Wipro Unveils Lab in Bellevue to Test Unified Communications Solutions

Wipro Technologies, the Global Consulting, System Integration and Outsourcing business of Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT), today unveiled a state-of-the-art testing facility in Bellevue, WA, USA, to provide Microsoft Lync Server 2010 qualification testing services for unified communication products. Wipro's testing facility will provide faster time to market to companies developing telephony infrastructure solutions on Microsoft's Unified Communication platforms.


Read More.....
Wipro Unveils Lab in Bellevue to Test Unified Communications Solutions

Cloud Computing Providers: Clueless about Security?

A survey of 127 of cloud computing providers suggests many regard security as being mainly their customer's problem, and indeed, see their own proficiencies in low cost and speed of deployment services.

Those are among the findings from Ponemon Institute's "Security of Cloud Computing Providers Study," which quizzed 103 cloud service providers in the U.S. and 24 in Europe on their views and practices in securing the data entrusted to them by customers. In the survey 65% of the respondents were "public" cloud providers, the remainder "private" cloud or "hybrid" mix. The most frequently offered service was software-as-a service, followed by infrastructure-as-a-service and platform-as-a-service.

Read More............
Cloud Computing Providers: Clueless about Security?

IBM Consumer Forecast Indicates New Selling Season Emerging

February and March are emerging as an important selling season for consumer electronics and appliances, according to an analytics-based study produced by IBM (NYSE: IBM). The findings have significant ramifications for merchants preparing for this retailing period.

Read More......
IBM Consumer Forecast Indicates New Selling Season Emerging

Google has failed the Honeycomb tablet

A lot of ink has been spilled about the failings of the Android tablet in the market. The Motorola XOOM has been a failed first product intended to showcase Google’s version of Android that is optimized for tablets. Google threw Android under the proverbial bus by stating that versions of the OS prior to Honeycomb were just not good enough to run tablets. You’d think Google would be doing everything it could to get Honeycomb tablets high on consumer’s buy lists, but in my view it is failing in a very significant way.

Read More.....
Google has failed the Honeycomb tablet

SAP Reports 26% Growth in Software Revenue and 20% Growth in Software and Software Related Service Revenue

SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2011.

"We are pleased to report our fifth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth in software and software related service revenue," said Werner Brandt, CFO of SAP. "The strong top line results coupled with a double-digit increase in non-IFRS operating profit keep us on track to deliver further profitable growth in 2011 and beyond."

Read More.....
SAP Reports 26% Growth in Software Revenue and 20% Growth in Software and Software Related Service Revenue

Most Americans Not Willing to Pay to Read News Content Online

As businesses explore best practices for success in the changing landscape created by the Internet, some companies have discussed charging for access to online content that was previously free. Some media outlets have discussed doing this, and The New York Times recently began charging online readers who view over 20 articles per month. But there may be trouble ahead as a recent Adweek/Harris Poll found that a large majority said they would be willing to pay "nothing" per month to read a daily newspaper's content online (80%). Of the one in five who would pay, 14% said they would pay between $1 and $10 per month while very few said that they would be willing to pay between $11 and $20 (4%) or more than $20 per month (2%).

Read More.....
Most Americans Not Willing to Pay to Read News Content Online

What's so special about Sony's massive data breach?

The hacking of Sony Corp's PlayStation Network has earned a place in the annals of Internet crime.

That's partly because of the massive size of the data breach -- information about 77 million customer accounts was stolen. It is also because Sony bothered to disclose the attack at all.

The bulk of attacks on corporate and governmental computer networks go unreported because victims want to avoid the embarrassment and public scrutiny that come with acknowledging that their systems have been hacked.

Read More......
What's so special about Sony's massive data breach?

SAP Named Worldwide Market Share Leader in Business Intelligence, Analytics, Performance Management

SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced it has been named the overall market share leader in the worldwide business intelligence (BI) market, owning nearly a quarter of the market according to the April 2011 report* issued by Gartner Inc. – "Market Share Analysis: Business Intelligence (BI), Analytics and Performance Management, 2010, Worldwide." The combined BI market encompasses BI platforms, corporate performance management (CPM) suites, analytic applications and performance management. In the report, SAP ranks No. 1 with 23 percent share of the worldwide market based on revenue, reflecting a 16.8 percent growth from 2009.

Read More....
SAP Named Worldwide Market Share Leader in Business Intelligence, Analytics, Performance Management

Why Is Analytics Such a Hot Market?

IBM has dominated the analytics software space, however, a noted venture capitalist says there is much unplowed territory in analytics, making it one of the hottest areas in the technology market.

At an IBM Smarter Education Forum at the Yale School of Management here, Mark Gorenberg, managing director of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, said he believes analytics to be a driver for the software industry, so much so that “two of our largest successes have been analytics.”

Read More....
Why Is Analytics Such a Hot Market?

Linux and Mac OS Are Fastest-Growing Operating Systems

Microsoft may still dominate the operating system market, but Linux and Apple's Mac OS platforms were the fastest-growing in 2010, according to new data from Gartner.

Worldwide operating system revenue totaled $30.4 billion in 2010, Gartner reported Wednesday, representing an increase of 7.8 percent from 2009. Within that overall market, Microsoft still claims the leading position, with a 78.6 percent market share.

Read More....
Linux and Mac OS Are Fastest-Growing Operating Systems

From Virtual Barnyards to Real Dollars: Andrew Trader on Zynga, 'Gamification' and the Power of Analytics

From Jewel Quest to World of Warcraft, gaming has always occupied a niche online. By combining the social might of Facebook with the narrative element of experiential games like Oregon Trail or The Sims, Zynga -- a social network game developer based in San Francisco -- was able to become one of the fastest-growing companies on the Internet. Millions of Facebook users play FarmVille, Mafia Wars and the company's other titles -- with many shelling out real dollars to add to their virtual barnyards or crime syndicates. A recent New York Times report put Zynga's estimated value at $10 billion, noting that investments have quintupled its worth over the last two years.

Andrew Trader was a member of Zynga's founding team in 2007, and until last year served as executive vice president of sales and business development. Previously, Trader was CEO of Tribe.net, a social network sold to Cisco in 2007, and co-founded Coremetrics, a website marketing analytics firm. Trader (otherwise known as "AT") is currently entrepreneur-in-residence at Maveron, a venture capital firm with offices in Seattle and San Francisco. In a recent interview with Knowledge@Wharton he discussed the rise of social gaming, how "gamification" is seeping into other industries, the importance of analytics in Zynga's success, and the different strategies male and female users employ in building virtual worlds in its games.

Read the edited version of interview here.......
From Virtual Barnyards to Real Dollars: Andrew Trader on Zynga, 'Gamification' and the Power of Analytics

Samsung launches Galaxy S sequel, aims to sell 10 mln this yr

Samsung Electronics Co, the world's No.2 handset maker, launched a new version of its flagship smartphone Galaxy S in South Korea ahead of its global debut in May, targeting global sales of over 10 million this year.

The local debut of the Galaxy S II comes as it is locked in a legal battle with Apple Inc over alleged mobile technology patent infringements and design copy claims, as they jockey for position in the competitive smartphone market.

Read More.....
Samsung launches Galaxy S sequel, aims to sell 10 mln this yr

Tulip Telecom to Build World’s Third Largest Data Center in Bangalore

TULIP Telecom, today announced that it has chosen IBM, as its strategic partner and SCHNABEL, as a peer review consultant to help to build India’s largest and the world’s third largest Data Center in Bengaluru. Under the contract, IBM will provide design consultancy services for overall Data Center space along with turnkey execution to build the first phase of the Data Center.

Read More....
Tulip Telecom to Build World’s Third Largest Data Center in Bangalore

HTC's Q1 Revenue Leaps 174.5 Percent

IDG News Service - High Tech Computer (HTC) reported another massive revenue increase in the first quarter due to brisk sales of smartphones, with more growth expected in the current quarter as its Flyer tablet PC and two handset models with dedicated Facebook buttons reach world markets, company officials said on Friday.

