Storage vendor Seagate Technology said Thursday it plans to buy MetaLINCS, an e-discovery software firm. The vendor's move follows Iron Mountain's purchase earlier this year of Stratify, which is also focused on e-discovery.
MetaLINCS' technology will provide Seagate Services Group with an analytics engine complementary to its existing offerings for data archiving, recovery and collection, the company said.
Seagate didn't disclose the deal's financial terms.
MetaLINCS, based in San Jose, California, was founded in 2003 and has more than 50 employees, Seagate said. Its CEO, Ramon Nunez, will be in charge of Seagate Services Group's E-Discovery unit, according to the company.
This is just the latest acquisition for Seagate in 2007. The company, which is based in Scotts Valley, California, also bought EVault, which sells online backup and archiving services to small- and medium-sized businesses.
Seagate shares were trading at about US$27 midday Thursday.
Also this week, Seagate announced that a company director, James A. Davidson, had resigned from the board on Dec. 3 to pursue other opportunities. The company said the departure was amicable.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
AdultFriendFinder settles pop-up adware charges
This summary is not available. Please
click here to view the post.
IDC forecasts IT spending slowdown in '08
IT spending will grow more slowly in 2008 than this year, with economic uncertainties taking a toll in the U.S. in particular, market researcher IDC predicts.
Worldwide spending growth will be moderate, at 5.5 percent to 6 percent in the new year, down from 6.9 percent growth in 2007, IDC said Thursday as it released its annual set of predictions for the coming year.
"There will still be positive growth, but the industry will definitely be pinched a little in the coming year," said Frank Gens, IDC's senior vice president for research. He called the drop in growth "significant" during a teleconference detailing the IDC's predictions.
The drop in spending growth. U.S. IT spending could be especially hard hit, dropping from 6.6 percent this year to 3 percent to 4 percent in 2008, Gens said. The first effect of the slowdown will be felt in hardware, with software lagging a quarter or two behind, followed by a more gradual effect on services, he said.
IDC expects IT vendors to increase their investments in emerging markets, particularly Mexico, Poland and Turkey, followed by Argentina, Columbia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam. Investments in those countries will collectively increase by 16 percent, he said.
In its look ahead at 2008, the market researcher predicts that Web gadgets will proliferate, extending the reach of the mobile Internet and filling the gap between notebook PCs and smartphones, Gens said.
The devices IDC envisions will be palm-sized or slightly larger, connect to the Web and "be good at one or two things." Amazon's Kindle e-reader is a prime example of what to expect. "We predict that dozens of these devices will be introduced in 2008" from a range of vendors, he said. Intel will make a big push into this terrain as well, he said.
"Virtually all" mobile network operators will open their networks, "albeit slowly and begrudgingly following Verizon Wireless," Gens said. These moves are a replay of the "AOL versus the Web" scenario that played out in the 1990s. AOL had its "walled garden," which required membership to connect to the Internet and other services through the AOL portal. But mobile network operators will find the same situation as AOL -- "walled gardens imprison the gardener."
IDC also expects the dramatic increase in unstructured data on the Web -- with social networks and user-generated content responsible for much of that growth -- to drive the use of text analytics, sentiment extraction and semantic search to make sense of it.
Additionally, the lines between the business and consumer markets will continue to blur "with small and medium business as ground zero," Gens said. Enterprise software will continue to be influenced by consumer software, notably social-networking applications, as vendors find it increasingly difficult to be successful if they ignore the consumer space.
Likely acquisition targets in 2008 include Intuit, TeleNav, and Networks in Motion, along with software analytics and e-discovery companies such as Attenex and Attensity. IDC is sticking with its 2007 prediction that Salesforce.com will be acquired. Even though this year isn't over yet, Gens pushed that prediction into 2008.
Worldwide spending growth will be moderate, at 5.5 percent to 6 percent in the new year, down from 6.9 percent growth in 2007, IDC said Thursday as it released its annual set of predictions for the coming year.
"There will still be positive growth, but the industry will definitely be pinched a little in the coming year," said Frank Gens, IDC's senior vice president for research. He called the drop in growth "significant" during a teleconference detailing the IDC's predictions.
The drop in spending growth. U.S. IT spending could be especially hard hit, dropping from 6.6 percent this year to 3 percent to 4 percent in 2008, Gens said. The first effect of the slowdown will be felt in hardware, with software lagging a quarter or two behind, followed by a more gradual effect on services, he said.
IDC expects IT vendors to increase their investments in emerging markets, particularly Mexico, Poland and Turkey, followed by Argentina, Columbia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam. Investments in those countries will collectively increase by 16 percent, he said.
In its look ahead at 2008, the market researcher predicts that Web gadgets will proliferate, extending the reach of the mobile Internet and filling the gap between notebook PCs and smartphones, Gens said.
The devices IDC envisions will be palm-sized or slightly larger, connect to the Web and "be good at one or two things." Amazon's Kindle e-reader is a prime example of what to expect. "We predict that dozens of these devices will be introduced in 2008" from a range of vendors, he said. Intel will make a big push into this terrain as well, he said.
"Virtually all" mobile network operators will open their networks, "albeit slowly and begrudgingly following Verizon Wireless," Gens said. These moves are a replay of the "AOL versus the Web" scenario that played out in the 1990s. AOL had its "walled garden," which required membership to connect to the Internet and other services through the AOL portal. But mobile network operators will find the same situation as AOL -- "walled gardens imprison the gardener."
IDC also expects the dramatic increase in unstructured data on the Web -- with social networks and user-generated content responsible for much of that growth -- to drive the use of text analytics, sentiment extraction and semantic search to make sense of it.
