Enterprise headlines and excerpts, 2010-09

September news from the Enterprise Software and Solutions world - LONG

• Evidently #IBM bought #CastIron Systems for $190 million
  #Sequoia told TechCrunch that Cast Iron Systems was acquired for $190 million.
• #IBM acquires #Netezza as big data market continues to consolidate around appliances, middle market, new architecture=
  The $1.7 billion grab shows that IBM is well aware that big data sets don’t lend themselves to traditional architecture for crunching data. IBM, along with its competitors, have been developing or acquiring new architectures that focus more on in-memory solutions.
  
  Rather than moving the entire database or large caches around on disk or tape, then, new architectures have emerged where the data and logic reside closer together — and the data is accessed from high-performing persistence.
• #IBM launches enterprise Web experience suite
  The suite, dubbed the IBM Customer Experience Suite, features everything from mashup creation to content management to portlets to social media to e-commerce to analytics, mostly via Big Blue’s recent acquisition of CoreMetrics. Some of the parts—content management for instance—have been in the field. IBM is pulling these various features together in one suite and then adding predictive analytics, which were also acquired via SPSS and Coremetrics, as an overlay.
• #Oracle slaps 11g on its data integration systems software
  With its new versions of Oracle Data Integrator and GoldenGate, the software giant is aiming to boost its heterogeneous real-time data integration systems software within Oracle Fusion Middleware, something it hasn’t done much in the past.
• #OpenSource Databases Have Come of Age
  Client/server systems with SQL interfaces jockey for position against upstart NoSQL systems with intimidating (and exciting) new models for data representation, distribution and consistency. In addition, more than a dozen embedded and special purpose databases have grown up to serve the needs of applications too small or too agile to require a full RDBMS.
• Sector/Sphere – Faster than #Hadoop/#Mapreduce at Terasort
  The Sector/Sphere stack consists of the Sector distributed file system and the Sphere parallel data processing framework. The objective is to support highly effective and efficient large data storage and processing over commodity computer clusters.
• #Google Technology RoundTable: #MapReduce ( #BigData #Hadoop #OpenSource)
  Meet four of Google’s Map Reduce expert engineers, Google Fellow Sanjay Ghemawat, Google Fellow Jeff Dean, Software Engineer Jerry Zhao and Software Engineer Matt Austern and watch as they discuss the origin, evolution and future of Map Reduce with Alfred Spector, Google VP of Research and Special Iniatives. www.google.com
• Life at #Google - US jobs
  Google is not a conventional company, and we don’t intend to become one. True, we share attributes with the world’s most successful organizations – a focus on innovation and smart business practices comes to mind – but even as we continue to grow, we’re committed to retaining a small-company feel. At Google, we know that every employee has something important to say, and that every employee is integral to our success. We provide individually-tailored compensation packages that can be comprised of competitive salary, bonus, and equity components, along with the opportunity to earn further financial bonuses and rewards.
  
  Google has offices around the globe, from Bangalore to Zurich, but regardless of where we are, we nurture an invigorating, positive environment by hiring talented, local people who share our commitment to creating search perfection and want to have a great time doing it. Googlers thrive in small, focused teams and high-energy environments, believe in the ability of techn
• 2010 Technology M&A Trends and Rankings – How Active Have the Tech Giants Been?
  #Google’s acquisition pace is significantly greater – almost double – of the next most acquisitive tech company, IBM. Google’s mix of acquisitions as we’ll cover in a future analysis is quite varied with them doing larger acquisitions ($100 million plus) and also doing smaller talent acquisitions (the popularly coined “acqu-hire”).
• #Microsoft Has Announced Zero M&A Transactions in 2010 – Is Organic Growth the Focus or Is Something Larger Brewing?
  Microsoft has announced zero acquisitions year-to-date in 2010. While Google has been active doing many smaller acquisitions, and HP and IBM are doing larger deals and Facebook and Twitter are also doing acquisitions, generally of the talent type, Redmond-based Microsoft is notable for its absence.
• World Series of #ERP Software
  The World Series of ERP Software is Coming Soon!
• #OpenSource Database speed tests (#mysql and #postgresql ) - part 1
  The base timings are almost 5 times more in mysql as compared to pgsql. Also as the concurrency goes up the time required for inserts in mysql spikes up more steeply as compared to that required for postgres.
• #RedHat Partners with European Union on Cutting-Edge #Cloud Research (#OpenSource )
  Red Hat engineers have been asked to take a leadership role in one of the largest EU cloud research projects, Cloud-TM.
  
  Led by Project Coordinator, Paolo Romano and Red Hat’s Mark Little, the Cloud-TM (transactional memory) project is a top priority for the EU and Red Hat engineers were brought in to lead several of the work packages because of our expertise as well as the fact that this project is heavily open source driven. We are working with a team of experts to define the next generation of large scale transactional data storage for the cloud.
• Leading With #RedHat Enterprise #OpenSource #Linux
  In response, we believe that our unique value and truly open position continues to be the sound choice for enterprise customers who seek lasting value in their IT investments – especially when compared to competitors who selectively open their offerings while seeking to lock in their customers.
• Once Again, #OpenSource #Linux #RedHat Tops Expectations
  Red Hat's revenues were $219.8 million, up 20 percent from last year, and ahead of analyst expectations. Subscription revenues from Red Hat Enterprise Linux were $186.2 million, up 19 percent, and all of the company's top support subscribers renewed their contracts.
  
  True, net income was down to $23.7 million, from $28.9 million last year, but that was only for the aforementioned reasons. Red Hat is clearly growing its business, and its Linux business is a leader. Neither Oracle nor Novell is delivering Linux business results that can compare.
• Amid #Oracle Threats, #RedHat Remains In Growth Mode (#OpenSource #Linux )
  The VAR Guy hasn’t heard from many partners or customers that have warmed up to Oracle Linux.
  
  Meanwhile, Novell — promoter of SUSE Linux — in August 2010 announced less-than-stellar quarterly results. Though the company has launched new platforms like the Novell Cloud Security Service and Novell Cloud Manager, some customers have delayed Novell-related purchases amid Novell’s uncertain ownership status. Novell’s board has been considering the potential sale of the company, and potential suitors are believed to include VMware and Attachmate.
• Software-maker #RedHat eyes Atlanta HQ
  Besides Atlanta, Red Hat confirmed it is looking at Austin, Texas, and Boston. Dallas is said to be in contention, though a Red Hat spokeswoman declined to confirm that.
• #Oracle Gets Systems Design, and Starts Proving It
  Oracle did not come easily to hardware, being a software vendor, but thinks it can get hardware gross margins up to 60 percent and double system revenues to around $2 billion a quarter over the next couple of years. And completely engineered systems, from chip to app, are the key.
• Accounting tools for a growing business (#OpenSource )
  #Compiere might be a little too complicated for a small business unless you have a tech whiz on staff. Compiere has multiple editions, with varying support levels. The community edition is free, but there is no support provided. Compiere Standard, at $400 per user per year, has all the features a small business needs, along with some support services. Compiere Professional, at $750 per user per year, provides expanded reporting capabilities.
• Q&A with #Microsoft's Steve Ballmer on mobile, search and #Facebook
  We've been bold in our bets. We've got great stuff coming. We better continue to be bold in what we're trying to do from a product perspective. ... I'm going to talk about our boldness, whether it's Windows Phone 7 or Kinect or IE9 (Internet Explorer 9), some of the things we've done that are starting to pay off and to continue to be bold in our product development.
• #Microsoft bans employees from tweeting at annual meeting
  Microsoft says while there was a "no-tweet policy," there was not a ban on tweeting. Here's what the company reported out of the meeting, according to a Microsoft note from Lou Gellos.
• A view from inside #Microsoft's company meeting
  'Layoffs' is a very specific word," Ballmer told the paper. "Are we always trimming and remapping? We're always moving people around. We try something, a project doesn't quite work, we'll cut that team, we tell people find a job someplace else in the company. We're going to continue to do that sort of thing."
• #OpenOffice.org (#OpenSource )
  On September 28, 2010 members of the Open Office Project formed a new group called The Document Foundation, and made available a rebranded fork of OpenOffice named LibreOffice. The Foundation stated that it will coordinate and oversee the development of LibreOffice. Oracle was invited to become a member of the Document Foundation, and asked to donate the OpenOffice.org brand to the project.[37]
  
  The Document Foundation received support from the Open Office community including the companies Novell[38], RedHat, Canonical and Google.[39] The goal is to produce a vendor-independent office suite with ODF support and without any copyright assignment requirements.[40]
• #OpenOffice.org developers move to break ties with #Oracle (#OpenSource )
  The move underscores the tensions between the open-source community and Oracle over open-source projects such as OpenOffice.org and the free database application MySQL that were managed by Sun Microsystems before its acquisition by Oracle.
• Document Foundation forks #OpenOffice.org, liberates it from #Oracle (#OpenSource )
  A group of key contributors to the OpenOffice.org (OOo) project have formed a new organization called the Document Foundation to manage a community-driven fork of the popular open source office suite. Their goal is to liberate the project from Oracle's control and create a more inclusive and participatory ecosystem around the software.
• Five Years in a Row #Informatica Achieves Top Marks for Customer Loyalty for Data Integration
  91% of Customers Intend to Repurchase Data Integration Software From Informatica, According to 2010 Customer Satisfaction Survey
• Slow Start for #SAP's Web-Based Software
  "You can do everything you want under lab conditions, but when you are in the real world, sometimes things look a bit different."
• #Oracle's Worst Enemies
  "Hey, Google, this is Oracle. You know how you thought it was OK to use Java in your Android platform? Well, now that we've bought Sun, we say 'I don't think so!'" Oracle is going after Google with a suit that claims the company infringes on its Java property in a case that many IP lawyers say could be a battle of the titans if it drags out for long.
• #Oracle Accuses #Micron of Conspiring to Fix Chip Prices Paid by Sun Unit
  Ichon, South Korea-based Hynix Semiconductor Inc., Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung Electronics Co., Tokyo-based Elpida Memory Inc., and Neubiberg, Germany-based Infineon Technologies AG are indentified by Oracle as co-conspirators in the case. Those companies aren’t named as defendants.
• Business and IT Leader, John G. Schwarz, Joins #SuccessFactors' Board of Directors
  Former CEO of #SAP Business Objects and SAP AG Executive Board Member, Co-Founder and CEO of Visier Brings Deep Management and Strategy Track Record to Global Leader of Business Execution Software
• Bill Gates is richest person in America
  Well, in other tech we've got #Oracle co-founder and CEO Larry Ellison at No. 3 with $27 billion. Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are tied at No. 11 with $15 billion apiece. Dell founder Michael Dell was No. 15 with $14 billion.
  
  Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is tied for No. 35 with $6.9 billion -- richer than Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who is No. 42 with $6.1 billion. And Google CEO Eric Schmidt is No. 48 with $5.45 billion.
• #Microsoft Releases New #OpenSource Tools for Windows #Azure #Cloud
  Microsoft announced the availability of a new set of developer tools and Software Development Kits (SDKs) for PHP developers who want to build applications for Windows Azure.
• The #Cloud, to go: #Microsoft Project Hawaii
  Project Hawaii enhances the mobile and cloud environments with web services to enable interesting application scenarios possible only with this combination, specially tailored for teaching at university level. Developed by Microsoft Research, Project Hawaii offers tools and resources tailored to the needs of today's computer science students and instructors.
• Rise Of The Appliance
  Vendors are scrambling to make optimized hardware- software combos. Pay attention. They're game changers.
• #Microsoft Employees Are More Bored Than Ever
  Ballmer screaming and running around high-fiving a bunch of MBAs riding our two cash cows until the milk's dried up is challenging to your self-motivation.
• #Oracle database design slowed Chase online banking fix (#ITfail )
  Monash said Chase's problems appear to have been exacerbated by the design of the database. He said the incident was likely prolonged because the bank had to restore a lot of data that didn't have to be stored in the user authentication database in the first place.
• Xerox PARC Research Center Looks Back on 40 Years of Invention
  PARC holds about 2,500 patents. Since 2002 it has been averaging about 150 patents filed per year with 1,300 patents granted. Commercial clients include DNP (Dai Nippon Printing), Fujitsu, Motorola, NEC Display Solutions, Microsoft Powerset, Samsung, SolFocus, Oracle and, of course, Xerox.
• Video - #Google CEO Eric Schmidt says #Microsoft #Bing is Google's Main Competition, Not #Facebook or #Apple
  In an interview with WSJ's Alan Murray, Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt stated that Bing was Google's primary competitor, not Apple or Facebook. He also insisted that Google is doing enough to protect user privacy.
• Is #Microsoft #Bing Really #Google’s Biggest Competitor?
  Eric Schmidt takes some jabs at Apple over its “closed system” and said people might choose to give their information to Google instead of Facebook. But Mr. Schmidt tries to downplay the tensions with Apple and Facebook, saying they’re not competitive threats to the Internet giant. So what’s the biggest threat to Google, according to Mr. Schmidt? Bing, Microsoft’s search engine.
• #Oracle: Genius, or Unbelievably Stupid?
  Ellison wants more than just options. He wants a chip-design team working on custom database hardware that blows away anything IBM and Teradata (NYSE: TDC) can come up with.
• #Oracle finally outlines roadmap for mobile #Java
  Java ME will also gain engines for Javascript and for WebKit browsers, and a Java-to-JavaScript Bridge. This will allow Java ME handsets to access web services and apps outside the browser and without the current performance issues in this area.
  
  Oracle also promised a Java rendering engine to enhance 2D and 3G graphics, available next year. This will plug into the virtual machine and into Java FX, one of the most important technology layers Sun added to open source Java, supporting the creation of rich graphics and user interfaces. As The Register describes, the engine will support "modern graphics hardware accelerators", notably Direct X for Windows and OpenGL.
• #Java One 2010: Is The Glass Half Full? (#Oracle )
  # Generally, the Oracle staff engineers, I personally felt were just as friendly and outgoing as last years event. The format was changed for us Java Champions and the JUG Leaders, however I think many of us enjoyed the Sunday, the half-day dedicated unconference.
  # At many conferences in past, there have been a lot of complaints about the number of marketing or purely sales-driven technical sessions. I can honestly say with good faith that there was no such marketing talks this year, at least in the talks that I was privileged to attend.
• #Oracle Reiterates Support For #Java
  Modularity will also allow greater ease in assembling a JVM that is suitable to the task, whether it's needed to run an application on a little netbook or a 32-CPU server. Kurian said developers will assemble "a modular subsystem into a JVM that scales from a low-end notebook to high end servers" from one set of parts. "There's no need for a lot of versions," he added.
  
  Oracle is adopting the best features of BEA Systems' JRockit virtual machine, part of its Fusion middleware, into the next version of the JVM, he said. Included will be the MissionControl management console, which creates a visual image of the effectiveness of the JVM's garbage collection. It profiles runtime performance and analyzes the causes of Java thread latencies.
• Technical Debt: Your Vendor Owes You
  Do #SaaS applications completely eliminate technical debt?
  
  No. But SaaS applications significantly reduce technical debt, primarily by eliminating a backlog of unapplied patches and upgrades, eliminating costly infrastructure upgrades, and eliminating the “death matrix” of supported platforms and infrastructure.
• Technical Debt: Your Vendor Owes You
  #SaaS-delivered applications change the economics of software in many ways, and technology debt is yet another case of this. SaaS-based applications may not automatically result in greater benefits related to new releases, but they do offer the opportunity to reduce the costs of upgrades - because most of the infrastructure upgrade costs are borne by the vendor, so SaaS vendors have developed techniques and a body of knowledge that minimizes those costs.
• Tech Firms Settle Case, Admit Secret Agreements to Not Poach Employees
  Similar arrangements existed, the Justice Department charged in the suit, among the other four companies. In a press statement the department issued, it said that in addition to the Google-Apple agreement, similar no-poaching agreements existed between Apple and Adobe, Apple and Pixar, Google and Intel and with Intuit.
• Justice Department Requires Six High Tech Companies to Stop Entering into Anticompetitive Employee Solicitation Agreements
  According to the complaint, the companies engaged in a practice of agreeing not to cold call any employee at the other company. The complaint indicates that the agreements were formed and actively managed by senior executives of these companies.
• #Apple, #Google, #Intel, other tech firms admit secret agreements to not poach employees
  "You can steal someone else's employees through LinkedIn or personal references, but it was like, 'If you're going to steal my guys, just don't do it under my nose by cold-calling them at work.' "
• #Google Public Policy Blog: On recruiting “cold calls”
  While there’s no evidence that our policy hindered hiring or affected wages, we abandoned our “no cold calling” policy in late 2009 once the Justice Department raised concerns, and are happy to continue with this approach as part of this settlement.
• Stack Wars: What Is The Enterprise Stack? (#IBM #SAP #Microsoft #HP #Oracle )
  The pending enterprise stack wars pit highly vertically integrated companies against a virtually integrated whole. In theory, the vertical approach can be more easily managed because its owned by a single company. However the virtual approach is more open and potentially has more industry reach.
• What is the Enterprise Stack? (Infographic) (#IBM #SAP #Microsoft #HP #Oracle )
• How #Zoho Intends to Upend #Salesforce.com
  The company has e-mail, project management, human resources and other collaboration applications alongside a full suite of productivity applications all sold under a low-cost software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. One of things that differentiates Zoho from Microsoft and Google, says Vegesna, is that customers can find all the business applications they need from a single service.
• #AMD Could Be Frontrunner in #Oracle Acquisition Plan, Says Analyst
  Wall Street seems to think it’s #ARM. The chip designer’s shares spiked about six percent following Ellison’s remarks, though it’s not clear that ARM is what he had in mind when he made them. Certainly there are other potential targets: Broadcom, Marvell (MRVL), Nvidia (NVDA) and AMD (AMD), of course.
• #Salesforce.com Buys Enterprise Chat Startup Activa Live
  Activa Live develops Activa Live Chat, an enterprise, on-demand live chat software for customer service, support and online proactive sales interactions. The software allows companies to monitor, identify and engage with online visitors in real-time, helping increase sales and customer satisfaction.
  
  The software also includes a feature that reveals what a visitor is typing before their message is sent and helps live chat agents find the best answer for customer questions without searching through libraries of canned responses.
• Live Chat Software, Live Chat for Customer Service and Support, Live Chat Software for Websites
  Activa Live has been acquired by #salesforce.com
• #Oracle Fusion Applications: The New Standard for the Complete User Experience
  The Oracle Fusion Applications user experience puts users at the center—you’ll discover what you
  need to know, what you need to do, who you need to know, and how you need to do it. The result: a
  dramatic improvement in end-user productivity.
  Make Better Business Decisions Faster: What You Need to Know...
  Navigate to What You Need Faster: What You Need to Do...
  Collaborate, Cooperate, Succeed: Who You Need to Know...
  Complete Your Work with Ease: How You Need to Do It
• #Google's Schmidt Tells Colbert: “We Don’t Do Data Mining”
  Colbert: Would you help me erase my browser history?
  Schmidt: I would encourage it
  Colbert: You have been checking my searches!
• #Google’s Schmidt Hit With Tough Questions on Colbert
  In fact, there’s a lot of nervous laughter whenever Schmidt speaks.
  
  Colbert also takes on Schmidt’s infamous “change your name” comment (Colbert’s pose after Schmidt replies “It was a joke” speaks volumes), but in general the political comedian forces the Google CEO to respond to the concerns of most privacy advocates. Will his answers quell anybody’s concerns? My immediate response is no…
• 2010 Cloud Computing State of the Union
  #Amazon
  #Google App Engine
  #Microsoft #Azure
  #Rackspace Cloud
  #GoGrid
  #3Tera
  #RightScale
  #Joyent
• 3 Reasons Enterprise Software Doesn’t Have to Suck
  The immediate and obvious answer is design. In general, business software is not designed the same way and with as much attention to end-users as consumer software. Consumer software is built with one goal: to have people want to use it. Consumer software has no compliance requirement, no forced process, nobody asking you if you’ve filled out your TPS form. It has to be useful and make you want to use it, fast. Thus, the design challenge to engage people.
  
