SourceCast: Episode 38: Storage Wars
Supplier Report: 8/27/2016
Storage was a hot topic this week. IBM introduced new, more affordable offerings which resulted in a copious amount of articles.
Oracle’s legal battles are keeping them in the news. Their battles with Oregon and Google are still going and growing in complexity. HP is also getting sued for age discrimination.
Apple purchased personal health data company Gliimpse and Microsoft purchased AI scheduling tool Genee.
IBM
- Is Watson Smart Enough To Breathe Life Into IBM?
White believes that given IBM’s relative absence in the Enterprise SaaS solutions market, the deal is not likely to run into anti-trust roadblocks. He feels Workday’s growth in the SaaS space will complement IBM’s aim to provide a flexible cloud structure and help establish a noteworthy footprint in the space. Drexel Hamilton has a Buy rating and a 12-month target price of $186 on IBM. The stock closed at just above $159 in trading yesterday.
- IBM launches flash arrays for smaller enterprises, aims to court EMC, Dell customers
The company is also aiming a migration program designed to poach customers from the likes of Dell and EMC. IBM’s “Flash In” migration program is carried out by its various partners. Via Flash In, IBM is looking to integrate its systems with storage rivals or replace them.
IBM launched the Storwize V7000F and Storwize 5030F as mid-range and entry level flash systems. The systems come with Spectrum Virtualize, which is software designed for data compression, provisioning, and snapshots across various systems.
- IBM looks to take advantage of Dell EMC ‘disruption’
Channel players not already involved with IBM are also being invited to the party. “Business partners looking to add IBM as a strategic vendor will find a set of comprehensive benefits that compare very favourably to what they may experience today,” said IBM.
Up to 80 percent of IBM all-flash storage is sold by IBM Business Partners. “The IBM Flash In initiative will amplify the company’s all-flash offensive to help Business Partners reach new clients not currently served by IBM, and clients who may face potential disruption if there are product portfolio integrations with Dell and EMC,” the vendor said.
http://www.channelbiz.co.uk/2016/08/23/ibm-looks-to-take-advantage-of-dell-emc-disruption/
- IBM Named a Leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for its Flash Storage Solutions
IBM’s position as a leader comes after it announced the expansion of its FlashSystem portfolio, including DeepFlash andStorwize products, to help clients more quickly extract value from data for competitive advantage. Among the 380 patents that differentiate IBM’s flash products and services are its FlashCore and MicroLatency technologies. Clients rely on these technologies to quickly access the mounting volumes.
- It’s time for all-flash says IBM, but IT chiefs won’t necessarily agree
“As long as your working set size is within your available SSD [in a hybrid flash setup] then everything happening, on for example SQL Server, will be fine. The only time you need all-flash is if you have a large number of SQL datasets that you need access to; in effect requiring random access.”
He added: “Far too many people see it as a panacea but it’s a pointless way of storing lots of data.”
Oracle
- Is Oracle Funding an Anti-Google Group?
The company has stated that it is has funded the Google Transparency Project, which according to its website, “is a research initiative of the Campaign for Accountability, a 501(c)3 project that uses research, litigation and aggressive communications to expose how decisions made behind the doors of corporate boardrooms and government offices impact Americans’ lives.”
https://www.thestreet.com/story/13680655/1/is-oracle-funding-an-anti-google-group-tech-roundup.html
- Why Google Needs to Win the Android Case Against Oracle
So it’s important that these APIs remain neutral so companies can’t fleece the world at large every time they are used. Media reports indicate that courts have thus far ruled in favor of maintaining this neutrality of APIs. And that’s exactly why the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has repeatedly filed amicus curiae (friend/impartial advisor to the court) briefs so the courts hold that APIs aren’t copyrightable and to prevent Oracle from monetizing the Java API through its acquisition of Sun.
And in fact, the case revealed that it was Sun’s practice to allow companies to freely use Java APIs. Sun’s strategy in those days was to use this approach to extend Java’s reach as far as possible so more developers would build on it. The idea was that once the ecosystem gathered momentum, it would help Sun sell other products.
https://www.zacks.com/stock/news/228742/why-google-needs-to-win-the-android-case-against-oracle
- Oracle v. Oregon: Round 1 of Lawsuit Goes to State
Brown and her team denied any agreement had been reached, and the legal battle continues. One of the first decisions in the case was handed down this week in Oregon’s favor. Oracle had asserted that emails were withheld in a way that violated public record laws, but the judge left little doubt as to his decision, saying “Oracle is wrong, both on the law and the facts.”
Microsoft
- Microsoft announces free Windows Server licenses when migrating from VMware
To make more VMware customers switch to Hyper-V, Microsoft is announcing a new VMware migration offer where customers can get Windows Server Datacenter licenses for free when they buy Windows Server 2016 Datacenter and Software Assurance migrating from VMWare. From September 1, 2016, through June 30, 2017, customers who switch from VMware to Hyper-V can avail this offer. Basically, customers has to pay only for Software Assurance which provides benefits including new product version rights, deployment planning, technical and end-user training, support, and a unique set of technologies and services.
http://mspoweruser.com/microsoft-announces-free-windows-server-licenses-migrating-vmware/
- Microsoft buys AI scheduling tool Genee to make Office 365 smarter
The app works by being CCed in emails, and using natural language processing to parse the contents of the email to understand the key requirements for the meeting — and then automatically sending out a meeting invite on your behalf. So it’s arguably an early example of the AI-powered chatbots now springing up all over the place. There are a set of standard commands Genee understands by default but users can also create their own custom commands.