Additionally, the lines between the business and consumer markets will continue to blur "with small and medium business as ground zero," Gens said. Enterprise software will continue to be influenced by consumer software, notably social-networking applications, as vendors find it increasingly difficult to be successful if they ignore the consumer space.
Likely acquisition targets in 2008 include Intuit, TeleNav, and Networks in Motion, along with software analytics and e-discovery companies such as Attenex and Attensity. IDC is sticking with its 2007 prediction that Salesforce.com will be acquired. Even though this year isn't over yet, Gens pushed that prediction into 2008.
AT&T says its wireless network also open to outside devices
Customers of AT&T's mobile-phone service can attach outside devices and run outside applications, the company said Thursday, following an announcement last week that Verizon Wireless would open up its network.
But AT&T's GSM-based (Global System for Mobile Communications) network has been open to outside devices and applications for years, the company said. AT&T will start to publicize that information through salespeople at AT&T stores, Ralph de la Vega, CEO of the company's wireless business, told USA Today.
"By its nature, GSM technology is open," said Michael Coe, an AT&T spokesman. "Customers could always use GSM phones not sold by AT&T on our network. We can't guarantee the performance of the device, of course."
AT&T's customers can also take their handsets to other mobile service providers using GSM, with one huge exception: Apple's iPhone. AT&T will not unlock the iPhone to use on other networks, Coe said.
For other devices, "we will unlock the device when customers fulfill their contract; we will also unlock the device if the customer pays full price for the device," he said. "The iPhone, however, is an exception. The iPhone is exclusive to AT&T in the U.S."
AT&T's publicity on its open-access policies comes after competitor Verizon Wireless announced Nov. 27 it would open its wireless network to outside devices and applications by late 2008. Devices will need to be tested by Verizon before they can be activated, the company said.
The Verizon announcement came after Google launched the Open Handset Alliance, an open-development platform for mobile phones, earlier in November.
The actions of Google and Verizon didn't prompt any changes at AT&T, Coe said. "First, we did not make an announcement," he said. "Second, it's always been this way."
Customers who want to bring a GSM device to the AT&T network can purchase a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) through the company, Coe said. If the device operates in U.S. spectrum frequencies, AT&T will activate the device, he said.
AT&T also allows outside applications on its network, Coe said. "People have access to a vast array of applications today, some that are provided through AT&T, others that are not," he said in an e-mail. "We take an open approach to music, wireless operating systems, e-mail platforms, etc. We actively encourage developers to create applications and 20,000 have registered on our developer's site."
Art Brodsky, a spokesman for open-access advocate Public Knowledge, said he was taking a wait-and-see approach to the AT&T open-access policy. "So far, we only have one quote from one company executive," he said. "The theme is fine, and we approve, but would like to see more details."
But Mary Greczyn, spokeswoman for startup Frontline Wireless, called the AT&T position on open access "a huge win from a policy standpoint."
Frontline, Public Knowledge, and other groups successfully pushed for open-access requirements on part of the 700MHz spectrum band, to be auctioned by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission starting in January. AT&T's move is a "reaction to what Frontline had proposed as open access in the first place," Greczyn said.
Despite open-access policies from Verizon and AT&T, Frontline believes U.S. residents will need more competition among broadband carriers, and Frontline intends to bid on 700MHz spectrum in order to build a wireless broadband network, Greczyn said.
But AT&T's GSM-based (Global System for Mobile Communications) network has been open to outside devices and applications for years, the company said. AT&T will start to publicize that information through salespeople at AT&T stores, Ralph de la Vega, CEO of the company's wireless business, told USA Today.
"By its nature, GSM technology is open," said Michael Coe, an AT&T spokesman. "Customers could always use GSM phones not sold by AT&T on our network. We can't guarantee the performance of the device, of course."
AT&T's customers can also take their handsets to other mobile service providers using GSM, with one huge exception: Apple's iPhone. AT&T will not unlock the iPhone to use on other networks, Coe said.
For other devices, "we will unlock the device when customers fulfill their contract; we will also unlock the device if the customer pays full price for the device," he said. "The iPhone, however, is an exception. The iPhone is exclusive to AT&T in the U.S."
AT&T's publicity on its open-access policies comes after competitor Verizon Wireless announced Nov. 27 it would open its wireless network to outside devices and applications by late 2008. Devices will need to be tested by Verizon before they can be activated, the company said.
The Verizon announcement came after Google launched the Open Handset Alliance, an open-development platform for mobile phones, earlier in November.
The actions of Google and Verizon didn't prompt any changes at AT&T, Coe said. "First, we did not make an announcement," he said. "Second, it's always been this way."
Customers who want to bring a GSM device to the AT&T network can purchase a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) through the company, Coe said. If the device operates in U.S. spectrum frequencies, AT&T will activate the device, he said.
AT&T also allows outside applications on its network, Coe said. "People have access to a vast array of applications today, some that are provided through AT&T, others that are not," he said in an e-mail. "We take an open approach to music, wireless operating systems, e-mail platforms, etc. We actively encourage developers to create applications and 20,000 have registered on our developer's site."
Art Brodsky, a spokesman for open-access advocate Public Knowledge, said he was taking a wait-and-see approach to the AT&T open-access policy. "So far, we only have one quote from one company executive," he said. "The theme is fine, and we approve, but would like to see more details."
But Mary Greczyn, spokeswoman for startup Frontline Wireless, called the AT&T position on open access "a huge win from a policy standpoint."
Frontline, Public Knowledge, and other groups successfully pushed for open-access requirements on part of the 700MHz spectrum band, to be auctioned by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission starting in January. AT&T's move is a "reaction to what Frontline had proposed as open access in the first place," Greczyn said.
Despite open-access policies from Verizon and AT&T, Frontline believes U.S. residents will need more competition among broadband carriers, and Frontline intends to bid on 700MHz spectrum in order to build a wireless broadband network, Greczyn said.
