News and Analysis to 20th April 2006
Virus fuelled computers
Some clever boffins at MIT have been tinkering with nature.
They have engineered (biological) viruses to build miniature long life
batteries, which one day will find their way into mobile electronic devices.
The heady mix of nano-technology and gene manipulation should be a cause for
concern. Can we look forward to a future whereby symptoms of the common cold
move from the build up of catarrh to a thin lining of cobalt oxide in the
mucous membranes? A give away sign of a cold will no longer be sneezing, but
the accumulation of paper clips and other metallic objects drawn to one’s
electrically polarised nose.
Oracle open to Linux acquisition
Tech Sector shopaholic Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle,
seems to be looking for his next fix. This in itself is not unusual, but the
fact that he is taking Oracle ‘beyond the brochure’ by considering the purchase
of an operating system vendor is cause for reflection. Oracle actually already
has a majority stake in a little operation called Miracle Linux. However the
database vendor may seek revenge on Linux distributor (distro – in Silicon
Valley parlance) Red Hat for winning their battle to acquire open source
middleware vendor JBoss. By launching a hostile bid for Red Hat, Oracle would
fill the missing pieces needed for the software giant to offer a complete
software solution. This will put rivals such as Sap and Microsoft on the back
foot. A natural extension of this strategy would be to add hardware to the portfolio.
So Sun (for servers) and Dell (for PCs) might consider beefing up their
defences.
Taxing times at Symantec
Security software vendor Symantec has been informed by the
US tax collection agency that it owes circa $1bn in back taxes. Apparently the bulk
of this tax surprise relates to the recently acquired Veritas Software, which
must have forgotten to mention it.
Indian outperformers
Indian outsourcers Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys
both reported strong fourth-quarter results. The former’s revenues were up 44%
quarter on quarter, the latter’s up 30%. Both are bullish about the future with
each company intending to increase their workforce by 50% this year. That’s
circa 55,000 new jobs. IT recruiters take note.
Battle of the chip shops
The world’s number one and two chipmakers, Intel and AMD,
remain at each other’s throats. Intel appears to be ‘on the ropes’ as it looks
set to report its worst quarter in years (Just in – Intel profits drop 38%),
whereas AMD’s revenues have grown 70% in the first quarter. So AMD is nibbling
away at Intel’s market share. Its strategy seems to be two pronged. Firstly it
is focusing on technical superiority and secondly it is looking to prove that
Intel has adopted anti-competitive practices to stunt AMD’s growth. Most
recently Microsoft was subpoenaed to provide documents to support this. Also
the rumour that Dell plans to ship AMD chips still has momentum. So AMD shares
look like a good buy.
Bangalawless
India’s high tech capital city turned into a riot zone recently.
The cause was not political, religious or social injustices. The mayhem during
which up to five people are reported to have died was triggered by the death of
film star Rajkumar. Mourning fans vented their anger at not being able to
attend the funeral. Leading Indian firms including Wipro, iGate and Infosys
were targeted, as were Microsoft, Dell and IBM. The link between the actor’s
death and the tech sector is not obvious. No doubt Bollywood film moguls are
bracing themselves should there be an iconic death in the tech sector. In any
case it will make some organisations think twice before setting up shop in
Bangalore.
Freephone warehouse
Europe’s largest independent mobile handset retailer, The
Carphone Warehouse, has made a seismic entry into the world of broadband
services. It is offering a fixed price package for telephone calls and
broadband access, and has positioned it so that the broadband access appears to
be free. Nonetheless £20.99 ($36.67) per month for unlimited national and
international calls (70 minutes maximum) and up to 8MBps broadband download
looks compelling. This all forms part
of their strategy to move the phone set retailer to being a fully fledged telco
that happens to have a retail arm. Possibly it is time to consider a name
change?