Microsoft notes the tool is “especially useful for large groups for when you don’t have access to someone’s calendar”. Genee’s co-founders, Ben Cheung and Charles Lee, “plan” to join the company, it adds.
- The marriage of Microsoft and Linux
What’s changed for Microsoft and open source in recent years is Microsoft has refocused on solving both its own and customers’ business problems. That means, first, Linux is treated as an equal to Windows. “Microsoft actually uses a lot of Linux in-house. It’s no longer everything has to be run on Windows internally.” Microsoft is doing this because “We’re solving business problems and we’re very pragmatic.”
http://www.zdnet.com/article/the-marriage-of-microsoft-and-linux/
Storage
- 5 Ways the Dell Purchase of EMC Will Benefit VMware
Simplification of the hardware and software stacks. Although the cloud will be a huge part of the future of IT, some companies will still want or need to run applications locally. That fact, combined with the general direction of IT toward simplification, means it’s easy to foresee a tighter integration between Dell, EMC and VMware to simplify application delivery.
https://virtualizationreview.com/articles/2016/08/01/dell-purchase-of-emc.aspx
- Dell: EMC Buy Will End Legacy Perceptions Of Dell As A PC Company
While Dell does a lot more than PCs, the company from CEO Michael Dell on down still embraces its pedigree as a major PC vendor, Khan said. “Michael’s goal is to make Dell an end-to-end enterprise solutions company,” he said.
- EMC still hiring in Massachusetts even as Dell merger looms
Officials at EMC have been mum about the company’s headcount, especially in the wake of the merger announcement in October 2015. A spokeswoman for EMC declined to comment on the fact that the firm is still hiring in Massachusetts, saying only that “we’ve made it a practice of not disclosing the number of job openings at any given time.”
The job openings could also signal continued economic development in MetroWest communities, where EMC owns millions of square feet of property, employs thousands of workers and serves as a substantial pillar for the local economy.
Other
- Apple Acquires Personal Health Data Startup Gliimpse
Silicon Valley-based Gliimpse has built a personal health data platform that enables any American to collect, personalize, and share a picture of their health data. The company was started in 2013 by Anil Sethi and Karthik Hariharan. Sethi is a serial entrepreneur who has spent the past decade working with health startups, after taking his company Sequoia Software public in 2000. He got his start as a systems engineer at Apple in the late 1980s.
The acquisition happened earlier this year, but Apple has been characteristically quiet about it. The company has now confirmed the purchase, saying: “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.”
- Is Focus on Shareholder Value Killing Manufacturing?
During the time that shareholder value and stock prices became more important than employees, the U.S. has suffered from:
- Growing Manufacturing Unemployment – From 2000 to 2010 manufacturing lost around 6 million jobs. Since the recovery from the Great Recession only 828,000 employees have been hired in manufacturing.
- Slowing GDP Growth – Since 2000, GDP growth has averaged a very weak 1.8%
Increasing Pay Gap – The wealthiest 1% have captured almost all of the growth in income since the 2008 crash. - Increasing Pay Gap – The wealthiest 1% have captured almost all of the growth in income since the 2008 crash.
- Increasing Offshoring – Outsourcing of manufacturing jobs to low-cost countries has been the most popular strategy, and EPI asserts that between 2000 and 2007 3.6 million manufacturing jobs were lost. After the Great Recession, between 2007 and 2014, another 1.4 million manufacturing jobs were lost.
- Growing Trade Deficit – Our total trade deficit has grown to $10 trillion in the last 30 years.
- Salesforce is suddenly hiring fewer people after spending nearly $4 billion buying companies this year
There are 30% fewer open jobs listed on Salesforce’s website over the past three months, with most of the job reductions occurring since early July, according to a note published on Friday by the market research firm Cowen and Company.
The firm notes that there have also been some “travel restrictions” within the company, citing unnamed sources.
http://www.businessinsider.com/salesforce-cuts-hiring-after-spending-4-billion-acquisitions-2016-8
- HP Is Running Out of Ink
After the spinoff from Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) , 60% of HP’s revenue comes from personal computers and 40% from printing. Of the $1 billion in non-GAAP operating profit last quarter, 77% of the company’s came from printing. Printing had an operating margin of 17.3% and is the biggest contributor to HP’s profits. Printing supplies (ink) makes up 67% of printing revenue.
Meanwhile, Personal Systems, or the personal computer division, represents 23% of profits and carries a slender 3.5% operating margin. Systems generated a profit of $242 million in the second quarter. The division outperformed the market to achieve an overall market share of 19.4%, up 0.4 points.
The company has become number one in commercial PCs, with a market share of 24.6%. Total unit shipments fell 9% last quarter, however. Desktop revenue declined 13% and units shipped ddropped 10%.
http://realmoney.thestreet.com/articles/08/23/2016/hp-running-out-ink
- Is big data in big trouble?
If you are a technology buyer, you are probably looking beyond these earnings. You are paying attention to the other developments that occurred in this space this summer: Workday acquired Platfora in July, Qlik Tech got absorbed by private equity firm Thoma Bravo in June. You might also have heard that Amazon is planning to release its business intelligence visualization solution next month, and you know that both Microsoft and Google already have products in this market.
Betting on one vendor for visualization and business intelligence is becoming increasingly difficult. Rather than worry about the earnings of the industry players, it’s better to focus on their approach and architectural vision instead.
https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/19/is-big-data-in-big-trouble/
- Tableau has hired longtime AWS executive Adam Selipsky as its CEO
Selipsky has spent more than a decade at AWS. Before that, he was an executive at RealNetworks, leading the video subscription and media player division.
