Tag: Microsoft

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Supplier Report: 9/10/2016

sn_boxing_khusen-rustamov

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

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

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

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

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

Acquisitions

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Artificial Intelligence

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

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

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

  • Google is using AI to speed up cancer treatment

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cloud

  • What to do when the cloud eats your hardware vendor

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Is Microsoft building a Slack killer?

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

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

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

Datacenter

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

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

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

  • The New Dell Stops Trying To Be The Old IBM

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

    http://www.nextplatform.com/2016/09/08/new-dell-stops-trying-old-ibm/
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Software/SaaS

  • Microsoft Dethrones Salesforce As Top SaaS Provider

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

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

  • OpenOffice could shutter due to lack of volunteer developers

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

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

Other

  • Microsoft’s tin ear for privacy

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

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

Posted on

Supplier Report: 9/3/2016

sn_planes_Blake Richard Verdoorn

Hewlett Packard Enterprise is said to be close to selling off their software assets… all of them. Thoma Bravo is rumored to be a front runner to purchase a portfolio valued between $8-10 billion dollars.

While HPE transitions back to a hardware-only company with their own designs on storage, datacenters, and AI; they face increasing and varied competition from IBM, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google.

Meanwhile a Chinese company known for mobile phones is about to get very serious about IT hardware and EMC is officially going to become Dell Technology next week.

IBM

  • IBM swings axe through staff, humming contently about cloud and AI

    Lee Conrad, an ex-IBMer who today runs the Watching IBM Facebook page, has been sharing messages from long-serving staffers laid off this week, some of whom claim their jobs are effectively being shifted overseas to India, China and Costa Rica.

    Some axed workers say their last day will be at the end of November, allowing IBM to avoid paying into their 401K retirement savings pot for the year. Big Blue will only cough up the cash if you are an employee on December 15. This comes after the biz slashed its severance payouts to a maximum of one month of pay.

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/09/01/ibm_latest_layoffs/

  • IBM expands cloud footprint in Korea

    Located outside Seoul in Pangyo, the new data center is designed to support growing cloud adoption and customer demand across the country.

    According to IDC, an information technology research firm, the public cloud services market in Korea is expected to grow from USD445 million in 2015 to approximately $1B in 2019.

    The new facility in Pangyo is IBM´s ninth cloud data center in the Asia-Pacific region, and part of the company´s growing global network of 47 cloud data centers.

    http://www.financial-news.co.uk/36745/2016/08/ibm-expands-cloud-footprint-in-korea-20160826082900/

  • Can IBM Win The Storage War Against Dell-EMC?

    IBM said last year that it will invest $1 billion over the next five years to win the software-defined storage space. Although breaking EMC’s dominance isn’t an easy task from a technological point of view, I believe the potential disruption resulting from product portfolio integration of Dell and EMC could help IBM get closer to EMC due to certain advantages IBM enjoys in the enterprise software market.

    http://seekingalpha.com/article/4002896-can-ibm-win-storage-war-dell-emc

  • IBM and VMware extend public cloud tech deal

    Further moves to strengthen the partnership see a VMware Cloud Foundation compatibility with IBM aiming to make it faster to deploy VMware’s products in an on-premise environment to IBM’s cloud.

    The aim is to make it much easier for customers to be able to use VMware’s products in an IBM Cloud and for an IBM Cloud user to use VMware’s products.

    Partnerships like this are becoming increasingly common as vendors look for a collaborative approach to the cloud market in order to differentiate themselves from the likes of Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform that lead the market.

    http://www.cbronline.com/news/cloud/public/ibm-and-vmware-extend-public-cloud-tech-deal-4992298
    Comment: This is interesting, IBM is clearing going after EMC storage, yet making partnership deals with VMWare.

  • Hybrid Clouds Dominate — Enable Companies to Innovate, Exceed Expectations

    The IBM study, “Tailoring hybrid cloud: Designing the right mix for innovation, efficiency and growth,” is based on in-person interviews and surveys of more than 1,000 C-suite executives from 18 industries. Conducted by the IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV), the study finds that the top reasons executives cite for adopting hybrid cloud solutions are: lowering total cost of ownership (54 percent), facilitating innovation (42 percent), enhancing operational efficiencies (42 percent) and enabling them to more readily meet customer expectations (40 percent).

    http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ibm-study-hybrid-clouds-dominate—-enable-companies-to-innovate-exceed-expectations-300321374.html

Hewlett Packard Enterprise | HP INC

  • HP: Gloomy Outlook Despite Increased PC Sales

    Cathie Lesjak, the chief financial officer of HP, pointed out that one of the major reasons that the tech company is projecting downbeat earnings for the fourth quarter regardless of the stabilizing PC sales was that it has been pumping in a lot of money to boost its higher-end printers’ sales. The objective is to sell more of these in locations where individuals print more, which could result in more sales for printer supplies and other related services.

