Tag: Microsoft

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Supplier Report: 1/24/2015

sn_gozilla

IBM

Oracle

  • CEO Larry Ellison on New Oracle Hardware Technique: ‘The way to compete is to have the lowest cost’

    “Home-constructed systems can be high priced you have to do the integration and make it all perform collectively,” stated Ellison. “Our strategy has generally been to engineer all the layers – compute, storage, and networking – together, so you don’t have to. Having said that, we actually under no circumstances aimed at the lowest achievable purchase price with our tiered systems.”

    http://www.wpxnews.com/technology/ceo-larry-ellison-on-new-oracle-hardware-technique-039the-way-to-compete-is-to-have-the-lowest-cost039-h435.html

  • More on Oracle’s price war – specifically going after VMWare…

    In his classic trash-talking style, Oracle CTO and founder Larry Ellison specifically slammed EMC (VMware’s parent company) during the presentation, claiming, “Our list price is less than half of their discount prices.” Then he laughed and made it clear. “We will negotiate and will discount prices” even more.

    http://www.businessinsider.com/analyst-vmware-rips-out-oracle-for-sap-2015-1

HP

Other

  • Microsoft’s Consent To Poaching Of Employee Brings Rapprochement With Salesforce

    “I told him I wanted to hire one of his technologists as head of our infrastructure. What would be in it for Microsoft is the foundation of a partnership that would give us more kinds of ideas of things that we can do together. And he said okay. Now we’re learning about things that we could do with Microsoft’s file-management technologies and Office that we would never have known on our own”, the CEO said, according to Fortune.

    http://jewishbusinessnews.com/2015/01/23/microsofts-consent-to-poaching-of-employee-brings-rapprochement-with-salesforce/

Posted on

Supplier Report: 11/15/2014

Photo: Tim Parkinson, Flickr

IBM

  1. IBM sells US Government $325M in supercomputers (they are the fastest computers ever made):
    http://www.crn.com/news/components-peripherals/300074813/ibm-cheers-325m-supercomputer-and-openpower-cpu-win.htm
  2. IBM CFO: Not all revenue is good revenue:

    “In just the last 10 years, we were split 30, 33 and 36 hardware, software and services and now our hardware business just last year was down to seven percent of our profit, and services was nearly half and software was nearly the other half,” he explains.

    http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/blog/techflash/2014/11/ibm-cfo-schroeter-all-revenue-is-not-good-revenue.html

  3. Apparently this is big news: Ginni Rometty was granted membership to Augusta golf course. (She was denied 2 years ago, there is like 60 articles on this topic).
    http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/56436d16-6b6e-11e4-ae52-00144feabdc0.html
  4. IBM Watson group introducing mobile health app:

    However, the abundance of data about our health and health concerns creates a problem: how do we manage it all? That’s where Watson comes in. Watson’s cognitive computing abilities sort through all that data and finds exactly what you need based on your medical history and genetic information.

    http://www.techtimes.com/articles/20172/20141113/ibms-watson-wants-to-help-you-manage-your-health.htm

  5. IBM Study: IT Departments Build Shared Value, Shared Belief with Business Leaders
    Credit: IBMhttp://public.dhe.ibm.com/common/ssi/ecm/en/gbe03627usen/GBE03627USEN.PDF
  6. IBM’s heavy SoftLayer push beings – offering $10,000 credits and free access to BlueMix apps:
    http://www.cloudwedge.com/4891-ibm-offers-startups-10k-per-month-in-softlayer-credits/They are specifically targeting start-ups (giving them free support and mentoring as well)
    http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2014/11/10/ibm-wants-startups-on-its-cloud/

Oracle

  1. Oracle allowing SAP to pay only $349M in a $1.3B legal copyright (TomorrowNow) settlement:
    http://www.nasdaq.com/article/oracle-settles-for-sap-to-pay-359m-in-copyright-suit-analyst-blog-cm414331
  2. Monopoly claim against Oracle can proceed:

    Sun released its UNIX-based Solaris operating system in 1992. Sun provided end users free updates of its copyrighted, proprietary Solaris system, bug fixes and firmware for free. But that ended in 2011, when Oracle purchased Sun Microsystems, and required customers to sign exclusive contracts tying them to Oracle support services.

    http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/11/12/oracle-not-off-the-hook-in-monopoly-case.htm

  3. Oracle’s corporate pay system still under fire:

    Oracle took great troubles in the previous year to face complaints about how much it paid top executives of the firm. Larry Ellison, founder of oracle even took a pay cut. Yet the firm investors persist to signal their condemnation of the firm’s compensation performs. For the third year in line, more investors voted beside than for a nonbinding suggestion to support the pay awarded to firm executives.

