Tag: IBM

Posted on

Supplier Report: 4/2/2016

sn_lights_William Santos

As IBM’s Watson finally starts to make financial traction for the company, Microsoft announced their own grand design for artificial intelligence (but their message might not have been heard since they had to apologize for last week’s  AI “incident”)

IBM also purchased another new company named Bluewolf for $200M.  Like the purchase of Optevia, this company also focuses on CRM solutions. Since IBM does not have a strong CRM tool (they have been pushing SAP), they are trying to get in on the configuration of other supplier’s CRM solutions – like Microsoft and SalesForce.

Dell officially sold off Perot Systems to NTT for $3B while Oracle continues to… troll.

IBM

Microsoft

  • Is Microsoft shifting its focus again or losing it?

    Sure, Microsoft talked about Windows and Xbox. Those key brands were an important part of the proceedings. But the biggest announcements – the ones that laid out Microsoft’s plan for the next year – were in the area of “intelligence.” Microsoft wants to build the world’s first large-scale, multiple-platform AI service. And that mission has far-reaching implications.

    http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/microsoft-is-trying-to-build-skynet-not-windows/

  • Microsoft is reportedly mulling Yahoo acquisition

    This isn’t the first time that Microsoft has shown an interest in acquiring Yahoo. Former CEO Steve Ballmer tried unsuccessfully to buy Yahoo for about $45bn in 2008. Microsoft could now buy the company for a much smaller figure. Re/codesuggested that Yahoo’s board would accept $10bn for the core internet business.

    http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2452618/microsoft-is-reportedly-mulling-yahoo-acquisition

Storage ( Dell | EMC |Infinidat |NetApp | Pure)

Hewlett Packard Enterprise | HP Inc

Oracle

  • Google Says It Doesn’t Owe Oracle More Than $8 Billion in Damages

    The lawsuit concerns whether Google should be allowed to use parts of Oracle’s Java software under fair use. The more than $8.8 billion that Oracle is claiming was estimated from profits that Google has made from Android, which integrates Java into its operating system.

    Another quote:

    The multi-billion-dollar damages Oracle is seeking are worth even more than it cost the company to buy Sun Microsystems, which developed Java.

    http://fortune.com/2016/03/31/google-says-it-doesnt-owe-oracle-more-than-8-billion-in-damages/

  • Oracle Corporation Is Crushing the Cloud Space
    I keep hearing how Oracle is crushing it in the cloud space, but I haven’t see the list of companies jumping over to do business with them.  Do you think they are really growing at this pace or is some sales re-classification occurring?

    So, now Oracle’s the one that’s crushing. They saw over 40% growth in their cloud-based revenue, gross margins popped from 43% to 52% in one quarter, and now they’ve got $1.5 billion in recurring revenue from customers from the cloud. So, I think that Oracle came out better from this and has learned a couple things from Salesforce over the last 16, 17 years.

    http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/03/25/why-oracle-corporation-is-crushing-the-cloud-space.aspx

Other

Photo: William Santos

Posted on

Supplier Report: 3/26/2016

sn_firebreather_Donald Tong

It was not a peaceful week for IT suppliers.

Lawsuits are plentiful at the moment: IBM lost a case with Indiana, HPE is getting sued by Oracle, and EMC is suing Pure. Microsoft had to take down one of their AI experiments because users (very quickly) figured out a way to make it say inappropriate things on Twitter.

RedHat has good news… they are the first open source subscription company to hit $2 Billion in value.

IBM

  • Opportunity knocks for IBM customers, but will they answer?

    With IBM’s substantial workforce rebalancing and strategic business transformation ongoing, it is a perfect time to meet with IBM to conduct a personal assessment of their transformation and strategic direction by having them explain how these developments can benefit your organization.  This inquiry meeting can serve as the platform for a subsequent meeting to re-negotiate your current relationship across all of IBM’s business units (Hardware, Software, and Services), including any new spend initiatives.

    http://www.cio.com/article/3045285/it-strategy/opportunity-knocks-for-ibm-customers-but-will-they-answer.html

  • Indiana court: IBM breached contract, still due $50M

    The high court’s four other justices unanimously found Tuesday that IBM had breached its contract by failing to meet “timeliness metrics” and to “assist the State in achieving its policy objectives” – thus reversing a 2012 Marion County trial court finding – and said the state can seek damages. However, the justices also affirmed the trial court’s award of nearly $50 million to IBM in assignment and equipment fees.

