Oracle CEO Larry Ellison told financial analysts late last week that the company–which has bought something like 60 companies over the past few  years–is still in shopping mode. And that chip and vertical software companies top the wish list..

AMD carries a market cap of around $4.7 billion. For its most recently closed quarter, Oracle had more than $12 billion in cash. There’s no reason this deal couldn’t happen.

One might say that Oracle’s already bought a chip company in Sun Microsystems and its SPARC franchise. Of course, Sun no longer did any chip manufacturing per se. It retained the IP but fabrication of SPARCs Fabricating was left to Fujitsu.

In any case, a nagging  chip question has dogged Oracle since  it closed the Sun deal last January. For one thing, the only hardware it’s promoting –Exadata and Exalogic servers–is based on Intel microprocessors. 

And, at a meeting with a few Sun and Oracle partners in August, a hardware channel exec said Oracle has no interest in investing R&D dollars into Intel machines. The question from the VARs was obvious: “What about Exadata?”

Answer: ”We’re looking at other platforms.”

Other platforms? Why not say SPARC? There’s something odd going on here.

In the meantime, the critiques on Oracle’s data center appliance plays are not all glowing. While Ellison painted Exalogic as the latest-and-greatest in hardware-and-software technology knit together from inception. Others called it a return to the mainframe, which may be a good or bad thing depending on what you think of mainframes.

John McCarthy rejected that analogy.

“It’s worse than that! It’s a return to the VAX! It’s the hardware, the OS, the database all combined. They’re putting all their wood behind one arrow,” said McCarthy, who is VP and principal analyst for Forrester Research.

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 TechFlash recounts the epic very well here. The tale shows just how much vendors will do to protect themselves and their very “best” partners at the expense of the rest of their partners and, oh yeah, their customers.  Some remember very well the claims that Microsoft execs made about Vista Capable machines. That even a big chunk of legacy PCs (or at least the not-newest PCs) would run Vista fairly well. It sounded too good to be true then and sure enough it was.

Microsoft is still digging itself out of the ensuing Vista mess. Mojave hasn’t helped. Neither have the other lame ads. And the company now faces the prospect of a whole new class of hot machines, Netbooks, that will also bypass Vista. Instead, it looks like the tried-and-true Windows XP and then Windows 7 are the Microsoft OSes of choice to run on these machines.

Notable in the court filings were emails that show just how upset even some at Microsoft were when the company decided to declare an older Intel chipset as “Vista Capable.” to his credit, Jim Allchin at least tried to stem the tide. In a Feb.1, 2006 email to CEO Steve Ballmer, Allchin wrote:

“am beyond being upset here.

This was totally mismanaged by Intel and Microsoft.

What a mess.

Now we have an upset partner, Microsoft destroyed credibility, as well as my own credibility shot.”

HP, one of Microsoft’s other best partners, was enraged by the move because t had busted its hump to build truly Vista-capable machines only to be sandbagged. It ended up competing with lower-end, and lesser machines, that could claim the same designation. 

The whole thing brings to mind how a former Forrester analyst used to refer to Microsoft and Intel. He called them “the evil twins of the PC monopoly.”

“We’re looking to make sure that ISVs who’ve enabled on our infrastructure have a path to market. We want to make sure their software is written for our architecture and match make them with our channel,” said Peter Elmgren, managing director of Intel Business Exchange.

The thrust is to make sure new software takes full advantage of the various threads and cores built into new Intel processors. The real, real thrust, is to help Intel move more silicon, but never mind that.

The exchange includes an online software store for the ISVs to display and sell their goods. The software will be certified by Spikesource to verify that it takes full advantage of the Intel chips and other infrastructure. (Intel announced its Certified Solutions Program in early April.)

Participating ISVs include AMI, Doculex, Everest, Fonality, Microsoft, Open-E, Salesforce.com, Symantec and Tripwire.

System builders and PC makers aboard include MPC Computers, a Nampa, Idaho and Equus Computer Systems, Minneapolis.

The exchange could be a good way for smaller computer makers to differentiate themselves, said Jay Masterson, server product marketing manager for MPC.

“We’re not a Dell and this is a different way for our name to crop up. It allows us to talk about our value proposition. Hardware has become pretty commoditized even in the server realm and storage is going that way. The way to differentiate is if we can offer bundled solutions.”