The change is intriguing, particularly given Tableau’s recent financial troubles, said Charles King, principal analyst with Pund-IT.
“Despite continuing customer growth, the company has been struggling, and its shares have lost a substantial percentage of their value in the past year,” King said.
http://www.cio.com/article/3110646/tableau-turns-to-aws-for-a-cloud-savvy-ceo.html
- Cisco wants to be a software company? Why customers should look beyond the hype
So what does it all mean? For Cisco, it all sounds like business as usual. It’s selling as much software as it ever did but that is simply bundled up in a way that shifts the business model away from selling monolithic hardware. This has been happening to lots of tech firms for at least the last decade as any PC hardware firm will attest. Equally, without the hardware and software integration, some of the need for platform-based firms such as Cisco would go away.
Cybersecurity is the perfect example of this trend, a sector in which buying security layers bundled up in boxes has given away to the concept of security as a layer in a software-defined network. The sheer complexity of managing hardware using distinct systems ensured the success of this model.
But what has really changed here is the way software has followed hardware in becoming a commodity. That is what the cloud is: a way of offering complex systems through a consistent set of standards and technologies that let anyone buy the same service for the same price. But the integration between the two remains complex when building network infrastructure, however unsexy that sounds to analysts. Cisco will continue to employ a lot of people who understand how to make the two gel.
- HP Sued for Alleged Age Bias in Mass Layoffs
HP slashed roughly 30,000 jobs in 2012 under CEO Meg Whitman, and has conducted smaller cuts since then. According to the complaint, workers over 40 were “significantly more likely” to have their jobs eliminated under the company’s reduction plan.
A spokesperson for Hewlett-Packard Enterprise denied that age was a consideration in the company’s layoffs. “The decision to implement a workforce reduction is always difficult,” the spokesperson said Monday in an emailed statement, “but we are confident that our decisions were based on legitimate factors unrelated to age.”
Photo: Maximilian Weisbecker
Supplier Report: 8/20/2016
While IBM is finding ways to keep itself alive (like a 7 year deal with WorkDay), it is also finding ways to keep people alive (see Japanese diagnostic article).
Oracle is trying to do good things for this world by opening a high school on its campus, but then they wipe out their karma by trying to sue google a third time over Java.
Microsoft bought a company from a 17-year-old kid, SalesForces bought a company called BeyondCore, and Cisco might eliminate 14,000 5,500 jobs.
IBM
- IBM Inks Deal with Workday for Cloud Computing
IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced Workday, a leading provider of enterprise cloud applications for finance and human resources, has adopted the IBM Cloud as part of a multi-year strategic partnership. IBM Cloud will become the foundation for Workday’s development and testing environment providing Workday with greater efficiency, flexibility, and global scale.
http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2016/08/15/ibm-inks-deal-with-workday-for-cloud-computing/
Why the Workday cloud deal is good for IBM in RTPIBM Cloud will become the foundation for Workday’s development and testing environment, and it’s a big, long-term win for IBM. Workday picked Big Blue over some competitors such as Microsoft and Amazon Web Services (where it already runs part of its business).
As part of the arrangement, IBM’s platform-as-a-service cloud development tool, BlueMix, will supply many of the services Workday will require.
- IBM’s Watson Diagnosed Patient in Ten Minutes
After months of physician-failed diagnosis, a super computer steps in and saves the life of a female patient from Japan, suffering from leukemia.
IBM Watson Health has committed to developing a partnership between humanity and technology with the goal of transforming global health. With the ability to read 40 million documents in 15 seconds, IBM’s Watson –super computer powered with artificial intelligence- studied the patient’s medical records for ten minutes and was able to compare her type of cancer against 20 million oncological records, according to International Business Times.
Physicians in Japan decided to try out IBM’s Watson on patients after all other treatment options had failed. The Watson revealed that the patient’s condition was another form of leukemia and required a different treatment from the one originally prescribed. So far, this is proving to be a life-saving approach.
http://www.medicaltourismmag.com/ibms-watson-diagnosed-patient/
- As census failure blame points at IBM, why we shouldn’t be surprised by its failings
IBM has already been banned from being allowed to work with Queensland State departments after its A$1.25 billion payroll failure in 2013.
The fact that IBM may be at fault in this particular software project should not come as a surprise. Firstly, software projects are generally hard and there is evidence that a majority will fail for a variety of reasons, but a principle one being failure to capture all of the requirements correctly. This certainly appears to be the cause in the poor preparation for the eCensus project.
- CEO Ginni Rometty Tells Bloomberg Businessweek How IBM Plans to Compete With Google
She told Chafkin that she views IBM as “the grown-up company” to the startup tech companies. She said people from Google and Facebook come to IBM because “they really want to have an impact on serious things.”
In other words, you can work on an app at Google or you can help move jet planes around at IBM, Chafkin explained.
Oracle
- Oracle builds a high school on their campus
Oracle knew it had to be part of this new way of teaching, modeled after Stanford’s school of design. “It’s not a production design or fashion design or interior design. Design thinking is a way to solve a problem,” Design Tech High School executive director Ken Montgomery said.
Problems like global warming. “A lot of our programs and how we learn are done through projects. It’s not like you are sitting in a classroom getting a lecture, you’re doing a hands-on activity to help reinforce what you are learning in the classroom,” student Nick Dal Porto said.
- Can NetSuite Take Oracle to $10 Billion in SaaS Revenues?
