IBM Archives - Page 57 of 66

April 4, 2015April 4, 2015

Supplier Report: 4/4/2015

More bad news in the security sector this week, IBM is reporting there is a group of hackers (Dyre Wolf) going after financial wire transactions.

Speaking of transactions, IBM had a mobile heavy news week: More new apps with Apple (8 in total, 4 focusing on healthcare), they are spending $3B on internet of things infrastructure and management (seemingly around collecting data from wearables) and finally IBM announced a mobile app partnership in China.

This is a week of lawsuits: IBM is being sued by shareholders over their hardware write off and everybody involved with the HP Autonomy purchase is suing each other.

Also in HP news, the EMC merger (actually acquisition) rumor is floating around again.

IBM

IBM investing $3B in Internet of Things (IoT) infrastructure: (JS: need to start thinking about this in terms of mobile)

The company understands that the majority of data generated and collected cannot be analyzed, as there is no proper infrastructure to do so – but will work with partnering companies to develop tools and services for app developers.

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/44395/ibm-invests-3b-help-develop-internet-things-infrastructure/index.html
Speaking of mobile, IBM/Apple announce 8 more enterprise apps

The new group expands that to healthcare, with four of the eight new apps in that sector. Another app is in industrial products, with others coming to retail, airlines, and insurance. Healthcare, perhaps more than any other industry, is ripe for innovation. Technology is everywhere, but there remains room for improvement all over the place. Here’s an overview of the new offerings.

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/ibm-and-apple-unveil-eight-more-enterprise-ios-apps/
IBM introduces another social tool called “Verse”

A direct result of IBM’s $100 million investment in design innovation, IBM Verse integrates email, calendars, file sharing, instant messaging, social and more – all through a single collaborative, cloud-based environment. (Note: It is hosted on SoftLayer)

http://www.gadget.co.za/pebble.asp?relid=9638
IBM is getting sued by stockholders due to their hardware selloff:
http://www.law360.com/technology/articles/638893/ibm-hit-with-investor-suit-over-shedding-hardware-business
IBM gets involved with Chinese telecom to manage mobile apps
This is really interesting considering China has been throwing out US based companies lately.

She did mention that the deal with China Telecom was already underway before the Chinese government announced the new regulations, but she would not make any comment on the potential effect of the new policies on the MobileFirst business.

http://www.valuewalk.com/2015/04/ibm-and-china-telecom-sign-deal-to-manage-mobile-apps/
Weather Channel dumps amazon for IBM (Cloud and IoT)
http://www.ibtimes.com/weather-channel-taps-ibm-cloud-services-1864750
Can Watson evaluate your contracts?

And it adds to technologies such as e-discovery, online dispute resolution, e-mediation and predictive coding that have already sent a shiver through the world’s law firms by threatening to automate many tasks once performed by humans clocking in and clocking out on the client’s purse.

http://www.itnews.com.au/CXOChallenge/402214,is-your-lawyer-smarter-than-ibms-watson.aspx

More from the story that never ends: HP sues former Autonomy execs for $5.1B
http://seekingalpha.com/news/2402156-hp-sues-autonomy-execs-for-5_1b

More detail: They are going after Deloitte because they did the accounting treatment for the deal:http://hereisthecity.com/en-gb/2015/04/02/hewlett-packard-in-talks-to-reach-legal-settlement-over-alleged/page/1/

Wait there is more: Mike Lynch (Autonomy founder) is suing HP due to their “smear campaign”…
http://www.cbronline.com/news/verticals/the-boardroom/mike-lynch-sues-hp-over-autonomy-smear-campaign-4544263
A brutal summary of HP’s leadership and decision over the last few years:
http://www.foxbusiness.com/business-leaders/2015/04/01/new-h-p-way/

Other

Security: Dyre Wolf malware steals more than $1 million, bypasses 2FA protection

The Dyre Wolf campaign, as it has been dubbed by IBM Security researchers, targets businesses that use wire transfers to move large sums of money, even when the transactions are protected with two-factor authentication. The heist starts with mass e-mailings that attempt to trick people into installing Dyre, a strain of malware that came to light last year. The Dyre versions observed by IBM researchers remained undetected by the majority of antivirus products.

http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/04/dyre-wolf-malware-steals-more-than-1-million-bypasses-2fa-protection/
Salesforce acquires Toopher (mobile authentication):
http://www.itnews.com/access-control-and-authentication/91422/salesforce-acquires-mobile-authentication-firm-toopher
Salesforce is helping employees move out of Indiana
http://www.businessinsider.com/salesforce-offers-indiana-employee-relocation-package-2015-4
What should EMC buy?