Microsoft reschedules PDC for October 2008
Microsoft has rescheduled its most significant developer meeting for late 2008, after cancelling the Professional Developers Conference (PDC) that was originally planned for October 2007.
The Microsoft PDC is now on for Oct. 27 to Oct. 30, 2008, at the Los Angeles Convention Center, according to Microsoft's public relations firm. The conference, which hosts the largest crowd of any of Microsoft's developer gatherings, is typically held every other year and is timed to give developers an early look at new releases of some of Microsoft's most strategic software products.
The technologies in the spotlight at next year's PDC are expected to be Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008. Together, the three mark a major enterprise product cycle for the company, which has planned a launch event -- also in Los Angeles -- for all three products on Feb. 27, 2008.
Not all products will be available at that time, however. While Visual Studio 2008 is already available, and Microsoft is expected to ship Windows Server 2008 on the day of the launch, the company has given itself until midyear for the final release of SQL Server 2008.
When Microsoft announced in May it was cancelling this year's PDC, the company said the timing was inconvenient to show off these infrastructure releases to developers. Microsoft watchers and partners at the time said it made sense the company would postpone the show until Windows Server, SQL Server and Visual Studio were more fully baked.
On Wednesday Microsoft released a new test version of Windows Server 2008, called Release Candidate 1, to developers, as well as offered a refresh of Windows Vista Service Pack 1. Visual Studio 2008 is available online, while SQL Server 2008 is available in technology preview.
The Microsoft PDC is now on for Oct. 27 to Oct. 30, 2008, at the Los Angeles Convention Center, according to Microsoft's public relations firm. The conference, which hosts the largest crowd of any of Microsoft's developer gatherings, is typically held every other year and is timed to give developers an early look at new releases of some of Microsoft's most strategic software products.
The technologies in the spotlight at next year's PDC are expected to be Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008. Together, the three mark a major enterprise product cycle for the company, which has planned a launch event -- also in Los Angeles -- for all three products on Feb. 27, 2008.
Not all products will be available at that time, however. While Visual Studio 2008 is already available, and Microsoft is expected to ship Windows Server 2008 on the day of the launch, the company has given itself until midyear for the final release of SQL Server 2008.
When Microsoft announced in May it was cancelling this year's PDC, the company said the timing was inconvenient to show off these infrastructure releases to developers. Microsoft watchers and partners at the time said it made sense the company would postpone the show until Windows Server, SQL Server and Visual Studio were more fully baked.
On Wednesday Microsoft released a new test version of Windows Server 2008, called Release Candidate 1, to developers, as well as offered a refresh of Windows Vista Service Pack 1. Visual Studio 2008 is available online, while SQL Server 2008 is available in technology preview.
Best Buy to distribute Dell PCs
In an effort to put more of its PCs on retail shelves, Dell on Thursday signed up with consumer electronics retailer Best Buy to sell its desktops and laptops.
Best Buy will sell Dell's XPS and Inspiron desktops, notebooks and all-in-one PCs in more than 900 U.S. locations, Dell said in a statement.
Best Buy will stock the Dell XPS M1330, Inspiron 1521 and Inspiron 1420 notebooks, the XPS One all-in-one and Inspiron 530, 531, and 531s desktops.
The systems will reach Best Buy stores in a few weeks, though the company couldn't be reached for comment on exact availability dates.
Dell is the top PC vendor in the U.S. according to surveys by Gartner and IDC, with a slim lead over Hewlett-Packard. In a recent earnings call, Dell said it is adding more retailers to its distribution channel to generate better PC sales. Dell already sells PCs via Staples and Wal-Mart in the U.S.
Dell also distributes PCs through vendors worldwide including Carrefour in Europe and Bic Camera in Japan.
Best Buy will sell Dell's XPS and Inspiron desktops, notebooks and all-in-one PCs in more than 900 U.S. locations, Dell said in a statement.
Best Buy will stock the Dell XPS M1330, Inspiron 1521 and Inspiron 1420 notebooks, the XPS One all-in-one and Inspiron 530, 531, and 531s desktops.
The systems will reach Best Buy stores in a few weeks, though the company couldn't be reached for comment on exact availability dates.
Dell is the top PC vendor in the U.S. according to surveys by Gartner and IDC, with a slim lead over Hewlett-Packard. In a recent earnings call, Dell said it is adding more retailers to its distribution channel to generate better PC sales. Dell already sells PCs via Staples and Wal-Mart in the U.S.
Dell also distributes PCs through vendors worldwide including Carrefour in Europe and Bic Camera in Japan.
Toyota premieres violin-playing robot
Toyota unveiled on Thursday the latest two creations from its robot project, including one that can play the violin, and said it is targeting the early 2010s for the development of a viable human-assistance robot.
The two new machines are the Mobiro, a sort of motorized wheel chair that can scoot people around their neighborhood and is able to cope with uneven surfaces, and the Violin-Playing Robot. Toyota has already developed a robot capable of playing the trumpet, so with a little extra effort the company could soon have an entire band.
Like the Segway transporter, the Mobiro runs on two wheels and manages to maintain its balance. This distinguishes it from other forms of motorized transport tested so far for human use. The Mobiro rider sits in a chair and manipulates the robot through controls in the chair's arm rests. It can cope with 10 degree slopes and turn on the spot.
Perhaps more interestingly, it will automatically approach its owner when called by a remote control, avoiding obstacles in its path on the way. The Mobiro can also be used to carry cargo or other people and in this mode it automatically follows its owner or keeps a few steps ahead of them.
The 150-kilogram Mobiro has a 20-kilometer range and field tests will begin in the second half of 2008.