    The HP CFO said, “We think that is the right investment to make.“ Even though the boost in investments will put some pressure on the present quarter, Lesjak promised that it will “pay dividends in supply revenue in the future.”

    http://www.themarketdigest.org/201608/hp-gloomy-outlook-despite-increased-pc-sales/3146061/

  • HPE is betting big on AI to fuel your apps and analytics

    Companies can use HPE Vertica 8 on data residing on premises, in private and public clouds, and in Hadoop data lakes. With its in-database machine learning capabilities, they can natively create and deploy R-based machine learning models directly within the software.

    Improvements to data movement and orchestration let users load data as much as 700 percent faster than before, HPE said. Those gains are possible for hundreds of thousands of columns. Vertica 8 also makes it easier to load data from Amazon S3 and includes comprehensive visual monitoring of Apache Kafka data streams.

    http://www.cio.com/article/3113986/hpe-is-betting-big-on-ai-to-fuel-your-apps-and-analytics.html

  • HPE CIO tackles tough ‘spin merge’ with CSC

    While Spradley is laser focused on the services separation, HPE has seemed anything but focused in recent years. There have been ill-conceived acquisitions (Compaq, EDS and Autonomy), scandals (pretexting and Mark Hurd) and architecture missteps (such as Itanium). And that’s independent of the secular trends, including the shifts to public cloud software offered by Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Google, a tech evolution to which the company has struggled to adjust.

    HPE’s micro and macro challenges might seem like drudgery to CIOs whose primary occupations include building digital products and services to drive business innovation. Such CIOs would rather experiment with blockchain, stitch together APIs and host hackathons than divest and spin off assets and staff.

    http://www.cio.com/article/3114477/mergers-acquisitions/hpe-cio-tackles-tough-spin-merge-with-csc.html

  • HP Enterprise (HPE) Stock Gains on Potential Software Division Sale

    Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise  (HPE) were up in mid-afternoon trading on Thursday as the Palo Alto, CA-based technology infrastructure company is in discussions to sell its software division to buyout firm Thoma Bravo in a deal that it hopes could bring in between $8 billion and $10 billion, sources told Reuters. 

    https://www.thestreet.com/story/13692527/1/hp-enterprise-hpe-stock-gains-on-potential-software-division-sale.html
    sn_mrRobot
    Looks like we have a buyer…

Oracle

  • Oracle’s Database 12c R2: Boom, bust, or meh upgrade cycle ahead?

    In other words, this upgrade cycle for Oracle will be different from previous database rollouts. For starters, more of Oracle’s revenue will be subscription based. In addition, there are more competitors than ever for Oracle. It’s quite possible that SAP, which is using its HANA platform to prod customers to move off of Oracle databases, and Oracle are fighting yesterday’s war.

    http://www.zdnet.com/article/oracles-database-12c-r2-boom-bust-or-meh-upgrade-cycle-ahead/

Storage

Other

  • Huawei Plots to Seize Another Tech Industry

    Huawei is training its sights on selling computing gear for the world’s biggest data centers, which are the invisible locomotives of the digital world. These giant buildings packed with racks of computing equipment and miles of data-carrying cables enable every moment in the digital world, from the Facebook photo you shared this morning to the databases managing Walmart’s supply chain.

    https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2016-08-31/huawei-of-china-plots-to-seize-market-for-data-center-gear
    sn_bigtrouble_littlechina2
    I totally predicted this situation in Episode 37 of SourceCast

  • Party Over At Salesforce.com With Terrible Q2 Earnings

    Let’s look at what really matters: deferred revenues and billings. Deferred revenue missed at $3.82 billion versus $3.88 billion consensus, and billingsmissed at $1.86 billion versus $1.89 billion consensus. “This is a slight miss” you say, but billings have been beating estimates at an accelerating pace in recent quarters, which sent the stock soaring – one must view everything in context. Last quarter, the company beat billings by 12.9%, by 6.1% two quarters ago, and by 1.8% three quarters ago – so clearly, there is an acceleration that got the market really excited. To the best of my knowledge, billings never missed before (at least in recent years). When you go from that kind of bullish dynamic to a miss, trouble ensues – don’t blame me, that’s just how the market works.

    http://seekingalpha.com/article/4003466-party-salesforce-com-terrible-q2-earnings

  • Salesforce To Launch AI Product, Einstein

    The company is hoping Einstein, the Artificial Intelligence product it is working on introducing to the world, will propel her to fresher growth.

    Salesforce’s Dreamforce conference hold in San Francisco and the event typically draws around 170,000 attendees. The company believes this will be the perfect time and place to formally make the big announcement.

