Enterprise IT

From the perspective of IT users, developer communities and global industry as a whole, IBM may be the worst place for beleaguered Sun Microsystems to land. Sure a merger as is rumored is good -- but not urgently or obviously so -- for IBM. Big Blue gains modest improvement in share of some servers,...

Data loss prevention has traditionally been considered an on-premise activity. Software as a Service, by definition, is not. However, DLP and SaaS represent major trends in email security with high visibility, and they are often driven by corporate initiatives and senior level decision makers. Simil...

Networking giant Cisco Systems continues its aggressive push into the consumer sector with the acquisition of Flip Video camera maker Pure Digital Technologies for a whopping $590 million in stock. "The acquisition of Pure Digital is key to Cisco's strategy to expand our momentum in the media-enable...

Computing giant IBM could be close to buying struggling server maker Sun Microsystems for $7 billion, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Though Sun is best known for making high-end servers, the crown jewel of the company's technology portfolio is its software, especially the widespread Inte...

Privacy rights organization EPIC, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, has asked the Federal Trade Commission to see if Google is misleading consumers. This follows a breach in Google Docs on March 7, which was caused by a software bug that led users to inadvertently share some of their files ...

In my previous column in this space, I examined the trends which are driving IT managers to increasingly embrace Software as a Service solutions to better support their end-users and help their organizations achieve their corporate objectives. A growing number of managed services providers are also ...

Sony CEO Howard Stringer has taken over the stumbling company's main consumer electronics business after removing Ryoji Chubachi from the helm. Stringer, who has been with Sony since 1997 after a long career in television, will replace Chubachi as president. Chubachi has been reassigned; the 32-year...

Rivals Sun Microsystems and HP have inked a new multiyear agreement that enables HP to sell and support Sun's Solaris operating system on HP ProLiant server and blade system computers. The new deal's intent is to increase demand for Solaris on both HP ProLiant servers and server blades in new market...

CEO Steve Ballmer told Wall Street analysts on Tuesday that Microsoft has no intention of making any more job cuts despite the recession's effects on the technology industry. The Street did not respond to the news favorably. Microsoft stock hit an 11-year low. Ballmer also talked about the impending...

Google and Mozilla have formalized their support for the European Union's current antitrust proceedings against Microsoft by acquiring third-party status in the proceedings. They join several other firms that have also entered the fray. The EU is investigating whether Microsoft is violating its anti...

Just a month after saying it had no intention of opening a chain of retail stores, Microsoft has announced plans to do just that. The software giant announced Thursday that it has hired Wal-Mart veteran David Porter to lead the retail effort. Porter will report directly to Kevin Turner, Microsoft's ...

It just goes to show how perplexing the gathering cloud marketplace is that the punditry are hesitant to meaningfully analyze this important development. But Amazon -- with a history of bold and long-term bets -- and IBM -- with a history of making markets whether it's right about the future or not ...

One of the common misconceptions about Software as a Service is that this new approach to software distribution and user adoption is at odds with the preferences and best practices of the IT organization. The reality is that SaaS is increasingly being viewed as a savior for IT. A longstanding goal o...

IBM and Amazon Web Services have inked an agreement to offer Big Blue's software through Amazon's cloud offering. Over the next few months, software images for full production of some of IBM's most popular software will launch in beta. IBM, of course, has a well-established footprint in the cloud an...

IBM has rolled out new products and services -- along with a joint network offering with partner Juniper Networks -- that solidifies its foothold in the enterprise cloud computing space. The IBM-Juniper offering is an infrastructure play targeting IBM's private cloud clients. Specifically, it's a hy...