Bracing for the Oracle ‘we get the cloud’ onslaught

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has made much hay proclaiming that the term “cloud computing” is over-used, mis-used and misconstrued. He has a point. Kind of.

So get ready for Oracle to go on the cloud offensive in coming weeks, with a series of “road shows” or cloud computing forums (fora?) kicking off this month.  Watch for Oracle to tout its tight relationships with Amazon and Google and other cloud pioneers. Continued »

Microsoft and (lack of) innovation: Big angst in Redmond

While it may not be facing a Toyota-like crisis of confidence, Microsoft’s got big problems.

Today, Dick Brass, a former exec who headed up Microsoft’s ill-fated tablet PC efforts, turned a spotlight on the company’s “Issues”, in a brutal New York Times Op Ed piece, decrying the silo’d thinking and fiefdoms that have prevented Microsoft from coming out with great (as in not derivative) products.  You know, products people actually want to buy, as opposed to the “we have to upgrade to stay legal” kind of products it rolls out. (To all those who would now start screaming that most of Microsoft’s innovation borrowed heavily on advances by Apple, Netscape, and Novell,  I have to quote the great  Waltmosspuppet and say: “Shut up.” )  Continued »

NetApp’s Parrish to partners: Ignore cloud computing at your peril

I had the privilege of catching up with Julie Parrish, the vice president for worldwide channel sales at storage vendor Network Appliance, a couple of weeks ago between one of her frequent trips abroad. My main agenda was simple: to identify her most important priority for 2010. It should not shock you to hear that her most top-of-mind concern can be summed up in this phrase: the transition to cloud computing. Continued »

For IT deals, cheap credit ain’t cheap enough

For VARs in this seemingly endless recession, you’d think easy, low-interest credit would be a big deal. But what counts now is free.   Continued »

Oracle will host JavaOne, but where?

That Oracle will continue to host JavaOne, the huge conference built around that popular language, came as a relief to thousands of Java proponents.

Oracle execs said JavaOne will be “co-located” with the huge Oracle OpenWorld show in San Francisco next September.

The next question is: How and where? Continued »

Oracle-Sun pushes for vertical integration

Today is an interesting day in tech. Oracle and Apple CEOs will each be doing their best to tout the virtues of integrated hardware and software. Continued »

Yes, more evidence that things are looking brighter

You’ve probably seen some of the reports from the big market research companies calling for some reversal of the IT spending slump in the months to come. There are also two other reports out that are a bit closer to home: the CompTIA IT Industry Business Confidence Index and the CDW IT Monitor (which I’ve actually been holding onto for a few weeks now). Continued »

Fujitsu’s top channel exec sounds solutions theme

When I last chatted with Fujitu’s chief channel executive, aka Matt McManus, vice president of sales and marketing, he was in the process of amping up his team’s channel commitment and helping his newly minted partners develop leads with the most chance of closing. Continued »

EC to Oracle-Sun deal: It’s a go (finally)

The European Commission finally gave the Oracle buyout of Sun Microsystems a thumb’s up.

Regulators had held up the purchase over worries that Oracle ownership of the popular (Sun-owned)  MySQL database would hurt competition. But, after investigating, the commission found “that although MySQL and Oracle compete in certain parts of the database market, they are not close competitors in others, such as the high-end segment.”

And, it found that PostgreSQL–another open-source database–is a credible alternative to MySQL.

Oracle got a jump on the news Wednesday night, blasting out an invitation to a Jan. 27 event at which Oracle CEO Larry Ellison will outline hardware and software futures.

According to the invitation:

 Only Oracle + Sun will be able to:

 

• Offer a broad range of products, including servers, storage, networking, and software
• Integrate all customer components—servers, operating system, storage, database, middleware, and applications—for unmatched performance, reliability, and security
• Simplify IT management and reduce system deployment and integration costs
• Continue to drive innovation in SPARC, Solaris, the Java platform, and many other technologies

 

 Now, Sun and Oracle VARs  and IT shops can sort out for real how the $7.4 billion buyout will affect their businesses.

Some Sun hardware VARs have been very concerned about Oracle ownership of Sun’s Sparc franchise and have shifted at least some resources to other hardware lines.  Oracle resellers are concerned that Sun hardware partners will enter the already tough market for selling Oracle software licenses and are not happy about that.

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McAfee’s Facebook coup: An exclusive deal to provide security

So, here’s a pretty sweet new deal for security software developer McAfee: The company has inked an EXCLUSIVE deal, that’s right, EXCLUSIVE to become Facebook’s provider of consumer security software.

Continued »