Read More.....
HTC's Q1 Revenue Leaps 174.5 Percent

News Corp seeks Myspace bids over $100 million: source

News Corp is expected to receive bids for Myspace by the end of this week, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Around five or more bids to buy all or part of the one-time social networking pioneer are expected, valuing the Los Angeles-based company at more than $100 million, according to this person

Read More.....
News Corp seeks Myspace bids over $100 million: source

Google Apps Echoes Microsoft Office 365 with Flexible Billing

Google Apps for Business is getting a flexible payment plan: $5 per user, per month. The search engine is also forcing businesses with more than 10 people to pay up, a bid to acquire more paying customers.

Google has revised its Google Apps for Business pricing to make it more attractive to small businesses, offering a $5 per user, per month plan that follows Microsoft's flexible pricing scheme.

The search engine also lowered its paid service entry level from shops with 50 users to 10, an effort to make more money from Google Apps in a hyper-competitive cloud collaboration software market.

Read More.....
Google Apps Echoes Microsoft Office 365 with Flexible Billing

Forrester: Public Cloud Growth to Surge, Especially SaaS

Long after the buzz about Amazon's two-day cloud outage dies down, the public cloud will be a growth trajectory. Here's Forrester Research's take on how the IaaS, PaaS and SaaS cloud models will shake out over the next 10 years and who the key cloud vendors will be.

On the heels of the controversial Amazon EC2 cloud outage last week, research firm Forrester published a timely report on the growth potential of the major public cloud categories.

These are: IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service), PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service) and SaaS (Software-as-a-Service).

Read More....
Forrester: Public Cloud Growth to Surge, Especially SaaS

Cisco Launches The Next Generation Linksys E4200 Wireless Router

Cisco today introduced in India, Linksys E4200, the latest and most advanced member of the Linksys E-series family offering network speeds of up to 450Mbps and a new innovative design. It's ideal for home entertainment - delivering the power you need for HD video streaming and connects all network devices in the home including laptops, smartphones, iPads, internet enabled TVs, Blu-ray players and game consoles. E4200 is available in over 2000 stores across India, including in large format retailers like Reliance Digital, Croma, Staples, and Hypercity. Thanks to the SpeedBoost technology this superior performance is made available throughout the entire home. The Linksys E4200 is equipped with industry leading 3 x 3 antenna technology delivering up to 450Mbps on the 5GHz radio band, SpeedBoost amplifiers that are designed to provide additional range and MIMO technology that uses walls to amplify the signal.

Read More.....
Cisco Launches The Next Generation Linksys E4200 Wireless Router

Polaris Grows 9% q-o-q; Quarterly Revenues Poised to Cross $100 Million

Polaris Software Lab Limited (POLS.BO), a leading global Financial Technology company, today announced the fourth quarter and annual results for FY 2010-11. The company delivered strong and stable results led by impressive product wins, multiple large engagements with leading Tier 1 global banks & financial institutions and further consolidated its market presence in key business geographies.

Read More......
Polaris Grows 9% q-o-q; Quarterly Revenues Poised to Cross $100 Million

Oracle Goes After Microsoft SQL Server with MySQL

Oracle (ORCL) is making a fresh run at Microsoft's (MSFT) SQL Server, claiming on Tuesday that its open-source MySQL database offers up to 90 percent cost savings over SQL Server along with blazing performance on Windows. An online event is scheduled for Wednesday. During the event, Oracle intends to outline why MySQL is a compelling option for use on Windows, both by software vendors and enterprises. It will also discuss "upcoming milestones [that will] make MySQL even better on the Microsoft platform," and how to deliver "highly available business critical Windows-based MySQL applications."

Read More......
Oracle Goes After Microsoft SQL Server with MySQL

Netxcell Launches "Single IVR" - an advanced Interactive Voice Response technology platform

Netxcell Limited, the pioneers in providing Telecom Application Services, announced the launch of Single IVR (Interactive Voice Response). The Single IVR system is an advanced technology platform that enables corporates, telecom subsrcibers and anyone using the system to do away with multiple IVR platforms. By using the Single IVR platform customer can now configure all their IVR requirements on this platform - they need not have separate IVR systems for Customer Service, Song Downloads, CRBT (Caller Ringback Tone), and other Value added services.

Read More......
Netxcell Launches "Single IVR" - an advanced Interactive Voice Response technology platform

PlayStation Network Hack Timeline

This is a timeline of major events associated with the attack on Sony's PlayStation Network and Qriocity online services.

Dates are given relative to announcements from Sony Computer Entertainment's headquarters in Tokyo. Dates corresponding to announcements from Sony's U.S. unit are provided in parenthesis.

Read More...............
PlayStation Network Hack Timeline

Global Operating System mkt grew to $30.4 bn in 2010: Gartner

Global operating system (OS) revenue grew 7.8 per cent in 2010 to total $ 30.4 billion, in 2010 on back of recovering demand for IT products and services, research firm Gartner today said.

An operating system (OS) is software, consisting of programmes and data that runs on computers and manages various application softwares.

Read More....
Global Operating System mkt grew to $30.4 bn in 2010: Gartner

Mahindra Satyam Selects Appnomic As Technology Partner For Service Delivery Automation

Mahindra Satyam, a leading global consulting and IT services provider, today announced that it has selected Appnomic Systems as their technology partner for introducing automation capabilities in its Unified Service Management Platform (USMP). As part of the agreement, OpsOne, Appnomic's IT process automation solution, will now be embedded in USMP, which is Mahindra Satyam's unique managed services platform for delivering IT Infrastructure outsourcing services.

USMP is designed for automated, high quality and centralized delivery of IT Infrastructure Outsourcing services. After a detailed evaluation of key features of OpsOne - IT process automation with integrated visual designer, document management, script repository, and fine grained SLA reports - Mahindra Satyam found the solution to fit the automation requirements of USMP.

Read More.....
Mahindra Satyam Selects Appnomic As Technology Partner For Service Delivery Automation

HP Becomes SAP-certified Global Provider of Cloud Services

HP Enterprise Services today announced it is among the first partners to become an SAP-certified global provider of cloud services in support of SAP solutions.

HP provides standardized IT solutions and services based on shared resources via the internet enabling the delivery of SAP® applications to clients in a scalable manner via HP Hybrid Delivery Cloud Services .

Read More....
HP Becomes SAP-certified Global Provider of Cloud Services

Attachmate Seals $2.2B Novell Deal

The Attachmate Group announced Wednesday that it has completed its $2.2 billion acquisition of Novell, a networking pioneer in the 1980s that’s now being described as “a leader in intelligent workload management” by its new owner.

The proposed buyout was announced in November and Attachmate is sticking to its plan outlined then to operate Novell as two separate business units under the Novell and SUSE brand names.

Read More....
Attachmate Seals $2.2B Novell Deal

Facebook investors look for exits

A group of Facebook shareholders is seeking to offload $1 billion worth of shares on the secondary market, a sale that would value the company at more than $70 billion, according to five sources with direct knowledge of the situation.

It would represent one of the largest transactions of Facebook shares to date and points to a growing wariness among early-stage investors and employees who fear Facebook's growth cannot keep pace with its market valuation.

The sellers have lowered their price after previously trying to offload shares at a price that valued the company at $90 billion, which would make Facebook more valuable than Time Warner Inc and News Corp combined. But buyers balked.

Facebook investors look for exits

Cloud Development: 9 Gotchas to Know Before You Jump in

InfoWorld — Whether developing, testing, or deploying your apps in the cloud, you have to unlearn some beliefs and learn new ones to make it work

Application development and testing in the cloud are gaining popularity, as more businesses launch public and private cloud computing initiatives. Cloud development typically includes integrated development environments, application lifecycle management components (such as test and quality management, source code and configuration management, continuous delivery tools), and application security testing components.

