyzed the numbers to see what resources we deployed and how much time it took, and we realized that with the Red Hat solution, we saved almost 10 years of time spent waiting for resources to be delivered and almost $5 million in soft savings since 2014,” Cornell continued
http://www.autoremarketing.com/technology/how-red-hat-saved-cox-auto-nearly-5-million
Photo: Ryan McGuire