“Intel’s done a good job building an ecosystem. We take part and will parcel up some of these bundled solutions. We take the Intel motherboard and chassis and add our own goodness,” he said.

It’s unclear how much VARs or solution providers will benefit from this online foray although web surfers clicking on a storage or security solution are directed to a “get a quote” page which in turn funnels them to an approved solution provider.

Barbara Darrow can be reached at bdarrow@techtarget.com.

The company’s Eco Advantage Program offers partners tools to calculate for themselves or for their customers how to deploy the best, most energy efficient information technology.

“Partners can take customer data at the server and app level, profile [that] and develop the best case analysis/scenario. They can provide the carbon emission savings, space savings, cooling savings, ” said Bill Cate, senior director of global channel planning and programs for Palo Alto-based Sun.

The program includes the afore mentioned Eco Assessment Service, which evaluates actual data center energy use, cooling, air flow etc.; training on data center power and cooling needs; and modeling tools to help simulate energy requirements of alternative datacenter setups.

Helping customers save money is one way to go into accounts in a collaborative way, said Dermot Duggan, senior director for Sun’s eco drive.

“You can go into your installed base or new accounts and have a rare opportunity where you will get no pushback. You can say, ‘I can save you this much money’ and back that up with real data tied to the customer’s actual servers and storage.”

Hardly any customer will say no to paying less, right?

Vince Conroy, CTO of FusionStorm, San Francisco-based Sun partner said the program aligns with what his company is doing.

“We’ve developed a data center practice and energy conservation is an important component of that,” Conroy said.

Technologies like server virtualization, thin clients, virtual desktop computing, all play into that message.

And, since FusionStorm does some of its own hosting as well as managed services, cost savings are important to its bottom line as well.

Customers are starting to ask about energy efficient computing, although it’s not yet a groundswell, he said. ” It starts with some of the more forward thinking customers and they may be forward thinking because it makes business sense and they’re business savvy or this is a cause for them. In either case we’re seeing more activity [in energy efficient computing.”

Server virtualization, as has been reported endlessly, is one way to get bigger workloads out of fewer boxes and that will be key here. Asked whether it’s really in Sun’s best interests to sell fewer rather than more boxes and CPUs

As to whether it’s really in Sun’s best interests to sell fewer servers, Cates and Duggan said the trend is clear. Either Sun will sell more efficient technology or someone else will.
For hosting partners, the attraction of saving on cooling and electricity is obvious, but it’s also away for partners to help customers save money and perhaps divert some of those savings to additional services.

And the company’s quick to say it’s taking its own medicine, that its latest servers, built on the UltraSPARC T2 chips use multithreading technology and cram 5X the compute power into half the space and get 2.5 times better performance per megawatt.
The Sun execs said the company, through its own eco efforts, received $1 million in rebates onfrom PG&E over the last 12 months.

The company is hardly alone many hardware vendors have jumped on the green bandwagon: Hewlett Packard and IBM also have eco initiatives going.

 Barbara Darrow can be reached at bdarrow@techtarget.com.

WiMax — a microwave-based technology defined by the IEEE 802.16e standard for broadband wireless access – has the potential to provide wireless-network access across distances as great as 30 miles. Sprint is working on a WiMax network that will reach two miles, which is still vastly better than the few hundred feet most WLAN methods provide.

WiMax could revolutionize wireless networking by eliminating tiny hotspots in favor of broad access zones – reducing the amount of equipment needed to cover an area, but increasing the potential security and access concerns WiFi has already raised.

Analysts have predicted that Intel’s support could put a rocket booster on the growth of WiMax, in much the same way it did for WiFi by building wireless access into its Centrino notebook chip sets.