Although technology executives and developers with experience in cloud-based development say there are clear benefits to developing in these environments -- such as costs savings and increased speed to market -- they also caution that there are challenges and surprises to look out for.

Just how common development in the cloud is likely to become isn't clear. But industry analysis shows it's on the rise. In a February 2011 research note, Gartner (IT) said clients that attended the firm's symposia in 2010 expressed "sharply increased interest" in cloud computing to enhance the development and maintenance of existing custom Web applications.

Read More.....
Cloud Development: 9 Gotchas to Know Before You Jump in

A Shopping List for Apple’s Growing War Chest

Dealbook, NY Times - “Excessive,” “untenable,” simply “ridiculous” — those are some of the words analysts are using to describe Apple’s gigantic cash pile.

It’s certainly a hefty one.

In its latest earnings report on Wednesday, Apple recorded cash and cash equivalents of $65.8 billion, adding to the prior quarter by about $6 billion. The sum easily trumps Apple’s peers. Google, which boasts the second-largest cash pile, reported $36.7 billion in cash last week, less than half of Apple’s war chest.

Read More.....
A Shopping List for Apple’s Growing War Chest

Google's Page and Wall Street: Who needs who?

It took fewer than 400 words for freshman Google Inc CEO Larry Page to set the tone for a strained relationship with Wall Street that could haunt him for years.

The 38-year-old tech visionary -- who with Sergey Brin created the algorithm that today powers the world's most-used search engine -- risks alienating a powerful investor constituency that will be crucial to his efforts to ensure Google remains at the top of its game, say some industry observers.

Investors had hoped to hear Page sketch out his vision during a Thursday post-earnings conference call. Instead, Page came on the line for a few minutes, expressed his optimism in the company, then signed off without entertaining questions on a stunning 54 percent cost spike.

Read More.....
Google's Page and Wall Street: Who needs who?

Why Most Social Media Business Campaigns Fail

The launch of Twitter in 2006 sparked a social media frenzy that shows no signs of slowing down. But if you ask the average business manager what social is doing for their company, chances are they'll be hard-pressed to give you a clear answer. And despite some notable success stories, most companies that have tried to launch social marketing campaigns have realized few material benefits from the effort and expense invested. Has social business run its course?

Read More....
Why Most Social Media Business Campaigns Fail

New Solutions Eliminate Traditional Barriers To Adoption, Enabling ‘UC Everywhere’ for All Types of Business Users

Polycom, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCM), a global leader in unified communications (UC), today added to its award-winning line of telepresence solutions with three innovative new offerings – the EagleEye Directorroom camera tracking system, the HDX® 4500executive desktop telepresence system, and the mobile telepresence m100™ solution.

“We are continuing to deliver on ourUC Everywhere^SM vision and strategy with cutting-edge advancements that leverage our UC Intelligent Core™ technology and the cloud to personalize and extend the UC experience,” said Sudhakar Ramakrishna, Polycom chief development officer. “Polycom is leading in UC innovation through our customer-centric development that brings solutions to market that enable new applications, increase interoperability, enhance productivity, and promote the viral use of telepresence.”

Read More.....
New Solutions Eliminate Traditional Barriers To Adoption, Enabling ‘UC Everywhere’ for All Types of Business Users

Facebook Is Latest Rival to Groupon and LivingSocial

Facebook said late Monday that it would introduce Deals, an effort by the social networking giant to tap into the consumer frenzy over online discounts. With Deals, which had long been expected, Facebook is entering a crowded market led by overnight sensations like Groupon and LivingSocial.


Read More......
Facebook Is Latest Rival to Groupon and LivingSocial

Leading Dutch Tax Consultancy Uses Autonomy to Revolutionize Information Retrieval

Autonomy Corporation plc (LSE: AU. or AU.L), a global leader in infrastructure software for the enterprise, today announced that KPMG Meijburg & Co is using Autonomy's IDOL (Intelligent Data Operating Layer) for robust pan-enterprise search and knowledge management. The leading tax consultancy leverages Autonomy's powerful, meaning-based infrastructure to provide a single point of access to all internal and external data repositories, enabling its tax advisors to easily locate all relevant information and achieve significant time and cost savings in their day-to-day activities.

Read More......
Leading Dutch Tax Consultancy Uses Autonomy to Revolutionize Information Retrieval

Polaris Enters Cloud Computing Space through Strategic Investment in IdenTrustTM

Polaris Software Lab Limited (POLS.BO), a leading global Financial Technology Company today announced a strategic investment in IdenTrustTM, a global leader in trusted identity solutions recognized by global financial institutions and one of the premier providers of digital identity authentication services to several key banks, United States federal identity programs as well as supply chain markets. This strategic investment will mark Polaris' entry into the cloud computing space for Financial Technology solutions.

IdenTrustT Inc. was founded in 1999 by a group of financial institutions that included Citigroup, Bank of America, Chase, Barclays, HSBC, and Deutsche. As the only bank-developed identity authentication system, IdenTrustTM provides a unique legally and technologically interoperable environment for authenticating and using identities worldwide. IdenTrustTM provides applications that use electronic identities that establish contracts, grant authority, support secure encrypted data and information storage and secure online interactions/transactions.

Read More....
Polaris Enters Cloud Computing Space through Strategic Investment in IdenTrustTM

A Year Later: has Oracle Ruined Or Saved Sun?

In its first year in charge of the former Sun Microsystems technologies, Oracle stepped on plenty of toes, as the company dueled with both the open source community and Google. But Oracle also has released a plethora of products and advanced numerous projects derived from the Sun acquisition, ranging from Java and NetBeans IDE upgrades to StorageTek storage units, the Solaris OS, and Sparc hardware. Has Oracle ruined Sun or saved it?


Oracle formally took over Sun in late January 2010. Since then, the company has had to pursue a goal that had escaped Sun in the later years of Sun's existence: profitability. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison in September 2009 said Sun was losing $100 million a month while waiting for the $7.4 billion Sun acquisition to be completed. Ellison since then has criticized Sun management for bad business practices and noted Sun did not make a lot of money from Java, whereas Oracle did.

Read More.....
A Year Later: has Oracle Ruined Or Saved Sun?

22 Free Tools for Data Visualization and Analysis

You may not think you've got much in common with an investigative journalist or an academic medical researcher. But if you're trying to extract useful information from an ever-increasing inflow of data, you'll likely find visualization useful -- whether it's to show patterns or trends with graphics instead of mountains of text, or to try to explain complex issues to a nontechnical audience.

There are many tools around to help turn data into graphics, but they can carry hefty price tags. The cost can make sense for professionals whose primary job is to find meaning in mountains of information, but you might not be able to justify such an expense if you or your users only need a graphics application from time to time, or if your budget for new tools is somewhat limited. If one of the higher-priced options is out of your reach, there are a surprising number of highly robust tools for data visualization and analysis that are available at no charge.

Read More....
22 Free Tools for Data Visualization and Analysis

Tata, HCL Benefit From a Growth in Offshoring

IDG News Service — Indian outsourcers Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and HCL Technologies reported this week strong revenue and profit growth for the quarter ended March 31, as outsourcing by clients to offshore locations picked up.

TCS, the largest Indian outsourcer, said on Thursday that its revenue in the quarter was US$2.2 billion, up by 33 percent from the same quarter last year. Net profit was $531 million, a growth of 25.4 percent over last year.

For the fiscal year ended March 31, TCS said revenue had grown by 29 percent to $8.2 billion, and net profits grew by 31 percent to $1.9 billion.

Read More....
Tata, HCL Benefit From a Growth in Offshoring

Mitigating the Risk of Cloud Services Failure: How to Avoid Getting Amazon-ed

The two-day outage at one of Amazon's data centers has everyone questioning the reliability of infrastructure as a service offerings. Here are seven tips for limiting your risk in the event of cloud services failure.

