Tag: Google

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Supplier Report: 9/10/2016

sn_boxing_khusen-rustamov

I am trying something new this week by focusing on topical categories instead of sections categorized by supplier.  Please let me know if you like it or don’t.

As there are changes with this blog, there are changes to IT suppliers…

EMC is officially no more, long live Dell Technologies? As expected, Dell has formally closed on the EMC acquisition and the timing could not be more ironic.  While Dell becomes enormous, Hewlett Packard is ever shrinking. This week, HPE announced they are “spin-merging” their software division with Micro Focus.

This is the second spin-merge HPE is attempting this year (the other being the sell off of consulting services to CSC expected to close in March 2017).

While Dell grows and HPE shrinks, Google and IBM are trying to cure cancer.

Acquisitions

sn_pacman2

Artificial Intelligence

  • Hospital to use IBM’s Watson for cancer care (Korea)

    IBM Watson for Oncology, a cloud-based machine-learning platform, was designed to provide physicians with evidence-based medical treatment options. The supercomputer analyzes large volumes of medical information and references available to help doctors offer individualized, data-driven treatment options for cancer patients.

    http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=3023649

  • Google is using AI to speed up cancer treatment

    DeepMind recently announced a partnership with the Radiotherapy Department at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The department provides world-leading cancer treatment, but there’s one area in particular where Google’s AI could help speed up the process.

    When it comes to certain types of cancer in areas like the head and neck doctors need to plan carefully to avoid damaging important organs and body parts. The process, called segmentation, can take four hours to complete. DeepMind says it can get that down to just one hour.

    http://www.technobuffalo.com/2016/09/04/google-deepmind-ai-cancer-treatment/

  • New IBM Linux servers custom-made for AI, deep learning and data centre efficiency

    “NVIDIA NVLink provides tight integration between the POWER CPU and NVIDIA Pascal GPUs and improved GPU-to-GPU link bandwidth to accelerate time to insight for many of today’s most critical applications like advanced analytics, deep learning and AI.”

    https://thestack.com/data-centre/2016/09/08/ibm-power-systems-s822lc-data-center-servers/

Cloud

  • What to do when the cloud eats your hardware vendor

    In the first quarter of 2016 Amazon reported that revenue for its Web Services division grew 64% from the same period a year earlier. Salesforce.com reported a 33% increase in revenues compared to a year earlier.

    Meanwhile, global storage revenues declined 32% between 2007 and 2015 and server revenues dropped 13%, according to research firm Forrester. The trend is clear: Cloud revenues are up, on-premises hardware revenues are down.

    http://www.networkworld.com/article/3117325/cloud-computing/what-to-do-when-the-cloud-eats-your-hardware-vendor.html

  • Box and IBM just rolled out the first product they built together since making last year’s blockbuster deal

    On Tuesday, Box rolled out a new product called Box Relay which helps users custom build workflows so they can automate and track their whole work process.

    For example, a salesperson may have a work process that involves four or five steps, including approvals from the sales manager, finance and legal departments. Instead of having to pull up different documents through multiple software apps, Box Relay allows the user to automate everything within Box.

    http://www.businessinsider.com/box-and-ibm-first-product-built-together-since-partnership-2016-9

  • Is Microsoft building a Slack killer?

    A few months ago, rumors circulated that Microsoft considered buying the cloud-based team collaboration tool Slack for a generous $8 billion. Overpaying again, it seems, as Slack’s last known valuation was $2.8 billion.

    Now it seems that Microsoft has decided to build rather than buy, using its own Skype messaging service as the basis for a new product. According to the site MSPoweruser, Microsoft is coming for the Slack market with a product called Skype Teams.

    http://www.networkworld.com/article/3117609/microsoft-subnet/is-microsoft-building-a-slack-killer.html
    sn_gilmorefight

Datacenter

  • HPE sues high-flying ex-exec after defection to EMC

    In a complaint [PDF] filed to the Delaware State Chancery Court, HPE alleges that KC Choi, the departed Vice President of Global Solutions Architecture, violated a 12-month non-compete agreement when he fled to EMC just before its acquisition by Dell.