    http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/mar/22/indiana-court-finds-ibm-breached-contract-but-due-/

  • IBM creating 250 cybersecurity jobs in New Brunswick over next three years

    New Brunswick is already home to a natural cybersecurity cluster that dates back 25 years, with the establishment of Canada’s first faculty of computer science in 1989. IBM’s Security QRadar analyzes data across an organization’s information technology infrastructure to identify potential security threats, acting as support for IBM’s 10 global security centres.

    http://www.cantechletter.com/2016/03/ibm-creating-250-cybersecurity-jobs-in-new-brunswick-over-next-three-years/

  • IBM Takes Stand Against Controversial North Carolina Law

    Big Blue, North Carolina’s largest employer, posted a statement on Thursday that expressed disappointment with the new law, which LBGT rights supporters widely view a setback. The law short-circuited a Charlotte ordinance that would have let transgender men who identify as women use the women’s bathroom.

    http://fortune.com/2016/03/24/ibm-north-carolina-transgender/

Microsoft

Oracle

  • Oracle Is Suing Hewlett-Packard for Selling Its Proprietary Updates

    Oracle says HP “falsely represented to customers that HP and Terix could lawfully provide Solaris Updates and other support services at a lower cost than Oracle, and then worked with Terix to improperly access and provide Oracle’s proprietary Solaris Updates to customers,” according to the suit.

    http://fortune.com/2016/03/23/oracle-suing-hewlett-packard/

  • Workday: An Oracle Slayer Or An Also-Ran Competitor?

    For several years now, dating back to at least 2012, before Workday even became a publicly traded company, Oracle’s management in general and Larry Ellison in particular have articulated strong negative sentiments regarding Workday and what it was trying to achieve. In those long-ago years, Workday had subscription revenues of less than $90 million while Oracle was selling more than $10 billion of software. And yet, here is a quote from the Oracle earnings press release that was issued at the end of its fiscal 2013 year (ended May 31), “Furthermore, in Q4, our HCM cloud alone generated more SaaS revenue and added more new Fusion HCM customers than Workday added HCM and ERP customers combined in their most recent quarter.” There are many, many things that might be said about a company with literally 100X more revenues comparing itself to an upstart that Workday was at that point. At this writing, Workday has grown something more than tenfold and Oracle has shrunk, but the rhetoric is still the same. If it wasn’t accurate all the way back then and hasn’t been accurate since that time, why should anyone choose to believe Oracle’s forecast for Workday at this point?

    http://seekingalpha.com/article/3960035-workday-oracle-slayer-also-ran-competitor

Storage ( Dell | EMC )

Other

  • Red Hat Becomes World’s First Ever $2 billion Open Source Company

    Subscription revenue hit $480 million (£338m), up 18 percent year-over-year, accounting for around 88 percent of Red Hat’s total revenue. The growth in subscription revenues was seen by analysts as a particularly encouraging trend, indicating that Red Hat’s business is stabilizing and gaining more predictability.

    Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst said increased adoption of Red Hat’s hybrid cloud and open source technologies were chiefly responsible for the growth. He added that Red Hat closed the year with a record backlog, which Abhey Lamba of Mizuho Securities told The Wall Street Journal “is a good indication of its growing strategic importance.”

    http://www.techworm.net/2016/03/red-hat-becomes-worlds-first-ever-2-billion-open-source-company.html

  • Google Just Showed Up Amazon And IBM

    Now, Google has decided to commercialize pretty much all of this AND also to become a much bigger player in the cloud hosting business and software-as-a-service business. This is a truly massive shift. See, Amazon has the most mature virtual machine hosting platform with tons of services around it e.g., virtual private clouds, caches, proxies, DNS services, databases and so forth, but it does not have the machine learning know-how and services Google has. IBM has lots of natural language processing and computer vision services in its Watson Cloud product as well as hosting in its SoftLayer product, but it does not integrate them into one smooth platform like Google. This is because IBM has obtained much of its technology in that space from acquisitions.

    http://seekingalpha.com/article/3960633-google-just-showed-amazon-ibm

  • Docker, not production-ready? Not so, says Docker

    It seems safe to assume that Docker isn’t being used to containerize existing enterprise applications. Instead, developers are bringing in Docker for new application deployments, greenfield opportunities that aren’t dependent on yesterday’s infrastructure.

    http://www.infoworld.com/article/3046464/application-development/docker-not-production-ready-not-so-says-docker.html

Photo: Donald Tong

Posted on

Supplier Report: 3/19/2016

sn_MexicanStandoff

I know this is going to come as a surprise to frequent readers… IBM bought another company. GASP! How could we have predicted such a move?