Oracle is already the number two player in ERP after SAP, but they have half the market share than the German software company. The Global ERP market is expected to reach $41.69 billion by 2020 and the only real competitors in this space are SAP and Oracle.
Now that NetSuite has joined hands with Oracle, they have a real shot at closing the gap with the industry leader SAP.
http://www.nasdaq.com/article/can-netsuite-take-oracle-to-10-billion-in-saas-revenues-cm664999
- Oracle craves cloud companies
Oracle follows a familiar pattern of either acquiring companies that bolster its existing market position in areas such as ERP or CRM, or buying firms that help it fill in gaps in the company’s broad portfolio, says Gartner analyst Chad Eschinger, who covers the company closely. In chronological order, CIO.com explores 10 key cloud deals Oracle has made over the years.
- Oracle accuses Google of lying during Java copyright trial
Oracle is now planning to appeal the verdict after already seeking a new trial, on the grounds that Google presented so little evidence during the trial to support its case that Oracle should win, despite the jury’s findings. Furthermore, the corporation hasn’t ruled out filing a new claim against Google’s Chrome OS, for infringing on its copyright in the desktop space. Despite the recent verdict, it doesn’t appear that this dispute will be going away any time soon.
http://www.androidauthority.com/oracle-accuses-google-lying-710870/
Microsoft
- MIT and Microsoft unveil on-skin device controlling technology
The fact is that “DuoSkin” is the name of the whole project and process, the tattoo just happens to be the physical vehicle for it. Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao, a Taiwan native, explains on a video how in her homeland “flash tattoos” are a highly popular and cheap way to express yourself, and how she wanted to capture that same essence to make a real breakthrough in wearable technologies.
With this in mind, the “DuoSkin” technology relies on any graphic design software to create the tattoo, a regular printer to print the design on tattoo paper, a vinyl cutter to cut it out, and then gold leaf film to trace the tattoo once again for the final product. The user just haves to apply the metallic-looking design onto their skin like they would do with any other temporary tattoo: just a gentle rub and some damp cloth to turn your skin into a computer interface.
http://theusbport.com/mit-microsoft-unveil-on-skin-device-controlling-technology/13020
- Microsoft acquires Beam, will compete against Twitch
How long has Beam been around for? Not long, with the company launching in January, with over 100,000 users joining the service in the last few months. Beam also won TechCrunch Distrupt’s $50,000 prize startup competition in May.
Chad Gibson, a partner group program manager at Microsoft’s Xbox Live division said in a statement: “We at Xbox are excited about this convergence between playing and watching, and want to provide gamers with the freedom and choice to have great multiplayer experiences across all of Beam’s platforms. This acquisition will help gamers enjoy the games they want, with the people they want, and on the devices they want”.
http://www.tweaktown.com/news/53397/microsoft-acquires-beam-compete-against-twitch/index.html
- Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Buyout of LinkedIn Starting to Look Even Smarter
LinkedIn finished with adjusted EBITDA of $292 million and non-GAAP net income of $153 million. Although a non-cash charge of $101 million led to a GAAP net loss of $119 million, that’s a one-time charge and LinkedIn appears poised to start reporting a GAAP net profit consistently. Some cost synergies brought about by the merger might help the company achieve profitability even sooner.
Additionally, investors should note that MSFT might not even have contemplated a merger during LinkedIn’s better times — LinkedIn stock was already down 40% YTD before the deal was announced.
That said, with a fast-growing top line as well as a rapidly expanding bottom line, there’s a solid chance LNKD might be able to pay for itself and Microsoft might not have to make another huge write-off a la Nokia, and it could avoid damaging investor confidence in Microsoft stock.
http://investorplace.com/2016/08/microsoft-stock-msft-linkedin-buy-smarter/
Storage
- New HPE releases bring enterprise-level storage to SMB market
The Palo Alto, Calif.-based IT giant, which spun off from the original Hewlett-Packard Company last year, released two new storage solutions today – the flexible hybrid cloud-based StoreVirtual 3200 and solid-state drive (SSD) based MSA 2042 – specifically aimed at helping SMBs modernize their on-site infrastructure without breaking the bank.
http://www.itbusiness.ca/news/new-hpe-releases-bring-enterprise-level-storage-to-smb-market/77816
Other
- Cisco Reportedly Plans To Lay Off About 14,000 Employees, Or 20 Percent Of Its Workforce
San Jose, California-based Cisco is expected to announce the cuts within the next few weeks, the report said, as the company transitions from its hardware roots into a software-centric organization.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/cisco-layoffs_us_57b41185e4b0b42c38af4683
IT professionals: Time to brace for more layoffsChowdhry said he expects job cuts to rise drastically as more companies subscribe to “super cloud” services from the likes of Amazon and Microsoft . These services manage hardware, software, networks and databases and eliminate the need for workers to manage various technology layers, Chowdhry said.
In January, Chowdhry estimated that layoffs in the tech industry would hit 330,000 this year. On Wednesday, he said he had raised his estimate to 370,000. Some other analysts said that forecast was too bleak.
- Why Hewlett Packard Enterprise bought SGI
So why would HPE, which split from HP last year and has since been spinning off units at a regular pace, suddenly be buying SGI? Particularly as it’s only a week since rumours began to swirl that HPE was itself about to be bought by private equity firms.
The answer, it would seem, is to fully ground itself in the growing areas of big data, AI and HPC.
