Computerworld IBM News

SAP lays out cloud strategy post-SuccessFactors deal

(Chris Kanaracus) — Tue, 15 May 2012 12:06:00 GMT

SAP announced a broad set of plans to become a player in cloud computing, spanning from a "loosely coupled suite" of business applications to data integration and PaaS (platform as a service) Tuesday during the Sapphire conference in Orlando.

Dell, IBM announce servers with new Intel Xeon chips

(Agam Shah) — Mon, 14 May 2012 15:09:00 GMT

Dell and IBM on Monday announced servers with Intel's latest Xeon server chips, which will bring faster throughput and memory allowing servers to take on more complex workloads while reducing data center costs.

Potential bidding war emerges for Quest Software

(Chris Kanaracus) — Wed, 09 May 2012 15:38:00 GMT

A number of parties have submitted bids to acquire Quest Software, which announced in March that it was going private via a US$2 billion stock buyback in partnership with equity firm Insight Venture Partners.

IBM is on the path to cut its internal apps by 85%

(Patrick Thibodeaau) — Mon, 07 May 2012 10:00:00 GMT

IBM has reduced its number of internal applications by 70%, but that's not enough for CIO Jeanette Horan.

Investors are pouring funds into big data

jvijayan@computerworld.com (Jaikumar Vijayan) — Fri, 04 May 2012 10:05:00 GMT

Surging enterprise demand for big data tools that can manipulate and analyze massive volumes of structured and unstructured data has caught investor attention in a big way.

Teradata to buy marketing tool maker eCircle

(Chris Kanaracus) — Wed, 02 May 2012 13:53:00 GMT

Teradata is planning to acquire digital marketing software maker eCircle in order to augment the capabilities it gained through its 2010 purchase of marketing management vendor Aprimo.

IBM set to replace Siebel with open-source SugarCRM

(Derek du Preez) — Wed, 02 May 2012 07:17:00 GMT

IBM is planning to replace its Siebel-based customer relationship management (CRM) products with software owned by open source software-as-a-service (SaaS) vendor SugarCRM, according to The Wall Street Journal.

New IBM retirement program guarantees job through 2013

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Tue, 01 May 2012 18:00:00 GMT

IBM is offering employees who are nearing retirement -- and may be worried about a layoff -- a one-time voluntary program that would ensure their employment through Dec. 31, 2013.

IBM goes after enterprise mobility projects

(Stephen Lawson) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 19:55:00 GMT

IBM took steps on Monday to help enterprises go mobile, introducing a set of software and services called Mobile Foundation.

AT&T, Google among top lobbying spenders in Q1

(Grant Gross) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:13:00 GMT

AT&T spent nearly $7.1 million on lobbying Congress and President Barack Obama's administration in the first quarter of 2012, making it the leading corporate spender on lobbying, with Google, Comcast and Verizon Communications also making the top five.

Wall Street Beat: Tech earnings offer bright spots

(Marc Ferranti) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:16:00 GMT

With Apple leading the revenue charge midweek and Amazon providing a kick to trading in tech shares Friday morning, bright spots appeared in what has otherwise been a mixed earnings season.

IBM pushes new integrated, lower-cost Linux servers

(Agam Shah) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 19:21:00 GMT

IBM announced new "affordable" Linux servers on Wednesday as the company tries to push its new category of preconfigured servers for virtualization and big data to midmarket and enterprise customers.

Healthcare industry group builds cybersecurity threat center

(Michael Cooney) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:28:00 GMT

Looking to address growing cybersecurity threats in the healthcare industry the Health Information Trust Alliance today said it has established a centralized Cybersecurity Incident Response and Coordination Center where organizations can report incidents and get help remediating electronic medical security problems.

SugarCRM to unveil upgrade to its open-source app

(Chris Kanaracus) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 10:00:00 GMT

SugarCRM is expected to discuss a significant upgrade to its open-source CRM software during the SugarCon event in San Francisco.

IBM on path to cut internal apps by 85%

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:00:00 GMT

IBM has reduced its number of internal applications by 70%, but it's not enough for CIO Jeanette Horan.

Wall Street Beat: Mixed tech earnings get tepid reaction

(Marc Ferranti) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 21:00:00 GMT

Some of the biggest names in IT reported mixed results this week for the first quarter, leading to a dip in tech stocks Friday even as some major indexes showed gains for other sectors.

