IDG News Service 11/26/07
Grant Gross, IDG News Service, Washington Bureau
Young IT workers in the U.S. government believe technology is obsolete by the time it is rolled out and are concerned that they can't get the experience they need because some functions are outsourced, according to a focus-group report released Monday.
A group of technology interns at the U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) also said cost-cutting in the U.S. government limits their ability to innovate, and they raised concerns that the more veteran IT workforce isn't oriented toward information sharing, according to the report, released by Telework Exchange, an Alexandria, Virginia, group that promotes telecommuting among government workers.
But the coming retirement of a huge portion of federal workers also presents opportunities that the interns were aware of, said Cindy Auten, Telework Exchange's general manager. About 60 percent of U.S. government civil service workers are eligible for retirement in the next five years, she said.
"They show a good perception of the way the workforce is changing," Auten said. "They focused on this knowledge gap that's going to exist with the baby boomers retiring. Obviously, knowledge management plays a critical role, but they also looked at the fact that it provides them a lot of opportunity."
On the downside, the IT workers said the U.S. government is hampered by slow product and service procurement processes, and government agencies don't have proper business processes in place.
For the report, the Telework Exchange interviewed 14 IT professionals who are part of a DISA fast-track internship program that offers rapid promotions. The focus groups were conducted in September. The IT workers were all part of Generation Y, people born after 1977. DISA gave permission for Telework Exchange to talk with its interns.
While the focus groups raised concerns about working in government IT, they also saw several benefits. They saw government jobs as more stable as those in the private sector, they praised government benefits, and they said they enjoyed reasonable work hours and flexible schedules. The interns praised DISA's leadership for supporting teleworking options.
Asked how they prefer to communicate, the group focused on e-mail and text messaging as the top tools. The interns had mixed reactions with social-networking sites, with some reluctance to admit use, the Telework Exchange said. Outside instant messaging services aren't allowed, due to security regulations.
The group said they prefer to find information online, through search engines and through online publications. "Fifteen times a day, I am Googling something," one intern said.
The young IT workers said they frequently go to blogs for information, but most often through search engines. There was "little loyalty, no name recall" for blogs, Telework Exchange said. The interns also tended not to trust some publications focused on government IT, saying they seemed to be "brag sheets" for federal executives with exaggerated successes.
About half of the group used podcasts, although some saw podcasts as "propaganda," Telework Exchange said.
There was also an "obvious disdain" for print publications, Telework Exchange said. "If you are reading a magazine or newspaper, it looks like you are goofing off," one IT worker said. "If you are reading your screen, [it] looks like you are working."
Telework Exchange predicted that when this generation of young government IT workers is in charge, they will try to steer procurement and development processes to be more like the private sector. They will focus on information sharing and knowledge management, and they will look for employers who provide a work/life balance, the group predicted.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
AT&T to hike prices on dial-up
AT&T will jack up its rates for dial-up Internet access by as much as 60 percent on Dec. 1, going well above the price of faster DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) in many cases.
Customers who are now charged US$9.99 per month will start paying $15.95, and the $15.95 customers will see their bills go up to $22.95, said company representative Dan Callahan. $22.95 is the flat rate for all new customers, up from $21.95. AT&T made the change to be competitive with other dial-up providers, Callahan said. The lower rates are left over from previous carriers that have been absorbed into AT&T, namely BellSouth, he said.
AT&T offers basic DSL for as little as $10 per month for new customers, with some conditions. But the dial-up price hike is bad news for some AT&T customers in areas where DSL isn't available. One user complained about it on the forum BroadbandReports, saying he would have already signed up for DSL if he could have. "For a buck less, I could have service that is 15 times faster," wrote the customer, who used the screen name "GorbGuy."
Traditional carriers and other service providers have been backing away from their dial-up offerings as more Internet users adopt broadband. With the market penetration of DSL and cable Internet service in the U.S. at 50 percent to 60 percent, nearing the percentage of people who have PCs, dial-up is becoming a niche market, said Ovum analyst Mark Seery. Carriers don't like serving that market because, like any large corporation, they're interested in doing one thing, he said.