Macquarie Research‘s Rajesh Ghai opines that a merger with Cisco Systems (CSCO) would be “logical,” but that a merger with HP Enterprise, soon to be one half of Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), seems “a more likely outcome.”

Is this “Big Joe’s” swan song?

As Joe Tucci approaches the twilight of his illustrious career, we believe he recognizes a huge part of how his legacy will be perceived in future years will be the state he leaves EMC in when he calls it a day. We see him as an immensely proud man likely to do his best for shareholders over the next few months.

http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2015/04/02/emc-what-they-should-buy-per-macquarie-summit/

March 28, 2015March 27, 2015

Supplier Report: 3/28/2015

IBM

Intel finally has a challenger in the server market: IBM
I would really like to hear IBM’s perspective of why they dumped out some of their hardware and server market, yet continue to dabble in other areas.

Now, as the investor group Motley Fool notes, OpenPOWER is a threat to Intel in the Chinese server market because the government has been actively pushing homegrown solutions over foreign technology, and many of the Foundation members like Tyan are from China.This means Chinese companies can build locally sourced Power servers and even Power chips, which would be more agreeable to the Chinese, even if the technology ultimately did originate in the U.S. The OpenPOWER servers use IBM designed CPUs and motherboards as well as Nvidia GPU technology for compute acceleration.

http://www.itworld.com/article/2903063/intel-finally-has-a-challenger-in-the-server-market-ibm.html

Bonus: How does NVidia play into all of this?
http://www.itbusinessedge.com/blogs/unfiltered-opinion/could-nvidia-be-the-key-to-ibms-effort-to-take-on-intel.html
IBM acquires Alchemy API (follow-up from 3 weeks ago )
http://marketrealist.com/2015/03/ibm-adds-alchemyapi-acquisition-portfolio/
IBM is spending $70B to retire $45B in shares (share buy-back):
http://seekingalpha.com/article/3029656-ibm-spends-70-billion-to-retire-45-billion-worth-of-shares
IBM scores an outsourcing deal with the UK department of health:

As per the IT deal, IBM will modernize the system by providing increased mobile access and new self-service capabilities making the system more efficient and accessible. The workforce management tool serves 1.4 million employees in the U.K

http://www.infotechlead.com/bpo/ibm-inks-it-outsourcing-deal-with-health-department-in-england-29035

More details – it is a 5 year deal to do electronic staff records (ESR)
https://www.business-cloud.com/articles/news/ibm-solve-14-people-hrm-headache-nhs
IBM to open customer centers for software-defined network simulation

The network is the long pole in the tent as you virtualize hybrid data centers and need to do things like interconnect internal resources” with applications running on multiple cloud providers such as Amazon, IBM/Softlayer and [Microsoft] Azure,” said Rick Qualman, IBM vice-president of network an communications services. The increasingly complex environment, with hybrid data centers on the back end and a mobile workforce and clientele on the front end, requires a flexible, automated network that can respond faster to rapid changes in demand.

http://siliconangle.com/blog/2015/03/26/ibm-to-open-customer-centers-for-software-defined-network-simulation/
IBM SoftLayer adds configurable Block Storage and File Storage options for Cloud Servers
http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/news/2401480/ibm-softlayer-adds-configurable-block-storage-and-file-storage-options-for-cloud-servers
IBM i Skills Shortage: Now You See It, Now You Don’t

CEO Mike Lawrie was blaming a lack of IBM i skilled professionals for a revenue shortfall at Computer Sciences Corp, the volume on this topic has been turned up considerably. That’s good. This is a discussion that needs to be heard. In the just-released IBM i Marketplace Survey, half the respondents listed IBM i skills depletion as a top concern. Much of this discussion is defined by whether a shortage exists or whether companies are doing a poor job with workforce management.

