News and Analysis to 10th July 2003
News in summary
Hardware
q
Intel extends influence in Wi-Fi market
q
Dell details PDA ambitions
Software
q
Microsoft contemplates cash
q
Siebel disappoints
Security
q
Web services take a step closer to reality
Telecoms
q
MCI fraud settlement accepted
The Market
q
Technology stocks rally in line with Wall St. optimism
General
q
Microsoft turns its cross-wires on spam
q
Data mining on the ascendancy
News in Detail
Intel stoking Wi-Fi market
Intel, keen to grow the wireless market and thereby sell
more ‘Centrino’ chips has bought stakes in two Asian technology companies,
namely IPone (South Korea) and Ocamar Technologies (China). This adds to recent
investments in Broadreach Networks, Pronto Networks, Vivato and rovingIP. The
Centrino chip was designed to give laptops longer battery life and wireless
(Wi-Fi) connectivity. These network solution providers will no doubt find it
much easier now to decide which processor they should use as the basis for
their network solutions.
Dell plans androgynous PDA
PC maker and embryonic IBM aspirant Dell has just announced
that its PDA will support all popular wireless technologies. These include
Wi-Fi, GSM, GPRS, CDMA and Bluetooth. This could be a real crowd pleaser, as
impatient early-adopters will no longer have to worry as to whether they have
‘backed the wrong horse’.
Time to milk the cash cow
Like many companies Microsoft has a cash flow problem.
Unlike many companies the problem stems from having too much cash. The
challenge is how to reduce the cash pile. Buying a country is out. Buying its
competitors would also attract government attention. Thus Microsoft may simply
have to give it away. The figure allegedly being discussed is $10bn, drip-fed
to shareholders over a number of quarters. Bill Gates would cop at least $1bn
of this as a major shareholder. Unlike his colleague Steve Ballmer, he wouldn’t
have to surrender any ownership, thus risking accusations of a loss of
confidence in the company. Guess who’s got the best accountant?
Siebel – Problems with CRM?
Siebel, the company that turned Customer Relationship
Management from a Harvard Business School academic treatise into a technology
sector ‘killer app’ is having problems with its own customers. They may have a
‘pink and fluffy’ view of Siebel but they are not spending. Consequently Siebel
missed its second quarter forecast (not recommended). Licence revenue is down
over 60% when compared to the same quarter in 2001. One would expect it to be
the other way around; in a bad market you need to get close to your customer.
This might suggest that CRM was purchased in 2001 because everyone else had one
and now, when every penny counts, it is not perceived as a good investment.
Web services – A question of trust
The idea of businesses collaborating electronically was a
dotcom dream, even though many IT sales people would suggest it is a reality.
However it has taken a small step forward with Microsoft and IBM agreeing on a
specification for authenticating the parties involved in e-business, now known
as Identity Management. The specification has received a lukewarm response from
rival camp Liberty, lead by Sun Microsystems. NB. Any Sun response to a
Microsoft initiative above hostile should be regarded as very positive. If this
is accepted by the relevant standard bodies then terms such as dotnet, B2B,
public exchanges, web services and a whole host of other ‘e-visions’ will take
a step closer to reality.
MCI – A small price to pay
Chapter 11 telco MCI, formally WorldCom, formerly MCI
WorldCom, formerly MCI and WorldCom, has had its $2.25bn settlement approved in
respect of fraud charges brought against it. The settlement will comprise cash
and stock. Creditors will not be too happy with this outcome given that they
believe they have lost a total of $200bn. Part ownership of the perpetrator
will do nothing to appease ‘burnt creditors’.
Nasdaq’s on high
According to Goldman Sachs, capital spending on IT could
pick up in the latter part of the year. Coincidently Nasdaq hit a 15-month
high, up 28% on the start of the year. This optimism might be triggered by
Microsoft’s possible cash handout to shareholders. No doubt the brokers are
advising gullible clients to get back into tech stocks, as the technology
industry has matured, with a greater sense of money management. Rather than
blow it on parties and PR, they will try to keep ‘cash lean’ this time around
by giving it to shareholders at every opportunity.
Microsoft to slice spam
If you are a spammer, Microsoft is on your case. Their
global trawl of 34 countries has led them back to the world’s worst abusers, 13
of which are based in the US and 2 in the UK. If Microsoft treats these alleged
culprits with the same robustness as it treats its competition, then they can
already be considered ‘deep fried’.
Intelligent businesses dig deeper
Data mining appears to be the fastest growing segment of the
business intelligence marketplace, according to IDC. Number one player SAS
claims that businesses are using data mining to predict demand and reduce churn
and fraud. Maybe this is where the real action is in the CRM space?