The Violin-Playing Robot may have an unimaginative name but it's capable of some pretty impressive musical moves. The robot can hold the violin in place with one hand and move the bow with its other to produce a perfect-sounding tune. It can also move the fingers of its left hand, which rest at the violin's neck, to produce a tremolo effect.
It stands 1.5 meters tall and weighs 56 kilograms, which puts it not far off the height and weight of an average Japanese woman.
At a Tokyo news conference to unveil the new robots, Toyota also showed its Robina robot, which made its first public appearance in the middle of this year. The Robina is designed for face-to-face communication with humans. In that role, the robot served as a guide at the Toyota Kaikan Exhibition Hall in Toyota City in August this year.
The robot can automatically navigate a route through obstacles and, by holding a pen in one hand and a piece of card in the other, sign its signature on the card.
Toyota is one of many Japanese companies actively investigating robotics and the areas that go hand-in-hand with the technology, such as artificial intelligence. While violin playing and autograph signing may appear to be nothing more than whimsical tricks they require a high level of mechanical and electrical control and are the kind of tasks that engineers need to perfect before they take the next step towards human assistance.
Japan's rapidly aging society is providing the push behind all these projects.
The two new machines are the Mobiro, a sort of motorized wheel chair that can scoot people around their neighborhood and is able to cope with uneven surfaces, and the Violin-Playing Robot. Toyota has already developed a robot capable of playing the trumpet, so with a little extra effort the company could soon have an entire band.
Like the Segway transporter, the Mobiro runs on two wheels and manages to maintain its balance. This distinguishes it from other forms of motorized transport tested so far for human use. The Mobiro rider sits in a chair and manipulates the robot through controls in the chair's arm rests. It can cope with 10 degree slopes and turn on the spot.
Perhaps more interestingly, it will automatically approach its owner when called by a remote control, avoiding obstacles in its path on the way. The Mobiro can also be used to carry cargo or other people and in this mode it automatically follows its owner or keeps a few steps ahead of them.
The 150-kilogram Mobiro has a 20-kilometer range and field tests will begin in the second half of 2008.
The Violin-Playing Robot may have an unimaginative name but it's capable of some pretty impressive musical moves. The robot can hold the violin in place with one hand and move the bow with its other to produce a perfect-sounding tune. It can also move the fingers of its left hand, which rest at the violin's neck, to produce a tremolo effect.
It stands 1.5 meters tall and weighs 56 kilograms, which puts it not far off the height and weight of an average Japanese woman.
At a Tokyo news conference to unveil the new robots, Toyota also showed its Robina robot, which made its first public appearance in the middle of this year. The Robina is designed for face-to-face communication with humans. In that role, the robot served as a guide at the Toyota Kaikan Exhibition Hall in Toyota City in August this year.
The robot can automatically navigate a route through obstacles and, by holding a pen in one hand and a piece of card in the other, sign its signature on the card.
Toyota is one of many Japanese companies actively investigating robotics and the areas that go hand-in-hand with the technology, such as artificial intelligence. While violin playing and autograph signing may appear to be nothing more than whimsical tricks they require a high level of mechanical and electrical control and are the kind of tasks that engineers need to perfect before they take the next step towards human assistance.
Japan's rapidly aging society is providing the push behind all these projects.
Cisco warns of bug in desktop software
Cisco is advising Windows users of its Cisco Security Agent software to upgrade the product because of a security bug.
The flaw lies in a driver used by the client software. By sending maliciously crafted data to the PC, attackers could create a buffer overflow condition in the Windows kernel, causing the system to crash.
Security firm Secunia rates the crash flaw "moderately critical," but the vulnerability could be used by attackers to also run unauthorized software on the Windows machine, Cisco warned.
Cisco released hotfixes for the bug on Wednesday. A large number of Cisco products install this agent, including the Cisco Security Manager, Cisco Unified Communications Manager and the Cisco Voice Portal.
If attackers find a way to exploit this flaw to run code, it could become a serious security problem.
"Back in 2004, such a vulnerability would probably have led to a flurry of noisy network worms," wrote Daniel Wesemann, a handler with the SANS Internet Storm Center, in a blog posting. "Today, drive-by installs of spyware are more likely, but at least as damaging. The bottom line is still the same: If you are using the vulnerable component, patch as soon as possible."
The buffer overflow can be caused by sending a malicious TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) packet to ports 139 or 445, the ports used by the Microsoft Server Message Block file-sharing protocol.
The flaw lies in a driver used by the client software. By sending maliciously crafted data to the PC, attackers could create a buffer overflow condition in the Windows kernel, causing the system to crash.
Security firm Secunia rates the crash flaw "moderately critical," but the vulnerability could be used by attackers to also run unauthorized software on the Windows machine, Cisco warned.
Cisco released hotfixes for the bug on Wednesday. A large number of Cisco products install this agent, including the Cisco Security Manager, Cisco Unified Communications Manager and the Cisco Voice Portal.
If attackers find a way to exploit this flaw to run code, it could become a serious security problem.
"Back in 2004, such a vulnerability would probably have led to a flurry of noisy network worms," wrote Daniel Wesemann, a handler with the SANS Internet Storm Center, in a blog posting. "Today, drive-by installs of spyware are more likely, but at least as damaging. The bottom line is still the same: If you are using the vulnerable component, patch as soon as possible."
The buffer overflow can be caused by sending a malicious TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) packet to ports 139 or 445, the ports used by the Microsoft Server Message Block file-sharing protocol.
SourceForge opens eBay-like marketplace
SourceForge Inc.'s open-source, project-hosting Web site now has an eBay-like marketplace, where users can offer support services for sale.
The marketplace is built into SourceForge.net and had been in beta since earlier this year. Initially, the company invited selected projects to create listings, in order to "stock the shelves," said Mike Rudolph, SourceForge.net's vice president.
