IDG Knowledge Hub » Tech Business & Marketing News

Google CIO Ben Fried Says Cloud Tipping Point Is At Hand

tcardamone — Thu, 10 May 2012 20:45:41 +0000

Wall Street Journal

The economics of cloud computing are driving down the cost structure of business so far and so fast that it’s scary, Google CIO Ben Fried says. “It deeply disturbed me … in 2006, 2007 consumer companies were forcing efficiencies on a scale never seen before,” Fried said Thursday during remarks at the Bloomberg Link Enterprise Technology Summit in New York. At the time, Fried was working in the technology group at investment bank Morgan Stanley, where he was a managing director of application infrastructure, in charge of software development, electronic commerce and knowledge worker productivity. In 2008, he left the bank and headed to Google, which was at the heart of the disruption that was emanating from the consumer market and beginning to spread through the business world.

Workers, accustomed to using free and simple tools such as Google Apps, Skype, Flickr and iTunes for their personal affairs, now wanted to use those cloud-based software tools at work. And CIOs and other technology executives were beginning to let them, and to experiment themselves with those services.

IDG World Tech Update- Week of 5/7/12

tcardamone — Thu, 10 May 2012 13:57:07 +0000

IDG News Service

This week’s World Tech Update is at the Computer Human Interaction conference in Austin Texas. Nick Barber gets a glimpse of the future– ZeroTouch moves towards commercialization, Illumishare lets users share physical desktops, DualView lets laptops display two images simultaneously, Microsoft Research projects Humantenna and Soundwave offer gesture sensing alternatives and electric lemonade zaps taste buds.

Technology Industry Seen Growing Fastest in New York

tcardamone — Wed, 09 May 2012 20:24:31 +0000

NY Times

New York City’s budding technology industry is growing rapidly by attracting investors and engineering talent despite spotty access to a reliable broadband network, according to a study released on Wednesday. The study, “New Tech City,” conducted by the Center for an Urban Future, concluded that the technology industry is growing faster in New York City than anywhere else in America and that the city now trails only Silicon Valley as a hub for the development of new technology companies. The study’s authors, Jonathan Bowles and David Giles, identified 486 technology companies that had been founded in the city since 2007 and determined that the financial crisis and the recession that followed did not slow the industry’s growth.

Gartner Says The Personal Cloud Is Poised To Eclipse The PC As The Hub Of Consumers’ Digital Lives By 2014

tcardamone — Tue, 08 May 2012 20:16:39 +0000

Gartner Press Release

Key Issues Facing Cloud Computing To Be Examined At Gartners Infrastructure, Operations and Data Centre Summit, May 14-15, in Mumbai - The personal cloud is poised to eclipse the PC as the hub of consumers’ digital lives by 2014 as rapid growth in the use of apps and services introduces a new paradigm for how people store, synchronize, share and stream content, according to Gartner, Inc.

“The personal cloud isn’t a single offering, but a reflection of consumers’ expectation that their content will flow seamlessly as the result of a combination of services that overlap the consumer, business and government domains. It encompasses content storage, synchronization, sharing and streaming, as well as context-based access,” said MichaelGartenberg, research director at Gartner.

IDC Releases First Worldwide Big Data Technology and Services Market Forecast, Shows Big Data as the Next Essential Capability and a Foundation for the Intelligent Economy

tcardamone — Mon, 07 May 2012 19:22:10 +0000

IDC Press Release

FRAMINGHAM, Mass – International Data Corporation (IDC) today released a worldwide Big Data technology and services forecast showing the market is expected to grow from $3.2 billion in 2010 to $16.9 billion in 2015. This represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 40% or about 7 times that of the overall information and communications technology (ICT) market.

For the full release click here

Microsoft Opens R&D Lab In NYC

tcardamone — Thu, 03 May 2012 18:34:45 +0000

MediaPost

Sucking the life out of Yahoo, Microsoft has hired away 15 of its researchers to open an R&D lab in New York City. Along with Duncan Watts, the well-known social network researcher, “That includes algorithmic economist David Pennock – who will oversee day-to-day lab operations — and machine-learning expert John Langford,” AllThingsD reports. That Yahoo’s leading minds are exiting isn’t a surprise considering the company’s flagging fortunes. Just last month, Yahoo laid off about 2,000 employees across the board, including its research staff, CNet recalls.

Reality Check: Four trends that will drive the always on, always connected world

tcardamone — Tue, 01 May 2012 20:08:05 +0000

RCR Wireless

For the past few years, at my direction, Accenture has studied usage of technology by consumers to identify major trends that might assist our corporate clients. Our most recent survey of 19 different technologies across users in 10 countries revealed four major trends that we believe will be crucial over the next several years. They are:

–Consumers are reaching a state of “hypermobility,” rapidly adopting mobile technologies and downloading applications that keep them connected anywhere, anytime.

–Consumers are increasingly reaching into the network and modifying their behaviors as they rely on cloud services.

–Consumers’ use of electronics is increasingly more dependent on the exploding number of applications now within their reach.

–Emerging markets lead in usage and spending growth of many consumer technologies.

Gartner Says Worldwide Application Infrastructure and Middleware Market Revenue Grew 10 Percent in 2011

tcardamone — Tue, 01 May 2012 16:08:41 +0000

Gartner Press Release

EGHAM, UK— The worldwide application infrastructure and middleware (AIM) software revenue market* totaled $19.3 billion in 2011, a 9.9 percent increase from 2010, according to Gartner, Inc. In 2010, worldwide AIM revenue grew 7.3 percent and reached $17.6 billion. ”Application infrastructure and middleware projects increasingly span on-premises, cloud and external business partners,” said Fabrizio Biscotti, research director at Gartner. ”The impacts of using multiple delivery models, increased reliance on governance technologies, and convergence of application and data integration requirements are driving organizations to sustain significant investment in AIM technologies and skills.”For the full press release click here

Worldwide Semiconductor Market Grew 3.7% in 2011 to $301Billion – IDC Expects 6-7% Revenue Growth in 2012

tcardamone — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:54:17 +0000

IDC Press Release

SAN MATEO, Calif.– Worldwide semiconductor revenues increased more than 3.7% year over year to $301 billion in 2011, according to the latest version of the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Semiconductor Applications Forecaster (SAF). The industry weathered the macroeconomic uncertainties in the U.S and Europe, the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, China’s slow down in the second half of the year, and floods in Thailand. Meanwhile, device applications, such as smartphones, media tablets and e-readers, automotive infotainment, notebook PCs, datacenter servers, and wireless and wired communication infrastructure drove robust consumption of semiconductors.

IDC’s SAF tracks more than 100 semiconductor companies. Over 40 of these companies experienced year-over-year revenue growth greater than 5%, while about the same number of companies saw their revenue decline by more than 5%.

Big Data’s Big Problem: Little Talent

tcardamone — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 17:14:22 +0000

Wall Street Journal

It seems that the markets are as much in love with “Big Data”—the ability to acquire, process and sort vast quantities of data in real time—as the technology industry. The first Big Data initial public offering hit the market last week to roaring approval.Splunk Inc., SPLK -1.23% which helps businesses organize and make sense of all the information they gather, soared 109% on its first day of trading. Big Data, big price.

And this week, in cities in the U.S. and the U.K., Big Data Week events are being held to proselytize the unbelievers. Big Data refers to the idea that an enterprise can mine all the data it collects right across its operations to unlock golden nuggets of business intelligence. And whereas companies in the past have had to rely on sampling, Big Data, or so the promise goes, means you can use your entire corpus of digitized corporate knowledge. It is, by all accounts, the next big thing.