While it’s been shipping WiMax-enabled chips for two years,  Intel has made something of a tradition out of announcing the imminent ubiquity of the capability in mainstream laptops:

April 7, 2007: Intel to build WiMAX into laptops in 2008

Oct. 6, 2006: Intel reveals wireless connectivity roadmap – Wi-Fi N, WiMAX and HSDPA on laptops next year

July 24, 2006: Intel announces mobile WiMax chip

April 18, 2005: Intel Debuts First WiMAX Chip

 Jan. 24, 2004: Intel Preps for WiMax Chips

July 2, 2004: Intel: WiMAX in notebooks by 2006

HP pays for PolyServe while IBM and Dell watch Cluster a Go Go [TheReg]

Dell allows customers to buy new notebooks without Windows Dell decides to sell notebooks without operating systems by customer request. [DailyTech]

Flaws in tech support tools open PCs to attack The risky security holes are in tools commonly provided by software makers and ISPs to provide remote tech support. [CNET]

New and improved Oracle exploits coming at Black Hat Updated: The security conference will showcase two briefings on gaps in the security of Oracle products. [eWEEK]

Trend Micro releases new e-mail security tools Trend Micro is looking to make life more difficult for spammers with a new version of its messaging security products and a new hosted service for enterprise customers. [PCMag]

ITAA announces results of federal CIO survey CIOs in federal agencies say they’re making great strides in security, enterprise management and in making progress on consolidating IT efforts to save money and speed implementation. [eWEEK]

Intel disputes $2.4 billion tax bill Chip maker Intel Corp. said on Monday it was appealing an Internal Revenue Service tax adjustment related to export sales that could increase its tax due by $2.4 billion from 1999 through 2006. [eWEEK]

Intel eyes the future of Itanium Pat Gelsinger, Intel’s digital enterprise head, talks about tech in the developing world and the one-chip blade server of tomorrow. [CNET]

Microsoft’s ‘dirty tricks’ archive turns into hot Torrent Microsoft lawyers who believed they’d buried the most embarrassing collection of documents about the company’s murky past for good, without any one noticing, were in for a surprise this weekend. The archive has become a mainstay of the Bittorrent P2P file sharing networks. [TheReg]

Windows Genuine Advantage’s newest setting: “you might be a pirate” Windows Genuine Advantage is an anti-piracy tool loathed by many, tolerated by some, and even appreciated by others. How you feel about it may depend in part on whether or not you’ve been caught in its snares: the “authentic software” validation tool is known to have falsely identified thousands of “pirated”
Vista installs. [Ars Technica]

Veritas man jumps Symantec ship Security chief headed for private firm. [TheReg]

That means the company who is certified gets to hang a plaque in the lobby of the building. While that may not sound like much, the small environmental footprint is noble goal to have. Oh, and the company running the building will save a wheelbarrow full of money each year by taking advantage of lower energy costs and other green-back saving strategies which are inherent to certification.

Now it looks like the IT community is jumping on the same bandwagon and noticing that there actually is money in doing the right thing. (I’m sure the idea of wheelbarrows full of money had something to do with the move to eco-conservatism.) The “IT titans,” as CNET so eloquently puts it, include Advanced Micro Devices, Intel, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, Rackable Systems, SprayCool, VWware and American Power Conversion. They are all member of the GreenGrid board, whose goal is to “lower the overall consumption of power in data centers around the globe.”

It’s a good idea for these companies to make this move, but I have to wonder if it is a little late in the game. Data center managers and VARs have, I’m sure, been trying to figure out ways to lower energy consumption in server rooms and data centers for a long time. Different cooling techniques, rack configuration — I bet they’d even hang garland and sing Christmas carols year round if they thought their servers would eat less energy — aren’t exactly breaking news.

But better late than never, and I do see channel benefits in the long run. Once the bureaucracy of forming a group like this is finished and these companies do start putting out green products — products that consume less energy and have a smaller footprint, for example — VARs may be able to take the garland down.

Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 gets a due date Microsoft’s Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack (SP) 1 now has an official due date: Same time as Longhorn Server in the latter half of 2007.
[All About Microsoft]

Intel pushes denser data centres Intel has kicked off a campaign to make data centres more efficient and less environmentally damaging. Paradoxically, one of its key messages seems to be that companies need to refresh their servers – ie. buy new ones – more often. [TheReg]

IBM not ready to say Oracle’s Linux compatible IBM is not ready to guarantee that its computer programs are compatible with Oracle Corp.’s recently launched version of the Linux operating system, an IBM spokesman said on Friday. [Reuters]

IBM patches flaws in DB2 database Multiple vulnerabilities could be exploited by attackers. [eWEEK]

Oracle puts low-price on information Launches free download Information Lifecycle Managment assistant. [TheReg]

A software maker goes up against Microsoft VMware is the early leader in a fast-growing market for virtual-machine software, putting it on a collision course with Microsoft. [NYT]