SourceForge's approach of having users interact directly with customers differs somewhat from that of Red Hat's Exchange, an online marketplace launched earlier this year. Through the site, Red Hat sells commercial open-source business software from a finite range of vendors, as well as related support.
Rudolph said there are slightly fewer than 700 listings on SourceForge's marketplace site right now. But SourceForge.net's sheer size -- it claims about 160,000 projects and 1.7 million registered users -- suggests there could soon be many more.
He expressed doubt that fraud and other concerns associated with online purchasing will afflict the site. "In my experience, online marketplaces tend to police themselves," said Rudolph, a former eBay employee.
It doesn't cost anything to post a listing on the marketplace, Rudolph said. Instead, SourceForge will take a commission on sales.
Rudolph said the commissions work under a tiered system, and average about 10 percent. He characterized the fees as "nominal," given the exposure and platform sellers receive.
"We are all about enabling success for the open-source development community," he said.
However, Rudolph said it's unclear precisely how the economics of open source will evolve.
"My point of view is that things are still relatively nascent," he said, adding that SourceForge is going after the proverbial long tail of the market -- smaller players and startups that may lack assets but drive innovation. "I don't think there's anyone serving the long tail right now but us," Rudolph asserted.
The marketplace represents another phase in SourceForge's evolution. The company, once called VA Software, changed its name earlier this year and said it planned to focus on its Web-based businesses, which also includes the popular tech news site Slashdot.
Rudolph would not say precisely how important the company believes this new venture will be to the bottom line. SourceForge.net initially made its money entirely through advertising.
"This is a long-term strategic play for us," he said. "We've done some staffing up to support this. Ultimately, our hope is that it affects the economics of our business. But we are not forecasting that revenue at the moment."
The marketplace is built into SourceForge.net and had been in beta since earlier this year. Initially, the company invited selected projects to create listings, in order to "stock the shelves," said Mike Rudolph, SourceForge.net's vice president.
SourceForge's approach of having users interact directly with customers differs somewhat from that of Red Hat's Exchange, an online marketplace launched earlier this year. Through the site, Red Hat sells commercial open-source business software from a finite range of vendors, as well as related support.
Rudolph said there are slightly fewer than 700 listings on SourceForge's marketplace site right now. But SourceForge.net's sheer size -- it claims about 160,000 projects and 1.7 million registered users -- suggests there could soon be many more.
He expressed doubt that fraud and other concerns associated with online purchasing will afflict the site. "In my experience, online marketplaces tend to police themselves," said Rudolph, a former eBay employee.
It doesn't cost anything to post a listing on the marketplace, Rudolph said. Instead, SourceForge will take a commission on sales.
Rudolph said the commissions work under a tiered system, and average about 10 percent. He characterized the fees as "nominal," given the exposure and platform sellers receive.
"We are all about enabling success for the open-source development community," he said.
However, Rudolph said it's unclear precisely how the economics of open source will evolve.
"My point of view is that things are still relatively nascent," he said, adding that SourceForge is going after the proverbial long tail of the market -- smaller players and startups that may lack assets but drive innovation. "I don't think there's anyone serving the long tail right now but us," Rudolph asserted.
The marketplace represents another phase in SourceForge's evolution. The company, once called VA Software, changed its name earlier this year and said it planned to focus on its Web-based businesses, which also includes the popular tech news site Slashdot.
Rudolph would not say precisely how important the company believes this new venture will be to the bottom line. SourceForge.net initially made its money entirely through advertising.
"This is a long-term strategic play for us," he said. "We've done some staffing up to support this. Ultimately, our hope is that it affects the economics of our business. But we are not forecasting that revenue at the moment."
Silicon Valley wireless group seeks new builder
The big-name backers of Silicon Valley's proposed wireless network are looking for a new company to build and operate the system after potential financiers rebuffed the original vendor.
Azulstar, a small municipal wireless company based in Michigan, now plans to work on specialized applications on the multifaceted network. The Silicon Valley Metro Connect consortium is seeking another contractor to handle the infrastructure as a whole, said Seth Fearey, vice president and chief operating officer of Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network, a civic group that spearheaded the project.
It's only the latest setback for an ambitious plan that at one time was expected to start rolling out early this year. Fully deployed, the network would cover 1,500 square miles and offer multiple networks to 40 municipalities as well as businesses and consumers. Cisco Systems plans to donate equipment and IBM plans to serve as system integrator. But Azulstar, their partner in Silicon Valley Metro Connect, wasn't able to raise enough money to build the estimated US$100 million network.
Azulstar approached venture capital firms, traditional investment banks and corporations based in the technology-rich region, but found them skittish amid the upheaval in the municipal wireless industry this year, said Tyler van Houwelingen, the company's founder and CEO. EarthLink's drastic cutbacks in its high-profile muni Wi-Fi business, which sank neighboring San Francisco's citywide coverage plans, rocked the industry, he said.
"Everybody in this business is going through the same thing," Houwelingen said.
Azulstar's size may also have been a factor in the fundraising effort, Fearey believes. The company has built a handful of networks around the U.S. but hasn't been one of the big players in the industry.
The search for a new main contractor has halted, for now, the key steps of building test networks and crafting a model contract to take to the many governments in the area, Fearey said. That contract could be fine-tuned to meet the needs of individual cities. His group and Metro Connect have worked out almost all the details of the model agreement, but their negotiations are now on hold, he said. And the new contractor will have to be on board before the two test networks can be built, he added. In September, an executive of Metro Connect forecast that the contract and testbeds would be finished by year's end.
