News and Analysis to 25th February 2005
IBM on attempted murder charge
The pricing and antitrust court case brought by Compuware
against IBM kicked off with the former’s lawyers telling the jury that IBM
stole its trade secrets, and furthermore planned to kill the company. Compuware
is a rival to IBM in the mainframe management market. The relationship between
the two is complex and so the case will take some unravelling.
Sybase on the move
Sybase looks to have found a foothold after losing its grip
in the database market. It has niched itself into the mobile database space.
This is a big comedown for the erstwhile database giant, but it looks like a
strategy that will take Sybase out of the wilderness and maybe even put it back
on the map.
UK IT – poor value
A survey by Accenture in the UK shows that whilst IT and
business managers believe IT has contributed to productivity over the last
three years, it is still under performing. Business-IT alignment was seen as
the most critical issue in maximising IT’s value to the business. We have a
solution, click
here:
xbox – Hot stuff
These days Technicolor 3D animation coupled with razor-sharp
sound are the norm in the computer games arena. Microsoft, with its xbox games
console has stretched the envelope even further. Some xboxes are extending the
sensory experience to smell and touch. This new technology is actually
delivered via a simple power cable, which generates special effects such as an
electric shock or smoke. Oddly Microsoft is being coy about this technology and
has recalled the sensory-heightening cable.
Security alert – Beware of loose nut behind the PC
According to the US Secret Service and Carnegie Mellon
Software Engineering Institute, regular employees conduct the majority of cyber
attacks. The attacks are usually financial, with the losses per company
exceeding $500k in 30% of the cases.
HP source new CEO
‘Ding dong the witch is dead’ was the unkind email doing the
rounds in some corners of HP. Nonetheless the departure of ex-CEO Carly Fiorina
has necessitated a search for a successor. This job has fallen to headhunter
Russell Reynolds. The role will require a broad range of technical and
financial qualities including PC integration skills and a strong focus on
profitability.
Microsoft’s Office move
Sage Software has taken umbrage with Microsoft over the
latter’s intentions to bundle a small business accounting programme into the
Office suite. The European Union’s competition regulators, with whom Microsoft
is on first name terms, will very likely review this.
EDS investigated by UK police
Given the financial challenges outsourcer EDS was having, it
was just a matter of time before the police became involved. The UK
Metropolitan Police Service has short listed EDS for its outsourcing contract.
The other suspect is Cap Gemini. Atos Origin and Damovo are already serving
sentences for similar offences in respect of the Met.
Banks to drop passwords
This is not a case of the Financial Services sector becoming
more laissez-faire towards security, but a realisation that password
authentication is not enough. According to Gartner, three-quarters of banks
will use something other than passwords to verify online customers by 2007, in
the face of increased cyber crime. Brace yourself for biometrics. It won’t be
enough to hand over your credit card to a drug-crazed assailant. They’ll need
your eyeball and/or the top of your finger as well.
Internet – Who’s the guvnor?
The United Nations came a step closer to ensuring that the
Internet is properly governed. The UN’s Working Group on Internet Governance,
set up by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, outlined what Internet governance means
in practice. This looks set to descend into a turf war between ICANN, which
manages domain names and IP addresses, and ITU, which represents the world of
Telecoms.