  Unfortunately, most business software firms are not set up to focus software designers on building stuff people are engaged by. Instead, they are optimized to build software that sales people think software buyers want to see: lots of features, fancy charts, bland language, compliance & control focused, with every possible scenario modeled. The exact opposite of the design of the most engaging successful consumer software, which are defined by their minimalism and simplicity.
• #AsterData Closes $30 Million Series C Financing
  Strong sales growth: Since 2008, Aster Data has doubled revenue year-over-year and secured key customers that leverage Aster Data’s platform to address the big data management problem including MySpace, comScore, Barnes & Noble, and Akamai. Like so many organizations today,
  Aster Data’s customers are experiencing explosive data growth across their organizations and recognize the need for rich, advanced analytics that give them deeper insights from their data.
• #Oracle's new support czar has big challenges
  Oracle has tapped longtime executive Charles Rozwat to head up oversight of its support organization, a job that now takes on added complexity due to the hardware products gained by the company's purchase of Sun Microsystems.
• #Microsoft Will Sell More Than $4.7 Billion Worth of Bonds
  The company will sell about $2.7 billion worth of notes due by 2015, with the remainder of the debt payable in 2020 and 2040, Microsoft said in a Securities & Exchange Commission filing today. Microsoft had a $5.51 billion cash balance as of June 30, down 9% from a year earlier, the company said in July. The company also had $4.94 billion in long-term debt, up 32% from a year earlier.
• #Novell Debuts #Linux OS for #SAP Apps ( #OpenSource)
  "SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications is an optimized version of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP 3," Josh Dorfman, Novell's director of global alliances marketing, InternetNews.com. "SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP applications uses the standard SLES 10 Linux kernel, Linux kernel 2.6.16."
• #MySQL's non-heroic future runs Castle #Oracle
  "Now we are in a state where Robin Hood and his men have ridden out of forest into the castle," Mickos said. Maybe. But Hood's men are about to find the responsibly of running the castle is a lot less fun and more predictable and businesslike than ambushing the enemy in the woods.
• #Oracle CEO: We're not eyeing services buys
  Ellison says services buys are important for companies whose products aren't very different from rivals'. He says Oracle's products are highly differentiated and that Oracle is content reselling them through services companies, including HP and IBM.
• Help! My vendor’s #Oracle and I'm locked in!
  Oracle’s takeover of Howard Street has ended and the flow of taxis, black Town Cars and other vehicles quickly resumed. Will Oracle’s move to take over IT meet a similar fate?
• #Oracle's Ellison says microchip firms could be good fit
  You could see us buying chip companies," Ellison said. "Silicon is very important, software IP is very important."
• TechAmerica.org David Packard Medal of Achievement & Innovator Awards 52nd Annual Dinner ( #Salesforce.com)
  Marc @Benioff, Chairman and CEO of salesforce.com, is receiving the 2010 Medal of Achievement from TechAmerica for his pioneering work in the Software as a Service (SaaS) industry. He founded the company in 1999 with a vision to create an on-demand, on-line information management servicetraditional enterprise softwarecloud computing. that would operate more efficiently than technology. His idea worked and Marc’s company is now a publicly-traded leader in enterprise
• Best Global Brands Ranking for 2010
  IBM 2 2 United States Business Services 64,727 7%
  Microsoft 3 3 United States Computer Software 60,895 7%
  Google 4 7 United States Internet Services 43,557 36%...
  Intel 7 9 United States Electronics 32,015 4%...
  HP 11 8 Japan Automotive 26,192 -16%...
  Cisco 14 14 United States Business Services 23,219 5%...
  Apple 17 20 United States Electronics 21,143 37%...
  Oracle 22 24 United States Business Services 14,881 9%...
  SAP 26 27 Germany Business Services 12,756 5%...
  Accenture 47 45 United States Business Services 7,481 -3%...
  Blackberry 54 63 Canada Electronics 6,762 32%...
  Adobe 88 95 United States Computer Software 3,626 15%
• YouTube - Marc @Benioff's Keynote @ #OOW10 ( #Cloud )
  #Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff's presentation at Oracle Open World September 22, 2010
  [Loved the "Softwar" book reference ;-) -DBM]
• #OOW10: @Benioff's smiling assassin mocks '#Cloud in a Box' ( #Salesforce.com )
  Beware of the False Cloud. It is not efficient. It is not democratic. When I tweeted 'Beware the False Cloud' during Larry's keynote on Sunday night, Werner Vogels [chief technology officer] at Amazon replied : 'Litmus test: if you have to buy more hardware just to get started it is not a Cloud'. I guess Amazon is on Salesforce.com's side...
• #Oracle Fusion Apps: Mixed Messages on Much-Hyped Suite
  "More than five years later," Ellison proclaimed during his keynote, "we're finally there."
  
  Well, almost.
• Infrastructure and Analytics Power #Oracle #BI 11g to New Levels #OOW10
  Oracle has brought BI and performance management closer together, which is a progressive step in the evolution of the industry and in helping organizations bring business and IT closer together. I hope Oracle can also advance best practices in the types of metrics and indicators I have written about that are necessary to for organizations to become more sophisticated in BI. Our research in BI and performance management found that two-thirds of organizations need leadership from the top of both business and IT; while consulting firms can help augment skills, only one-fourth of research participants said consultants have the ability to drive change in their organizations. Now Oracle will have to demonstrate it can execute in the field as the global war for BI supremacy in revenue and number of customers escalates. Oracle 11g BI is a world class BI platform and set of tools and is designed for the enterprises that really need a solid middleware infrastructure for meeting its business need
• IT Staffing Firms Lose H-1B Lawsuit
  A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit aimed at stopping the federal government from restricting the use of H-1B visas by IT staffing firms.
• We Are All the Future of #Java ( #SAP #OpenSource )
  I did not hear the word “Eclipse” mentioned once in his keynote
• Some thoughts on the announcement that #IBM is buying #Netezza ( #Oracle #Vertica )
  By the way, the rumors of an almost-happened Oracle/Vertica deal seem pretty credible. I don’t know exactly when this was, but I’m guessing it was before Chris Lynch started as CEO.
• #IBM Agrees to Buy #Netezza for $1.7 Billion to Gain Analytics Technology
  Palmisano last week criticized rival Hewlett-Packard Co., saying it has to pay high premiums for acquisitions, such as data storage-maker 3Par Inc., because of research and development cuts.
  
  The Netezza acquisition is about 85 times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization during the past year, compared with 325 times Ebitda for HP’s 3Par deal, according to Bloomberg data. HP ended up offering 3Par investors about triple its share price after a bidding war with Dell Inc.
• John G. Schwarz, CEO of Visier LLC and former CEO of #SAP #BusinessObjects, Elected to #Teradata Board of Directors
  Schwarz is currently the co-founder and chief executive officer of Visier LLC, a young business analytics software firm. He most recently served as chief executive officer of SAP BusinessObjects, where he was a member of the executive board of SAP AG and led global ecosystem, partner group, and corporate development while driving the integration of the Business Objects organization within SAP.
• #Oracle OpenWorld keynotes: Exalogic infomercials "cloud" innovation news ( #HP #OOW10 )
  How bad was it? ABout 15 minutes into the HP presentation, the official conference twitter feed asked the restless attendees who were blasting HP on Twitter to “hang in there” as Ellison would be up soon.
  
  The best line on the Twitter feed: “Hurd must must be in the back laughing and happy he switched companies.“
• The Marathon Man ( #SAP )
  Craig is a diamond in that rough. Openness and intensity. Enterprise software can use much more of that.
• #Oracle OpenWorld: Ellison questions #Salesforce.com #Cloud credentials
  Benioff is due to appear at a side event alongside the main OpenWorld conference on Wednesday and will doubtless have his own comments to make.
• #Oracle OpenWorld #OOW10 Opening Keynote
  Based on the volume of conversation around me, I think a lot of the audience's attention was largely lost during the relatively lengthy HP presentations. Those presentations may have been better suited for Oracle OpenWorld than they seemed to be for JavaOne. I also wonder if the less formal, more party-oriented atmosphere of the Hilton Ballroom contributed to our collective loss of attentiveness during some portions of the opening keynote. It was this potential lesser sense of formality that also appealed to me about attending at the Hilton.
• #Oracle Announces Oracle Fusion Applications
  One Hundred Percent Standards-based, Saas-Ready Enterprise Applications with Role-Based User Experience Creating a New Standard for Business
• #Oracle Fusion Apps Launch Announced @ #OOW10
  Oracle claims that with Fusion apps, it becomes easy for customers to take oracle apps and integrate with SAP . The promise here : No rip and replace involved. This is made entirely possible as the whole app stack is said to have been using standard SOA models. The additional announcement was that the interfaces would look lot like Facebook ,very different look from ebusiness suite. Larry said that social features , activity streams and collaboration are built-in as integral to the fusion apps modules.
  One of the key announcements that I was waiting to hear about was regarding the mode of availability : The answer - Al l fusion apps are available both on-premise or over the cloud and Larry claimed that no one else has done this) . Larry contrasted this with SAP experience : SAP business by design cant run in an on premise mode while traditional SAP modules are not yet cloud/SaaS enabled. The highlight here : since Fusion Apps can support multiple delivery models, Oracle claims that int
• #OOW10 #Oracle Unveils Exalogic Elastic #Cloud
  Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud is an integrated hardware and software system engineered, tested, and tuned by Oracle to run Java and non-Java applications with extreme performance. The machine provides a complete cloud application infrastructure, consolidating the widest possible range of Java and non-Java application types and workloads and meeting the most demanding service-level requirements.
• #OOW10 #Oracle Debuts Oracle’s Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel for Oracle #Linux ( #OpenSource )
  Fast: More than 75 percent performance gain demonstrated in OLTP performance tests over a Red Hat Compatible Kernel; 200 percent speedup of Infiniband messaging; 137 percent faster solid state disk access.
  Modern: Pro vides optimizations for large NUMA servers; improved power management and energy efficiency; fine grained CPU and memory resource control.
  Reliable: Supports the Data Integrity Extensions and T10 Protection Information Model, to stop corrupt data from being written to storage; hardware fault management enables improved application uptime; low overhead performance counters for tracing.
  Optimized for Oracle: Built and tested to run Oracle hardware, databases, and middleware with the best Linux performance and reliability available.
• #Oracle pledges #MySQL community love ( #OpenSource )
  [Oracle will target MySQL at low-end enterprise database apps, rather than web-scale apps -DBM]
• #Wipro, #Infosys see cautious spending on IT
  No delays to existing orders; new sales taking longer
  
  * Spending focused on short-term, transformational projects
  
  * Europe more depressed than the United States
  
  * China potential picking up, after slow start
• IT revival: #Infosys may lag behind #TCS, #Wipro
  According to a survey conducted by the global research agency Gartner, industries hardest hit by the global financial crisis two years ago showed signs of revival in the first half of 2010. The report also highlights that the rebound spans across sectors including financial services, retail, manufacturing, utilities and healthcare. This is assuring since these sectors contribute more than two-thirds to Indian IT exports.
• #PricewaterhouseCoopers rebrands as #PwC
  The company says that the change will “modernise how it represents its worldwide network to its clients”.
  
  New branding includes a logo consisting of the initials “pwc” in lower-case and a new colour palette and fonts for online and offline company literature.
• US technology M&A insights Q2 2010 update #PwC MoneyTree
  Having weathered what is hopefully the worst of the recession, large technology companies are now looking to deliver more than recovery-based growth. As such, M&A as an innovation accelerator has firmly taken hold and will continue to drive mid-market transactions through the remainder of 2010. This edition of the quarterly newsletter also features a synopsis of winning practices from experienced Silicon Valley acquirers on the art and science of integration effectiveness.
• Bill McDermott on CNBC ( #SAP )
  SAP Co-CEO Bill McDermott appeared on CNBC “Fast Money” talking about SAP’s strategy, the Sybase acquisition, mobility, and the competetive market in IT. He was interviewed after his keynote at the Citi Technology Conference earlier in New York City.
• [Video] New #SAP? Think iPad!
  [Uh,if this was impromptu,then why was the camera there? -DBM]
  SAP co-CEO Bill McDermott surprised the DEMOfall 2010 conference audience this morning with an impromptu iPad demo!
• DEMO: #SAP Co-CEO Bill McDermott says ‘The device changes everything’ (video)
  “Public clouds are fine, private clouds are fine, on-premise is fine,” McDermott said. “But what I really believe is that the device changes everything.”
  
  In other words, he said that when you are able to access your business applications and data on new devices like the iPad, you don’t care about where the data is stored. It’s the device that matters, not the infrastructure. That’s why SAP acquired Sybase to help build its mobile strategy. The two companies share a vision of “real-time, in-memory computing,” McDermott said.
• The Seven Best Startups At DEMO
  After watching #SAP CEO Bill McDermott, #HP CTO Phil McKinney, and Square Co-founder Jack Dorsey give their conference spiel today, I took a stroll into the DEMO pit in order to find the seven best startups at DEMO.
• Details of the JPMorgan Chase #Oracle database outage ( #ITfail)
  # The Oracle database was restored from a Saturday night backup. 874K transactions were reapplied, starting early Tuesday morning and ending late Tuesday night.
  # $132 million in ACH transfers were held up by the JPMorgan Chase
  # Somewhere around 1000 each auto and student loan applications were lost due to the outage. database outage.
• #Microsoft Executive Suggests an Alternative to #Oracle's Fusion Applications
  If I were attending OpenWorld, and hoping to learn more about Fusion, here are a few questions that would be top-of-mind for me.
  
