Rod Trent at myITforum.com : Industry News

Steve Jobs steps down at Apple

rodtrent — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 00:19:33 GMT

The news is everywhere. I thought these past couple weeks were strange enough with the HP Touchpad blowout sale, HP getting out of the hardware business, earthquakes in the US, and Google buying Motorola. But, the news just keeps on rolling.

Steve Jobs has stepped down as CEO at Apple, ending a 14 year reign of the company he founded in his garage. No matter what you might think of Apple and Steve Jobs, he led his company through tough times and recently (for a brief moment) had Apple positioned as the top company in the US over even Exxon. At the helm, Jobs totally revamped Apple into a consumer powerhouse, even after having to be bailed out by Microsoft, of all companies, in 1997. People tend to forget that, or some are just too young to remember.

Steve Jobs steps down at Apple

Geek by definition: Consumerization

rodtrent — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 20:05:22 GMT

Definition: Consumerization, and specifically, the Consumerization of IT, is where consumer products or technologies are brought into the corporate environment with the intent for business use. The term was coined (or envisioned) in 2001 by Douglas Neal and John Taylor of CSC’s Leading Edge Forum, but the effects are just now being realized.

More:

Geek by definition: Consumerization

VMware gets Go-ing with Shavlik buy • The Register

rodtrent — Mon, 16 May 2011 20:36:44 GMT

Server virtualization juggernaut VMware has bought Shavlik Technologies, one of its partners in virtual machine management and a provider of patch management and network security tools.

VMware gets Go-ing with Shavlik buy • The Register

Jeremy Jaech Leaves CEO Post at Seattle’s Verdiem

rodtrent — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 11:46:27 GMT

Longtime Northwest tech entrepreneur Jeremy Jaech has left the chief executive post at Seattle-based Verdiem, Xconomy has learned. Experienced tech entrepreneur and executive John Scumniotales, now heading the company as president and CEO, says the change was amicable and will allow Verdiem to move more aggressively as it seeks to broaden its footprint in the IT energy management market.

Jeremy Jaech Leaves CEO Post at Seattle’s Verdiem | Xconomy

Microsoft Acquires AVIcode

rodtrent — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 15:20:28 GMT

I am excited to announce that Microsoft has acquired AVIcode, Inc, a Baltimore-based private company recognized as a leader in .NET application performance monitoring. AVIcode will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Microsoft, with the software being delivered through the System Center product family.

Microsoft Acquires AVIcode - Nexus SC: The System Center Team Blog - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

IBM to Acquire BigFix to Advance Smarter Data Centers

rodtrent — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 13:45:16 GMT

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire BigFix, Inc., a privately-held company based in Emeryville, Calif. The move aims to accelerate IBM's efforts to help organizations more intelligently secure the enterprise by managing and automating security and compliance updates on thousands of computers globally. Financial details were not disclosed.

IBM to Acquire BigFix to Advance Smarter Data Centers

iPad – iFail?

rodtrent — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 18:04:44 GMT

Understanding Today’s News from Microsoft and HP

rodtrent — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 21:28:09 GMT

By now, you have likely seen the news that Microsoft and HP are expanding their 25 year partnership. Over the next three years, the companies will invest $250 million to help customers and partners substantially improve the customer experience for developing, deploying and managing today’s IT environments, and building next generation cloud applications.

Customers will see this investment spent in three key efforts:

· Joint engineering roadmap and set of technology offerings.

· Joint sales and marketing to help educate customers and arm the channel.

· Joint professional services to aid customers in getting the most out of their investments.

As part of its joint engineering roadmap and joint offerings, Microsoft and HP will collaborate on:

1. Virtualization:

· Microsoft is now a preferred provider of virtualization solutions for HP, which will make it easier for a broader set of customers to deploy virtualization solutions that can improve server utilization by as much as 10x and reduce provisioning ties from months to minutes.

· Microsoft and HP will deliver ‘Smart Bundles’ for small and medium businesses. These are a combination of hardware and software, including HP server, storage and networking solutions, coupled with Windows Server Hyper-V and HP Insight software, delivered in a single, cost-effective package.

2. Management:

· HP now has the rights to resell and ship System Center as part of HP’s solutions. This solution will be tuned, integrated and ready for customers.

· And coming soon, HP’s Insight Software and Business Technology Optimization solutions will begin to integrate and interoperate with Microsoft’s System Center suite of products. This means that customers with heterogeneous computing environments will be able to more easily and more cost-effectively manage hardware and software from Microsoft and non-Microsoft operating systems and applications.

3. Business Applications :

· The companies will deliver a set of pre-packaged and pre-configured data management and email solutions (‘machines’) that will deliver data warehousing, business intelligence, online transaction processing (OLTP) and messaging solutions.

4. The Cloud:

· HP and Microsoft will collaborate on the Windows Azure platform, with HP offering services, and Microsoft continuing to include HP hardware for Windows Azure infrastructure.

Microsoft and HP detailed plans to increase opportunities for its 32,000 HP and Microsoft Frontline channel partners through extensive joint sales and marketing programs.

These plans include a 10x increase of investment by both companies to help partners modernize their customers’ environments through a combination of software and hardware packages and services. Just a few of the benefits partners will receive include:

· Simplified sales cycles resulting from Smart Bundles and all-inclusive packages will increase time-to-revenue and create add-on application and service sales opportunities.

· Flexible financing options through HP Financial Services, will enable resellers to make technology solutions more accessible and easy to acquire.