Amazon Web Services offers one-click purchase of cloud apps from IBM, SAP, others

(Chris Kanaracus) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 13:06:00 GMT

Amazon Web Services on Thursday announced a new online marketplace that allows customers to buy software and services from a variety of vendors at hourly rates through its cloud infrastructure platform.

IBM posts flat revenue, falling hardware sales

(Joab Jackson) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 23:44:00 GMT

While IBM continues to financially excel at selling software and systems, its hardware revenue for the past three months has been sluggish, according to the latest quarterly results posted by IBM on Tuesday. The hardware results didn't help the company's overall revenue, which was flat for the quarter.

Rackspace launches new OpenStack-based cloud portfolio

(Ted Samson) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:11:00 GMT

Company unveils array of new services, including a MySQL offering optimized for the cloud

IBM acquires BI software maker Varicent

(Joab Jackson) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 14:54:00 GMT

Adding to its already considerable line of analysis software and expertise, IBM announced Friday that it has acquired business intelligence software provider Varicent Software.

Keep Your Website Off of Google's Naughty List

(Angela West) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:14:00 GMT

Google's principal engineer, Matt Cutts, dropped serious hints in March about an imminent change to Google's algorithm that will penalize websites for being "overly optimized". Unfortunately, he didn't specify exactly what "overly optimized" means, or when this big shift will come--but you'd be wise to prepare your website now.

IBM unveils new line of integrated systems

(Joab Jackson) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 04:03:00 GMT

Anticipating a growing need for larger preconfigured systems, IBM has unveiled a new product line of integrated sets of IBM hardware and software, called PureSystems.

SAP lays out plans to become big player in databases, mobile

(Chris Kanaracus) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 19:47:00 GMT

SAP made a series of announcements on Tuesday as part of its bid to become a high-profile player in the database market alongside the likes of Oracle and IBM.

IBM aiming to provide womb-to-tomb app development support

(Brad Reed) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 15:23:00 GMT

IBM is trying to replicate the success it's had with WebSphere in the mobile market.

IBM CIO embraces BYOD movement

(Chris Kanaracus) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 10:00:00 GMT

As IBM's CIO, Jeanette Horan oversees a range of big IT projects, but one of the most pressing is the company's ongoing rollout of a program to enable all employees to use personal devices on the job. Insider (registration required)

Report: IBM, Red Hat to join OpenStack

(Brandon Butler) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 22:32:00 GMT

IBM and Red Hat could soon be joining the ranks of OpenStack supporters, giving the open source cloud project a big boost.

CDT: Cybersecurity bills raise major civil liberties concerns

(Grant Gross) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 19:16:00 GMT

A group of cybersecurity bills that the U.S. Congress may soon vote on contain serious privacy and civil liberties flaws, with some of the bills allowing private companies to share a wide range of their customers' online communications with government agencies, the Center for Democracy and Technology said.

Data analytics driving medical breakthroughs

(Esther Shein) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 10:00:00 GMT

Big data and other technologies are poised to start saving lives and enhancing quality of life for sick patients.

SAP goes after SAS, IBM with predictive analytics software

(Chris Kanaracus) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:52:00 GMT

SAP is hoping to stake out some turf in the predictive analytics software market with a new application, BusinessObjects Predictive Analysis software, which was announced Tuesday.

Microsoft counted as key Linux contributor, for now anyway

(Joab Jackson) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:43:00 GMT

For the first time ever, and probably only temporarily, Microsoft can be counted as a key contributor to Linux.

IBM releases DB2 version 10, the first big upgrade in four years

(Joab Jackson) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 04:07:00 GMT

Sensing a change in the way customers store and analyze data, IBM has updated its flagship DB2 relational database management software to handle a wider range of data processing duties. The company has also updated its InfoSphere data warehouse software, IBM announced Tuesday.

IBM to develop telescope data analysis system

(Joab Jackson) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 04:05:00 GMT

IBM is developing new data management and analysis technologies for what will be the world's largest radio telescope. The Square Kilometre Array, due to become operational in 2024, will produce so much data that even tomorrow's off-the-shelf computers will have difficulty processing all of it, the company predicted.

As 60th anniversary nears, tape reinvents itself

lmearian@computerworld.com (Lucas Mearian) — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 10:06:00 GMT

Digital tape media will turn 60 in May, and while tape sales are on the decline, new open file specifications like LTFS and new markets could revive tape for the long term.