"Any time something becomes not the biggest part of what you're doing, it becomes potentially subscale and inefficient," Seery said.
In addition, they can't upsell customers to additional services such as video on demand until they're on broadband, he said. And their dial-up customers aren't a captive audience, because there are many competitive providers of the service, due to technical and legal factors, he added.
DSL providers have already tried low introductory prices on DSL, such as AT&T's $10 offer, to entice their dial-up customers to switch.
"I think they think the people who remain on dial-up are not looking to move to broadband," Seery said. "Perhaps the only way to get them to move to broadband is to raise the prices."
Competition is the good news for those who want to remain on dial-up. Juno, for example, offers a service for $9.95 per month for the first 12 months and $14.95 per month thereafter. Most dial-up providers include a variety of e-mail, storage and security features. But even the major competitive ISPs (Internet service providers) are steering customers toward broadband. EarthLink, for example, offers dial-up at a $9.95 introductory rate and then $21.95 per month. Its broadband plans start as low as $12.95 per month.
Customers who are now charged US$9.99 per month will start paying $15.95, and the $15.95 customers will see their bills go up to $22.95, said company representative Dan Callahan. $22.95 is the flat rate for all new customers, up from $21.95. AT&T made the change to be competitive with other dial-up providers, Callahan said. The lower rates are left over from previous carriers that have been absorbed into AT&T, namely BellSouth, he said.
AT&T offers basic DSL for as little as $10 per month for new customers, with some conditions. But the dial-up price hike is bad news for some AT&T customers in areas where DSL isn't available. One user complained about it on the forum BroadbandReports, saying he would have already signed up for DSL if he could have. "For a buck less, I could have service that is 15 times faster," wrote the customer, who used the screen name "GorbGuy."
Traditional carriers and other service providers have been backing away from their dial-up offerings as more Internet users adopt broadband. With the market penetration of DSL and cable Internet service in the U.S. at 50 percent to 60 percent, nearing the percentage of people who have PCs, dial-up is becoming a niche market, said Ovum analyst Mark Seery. Carriers don't like serving that market because, like any large corporation, they're interested in doing one thing, he said.
"Any time something becomes not the biggest part of what you're doing, it becomes potentially subscale and inefficient," Seery said.
In addition, they can't upsell customers to additional services such as video on demand until they're on broadband, he said. And their dial-up customers aren't a captive audience, because there are many competitive providers of the service, due to technical and legal factors, he added.
DSL providers have already tried low introductory prices on DSL, such as AT&T's $10 offer, to entice their dial-up customers to switch.
"I think they think the people who remain on dial-up are not looking to move to broadband," Seery said. "Perhaps the only way to get them to move to broadband is to raise the prices."
Competition is the good news for those who want to remain on dial-up. Juno, for example, offers a service for $9.95 per month for the first 12 months and $14.95 per month thereafter. Most dial-up providers include a variety of e-mail, storage and security features. But even the major competitive ISPs (Internet service providers) are steering customers toward broadband. EarthLink, for example, offers dial-up at a $9.95 introductory rate and then $21.95 per month. Its broadband plans start as low as $12.95 per month.
HP looks to gain greater stake in IT automation market
IDG News Service 11/26/07
Chris Kanaracus, IDG News Service, Boston Bureau
HP on Monday announced a suite of software aimed at capturing a stronger stake in the burgeoning IT automation market.
The suite, dubbed Automated Operations 1.0, includes HP Business Service Automation, which incorporates the data-center automation technology HP acquired from buying Opsware earlier this year. With it, users can manage IT processes and generate automated workflows that span a number of systems and teams, according to HP. The product allows customers to record all configuration and change activities.
The suite also includes Service Manager 7.0 and Decision Center 2.0. In addition, HP announced Blueprint and Training for Service Manager 7.0, and IT Service Management Assessment Services.