  *
  What are Fusion Applications going to do for me? Is Oracle offering me more of the same or something innovative and different to help address my business challenges?
  *
  What happens to the investments I have made in my technology assets [e.g. home-grown solutions, custom ISV solutions, etc.] if they’re not Oracle?
  *
  Will Oracle support any retraining I will need as we undertake a replatforming project to Fusion Applications? Will it distract from the everyday running of my business?
  *
  Is adopting Fusion Applications a choice, a mandate, is it designed to keep me on the cutting edge, or is Fusion really a way for Oracle to integrate their own application portfolio?
  *
  If I prefer a two-tier ERP implementation strategy, will Fusion Applications provide my divisions/subsidiaries/branches with the flexibility the
• With all eyes on #Hurd, plenty of praise for new employer #Oracle
  “I don’t believe there is any other company in the industry better positioned than Oracle,” Hurd said in one of his first public statements as president of the world’s No. 3 software maker.
  
  “Over the last 25 years, I’ve competed against and partnered with Oracle and I can tell you that Oracle has amassed the most enviable portfolio of technology in the industry,” he said.
• #Oracle's profit, sales rise as #Sun acquisition boosts revenue
  The Redwood City company said it had net income of $1.35 billion, up from $1.1 billion for the same period a year ago. Revenue rose 48 percent from $5 billion a year ago. Oracle's earnings amounted to 27 cents a share, or 42 cents a share excluding one-time charges.
• #Oracle's Blowout Quarter Shuts Up Critics
  Software-license revenue jumped 25%, which was more than twice the top-end of the company's guidance range of 2%-12%, and overall revenue of $7.59 billion exceeded analysts' estimates by $300 million. Hardware sales brought in revenue of $1.7 billion, or 23% of the company's total revenue.
  
  And Oracle generated higher profits out of that growth, boosting its earnings per share to 42 cents, significantly ahead of its guidance of between 35 cents and 37 cents per share.
• #Oracle Rises After Corporate Spending Fuels Software, #Sun Sales
  “Deals seem to be getting a little bigger,” President Safra Catz said on the conference call.
  
  Oracle is capitalizing on a recovery in corporate information-technology spending by offering a range of software products assembled through acquisitions. The hiring this month of Mark Hurd, who formerly ran Hewlett-Packard Co., may help the company manage Sun and expand into new areas of hardware. Oracle bought Sun for $7.3 billion in January.
• Birth of a New Era ( #SuccessFactors #Oracle #SAP )
  Social media is finally converging with enterprise HR applications and bringing exciting innovations, thanks to the efforts of companies such as SuccessFactors, Oracle, SAP and others.
• Next Generation Data Center - 4 years forward 3 years behind ( #Oracle #Cloud )
  At the end of this 3 or 4 years of yet another nightmare data center modernisation, you have what exactly - a data centre which may or may not approach the best practice and skills of a "Cloud" facility?
• #Oracle Q1 Results: "I Love It When a Plan Comes Together"
  Does CEO Larry Ellison finally have his "A-Team" assembled? The explosive Q1 fiscal returns show that his plan is working.
• #Oracle OpenWorld, #Java One and Oracle Develop San Francisco 2010 Keynote Lineup
  Join Larry Ellison, Oracle Chief Executive Officer, and other Oracle Executives, as they discuss Oracle's latest innovations and kick start this year's conference.
  Ann Livermore, Executive Vice President, HP Enterprise Business will present a keynote titled “Transformation: From Applications to the Cloud.”
• @Benioff Tops Tech CEO 'Approval Ratings'
  [But] despite the best of intentions, SAP continues to be mired in bureaucracy and indecision
• DOJ, Tech Firms Near Deal in Hiring Probe
  Several of the U.S.'s largest technology companies are in advanced talks with the Justice Department to avoid a court battle over whether they colluded to hold down wages by agreeing not to poach each other's employees.
• #NetSuite plans to add 150 jobs
  NetSuite said it expects to grow its development group by approximately 30 percent because of "dramatic growth in market demand."
• #Microsoft Exec Slams #Google #Android, Outlines Windows Phone 7 Strategy
  IP [intellectual property] issues around the Android situation and certainly the IP issues that we have discussed, it does infringe on a bunch of patents and there are costs associated with that. And this is not just an issue for us. It may also be an issue as some companies have already stated. So there is an upfront fee cost associated with Android that, I think, doesn't make it free.
• Forrester Wave: Technology Research / Advisory Firms, Q3 2010 [ #Parody ]
• New 'Forrester Wave' Chart: Tech Analyst Shocker
  Certainly the other IT research and advisory firms in the mix probably won't take too kindly to their rankings. See for yourself:
• Customers Seek Turnkey Applications From Their Technology Provider
  Major changes from the previous survey include a drop in priorities for #Microsoft Office integration, regulatory requirements, and middleware technologies. The main driver for a decrease in Microsoft Office integration from 83.38% (Q4 2009) to 54.61% (Q2 2010) stems from improved options delivered by vendors and Microsoft (See Figure 2). Regulatory requirements dropped from 53% (Q4 2009) to 32.67% (Q2 2010) as key regulatory functionality met customer concerns. Meanwhile, middleware technologies dropped as a key selection factor from 26.87% (Q2 2010) to 4.74% (Q2 2010) due to the decline in interest for SOA and related technologies.
  
  Consequently, four of the five enterprise software mega-trends for 2010 (i.e. Social, Mobile, Cloud, Analytics, and Gaming) appear in the new survey results. Analytics continues as the second most popular requirement. Cloud deployments enter at (47.38%). Mobile device options and form factors increase 8% from 37.40% (Q4 2009) to 45.39% (Q2 2010). S
• Enterprise @Irregulars adds new members
  The Enterprise Irregulars, an affiliation of thought leaders and influencers, continues to thrive as a powerful force in the enterprise software and technology business. Although the group has no formal structure and few rules, its market influence remains substantial.
• Rumors of the death of corporate IT greatly exaggerated
  The other major part is designing and managing business processes--especially cross-functional business processes--that utilize technology and developing and maintaining the enterprise architecture--the combination of technology and business processes--to support the organization's objectives.
  
  Granted, some IT departments are not very good at the second part. But if they aren't, someone needs to be. I don't care what you call it, or who it reports to. Someone needs to be concerned about the integration of all these systems with one another, and no single user department is in a position to do that.
• Top 10 Hot Topics at #Oracle OpenWorld
  Here's a look at some of the hottest topics and happenings at the event, which runs through next Thursday in San Francisco.
• #IBM CEO Blasts #HP, Defends "Old-Fashioned" Image
  "They spent a lot of money to keep him for an hour," the executive said in response to a question at the Wall Street Journal Viewpoints Executive Breakfast. "That to me was not handled in the best interests of shareholders."
  
  The executive also questioned HP's recent flurry of acquisition, including deals to buy data storage company 3Par Inc for $2.4 billion and security technology company ArcSight Inc for $1.5 billion. He said IBM makes its acquisitions at "reasonable valuations."
• #IBM CEO Sam Palmisano Disses #HP and Mark #Hurd, Praises #Oracle and Larry Ellison
  "Hurd cut out all the research and development."..."Oracle has cash flow and good margins," Palmisano said. "Oracle invests." Palmisano also praised Ellison, saying, "He has done a very good job."
• #Novell reaches two-part sale: sources ( #Linux #OpenSource )
  A strategic buyer will buy the piece of the software provider that develops and delivers Linux SUSE systems, with a private-equity firm picking up much of the rest. Both deals are expected to close simultaneously and the company will be de-listed, according to one source, who noted that the talks are in a sensitive stage and could fall apart.
• #Informatica Delivers #Cloud Data Integration You Can Trust
  Adds New Trust Site, Self-Service Enhancements, Extended Customer Support and Channel Programs
• #Teradata and #Cloudera Welcome Companies to the New Parallel Universe (#Hadoop #OpenSource )
  The partnership will produce a connecting pipeline that will enable Teradata customers to use Cloudera's Distribution for Hadoop (CDH) to funnel unstructured data collected from many online sources into a Teradata data warehouse, where it can be converted to more detailed analytical insight. Users can better integrate and "query" larger data pools than ever before to yield a broader scope of useful information from both structured and unstructured data sources.
  
  Parallel processing frameworks, such as Hadoop, have a natural affinity to parallel data warehouses, such as the powerful Teradata analytical database engine. Although designed for very different types of data exploration, together the two approaches can be more valuable in mining massive amounts of data from a broad spectrum of sources. Companies deploying both parallel technologies are inventing new applications, discovering new opportunities, and can realize a competitive advantage, according to an expert in very large data
• #IBM to Acquire #OpenPages
  The acquisition of OpenPages expands IBM's business analytics capabilities to support compliance and risk management processes. OpenPages software allows businesses to develop a comprehensive compliance and risk management strategy across a variety of domains including operational risk, financial controls management, IT risk, compliance and internal audits. The result is an aggregated, enterprise-wide picture of all exposures, helping CFOs and CIOs understand how these risks can impact the organization's future performance.
• #SAP Unveils Business Analytics Apps Aimed at Industry Verticals
  [Wasn't that Shai's demo of TREX from 2005? -DBM]
  "What I just showed was 100 million records in real time being manipulated at sub-second speeds, all provisioned in the cloud," McDermott said.
  
  He said SAP is now able to run all its operations in memory from an iPad via the company's private cloud, providing lightning-quick access to huge databases of information.
• Will #Sun smile on #Oracle’s Q1?
  Oracle could deliver better-than-expected revenue and cost synergies and exceed its goal for Sun to deliver $1.5 billion of operating income in its first year. Oracle's team is very astute operators and Sun can be managed better than it previously was, as it is combined and leveraged under the Oracle umbrella, FBR Capital said in a report to clients.
• #SAP vs. #Oracle – Bill McDermott explains how SAP is different
  McDermott emphasized in this video clip:
  
  * SAP is sticking to its knitting – staying true to its core business
  
  * He implied that Oracle’s acquisition of Sun was both risky and prompted by Oracle’s inability to surpass SAP as the leading business software player
  
  * SAP will continue to focus on innovation in software
  
  * SAP will stress an open ecosystem
• Threatened by Scandal, Women Need Support ( #HP #Hurd #Oracle )
  Watching the Old Boys' Network in action in Silicon Valley is an in-your-face reminder that, for men at least, friends in high places can open doors and salvage careers. For women, however, versions of the Mark Hurd story have been accompanied by the sound of those same doors being slammed shut.
• #SciDB: Relational daddy answers #Google, #Hadoop, #NoSQL
  MapReduce was written by people who don't understand databases at all," an unapologetic Stonebraker continued. "They produced a thing that worked for their crawling applications - MapReduce was written to support the processing pipeline behind Google."
  
  Turning MapReduce and Hadoop into databases would take a long time and a huge rewrite to inject things like data repositories, indexes, query languages and updates.
• Litigation and Contingencies ( #HP )
  Russia GPO and Related Investigations. The German Public Prosecutor's Office ("German PPO") has been conducting an investigation into allegations that current and former employees of HP engaged in bribery, embezzlement and tax evasion relating to a transaction between Hewlett-Packard ISE GmbH in Germany, a former subsidiary of HP, and the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation. The €35 million transaction, which was referred to as the Russia GPO deal, spanned 2001 to 2006 and was for the delivery and installation of an IT network. The German PPO has recently requested information on several non-public sector transactions entered into by HP and its subsidiaries on or around 2006 involving one or more persons also involved in the Russia GPO deal.
  
