News and Analysis to 13^th January 2005

IT spend to drop in Europe

Merrill Lynch’s December survey of 100 CIOs painted a gloomy picture, with IT budgets expected to be reduced by 1.4% in 2005. Security, application integration and business intelligence appear to be the only growth areas. Software development is expected to suffer and service providers will be expected to deliver more for less. Having said that IT salary spend looks set to increase.

Oracle gets to work

After its acquisition success, Oracle is now focused on integrating PeopleSoft and consequently JD Edwards into the business. It doesn’t look good for JDE users, as Oracle has stalled plans to update the associated product. The word on the street is that the merger is likely to see the liberation of circa 6,000 staff.  From an offerings perspective, the plan is to merge the PeopleSoft product into the Oracle suite within 36 months.

Reselleration

Interesting dynamics in the world of hardware: networking specialist Cisco is to sell EMC disk. Disk maker Storagetek is to sell Cisco kit. It must surely be a matter of time before EMC is selling Storagetek disk?

Robosapien – Next generation

One of the top selling toys at Christmas was Robosapien, a robot branded by creators WowWee as a fusion of technology and personality. However the next version will be taller, smarter and expert in Kung Fu. It will also have a robotic dinosaur companion. With inbuilt laser guidance technology it looks set to move out of the playroom and into the battlefield. An intermediate use might be the no-nonsense robo-nanny.

Microsoft – e-ntertainment

Microsoft has its eye on digital entertainment. At the recent CES event in Las Vegas it announced deals with TiVo and MTV. In response to Apple’s proprietary dominance it has launched PlaysForSure, which will enable partners to stamp their products as being compatible with Microsoft’s digital rights management technology. Apple, who recently reported a quadrupling of yearly earnings, has just launched the $499 Mac mini (keyboard and monitor extra). Both the Xbox and the iPod are both doing well. So the lines are being drawn for the battle for digital dominance in the consumer market.

Coming soon – Verimantec?

The CEOs of anti virus player Symantec and storage vendor Veritas are currently trying to sell the benefits of merging to become a leader in infrastructure management. Although the combined offerings of these two market leaders do not appear to constitute a complete infrastructure management suite. Symantec is perhaps under pressure, given Microsoft’s arrival in the anti-virus market. Veritas looks a good play given the data storage requirements associated with regulatory compliance, a theme on the boardroom agendas of all substantial companies.

Intel – Positive market indicator

Despite a 2% drop in profit, chip maker Intel reported record quarterly and annual sales, in stark contrast to profit warnings from rivals AMD’s and STM Micro. Despite the mixed messages there is a feeling that the chip market is bottoming out and that there will be on the upturn in 2005, which should have a positive knock on effect throughout the IT industry. However the beneficiaries may be those that focus on the consumer rather than the business arenas.