The concept of citywide wireless networks that support themselves through advertising and residential subscriptions has shattered over the past year, replaced by business models that require governments to buy services for their own applications. The backers of the Silicon Valley network have planned from the beginning to attack the problem with variety, potentially including Wi-Fi, WiMax, public safety, in-car, and other networks in several radio bands. Building them all at once, using the same set of mounting locations such as light poles, will lower the overall cost, he said. Cities and agencies in the region are interested in buying services including meter reading and police communications, he said.
Some analysts think the project's organizers have bit off more than they can chew. They might be in a better position today had they started building the network up from an existing system in one city, or at least gotten a few key municipalities to commit to buying services, said Esme Vos, founder of the industry-watching Web site Muniwireless.com. With firm dollar commitments in hand, it would have been easier for them to get investors interested, she said. The way it was done, it's hard to imagine what partner would step up to build and run the network, Vos said.
A new builder-operator wouldn't have to raise $100 million all at once, Joint Venture Silicon Valley's Fearey pointed out. All it would take to get a commercial network off the ground would be $10 million to $20 million, he estimated.
Yet a commercial deployment would only come after tests on the trial network, which would probably last 60 or 90 days. Full commercial network deployment might take 18 months, Fearey said. And even after the model agreement is finished, each municipality will have to approve it, possibly with its own modifications.
The network is intended to be profitable, Fearey said. As a hub of technology pioneers, Silicon Valley is sensitive to the need for a solid business model that lasts, he added. Many local residents enjoyed the Metricom wireless data network in the 1990s until that company went bankrupt and its outdoor radios were left gathering dust, Fearey said.
"They really don't want that to happen again," Fearey said.
Metro Connect could not immediately be reached for comment.
Azulstar, a small municipal wireless company based in Michigan, now plans to work on specialized applications on the multifaceted network. The Silicon Valley Metro Connect consortium is seeking another contractor to handle the infrastructure as a whole, said Seth Fearey, vice president and chief operating officer of Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network, a civic group that spearheaded the project.
It's only the latest setback for an ambitious plan that at one time was expected to start rolling out early this year. Fully deployed, the network would cover 1,500 square miles and offer multiple networks to 40 municipalities as well as businesses and consumers. Cisco Systems plans to donate equipment and IBM plans to serve as system integrator. But Azulstar, their partner in Silicon Valley Metro Connect, wasn't able to raise enough money to build the estimated US$100 million network.
Azulstar approached venture capital firms, traditional investment banks and corporations based in the technology-rich region, but found them skittish amid the upheaval in the municipal wireless industry this year, said Tyler van Houwelingen, the company's founder and CEO. EarthLink's drastic cutbacks in its high-profile muni Wi-Fi business, which sank neighboring San Francisco's citywide coverage plans, rocked the industry, he said.
"Everybody in this business is going through the same thing," Houwelingen said.
Azulstar's size may also have been a factor in the fundraising effort, Fearey believes. The company has built a handful of networks around the U.S. but hasn't been one of the big players in the industry.
The search for a new main contractor has halted, for now, the key steps of building test networks and crafting a model contract to take to the many governments in the area, Fearey said. That contract could be fine-tuned to meet the needs of individual cities. His group and Metro Connect have worked out almost all the details of the model agreement, but their negotiations are now on hold, he said. And the new contractor will have to be on board before the two test networks can be built, he added. In September, an executive of Metro Connect forecast that the contract and testbeds would be finished by year's end.
The concept of citywide wireless networks that support themselves through advertising and residential subscriptions has shattered over the past year, replaced by business models that require governments to buy services for their own applications. The backers of the Silicon Valley network have planned from the beginning to attack the problem with variety, potentially including Wi-Fi, WiMax, public safety, in-car, and other networks in several radio bands. Building them all at once, using the same set of mounting locations such as light poles, will lower the overall cost, he said. Cities and agencies in the region are interested in buying services including meter reading and police communications, he said.
Some analysts think the project's organizers have bit off more than they can chew. They might be in a better position today had they started building the network up from an existing system in one city, or at least gotten a few key municipalities to commit to buying services, said Esme Vos, founder of the industry-watching Web site Muniwireless.com. With firm dollar commitments in hand, it would have been easier for them to get investors interested, she said. The way it was done, it's hard to imagine what partner would step up to build and run the network, Vos said.
A new builder-operator wouldn't have to raise $100 million all at once, Joint Venture Silicon Valley's Fearey pointed out. All it would take to get a commercial network off the ground would be $10 million to $20 million, he estimated.
Yet a commercial deployment would only come after tests on the trial network, which would probably last 60 or 90 days. Full commercial network deployment might take 18 months, Fearey said. And even after the model agreement is finished, each municipality will have to approve it, possibly with its own modifications.
The network is intended to be profitable, Fearey said. As a hub of technology pioneers, Silicon Valley is sensitive to the need for a solid business model that lasts, he added. Many local residents enjoyed the Metricom wireless data network in the 1990s until that company went bankrupt and its outdoor radios were left gathering dust, Fearey said.
"They really don't want that to happen again," Fearey said.
Metro Connect could not immediately be reached for comment.
Oracle buys Dutch apps performance manager Moniforce
Oracle has bought Moniforce, a Dutch vendor of Web application performance management software, for an undisclosed sum.
Moniforce's WebStress and WebProbe software can be used to measure the performance and availability of Web applications from the user's point of view, by monitoring network traffic. It is used by companies such as KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, or food retailer Ahold.
Oracle hopes to use Moniforce's software to add evaluation of the users' experience to the capabilities of its Enterprise Manager application performance management tools, it said Thursday.
Key to this, it said, is a module of Moniforce's software called UXinsight, which can detect errors in application logic. Because of the way it works, it can monitor the performance of custom applications based on Oracle or non-Oracle infrastructure, Oracle said, making it of interest to its integration partners.
Other companies active in this field include Corvil, Quest Software, OpNet and Hewlett-Packard, which acquired some application performance management products when it bought Mercury Interactive last year.
