IBM
- UPDATE: IBM is denying reports that there will be massive layoffs:
http://www.fredericksburg.com/business/state_nation/ibm-denies-report-of-mass-layoffs/article_02482c6c-a5e6-11e4-b7c2-e7be3dff503d.html - As a follow-up to last week, IBM is getting hit with a massive reorg and layoffs: [This article really lays out some major issues the company is facing in a short and brutal method]
IBM is expected to go through a massive reorg next month that will reportedly see 26% of its 430,000-strong work force let go, or 111,800 people.
http://www.itworld.com/article/2875112/ibm-is-about-to-get-hit-with-a-massive-reorg-and-layoffs.html
- IBM lost a Federal bid protest:
http://washingtontechnology.com/blogs/editors-notebook/2015/01/ibm-booz-allen-protest-decision.aspx - More on the “reorg from hell”
http://betanews.com/2015/01/23/ibms-reorg-from-hell-launches-next-week/ - Will Rometty survive the reorg?
It is impossible to find an analysis of any industry that believes being late to market is an advantage. This is particularly true when the company that is late has no major features its competition does not. IBM cannot turn around its cloud initiatives. There are too many hurdles. Maybe the IBM board will take this into account as it evaluates Rometty. Why not replace a CEO who has already lost a key battle and created a loss from which the company cannot recover?
http://247wallst.com/technology-3/2015/01/21/can-ibm-ceo-ginni-rometty-survive/
Oracle
- CEO Larry Ellison on New Oracle Hardware Technique: ‘The way to compete is to have the lowest cost’
“Home-constructed systems can be high priced you have to do the integration and make it all perform collectively,” stated Ellison. “Our strategy has generally been to engineer all the layers – compute, storage, and networking – together, so you don’t have to. Having said that, we actually under no circumstances aimed at the lowest achievable purchase price with our tiered systems.”
- More on Oracle’s price war – specifically going after VMWare…
In his classic trash-talking style, Oracle CTO and founder Larry Ellison specifically slammed EMC (VMware’s parent company) during the presentation, claiming, “Our list price is less than half of their discount prices.” Then he laughed and made it clear. “We will negotiate and will discount prices” even more.
http://www.businessinsider.com/analyst-vmware-rips-out-oracle-for-sap-2015-1
HP
- There were hundreds of articles about HP releasing new business tablets. I am fairly “meh” on this news, but due to the volume of reporting:
http://www.wallstreetotc.com/hp-pro-slate-tablets-revealed-today/214674/
Other
- Microsoft’s Consent To Poaching Of Employee Brings Rapprochement With Salesforce
“I told him I wanted to hire one of his technologists as head of our infrastructure. What would be in it for Microsoft is the foundation of a partnership that would give us more kinds of ideas of things that we can do together. And he said okay. Now we’re learning about things that we could do with Microsoft’s file-management technologies and Office that we would never have known on our own”, the CEO said, according to Fortune.