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/09/06/hpe_sues_former_exec_over_dell_defection/

  • The New Dell Stops Trying To Be The Old IBM

    Both IBM and HPE are willing to shrink their supply chains in exchange for focus and the prospect of higher profits in the datacenter. Dell, for its part, is still clinging to clients and wants to have leverage in the supply chain (particularly with processor, memory, and storage suppliers) that it believes it will not have if it exits the PC business. We will be able to tell who is right with this. If HPE starts losing share to the new Dell Technologies in servers and storage, and is able to extract more profits, too, then Dell is right. Time will tell.

    http://www.nextplatform.com/2016/09/08/new-dell-stops-trying-old-ibm/
    sn_dell-technologies-structure

Software/SaaS

  • Microsoft Dethrones Salesforce As Top SaaS Provider

    The worldwide software-as-service (SaaS) market grew by 33 per cent in the second quarter of 2016 and Microsoft’s SaaS business experienced significant growth as well. So much so, it has overtaken Salesforce as the number one enterprise SaaS provider, according to Synergy Research Group.

    http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2016/09/microsoft-dethrones-salesforce-as-top-saas-provider/

  • OpenOffice could shutter due to lack of volunteer developers

    From Joey:
    Alot of people are talking about OpenOffice support shutting down, but the headline is misleading.  OpenOffice became part of Oracle as part of the Java acquisition. Oracle hasn’t done much to support the product over the years, and the opensource support groups forked the community.

    OpenOffice is alive and thriving in the form of LibreOffice.  The only reason I am mentioning this is because this is a great example of what happens when a for-profit company like Oracle takes over an open-source project.

Other

  • Microsoft’s tin ear for privacy

    Another potential privacy danger is more hidden than Cortana, buried deep in Windows 10 — what’s called telemetry data. Telemetry gathers detailed information from every Windows PC, laptop and device about how Windows 10 is being used. So it tracks, for example, what software is installed on the system, what crashes occur, when and how they occur, and more. And there’s no way to turn that off, unless you use the enterprise edition of Windows 10 and your IT department essentially flips the “off” switch.

    http://www.computerworld.com/article/3117343/data-privacy/microsoft-s-tin-ear-for-privacy.html
    sn_joeycanthearyou

Photo: Khusen Rustamov

Posted on

Supplier Report: 7/30/2016

sn_docks_Austin Neill

For weeks we have been asking if Java is dead… while the rumors of its demise may have been greatly exaggerated, Google may have created the final nail for Java’s future coffin.

Speaking of the future, does IBM have their eyes set on the golden goose Cerner? Acquiring Cerner would finally get them access to hospital information they so desperately want. While IBM is pining for a purchase, Oracle made a big one happen by grabbing NetSuite for $9.3B. Of course we can’t ignore Verizon’s purchase of Yahoo, oh wait I dedicated a whole podcast to that move.

Microsoft seems to be in a funk this week with news that they are cutting employees and potentially misrepresenting their cloud growth (yes, Microsoft too).

IBM

  • Cerner Could Be a Prized Asset for IBM

    To date the only active buyer on the health care front when it comes to large mega cap companies is IBM (IBM) , though its one missing link is access to hospitals, explained Mohan Naidu of Oppenheimer on Tuesday.

    While Cerner would fill that gap, Naidu cautioned that the likelihood of a potential deal comes down to both timing and how much IBM would be willing to pay. The health care IT firm’s scarcity value would likely require a pretty hefty premium, he said.

    Morningstar Inc. analyst Vishnu Lekraj added on Tuesday that Cerner is viewed as a “crowned jewel” in the health care IT space, describing its software assets as top tier in the industry and a “big prize” to gain: “To a company that’s lacking in servicing health care it would be a prime target,” he said.

    https://www.thestreet.com/story/13653083/1/cerner-could-be-a-prized-asset-for-ibm.html
    Note: IBM has approximately $14B in cash as of 3/31/2016 (credit: Spoons)

  • IBM Hired Hundreds of Designers to Figure Out What Customers Want

    So to shake up the status quo, IBM, Cognizant, Infosys and others have been racing to hire thousands of designers who once would have taken more specialized jobs—at an ad agency, say, or an industrial-design shop. At IBM, they team up with engineers and consultants and embed with a multiplicity of clients. Besides providing customer insights, the teams encourage constant feedback and tweak products as they’re built—a process aimed at getting them out faster. It’s how successful Silicon Valley startups operate but radical for the IT services industry.