IBM purchased Optevia, a British CRM integration company that is based in the UK. Their focus has historically been government-based CRM configurations… so this is a very specific acquisition and I am curious to see how this asset will play globally.

Microsoft is trying to play nice and win friends, and that means the (formerly) mean kid on the block is giving away free cake SQL seats. HPE and Dell are looking to sell off a few unwanted assets (and by assets I mean whole companies).

Apple is taking business away from Amazon and giving it to Google.  Microsoft and Amazon are teaming up to go after Oracle (on hosting and software).  IBM’s Watson is under attack from one of its founders.

IBM

  • Is the Latest Acquisition by IBM a Game Changer?

    The addition of Optevia is likely to benefit IBM considering the fact that its current SaaS CRM products lack focus on public sector entities right now. Optevia, being a specialist in the field will provide IBM with much needed diversification and potential growth in its cloud portfolio.

    http://www.businessfinancenews.com/28272-is-the-latest-acquisition-by-ibm-a-game-changer/
    Related:
    IBM buys CRM SaaS firm – no, not Salesforce

    It’s an interesting purchase. Consulting giant Accenture last year bought Salesforce partners Tquila and Cloud Sherpas, also on G-Cloud. Salesforce, of course, is the fastest-growing and best known of the CRM-as-a-service lot.

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/03/18/ibm_buys_microsoft_dynamics_crm_partner/

  • IBM is battling hard to save Vodafone’s $1-billion outsourcing deal

    “Even if IBM does retain most of the contract, the renewed deal will come at the cost of margins. They are being forced to fight on price as well,” said one of the sources. As of now, Vodafone hands out $190-200 million of annual business to IBM.

    http://www.businessinsider.in/IBM-is-battling-hard-to-save-Vodafones-1-billion-outsourcing-deal/articleshow/51424229.cms

  • IBM Board Paid Itself $4.9 Million

    IBM’s board members are A.J.P. Belda, W.R. Brody, K.I. Chenault, M.L. Eskew, D.N. Farr, A. Gorsky, S.A. Jackson, A.N. Liveris, W.J. McNerney Jr., J.W. Owens, J.E. Spero, S. Taurel and P. Voser.

    http://247wallst.com/technology-3/2016/03/11/ibm-board-paid-itself-4-9-million/

  • Watch out Watson, Google’s DeepMind is getting smarter…

    For AI researchers and Go aficionados, it is as big a moment as 1997, when Garry Kasparov lost a chess match to Deep Blue, a supercomputer built by IBM. It is much harder to program a computer to play Go than chess—the sheer number of options in every move makes the sort of “brute-force” approach adopted by IBM unfeasible. But DeepMind has managed it. After the match its program, called AlphaGo, was awarded the top professional rank by the Korean Baduk Association (“baduk” being the Korean word for Go.) And it has entered the world rankings in 4th place (see chart).

    http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21694883-alphagos-masters-taught-it-game-electrifying-match-shows-what

  • IBM quietly built the world’s largest digital agency — here’s how it got there (good summary of all of their marketing moves)

    Unlike the competition, iX isn’t trying to ‘bolt on digital’. IBM is not alone in recognizing the business requirements for digital transformation agencies. France-based advertising-agency holding group Publicis Groupe, for example, bought US-based digital-marketing consultancy Sapient for $3.7 billion in 2014, creating what it called the “largest and most advanced” platform focused exclusively on digital transformation.

    http://www.businessinsider.com/ibm-quietly-built-the-worlds-largest-digital-agency-heres-how-it-got-there-2016-3

  • IBM server sales surge, closes in on leaders HPE, Dell

    Strong growth for IBM’s Power systems and double-digit growth for its z System mainframes have seen IBM record 8.9% server revenue growth in Q4 of 2015, helping it close the gap slightly leaders HPE and Dell. IBM saw its market share rise from 13.7% in Q4, 2014 to 14.1% according to the latest figures from IDC. However, its growth spurt wasn’t enough to oust the incumbents from their top spots, with Dell also recording growth – at 5.3% – which enabled it to hold on to its 16.7% market share, while HPE declined 2.1% but still holds the lead with 24.9% market share, down from 26.8% a year ago.

    https://datacenternews.asia/story/ibm-server-sales-surge-closes-leaders-hpe-dell/

Microsoft

  • Microsoft offering free SQL Server licenses to help customers “break free from Oracle”