In its announcement of the acquisition, HPE itself referenced SGI’s HPC and big data analytics credentials, with the executive VP and GM of the company’s enterprise group, Antonio Neri, saying: “At HPE, we are focused on empowering data-driven organisations. SGI’s innovative technologies and services, including its best-in-class big data analytics and [HPC] solutions, complement HPE’s proven data centre solutions.”
http://www.itpro.co.uk/strategy/27085/why-hewlett-packard-enterprise-bought-sgi
- Salesforce gobbles up analytics outfit BeyondCore (for undisclosed sum)
BeyondCore touts its tight integration with Microsoft Office with its ‘BeyondCore Apps for Office’ solutions. It looks as though the firm will have a degree of autonomy post-completion, but it will be interesting to see what happens to this integration moving forward.
- Amazon Takes Shot At Microsoft And IBM With Its Latest Analytics Service
Real-time stream analytics are certainly a big deal for customers running IoT, gaming, and AdTech solutions in the cloud. It provides an opportunity to query the never ending stream of data, which is always in motion. For example, with stream analytics, Uber can easily find out how many taxis crossed a specific tollgate in the last 10 minutes. Also known as fast data, real time streams are becoming an essential element of enterprise Big Data strategy.
- Will IBM Edge Trounce HPE Discover Again This Year?
While IBM continues to execute on game changing unique technologies like Watson, its Open Power initiative, and its impressive move to turn infrastructure capability into a competitive advantage, HPE has failed to deliver on Moonshot, Memristor, and Itanium—its answer to IBM’s Power—is effectively a dead technology. In fact, most of HPE’s acquisitions since Whitman appear to be in some form of distress.
http://techspective.net/2016/08/15/will-ibm-edge-trounce-hpe-discover-year/
Photo: Mike Wilson
Supplier Report: 8/13/2016
IBM has managed to agitate an entire continent this week by being at the center of IT problems occurring with Australia’s online census. The Prime Minister has gone on record saying “heads will roll”…
Acquisitions are still going strong: HPE bought SGI, Randstad bought Monster.com, Apple purchased Turi, and IBM might buy Imperva.
Oracle and Microsoft are both dealing with potential information breaches while EMC is facing an existential crisis… can they compete with AWS?
IBM
- IBM’s Watson won Jeopardy, but can it win business from banks?
IBM’s pitch to banks is that Watson can do everything from answering customers’ questions in retail branches to detecting credit card fraud to helping wealth managers make better investment recommendations for their clients.
Bank technology executives said the minimum cost of using software like Watson, including due diligence and training, could reach a few million dollars. It is not uncommon for a full-scale implementation to cost in the tens of millions of dollars, said the executives, who were not authorized to talk to the media.
An IBM spokeswoman noted companies can develop their own applications using Watson’s underlying code if they do not want to pay for a full-scale implementation. The company declined to give details of the software’s costs.
- Will IBM buy Imperva?
IBM is the top potential suitor for Imperva (NYSE:IMPV), but big blue may have to outbid both Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) and Juniper (NYSE:JNPR). Imperva is working with Qatalyst on a sale after succumbing to pressure from Paul Singer’s Elliott Management.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/3997245-ibm-bidding-war-brewing
What is Imperva?Imperva is a leading provider of data and application security solutions that protect business-critical information in the cloud and on-premises. Founded in 2002, we have enjoyed a steady history of growth and success, generating $234 million in 2015, with over 4,500 customers and 300 partners in more than 90 countries worldwide.
- IBM under fire as census blame game starts
Information has begun to emerge about the confluence of events that led the ABS and IBM to take the site down on census night, which show IBM and ABS staff misinterpreted data and were spooked by fears of a damaging data breach following a fairly standard security threat known as a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack.
The website problems were initially blamed on the DDoS attack, which would have made the site inaccessible to users by bombarding it with thousands of logins at once.
However, it was later confirmed that the ABS and IBM decided to take the site down due to security concerns
http://www.afr.com/technology/ibm-under-fire-as-census-blame-game-starts-20160811-gqqkdu
- What IBM Doesn’t Want You To Know
My takeaway from this interview is merely more solidarity in my original thought on IBM: Great company, awful management. Are these concepts mutually exclusive? No, but they are correlated.
For investors who have unanswered questions on IBM’s cloud competitiveness, perhaps this interview was unsatisfying. I also was expecting more information, as I would like to add to my analysis on my comparison of worthy cloud investments. But for now, we must wait until IBM’s next earnings report.
For now, investors must decide whether to support the shell or the ghost inside. I think that a good enough machine can run decently even with a poor operator. Even if you were to attempt to bring IBM down from the inside, you would have quite a task on your hands.
- IBM finally renews with Vodaphone
Vodafone has renewed its system intergration deal with IBM. The system integration deal is valued at around USD 900 million. The system integration is likely to be outsourced further with small vendors also taking a small part in the deal.
Microsoft
- Microsoft accidentally leaks golden keys that unlock every Windows device
The leak was uncovered by two security researchers MY123 and Slipstream, who revealed in a (Star Wars-style) blog that the security flaw allowed malicious entities with admin rights or physical access to a device can bypass Secure Boot to not only run other operating systems (OS) like Linux or Android on the device but also install and execute rootkits and bootkits, at the most deeply penetrated level of the device.
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/microsoft-accidentally-leaks-golden-keys-that-unlock-every-windows-device-1575542
Microsoft leaks Secure Boot credentials, shows why backdoor ‘golden keys’ can’t workThis particular flaw is only going to be of interest to people that want to run different operating systems on an ARM-based tablet or who want to put Linux on an x86 device that shipped with Secure Boot enabled. Microsoft has already patched the problem and as security flaws go, it’s not huge in and of itself. What it does show, however, is the folly of relying on the idea that backdoors can be locked down and perfectly controlled.