Compliance worries could shut out Google business apps The search engine company is making a play for corporate users, but the jury is still out on whether Web-based apps can meet strict requirements for compliance and security. [SearchWinIT.com]

Adtron announces 160GB solid-state Drive Adtron’s solid-state discs will offer read speeds of up to 70MB/sec. [DailyTech]

Samsung almost doubles graphics memory speed Korean electronics giant Samsung Electronics claims to have increased the data transfer speed of the world’s fastest graphics memory – GDDR4 (Graphics Double Data Rate, version 4) by two-thirds. [ITWire]

Microsoft’s patent disputes with Alcatel-Lucent, AT&T make waves The fates of the two patent infringement cases are intertwined, and the results will affect companies beyond Microsoft. [eWEEK]

Google offers 10 GB inbox The search engine giant is offering an email application on a subscription basis with five times the storage capacity of the free version. [SearchStorage.com]

Microsoft seeking SaaS, Web 2.0 partners Not even a club with no rules…yet. [TheReg]

BitTorrent launches legal online video service BitTorrent, the online video-sharing site once known as a tool to get pirated movies and television shows online, introduces its legal downloading service today. [SanFran Chronicle]

Founder of Netscape ditches Windows for the Mac “Marc Andreessen, founder of Netscape, and co-founder of LoudCloud (Opsware) and Ning has finally said good bye to the Windows life, and switched to a Mac.” [GigaOM]

Microsoft Corp. issued six “critical” security patches on Tuesday to fix flaws in its software products that the company warned could allow attackers to take control of a user’s computer. [Reuters]

Microsoft tries to stuff the Windows 7 genie back in the bottle

The Windows 7 genie is out of the bottle. Trying to stuff it back in will do nothing but create more customer confusion.
[All About Microsoft] 

Multiple IOS IPS Vulnerabilities

The Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) feature set of Cisco IOS. contains several vulnerabilities. These include: Fragmented IP packets may be used to evade signature inspection. IPS signatures utilizing the regular expression feature of the ATOMIC.TCP signature engine may cause a router to crash resulting in a denial of service. [Cisco] 

IBM says new technology can triple data storage-report

IBM says it is developing new circuitry that could triple the data stored on a typical microprocessor, and thereby double the performance of computers, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. [Reuters]

IBM Launches New Virtualization Tools

The announcement comes as analysts tout virtualization’s entry into its 2.0 phase. [eWEEK] 

Citrix updates presentation server, kills Access Suite

Citrix Systems this week unveiled a major update to its flagship Citrix Presentation Server product line, a move that kills off its Access Suite and incorporates its functionality into a new Premium Edition. [ChannelWeb] 

25 most interesting VoIP startups

If you’ve only heard about Vonage and Skype when it comes to VoIP, you’ve only scratched the surface. Dozens of startup companies from the U.S., Canada and Europe are bringing out innovative IP telephony products. Here are our picks for the Top 25 new VoIP companies set to change the way we all work and do business [VoIPNews]

ip.access opens Oyster femtocell to the world

Unit picks up 3G signals, routes them over ‘net.. [TheRegister]

At ISSCC, the circuit set makes connections

As chip engineers gather in
San Francisco, Intel shows off its teraflop chops, and AMD talks pricing pressure and power consumption. [CNET]

Sun x86 servers turn heads: Too bad you can’t get one
Users are impressed with Sun’s foray into low-end hardware. But analysts and bloggers say the engineering-centric firm needs to improve logistics. [SearchDataCenter.com]
IBM aims to lower cost of using Linux, Apple PCs
IBM said on Sunday it will offer an open desktop software system for businesses that puts the cost of managing Apple or Linux computers on a more equal footing with Microsoft’s Windows software, improving the economics of Windows alternatives. [Reuters]

The countdown clock is officially ticking: Windows 7 due in 2009
The countdown clock officially is ticking. The goal is Windows 7 in 2009. [All About Microsoft]

NetApp CEO to vars: Sell more software or risk ‘being left behind’
Network Appliance opened its kimono a bit to solution partners at its annual partner summit, held this week in San Francisco, to talk about some upcoming product and program changes. Dan Warmenhoven, CEO of NetApp, used his keynote address to push solution providers to look beyond NetApp hardware sales to make storage and services a bigger part of their sales. [ChannelWeb]