    It could be recalled that Salesforce acquired a handful of artificial intelligence companies in the last two years and Forbes believes this coming announcement explains those decisions. Other companies to have towed the same path in the past include Google and Microsoft.

    http://stocknewsusa.com/2016/08/26/salesforce-launch-ai-product-einstein-stocks-rise-announcement/

  • Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff indicates his rivalry with Microsoft is back on
    Their purchase of Quip is a direct threat against Microsoft…

    “We have to have productivity built in. All of our applications need to have core productivity applications, whether it is email, like with Salesforce Inbox or spreadsheets or word processors like Quip, live documents. All of that has to be an integrated part of what we are doing. We believe that strongly. We have obviously done a lot of great work with Microsoft as well, with their products. We have now our own product in this category. And this is going to be really important for us going forward and it’s the reason that we bought Quip.”

    http://www.businessinsider.com/salesforces-marc-benioff-ups-rivalry-with-microsoft-2016-9?r=UK&IR=T

  • Why the container community is wrong to whine about Docker

    Predictably, everyone wants in on this Docker action, though few are as honest about that interest as Red Hat’s Riek. Though he stresses he doesn’t speak for Red Hat, it’s not hard to believe that his concerns would be widespread within the open source giant, not to mention other vendors. Declaring “containers as the future of the Linux OS and application-centric IT,” Riek questions “the aggressive way that Docker Inc is trying to control the Docker open source project.”

    http://www.techrepublic.com/article/why-the-container-community-is-wrong-to-whine-about-docker/

Photo: Blake Richard Verdoorn

Posted on

Supplier Report: 8/27/2016

sail

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.

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/qineqt/2016/08/25/is-watson-smart-enough-to-breathe-life-into-ibm/#6b9462464cf9

  • 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.

    http://www.zdnet.com/article/ibm-launches-flash-arrays-for-smaller-enterprises-aims-to-court-emc-dell-customers/

  • 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.

    http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ibm-named-a-leader-in-gartners-magic-quadrant-for-its-flash-storage-solutions-300317910.html

  • 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.”

    http://www.computerweekly.com/blog/StorageBuzz/Its-time-for-all-flash-says-IBM-but-IT-chiefs-wont-necessarily-agree

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
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  • 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.”

    http://www.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/082516/oracle-v-oregon-round-1-lawsuit-goes-state-orcl.aspx

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.

    https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/22/microsoft-buys-ai-scheduling-tool-genee-to-make-office-365-smarter/

  • 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.

    http://www.crn.com/news/data-center/300081858/dell-emc-buy-will-end-legacy-perceptions-of-dell-as-a-pc-company.htm

  • 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.

    http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/blog/techflash/2016/08/emc-still-hiring-in-massachusetts-even-as-dell.html

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.”

    http://www.fastcompany.com/3062865/tim-cooks-apple/apple-acquires-personal-health-data-startup-gliimpse?partner=rss

  • 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:

    1. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. Increasing Pay Gap – The wealthiest 1% have captured almost all of the growth in income since the 2008 crash.
    4. 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.
    5. Growing Trade Deficit – Our total trade deficit has grown to $10 trillion in the last 30 years.

    http://www.industryweek.com/strategic-planning-execution/focus-shareholder-value-killing-manufacturing?page=2

  • 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.

    http://www.computerworlduk.com/security/cisco-wants-be-software-company-why-customers-should-look-beyond-hype-3645282/
    sn_emptyrack_siliconvalley

  • 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.”

    http://www.therecorder.com/id=1202765729294/HP-Sued-for-Alleged-Age-Bias-in-Mass-Layoffs?slreturn=20160723095648

Photo: Maximilian Weisbecker

Posted on

Supplier Report: 8/20/2016

sn_service_Mike Wilson

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 RTP

    IBM 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.

    http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/blog/techflash/2016/08/why-the-workday-cloud-deal-is-good-for-ibm-in.html

  • 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.

    http://theconversation.com/as-census-failure-blame-points-at-ibm-why-we-shouldnt-be-surprised-by-its-failings-64038

  • 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.

    https://www.thestreet.com/story/13675433/1/ceo-ginni-rometty-tells-bloomberg-businessweek-how-ibm-plans-to-compete-with-google.html
    sn_fellow_kids

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.

    http://abc7news.com/education/oracle-to-build-high-school-on-its-campus-to-train-future-generation/1467973/

  • 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.

    http://www.cio.com/article/3107249/cloud-computing/10-acquisitions-driving-oracles-cloud-strategy.html

  • 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/
    sn_your_couch

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 layoffs

    Chowdhry 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.

    http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/jobs/IT-professionals-Time-to-brace-for-more-layoffs/articleshow/53751028.cms?

  • 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.

    http://www.computerweekly.com/microscope/news/450302595/Salesforce-gobbles-up-analytics-outfit-BeyondCore

  • 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.

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/janakirammsv/2016/08/12/amazon-takes-shot-at-microsoft-and-ibm-with-its-latest-analytics-service/#410b9e823fd7

  • 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