    Microsoft has decided to offer free SQL Server licenses for its customers to help with migrating away from Oracle database software. It’s positioning this sale as an opportunity to “break free from Oracle”. This offer is only available to Software Assurance subscribers, which is an enterprise licensing agreement that Microsoft offers to large customers.

    http://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-offering-free-sql-server-licenses-to-help-customers-break-free-from-oracle
    But what is the maintenance impact year-over-year? 🙂

  • Microsoft loves open source? Only when it’s convenient

    But while this has been going on, you’re not hearing about another part of Microsoft. Simultaneous with the Eclipse and SQL Server announcements, Microsoft announced it had successfully extracted patent licenses out of Wistron of Taiwan for its use of Android and out of Rakuten of Japan for use of Linux and Android. Though there’s been something of a lull in patent aggression lately, it has a long history and generates a significant revenue stream.

    Yes, that’s right: With one face, Microsoft wants us to forgive and forget the “cancer” comments, the dirty tricks, and the standards fixing. Even as the body of SCO lays slightly warm following the Redmond-financed fight against Linux, Microsoft wants us to overlook more than a decade of hostility and accept it as a full-status community member because it showed up with code, cash, and compliments. But with the other face, Microsoft wants members of the Android and Linux communities where it claims membership to pay up crates of cash for patent licenses or face destructive litigation.

    http://www.infoworld.com/article/3042699/open-source-tools/microsoft-loves-open-source-only-when-its-convenient.html

  • What Is Sony’s Incentive To Play Nice With Microsoft For PS4-Xbox One Crossplay?
    I know it is odd to have a gaming item on here, but since we are talking about Microsoft’s embrace of open source and the fact that Sony is kicking their butts in the console market, this is a public relations move…

    For Microsoft to suddenly say “hey guys, don’t worry, you can play all your favorite multiplatform games with your friends on PS4 if you buy an Xbox” helps Microsoft, who is behind, but not Sony, who is ahead. But of course Sony has to agree to this partnership for it to exist at all. If they don’t, Microsoft gets to say “Sony, why are you standing in the way of progress?” but I’m not sure Sony has an adequate reason to agree to this partnership outside of “being nice.” They’re in the lead by a mile, so why let Xbox One get a foothold to try and close the gap by opening up their 35 million PS4 owners as potential playmates for XB1 owners?

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2016/03/15/what-is-sonys-incentive-to-play-nice-with-microsoft-for-ps4-xbox-one-crossplay/#e6671632fd31

Dell | EMC

  • Dell plans sale of non-core assets to reduce EMC buy debt

    The document is bullish on the synergies that will flow from Dell and EMC merging. But it also points out that Dell will soon have US$59.1bn of debt, which will mean it won’t be flush with cash for the next little while. The document says Denali Holding Inc (DHI), the company that owns Dell, “… has an objective of reducing its indebtedness in the first 18-24 months after completion of the merger and achieving an investment grade credit rating for such indebtedness. The cash necessary to achieve that objective is expected to come from divestitures of non-core businesses of the DHI Group, including EMC, cash flows from operations of the DHI Group and cash generated by reductions in the working capital needed to operate the DHI Group.”

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/03/15/dell_plans_sale_of_noncore_assets_to_reduce_emc_buy_debt/

  • Dell Aims To Grab Share From Cisco, HPE, Juniper With Aggressive New Rebate

    The Round Rock, Texas-based company introduced a 15 percent back-end rebate that effectively more than doubles similar existing rebates and encourages partners to take market share from Cisco Systems, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Juniper Networks, according to Cheryl Cook, Dell’s vice president of global channels and alliances.

    http://www.crn.com/news/networking/300080014/dell-aims-to-grab-share-from-cisco-hpe-juniper-with-aggressive-new-rebate.htm

Hewlett Packard Enterprise | HP Inc

Oracle

  • Microsoft attacks Oracle with SQL Server 2016 ‘free’ licences

    Microsoft is attempting to lure companies to SQL Server 2016 by offering ‘free licences,’ but there is a catch, as customers need to be part of Microsoft’s Software Assurance licencing scheme.This initiative is directed at those organisations which are running applications or workloads on non-Microsoft commercial relational database management systems and offers free SQL Server licences and help to migrate applications. When we look at the web page where the company has detailed the launch, we are able to see what it is planning to do with the free licences.

    http://theusbport.com/microsoft-attacks-oracle-sql-server-2016-free-licences/6189

  • Oracle Earnings: Can Rising Cloud Make Up For Legacy Fall?