    http://www.streetwisereport.com/will-oracle-corporation-nyseorcl-skyrocket-on-pay-cuts-adobe-systems-incorporated-nasdaqadbe-channeladvisor-corp-nyseecom/16098/

HP

  1. HP under fire for Israeli support at the Palestine borders:

    The company supplies products and services to the Israeli “Ministry of Defense” and the Israeli Navy, and maintains a presence in an illegal West Bank settlement. It also supplies and maintains a high-tech system of ID controls at Israel’s brutal and sadistic network of racist checkpoints in the West Bank.

    http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/adri-nieuwhof/hp-spins-israeli-checkpoints-role-reducing-friction-palestinians

  2. HP releases mobile device management system (focus is on mid and small sized companies):

    Rather than confining the use of IT management services in the cloud to smartphones and tablets, Park says the time has come to simplify the management of all mobile computing devices. While large enterprise IT organizations usually have dedicated solutions to manage devices, Park notes that the average SMB organization is now being overwhelmed because every employee now has multiple devices to be managed.

    http://www.itbusinessedge.com/blogs/it-unmasked/hp-unfurls-mobile-device-management-service-in-the-cloud.html

Other

  1. There has been a security flaw in Windows since Win05 that was just recently patched:
    http://www.businessinsider.com.au/microsoft-fixes-19-year-old-bug-in-windows-2014-11
    PS: If this is another shell shock situation, forget my name 🙂 [NOTE: It was patched in May]
  2. SalesForce drops $640M on San Francisco office:
    http://www.marketwatch.com/story/salesforce-signs-agreement-to-purchase-50-fremont-street-building-expanding-worldwide-headquarters-in-san-francisco-2014-11-12
  3. Microsoft’s SaaS Cloud Strategy is working:
    They are avoiding a hardware show-down with Amazon and Google and pushing their SaaS product line and making smart partnerships with companies like DropBox and SalesForce.
    http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/11/10/this-is-why-microsoft-corporation-will-win-the-clo.aspx

Article Count: 766

Posted on

Supplier Report: 11/01/2014

Photo: Tim Parkinson, Flickr

IBM

  1. Another week, another IBM partnership.  IBM is shacking up with Twitter to help customers determine market trends for their business (ala Watson).
    http://www.mrweb.com/drno/news19954.htm
    This does make a lot of sense actually. 
  2. IBM also partnering with TenCent Cloud – they are based in China and the focus would be on small and medium sized business as well as the healthcare industry.  Looks like TenCent will have IBM SaaS offerings:
    http://www.sys-con.com/node/3220985
    Note: TenCent provides internet to a billion people
  3. A good summary of the partnerships IBM has made in the last 2 months (if you haven’t been reading this report).
    http://www.businessinsider.com/ibm-ceo-ginni-rometty-does-have-a-vision-2014-10
  4. After all the news last week about their buyback program, IBM is buying back another/additional $5B in stock:
    http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/10/28/4272139/ibm-boosts-buyback-plan-by-5-billion.html?
  5. How IBM is going after Amazon’s cloud (nice view of their current product mix):
    http://www.informationweek.com/big-data/software-platforms/ibm-cloud-services-take-on-amazon-redshift/d/d-id/1317011
  6. IBM offering 0% leasing on Power7+ and Power8 Iron (24 months):
    http://www.itjungle.com/tfh/tfh102714-story10.html

Oracle

  1. Comparing Oracle, Adobe, and SalesForce (a little stock heavy, but still interesting):
    http://seekingalpha.com/article/2624965-comparing-americas-3-largest-application-software-companies
  2. Predicting Oracle’s future acquisitions:

    Oracle announced the acquisition of TOA Technologies. TOA Technologies provides SaaS-based offerings focused on field service requests. Through the tools, companies cannot only monitor real-time field service requests but also schedule representatives and then use business analytics to monitor and view inventories and predict service windows. The solution helps them optimize their field service staff and operations. Oracle plans to integrate TOA’s offerings with their Service Cloud and Oracle ERP cloud solutions to help organizations deliver higher operational efficiency and improved customer satisfaction levels.

    http://seekingalpha.com/article/2612245-oracles-future-cloud-acquisitions-some-predictions

HP

  1. Massive amount of coverage over HP’s Sprout 3D printer system (it is $1900)
    http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-10-29/hp-unveils-sprout-a-cheaper-faster-3-d-printing-system 