"It's looking like a very good first step toward an integrated product suite," said Chip Gliedman, an analyst with Forrester Research.
Evelyn Hubbert, another Forrester analyst, said Opsware's technology amounted to the "blue ribbon" on HP's automation product lineup.
HP is battling BMC, CA and IBM within the IT automation space. "You've got four companies in basically a catfight. [HP has] as good a set of solutions and set of chances as everybody," Gliedman said.
But the market is big enough for multiple large players, according to the analyst. "The footprint for these types of solutions is a lot broader than just the help desk," he said.
Broad IT automation suites like HP's entry may have most appeal among larger enterprises with more than 5,000 employees, Gliedman said: "You're also talking about fairly distributed IT staffs [in those organizations]. Putting in frameworks so that nothing falls through the cracks? It'll pay itself back."
Hubbert said IT automation makes sense in general, because it saves manpower from getting bogged down in simple tasks, such as removing an employee profile from the system following their departure from the firm. "The people who are coding theses things today have much more advanced degrees. This is a chance for those people to do much more important things," she said.
HP did not provide pricing information or details on availability.Monday, November 26, 2007
Microsoft and Sun Microsystems Enter Broad Cooperation Agreement; Settle Outstanding Litigation
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: SUNW) today announced that they have entered into a broad technology collaboration arrangement to enable their products to work better together and to settle all pending litigation between the two companies. The companies have also entered into agreements on patents and other issues.
 |
| Sun Microsystems Chairman and CEO Scott McNealy (L) and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer discussing their companies' new cooperation agreement, San Francisco, April 2, 2004. Click image for high-res version. |
"This agreement launches a new relationship between Sun and Microsoft -- a significant step forward that allows for cooperation while preserving customer choice," said Scott McNealy, chairman and CEO, Sun Microsystems, Inc. "This agreement will be of significant benefit to both Sun and Microsoft customers. It will stimulate new products, delivering great new choices for customers who want to combine server products from multiple vendors and achieve seamless computing in a heterogeneous computing environment. We look forward to this opportunity -- it provides a framework for cooperation between Sun and Microsoft going forward."
"Our companies will continue to compete hard, but this agreement creates a new basis for cooperation that will benefit the customers of both companies," said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer, Microsoft. "This agreement recognizes that cutting edge R & D and intellectual property protection are the foundation for the growth and success of our industry. This is a positive step forward for both Sun and Microsoft, but the real winners are the customers and developers who rely on our products and innovations."
The agreements involve payments of $700 million to Sun by Microsoft to resolve pending antitrust issues and $900 million to resolve patent issues. In addition, Sun and Microsoft have agreed to pay royalties for use of each other's technology, with Microsoft making an up-front payment of $350 million and Sun making payments when this technology is incorporated into its server products.