    “The stock is down 1.1% since (fiscal 2016’s second-quarter) earnings, outperforming the S&P 500, down 4.0%, given the general rotation out of growth stocks into more value names like Oracle,” wrote Nomura analyst Frederick Grieb in a research note Thursday. “While metrics for cloud revenue growth have been solid, investors remain concerned by what the potential cost will be to the legacy business, as well as the potential impact to margins during the transition.”

    http://www.investors.com/news/technology/can-oracle-puff-up-cloud-faster-than-losing-legacy-software-wind/

  • Oracle Corporation: Cloud Growth a Stark Warning for Its Rivals

    The highlight of the entire earnings call was the remarkable growth in the cloud business. Revenue from cloud solutions, which includes both software-as-a-service (SaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS), grew by 57% year-over-year (YoY) to $583 million. Safra Catz, CEO of Oracle, commenting on the revenue growth from cloud services stated: “This dramatic revenue increase drove our non-GAAP SaaS and PaaS gross margins up to 51% in Q3 as compared with 43% in Q2. Our cloud business is now in a hyper-growth phase.”

    http://www.businessfinancenews.com/28233-oracle-corporation-cloud-growth-a-stark-warning-for-its-rivals/
    Related:
    Larry Ellison explains why Microsoft and Amazon are going for Oracle’s throat

    Microsoft Cloud and Enterprise Corporate VP Takeshi Numoto tells Business Insider that its offer has generated a lot of excitement among Oracle customers: “The level of frustration I’ve seen in their customers has been very high.”

    Meanwhile, at the very moment Ellison was downplaying Amazon, the company had issued a press release announcing that, during the beta phase alone, it had already moved 1,000 databases to AWS.

    http://www.businessinsider.com/larry-ellison-on-microsoft-amazon-offers-2016-3

  • Oracle says Oregon is obstructing its pursuit of information

    Oracle claims that Senior Vice President Ken Glueck and Brian Shipley, Gov. Kate Brown’s then-chief of staff, reached a deal late last year to settle all litigation. Oracle would drop its suits and give the state $25 million worth of products and services. Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum has said only she has the authority to settle the lawsuits, not the governor.

    http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/health-care-inc/2016/03/oracle-says-oregon-is-obstructing-its-pursuit-of.html

Other

  • Former Executive on IBM’s Watson to Start Own A.I. Firm

    But for Mr. Pratt, leaving to start Noodle meant being able to build a new analytics and A.I. business from the ground up. The company will be based in San Francisco and Bangalore, relying on teams around the world to handle workloads.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/15/business/dealbook/former-head-of-ibms-watson-unit-to-start-own-ai-firm.html?_r=0

  • Check Out Amazon’s New Secret Weapon for Winning the Cloud Computing Wars

    AWS vice president Adam Selipsky told The Wall Street Journal that “many hundreds” of companies have used an earlier version of the new tool to migrate more than 1,000 databases. “You can clearly see that we’re now getting into the meat of enterprise adoption of the cloud,” he told The Journal.

    Last week, Microsoft said the next version of its own database program would include a similar tool. But Amazon’s head start and experience should continue to pay off, according to Hottovy.

    http://www.thestreet.com/story/13495642/1/amazon-adds-to-appeal-of-its-cloud-computing-platform.html

  • Apple Signs On With Google, Cuts Spending With AWS

    Mountain View, Calif.-based Google, which last November hired VMware co-founder and former CEO Diane Greene to lead its cloud business, is said to be aggressively forming partnerships and swinging deals to bring in large enterprise customers. Last month, Google signed up Spotify, which runs part of its streaming music service on AWS, as a cloud customer.

    http://www.crn.com/news/cloud/300080062/cloud-makes-for-strange-bedfellows-apple-signs-on-with-google-cuts-spending-with-aws.htm

  • Tableau Acquires HyPer in a Quest to Enhance Database Computing

    Tableau Software has announced the acquisition of HyPer, which is a high-performance database system. HyPer was initially developed as a research project in Technical University of Munich (TUM). Tableau plans to start a research and development center in Munich with the help of key personnel, and expand its research work on high-performance computing. The idea is to integrate HyPer’s technology into Tableau’s products. This will help its customers with faster transaction processing, and in improving the analytics results generated by its own software.

    http://www.martechadvisor.com/news/tableau-acquires-hyper-in-a-quest-to-enhance-database-computing/