    I am very “meh” about the coverage on this product.  While I see many applications for 3D printing, I think it is too soon for this product to be the boost that HP needs (especially when the company splits).  Here is a little more on the technology:
    http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/571371/20141031/hp-sprout-keyboard-free-mouse-3d-desktop.htm

  2. HP vs IBM – who has the better recovery plan? (Hint: For investors – it is IBM)
    http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/10/28/ibm-vs-hewlett-packard-which-company-has-the-bette.aspx
  3. HP is looking to dump a Chinese networking company they own:
    http://thevarguy.com/information-technology-merger-and-acquistion-news/102714/report-hp-looking-offload-china-networking-busines

Other

  1. Former IBM CEO (Louis Gerstner) on how global markets and e-Commerce will impact the life insurance market (holds true for other business areas as well):
    http://www.lifehealthpro.com/2014/10/29/ex-ibm-chief-insurers-must-adapt-or-face-the-conse
  2. How Microsoft is beating IBM at enterprise business:

    IBM’s software, service and hardware revenue is too dependent on UNIX, and because IBM’s proprietary OS is shrinking in market share, the market for middleware will likely shrink in response.

    http://seekingalpha.com/article/2600605-how-microsoft-pushed-ibm-out-of-the-enterprise

  3. Tableau gaining a name in data analysis market:
    http://news.investors.com/investing-stock-spotlight/102714-723623-tableau-software-thrives-amid-booming-demand-for-software.htm
  4. Michael Dell thinks Dell with thrive on their competitor’s “chaos”:

    “I feel like Dell is doing the same thing as all of the other providers… except they entered the market fairly late,” said David Chou, CIO of the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

    I think that is all you need to say…
    http://blogs.wsj.com/cio/2014/10/31/michael-dell-sees-advantage-in-rivals-chaos-and-confusion/

  5. SalesForce making an even bigger push into Healthcare industry:

    Now Salesforce aims to bring in $1 billion in yearly revenues in coming years – about a fifth of its current annual sales – from health contracts, two people briefed on its plans told Reuters. The company expects to make such inroads despite entrenched competition and its own false starts in the sector, these sources said.

    http://www.orthospinenews.com/salesforce-to-make-big-push-into-healthcare-industry

  6. Spanning has been purchased by EMC:
    This company does a cloud backup service for SalesForce and the Google Apps products.
    http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20141028006023/en/Spanning-Acquired-EMC-Corporation
Posted on

Supplier Report: 8/17/2014

IBM:

  1. $2.3B Server Sale to Levovo approved:
    http://www.themalaymailonline.com/money/article/ibm-us2.3b-server-sale-to-lenovo-receives-regulator-approval
  2. Penn State’s usage of IBM software is saving money:
    http://news.psu.edu/story/322984/2014/08/15/research/ibm-software-helps-keep-penn-state-sustainable-while-saving-money
  3. ACQUISITION: IBM purchases Lighthouse Security:
    http://itic-corp.com/blog/2014/08/ibm-fortifies-security-with-lighthouse-security-crossideas-acquisitions/
  4. IBM opens new SoftLayer office in Toronto:
    http://www.telecompaper.com/news/ibm-opens-new-softlayer-data-centre-in-toronto—1030874

HP:

  1. Google and HP are trying to make a strategic partnership of their own:
    http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/08/17/how-hp-could-help-google-take-on-apple-in-enterpri.aspx
  2. HP Senior Software Engineer Posting:
    https://www.linkedin.com/jobs2/view/18676730?trk=biz-overview-job-post
  3. HP taking advantage of IBM’s server sell off and urging customers to switch to HP:
    http://www.crn.com/news/data-center/300073695/hp-urges-customers-to-dump-ibm-jump-to-an-hp-partner.htm

Oracle:

  1. Oracle sales state of Oregon committed “smear campaign”:
    http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/health-care-inc/2014/08/oracle-says-it-was-the-victim-of-a-smear-campaign.html
  2. What Oracle is looking for in a financial controller:
    https://www.linkedin.com/jobs2/view/18516236?trk=jobs_biz_pub

Other:

  1. Microsoft’s Partnership with Salesforce is odd and will likely result in MS competing with SF anyway:
    http://seekingalpha.com/article/2429855-microsoft-partnership-is-likely-to-give-salesforce-com-a-headache

Career:

  1. 7 Ways to make your boss happy:
    https://www.themuse.com/advice/7-ways-to-become-your-boss-dream-employee
  2. How to avoid being a human bottleneck:
    http://blog.sandglaz.com/human-bottleneck/
  3. Free Microsoft training **cough**Visio**cough**
    http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/