Storage
- This former EMC exec says Amazon ate his old business and it will never recover
That traditional storage market, where companies buy specialized hardware called storage arrays to hold and manage corporate data, is never coming back, says Mark Lewis, a longtime storage exec, who was once EMC’s CTO and chief strategy officer.
There are two reasons for the death spiral, he says:
1. Storage technology continually gets faster and cheaper.
2. Amazon changed the game.http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-ate-emc-says-former-emc-exec-2016-8
- Dell squashes rumors that EMC’s Ambulos is leaving
It said in a statement to CRN: “It is categorically false that Gregg Ambulos will leave Dell after the completion of the merger. Gregg will be key player in the future organisation, a proven industry leader with deep and trusted relationships with channel partners, and will be an important executive as we build the channel business for Dell EMC.”
http://www.channelweb.co.uk/crn-uk/news/2467703/dell-squashes-rumours-that-emcs-ambulos-is-leaving
Oracle
- Russian hackers appear to have infiltrated up to 330,000 computer cash registers sold by Oracle
“Oracle Security has detected and addressed malicious code in certain legacy MICROS systems. Oracle’s Corporate network and Oracle’s other cloud and service offerings were not impacted by this code. Payment card data is encrypted both at rest and in transit in the MICROS hosted environment.
“To prevent a recurrence, Oracle implemented additional security measures for the legacy MICROS systems. Consistent with standard security remediation protocols, Oracle is requiring MICROS customers to change the passwords for all MICROS accounts.
“Information for customers on how to change your passwords has been published on My Oracle Support (Doc ID 2165744.1). We also recommend that you change the password for any account that was used by a MICROS representative to access your on-premises systems.”
http://www.businessinsider.com/russian-hackers-attack-oracles-cash-registers-2016-8
Oracle CSO Mary Ann Davidson on Security: Oracle, still clueless about securityIn 2012, for example, Davidson lambasted the Payment Card Industry Security (PCI) Standards Council for requiring “vendors to disclose (dare we say ‘tell all?’) to PCI any known security vulnerabilities and associated security breaches.” Or, as she put it more succinctly, “tell your customers that you have to rat them out to PCI.”
She added, just to make it perfectly clear where she’s coming from, that information on security vulnerabilities at Oracle is on a “need to know” basis.
http://www.computerworld.com/article/2975780/security/oracle-still-clueless-about-security.html
- Oracle’s Data Breach May Explain Spate of Retail Hacks
The MICROS system compromise could explain why so many shops, hotels, and retail outlets have been suffered breaches at their point of sale systems in the past months, said Avivah Litan, an analyst in Gartner IT -0.03% . Asked whether she believed that this breach has something to do with a recent spate of stolen payment card data in retail andhotel hacks, Litan told Fortune, “I think it’s very likely.”
http://fortune.com/2016/08/08/oracle-data-breach-retail-hacks/
- Oracle says it didn’t ask employee to cook cloud accounts
The software and cloud computing giant appears to be fleshing out its original stand that the employee had been terminated for poor performance and not as a whistleblower, which would give her a number of protections under securities laws.
In a filing in June in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Svetlana Blackburn, a senior finance manager for North America SaaS/Cloud Revenue, alleged that her superiors had instructed her to “to add millions of dollars in accruals to financial reports, with no concrete or foreseeable billing to support the numbers,” an act that she had warned was improper and suspect accounting.
http://www.cio.com/article/3105985/oracle-says-it-didn-t-ask-employee-to-cook-cloud-accounts.html
Other
- Apple acquires Turi, a machine learning company
Apple declined to comment on the financial terms of the deal, but Geekwiresuggests that it was upwards of $200 million.
This isn’t the first acquisition Apple has made in the AI/machine-learning space. It acquired Perceptio, a company that specialized in machine learning and image recognition, back in September 2015.
https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/05/apple-acquires-turi-a-machine-learning-company/?ncid=rss
- Salesforce CEO Sees News Of Oracle’s NetSuite Deal As Mere Drop In Pond
“We would not expect the combination of these companies to create any meaningful technology/product synergies,” he said.
- Will Meg Whitman pick head or heart?
Whitman is continuing to shrink the house that Hewlett and Packard built and that her predecessors Carly Fiorina and Mark Hurd greatly expanded. That would make it easier to swallow up. In May, the company announced plans to merge its services arm into rival CSC in a deal worth $8.5 billion. (Hewlett-Packard had bought EDS, the heart of the division that’s now being sold off, for $13.9 billion in 2008.)
Richard Kugele, an analyst with Needham & Co., estimates that a buyer would need to pay nearly $50 billion for the company, a 40 percent premium over its current market value.
http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Will-Meg-Whitman-pick-head-or-heart-9135032.php
- Hewlett Packard Enterprise acquires high-performance computer company SGI in $275 million deal
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is to acquire SGI, the company formerly known as Silicon Graphics, for $275 million in cash and debt, equal to around $7.75 per share. HPE says the move will help its push into the big data analytics and high-performance computing (HPC) markets.
SGI has approximately 1100 employees worldwide and brought in $533 million in revenue in its 2016 fiscal year, according to the statement – a drop from the $767 million it made in 2013. Its HPC and big data analytics products are used in the scientific, technical, business and government communities.