One of CIOs' biggest concerns about the infrastructure-as-a-service model has been the loss of control over assets and management that enterprises might experience upon moving into a multi-tenant environment. While analysts and early adopters of infrastructure-as-a-service offerings have argued that such apprehension is rooted more in fear than fact, Amazon's recent public data center debacle has given everyone good reason to question the reliability of the public cloud.

Read More.....
Mitigating the Risk of Cloud Services Failure: How to Avoid Getting Amazon-ed

Virtualization Veteran Jason Mattox Joins Liquidware Labs™ as CTO to Support Astonishing Triple-Digit Growth

Liquidware Labs, the leader in desktop transformation, today announced industry luminary Jason Mattox as its Chief Technology Officer, to further desktop and user virtualization for the masses. Industry watchers will recall that Mattox was one of the original founding members at Vizioncore™, now part of Quest Software™ – propelling the company from startup through hypergrowth by co-creating and supporting the industry's first commercially available hot-backup for VMware™.

Read More....
Virtualization Veteran Jason Mattox Joins Liquidware Labs™ as CTO to Support Astonishing Triple-Digit Growth

Oracle replaces CFO as Safra Catz gets the job again

Oracle Corp has replaced its chief financial officer less than three years after he joined the company, tapping its president Safra Catz to do the job.

The company said on Monday that CFO Jeffrey Epstein resigned, but did not give a reason. Epstein, who joined Oracle in September 2008, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Read More.....
Oracle replaces CFO as Safra Catz gets the job again

EA's COO leaves for Zynga : sources

Zynga, the social games company, has poached the chief operating officer of Electronic Arts Inc, sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

The executive, John Schappert, will head up Zynga's game division, one of the sources said.

Read More.....
EA's COO leaves for Zynga : sources

DoubleDutch Closes $1.2 Million Investment Round, Led by Lightbank

Enterprise mobile social business startup DoubleDutch today announced it has raised $1.2 million in financing, led by Lightbank the investment fund started by Groupon co-founders Brad Keywell and Eric Lefkofsky. With the seed financing, DoubleDutch will embark on an aggressive expansion of its platform that helps enterprises to launch their own customized geosocial applications for customers, employees, partners and other stakeholders.

Other participants in DoubleDutch's initial capital infusion include Charles River Ventures, Launch Capital, Accelerator Ventures, Venture51, and Zig Capital. Investors such as Eric di Benedetto, Karl Jacob, Russ Fradin, Thanos Triant, Michael Tanne, Robb Wilmot, Adam Schwartz, Antoine Blondeau, Anu Nigam, and Tim Stevens were also involved in the round


Read More....
DoubleDutch Closes $1.2 Million Investment Round, Led by Lightbank

Is Google Stuck in 'Perpetual Beta'?

Last month, Motorola's Xoom tablet launched on the Verizon Wireless network. Soon after, complaints began to surface that the tablet's operating system -- designed by Google -- was prone to crashes when running third party applications. Experts say that while Google's typical strategy of launching new products and then perfecting them according to user feedback might work for Gmail and other online tools, it doesn't translate well to hardware-based devices like smartphones. In fact, they say, Google's penchant for experimentation by introducing so-called "beta" products with frequent updates may become a handicap as the search giant expands into new markets, such as software and set-top boxes for televisions, and tablets like Xoom.

Analysts have dubbed Google's approach "perpetual beta." Under this strategy, Google launches early versions of new products to see what sticks with consumers. The problem is that some of these experiments aren't sticking -- especially when users have to pay for products. For example, last year Google launched Google TV, software designed to bring the Internet to television sets. After an initial splash and product launches with TV makers such as Samsung and Sony, the company stopped actively promoting the project. According to a March 24 statement by Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn, consumers have not yet shown a high interest in being interactive with their televisions. Meanwhile, in light of its problems with Xoom, Google is holding back on releasing its new tablet operating system, called Honeycomb, to open source developers, Bloomberg BusinessWeek reported.

Read More.....
Is Google Stuck in 'Perpetual Beta'?

Amazon betting on cloud computing, sacrificing some profit

Amazon.com Inc is thinking long-term when it spends heavily on "the cloud," but investors may see a little more short-term rain when the online retailer reports its earnings on Tuesday.

The company has been willing to sacrifice some profitability to win customers and build its new businesses. It has invested heavily in areas such as "cloud computing" -- which allows companies to store data on its servers -- to take on its rivals Google Inc and Apple Inc.

Read More......
Amazon betting on cloud computing, sacrificing some profit

Android tablets don't impress, gap widens - survey

Google's Android platform has lost some allure for software developers still smitten with Apple, while Research In Motion and Microsoft have fallen further behind the two leaders, according to a survey on what devices new apps are likely to be developed for.

Developers seem to have tempered their enthusiasm for the onslaught of tablet computers being launched to try to rival the runaway success of Apple's iPad. Both Android for tablets and RIM's just-launched PlayBook have faded, the survey, released on Tuesday, showed.

Read More.....
Android tablets don't impress, gap widens - survey

Another Tech Bubble? Separating the Froth from the Facts

Back in December, Google made a bid for the social e-commerce company Groupon that valued the company at $6 billion, according to press reports. By the end of the month, TechCrunch and others were putting a nearly $8 billion value on the company based on a new round of venture capital (VC) funding. Two weeks into the New Year, The New York Times reported that Groupon was talking to Wall Street bankers about an IPO that would value it at $15 billion. By March, Bloomberg had upped the IPO price tag to $25 billion.

How does a company that helps people buy $30 worth of Chinese food for $15 see its estimated value more than quadruple -- to $25 billion, no less -- between Thanksgiving and St. Patrick's Day? Must be Internet II: Return of the Dot Com Bubble, right?

Read More.....
Another Tech Bubble? Separating the Froth from the Facts

LinkShare Chooses the Windows Azure Platform in Bid for Global Cloud Solution

Online performance marketing firm LinkShare Corp. announced today that it is using the Windows Azure platform for development of LinkShare Lightning, the next generation of its online performance marketing application. LinkShare made the choice after assessing the cloud computing offerings from Amazon Web Services and Google App Engine. Using Windows Azure and Microsoft SQL Azure, LinkShare expects annual savings of up to several million dollars in hardware, software and development costs, allowing it to allocate more resources than before to research, innovation and customer feature requests.

Read More.....
LinkShare Chooses the Windows Azure Platform in Bid for Global Cloud Solution

Sony Announces Optimally Designed "Sony Tablet" With Android 3.0

Sony Corporation ("Sony"), announces "Sony Tablet" that delivers the perfect combination of hardware, content and network with seamless usability for a high-quality, engaging entertainment experience. Based on decades of engineering heritage, Sony is developing two tablets with unprecedented design, including S1 (codename) which is optimized for rich media entertainment and S2 (codename) which is ideal for mobile communication and entertainment. "Sony Tablet" will become available in the global market starting in fall 2011. "Sony Tablet" is equipped with the latest Android 3.0 which is designed for devices with larger screen sizes, particularly tablets. Both tablets are WiFi and WAN (3G/4G) compatible and users can not only browse the internet or check e-mail but they can also smoothly access digital content including videos, games and books through Sony's premium network services and more, on-the-go at any time.

Read More....
Sony Announces Optimally Designed "Sony Tablet" With Android 3.0

RealNetworks Announces Rinse, an Easy-to-Use Music Clean-Up Product that Automatically Cleanses Your iTunes Collection

RealNetworks® Inc. (Nasdaq: RNWK) today announced Rinse™ a new music clean-up product that can rinse iTunes® music collections clean. Available today, Rinse makes iTunes music collections much easier to browse, organize and enjoy by automatically cleaning up song duplicates, misspellings and missing album art that can plague collections. Entire iTunes music libraries can be fixed with just a few clicks.

"An individual's music library is a very personal investment," said Peter Kellogg-Smith, RealNetworks' vice president of product marketing for emerging products. "Rinse was designed to enhance this investment — and then to get out of the way."