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-25/ibm-hired-hundreds-of-designers-to-figure-out-what-customers-want

  • IBM to deploy recruitment process automation at ITC Infotech

    The implementation will help us enhance employee experience. This will create visibility in social media and provide real time data and dashboards. We hope that this will also help us improve recruitment efficiency in terms of cost, productivity and time to fulfill, added Anand Talwar, Chief Human Resource Officer, ITC Infotech.

    http://www.financialexpress.com/industry/companies/ibm-to-deploy-recruitment-process-automation-at-itc-infotech/328122/

Oracle

  • Oracle buys enterprise cloud services company NetSuite for $9.3B
    The rumors are true…

    Oracle will acquire NetSuite for about $9.3 billion, or $109 per share in an all-cash deal, the companies announced Thursday. Both Oracle and NetSuite’s cloud service offerings aimed at enterprise customers will continue to operate and “coexist in the marketplace forever,” according to a statement by Oracle CEO Mark Hurd.

    https://techcrunch.com/2016/07/28/oracle-buys-enterprise-cloud-services-company-netsuite-for-9-3b/
    The Flawed Logic Behind Oracle’s NetSuite Deal

    Oracle Corp.’s $9.3 billion bid for cloud financial software provider NetSuite should help boost Oracle’s lagging cloud business. But Oracle is paying a high price, particularly as NetSuite is too small to really move the needle for Oracle. Another big issue: NetSuite plays in a software category—financial management systems—whose mojo is being sapped by newer apps.

    https://www.theinformation.com/the-flawed-logic-behind-oracles-netsuite-deal
    A look at Oracle’s 10 biggest acquisitions
    http://www.networkworld.com/article/3101876/software/a-look-at-oracle-s-10-biggest-acquisitions.html

  • Pulling back the covers on Oracle lawsuit: State could spend $27 million in legal fees

    According to the Oregon Legislative Fiscal Office, the state has spent nearly $16 million so far building its case that the giant software company badly bungled development of the Cover Oregon heath-care exchange. With the trial not set to begin until January, the Department of Justice has estimated the cost of the lawsuit could top $27 million by next April, making it one of the most expensive in department history.

    “I had feared it would be extremely high, but my God, I’m shocked by that number,” said Mike McLane, House Republican leader.

    http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2016/07/puling_back_the_covers_on_orac.html

Microsoft

  • Is Microsoft Massively Overstating Its Cloud Revenues?
    Another cloud provider, another rumor of misreported revenues…

    In its quarterly 10-Q filing with the SEC from April, Microsoft breaks out the specific products it includes in its commercial cloud figure in the following way, “Our commercial cloud … primarily comprises Office 365 Commercial, Microsoft Azure, and Dynamics CRM Online.” As such, Microsoft’s commercial cloud pulls sales from two different official reporting divisions — intelligent cloud and productivity and business processes — each of which contains several unique products, making it guesswork at best to glean how much of that stated $12 billion in sales belongs to which product.

    The same problem exists in the intelligent cloud reporting segment, making it frustratingly difficult to gauge the progress of this strategic imperative. When Microsoft announced its new financial reporting structure, it outlined intelligent cloud as including “results from public, private and hybrid server products and services such as Windows Server, SQL Server, System Center, Azure, and Enterprise Services.”

    http://host.madison.com/business/investment/markets-and-stocks/is-microsoft-massively-overstating-its-cloud-revenues/article_985d1685-e5dd-5433-8eb7-c5c93c717a77.html
    sn_lying_ms

  • Microsoft is laying off an additional 2,850 employees

    The latest round of job cuts is in addition to the 1,850 layoffs that were announced in May, reports Engadget. Microsoft made the announcement in its latest SEC filing. Most of the layoffs are ex-Nokia employees, the company Microsoft acquired to try to become a hardware player in the smartphone space. Microsoft says that 900 of the 2,850 employees it plans on laying off have already been notified, with the rest of the additional layoffs coming before mid-2017

    https://news.fastcompany.com/microsoft-is-laying-off-an-additional-2850-employees-4015477