IBM CIO discusses Big Blue's BYOD strategy

(Chris Kanaracus) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:18:00 GMT

IBM CIO Jeanette Horan has plenty of IT projects and systems to worry about, but perhaps one of the most pressing and timely is Big Blue's ongoing BYOD (bring your own device) rollout, which is aimed at including all of the company's 440,000 employees over time.

IBM's Watson expands cancer care resume

lmearian@computerworld.com (Lucas Mearian) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 19:28:00 GMT

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center has brought IBM's Watson supercomputer onboard to help it diagnose and treat cancer patients, just a few months after Watson was hired by Cedars-Sinai for the same purpose.

Facebook reportedly buys IBM patents

(Nancy Gohring) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 03:01:00 GMT

Facebook has reportedly acquired patents from IBM, a move that could help it shore up defenses against new patent infringement lawsuits ahead of its IPO.

AMD's new CEO likes basketball and the chip maker's future

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 10:59:00 GMT

Since being hired last August, Rory Read, Advanced Micro Devices CEO, has been reshaping the company.

IBM unveils new analysis packages

(Joab Jackson) — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 04:10:00 GMT

IBM has unveiled three packages of services and software to help organizations analyze their data for profit and improved efficiency.

SAP ports HANA database to financial planning app

(Chris Kanaracus) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 16:02:00 GMT

SAP on Tuesday further expanded the reach of its HANA in-memory database, announcing that HANA now supports the 10.0 version of its BusinessObjects financial planning and consolidation application running on NetWeaver.

Storage software sales hit all-time record highs

lmearian@computerworld.com (Lucas Mearian) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 18:23:00 GMT

The sales of storage software in 2011 produced record revenues of more than $14 billion, IDC said.

IBM user group: 75% of companies aren't collecting social media information

(Jon Gold) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 17:46:00 GMT

A recent survey of the IBM SHARE user group found just 25% of respondents were collecting data from social media networks for business purposes, though many more are apparently planning to do so in the near future.

Review: HP, IBM, CA deliver highly scalable network management suites

(Barry Nance) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 14:01:00 GMT

A network that measures downtime in millions of dollars per minute (or per second!) needs a serious, enterprise-level network management tool. Nothing less will do. Insider (registration required)

IBM touts its quantum computing advance

lmearian@computerworld.com (Lucas Mearian) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 10:00:00 GMT

Scientists at IBM Research say they have achieved a major breakthrough in quantum computing that will allow engineers to begin creating a full-scale quantum machine.

If the Dow had chosen Apple instead of Cisco

(Paul McNamara) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 04:34:00 GMT

After the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed over 13,000 recently, San Jose Mercury News columnist Mike Cassidy made an impassioned case for including Apple in the index, a position he buttressed in part by citing an analysis by Adam Nash of Greylock Partners.

Nvidia's embrace of Linux Foundation spotlights open source's growing status

(Jon Gold) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 16:48:00 GMT

The announcement this week that chipmaker Nvidia is among the latest crop of companies to join the Linux Foundation is a sign of the growing importance of open source to the business sector -- and a reversal for a firm that, traditionally, hasn't been counted among the stalwarts of that community.

Watson clones could be delivered through the cloud

(Brandon Butler) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 16:44:00 GMT

IBM, whose Watson computer system last year famously beat two of the "Jeopardy!" game show's top contestants, is now looking to deliver the AI-powered computer framework through the cloud.

IBM moves 1Tbps of data on an optical chip

(John Ribeiro) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 09:32:00 GMT

IBM researchers have developed a prototype optical chip that can transfer data at 1Tbps (terabit per second), the equivalent of downloading 500 high-definition movies, using light pulses, the company said Thursday.

Apple's "new iPad": Too late to be corporate game changer

(Scott Bradner) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 22:30:00 GMT

It's been a hard few years for we-control-everything corporate IT departments as well as for the "Microsoft is the answer, what was your question?" approach to corporate computing. It has also been a while since corporate IT departments have had to deal with a new reality that completely changed how they interact with their users.

IBM: Cloud deployment low now but won't stay that way

(Brandon Butler) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 14:20:00 GMT

A new survey from IBM finds that while only 13% of businesses have substantially implemented cloud-based offerings, they are expected to grow to 41% in three years.

Dell: U.S. job growth is in services, not manufacturing

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 12:10:00 GMT

Michael Dell, the chairman of the company that bears his name, does not see manufacturing as a big job creator for the U.S. To him, job growth will be in services and adoption of new technologies