The agreements signed today include the following elements:
| • | Technical Collaboration: The Technical Collaboration Agreement will provide both companies with access to aspects of each other's server-based technology and will enable them to use this information to develop new server software products that will work better together. The cooperation will initially center on Windows Server and Windows Client, but will eventually include other important areas, including email and database software. For example, one of the important elements of large scale computing environments is software to manage user identities, authentication and authorization. As a result of this agreement, Sun and Microsoft engineers will cooperate to allow identity information to be easily shared between Microsoft Active Directory and the Sun Java System Identity Server, resulting in less complex and more secure computing environments. |
| • | Microsoft Communications Protocol Program: Sun has agreed to sign a license for the Windows desktop operating system communications protocols under Microsoft's Communications Protocol Program, established pursuant to Microsoft's consent decree and final judgment with the U.S. Department of Justice and 18 state attorneys general. |
| • | Microsoft Support for Java: The companies have agreed that Microsoft may continue to provide product support for the Microsoft Java Virtual Machine that customers have deployed in Microsoft's products. |
| • | Windows Certification for Sun Server: Sun and Microsoft today are announcing Windows certification for Sun's Xeon servers. In addition, the Windows certification process for Sun's Opteron-based servers is moving forward. |
| • | Future Collaboration for Java and .NET: Sun and Microsoft have agreed that they will work together to improve technical collaboration between their Java and .NET technologies. |
| • | Patents and Intellectual Property: The parties have agreed to a broad covenant not to sue with respect to all past patent infringement claims they may have against each other. The agreement also provides for potential future extensions of this type of covenant. The two companies have also agreed to embark on negotiations for a patent cross-license agreement between them. |
| • | Legal Settlements: The two companies are settling and terminating their lawsuit in the United States. Sun is also satisfied that the agreements announced today satisfy the objectives it was pursuing in the EU actions pending against Microsoft. |
Press Contacts:
For Microsoft:
For more information, media only:
Rapid Response Team, Waggener Edstrom, (503) 443-7070, rrt@wagged.com
For more information, broadcast media only:
Media Relations, Global Communications & Television, (212) 339-9920, mediarelations@gctv.com
For more information, financial analysts only:
Curt Anderson, Microsoft Investor Relations, (425) 706-3703
For Sun Microsystems:
Debbie Walery 650-786-8075 debbie.walery@sun.com Lisa Poulson 650-868-6590 (cell)
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
About Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision -- "The Network Is The Computer" -- has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) to its position as a leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services that make the Net work. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://sun.com
Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft® Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/ on Microsoft's corporate information pages. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may since have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft's Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/contactpr.asp .
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Sun to launch world's fastest chip
CHENNAI, INDIA: Sun’s global launch of UltraSPARC T2 on August 8 is seen as a big leap in the performance per watt game unleashed by chip vendors in the recent times. Snubbing Intel and AMD, Sun Microsystems has come out with world’s first and fastest processor on its Niagara series named UltraSPARC T2.
This is a major update to its already popular UltraSPARC T1. But in terms of power and performance, Ultra SPARC T2 is all set to create new benchmarks, as it’s the only processor to have eight cores supporting 64-threads on a single chip. What it means is, the new T2 processor can perform 64 tasks at one time and it boasts the industry's highest power efficiency per thread.
According to sources at Sun, the UltraSPARC T2 is the industry's first processor to bring together the key functions of a server system on a single chip—processing, networking, security, floating point units, input/output (I/O), accelerated memory access. It also provides ample computing power for massively threaded operating system, like Solaris. Integrating these elements on a single piece of silicon increases performance, reliability, energy efficiency and cost savings as per Sun.
Marking a shift from its earlier 95nm T1 processor the T2 has reduced form factor as result of its 65nm process thereby enabling Sun to reduce the processor size by 10 per cent.
In an exclusive interaction to CyberMedia News, David Yen, executive vice president of Microelectronics at Sun Microsystems said: “The new UltraSPARC T2 unfolds a new premise in power-performance paradigm, it took three and half years to develop. The UltraSPARC T2 processor doubles the performance of our existing UltraSPARC T1 without increasing the CPU clock frequency or quadrupling its cache sizes.”
The T2 also makes possible a new breed of compact, power-efficient, highly integrated devices—going beyond servers to routers, switches, telecommunications infrastructure, medical imaging, industrial printing and more. With UltraSPARC T2 technology, we can bring the speed and scalability of chip multithreading into much wider use, added Yen.
With energy efficiency seen as critical success factor these days has prompted Sun to integrate its Cool Threads and Chip Multi Threading (CMT) technologies on T2 processor. In terms of power consumption the UltraSPARC T2 is powered by two watts per thread. This is in comparison to a four core Intel Xeon processor, which takes 30 watt per thread and IBM’s Power 6 at 35 watt per thread.
Sun claims that UltraSPARC T2 processor sets the gold standard for green computing and efficiency, combining the industry’s lowest power consumption with double the cores, 16 times the threads, four times the throughput with on-chip network and security functionality. “The UltraSPARC T2 processor has the potential to save customers millions of dollars on skyrocketing power, cooling and space costs in their data centers,” says Yen.