  The U.S. Department of Justice and the SEC have also been conducting an investigation into the Russia GPO deal and potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA"). Under the FCPA, a person or an en
• Transparency, accountability, and IT success ( #ITfail )
  Transparency is one of the most effective methods for reducing waste and bringing success to any initiative or program. Neither mismanagement nor conflicts of interest can long survive in open environments that combine clarity and accountability.
• #Nokia's transformation journey
  Nokia’s long term strategic goal is to become the leader of the mobile solutions space. They view themselves as a challenger now. It is true they needed to catch up with competition on the high-end smartphone segment where software plays a key role. I think the new flagship device (N8, available later in September at €370 before taxes and subsidies) is doing a great job with a revamped user-interface experience. My “OVI maps” experience was quite compelling and seamless. It is a great device but not necessarily one setting the bar for a long-time in a highly competitive landscape. The challenge here is really to master product life cycle management, to integrate early in the process the services that consumers are likely to use in 2 years’ time. Out of the range of devices announced today (N8, C6, C7 and E7), the focus is on Symbian^3 (Nokia plans to ship 50 million of these devices but did not share any timeframe for this forecast). “Symbian is back” as Jo Harlow, SVP Nokia, summariz
• #Adobe CEO Narayen on Hiring, E-Mail, and #Apple
  You don’t respond to an e-mail unless you’re the only person in the address line. Talk about managing your information flow.
  
  As you grow in your career, constantly thinking about what pieces of information are really relevant to your job is important. I try not to read an e-mail twice, so you’ll get a response from me really quickly or you’ll never get one. I delete it as soon as I’ve read it because if it’s important enough, it’ll come back. And my belief is that unless I’m the only person on the “to” line and people are actually asking me for a decision, somebody else will step in.
• #SAP Lands 1-2 Punch: Targets Industry Needs With Business Analytics and Expertise
  Co-created with customers and designed to work in any environment, the applications facilitate better business decision-making by knowledge workers, providing the insight and best practices required to better understand risk, uncover opportunities and make the right decisions to optimize business. Designed to be deployed quickly and deliver value to customers rapidly, the solutions are complete and ready to go, and can also be customized further to meet particular business goals with the help of the SAP Services organization or partner ecosystem.
• #SAP TV Videos - SAP #BusinessObjects Analytic Applications - Stephanie Reel, CIO, Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Medicine
  SAP BusinessObjects Analytic Applications - Stephanie Reel, CIO, Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Medicine
  
  Stephanie Reel, CIO, Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Medicine, discusses collaboration with SAP to develop a new solution to better understand staffing needs at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.
• #SAP #BusinessObjects Analytic Applications: Planning and Consolidation for Public Sector
  SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation for Public Sector includes functionality that enables the following:
  
  * Long-range planning – You can leverage the latest high-level and economic input to quickly adapt your baseline plan and model major program changes, which can improve your ability to maintain a balanced budget.
  * Budgeting and performance reporting – The application allows you to break down program costs to a cost-center level, as well as plan and report non-financial performance.
  * Monthly reporting – Powerful reporting features can support a faster close across departments in required formats.
  * Executive dashboard reporting – Your organization's executives can view performance at the departmental level and leverage at-a-glance and what-if scenarios to model cost options and appropriately allocate resources.
• #SAP #BusinessObjects Analytic Applications: Force Readiness
  # Collaborate across organizations – Proactively identify, analyze, respond to, and monitor resource risk across areas of responsibility.
  # Manage resources – Control your personnel, material, and supply resources and establish a flexible organizational structure to prepare capability-based teams of mission-ready personnel.
  # Provide location-based intelligence – Combine visualization and analytical capability with your goals via integration with geographic information system (GIS) solutions for continuous, visual resource transparency.
• #SAP #BusinessObjects Analytic Applications: Customer Analysis and Retention for Telecom
  # Gain visibility into the levers driving retention and growth – View and analyze the key financial, customer, and operational data and metrics that impact customer revenue and retention. The software combines an industry-specific metric framework, decision workflows, dashboards, and reports. Together, these elements enable you to pull data from diverse sources, centralize and analyze it, and generate insight to drive execution.
  # Monitor key performance indicators – A prebuilt set of KPIs can help you readily track performance across multiple dimensions – for example, customer segments, markets, product lines, and channels. You can instantly view the daily, weekly, and monthly performance of each KPI; see trends; track performance against targets; and drill down for further details.
  # Analyze root causes of performance issues – Once you have identified a problem, drill deeper to find the root cause. You can quickly go from a high-level view of a KPI down to a detail-level view across
• #Cloudera: All Your #BigData Are Belong to Us ( #Hadoop #OpenSource )
  Olson tells me he’s been surprised by how rapid the adoption of Hadoop has been within enterprise IT. While he wouldn’t provide details on ongoing customer negotiations, he made it clear that Cloudera is signing an increasing number of customers that one wouldn’t normally classify as early adopters.
• Do We Need a New Programming Language for #BigData? ( #Hadoop #Cassandra #OpenSource )
  You pretty much gotta be near genius level to build systems on top of Cassandra, Hadoop and the like today. These are powerful tools, but very low-level, equivalent to programming client server applications in assembly language. When it works its great, but the effort is significant and it's probably beyond the scope of mainstream IT organizations. (That's one reason that Revolution's R product has appeal, but R is a specialized statistical analysis tool, not a general purpose language.)
• #SAP Finds A Message And Messenger
  They buy innovation, and that’s all in the software,” he says.
  [In the SAP software?!? -DBM]
• Supercity's $60m-plus #SAP system under scrutiny ( #ITfail )
  So what are the main differences between the two systems, besides the $50 million-plus difference in price?
• TIMOTHY S. VERNOR, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. AUTODESK, INC., Defendant-Appellant
  We determine that Autodesk’s direct customers
  are licensees of their copies of the software rather than owners,
  which has two ramifications. Because Vernor did not purchase
  the Release 14 copies from an owner, he may not
  invoke the first sale doctrine, and he also may not assert an
  essential step defense on behalf of his customers. For these
  reasons, we vacate the district court’s grant of summary judgment
  to Vernor and remand for further proceedings.
• #NoSQL, Heroku, and You ( #OpenSource #BigData #Hadoop #SQL )
  * Frequently-written, rarely read statistical data (for example, a web hit counter) should use an in-memory key/value store like Redis, or an update-in-place document store like MongoDB.
  * Big Data (like weather stats or business analytics) will work best in a freeform, distributed db system like Hadoop.
  * Binary assets (such as MP3s and PDFs) find a good home in a datastore that can serve directly to the user’s browser, like Amazon S3.
  * Transient data (like web sessions, locks, or short-term stats) should be kept in a transient datastore like Memcache. (Traditionally we haven’t grouped memcached into the database family, but NoSQL has broadened our thinking on this subject.)
  * If you need to be able to replicate your data set to multiple locations (such as syncing a music database between a web app and a mobile device), you’ll want the replication features of CouchDB.
  * High availability apps, where minimizing downtime is critical, will find great utility in t
• #HP buys #ArcSight in another big acquisition
  Analysts wonder about discipline in fourth M&A deal after #Hurd's departure
  "The deal is expensive, and likely to reinvigorate concerns about H-P's financial discipline and seemingly zealous desire to quickly add growth assets following the departure of Mark Hurd," Toni Sacconaghi of Bernstein Research wrote in a report Monday.
• What Will #Microsoft Do Without Stephen Elop?
  "Elop's likely not the only high-profile Microsoft executive being fished [by other companies] and the company's stock hasn't moved in a long time, so they may need to shore up their executive compensation system," Enderle said.
• #Microsoft's man in #Nokia: he's all business
  He must reverse eroding market share and shake up a company that's been slow to respond to the iPhone or Android and still believes its current efforts are a success.
• Ahead in the #cloud is software firm’s dream ( #SAP #Oracle )
  “SAP is in the lead in #mobile after the #Sybase acquisition and is fully ahead of its main rival Oracle in mobile,” Mr Ried says.
  
  “SAP can upsell clients with full mobile operational access for people working on site or on the road. Increasing the number of clients is great for SAP’s revenues as it traditionally charges on a per-user basis.”
• Don't Laugh: Will #SAP Ever be the "Apple" of Procurement Apps?
  At the end of the mobile (and mobile platform) housing day, it seems that SAP would best serve itself by shoring up the foundation of its primary residence -- which could be sinking faster than we think -- before adding a new wing to a second, new found property that's not even fully built yet.
• #SAP New-Product Blitz Tomorrow
  In addition to the 15 new real-time business applications coming out tomorrow, according to the Times story, SAP will also unveil a set of tools to help developers create mobile applications to complement the aggressive mobile position SAP has staked out, led by its acquisition this year of Sybase.
• #Oracle 2Q lobbying expenses fall 14 pct to $1.15M
  The company's second-quarter lobbying expenses were down 14 percent from $1.33 million at the same time last year, according to a filing with the clerk's office of the House of Representatives. Oracle's lobbying costs fell 19 percent during the first three months of the year to $1.13 million.
  
  Oracle, based in Redwood Shores, Calif., ranks among Silicon Valley's biggest spenders in the nation's capital. Its accelerated its lobbying last year as it tried to gain political and regulatory support for a $7.4 billion acquisition of Sun Microsystems Inc.
• The message in America's Cup media
  San Francisco's bid, expected in two weeks, looks like it will involve offering the Cup organizing group the chance to develop S.F. piers for other uses after Cup competition is over.
  
  That may be a dubious offer, considering how much trouble other groups have had trying to push through development plans for San Francisco waterfront properties. It may not be enough to overcome Valencia, which hosted the last Cup, or Italy.
• New-look America's Cup set for 2013 on catamarans
  The new "action-packed" format for the event is designed to appeal to "the Facebook generation, not the Flintstone generation," Russell Coutts, the CEO of America's Cup defenders Oracle, told a news conference here on Monday.
• America's Cup in 2013; some factors favor the city
  Software billionaire Larry Ellison's BMW Oracle Racing team, sponsored by San Francisco's Golden Gate Yacht Club, captured the cup in February off the coast of Valencia, Spain, and now gets to decide the location, timing and type of boats for the next regatta.
  
