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January 25, 2013

News for software and services professionals

Today's Software Buzz

PC firms try to set their products apart with software
Google and Microsoft have made strides in hardware, prompting Asian PC firms such as Acer, Asus Computer and Lenovo Group to seek to differentiate their products through software. The trend is also taking hold at contract electronics manufacturers, Eva Dou and Aries Poon write. The Wall Street Journal/Digits blog (1/25)

Cloud Computing

Competition helps drive cloud firms forward
Competition and demand for better technologies is spurring cloud providers to add products and look to emerging markets, Technology Business Research says. "For Salesforce and other public cloud pure plays, this maturation ... is grounded in the strategy that you can't be reliant on one offering for too long," TBR's Allan Krans says. Network World (1/24)

Microsoft cites higher revenue, lower profit in fiscal Q2
Microsoft said net income for its fiscal second quarter was down 3.7%, but revenue increased 2.7%, driven largely by corporate customers. Expenses for sales and marketing were up 15% as the company launched Windows 8 and its Surface tablet. Bloomberg (1/25) , The Seattle Times (1/24)

Mobile & Wireless

Software-maker Ivona is acquired by Amazon
Amazon has purchased Ivona Software, which supplies text-to-speech technology used in the Kindle Fire, for an undisclosed amount. Ivona provides products and services in 17 languages, using 44 voices, to thousands of clients worldwide, Amazon says. The Wall Street Journal (1/24)

Ubuntu smartphone OS needs app developers, Canonical says
Canonical says it's seeking application developers for its pending Ubuntu operating system for smartphones. The company wants basic and advanced apps, including a calculator, a calendar, document viewers, RSS readers and social networking. ZDNet (1/24)

Security & Privacy

Big Data privacy issues get attention from FTC, Senate committee
The ways that data brokers use consumer information have caught the attention of the Federal Trade Commission and the Senate Commerce Committee, Kenneth Corbin writes. "The power of Big Data is the ability to make inferences on, you know, reasonably fine-grained groups of people. And that's the very thing that causes the privacy violation as well," the FTC's Paul Ohm says. CIO.com (1/24)

Report: Barracuda devices are vulnerable to attacks
Several Barracuda Networks devices are vulnerable to backdoor attacks, security firm SEC Consult says. The flaws were confirmed by Barracuda, and it's advising users to update firmware and security definitions. CIO.com/IDG News Service (1/24) , InformationWeek (1/24)

Government IT

Napolitano: Prepare now for a 9/11-level cyberincident
A "cyber 9/11" that disables critical infrastructure in the U.S. is a significant risk, Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano says. "We shouldn't wait until there is a 9/11 in the cyber world. There are things we can and should be doing right now that, if not prevent, would mitigate the extent of damage," Napolitano says. Reuters (1/24)

SIIA News

Join our Roundtable Breakfast on Enterprise Cloud Adoption for Success
Join us Feb. 8 in Palo Alto, Calif., to share your ideas on how to respond to enterprise demands and accelerate your prospect's decision to sign up with you versus "the other guys." Whether it's making your service delivery more transparent without compromising security, business outcome based SLAs, consumption based dynamic billing, or performance measurement by third party providers, cloud service providers are coming up with innovative ways to satisfy enterprise demand for more transparency & manageability of cloud services. Space is limited so register today.

Critical Success Factors for an Enterprise Mobile Strategy
Organizations must fully develop an enterprise mobile strategy that considers both employee and customer facing aspects of today's continually expanding use of mobile technologies. It is important to consider the customer experience as they launch new products, services, and applications. Listen to this pre-recorded webcast featuring Grant Thornton as they share their experience of working with a broad array of companies highlighting the leading practices and some of the pitfalls that companies should guard against.

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