Read More....
RealNetworks Announces Rinse, an Easy-to-Use Music Clean-Up Product that Automatically Cleanses Your iTunes Collection

Why the ‘Internet of Things’ Is Changing Enterprise IT

To a meteorologist, a cloud consists of billions of droplets suspended as vapor that can stretch for miles and subtly affect everything on the ground below. In an enterprise IT environment, billions of devices can gather data from interactions all over the world, and produce a profound effect on the way organizations plan, act and work.

Earlier today at the SMART Technology World conference in San Francisco, Microsoft Windows Embedded General Manager Kevin Dallas illustrated what clouds and cloud computing have in common, and explained why the Internet of Things is going to change the way enterprises capitalize on data.

Read More.....
Why the ‘Internet of Things’ Is Changing Enterprise IT

Google To Offer Cloud Service For Digital Maps

Google will open up to third parties its digital maps infrastructure so that enterprise organizations can use it to store and serve up geospatial data to their end users.

Called Google Earth Builder, the new cloud service will be unveiled on Wednesday and is expected to be commercially available in this year's third quarter. Google will provide pricing information later on

Read More.....
Google To Offer Cloud Service For Digital Maps

BI, Analytics Software Spending Jumps 13.4% - Gartner

Global spending on BI (business intelligence), analytics and performance management applications jumped 13.4 percent in 2010 to US$10.5 billion, according to figures released Wednesday by analyst firm Gartner. The results reflect the BI market's continued strength throughout the world's economic downturn, as customers looked to such software to find efficiencies and gain competitive advantage.

Although enterprise software spending dropped 2.5 percent in 2009, during the height of the global recession, BI sales grew "in the low single digits," Gartner analyst Dan Sommer said via e-mail. While customer demand played a role, aggressive marketing efforts of BI vendors were also influential, according to Gartner.

Read More.....
BI, Analytics Software Spending Jumps 13.4% - Gartner

IT departments Still 'Not Convinced' By The Cloud

When it comes to cloud computing, a wide schism still exists between the IT and business communities, a study has found.

According to the first part of the 'Cloud and the Future of Business; From Costs to Innovation' report from Accenture and the London School of Economics and Political Science's Outsourcing Unit, IT people still see issues such as security and privacy as a barrier to cloud adoption.

"One of the very interesting findings was there was a clear gap between business people and IT people," said Andrew Greenway, global cloud programme leader for Accenture.

Read More.....
IT departments Still 'Not Convinced' By The Cloud

Ace Commodity Exchange empanels Dion Global Solutions as CTCL Vendor

Ace Derivatives and Commodity Exchange today announced that the Exchange feed is now available on CTCL (Computer to Computer Link) platform 'TradeAnywhere®' provided by Dion Global Solutions Limited (formerly known as Religare Technova Ltd.)

With this tie up, Ace members can use TradeAnywhere® solution to access and trade on Ace Commodity Exchange. TradeAnywhere® is an integrated solution that allows the members to have a seamless trading experience. It has an ability to handle multiple applications, large number of users & huge trading volumes on a single machine. TradeAnywhere® with its consolidated risk management, and low implementation time reduces the operation costs for the members. Its scalable architecture has the ability to scale up when the load increase while providing the benefits of single login, consolidate RMS and access to multiple asset classes.

Read More.....
Ace Commodity Exchange empanels Dion Global Solutions as CTCL Vendor

Collabera Launches OptiMobility Solution

Collabera, a leading provider of end-to-end technology consulting, solutions and services, announced the launch of OptiMobility, a suite of mobility solutions that empowers organizations to create an unwired enterprise and experience significant boosts in workforce productivity, operational efficiency and real-time decision making.

Read More.....
Collabera Launches OptiMobility Solution

How to Shrink The Data Center: 4 Lessons Learned

The business that manages New York City's hospitals consolidates 11 data centers into two facilities, dispensing with two-thirds of their physical servers for a predicted savings of $70 million over 5 years. Consider these four tips.

Updating data center operations was a key goal when the integrated healthcare system for New York City's hospitals embarked on its five-year $824 million capital investment plan.


Read More.....
How to Shrink The Data Center: 4 Lessons Learned

ORACLE and GILD Launch India's Greatest Online Competition for the Talent Hunt

ORACLE today announced it has partnered with GILD, India's fastest growing network for IT professionals, to hold a major online tournament to find India's most talented Engineering student.

The tournament, called Clash of Titans, will be hosted at www.GILD.com. It is open to students from top institutes across India who will be asked to complete up to four challenges over two weeks. There are an array of prizes on offer, including iPad, iPods, hard drives, as well the title of inaugural ORACLE-GILD Clash of Titans Winner.

Read More.....
ORACLE and GILD Launch India's Greatest Online Competition for the Talent Hunt

How to Craft Actionable Business Strategy from the Bottom Up

In theory, enterprise strategies are developed by senior executives and filtered down to create aligned action throughout the organization. But in reality this process is often quite different—in most organizations executives establish high-level goals and leave the details to individual business units. These goals continue to be pushed down the chain of command to staff who address these goals from their narrower point of view, which can often cause gaps and conflicts. Ultimately, these gaps form the next set of strategic needs—what action the company must take in order to successfully achieve overarching goals.

Read More.....
How to Craft Actionable Business Strategy from the Bottom Up

Banks Go Social to Collaborate, Reach Customers

Financial services firms are now using social media to get customers involved in online discussion forums, advertise services and monitor what's being said about their businesses.

"Every bank is already involved in social media... whether that's part of a conscious strategy or not," said Susan Feinberg, a commercial banking analyst at TowerGroup, a market research firm focusing on the financial services industry. "Your clients today are using social media all the time for both personal and business purposes."

Read More.....
Banks Go Social to Collaborate, Reach Customers

First Cloud-Based Business Plan Dashboard Service Launches

Quipu Applications, Inc., a Northern California software start-up, announced the official general public release date of Quipu BusinessModel™ (QBM), the world's first business plan dashboard service. Coinciding with Quipu's booth appearance at San Francisco's Web 2.0 Expo, March 29 will be the first day that the public will be able to take advantage of QBM's application suite -- a combination of best-of-breed business plan software features including business plan samples, section wizards and descriptions, research and analysis tools, stakeholder mapping, company valuation tools, and other critical business functions.


Read More....
First Cloud-Based Business Plan Dashboard Service Launches

LibreOffice Development on Track After Oracle Move

The Document Foundation on Friday announced a second beta for LibreOffice 3.4, the offshoot of the OpenOffice.org codebase, one week after Oracle (ORCL) said it would no longer sell a commercial version of the productivity suite.

"Please be aware that LibreOffice 3.4 Beta2 is not yet ready for production use," the Document Foundation said on its website. "You should continue to use LibreOffice 3.3.2 for that." Release 3.4.0 is currently scheduled for delivery on May 31, according to the site.


Read More.....
LibreOffice Development on Track After Oracle Move

More media sites customizing news for you

Tech and media companies are in a race to sap the serendipity from news consumption and distill readers' interests into an algorithm.

This week was full of headlines about new entries into the personalized-news market -- sites that customize their offerings based on what types of stories a user seems to like.

An update to Google News on Thursday brought "automatic personalization" to that article-aggregation site. When you're logged into a Google account with the Web History feature enabled, the News home page will transform itself based on the news you've clicked on in the past.


Read More.....
More media sites customizing news for you

IBM Tailors BPM for Small Business

IBM has customized its new BPM (business process management) software to help small and midsized organizations set up their own automated workflows just like big businesses do.

Most BPM tools "are built for thousands of users and to run across multiple servers, and so they can get complex and expensive. This [software] addresses the BPM need in the mid-market," said Ron Kline, an IBM director for marketing to small and midsized businesses. "It fits the need for a midsized company, without it being too lightweight."

Read More.....
IBM Tailors BPM for Small Business

Amazon EC2 Outage Calls 'Availability Zones' Into Question

Amazon protects cloud applications by running them across multiple availability zones, but what happens when more than one zone fails?