  San Francisco is vying with Valencia and an undisclosed Italian port as the lead contenders to host the cup.
• Looking For Work? Learn #Ruby On Rails
  People are so desperate for talented Rails developers that they will offer you a piece of their company to learn it on their dime.
• Hilarious Video about Relational Database #MySQL vs #NoSQL Fanbois
  Definitely NSFW. OMG it's hilarious, but it's also not a bad overview of the issues. Especially loved: You read the latest post on HighScalability.com and think you are a f*cking Google and architect and parrot slogans like Web Scale and Sharding but you have no idea what the f*ck you are talking about. There are so many more gems like that.
• 2011 #MySQL Conferences
  Next year will mark a significant change for the MySQL community. At least three major conferences will have dedicated MySQL content that is great for attendees getting the best information on how to use MySQL from the experts in the field.
• #OpenSource Software Pervades #Java One 2010
  This year's JavaOne offers at least 100 sessions, BOFs and Hands-on Labs related to Open Source projects and products including but not limited to Atmosphere, Eclipse, GlassFish, Grails, Groovy, Hadoop, Harmony, Hibernate, Hudson, Jersey, Jigsaw, JBoss, JUnit, Jython, Lift, Maven, Mule, MySQL, MyFaces, NetBeans, OpenJDK, Play, Resin, Seam, Spring, Struts, Tapestry and Tomcat. See the list of examples below and then find more details on individual sessions including times and location (all subject to change) in the content catalog.
• Lobbyist joins #RedHat's team
  Bohannon, 52, will be based in Washington. He joins Red Hat after 10 years with the Software & Information Industry Association, which represents the software and digital content industry.
• Are contributor agreements subversive? ( #OpenSource )
  The agreement gives all copyrights and patents to the project’s corporate sponsor. The wording can differ, which is why a group called Project Harmony is working to harmonize them.
• How #GE uses #OpenSource #Hadoop to analyze #BigData
  What are you using Hadoop for at GE?
  Hillenbrand: We are currently running several use cases on our Hadoop cluster while incorporating several different disparate sources to produce our results. Along with sentiment analysis, we are running Web analytics on our internal cloud structure, looking at load usage, user analytics, and failure mode analytics. We have built a recommendation engine for our intranet involving various press releases users might be interested in based on their function, user profiles, and prior visits to parts of our site. We are also working with several types of remote monitoring and diagnostic data from our energy and wind businesses.
• #Google #BigData search index splits with #MapReduce
  Caffeine moves Google's back-end indexing system away from MapReduce and onto #BigTable, the company's distributed database platform.
• Quest Sees Opportunity in #NoSQL #Cassandra -- Adds Support in Toad for #Cloud Databases, Signs Alliance Agreement with Riptano
  Quest Software, Inc. today added Apache Cassandra, an open-source NoSQL database, to its list of supported NoSQL platforms with the second beta release of Toad(R) for Cloud Databases. Toad now supports data access and management for Apache Cassandra, Amazon SimpleDB, Microsoft Azure Table Services, Apache HBase, and any Open Database Connectivity-enabled relational database.
• So, how does your dog food taste, #Microsoft? ( #Azure #Cloud )
  It’s encouraging to see that Microsoft isn’t just pitching us a “just flip this switch and it all works like magic” whitewash but provides some real honest insight into these new technologies that customers are still trying to figure out.
• Firm: #Microsoft #Bing, Yahoo combine for 25% of market in first week
  The analysis firm said Bing fielded 10.24 percent and Yahoo 14.32 percent of U.S. searches in the week ending Aug. 24, after Microsoft's search technology started powering Yahoo's organic results. That added up to an overall Bing-powered share of 24.56 percent.
• #CH2MHILL Expects to Save Millions Moving to #Microsoft Virtualization Software
  Officials with CH2M HILL said that the company also expects to reduce server administration work by 30 percent so it can focus on more strategic work like branch office virtualizing, infrastructure upgrading and architecture planning.
• Few #SAP shops are fully using Solution Manager, but why?
  For most SAP customers, Solution Manager is simply a tool that SAP mandates they use in order to download support patches and manage service-related tasks.
  
  While around 70% of customers have installed Solution Manager for this purpose, only 5% are using it for more than the most basic tasks, according to Ajay Vonkarey, SAP Solution Manager Lead for Alpha Sirius, a consultancy that specializes in Solution Manager implementations.
• The Twitter #EnSW Daily
  [List of the day's #EnSW (Enterprise Software) news -DBM]
• Northrop Grumman Takes Blame for Va. IT Services Outage ( #ITfail )
  Earlier this year, after a long history of problems within VITA, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell placed the agency's CIO under his direct authority, appointing former Virginia lawmaker Sam Nixon to the position. Nixon, who co-authored the legislation establishing VITA in 2003, was charged with the task of fixing the IT problems.
• Carpe Diem #SAP: Hit #Oracle While Its Dazed and Confused
  [@twailgum is a smart guy, but this analysis is totally wrong IMO -DBM]
  I'm not urging SAP to become the playground bully it is not. But it is time to stop being bullied by Oracle.
• How Obama's tax credit helps, hurts IT spending
  Frank Scavo, president of research firm Computer Economics. "No organization is going to invest in new systems or new equipment unless economic conditions justify it."
• Will #Oracle Buy #Informatica Next?
  Indeed, it might make more sense for Oracle to pick up a networking vendor like Juniper Networks or a systems integrator, given its push into hardware with the acquisition of Sun Microsystems, said Altimeter Group analyst Ray Wang.
• 4-Star Stocks Poised to Pop: #Oracle
  94% of the 3,166 members who have rated Oracle believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward.
• #Oracle Seen Reporting Strong Growth As Businesses Spend Again
  Wall Street will also be looking for signs of how well the company's nascent hardware business is proceeding. Oracle closed its purchase of Sun Microsystems earlier this year, and some speculate that the company may be hunting for other deals in the hardware market.
• Lawsuit ends between #Oracle and #NetApp
  One wonders if Oracle's readiness to work with NetApp and seek to have the lawsuits dismissed without prejudice has anything to do with all the court action the full service IT vendor is now facing.
• #SAP Looks to Benefit From the #Oracle Tempest
  “This is net-positive for us,” he said in an interview on Wednesday...Mr. McDermott called the Sun purchase “Oracle’s wild move into hardware.”
  
  By contrast, he said, SAP is “staying true to its core” in software. Still, SAP did make a big acquisition of its own in May, buying Sybase, a maker of databases and software for transporting cellphone data, for $5.25 billion. That move came a few months after Mr. McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe, were named co-chief executives, in a shakeup of SAP’s top management.
• #Microsoft legal punch may change botnet battles forever
  276 Web domains deployed as Waledac command-and-control servers to provide instructions to thousands of infected computers would be forfeited to Microsoft, effectively shutting down the botnet for good, he said.
• Who will #Oracle acquire next? (The Answers)
  #Informatica is the company Oracle is most likely to acquire soon.
• #Nokia appoints #Microsoft's Stephen Elop to President and CEO as of September 21, 2010
  Nokia's Board of Directors has appointed Stephen Elop President and Chief Executive Officer of Nokia as of September 21. Elop currently heads Microsoft's Business Division. Before joining Microsoft, Elop held senior executive positions in a number of US-based public companies, including Juniper Networks, Adobe Systems Inc. and Macromedia Inc. He holds a degree in computer engineering and management from McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, which is his home country.
• #Microsoft Business Division Transition: E-mail to Microsoft full-time employees from Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer
  I am writing to let you know that Stephen Elop has been offered and has accepted the job as CEO of Nokia and will be leaving Microsoft, effective immediately. Stephen leaves in place a strong business and technical leadership team, including Chris Capossela, Kurt DelBene, Amy Hood and Kirill Tatarinov, all of whom will report to me for the interim.
• Interview: Zach Nelson, CEO Of #NetSuite
  We want to become the Salesforce of the medium sized business market, that’s the opportunity.
• Who will #Oracle acquire next? (The answers)
  Oracle will continue acquiring companies, and #Informatica should be at the top of its shopping list.
• Mark #Hurd to Speak at #Oracle’s Annual Conference
  Mr. Hurd will appear alongside John Fowler, a former Sun Microsystems executive who now oversees Oracle’s hardware businesses. Oracle has said that Mr. Hurd’s experience with hardware businesses “is particularly important” to the software maker, which earlier this year moved into the hardware business with its $7.4 billion acquisition of Sun.
• Keynotes | #Oracle OpenWorld 2010
  Monday, September 20
  Oracle OpenWorld Keynote | 8:00 a.m. - 9:45 a.m.
  Mark #Hurd
  Mark Hurd | President, Oracle
  
  John Fowler
  John Fowler | Executive Vice President, Systems, Oracle | Biography [+/-]
  
  John Fowler is Executive Vice President of Systems. Mr. Fowler has extensive experience in corporate strategy as well as systems and software development. Before coming to Oracle in 2010, when the company acquired Sun, he worked at Sun for more than 14 years, where he served in several influential roles, including Executive Vice President of Sun's Systems Group; Chief Technology Officer for Sun's Software organization; and Executive Vice President of Sun's x64 Systems Group, focused on delivering industry-standard network computing systems for Solaris, Linux, and Windows. At Oracle, Mr. Fowler continues to be responsible for the delivery of all Sun systems products, including SPARC and x64-based servers, as well as networking and disk and tape storage products. Additionally, he is responsi
• #Nokia Hires #Microsoft's Elop as Chief Executive to Reverse Losses to #Apple
  [I don't think hiring someone from Microsoft will help Nokia beat Apple... -DBM]
  The Espoo, Finland-based company said in a statement today that Elop, 46, will take over as president and CEO starting Sept. 21. Kallasvuo will remain in a non-executive capacity on the board of Nokia Siemens Networks.
  
  “The time is right to accelerate the company’s renewal; to bring in new executive leadership with different skills and strengths in order to drive company success,” Chairman Jorma Ollila said in the statement. “Stephen will be able to drive both innovation and efficient execution of the company strategy in order to deliver increased value to our shareholders.”
• #Microsoft aims to sharpen its #CRM pitch
  Microsoft VP Michael Park draws a diagram showing what he says is the strength of the company's strategy--the fact that the company is playing in so many parts of the market from server software to cloud-based services.
• #Microsoft begins testing new #CRM program
  Among the features in the new version of CRM is an enhanced ability to get dashboards and other reports from with in the customer relationship management tool.
• CA Technologies to Acquire Arcot Systems, Inc., a Visionary in Fraud Prevention, Advanced Authentication
  Arcot's solutions – delivered as cloud services or deployed on premises – help prevent fraudulent transactions for about one million online credit card transactions each day. In addition, by combining Arcot's technology with CA Technologies market-leading CA SiteMinder portfolio, the company will provide advanced capabilities to help customers further reduce risk, support regulatory compliance and confidently secure business transactions.
• 13 warning signs to prevent #ERP doom
  You don’t have a business case, performance metrics, or a benefits realization plan. Hopefully you’re not implementing ERP just for the fun of it. You need metrics to define how you expect the new system to improve your business, along with a plan of how you are going to measure actual results.
• Canary in a Coal Mine: 13 Signs That Your #ERP Implementation Project May Be in Trouble
  What do you think? Take a poll below to share your experience with your most recent ERP implementation.
  
  How Did Your Current or Most Recent ERP Implementation Go?
  
  * As Expected
  * Better Than Expected
  * More Difficult Than Expected
  * I Haven't Been Through an ERP Implementation
• #HP vs Mark #Hurd & #Oracle: The Machiavellian Version
  All this mud-slinging spooks some of the outside candidates for the top job at HP. I mean if you are considering a gig at that company and you see it going after Hurd with hammer and tongs… you’re going to think twice.
  * HP ends up picking an internal candidate, which essentially causes fissures in the senior ranks and turns the company into a series of fiefdoms.
• Can #HP Win Its Suit Against #Hurd?
  California courts have rejected the inevitable disclosure doctrine. Writes Miller: “To have a stronger case, HP will have to prove that Hurd actually did something wrong and revealed trade secrets, not just allege that he might.”
• YouTube - A behind the scenes look at Starbucks Global Technology
  If you haven't considered a career in IT at Starbucks, it's time to reconsider.
• #Oracle Definitive Proxy Statement
  While the Board takes environmental sustainability very seriously, we oppose the adoption of this policy because we do not believe that a Board committee dedicated to this issue is necessary, nor would it be more effective than our current and ongoing sustainability efforts.
  