- Randstad To Acquire Monster For $429 Million
My colleague John Zappe, who has covered the company for years, said in 2011 Monster was a “takeover target” and noted that there’d been 20 or so rumors of a sale. Then, he said the company’s market cap was about a billion dollars, after decreasing by billions. Randstad, which has about 30,000 employees in 39 countries, will pay $429 million for Monster now.
http://www.eremedia.com/sourcecon/randstad-to-acquire-monster-for-429-million/
Photo: Kale Nimz
Supplier Report: 8/6/2016
Yet another week where M&A dominates the news.
Verizon bought another company (Fleetmatics), SalesForce purchased Quip, and there are rumors that HPE might be up for sale (all of it or some of it). IBM is showing interest in purchasing point of sale company Revel.
IBM is also actually responsible for some technology news this week. Their health AI systems are starting to target cancer symptoms as a means of early detection. They also maybe created an artificial neuron for super computers.
IBM
- IBM IC detects cancer before symptoms appear
“The societal impact of this research is that it could enable physicians to detect cancer early…when there are more possibilities of being cured,” Stolovitzky said. “We wanted this research to be in the area of cancer and also the area of detecting DNA and viruses like Zika. Everything reduces down to the same thing: being able to have a small and affordable diagnostic tool that can detect minute quantities of biomarker particles that tell physicians something about a person’s health.”scale of biology
- IBM is reportedly in talks to buy point-of-sale software firm Revel Systems
Bloomberg reports IBM (IBM) is in early talks to acquire Revel Systems, provider of an iPad-based point-of-sale (POS) hardware and software system for merchants.
Revel competes with Square, PayPal (PYPL) , NCR (NCR) and others in the iPad POS market; its customers include Cinnabon, Chobani, and Popeyes. It has 750 employees, and was valued at more than $500 million in a $13.5 million 2015 funding round.
https://www.thestreet.com/story/13660304/1/verizon-makes-a-telematics-acquisition-ibm-reportedly-mulls-a-retail-acquisition.html
Is IBM Setting Up To Buy Revel Systems?With a Revel acquisition, IBM could theoretically refill a hole in its product line that has existed since the firm sold its point-of-sale business to Toshiba for $800 million in 2012. Revel, on the other hand, could possibly find itself with a soft exit from a market where funding rounds are getting fewer and further between.
http://www.pymnts.com/news/point-of-sale/2016/ibm-acquire-revel-rumors/
- IBM creates first-ever artificial neurons that behave like the real thing
IBM researchers in Switzerland have created an artificial neuron that behaves just like the real thing. For the first time in history, artificial phase-change neurons have been grouped together (in a population of 500 synthesized in a lab) to process a neurological signal in more or less the same way that biological neurons transmit messages. They can be made exceptionally small and are similar in power and energy usage to biological neurons, and can even produce results with random variations, also just like biological neurons.
http://inhabitat.com/ibm-creates-first-ever-artificial-neurons-that-behave-like-the-real-thing/
- IBM’s Wager on Open Source Is Still Paying Off
“It became apparent that open source could be the de facto standards we needed to be the engine to go out and drive things,” Moore said in his keynote at ApacheCon. “[The contributions] were bets; we didn’t know how this was going to come out, and we didn’t know if open source would grow, we knew there would be roadblocks and things we’d have to overcome along the way, but it had promise. We thought this would be the way of the future.”
https://www.linux.com/news/ibms-wager-open-source-still-paying
Hewlett Packard Enterprise | HP Inc
- Is Hewlett Packard Enterprise up for sale?
As explained by author Kevin McLaughlin, “a buyout would allow HPE, currently the world’s largest seller of servers and storage systems, to streamline outside the glare of public scrutiny.”
Following McLaughlin’s claims, shares in the company spiked seven percent on the stock exchange, yet closed around 3.5 percent as more details of the potential deal emerged.
According to Reuters, the firms are focused on acquiring certain software assets from the vendor, worth somewhere between $US6 billion and $US8 billion, rather than the entire company.
http://www.arnnet.com.au/article/604318/hewlett-packard-enterprise-up-sale/
HPE Reportedly Considers Going PrivateReuters reported last week that sources familiar with the HPE private equity discussion said that buyout firms are focused on acquiring some software assets that HPE has been considering divesting, and that those are worth between $6 billion and $8 billion.
The Reuters report added that the deal was for just the software assets and not the entire company. HPE’s software assets include technology gained in acquisitions such as Vertica Systems, Autonomy, and Mercury. The technologies include data analytics, cloud orchestration, and systems management. That group hasn’t been paying off as strongly as the company’s hardware business has.
http://www.informationweek.com/software/hpe-reportedly-considers-going-private/d/d-id/1326467
$40 billion buyout rumour persists as HPE cloud chief and storage boss leave companyA number of key executives are to leave Hewlett Packard Enterprise, with the top-level departures coming at a time when rumours abound that the company is subject to a $40 billion takeover attempt.
Head of Cloud Bill Hilf, along with Manish Goel, HPE’s storage boss, are set to leave the company for pastures new. However, the reshuffle did not stop there, with Robert Vriji, managing director of sales for the Americas also set to leave, as well as the high-profile retirement of Martin Fink, CTO and head of HP Labs. Fink will retire at the end of the year.