http://www.itjungle.com/tfh/tfh032315-story02.html

Oracle

Oracle Primed To Leverage New Cloud Solutions, Says Cantor Fitzgerald

Analysts Brian White and Isabel Zhu wrote, “Just over a year ago, Oracle held its first Cloud Forum for analysts, and the progress made across its cloud portfolio is nothing short of remarkable, in our view. Yesterday’s event only furthered our enthusiasm for Oracle’s cloud initiatives, which we find the most aggressive of any of the large, global IT vendors in our coverage universe, and we believe Oracle has the highest probability of success.”

http://www.benzinga.com/analyst-ratings/analyst-color/15/03/5363034/oracle-primed-to-leverage-new-cloud-solutions-says-canto
Oracle Making Progress Taking On Workday In Cloud

“We came away incrementally more positive after Oracle HCM World, given our conversations with customers and SIs,” he wrote. “Interest in (Oracle’s) Fusion HCM (cloud product) has picked up over the last six months, with a key Oracle SI partner indicating that Oracle added approximately 580 Fusion HCM customers following the Release 8 product, with maybe one-third, or 150-200, live over the past two quarters.”

http://news.investors.com/technology/032715-745417-oracle-catching-up-in-cloud-hr-software.htm

HP nearing deal to sell off Chinese unit:

Tsinghua Unigroup had been competing with other bidders for the business, which is worth roughly $5 billion in total, including China Huaxin Post and Telecommunication Economy Development Center, people familiar with the matter said.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/h-p-nears-deal-to-sell-control-of-chinese-unit-2015-03-26-231032726
HP stock is oversold:

But making Hewlett-Packard Co an even more interesting and timely stock to look at, is the fact that in trading on Thursday, shares of HPQ entered into oversold territory, changing hands as low as $31.57 per share. We define oversold territory using the Relative Strength Index, or RSI, which is a technical analysis indicator used to measure momentum on a scale of zero to 100. A stock is considered to be oversold if the RSI reading falls below 30.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/dividendchannel/2015/03/26/hewlett-packard-is-oversold-2/
HP cuts 77 jobs in Houston
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/technology/article/More-local-job-cuts-at-HP-6153841.php

Other

Dell is bringing in former Cisco and IBM employees at their C-Level

Rory P. Read and Paul Pérez to key executive positions on its Commercial Sales and Enterprise Solutions leadership teams.

http://www.cbronline.com/news/verticals/the-boardroom/dell-appoints-cisco-and-ibm-veterans-to-c-level-4539017
Why Yelp and Salesforce Want Tech Companies to Boycott Indiana

Yelp and Salesforce are urging tech and other companies to avoid Indiana and other states that have passed so-called “religious freedom” laws that basically allow businesses to discriminate against other people if they claim it’s part of their religion. Human rights groups have accused states with similar laws of aiming to discriminate against the LGBT community.

http://dcinno.streetwise.co/2015/03/27/yelp-and-salesforce-urge-tech-companies-to-boycott-indiana/
Tableau upgrades to version 9
http://insidebigdata.com/2015/03/27/tableau-9-0-brings-interactive-speed-and-enriched-flow-to-data-analytics/

March 21, 2015March 20, 2015

Supplier Report: 3/21/2015

IBM

IBM going after healthcare market with Watson

Florida-based Modernizing Medicine provides structured data and clinical decision assistance as well as billing, revenue and inventor management solutions. The solution provider also uses Watson to enable its mobile app schEMA, which provides physicians with “rapid clinical decision support at the point of care,” IBM said.

http://www.channelnomics.com/channelnomics-us/news/2400780/ibm-looks-to-woo-healthcare-market-with-watson
This is the second study IBM has been involved in regarding mobile security in the last 4 months:

Hackers are now taking advantage of the popularity of insecure mobile apps, public Wi-Fi networks, and more to break into the highly valuable data often housed on BYOD and corporate mobile devices. Further, they’re also tapping mobile devices as an entry portal into an organization’s broader, highly confidential internal network.

http://www.domain-b.com/companies/companies_I/IBM/20150320_cyber_attacks.html
Another follow-up to a previous post – IBM’s big data analytics on twitter:

IBM intends to “isolate the signal from the noise” found in social media conversations by enhancing Twitter data with information from millions of data points from other streams such as sales information, product inventory statistics and ever weather forecasts. IBM will also use its analytics technology to make sense of the information.