  • Microsoft misjudges millennials, spectacularly

    Since this spring Microsoft has had to apologize publicly three times for offensive, anti-Semitic, sexist, homophobic and racist words and acts, all in the name of getting millennials onboard. One of the incidents could be deemed unintentional, but a lack of foresight certainly contributed to the resulting marketing calamity. Memo to Microsoft: There are much better ways to lure millennials to your brand. In fact, thinking that any of this might help is deeply insulting to your target audience.

    http://www.computerworld.com/article/3101397/it-management/microsoft-misjudges-millennials-spectacularly.html

Storage (Dell | Infinidate | Netapp)

  • Ditch your Macs, Dell tells EMC staff

    Amid Dell’s looming takeover of EMC, an edict has been issued insisting that Dell customers must only ever see Dell laptops during meetings and consulting engagements, EMC insiders have told The Register.

    At least EMC staff after being offered nice replacement kit, in the form of the gaming-bred XPS machines, that another insider told us have been promised to incoming Dell employees.

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/07/29/ditch_your_macs_dell_emc/

  • Two in five execs grumble flash technology is too expensive, research finds

    Yet NetApp argues that the benefits of flash go beyond the bottom line. “Our research shows that while the business value of flash in terms of performance and responsiveness is understood by IT decision makers, education on the true value of flash needs to continue further up the chain,” said Laurence James, EMEA products, alliances and solutions manager at NetApp. “Flash is a long-term investment that can transform business performance and should not be analysed in terms of capital investment alone.”

    That is a TERRIBLE sales tactic, you are either saving money or going after a performance boost.
    http://www.cloudcomputing-news.net/news/2016/jul/29/execs-grumble-flash-technology-too-expensive-research-finds/

Other

  • Verizon buys Yahoo for $4.8B

    As a side note to all this, some anecdotal evidence. We’ve been hearing for months that AOL offices in different regions have been readying themselves for a future with more purple in it. That’s run the gamut from keeping a holding pattern over new office space and future hires, through to strategic ‘sprints’ to consider developments in coming months around R&D initiatives, advertising and more.

    “We are preparing. It sometimes feels like the only thing we talk about,” one AOL executive told me. It may be a sign of how confident Verizon and AOL are of a winning bid, but also of how they would like to kickstart an integration and get working together as quickly as possible. (Poor integrations being one of the killers of so many mergers, of course.)

    https://sn.joeylombardi.com/?p=1927
    Why a Verizon and Yahoo merger would be like Microsoft snapping up CompuServe

    Here’s the other infuriating part of Verizon and AOL “purchasing” Yahoo assets. What assets? I know the one-time competitor to Google has some of the highest traffic on the planet, what with all of their weather apps and such. But even Google has figured out how to break free from the old “click my banner” trick so popular in 2007. Major companies like eyeballs, consumers like innovation. That’s the problem with investors who still use a BlackBerry. They want to buy a logo. They see brand acquisition as a conquest, not a business strategy.

    http://www.computerworld.com/article/3099116/internet/why-an-verizon-and-yahoo-merger-would-be-like-microsoft-snapping-up-compuserve.html

  • Salesforce’s Benioff says he would have paid more than $26B for LinkedIn

    Of course, the Benioff email didn’t say how much more he would have offered, or how the revised bid would have been restructured. Microsoft won in part because of the amount on the table, but also because if offered all cash. Salesforce had offered a mix of cash and stock.

    I wouldn’t be proud of that…
    http://venturebeat.com/2016/07/25/salesforces-benioff-says-he-would-have-paid-more-than-26b-for-linkedin/

  • Teradata agrees to acquire data company, to expand services

    Miami Township-based Teradata (NYSE: TDC) will acquire Big Data Partnership, a London-based EMEA-based services provider of big data solutions and training. Big Data Partnership has what Teradata calls deep expertise in disruptive technologies, including Apache Hadoop, and helps its clients discover how to become more data driven and data savvy through data science and the adoption of the latest big data technologies.

    http://www.bizjournals.com/dayton/news/2016/07/25/teradata-agrees-to-acquire-data-company-to-expand.html