  Our management considers environmental matters and has developed and actively promotes practices that both minimize resource utilization and emphasize sustainable resources. For example, management sponsors an executive-level Environmental Steering Committee, which oversees and guides our company-wide environmental sustainability efforts. The Environmental Steering Committee is comprised of senior employees from various
• #Oracle board against sustainability proposal
  Harrington dismissed Oracle's response. "If it's not a legal duty under the bylaws, then it has no legal standing whatsoever. ...There's nothing there to convince me they're doing anything. It's just like voluntary codes of conduct. ... It's meaningless."
  
  Harrington has received no direct response from Oracle, he said. "They didn't even return a phone call. [Oracle CEO] Larry Ellison, in some ways he's sort of like [Apple CEO] Steve Jobs. He's an imperial CEO."
• At #Oracle, Mark #Hurd Lands in Rare Situation
  Having a Boss for First Time in Years Means the Former Hewlett-Packard Chief's Relationship With CEO Ellison is Crucial
• Incubator Coaxes Start-Ups Out of Their Shells
  One potential challenge for Y Combinator: its model is no longer unique. Other incubators have followed Y Combinator in setting up programs that compete for the same start-ups, including TechStars in Boulder, Colo., and Capital Factory in Austin, Texas.
• #HP Sues #Hurd After #Oracle Appointment
  The agreement doesn't contain a noncompete clause.
• Threatened Misappropriation of Trade Secrets vs. Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine--When Is the Line Crossed?
  California courts have rejected the inevitable disclosure doctrine, finding that it is directly contrary to California’s public policy prohibiting an employer from entering into a noncompetition agreement with its employees. (Bus. and Prof. Code § 16600.) Courts applying California law have routinely found that the inevitable disclosure doctrine would “create an after-the-fact covenant not to compete restricting employee mobility.” (Ibid.)
• California Non-Compete Agreements
  [Good layman's overview of California law relevant to #HP #Hurd #Oracle -DBM]
• Soundbites about Mark #Hurd joining #Oracle
  The Mark Hurd hire is a signal that Oracle is very serious about hardware/software integration. Notwithstanding any of the foregoing, Hurd can surely talk the hardware/software integration game. And one can reasonably spin Hurd’s HP Neoview failure as a high-desire, low-odds attempt to get into the database software/hardware stack business.
• The Social Layer: How the Rise of Web-Oriented Architecture is Changing Enterprise IT
  The report further explores the role of the open Web and the importance of Web services and applications to talk with one other easily and securely. The open Web has allowed services like Facebook to flourish by simply adhering to the HTTP protocol.The report demonstrates how enterprises can embrace a similar architecture to build their own social layer.
• #HP v. Mark V. #Hurd, an individual, and DOEs 1-25 inclusive
  [Copy of (feeble?) lawsuit filed by HP against Mark Hurd for joining #Oracle -DBM]
• #HP Blogs - BREAKING: HP Files Civil Complaint Against #Hurd; Includes Statement and Link to Full Complaint
  HP intends to enforce those agreements
• #HP v. Mark V. #Hurd
  [Filing provided by HP -DBM]
• Analysis: the #HP Suit Against Mark #Hurd
  The problem with this claim was that California specifically rejects this inevitable disclosure claim, which was a clear cut motion for the court to decide. So at the end of the day, I certainly don’t see HP prevailing or even coming away with concessions to avoid litigation expenses. It will also be interesting to see how HP’s counsel argues that the inevitable disclosure claims are not frivolous under California law.
• 10 New Ideas for #ERP at 25
  The cloud will be the primary deployment model.
• #Oracle Responds to #HP Lawsuit
  The HP Board is making it virtually impossible for Oracle and HP to continue to cooperate and work together in the IT marketplace."
• #Oracle CEO Ellison's Pay Drops 17% To $70.1M In Fiscal 2010
  Oracle Corp.'s founder and Chief Executive Larry Ellison earned $70.1 million in total for the fiscal year ended May 31, down 17% from a year earlier, according to the software maker's Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Tuesday.
• CEOs, Horny or Otherwise, Get too Many Breaks ( #HP #Hurd )
  But more importantly, will Oracle women rise up and say, "this is unacceptable!"
  I asked women who were in the know at Oracle, and the answer was, probably not.
  "Oracle is a very competitive and driven culture and people who thrive there long-term have a tendency to 'suck it up' and perform," said one source familiar with the women's culture at Oracle who did not want her name used. "Their women's network operates in a narrow bandwidth of trying to stay politically correct and not rock the boat in a highly political company culture."
  Translation: No one is standing up against Hurd's appointment, women or otherwise.
  ...The next sexual harassment and ethics training sessions at Oracle should be interesting.
• Bill Kutik on HR Collaboration Options
  #Oracle are showing the #Fusion version of their Human Capital Management suite for first time at the HR Technology Conference, and other modern applications will be demoed which have modern collaborative ’social’ networking tools built in.
• Next Gen B2B and B2C E-Commerce Priorities Reflect Macro Level Trends
  Customer Self Service and Vertical Requirements Drive B2B E-Commerce Initiatives...Customer Self Service and Product/Service Sales Drive B2C E-Commerce Initiatives
• Alabama county mulls whether to keep, jettison #SAP ( #ITfail )
  The main problem lies in generating reports, he said. "They're not formatted in the manner that we want. They're difficult to produce."
  [Seems like a pretty minor problem, easily fixed compared to changing over to a different ERP system ...-DBM]
• #SAP and #Sybase: Incorporating In-Memory Technology
  [Old story, but take a look at the data in the photo - as an industry, I'm begging us to PLEASE stop using "TEst Account for beta" and "Demo user 1" and other garbage data in demos and testing (because test data always ends up in demos! - DBM]
  What’s more, the companies will integrate the SAP NetWeaver MobileSybase Unwired Platform. The two companies ultimately aim to strengthen their position as market leader in enterprise mobility software and drive the trend toward accessing enterprise data from anywhere. SAP Chief Technology Officer Vishal Sikka regards the transformation to the wireless enterprise as a once-in-a-generation occurrence, and compares it with the introduction of the client-server principle. According to McDermott, the acquisition of Sybase has made SAP the market leader for mobile enterprise virtually overnight. component and SAP BusinessObjects Mobile software with
• #Oracle Executives
  [Charles still shows on Oracle's exec pages, and press releases about Hurd/Phillips not up on Oracle.com site yet ...-DBM]
  Charles E. Phillips, Jr.
  President
  Review Mr. Phillips' Biography
• #Oracle Hires Mark #Hurd as President ( #HP )
  Hurd Joins Oracle’s Board of Directors
• #Oracle hires former #HP boss Mark Hurd
  Charles Phillips resigns as president of Oracle
  
  * Hurd becomes president and named to Oracle's board
  
  * Hurd will report to Oracle CEO Larry Ellison
• Mark Hurd Joins #Oracle as Co-President
  Oracle’s decision to hire Mr. Hurd presents Silicon Valley with a true soap opera, filled with fierce business dealings and saucy relationships.
• Mark #Hurd - #Wikipedia
  [Wikipedia page already updated with new #Oracle job (not by me) - DBM]
• #SAP Has Deployed 1,000 iPads To Its Employees
  SAP’s rollout has got to be the single largest in the world. I doubt that Apple (34,000 employees) has anywhere near the same number of employees using an iPad today.
• SEPARATION AGREEMENT AND RELEASE ( Mark #Hurd and #HP )
  Separation Pay and Benefits. In consideration of your execution of this Separation Agreement and your compliance with its terms and conditions, the Company agrees to pay or provide you (subject to the terms and conditions set forth in this Separation Agreement) with the benefits described in this paragraph 2, which exceed any payment and benefits to which you are otherwise entitled.
• #Hadoop, #Oracle, #SqlServer, #Db2, #Mysql Job Trends
  # Hadoop jobs increased 940%
  # oracle jobs increased 32%
  # sql Server jobs increased 29%
  # db2 jobs increased 60%
  # mysql jobs increased 48%
• #SAP, #Peoplesoft, #Siebel, #Dynamics, #Successfactors Trends
  # Sap jobs increased 33%
  # peoplesoft jobs increased 13%
  # siebel jobs increased 27%
  # dynamics jobs decreased 12%
  # successfactors jobs increased 24%
• In just over a week we’ll discover #Nokia’s future
  I believe Nokia’s problems are fixable, but they have less than a year to fix them. What’s said (and what’s not said) at Nokia World in 2010 will be a big influence on our predictions for Nokia’s future.
• Mark Hurd in Talks With #Oracle ( #HP )
  If Mr. Hurd lands at Oracle, he would join a company that has increasingly been stepping on some of H-P's turf. Oracle, which makes enterprise software, is almost as profitable as H-P—earning $6.1 billion in its most recent fiscal year compared with $7.7 billion for H-P—but has only about one quarter the revenue and one third the employees. The company has expanded its portfolio of software products through a string of acquisitions in recent years. In January, the Redwood Shores, Calif., company finalized its $7.4 billion purchase of hardware maker Sun Microsystems Inc., moving it into the server and storage-systems business for the first time.
• #Amdocs Announces Eli Gelman to Succeed Dov Baharav as President and CEO in Early Calendar 2011
  Amdocs Limited today announced that Dov Baharav, President and CEO of Amdocs Management Limited, will retire in the first quarter of calendar 2011 and be replaced by Eli Gelman, a current director of Amdocs Limited and its former Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Baharav will also resign as a director of the company upon his retirement.
• #SAP Sees `Limitless' Potential in `Second Home' #China
  ...the fantasy of what we could be in this market will exceed anything that a CFO could put on a spreadsheet, so let’s go for the big dream.”
• Let's Break It Up ( #Microsoft )
  But maybe it's not Ballmer that has to go--it's Microsoft. What do you say we bust it up into three separate companies: Windows, Office and Web Ventures?
• Do #Accenture's Margins Measure Up?
  With recent TTM operating margins exceeding historical averages, Accenture looks like it is doing fine.
• #Oracle Mergers & Acquisitions: Who’s Next?
  The favorites were two of our “fairly straightforward ideas,” #Informatica and #Teradata, each with 14% of the votes. This suggests that 28% of our voters believe Oracle will play it safe the next time around and strengthen their already formidable data warehousing and business intelligence
  
  However, more than a few of you were a little bolder with your predictions, arguing that Oracle is going to make one or two “pricey buys in hot markets.” With VMWare getting 143 votes and Salesforce.com getting 115, 20% of our readers feel that the Sun deal is merely the first in a series of game-changing buys for Oracle. offerings.
• #ArcSight Declines Comment On Report The Company Is For Sale
  Over the years, the high growth of our category and the strong execution by ArcSight has led to occasional speculation and rumors. As has been our policy in the past, we do not and we cannot comment on rumors and market speculation. So while you may be looking for clarity regarding the recent article, our position for this call is not to comment in our prepared remarks or during the Q&A period. You should not interpret anything that we say today as in some way commenting on them.
• What will #Oracle buy next? ( #Salesforce.com #Informatica )
  One gating factor to a Salesforce.com buyout is and always has been its valuation. At about $15 billion in value, Salesforce.com trades for more than 200 times its $74 million in earnings over the last four quarters and 75 times the $200 million analysts expect it to earn next year.
  