For cloud customers willing to pony up a little extra cash, Amazon has an enticing proposition: Spread your application across multiple availability zones for a near-guarantee that it won't suffer from downtime.

"By launching instances in separate Availability Zones, you can protect your applications from failure of a single location," Amazon says in pitching its Elastic Compute Cloud service.

Read More......
Amazon EC2 Outage Calls 'Availability Zones' Into Question

Why Amazon's cloud Titanic went down

CNNMoney -- This was never supposed to happen.

Amazon Web Services is the Titanic of cloud hosting, designed with backups to the backups' backups that prevent hosted websites and applications from failing.

Yet, like the famous ocean liner, Amazon's cloud crashed this week, taking with it Reddit, Quora, FourSquare, Hootsuite, parts of the New York Times, ProPublica and about 70 other sites. The massive outage raised questions about the reliability of AWS and the cloud itself.

Read More......
Why Amazon's cloud Titanic went down

2012 presidential candidates 'friend' social media

NEW YORK – Republican Tim Pawlenty disclosed his 2012 presidential aspirations on Facebook. Rival Mitt Romney did it with a tweet. President Barack Obama kicked off his re-election bid with a digital video emailed to the 13 million online backers who helped power his historic campaign in 2008.

Welcome to The Social Network, presidential campaign edition.

The candidates and contenders have embraced the Internet to far greater degrees than previous White House campaigns, communicating directly with voters on platforms where they work and play. If Obama's online army helped define the last campaign and Howard Dean's Internet fundraising revolutionized the Democratic primary in 2004, next year's race will be the first to reflect the broad cultural migration to the digital world.


Read More......
2012 presidential candidates 'friend' social media

IT departments Still 'Not Convinced' By The Cloud

When it comes to cloud computing, a wide schism still exists between the IT and business communities, a study has found.

According to the first part of the 'Cloud and the Future of Business; From Costs to Innovation' report from Accenture and the London School of Economics and Political Science's Outsourcing Unit, IT people still see issues such as security and privacy as a barrier to cloud adoption.

"One of the very interesting findings was there was a clear gap between business people and IT people," said Andrew Greenway, global cloud programme leader for Accenture.


Read More...
IT departments Still 'Not Convinced' By The Cloud

HTC Thunderbolt: Eight Key Features and Facts

U.S. wireless carrier Verizon today confirmed that its much anticipated Android smartphone, the HTC Thunderbolt, which was announced back in January at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), will be released this week, on March 17, for $249.99 with a new service contract.

With so many feature-packed handhelds available today, it can be a chore to determine which smartphone is best suited for your individual needs. To help ease that burden, I've broken down the facts and features that set the new Google (GOOG) Android 2.2 HTC Thunderbolt apart from the competition.

Read More.....
HTC Thunderbolt: Eight Key Features and Facts

Nokia sees weaker times after strong first quarter

Nokia Oyj warned operating profit margins at its key phone unit would slip through the rest of the year, taking the shine off higher-than-expected first-quarter earnings on Thursday.

The company signed a final agreement to start using Microsoft Corp software, enabling it to slash annual costs by 1 billion euros ($1.5 billion). Yet it faces an awkward transition in which profitability is getting squeezed.

Nokia's key phone unit reported an operating profit margin of 9.8 percent for January-March, well ahead of analysts forecast of 8.6 percent, but the group said for the full year the margin would fall to within a 6 to 9 percent range.

Read More.....
Nokia sees weaker times after strong first quarter

SAS High-Performance Analytics on Teradata appliance extends analytic innovation to customers

Four years into their strategic partnership, SAS and Teradata continue to deliver new innovations for customers. The latest offering from SAS, the leader in business analytics software and services, and Teradata, the world's largest company focused on data warehousing and advanced analytic environments, is SAS High-Performance Analytics on the Teradata appliance.

Read More.....
SAS High-Performance Analytics on Teradata appliance extends analytic innovation to customers

Nokia and Microsoft Sign Definitive Agreement Ahead of Schedule

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) today announced the signing of a definitive agreement on a partnership that will result in a new global mobile ecosystem, utilizing the very complementary assets of both companies. Completed ahead of schedule, the definitive agreement is consistent with the joint announcement made on February 11.

In addition to agreeing to the terms of their partnership, including joint contributions to the development of the new ecosystem, Nokia and Microsoft also announced significant progress on the development of the first Nokia products incorporating Windows Phone. With hundreds of personnel already engaged on joint engineering efforts, the companies are collaborating on a portfolio of new Nokia devices. Nokia has also started porting key applications and services to operate on Windows Phone and joint outreach has begun to third party application developers.


Read More......
Nokia and Microsoft Sign Definitive Agreement Ahead of Schedule

Audi Selects IBM to Migrate SAP Infrastructure to Cloud

Today IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced that Audi selected IBM to build a cloud environment for Audi's SAP infrastructure to deliver higher performance, fast and flexible provisioning of SAP applications and capacities, lower infrastructure costs, and to deliver above-average energy efficiency with the ability to enlarge future SAP applications to an almost unlimited extent.

Audi was facing challenges to scale its IT systems by the increased use of business-critical applications in areas such as production and logistics, supplier relationship management and human resources which challenged their IT infrastructure regarding reliability and flexibility.

Read More.......
Audi Selects IBM to Migrate SAP Infrastructure to Cloud

Amazon, eBay wage costly battle for shoppers

When Amazon.com Inc and eBay Inc report quarterly results next week, investors will try to determine how well the e-commerce rivals' expensive fight for shoppers is paying off.

They will want to see if revenue is growing fast enough to justify the costs.


Read More....
Amazon, eBay wage costly battle for shoppers

Trend Micro Deep Security Tops Network World's Clear Choice Test in Virtualization Security

Trend Micro Inc. (TSE:4704), a global cloud security leader, today announced that Trend Micro Deep Security has topped Network World Magazine's Clear Choice Test in virtualization security ranking. Deep Security was rated first among the five tested virtualization security products in four functional categories, including reporting, host management, policy controls and user management.

Read More.....
Trend Micro Deep Security Tops Network World's Clear Choice Test in Virtualization Security

Twitter more robust than it may seem

In the beginning was a word, sketched on a legal pad. And the word was Status.

That was the working title used by programmer Jack Dorsey in 2000, when he designed the service that was to become Twitter six years later.

An urban-design geek, Dorsey envisaged a city full of people buzzing short messages at each other the way taxi dispatchers and bike messengers do. Where are you? What's up? What's your status?

Today, five years after its inception, Twitter's status seems in flux. On the one hand, it is a vibrant virtual metropolis beyond Dorsey's wildest imaginings. It has garnered 200 million citizens from every corner of the world, yet manages to be more orderly and simple than that noisy Facebook megalopolis down the road.

Read More......
Twitter more robust than it may seem

5 Things Accenture's CIO Has Learned About Cloud Computing

Cloud has already taken Accenture IT beyond better, faster and cheaper, says CIO Frank Modruson. As he prepares to move further into IaaS plans, he shares 5 cloud computing lessons learned.

Frank Modruson has a thing for better, faster, cheaper. As CIO of business and IT service provider Accenture, that's what he wants to deliver to his internal customers and what they in turn promise to their clients. "I'm a big believer in technology and a big believer that technology helps the business in a lot of ways," Modruson says. "But it needs to be better, faster or cheaper. If you hit all three, it starts to get very compelling." In the last few years, cloud computing has gotten very compelling for Accenture.

Read More.....
5 Things Accenture's CIO Has Learned About Cloud Computing

Demand Media says traffic hurt on eHow.com

Demand Media Inc said Google Inc's new search algorithm hurt page views on some of its websites moderately, sending its shares down as much as 13 percent on Monday.

However, the company said some third-party estimates on the impact have "significantly overstated" the negative impact of those changes on traffic to eHow.com.