  • FireEye Stock Jumps on Takeover Speculation

    Possible acquirers include Symantec, which reportedly made an offer for FireEye in June before ultimately buying Blue Coat Systems. International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM) and Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) may also be interested in the company, with both tech titans aiming to grow their respective security businesses.

    http://www.pantagraph.com/business/investment/markets-and-stocks/fireeye-stock-jumps-on-takeover-speculation/article_4c9bb33c-a526-5bdc-80ab-ac29e3798859.html

  • Why open source programming languages are crushing proprietary peers

    Even more impressive than R, however, is Go, the open source language first released by Google. Based in large measure on a 5X boom in active GitHub repositories defaulting to Go as their primary language, developers have gone gaga for Go. Go may even give the venerable Java a run for its money, given developers’ propensity to use it to build cloud applications.

    http://www.techrepublic.com/article/why-open-source-programming-languages-are-crushing-proprietary-peers/

  • CSC reportedly plans layoffs ahead of HPE merger

    Computer Sciences Corp. plans to lay off about 500 workers ahead of its merger with Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s enterprise services business, according to a Computerworld report. But the company says the layoffs are unrelated to the proposed merger.

    http://www.ciodive.com/news/csc-reportedly-plans-layoffs-ahead-of-hpe-merger/423504/

Photo: Austin Neill

Posted on

Supplier Report: 7/23/2016

sn_danger_Nicolas Cool

IBM had another down quarter but is reporting 30% growth in cloud and their “critical initiatives”, while they are growing the future of Big Blue, are they turning friends into enemies? What does IBM and Microsoft’s deal for their Surface devices means for Apple in the long run?

Salesforce purchased a datacenter analytics company while there are rumors that Oracle might buy cloud computing company Netsuite.

HPE failed to get an Oracle lawsuit dismissed and also seems to be failing to pay their sales teams.

Can Google use AI to cut datacenter energy costs by 40%? (Yes… with a big BUT)

IBM

  • IBM grows in cloud and data analytics but overall revenue slides

    The Armonk, New York, company said Monday that revenue from its new “strategic imperatives” like cloud, analytics and security increased by 12 percent year-on-year to US$8.3 billion. That increase was, however, lower than the growth the company had reported in these businesses in the first quarter.

    Cloud revenue – public, private and hybrid – grew 30 percent in the second quarter, while revenue from analytics grew 4 percent, revenue from mobile increased 43 percent and the security business grew 18 percent.

    Additionally:

    IBM’s systems revenue, for example, was down 23 percent in the quarter to $2 billion, while its Global Business Services, including consulting, global process services and application management, brought in revenue of $4.3 billion, down 3.0 percent from a year earlier. Revenue for the company’s z Systems mainframes was down 40 percent in the quarter while margins improved, “consistent with where we are in the product cycle.” Schroeter said. IBM acquired EZSource in the quarter to help developers quickly and easily update mainframe applications.

    http://www.pcworld.com/article/3097273/ibm-grows-in-cloud-and-data-analytics-but-overall-revenue-slides.html

  • IBM: A Hodgepodge Going Nowhere

    I’m going to pick on Truven here because I’m a bit familiar with the company from the past. Truven basically owns a bunch of data on patients and licenses it out to companies so they can try and analyze it. IBM’s plan is to essentially plug all that data into Watson and hope it can come up with some clever insights to better treat patients. But is it really worth $2.6 billion? While IBM could certainly be onto something with all its healthcare-related acquisitions, since the industry is ripe for reform, chances are probably just as high that the company is acquiring as much as it can in the hopes that something turns into a homerun.

    My friends at Seeking Alpha really don’t like IBM (even when there is positive news). 
    http://seekingalpha.com/article/3989255-ibm-hodgepodge-going-nowhere
    Also from SA: IBM May Not Be A Hopeless Disaster After All

    In the past, I’ve stated repeatedly that IBM was too far away from growing its imperatives revenue quickly enough to make up for the losses in its legacy businesses but it seems that is no longer the case. What started as a small proportion of revenue is now a significant piece of the business and at the rate it is growing, IBM could potentially see top line growth in the relatively near future if it can stop the hemorrhaging elsewhere. Can it do that? Maybe; we’ll just have to wait and see. But at least the conversation can happen now whereas that was certainly not the case in the relatively recent past.

    http://seekingalpha.com/article/3989381-ibm-may-hopeless-disaster

  • CSC and IBM Expand Strategic Alliance with Collaboration Utilizing IBM Cloud for z to Enable Clients’ Move to Cloud

    CSC and IBM today announced a collaboration in which IBM will provide its Cloud Managed Services for z Systems — IBM Cloud for z — and associated mainframe hardware, software, monitoring and governance support to CSC clients who are moving to the cloud and want a more secure, scalable, flexible information technology infrastructure at significantly reduced operational costs.