- PE Firms Looking to Acquire Hewlett Packard Enterprise Software Assets Worth $6B-$8B
Private equity firms, including KKR NYSEKK, Apollo and Carlyle Group are seeking to acquire certain software assets from Hewlett Packard Enterprise, according to sources reported by Reuters on Friday. Earlier in the day, The Information reported those firms might make a bid for all of HPE.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise declined comment on the report, while KKR, Apollo and Carlyle did not comment.
http://www.benzinga.com/news/16/07/8282979/bemzingas-weekend-m-a-chatter
Storage
- INFINIDAT Reports 60% Quarter Over Quarter Growth in Q2
INFINIDAT continued to achieve significant sales traction in key vertical markets in Q2, reporting that 32 percent of sales was to leading firms in the finance sector, 28 percent was in technology, telecommunications and cloud services, and 24 percent was in healthcare and life sciences. INFINIDAT added several new customers in Q2, including BT (world-leading communications services provider), HMSA/Hawaii Medical Service Association (health insurer), Triple C (cloud services provider), and Credit Andorra (financial services).
http://www.cso.com.au/mediareleases/27834/infinidat-reports-60-quarter-over-quarter-growth/
- How Dell Raised $67 Billion for the Biggest Tech Deal Ever
Some of Dell’s own potential banks balked early on, arguing that they simply could not sell enough junk bonds to finance the deal, and other lenders refused to participate if they could not easily resell some of the loans to other investors.
Then Dell, Silver Lake and the bankers came up with an idea, pushed hard by Mr. Durban: Sell more high-rated loans and bonds, a questionable idea for a junk-rated company like Dell.
Other
- Oracle’s Latest Purchase Opens the Door for More Pricey Tech Deals
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) companies like Salesforce, which deliver software over the Internet, are of particular interest because that sales delivery model is becoming more successful with corporate customers. Neeraj Agrawal, a general partner with Battery Ventures, estimates that SaaS—as hot as it’s been—still represents just 15% of current software market, but he suggests that won’t be the case for long.
- Verizon buys Fleetmatics for $2.4B in cash to step up in telematics
More generally, the acquisition of Fleetmatics points to ways that Verizon is continuing to use its balance sheet to finance investments into newer areas to offset continuing declines in its core, legacy business of basic phone services. As that market has become increasingly commoditized and people turn to other, digitised forms of communication away from traditional voice services, Verizon is hoping to invest into newer areas to move beyond “dumb pipe” status to keep its margins up, and revenues growing.
While its acquisition of AOL (and now Yahoo) will help Verizon scale up its media, advertising and content operations, Fleetmatics is pointing straight to Verizon’s ambitions in enterprise services, and specifically enterprise mobility.
https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/01/verizon-buys-fleetmatics-for-2-4b-in-cash-to-step-up-in-telematics
- Salesforce buys word processing app Quip for $750M
It’s not clear why Quip — which was growing and in the enviable position of being very selective about taking funding from VCs — decided to sell up to Salesforce. But it’s an interesting turn in the ongoing consolidation that we’ve seen in the enterprise market, and how that is transforming the bigger companies that are doing the buying.
https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/01/salesforce-buys-word-processing-app-quip-for-750m/
- AWS prints money for Amazon, but can Microsoft, Google and IBM catch up?
As revealed last week, the AWS division of Amazon reported 58 percent year-to-year growth to almost $US2.9 billion, supported by continued operating efficiency that enabled the business to reach $US718 million in operating profit.
Worldwide Cloud infrastructure services expenditure grew 52.3 percent year on year in Q2 2016, with Canalys findings pitching AWS as the leading Cloud infrastructure services provider, accounting for 30.4 percent of total spend.
http://www.arnnet.com.au/article/604414/aws-prints-money-amazon-can-microsoft-google-ibm-catch-up/
- Is the End Near for Tableau Software Inc?
Data visualization company, Tableau is scheduled to report second quarter earnings tonight, after the market closes. The stock is perpetually one of the most beaten down during earnings season. After Q4 earnings, shares dropped nearly 50%, only to drop an additional 10% following Q1 earnings. Early indications appear as if they are heading in the same direction ahead of tonight’s report. Just this week Deutsche Bank downgraded the stock to “hold” from “buy” on concerns of slow margin growth. For Tableau to stop the slow bleed, it will have to convince investors that this and future quarters can generate sustainable growth.
http://www.valuewalk.com/2016/08/tableau-software-inc-data-shortsell-earnings/
- Teradata: Could This Be The Start Of Something Big?
At this point, TDC has more than $7.20/share in cash although 98% of the cash is offshore. It also has long-term debt of $552 million. The current enterprise value is $3.44 billion which produces an EV/S for the current year of 1.49X. Based on the company’s current projection, the free cash flow yield for TDC will be 8% or so. The company indicated that there is potential upside to the free cash flow estimate based on the year-ending profile of assets and liabilities, particularly A/R. The company has a P/E of 12X current year non-GAAP earnings. Stock-based comp is quite low at around 10% of reported non-GAAP earnings. The other adjusting items have to do with one-time charges related to the disposition of the company’s marketing assets business as well as reorganization costs. With those kind of valuation metrics, there is plenty of upside if the company’s efforts to re-invent itself are even marginally successful. With that level of valuation, the company presents a very attractive acquisition target to both strategic and private equity investors. In the wake of the company’s guidance for the next two quarters, I think downside exposure is very limited as well.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/3994915-teradata-start-something-big
Big Data acquisitions: All about the enterpriseWhy would Teradata execute a services play not just once, but twice? Ultimately, it would seem to come down to Enterprise sales. Implementing big data — and doing it successfully — is still hard, and experienced consulting shops/Systems Integrators (SIs) can make enterprise customers feel a lot more confident moving forward with it. That puts them in the perfect position to recommend tools and technologies. So, having a manageably small, but geographically distributed, services organization can be very helpful to Teradata indeed.
http://www.zdnet.com/article/big-data-acquisitions-all-about-the-enterprise/
Photo: Phoebe Dill