Verizon has taken yet another “leadership” step in defining how operators see their revenue futures. The company has indicated it would be likely acquiring small software companies to create SaaS offerings hosted on the Verizon cloud. I don’t think that the significance of this move is being appreciated, and so I want to open this…
Taking the Pulse of Tablets
Some data from Nielson suggests that tablet users are perhaps more focused on social media than on streaming video. The data shows that while e-readers outnumber tablets by an enormous margin, people are relatively unlikely to be e-reading while watching TV, but are rather likely (presuming they have a tablet) to be using a tablet. …
The Network Core: Opto-Electrical Wars
The optical networking conference this week is opening some interesting issues about the future of “the core”, and probably even more interesting issues regarding networking overall. While the focus of media coverage has been 100G Ethernet, the real question is how networks are valued, or made valuable. We might call the current situation in the…
Dell, and Netflix: The Meaning
Intel has embarked on what might be the biggest battle of its corporate life, the battle to become relevant in the embedded system and appliance space. While Intel has a license to produce ARM chips, it realizes that exercising it isn’t the answer to getting into the smartphone/tablet space. Not only would it suffer in…
A Tale of Two Companies
HP has lowered its forecast for the year, and the threat of that move that broke yesterday caused tech stocks to shudder. It raises a serious question about just what’s going on in tech, a question that doesn’t have any easy answers. That means the future of tech as we know it may be…well…uneasy. To…
Cloud Musings
A recent research report on cloud computing says that SMB buyers prefer to get their cloud applications from a single provider rather than to mix and match. That’s not surprising given that for over a decade, SMBs have cited difficulties in sustaining strong technology talent as being among their top three tech problems. But it…
Google Boots It’s Chrome OS Launch
Google’s developer conference has generated a flood of news, and that’s a bit of news itself. There was a time when big announcements were linked to industry events like trade shows, but the new trend to link them to developer meetings shows a new dynamic in the industry. Actually, it shows a revalidation of an…
Is There a Future in Your Cisco?
Cisco reported its results, which the Street has described as those of a “company in transition”. I disagree; they’re the results of a market in transition and a company not yet transitioning. The signs of the conditions that have dumped Cisco’s stock and fortunes have been clearly visible for over four years, and alarmingly visible…
The Data Center, and the Life Fabric, of the Future
The big takeaway from Interop so far has been the battle for the data center, which is no surprise given that particular item has been on top of my surveys for both enterprises and service providers for eighteen months or more. Interestingly, the financial analysts aren’t seeing anyone decisively winning that battle—at least not right…
Microsoft/Skype Threats, and a Juniper Exec Defects to the Enemy
Skype and Microsoft? Well, apparently it’s more than just a possibility. There have been rumors swirling around a buyer for Skype for a week or more, but they’ve been just rumors. The possible deal with Microsoft is a lot more than that—Microsoft confirmed it at about 8 AM today. So now, the question is “why?” …