"Changes have negatively impacted search driven traffic to some of our websites, including eHow.com, resulting in moderately lower year-to-date page view growth," the company said in a statement.


Read More......
Demand Media says traffic hurt on eHow.com

Samsung Challenging Intel For Market Leadership

Intel is facing increasing competition in the worldwide semiconductor industry -- but not from traditional rival Advanced Micro Devices .

Samsung Electronics came closer to challenging Intel 's leadership position in the global chip market in 2010 than any company had in more than a decade, according to a report released Tuesday by the research firm IHS iSuppli.

Last year's final market share rankings came in showing Samsung, which is based in South Korea, in the No. 2 position with a 9.2% share of global chip revenue, up from 7.6% in 2009. That means Samsung was just 4.1 percentage points behind long-time market leader Intel, which is based in the U.S.

Read More.....
Samsung Challenging Intel For Market Leadership

Seagate to buy Samsung's hard-disk unit for $1.4 bln

Seagate Technology is to buy Samsung Electronics Co's loss-making hard disk drive (HDD) business for $1.4 billion as it looks to combat rival Western Digital Corp and arrest price wars that have damaged the industry.

The deal comes a month after Western Digital sought to buy Hitachi Ltd's hard disk drive unit -- a known price aggressor -- for $4.3 billion, to create a global leader with deep resources.

Read More....
Seagate to buy Samsung's hard-disk unit for $1.4 bln

HP Celebrates Passions with "Everybody On" Global Marketing Campaign

HP, global technology leader, announced the launch of "Everybody On", the India chapter of HP's global marketing campaign in collaboration with some of the most promising artistes of India. Through the campaign, HP wants to convey how people around the world are using HP's technologies to pursue their personal and professional passions and dreams.

The campaign created by HP's Personal Systems Group is governed by the vision to transform the way people think, feel and connect. HP will achieve this vision through HP's innovation, ecosystem and the HP immersive experience. This campaign builds on the highly acclaimed "The Computer is Personal Again" campaign.


Read More....
HP Celebrates Passions with "Everybody On" Global Marketing Campaign

Apple to beat Google on cloud music

Apple Inc has completed work on an online music storage service and is set to launch it ahead of Google Inc, whose own music efforts have stalled, according to several people familiar with both companies' plans.

Apple's plans will allow iTunes customers to store their songs on a remote server, and then access them from wherever they have an Internet connection, said two of these people who asked not to be named as the talks are still confidential.


Read More.....
Apple to beat Google on cloud music

Nefsis Cloud-Based Online Services Offer a More Familiar Choice for Secure Video Conference Delivery

Online video conferencing innovator Nefsis® announced today the addition of more familiar choices for IT staff considering secure video conference options. The Nefsis global cloud secures all web, voice over IP (VoIP), and video data over secure socket/transport layer security (SSL/TLS) encrypted connections. While prevalent in web conferencing and online services, the use of SSL/TLS connections with public key infrastructure is not as customary in the video conferencing industry.

The worldwide growth of online services, including e-commerce and online banking, has long since established SSL/TLS as the prevailing industry standard in providing secure web services. Today, most IT staff expect their online service providers to use SSL/TLS encrypted connections with full public key infrastructure (PKI) implementation using a third-party signed certificate, certificate authority, and key exchange.


Read More...
Nefsis Cloud-Based Online Services Offer a More Familiar Choice for Secure Video Conference Delivery

Carnegie Mellon Researchers Build Time Machine That Allows Visual Exploration of Space and Time

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute have leveraged the latest browser technology to create GigaPan Time Machine, a system that enables viewers to explore gigapixel-scale, high-resolution videos and image sequences by panning or zooming in and out of the images while simultaneously moving back and forth through time.

Viewers, for instance, can use the system to focus in on the details of a booth within a panorama of a carnival midway, but also reverse time to see how the booth was constructed. Or they can watch a group of plants sprout, grow and flower, shifting perspective to watch some plants move wildly as they grow while others get eaten by caterpillars. Or, they can view a computer simulation of the early universe, watching as gravity works across 600 million light-years to condense matter into filaments and finally into stars that can be seen by zooming in for a close up.

Read More....
Carnegie Mellon Researchers Build Time Machine That Allows Visual Exploration of Space and Time

Offshore IT And BPO Services Subsidiaries Still Popular

Setting up offshore IT services and business services subsidiaries has once again become a preferred route for multinational companies wanting to tap talent in low-cost locations, analysts said. The subsidiaries are known in the outsourcing industry as "captive centers" because they meet the in-house services requirements of companies.

The focus of these centers has shifted from mere cost-cutting to innovative development and building deep business expertise which local outsourcers are not always able to provide, according to a report this week by Forrester Research. Companies are adopting a hybrid model for offshoring that combines captive centers with outsourcing to local service providers, it added.


Read More......
Offshore IT And BPO Services Subsidiaries Still Popular

Apple crushes forecasts again, iPad backlogged

Apple Inc's results smashed Wall Street's expectations after iPhone and Mac sales scaled new heights while iPad supplies could not keep up with roaring global demand.

Shares of the world's most valuable technology corporation rose 3 percent after it said a record 18.65 million units of the category-defining iPhone -- its flagship product -- moved in the March quarter, outpacing the 16 million or so expected.

Read More......
Apple crushes forecasts again, iPad backlogged

Google Apps: How We Convinced the C-Suite

Dominion Enterprises CIO Joe Fuller faced the challenge of converting 280 magazine brands to one collaboration suite and persuading execs that the cloud was right. He shares advice, including how he won over skeptics on privacy and compliance worries. Joe Fuller, CIO at Dominion Enterprises, had a mess to clean up. Built through a series of 150 acquisitions, the marketing services company was burdened by inefficiencies, disparities and siloed data. As the economy continued to tank in 2010, the company started to feel the weight of hosting e-mail in 24 separate locations, which posed a multitude of support and integration issues, Fuller says. In June 2010, Fuller bought an Android phone, which he says was his first foray into cloud. "Being able to access everything via a browser and posting e-mail in the cloud made me think that this could be the way to go [at Dominion]."


Read More......
Google Apps: How We Convinced the C-Suite

Oracle Gives Up On Commercial Open Office

Oracle announced on Friday that it will no longer sell a commercial version of the Open Office productivity suite, and that the open-source OpenOffice.org will be transitioned to "a purely community-based open-source project."

"Given the breadth of interest in free personal productivity applications and the rapid evolution of personal computing technologies, we believe the OpenOffice.org project would be best managed by an organization focused on serving that broad constituency on a non-commercial basis," said Oracle Chief Architect Edward Screven in a statement.

Oracle will "begin working immediately with community members to further the continued success of Open Office" and plans to continue supporting standards like ODF (Open Document Format), he said.

Read More....
Oracle Gives Up On Commercial Open Office

Cash is King: 8 tips for Optimizing your Startup Financing Strategy

This post aims to help startup CEOs optimize their funding strategy by examining how investors value startups, and explaining how to avoid the common cash management pitfalls.

Every smart CEO knows that they need to focus on building a compelling product, hiring a great team, maximizing sales and making their customers happy. For many first time CEOs focusing on these extremely important topics may distract them from another very important task: making sure that the company can continue to raise funding at ever increasing valuations.

In practice this means that the CEO should:

• Make sure that they understand when their cash runs out
• Understand what milestones have to be achieved before then to get a higher valuation
• Create the right plan to achieve those milestones in the right timeframe

Managing to your cash out date introduces some very strict time deadlines into the equation, and requires you to examine which specific milestones you plan to achieve before that date.

Read More.....
Cash is King: 8 tips for Optimizing your Startup Financing Strategy

Govts struggle to recruit, keep "cyber warriors"

Cyberspace is likely to be a key battleground for states in the 21st century but recruiting those with the technical skills to fight there and retaining their loyalty will be a tough task.

