News and Analysis to 8th April 2005
HP Cash Registers
HP has a new CEO, Mark Hurd former head of NCR (National
Cash Registers), a founder member of the IT industry. As well as cash
registers, NCR specialises in point of sale devices, data warehousing and ATMs.
Who knows, HP might leverage its newfound expertise to sell servers that have
inbuilt cash point machines for the convenience of IT staff?
We love you Michael
We are not talking Michael Jackson fans waving placards
outside the courthouse in Santa Barbara. No, we are referring to Michael Dell,
CEO and founder of Dell. A survey conducted by Inc Magazine showed that Mr Dell
was the most admired man when they surveyed 100 entrepreneurs. It just goes to
show that even (relatively) poor people can be admired. Mr Dell was ranked a
lowly 18th in the Forbes rich list, with Bill Gates taking the
number one slot.
Share and share alike
The ten largest IT services companies accounted for a
combined 28.1% of the global market in 2004, according to Computerwire. This is
a marginal increase from 2003 (27.9%) and indicates that market consolidation
is still some way off. IBM led the way with a 7.5% share. Along with HP,
Accenture and Capgemini, all top 10 players, IBM increased its market share.
Further down the field Atos Origin, ACS and Getronics also grabbed market in
2004.
2Com?
‘Once were Ethernet adapter warriors’ 3Com have announced
another staff cull (220) across the US, UK and Ireland. This means that over a
third of the staff have left in the last year. Let’s hope that their
acquisition of intrusion prevention player TippingPoint Technologies can
reverse the fortunes of the beleaguered former networking star.
Great Britain – Zombie Central
Broadband Britain is booming thanks to the rapid growth in
subscribers. However broadband users have yet to realise that an unprotected
always connected link to the Internet is not dissimilar to having an open door
policy in respect of one’s home. Consequently Britain’s PCs are being remotely
commandeered for use in launching denial of service attacks against targeted
websites. The victims cannot trace the source of the attack because all roads
lead back to the zombies, a term used to describe PCs that mindlessly spew out
emails. According to Symantec, the UK leads the way in terms of volume of
compromised computers with the US close behind. China, Canada and Spain make up
the following pack.
More CIOs defy CFO
According to Forrester Research, nearly 45% of North
American CIOs expect their spending to exceed this year’s planned budget
(compared to 25% quarter on quarter). Perhaps in this post ‘cut backs’ climate
businesses are starting to recognise that IT has a function beyond simply cost
containment.
Eye see
US scientists have created technology that will let many
blind people see. The solution comprises a chip that interfaces to the optic
nerve, which converts video transmitted from a micro camera in the user’s
glasses to a form understandable to the brain. This could add a new meaning to
the phrase ‘double take’, given the likelihood of a rewind facility in the
camera. Employers burdened by regulatory compliance may see this technology
useful from an auditing perspective. Though getting staff to have the operation
might be a challenge.
Microsoft doesn’t appeal to IBM
The Microsoft versus European Union antitrust court case is
in the appeal stage. The admonished software giant surely must have thought
that it had the situation under control, having found reasons to give the star
witnesses large sums of money. However five companies have entered the fray as
a group to intervene against Microsoft’s appeal. They comprise IBM, Nokia,
Oracle, Red Hat and RealNetworks. A common theme is open source, something that
has no appeal whatsoever to Microsoft.