    The expanded alliance further advances CSC’s vision of the “Service-Enabled Enterprise” and IBM’s “as-a-service” strategy, both designed to increase client choice and innovation in adopting emerging technologies. The as-a-service strategy provides consumption-based pricing for the IBM z Systems environment to give clients’ greater capital investment flexibility.

    So… IBM cuts their consulting force, CSC merges with HPE’s, and now there is this “collaboration”.  Interesting.
    http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/csc-and-ibm-expand-strategic-alliance-with-collaboration-utilizing-ibm-cloud-for-z-to-enable-clients-move-to-cloud-300300377.html

  • IBM Watson Wants to Be Your New Salesperson at Macy’s

    Customers can type in questions, and Macy’s On Call will return the top answer for that question along with location-specific details. For example, a customer could type, “Where are the ladies shoes?” or ask to find a specific brand of a dress, and the assistant will inform the shopper as to where the shoes are located in the store and where the exact dress is located.

    http://fortune.com/2016/07/20/ibm-watson-macys/

Hewlett Packard Enterprise | HP Inc

Oracle

  • Oracle could be about to buy NetSuite

    Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) is on the brink of announcing its buyout of cloud computing rival NetSuite Inc (NYSE:N), according to unconfirmed market rumors on Thursday.

    Gossips reckoned NetSuite has delayed publication of financial results due this week until next week because the pair want to unveil the deal beforehand.

    http://www.proactiveinvestors.com/companies/news/128488/oracle-could-be-about-to-buy-netsuite-128488.html

  • Oracle Wins Round in Copyright Suit With HPE

    U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar on Friday largely denied HPE’s motion to dismiss the suit, which accuses the company of participating in a scheme to use pilfered intellectual property to win customer-service contracts away. Friday’s decision was filed under seal, but at a Thursday afternoon hearing Tigar outlined his tentative ruling. He indicated he would partially dismiss Oracle’s claim under California’s unfair competition law but allow the core copyright claims to proceed.

    Oracle sued HPE in March, accusing its rival of pairing with Terix Computer Co. Inc. to sell hardware and software support services for Oracle’s Sun-branded computers running the Solaris operating system. Oracle’s lawyers, led by Christopher Yates of Latham & Watkins, have alleged that HPE officials knew Terix illegally used Oracle customer credentials to access copyrighted Solaris updates for servers. Oracle claims that only servers covered by valid Oracle support contracts had a license to the updates.

    http://www.therecorder.com/litigation-news/id=1202762942712/Oracle-Wins-Round-in-Copyright-Suit-With-HPE

  • Exclusive: Oracle to reboot Java EE for the cloud

    Rumored to have put the project on the back burner, Oracle has weathered a storm of complaints over its stewardship of enterprise Java, with two separate organizations considering plans to move Java EE forward without Oracle. Rather than let Java EE wither, Oracle is instead looking to reboot the platform to better accommodate where enterprises are headed, particularly to the cloud, said a high-ranking Oracle official in response to recent criticism.

    http://www.infoworld.com/article/3098007/java/oracle-to-reboot-java-ee-for-the-cloud.html

Storage (EMC | Dell )

  • EMC Exec: No Competition Between Dell-Nutanix Appliance And EMC Hyper-Convergence Portfolio

    “If I buy into the [EMC] ‘blocks, racks and rails’ story, it’s not really competitive against Nutanix,” Miller said. The Nutanix-based Dell XC appliance, “is for a smaller play, or someone who hasn’t completely bought into [the hyper-convergence] methodology,” he said.

    http://www.crn.com/news/data-center/300081365/emc-exec-no-competition-between-dell-nutanix-appliance-and-emc-hyper-convergence-portfolio.htm