Sun’s new processor comes at a time when Sun is becoming profitable after years of losses. Sun is bullish that UltraSPARC T2 will give it an early mover advantage to penetrate compute intensive multithreaded apps space. Moreover, Sun is gunning for major chunk of share for T2 from data centers which is considered as a prime consumer for a highly energy efficient processor like T2. In terms of availability Sun would be shipping Sun Fire servers powered by the UltraSPARC T2 processor and Solaris 10 in the second half of 2007.
Sun also indicated that it will come with a scaleable version of T2 during that time which is code-named as ‘Victoria Falls. Sun is also working on another high performance Niagara processor called ‘Rock’ that would be launched sometime next year.
This is a major update to its already popular UltraSPARC T1. But in terms of power and performance, Ultra SPARC T2 is all set to create new benchmarks, as it’s the only processor to have eight cores supporting 64-threads on a single chip. What it means is, the new T2 processor can perform 64 tasks at one time and it boasts the industry's highest power efficiency per thread.
According to sources at Sun, the UltraSPARC T2 is the industry's first processor to bring together the key functions of a server system on a single chip—processing, networking, security, floating point units, input/output (I/O), accelerated memory access. It also provides ample computing power for massively threaded operating system, like Solaris. Integrating these elements on a single piece of silicon increases performance, reliability, energy efficiency and cost savings as per Sun.
Marking a shift from its earlier 95nm T1 processor the T2 has reduced form factor as result of its 65nm process thereby enabling Sun to reduce the processor size by 10 per cent.
In an exclusive interaction to CyberMedia News, David Yen, executive vice president of Microelectronics at Sun Microsystems said: “The new UltraSPARC T2 unfolds a new premise in power-performance paradigm, it took three and half years to develop. The UltraSPARC T2 processor doubles the performance of our existing UltraSPARC T1 without increasing the CPU clock frequency or quadrupling its cache sizes.”
The T2 also makes possible a new breed of compact, power-efficient, highly integrated devices—going beyond servers to routers, switches, telecommunications infrastructure, medical imaging, industrial printing and more. With UltraSPARC T2 technology, we can bring the speed and scalability of chip multithreading into much wider use, added Yen.
With energy efficiency seen as critical success factor these days has prompted Sun to integrate its Cool Threads and Chip Multi Threading (CMT) technologies on T2 processor. In terms of power consumption the UltraSPARC T2 is powered by two watts per thread. This is in comparison to a four core Intel Xeon processor, which takes 30 watt per thread and IBM’s Power 6 at 35 watt per thread.
Sun claims that UltraSPARC T2 processor sets the gold standard for green computing and efficiency, combining the industry’s lowest power consumption with double the cores, 16 times the threads, four times the throughput with on-chip network and security functionality. “The UltraSPARC T2 processor has the potential to save customers millions of dollars on skyrocketing power, cooling and space costs in their data centers,” says Yen.
Sun’s new processor comes at a time when Sun is becoming profitable after years of losses. Sun is bullish that UltraSPARC T2 will give it an early mover advantage to penetrate compute intensive multithreaded apps space. Moreover, Sun is gunning for major chunk of share for T2 from data centers which is considered as a prime consumer for a highly energy efficient processor like T2. In terms of availability Sun would be shipping Sun Fire servers powered by the UltraSPARC T2 processor and Solaris 10 in the second half of 2007.
Sun also indicated that it will come with a scaleable version of T2 during that time which is code-named as ‘Victoria Falls. Sun is also working on another high performance Niagara processor called ‘Rock’ that would be launched sometime next year.