http://www.itworldcanada.com/article/ibm-taps-twitter-data-for-new-cloud-based-analytics-service/288688
Speaking on analyitcs, here is an interview with IBM’s Global VP for Data Analytics:

I think the biggest disruption or change that we’ll see will be the intersection of analytics and mobility. There are many reasons why I believe that. When we look at the world at large, there’s much more pervasiveness of people using mobile than people using computers or other computational devices.

http://www.datanami.com/2015/03/19/one-on-one-with-ibms-global-vp-for-data-analytics/
IBM is trying to build a custom bitcoin for banks

“It’s sort of a bitcoin but without the bitcoin. These coins will be part of the money supply. It’s the same money, just not a dollar bill with a serial number on it, but a token that sits on this blockchain. We are at a tipping point right now. It’s making a lot more sense for some type of digital cash in the system, that not only saves our government money, but also is a lot more convenient and secure for individuals to use.”

http://www.digitaljournal.com/business/business/ibm-planning-a-custom-version-of-bitcoin-for-central-banks/article/428482
Valuing IBM’s Software Business:

http://seekingalpha.com/article/3004476-valuing-ibms-software-franchise

Oracle

Oracle Takes Aim at Salesforce.com as Currency Headwinds Eat Into Q3 Revenues

Oracle emphasized that its primary focus is to expand the cloud business aggressively and overtake the cloud computing leader and Oracle’s fierce rival, Salesforce.com. Executive Chairman and CTO Larry Ellison stated that the company is on track to exceed $1billion in new Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) business in fiscal 2015, which may help it overtake Salesforce as the global leader in cloud computing ahead of Oracle’s 2016 target.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2015/03/18/oracle-takes-aim-at-salesforce-com-as-currency-headwinds-eat-into-q3-revenues/
Oracle Rising: Ellison Boasts Passing Salesforce, Passed Workday; Op Margin In Focus

Oracle reported a combined $1.518 billion of cloud revenue through the first three quarters, almost as much as it earned in all 12 months of the prior fiscal year.

http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2015/03/18/oracle-rising-ellison-boasts-passing-salesforce-passed-workday-op-margin-in-focus/

HP on target to split by November 2015
http://www.bidnessetc.com/37389-hewlettpackard-co-will-split-business-into-two-parts-by-november-2015/
But questions remain about the split:

“The two companies once they’re split are really going to be functioning in the way they are today: Today we have separate authorizations in PPS and for the enterprise group and I suspect that with the exception of the marketing dev funds and how that’s all construed and overall account coverage, that to me is something that will remain to be seen as to how it’s going to continue.”

http://www.channelnomics.com/channelnomics-us/analysis/2400642/hp-partners-split-questions-remain
HP wins approval for shareholder settlement over Autonomy deal

The ruling, from US District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco, comes after HP failed to win approval of two previous proposed deals. Mr Breyer had written that the last deal may not have been fair for shareholders because it could have forced them to give up claims beyond the Autonomy deal.

http://www.channelnomics.com/channelnomics-us/analysis/2400642/hp-partners-split-questions-remain

Other

Amazon the best public cloud for software development

The capabilities of AWS’ application services, coupled with its mature infrastructure services, vast ecosystem of partners, including many of the rapid dev and coder-focused platforms in this analysis, gave it high current offering and strategy scores across all but the rapid dev segment, where its degree of abstraction does not rise to the needs of this user,” the study said. “It also excels in breadth of security, reliability, and compliance characteristics.”

http://virtualizationreview.com/articles/2015/03/19/aws-named-top-public-cloud-for-software-development.aspx

March 14, 2015March 13, 2015

Supplier Report: 3/14/2015

IBM

IBM among vendors that “Lead the Pack” for large enterprise mobile app services providers

The company has been named a leader by Forrester Research among large enterprise mobile app services providers based on an evaluation of the most significant services providers in the market, which is growing as employees demand support for mobile and companies shift towards using mobile for business.