  • EMC, Dell merger approved by shareholders in 98% vote

    From Joe Tucci, EMC Chairman and CEO: “Today’s resoundingly favorable shareholder vote clearly supports our view that combining Dell and EMC will create a powerhouse in the technology industry. The Board and I care very deeply about, and have worked diligently to represent, what we believe is the best outcome for all stakeholders. I want to thank our shareholders for their support, as well as our customers and partners.  My special thanks to the talented people of EMC for their hard work, dedication and passion.”

    http://seekingalpha.com/news/3194069-emc-dell-merger-approved-shareholders-98-percent-vote

Microsoft

  • What will it take to turn Microsoft back to growth?

    Wall Street analysts on average expect the tech giant to post fiscal fourth-quarter revenue of $22.14 billion on earnings per share of 58 cents, according to a Thomson Reuters survey of 23 analyst estimates. This would mark the smallest year-over-year drop in quarterly revenue since the fourth quarter of last year.

    Overall, revenue is expected to decline 2 percent for fiscal 2016, but the company is headed in the right direction: Revenue growth is expected to return next quarter. Analysts project Microsoft to report 2 percent growth in the September quarter and 4 percent growth for fiscal 2017.

    http://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/18/what-it-will-take-for-microsoft-to-return-to-growth.html

Other

  • Salesforce Takes Measures Against Google Android Fragmentation-Related Issues

    Salesforce announced on its official support page that it will only support Google Nexus and Samsung Galaxy devices. The firm released a statement saying that the decision to support a limited number of devices regardless of the many Android devices on the market was so that it can improve its services on the devices supported. This will allow Android users on supported devices to have a better user experience.

    http://marketexclusive.com/salesforce-com-inc-nysecrm-takes-measures-alphabet-inc-nasdaqgoogl-google-android-fragmentation-related-issues/9249/

  • Google unleashes DeepMind on energy-hungry datacenter, cutting cooling bill by 40 percent

    We accomplished this by taking the historical data that had already been collected by thousands of sensors within the data centre — data such as temperatures, power, pump speeds, setpoints, etc. — and using it to train an ensemble of deep neural networks. Since our objective was to improve data centre energy efficiency, we trained the neural networks on the average future PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness), which is defined as the ratio of the total building energy usage to the IT energy usage. We then trained two additional ensembles of deep neural networks to predict the future temperature and pressure of the data centre over the next hour. The purpose of these predictions is to simulate the recommended actions from the PUE model, to ensure that we do not go beyond any operating constraints.

    https://deepmind.com/blog?t=1
    sn_unlimitedpower

  • Microsoft, IBM and SAP’s Impressive Cloud Numbers Don’t Tell the Whole Story

    Moreover, a shift from on-premise to cloud revenue streams is pressuring the margins of many firms, as hosting cloud apps and services brings with it expenses that don’t exist with regular software sales. While Microsoft’s revenue rose 2% in the June quarter, the company’s cost of revenue rose 7%, with cloud and search ad expense growth more than offsetting the impact of plunging phone sales. Meanwhile, IBM’s gross margin fell 190 basis points in the second quarter to 49%.

    https://www.thestreet.com/story/13646457/2/microsoft-ibm-and-sap-report-impressive-cloud-numbers-but-they-don-t-tell-the-whole-story.html

  • Should Apple worry about Microsoft-IBM deal?

    Apple’s role in the enterprise has been and, for the foreseeable future, will be anchored to workers and consumers, not big businesses, says Aaron Gette, CIO of Bay Club, a lifestyle and fitness company. “Microsoft might not be first to market, but they come prepared and well versed,” he says. “Microsoft’s Azure is beginning to win in the enterprise cloud marketplace, so the role of IBM’s ability to deliver apps to the Surface users in the enterprise is a great play.”

    http://www.cio.com/article/3098267/it-industry/should-apple-worry-about-microsoft-ibm-deal.html

  • Salesforce acquires crowd-sourced data analytics solution Coolan

    Coolan is a data analytics platform that monitors the performance of data centers, that helps predict server failure, reduce downtime, and lower the cost of infrastructure. Their cloud analytics platform is aimed at predicting the flaws in a data center and helping the hardware community build a reliable and efficient infrastructure.