From hacking attacks aimed at information theft and commercial espionage to the Stuxnet computer worm believed to have been designed to attack Iran's nuclear programme last year, information warfare is rising rapidly.

Code making and breaking has been a prized skill in the art of espionage since ancient times but the swiftly moving pace of technology and the sometimes erratic personas of those at the cutting edge pose many challenges.

Read More......
Govts struggle to recruit, keep "cyber warriors"

IBM signings fall; earnings beat forecasts

IBM reported a decline in signings of new business at its global services division during the first quarter, even as it reported profit and revenue ahead of analysts' projections.

Signings fell 14 percent from a year earlier to $10.5 billion during the first quarter, causing Wall Street analysts to grill the company on the reason for the decline during an earnings conference call.

Read More....
IBM signings fall; earnings beat forecasts

IE9: Microsoft is back in the browser game

After a three-week IE9 immersion, I've concluded that Microsoft once again has a competitive Web browser.

And even though Internet Explorer remains the most-used browser on the Net today, convincing me that Internet Explorer 9 is a real browser was quite an accomplishment. Here's why.

IE6, now a decade old, is loathed by Web developers the world over for its lack of standards support, and it's the focus of a Microsoft effort that's trying to get the companies and people using the browser to modernize. After a five-year hiatus, IE7 emerged with some handy features, such as tabbed browsing and a search box, but it was mostly about trying to catch up with rivals such as Firefox and Opera that hadn't idled away the years.

Read More.....
IE9: Microsoft is back in the browser game

Technorati Media Launches Private Ad Exchange for Brand Safe Social Media Publishers

Today Technorati Media, the largest social media advertising network, announced the launch of its private ad exchange, built on AppNexus, the real-time ad platform, to better monetize publisher inventory and satisfy highly brand conscious advertisers and agencies.

By leveraging AppNexus' highly scalable, cloud-based platform, the Technorati exchange will have all the benefits of a top tier ad exchange combined with Technorati's social media inventory and industry-leading transparency standards. In addition, Technorati announced that AppNexus will serve as the ad server of record for Technorati's social media sites.

Read More......
Technorati Media Launches Private Ad Exchange for Brand Safe Social Media Publishers

At Facebook headquarters, Obama seeks 2008 magic

U.S. President Barack Obama takes early steps on Wednesday to recapture the magic of his exuberant 2008 campaign on a West Coast swing that starts at the nexus of social communications, Facebook headquarters.

Democrats acknowledge that Obama will need to rally many of the same forces that propelled him into the White House in order to win re-election in 2012: an army of young, energetic voters as well as a sizable showing from independent voters.

Read More.....
At Facebook headquarters, Obama seeks 2008 magic

Most IT Managers Plan to Adopt Cloud Storage

Fifty-seven percent of CIOs and storage administrators plan to adopt cloud storage -- first for email, then front office applications and finally for backup data -- according to a survey released this week.

The survey, performed by market research firm Storage Strategies NOW (SSG-NOW) and co-sponsored by the Storage Networking Industry Association, was sent out to more than 2,000 end users who had attended Storage Networking World (SNW) trade show in the past. The results were released on Monday at the show here in Santa Clara, Calif.

Read More......
Most IT Managers Plan to Adopt Cloud Storage

IBM Offers New Opportunities to Jump Start Cloud Computing for Business Partners and Start-ups

Building on efforts to help its partner community capitalize on the growing cloud computing opportunity, IBM (NYSE: IBM) today is making available two pricing and financing programs to help IBM Business Partners and start-up companies more easily build their own cloud applications and infrastructures with IBM technology.

IBM will provide Cloud Application Providers -- businesses that deliver Software as a Service (SaaS) -- the option of acquiring IBM Software for use in their SaaS offerings as a monthly rental subscription, complementing the way they receive payments from their own clients.

Additionally, IBM will provide financing programs specifically designed for IBM Business Partners that are building cloud computing technical environments. With low-rate to 0% financing and deferred payments on IBM technology and services, the company will offer qualifying partners the opportunity to avoid large up-front costs as they start their cloud businesses.

Read More.....
IBM Offers New Opportunities to Jump Start Cloud Computing for Business Partners and Start-ups

How can social networks make money?

With social networks now big business, what can the companies do to turn free services into hard cash?

Over the past month, US Facebook users have been enjoying a selection of Warner Bros blockbusters streamed through the site in exchange for about $4 (£2.45) in Facebook credits.

Facebook takes a 30% cut of each credit spent, much like Apple and its app store.

There are over 400 apps and games where the site's 500 million users can go on a social spending spree.

Read More......
How can social networks make money?

How News Corp got lost in Myspace

As Rupert Murdoch stepped into the Grand Ballroom of San Francisco's Palace Hotel at the Web 2.0 conference in October 2007, the developers and engineers who packed the room fell into a respectful hush. It was the sort of greeting usually reserved for one of their own tech heroes, not a 76-year-old media mogul.

Sitting cross-legged on a red leather couch, Murdoch looked relaxed in an open-necked shirt. Next to him sat Chris De Wolfe, the co-founder of Myspace, the social network that News Corp's chairman had acquired for $580 million two years earlier.



De Wolfe had spent weeks trying to sell Murdoch's advisers on the conference, which he saw as a kind of digital coming out party for his boss. But those close to the News Corp chairman worried he might embarrass himself in front of the technorati. Murdoch wasn't concerned. "I'll do whatever we need to do for Myspace," he told associates.

After the conference, Murdoch and De Wolfe ambled across the road to a party hosted by Myspace inside San Francisco's Museum of Modern Art. At one point, 20-odd people stood in line for a chance to speak with him. "He was like a rock star," De Wolfe later told a friend.

Read More......
How News Corp got lost in Myspace

Demand Media says traffic hurt on eHow.com

Demand Media Inc said Google Inc's new search algorithm hurt page views on some of its websites moderately, sending its shares down as much as 13 percent on Monday.

Read More.....

Demand Media says traffic hurt on eHow.com

Office 365 Hits Public Beta, Small Businesses Get the Next Generation Cloud Productivity Service

Using Office 365, small businesses can be up and running with Office, Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and Lync Online in just 15 minutes.

David Kroenke has authored more than 15 undergraduate business technology textbooks over the past few decades, with titles including “Database Concepts” and, most recently, “Using MIS.” As a small-business owner working with a handful of co-writers, editors, designers and contractors, Kroenke often collaborated via telephone, email and file-sharing — and mailed printed copies of book drafts to his team for review. However, once he became a beta tester for Microsoft Office 365, it changed the way his business works.

Read More on......

Office 365 Hits Public Beta, Small Businesses Get the Next Generation Cloud Productivity Service

Oracle Gives Up On Commercial Open Office

Oracle announced on Friday that it will no longer sell a commercial version of the Open Office productivity suite, and that the open-source OpenOffice.org will be transitioned to "a purely community-based open-source project."

"Given the breadth of interest in free personal productivity applications and the rapid evolution of personal computing technologies, we believe the OpenOffice.org project would be best managed by an organization focused on serving that broad constituency on a non-commercial basis," said Oracle Chief Architect Edward Screven in a statement.

Red More......Oracle Gives Up On Commercial Open Office

Amazon to allow library lending of Kindle books

(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc will start allowing users of the Kindle to borrow e-books from many U.S. public libraries later this year in its latest move to speed the adoption of its electronic reading device.

Amazon, the world's largest online retailer by sales, said that Kindle owners will be able to borrow e-books from 11,000 libraries and make electronic annotations in the books but did not give the exact timing of the service's launch.

Amazon introduced the market-leading Kindle in 2007 and has priced most of the e-books it sells for less than $9.99 to speed up adoption and ward off competition from devices such as Barnes & Noble Inc's Nook and Apple Inc's iPad.

Barnes & Noble introduced library lending at the same time it launched Nook in October 2009.

Amazon shares rose 2.2 percent in morning trading.

Posted from: Deja-Vu Times




(Reporting by Phil Wahba, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)