· Support from dedicated field resources will help with pre-sales initiatives and partner training.

· Jointly funded worldwide marketing campaigns, lead generation programs and sales tools, available at www.hpmspartners.com.

Finally, Microsoft and HP detailed plans to provide an integrated portfolio of joint professional services. Through more than 11,000 Microsoft-certified HP professionals worldwide, HP Services organizations, in partnership with Microsoft Services, will support the integrated hardware and software solutions from simple implementations to the most critical enterprise infrastructure. Just some of the service offerings include:

· Strategy workshops, ROI and business value services.

· Architecture, design, pilot, global implementation, support for server virtualization and management solutions, client virtualization, data management, and cloud computing.

· Per-seat fixed price Microsoft Exchange Server upgrade/migration services.

· Assistance for customers who seek to run their technology on-premises, outsourced or via the cloud.

To sum it up, this agreement represents the industry’s most comprehensive end-to-end integrated technology stack across hardware and software -- from infrastructure to application. Through this long term partnership, Microsoft and HP are helping customers reduce costs and get the most of their investments today, as they prepare for a future of business computing in the cloud.

Server and Tools Business News Bytes blog : Understanding Today’s News from Microsoft and HP

The Executive Guide to Service Management in an Uncertain Economy | Realtime Nexus

rodtrent — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:02:05 GMT

In an uncertain economy, IT departments can count on two very certain demands: increase productivity and cut costs. When it comes to service management, CFOs, CIOs, and IT managers face the difficult challenge of developing a strategy that is tightly aligned with business goals yet still delivers its services in the most cost-efficient manner possible. In The Executive Guide to Service Management in an Uncertain Economy, author Jeffery Hicks delivers an approach to service management that will show you how to meet the many business requirements of the IT department, such as reduced staff and lower budgets, all while still meeting the IT demands from customers, partners, and compliance organizations. You will learn how to develop an efficient service management strategy focused on effective asset management, data center automation, and management consolidation. You will also receive an action plan for each focus area, providing a checklist of must-do's to execute on your service management strategy.

The Executive Guide to Service Management in an Uncertain Economy | Realtime Nexus

What's Microsoft's next billion-dollar business? (Hint: it's not search) | All about Microsoft | ZDNet.com

rodtrent — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 02:09:32 GMT

At Microsoft’s Financial Analyst Meeting (FAM) last week, company officials shared a few tidbits about one of those businesses: Microsoft System Center. System Center encompasses a variety of system-management tools that Microsoft sells to IT professionals who want to manage their Windows — and Linux/Unix — clients, servers, hypervisors and more.

CEO Steve Ballmer told Wall Street analysts that System Center already has passed the billion-dollar mark. It’s growing at a rate of 30 percent year-over-year, according to Microsoft officials.

What's Microsoft's next billion-dollar business? (Hint: it's not search) | All about Microsoft | ZDNet.com

Obama Staff Arrives to White House Stuck in Dark Ages of Technology - washingtonpost.com

rodtrent — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 18:45:11 GMT

"It is kind of like going from an Xbox to an Atari," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said of his new digs.

Obama Staff Arrives to White House Stuck in Dark Ages of Technology - washingtonpost.com

Intel Reports Huge Drop In Fourth-quarter Profit, Sales - FOXBusiness.com

rodtrent — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 22:05:59 GMT

Intel Reports Huge Drop In Fourth-quarter Profit, Sales - FOXBusiness.com

The truth of the rumored Microsoft layoff should soon be revealed | NetworkWorld.com Community

rodtrent — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 20:43:12 GMT

Will Microsoft nix thousands of jobs in January or won't it? If it does, will this be called a layoff, or will it be named some sort of euphemism? The Wall Street Journal has set the rumor mill wildly spinning again today with yet more reports that a large-scale job reduction will soon materialize. Most expect that this will occur next week to appease increasingly frustrated investors around the time that Microsoft reports its next quarterly results to analysts, scheduled for January 22. Wall Street is currently expecting Microsoft to report revenue growth of around 5%, according to the WSJ.

Rumors of possible layoffs at Microsoft have been circulating for weeks, with the oft cited number of 15,000 as the speculative target. One analyst actually went so far as to recommend that Microsoft take the plunge and ditch 10% of its workforce, which would be about 9,000 jobs. But others -- including some inside Microsoft -- note that Microsoft doesn't have to institute a large-scale layoff in order to trim its workforce. It can, for instance, shed contract workers and use attrition -- leaving vacant jobs unfilled.

According to a story from Computerworld, Microsoft already uses "rolling layoffs." The story quotes Rob Helm, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft as saying,

"'The company always has a rolling layoff and that may accelerate.' Microsoft tends to regularly reorganize its operational divisions and working teams, Helm continued, with the idea that the lowest-rated workers in the company's review system are then shoved out the door. 'When the company reorganizes, some people don't have chairs when the music stops,' said Helm. 'We may see some more of that activity.'"

According to a story in Network World, the process of the non-layoff workforce reduction has already begun.

The truth of the rumored Microsoft layoff should soon be revealed | NetworkWorld.com Community

Acresso Software Finalizes Intraware Acquisition

rodtrent — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 22:15:28 GMT

http://www.myitforum.com/absolutenm/templates/IndustryNews.aspx?articleid=6085&zoneid=71

Argent: Here’s a unique way to start a marketing newsletter – by slamming your competitors (HP, BMC, and Microsoft)…

rodtrent — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 21:01:24 GMT

What if myITforum.com started doing this? How many community web sites would be up in arms?

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