    http://thetechportal.com/2016/07/22/salesforce-acquires-coolan/
    Why Salesforce Is Buying This Little-Known Startup

    “If you’re a company buying, say 100 Dell servers this year, and another 100 in six months and another 100 next year, you really don’t know what the components in all those servers are,” said a source close to Coolan, who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak on the deal. “Some may have Western Digital hard drives, others may have Seagate, some server lots will have memory from this supplier, others from someone else. Coolan goes in and tells you what all those components are, how they all perform over time and what their failure rates are.”

    http://fortune.com/2016/07/22/salesforce-coolan-data-centers/

Photo: Nicolas Cool

Posted on

News You Can Use: 7/20/2016

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  • How To Use A Mass Exodus At Your Company To Advance Your Career

    Taking on new or more challenging work. “If there are projects you would like to pitch in on because it would be rewarding or enhance your skill set, this could be a time to do that,” she says. And now you can make a strong case for why you’re up for the task.

    After all, you may have some more leverage than you did beforehand—at least of a certain sort. “If people are leaving,” Crawford says, “they kind of need all hands on deck. That would be one more positive way to get your fingers in more areas you may not have otherwise.”

    http://www.fastcompany.com/3061287/hit-the-ground-running/how-to-use-a-mass-exodus-at-your-company-to-advance-your-career

  • How To Stop Checking Email On Vacation

    If you’re finding it hard to refrain from email, set “unplugging goals,” suggests Gabby Burlacu, human capital management researcher at the software company SAP SuccessFactors. “Learning to completely unplug from work takes time and focus,” she says. “Finding hobbies or activities while you’re on vacation and making a commitment to solely focus on those while you are engaged in them can go a long way.”

    It can also be helpful if you sort email, says Webb. He takes 10 minutes a day, while he’s waiting at the airport or riding in a cab, to filter email into the folders he set up before he left: “Action Required,” “File,” and “Read Later.”

    “I don’t respond to messages while on vacation, unless I feel it’s imperative,” he says. “I simply process the emails for action upon my return.”

    http://www.fastcompany.com/3061451/how-to-stop-checking-email-on-vacation

  • Creative Office Design Won’t Make You Better At Your Job, But This Might

    Del Toro found this reassuring. The employee hadn’t asked permission to move the furniture, but the fact that she had done so anyway pointed to a feature of ViaSat’s work environment that no designer can account for directly—its culture, which prizes curiosity and the freedom to find alternative ways of doing things on your own initiative. That couch still sits by the window. It’s already the most popular space for people to meet. But del Toro won’t be surprised or perturbed if somebody six or 12 months from now moves it someplace else.

    http://www.fastcompany.com/3061170/the-future-of-work/creative-office-design-wont-make-you-better-at-your-job-but-this-might
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  • Tensions rise over LTE using Wi-Fi channels

    Unlicensed LTE is designed to give mobile operators more spectrum to work with as they try to serve subscribers in crowded places. Verizon, T-Mobile USA and other carriers have talked about rolling it out as soon as the end of this year.

    But some backers of Wi-Fi, including the Alliance, have said LTE-U could make it hard for wireless LAN users to get a packet in edgewise. Fans of the new technology, including Qualcomm, say it won’t add any more interference than a new Wi-Fi access point would.

    http://www.cio.com/article/3088987/tensions-rise-over-lte-using-wi-fi-channels.html

  • The Skills It Takes To Get Hired At Google, Facebook, Amazon, And More

    Four things: General cognitive ability . . . Not just raw [intelligence] but the ability to absorb information. Emergent leadership: The idea there being that when you see a problem, you step in and try to address it. Then you step out when you’re no longer needed. That willingness to give up power is really important. Cultural fit: We call it Googleyness, but it boils down to intellectual humility. You don’t have to be warm or fuzzy. You just have to be somebody who, when the facts show you’re wrong, can say that. Expertise in the job we’re gonna hire you for.

    http://www.fastcompany.com/3061237/the-skills-it-takes-to-get-hired-at-google-facebook-amazon-and-more

Photo: Martina Misar-Tummeltshammer