http://finchannel.com/index.php/technology/item/41200-ibm-among-vendors-that-lead-the-pack-for-large-enterprise-mobile-app-services-providers
IBM growing SoftLayer cloud centers in Australia:
http://idm.net.au/article/0010377-ibm-doubles-cloud-oz
They are also building a hosting center in Quebec:
http://www.computerdealernews.com/news/ibm-opens-billion-dollar-quebec-cloud-centre/40437
IBM workforce declined 12% in 2014
http://www.computerworld.com/article/2895539/ibm-workforce-declined-12-in-2014-losses-tied-to-corporate-divestitures.html
IBM’s New Mainframe System Is Built to Handle Mobile’s Explosive Growth

IBM’s z13 mainframe computing system is built to tackle the impressive growth of the mobile space and can handle 2.5 billion transactions per day. TheStreet’s Scott Gamm toured IBM’s manufacturing facility in Poughkeepsie, New York to see how the latest generation of mainframes are built. Compared to the company’s previous version, the z13 contains 300% more memory, along with a 40% increase in processing capacity and a 100% jump in bandwidth.

http://www.thestreet.com/video/13075729/ibms-new-mainframe-system-is-built-to-handle-mobiles-explosive-growth.html
Adobe and IBM announce partnership
This is an interesting move considering what Adobe is doing with BI and analytics
http://www.cmo.com.au/article/570065/adobe-announces-ibm-accenture-global-services-partners/

Oracle

I have mentioned that Oracle is really tight with the news but this week was especially slow. Their stock is trending neutral this week

Larry Ellison fast facts:
http://gantdaily.com/2015/03/11/larry-ellison-fast-facts/
Crazy Rumor: Oracle looking to buy SalesForce

Frankly, I’d be less surprised if there was a rumor about Salesforce buying Oracle in five or six years. That is an outcome I could see: Ellison might be retired or dead, and Benioff would find some twisted solace in buying his former employer. Salesforce would have to continue growing like a weed, and Oracle would have to shrink a lot in order for that to be possible, of course.

http://sdtimes.com/sd-times-blog-crazy-rumor-day-oracle-buy-salesforce/

HP loses 4 patents in Service Now case
http://www.law360.com/ip/articles/629885/hp-loses-four-patents-under-alice-in-servicenow-suit
HP is creating a new server line for cloud computing:

With rack-scale systems, functions that were previous located in the server, such as cooling and power, may be part of the rack. The systems will likely be deployed in multi-vendor environments, although users want uniformity in controls, said Dave Peterson, group manager of Proliant server products.

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2894733/hp-creates-new-server-line-for-cloud-computing.html

March 7, 2015March 7, 2015

Supplier Report: 3/7/2015

IBM

Watson’s role in IBM’s recovery:

Still, the company’s transformation will take some time. “We believe that data analytics is critical to IBM’s long-term growth story, and a big piece of that is Watson,” Bill Kreher, a technology analyst at Edward Jones Investments, says. “IBM is committing more money and resources toward solutions like the genome project than anyone else. I think patient investors will be rewarded as IBM continues to progress down the cognitive computing front.”

http://www.ibtimes.com/watson-plays-expanded-role-ibms-transformation-applying-expertise-genomics-cancer-1838978
IBM buying Alchemy API to add more AI power to Watson:

The software of Alchemy API is extensively used by 40,000 developers for analyzing and classifying text and images. The more the technology works, the smarter it gets. The point of using this technology is that it helps in analyzing information and provides important details about the users. Watson would perform in a similar manner. This technology is basically very helpful in identifying the types and habits of the target audience, thus benefiting the advertising companies.

http://www.gurufocus.com/news/321531/ibm-eyeing-foray-into-artificial-intelligence
A summary of IBM’s InterConnect 2015 Conference (there is a “green” focus to this article)

However, as noted here previously, when it comes to cloud computing, IBM appear to be pursuing the Amazon model of radical opaqueness. They refuse to publish any data about the energy or emissions associated with their cloud computing platform. This is a retrograde step, and one they may come to regret.

https://www.enterpriseirregulars.com/85363/ibms-interconnect-2015-good-not-good/
IBM adds OpenPower to SoftLayer

“The result is that technology providers have to pull on more and more levers – like adding GPU acceleration or enabling GPU virtualisation, or enabling FPGA attachment – to get cost-to-performance to come down; that is driving much of the heterogeneity in the cloud – different types of heterogeneity, not just at the CPU level,” he ( Brad McCredie) said. “It’s one of the big drivers behind OpenPower.”