Oracle will retain Moniforce's managers and employees, it said. The companies did not publish financial details of the deal.
Moniforce's WebStress and WebProbe software can be used to measure the performance and availability of Web applications from the user's point of view, by monitoring network traffic. It is used by companies such as KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, or food retailer Ahold.
Oracle hopes to use Moniforce's software to add evaluation of the users' experience to the capabilities of its Enterprise Manager application performance management tools, it said Thursday.
Key to this, it said, is a module of Moniforce's software called UXinsight, which can detect errors in application logic. Because of the way it works, it can monitor the performance of custom applications based on Oracle or non-Oracle infrastructure, Oracle said, making it of interest to its integration partners.
Other companies active in this field include Corvil, Quest Software, OpNet and Hewlett-Packard, which acquired some application performance management products when it bought Mercury Interactive last year.
Oracle will retain Moniforce's managers and employees, it said. The companies did not publish financial details of the deal.
IBM researchers build supercomputer-on-a-chip
Supercomputers may soon be the same size as a laptop if IBM brings to market research detailed on Thursday, in which pulses of light replace electricity to make data transfer between processor cores on a chip up to one-hundred times faster.
The technology, called silicon nanophotonics, replaces some of the wires on a chip with pulses of light on tiny optical fibers for quicker and more power-efficient data transfers between cores on a chip, said Will Green, research scientist at IBM.
The technology, which can transfers data up to a distance of a few centimeters, is about 100 times faster than wires and consumes one-tenth as much power, Green said. The lower power requirement should reduce operational costs for supercomputers, he said.
"The silicon nanophotonic effort is a high-bandwidth, low-power technology for cores to communicate," Green said.
The technical basis of this research is the same science that led to the development of optical fiber and Internet communications. Silicon nanophotonics brings similar optical communication on chips for centimeters instead of miles, Green said.
The improved data bandwidth and power efficiency of silicon nanophotonics will bring massive computing power to desks, Green said. "We'll be able to have hundreds or thousands of cores on a chip," Green said. Users will be able to render virtual worlds in real-time and have a better gaming experience, he said.
Modulators sitting in each core convert light into pulses that travels over optical fibers in the silicon chip. The modulators don't take up too much space on the chip, Green said.
Silicon nanophotonics is part of a long-term research project and could be implemented in chips within 10 to 12 years, he said.
More cores are being added to chips to boost performance, but electrical wiring that connects cores on current chips doesn't transfer data effectively in these situations, Green said. Electrical wiring suffers from overheating and data signals travel only a few millimeters from one core to another before breaking down, Green said. Silicon photonics sends signals for many centimeters in a power-efficient mode without an attempt to reconstruct the signal, Green said.
Though the technology shows potential to replace copper wires for data transfer on chips, electrical wiring still does well over short distances. Copper wire is essential for transistors in chips to communicate, while silicon nanophotonic technology is used for cores to communicate. "We're complementing the capabilities of copper with our optical technology," Green said.
In addition to IBM, there are a couple of start-up companies and labs in the U.S. that are working on silicon nanophotonics technology, Green said. The IBM project was funded partly by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), a division of the U.S. Department of Defense.
The technology, called silicon nanophotonics, replaces some of the wires on a chip with pulses of light on tiny optical fibers for quicker and more power-efficient data transfers between cores on a chip, said Will Green, research scientist at IBM.
The technology, which can transfers data up to a distance of a few centimeters, is about 100 times faster than wires and consumes one-tenth as much power, Green said. The lower power requirement should reduce operational costs for supercomputers, he said.
"The silicon nanophotonic effort is a high-bandwidth, low-power technology for cores to communicate," Green said.
The technical basis of this research is the same science that led to the development of optical fiber and Internet communications. Silicon nanophotonics brings similar optical communication on chips for centimeters instead of miles, Green said.
The improved data bandwidth and power efficiency of silicon nanophotonics will bring massive computing power to desks, Green said. "We'll be able to have hundreds or thousands of cores on a chip," Green said. Users will be able to render virtual worlds in real-time and have a better gaming experience, he said.
Modulators sitting in each core convert light into pulses that travels over optical fibers in the silicon chip. The modulators don't take up too much space on the chip, Green said.
Silicon nanophotonics is part of a long-term research project and could be implemented in chips within 10 to 12 years, he said.
More cores are being added to chips to boost performance, but electrical wiring that connects cores on current chips doesn't transfer data effectively in these situations, Green said. Electrical wiring suffers from overheating and data signals travel only a few millimeters from one core to another before breaking down, Green said. Silicon photonics sends signals for many centimeters in a power-efficient mode without an attempt to reconstruct the signal, Green said.
Though the technology shows potential to replace copper wires for data transfer on chips, electrical wiring still does well over short distances. Copper wire is essential for transistors in chips to communicate, while silicon nanophotonic technology is used for cores to communicate. "We're complementing the capabilities of copper with our optical technology," Green said.
In addition to IBM, there are a couple of start-up companies and labs in the U.S. that are working on silicon nanophotonics technology, Green said. The IBM project was funded partly by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), a division of the U.S. Department of Defense.
Dell closes hardware design unit in India
Dell Inc. will phase out its hardware design unit in Bangalore as it relies more on contract manufacturers capable of doing design to get its products to market.
Dell told employees at a meeting on Tuesday that the center will now focus on software development, and hardware design will be shifted from Bangalore to design centers in Austin and Taiwan, according to sources. Dell had hinted at this move some months ago, and had linked it to Dell's strategy to use more contract manufacturers, or ODMs (Original Design Manufacturers), to design its products, the sources said.
Set up in 2004, the hardware design operation was relatively new in India in comparison to the software development work being done in India by Dell.