IBM acquires Cognos for $5 billion
ARMONK, USA/ OTTAWA, CANADA: IBM has acquired Ottawa-based Cognos for approximately $5 billion in an all cash deal.IBM plans to integrate Cognos as a group within IBM's Information Management Software division, focused on Business Intelligence and Performance Management. Current Cognos president and CEO, Rob Ashe will lead the group, reporting directly to general manager, Ambuj Goyal.
“This is an exciting combination for our customers, partners, and employees. It provides us with the ability to expand our vision as the leading BI and Performance Management provider,” said Ashe.
The acquisition accelerates IBM’s global Information on Demand initiative, a cross-company initiative announced last year that combines IBM's strength in information integration, content and data management and business consulting services to unlock the business value of information.
IBM said the acquisition fits squarely within both its acquisition strategy and capital allocation model, and that it will contribute to the achievement of the company’s objective for earnings-per-share growth through 2010.
Cognos provides the only complete Business Intelligence (BI) and performance management platform, fully integrated on an open-standards-based service oriented architecture (SOA), and has a strong history of supporting heterogeneous application environments.
Cognos will also extend IBM’s reach further into the CFO office with powerful financial planning and consolidation capabilities.
The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008.
“We chose Cognos because of its industry-leading technology that is based on open standards, which complements IBM's Service Oriented Architecture strategy,” said Steve Mills, senior vice president and group executive, IBM Software Group.
Cognos has approximately 4,000 employees worldwide and serves more than 25,000 customers. IBM and Cognos have partnered for more than 15 years, with extensive technical integrations and eight pre-integrated joint solutions.
VIA Technologies Green Computing
NEW DELGI, INDIA: VIA Technologies, a Taiwanese company that manufactures motherboard chipsets, CPUs, and other computer hardware, introduced its initiative for "green computing" in 2001. With this green vision, the company has been focusing on power efficiency throughout the design and manufacturing process of its products. Its environmentally friendly products are manufactured using a range of clean-computing strategies, and the company is striving to educate markets on the benefits of green computing for the sake of the environment, as well as productivity and overall user experience.
Carbon-free computing
One of the VIA Technologies’ ideas is to reduce the "carbon footprint" of users — the amount of greenhouse gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide (CO2). Greenhouse gases naturally blanket the Earth and are responsible for its more or less stable temperature. An increase in the concentration of the main greenhouse gases — carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorocarbons — is believed to be responsible for Earth's increasing temperature, which could lead to severe floods and droughts, rising sea levels, and other environmental effects, affecting both life and the world's economy. After the 1997 Kyoto Protocol for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the world has finally taken the first step in reducing emissions. The emissions are mainly a result of fossil-fuel-burning power plants. (In the United States, such electricity generation is responsible for 38 percent of the country’s carbon dioxide emissions.)
In addition, VIA promotes the use of such alternative energy sources as solar power, so power plants wouldn't need to burn as much fossil fuels, reducing the amount of energy used. Wetlands also provide a great service in sequestering some of the carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere. Although they make up only 4 to 6 percent of the Earth's landmass, wetlands are capable of absorbing 20 to 25 percent of the atmospheric carbon dioxide. VIA is working closely with organizations responsible for preserving wetlands and other natural habitats, and others who support extensive recycling programs for ICT equipment. The amount paid to these organizations will be represented by a proportion of the carbon-free product’s price.
Carbon-emissions control has been a key issue for many companies who have expressed a firm commitment to sustainability. Dell is a good example of a company with a green image, known for its free worldwide product-recycling program. Dell’s Plant a Tree for Me project allows customers to offset their carbon emissions by paying an extra $2 to $4, depending on the product purchased. AMD, a global microprocessor manufacturer, is also working toward reducing energy consumption in its products, cutting back on hazardous waste and reducing its eco-impact. The company’s use of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology in its manufacturing, and strained silicon capping films on transistors (known as “dual stress liner” technology), have contributed to reduced power consumption in its products.
Solar powered computingAmid the international race toward alternative-energy sources, VIA is setting its eyes on the sun, and the company's Solar Computing initiative is a significant part of its green-computing projects.
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