  Of course, at $112 billion in value, Oracle has a big check book. And it likes to write checks.
• Who will #Oracle acquire next?
  [Vote in this public poll on who Oracle will acquire next.]
• Who will #Oracle acquire next?
  So, who do you think Oracle will acquire next? Vote in this poll to share your opinion.
• Who will #Oracle acquire next?
  this graphic reveals real insight into Oracle's strategy and focus on acquisitions over the past 5 years
• YouTube - "Don't Be Evil?" video
  Inside #Google (a project of Consumer Watchdog) illustrates just how important it is we get Congress to create a "do not track me" list.
  [Ironic that this is running on Google Youtube, so Google is tracking you right now as you watch it ;-) -DBM]
• The #Salesforce.com Foundation Names 2010 Technology Innovation Grant Recipients
  The Salesforce.com Foundation, a provider of business philanthropy services, announced its 2010 Technology Innovation grant recipients, representing organizations from around the world working on issues ranging from poverty to human trafficking to helping at risk children.
• #SAP NetWeaver #BPM a good choice for SAP shops, but has weaknesses
  “It’s a good story, even outside SAP,” he said. “I think it’s a good product. It’s more technically oriented, and that’s OK.”
• How to Save U.S. IT Jobs
  Here, 10 outsourcing experts offer their proposals for restoring America's IT labor force.
• Struggling #Salary.com is sold to Pa. firm #Kenexa for $80m
  Salary.com in Needham, an early leader in human resources software that has struggled recently, agreed yesterday to be acquired by Kenexa Corp., a larger firm in Wayne, Pa.
• #Taleo to acquire #Learn.com
  Taleo said the acquisition will extend its Talent Management suite and allow it to become the only public vendor to offer best-in-class solutions across four critical components:
  
  * assessing and acquiring talent
  * performance management to establish goals and create career and succession plans
  * compensation management to establish a pay-for-performance process
  * learning management to support social and formal development
• #Taleo's Planned Acquisition of #Learn.com Is Harbinger of Major Market Shake Up
  Talent software leader Taleo's planned acquisition of Learn.com, a provider of a cloud-based learning management platform, foretells changes ahead for the learning management market, valued at just under $1B this year, and the overall talent management and HR systems market, estimated at $2.5B. Bersin & Associates, a leading research and advisory firm makes this advisory based on ongoing quantitative and qualitative research into the LMS, talent management, and HR systems markets.
• Technology Sector Abuzz with Acquisition Activity
  Dell folds in the battle with HP for 3PAR, Cisco makes a wireless networkingtalent management platform with an acquisition. move, and Taleo bulks up its
• The #EnterpriseIrregulars and #Defrag
  And so, it is with great fanfare that I’m pleased to announce that the Enterprise Irregular’s first ever “content track” will be taking place at this year’s Defrag. Steve Mann (the driving organizer behind this) and I have discussed the broad themes they’ll be addressing, and we’ve narrowed it down to “The Platform Shift” (you know what that’s about), and “The Economics of Modern Software.”
• Is Product Management Needed in a Software Startup?
  It is essential that startups have a strong product management orientationproduct management. Discovering unsolved problems in a target market, building a product this target market is willing to buy and figuring out a business model that helps the company create a sustainable business is not a part-time effort. right from the start. It is not necessary that the person have the official title of a product manager, but it is of utmost importance that someone from the founding team has the primary responsibility of doing
• Canceling #ERP Software Maintenance: When the Corporate Hero Becomes the ERP Fall Guy
  While the idea sounds good on paper, reality is a whole different story.
• U.S. manufacturing grows again in August for 13th straight month
  The institute’s Manufacturing ISM Report on Business showed a PMI reading of 56.3 in August, compared to 55.5 in July. A reading above 50 shows manufacturing is growing. The PMI had its highest reading in April at 60.4, and has averaged 56.6 over the last 12 months.
• Understanding Marin County's $30 million #Deloitte #SAP #ERP #ITfail
  The County needs to ensure that it doesn’t make decisions to improve its position in the Deloitte lawsuit at the expense of its financial interests and ability to effectively provide services to Marin County residents.
• $HP Will Pay $2.4 Billion for $3PAR
  The bidding is hilarious — and I bet shareholders of 3PAR which include venture funds Mayfield and Menlo Ventures are tickled pink over this corporate chest puffing.
• What Is #Microsoft's Next Billion-Dollar Business?
  This active incubation list -- again -- looks different from the previous lists, though there is some overlap. On the active incubation list are: High-performance computing; Microsoft Online Services (particularly the Business Productivity Online Suite); Identity; Desktop virtualization (Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack); Unified Communications: Office Communications Server, Exchange Hosted Services and Live Meeting and Voice; Storage (Data Protection Manager); Mobility; and Bing Maps.
• Cox Communications Deals With Cable Guy Problem Using #SaaS
  Unlike other job-scheduling software, the TOA application, Mitchell says, "learns how long it takes to do a job, validates our assumptions or corrects them. Over time, that will let me be even more likely to be there on time."
• status.NetSuite.com - #NetSuite uptime ( #SaaS )
  # Application Requests 46,030,780,585
  Avg Uptime 99.97%
  
  
  
  System Uptime: Last 7 Days
  
  
  Day Date # Application Requests Avg Uptime
  Tuesday 8/31/2010 158,159,564 98.05%
• U.S. Software Industry is Emerging From the Recession Stronger Than Ever, According to New SIIA/OPEXEngine Study
  "The SIIA report clearly demonstrates that small and midsized software companies have dramatically improved revenue, profitability and productivity since 2008. This is new and convincing evidence that the industry has both weathered the recession and positioned itself for continued growth," said Ken Wasch, president of SIIA. "In addition to being an appraisal of the industry, this report is a valuable resource for helping SIIA members, and the entire software industry, measure their performance and strengthen their operations."
  
  Key findings from the 2010 Software Benchmarking Industry Report include:
  
  1. Operating income averaged 8 percent in 2009 – up from negative 25 percent in 2008.
  2. On average, revenues grew by about 15 percent from 2008 to 2009.
  3. SaaS firms less than $25M improved revenues by an average of 21 percent from 2008 to 2009.
  4. Almost 75 percent of software companies expect even stronger revenues in 2010.
• How a Global IT Revamp Is Fueling #Ford’s Turnaround
  IT is at the heart of the corporate U-turn. Nick Smither, who became Ford’s CIO five months before Mulally arrived, has mirrored the CEO’s strategy with a plan for “One IT.” To cut operational costs by more than 30 percent, IT eradicated duplicate applications, eliminated excess infrastructure capacity, united autonomous IT shops and trimmed its staff. The slimmed-down team of 3,400 is reinvesting that savings, plus more, in new technology—such as collaboration tools for designing and building its revamped fleet, and in-vehicle IT that attracts buyers and generates revenue.
  
  The importance of technology to Ford’s 180 is reflected in IT’s elevated profile. Smither reports to the CEO and is part of the executive team that meets weekly to lead the transformation. And senior IT leaders are integrated into every new global function at the company.
• #Oracle offers student coders #free access to #JavaOne ( #Java )
  To qualify for a Discover Pass to the conferences, qualifying students must be 18 years old, enrolled in a nonprofit, accredited institution, and taking at least six course units, according to an official blog post Wednesday.
  
  The passes provide access to keynote speeches and a number of exhibition halls, as well as a special Java Frontier sessions track aimed at students. They can also enjoy technical sessions, hands-on lab events and "Birds-of-a-Feather" networking sessions -- space permitting.
• Is Charles Phillips Leaving #Oracle?
  Oracle recently replaced Phillips as head of its global business units with Bob Weiler, the former CEO of life sciences software vendor Phase Forward, which Oracle acquired earlier this year, according to a research note from Wedge Partners.
  
  The business units cover industry verticals such as utilities, banking and retail, and are often formed after Oracle makes an acquisition to help it tackle a particular market. The management change would leave Phillips responsible only for Oracle's sales and marketing and is a sign that he "may be moving on," said Wedge Partners analyst Ryan Hunter.
  
  Oracle confirmed the management change but said there was no truth to the "speculation" that Phillips is leaving. The global business units do product engineering work and the changes were made to bring that work under the purview of Chairman and CEO Larry Ellison, to whom Weiler now reports, an Oracle spokeswoman said.
  
  Phillips still has significant responsibilities at the company, she said.
• The valley's mess: why codes of conduct don't work
  Why pretend as if top executives like Mark Hurd of #HP or Larry Ellison of #Oracle are held to these standards, when recent events have shown us quite clearly top executives are ex officio not? Why have a code at all?
• Why the #Java Frenzy Shouldn't Worry Anyone ( #Google #Android )
  An essential selling point of Java has been its write-once, run-anywhere capability for certified Java software. It all should run on a Java virtual machine on any platform. But Android attempts an end run around the Java certification process while still being Java-like.
  
  It appears that Oracle is looking to make more money off of Java than Sun ever did. Sun's prowess (more accurately, its lack thereof) at monetizing Java had been a question mark for years. Oracle, however, does not seem to have had any problems making money. That's given Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, for his part, the wherewithal to become widely known for the pricey sport of yacht racing and for being narrowly thwarted recently in his attempt to buy the Golden State Warriors NBA basketball team.
  
  Java license fees have been estimated at about $200 million annually. There could be a risk that Oracle might try to jack up this figure substantially, making Java too pricey. But Oracle has long been an advocate of Java, and p
• #Oracle #Google lawsuit unlikely to prompt #Java forking
  "I'm not convinced it's going to lead to any fragmentation," Johnson said. A fragmenting or forking of Java could cost Java its prized compatibility pledge, in which Java-certified software will run on any platform compatible with the JVM. Android features Java-like technology called Dalvik.
  
  However, Johnson acknowledged Oracle's behavior leaves open the possibility that some might feel alienated enough to attempt a forking of Java.
• My Top 10 Assertions About #DataWarehouses ( #BI )
  Here is my spin on the situation, organized as my top 10 assertions about this topic.
• Alabama county mulling whether to keep, jettison #SAP ( #ITfail )
  Trouble with an SAP implementation in Jefferson County, Alabama, has county officials there pondering whether to fix the system or move on to an alternative.
• Complex #SAP project expected to succeed ( #ITsuccess )
  Its SAP implementation, which began in 2008, is expected to generate between US$75 million and $125 million in additional operating income each year, thanks to improved sales, better price management and leaner operating costs, according to a statement.
• #Airgas Provides Update on Value of Highly-Customized #SAP Implementation ( #ITsuccess )
  Summary of SAP Implementation Benefits
  
  Incremental Annualized Operating Income Upon Full Implementation
  
  
  Accelerated Sales Growth:
  
  
  $25 to $50 Million
  
  
  Price Management:
  
  
  $40 to $60 Million
  
  
  Administrative and Operating Efficiencies:
  
  
  $10 to $15 Million
  
  
  Total:
  
  
  $75 to $125 Million