A Dell India spokeswoman said on Thursday that the decision to move hardware design out of India reflected a decision by the company to focus on software development, testing, and documentation in India. "This is in line with our higher focus on solutions, which requires a lot of software development," she said.
The company had over 500 staff doing software development and hardware design in India, and of these less than 100 will be affected by the phasing out of hardware design in the country, the spokeswoman said. The hardware design unit had designed a dual-socket server and a storage product, she said.
The Times of India newspaper reported that estimates of the number of people losing their jobs as a result of the shift vary from a few dozen to about 170 people.
Besides software development and hardware design, Dell also has customer support centers in India, that service its customers worldwide. The company announced last year that it plans to double the number of staff it employs in India to 20,000 in three years.
Dell told employees at a meeting on Tuesday that the center will now focus on software development, and hardware design will be shifted from Bangalore to design centers in Austin and Taiwan, according to sources. Dell had hinted at this move some months ago, and had linked it to Dell's strategy to use more contract manufacturers, or ODMs (Original Design Manufacturers), to design its products, the sources said.
Set up in 2004, the hardware design operation was relatively new in India in comparison to the software development work being done in India by Dell.
A Dell India spokeswoman said on Thursday that the decision to move hardware design out of India reflected a decision by the company to focus on software development, testing, and documentation in India. "This is in line with our higher focus on solutions, which requires a lot of software development," she said.
The company had over 500 staff doing software development and hardware design in India, and of these less than 100 will be affected by the phasing out of hardware design in the country, the spokeswoman said. The hardware design unit had designed a dual-socket server and a storage product, she said.
The Times of India newspaper reported that estimates of the number of people losing their jobs as a result of the shift vary from a few dozen to about 170 people.
Besides software development and hardware design, Dell also has customer support centers in India, that service its customers worldwide. The company announced last year that it plans to double the number of staff it employs in India to 20,000 in three years.
AMD slows shipment of Barcelona chips
Agam Shah, IDG News Service, San Francisco Bureau
Advanced Micro Devices on Wednesday said it has delayed volume shipments of its quad-core Opteron processors as it fine-tunes the chip.
AMD located a bug on the chip's L3 memory cache that caused system problems, said Phil Hughes, an AMD spokesman. There are a number of fixes to this problem, including a BIOS fix that AMD has issued, Hughes said.
AMD is working with partners to fine-tune the chip to ready it for mass shipment in the first quarter of 2008. The quad-core Opteron, also called Barcelona, is shipping in limited quantities to customers running high-performance computers, Hughes said.
The delay will affect AMD, which has already lost ground in the server chip market to Intel Corp. in recent quarters. After months of delays, AMD said it had started shipping the Barcelona processor in September.
Intel also took a step ahead of AMD when it launched the 45-nm quad-core Penryn processors last month. AMD still manufactures chips using the 65-nm process.
Advanced Micro Devices on Wednesday said it has delayed volume shipments of its quad-core Opteron processors as it fine-tunes the chip.
AMD located a bug on the chip's L3 memory cache that caused system problems, said Phil Hughes, an AMD spokesman. There are a number of fixes to this problem, including a BIOS fix that AMD has issued, Hughes said.
AMD is working with partners to fine-tune the chip to ready it for mass shipment in the first quarter of 2008. The quad-core Opteron, also called Barcelona, is shipping in limited quantities to customers running high-performance computers, Hughes said.
The delay will affect AMD, which has already lost ground in the server chip market to Intel Corp. in recent quarters. After months of delays, AMD said it had started shipping the Barcelona processor in September.
Intel also took a step ahead of AMD when it launched the 45-nm quad-core Penryn processors last month. AMD still manufactures chips using the 65-nm process.
Microsoft to trial XP on OLPC in January
Microsoft said it plans to conduct field trials in January of Windows XP running on the One Laptop Per Child XO laptop.
The XO laptop ships with a Linux operating system and is meant to be a low-cost machine available to people who live in countries with developing economies. Earlier this year, Microsoft launched its Unlimited Potential program, which allows governments to buy a $3 software bundle designed for students, a move that some observers said would compete with the OLPC initiative.
Looking beyond the OLPC to other small PCs that use flash storage, Microsoft said it plans to publish design guidelines early in 2008 to assist flash-based device makers in building machines that will support Windows.
After the limited field trials beginning in January, Windows XP for the XO could be available in the second half of 2008, Microsoft said.
Versions of the XO PC running Windows won’t be available in the U.S. or Canada, Microsoft said.
Despite the timeline described by Microsoft in an official statement, a Microsoft engineer wrote in a blog post that it’s not certain Windows will become commercially available on the XO. “We have not announced formal plans to support the XO yet, and we will not do so until after we start getting feedback from our first limited field trials starting in January before we make the final call,” he wrote on Wednesday.
The XO laptop ships with a Linux operating system and is meant to be a low-cost machine available to people who live in countries with developing economies. Earlier this year, Microsoft launched its Unlimited Potential program, which allows governments to buy a $3 software bundle designed for students, a move that some observers said would compete with the OLPC initiative.
Looking beyond the OLPC to other small PCs that use flash storage, Microsoft said it plans to publish design guidelines early in 2008 to assist flash-based device makers in building machines that will support Windows.
After the limited field trials beginning in January, Windows XP for the XO could be available in the second half of 2008, Microsoft said.
Versions of the XO PC running Windows won’t be available in the U.S. or Canada, Microsoft said.
Despite the timeline described by Microsoft in an official statement, a Microsoft engineer wrote in a blog post that it’s not certain Windows will become commercially available on the XO. “We have not announced formal plans to support the XO yet, and we will not do so until after we start getting feedback from our first limited field trials starting in January before we make the final call,” he wrote on Wednesday.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)