http://www.businesscloudnews.com/2015/03/05/ibm-to-walk-the-walk-adds-openpower-servers-to-softlayer/
IBM Headcount continues to drop:

Lee Conrad, national organizer for the workers’ group, Alliance@IBM, said he has learned there were 75,622 regular IBMers on Tuesday, down by 1,686 from mid-February. IBM has not confirmed nor commented on that number. But the company has said that a “workforce rebalancing” this year would amount to several thousand jobs.

http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/story/money/2015/03/04/ibm-headcount-drops-globally/24393745/
IBM sued by investors over alleged securities fraud:

According to the complaint, IBM inflated its stock price before selling the semiconductor unit by carrying the unit’s property, plant and equipment assets on its books at US$2.4 billion, when it should have known the assets were worthless.

http://www.itnews.com.au/News/401162,ibm-sued-by-shareholder-over-alleged-securities-fraud.aspx
IBM given “AA-” rating by MorningStar
http://sleekmoney.com/morningstar-issues-aa-credit-rating-to-international-business-machines-corp-ibm/155148/

Oracle

MorningStar: Oracle Receives AA Credit Rating
http://sleekmoney.com/oracle-receives-aa-credit-rating-orcl/160500/
Oracle Grows on Cloud Business, Big Data Among Key Drivers

Oracle enjoys a dominant position in the enterprise software and database management system (DBMS) software market. According to market research firm Gartner, global spending on IT infrastructure is estimated to grow 2.4% to $3.8 trillion in 2015. Among infrastructure, Big Data and digitalization initiatives are likely to contribute the majority of DBMS market growth. We believe that Oracle’s leading position in the DBMS software market will make it the primary beneficiary of this increased spending.

http://www.zacks.com/stock/news/166844/oracle-grows-on-cloud-business-big-data-among-key-drivers

To follow up from last week – HP is spending $2.7B on Aruba networking
http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2015/03/02/hp-to-buy-aruba-for-2-7-billion/
Is the Aruba buy a good move?

Make no mistake about it. Hewlett-Packard definitely needs to do this because its consumer business lines are slowing down. While its corporate lines show a lot of promise, they still need a lot of growth. This move to buy Aruba Networks makes a lot of sense within this broader context.

http://www.streetwisejournal.com/is-hewlett-packards-planned-acquisition-of-aruba-networks-a-wise-move/7672/
Warren Buffet made alot of news this week, and I find this comment interesting in the context of HP:

According to Buffett, bankers’ appetites for deals mean that they can do almost anything to push for the sale or purchase of a company. He cited how investment bankers usually urge buyers to pay premiums of up to 50% for the target company. Investment bankers usually tell buyers wonderful things that will happen once the deal closes, such as “control value” of the acquisition. The interest of the bankers is to push a deal through and get paid for their action.

However, Buffett said the same bankers would turn up a few years later and urge for the spinoff of the business they had pushed so hard to be acquired. Instead of control value, bankers change the story and urge for spinoff of the acquisition on the basis of unlocking shareholder value.

http://investcorrectly.com/20150304/warren-buffet-raises-red-flags-banks/

Other

Salesforce needs to watch its back for Microsoft

Salesforce.com spent a lot of time on its investor call talking about the large enterprise deals it is winning because that’s what the Street likes to hear, but the company has to keep its eyes on the midmarket, where Microsoft Dynamics is right behind them. The midmarket is an engine of growth and a great counterbalance to the inherent spikes of big deals. And Microsoft is getting good at winning here. Not only is its Cloud version competitively priced for the midmarket, it also has a strong reseller channel that can sell cost-effectively into this market.

http://venturebeat.com/2015/03/06/why-salesforce-com-should-be-watching-its-back-for-microsoft/
The end of SaaS

The best development platforms we’ve seen are Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android for mobile, or the Xbox One. All of these development platforms have hardware, an operating system, and a software layer. Salesforce’s development platform only leverages software and provides less utility to 3rd party app developers, hence only ~300 apps created in the past 15 months. The most comparable example would be Facebook’s single sign-on capabilities. By integrating with Facebook, an app developer can let a new user create a user profile by “Logging in with Facebook.” This is the best use case we’ve seen of development platforms that only leverage software. But I don’t see it translating too well with a CRM tool instead of social network.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alex-moazed/the-end-of-saas_b_6762108.html