Archive for RB

| May 7, 2011
Comments Off on Tech World Financial Results

Tech World Financial Results

FMoney Makes the Tech World Gou Roundoxconn, Microsoft and Intel just reported financial results, and things look different. Apple is more profitable than Microsoft, MSFT’s most profitable division are toys and Intel says server growth for the mobile web is driving its growth.

Foxconn financial results

Foxconn financial results Jump in 2010the world’s manufacturer of all things tech recently posted its latest earnings report. TechEye points out that despite inconveniences like having to pay workers a slightly larger pittance and give them better working conditions, Foxconn has announced a 53% rise in consolidated revenues for 2010. Terry Gou‘s company’s gross profit for the twelve months increased by 58.5% to NT$100.9 billion from NT$63.6 billion in 2009.

Digitimes says the figures are all better than market watchers’ forecasts. Market watchers originally expected rising labor and component costs would seriously impact Foxconn’s profitability in 2010, but the company’s strong revenues last year still managed to boost its overall profitability despite a drop of 1.37 percentage points in its gross margin from the 2009 level to 8.15%.

Microsoft

Windows Sales Down Microsoft Profits Up 31%Microsoft’s (MSFT) profits grew 3% during its fiscal 3rd quarter ending March 31, 2011. During this period, the software giant racked up $5.23 billion in profits, while revenues reached $16.43 billion, a 13 percent climb. These profits came thanks to strong performance from some nontraditional divisions.

MSFT’s Entertainment and Devices Division provided the biggest revenue gain. The home of Xbox and Kinect, Ballmer’s boys motion-sensing game controller increased sales by 60 percent to $1.94 billion.  This is the smallest of Microsoft’s product divisions so it only generated 11.8 percent of overall sales. According to CNET. Kinect drove sales, selling 2.4 million units in the quarter according to the New York Times. CNET reports the company sold 2.7 million Xbox 360 consoles in the quarter, a 79 percent increase from last year.

Microsoft‘s second-largest revenue generator this quarter was the Windows and Windows Live Division which had revenue of $4.45 billion. This represents a 4 percent decrease from last year’s $4.65 billion and net income fell 10 percent. According to CNET Redmond says Windows is the fastest-selling operating system in history with 350 million licenses sold.

The Server and Tools Division saw the next best performance. The home to Windows Server had sales of $4.1 billion, up 11 percent from a year ago. Profit for the unit climbed 12 percent. CNET says business adoption of Windows Server, SQL Server and System Center lifted the division’s results.

At the Business Division, home of Office, Microsoft’s revenue grew 21 percent from last year according to the NYT. The NYT says the company’s Office software has no significant competition revenue grew to $5.25 billion. Office 2010 is the fastest-selling version of Office ever, Microsoft said, with businesses deploying the software at five times the rate of its predecessor.

Microsoft’s smallest revenue generator the Online Services Division, home of Bing gained 14 percent in revenue to $648 million from $566 million.TechEye reports that Bing increased its share of the search market but Microsoft spent so much on promotion the division saw operating losses of over $700 million. Ballmer’s partners are not happy with these results.  Two years ago, Microsoft and Yahoo inked a deal to use MSFT technologies for Yahoo’s search to help both fight off rival Google. However, Yahoo’s chief executive, Carol A. Bartz, said that the partnership had not yielded the expected financial results for Yahoo and that technical glitches by Microsoft were to blame according to the NYT.

Intel

Chip giant Intel (INTC) has finally found a way into the mobile market. After years of trying to get its Atom chips into mobile devices, they are profiting from the demand for servers to feed the mobile devices. Intel Chief Financial Officer Stacy Smith told Bloomberg that the spread of mobile devices fuels “explosive” growth for processors used in data centers. “There’s a significant, maybe even an insatiable, demand driver for more and more performance and computing power that’s moving into the cloud,” Mr. Smith told Bloomberg. “What gets lost is the explosive growth of all of these devices connecting to the Internet is driving a $10 billion dollar server business.” Intel recently reported that its second-quarter revenue will be $1 billion more than analysts had estimated, in part driven by the data center boom.

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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| May 6, 2011
Comments Off on Obituary for a Former Network Force Novell

Obituary for a Former Network Force Novell

Obituary for a Former Network ForceNetworking pioneer Novell ceased trading on NASDAQ 04-27-11 and will be delisted, which is a sad ending for an outfit that was once one of the big names in networking. Novell completed its previously announced merger, whereby Attachmate bought it for $6.10 per share in cash and the sale of certain identified issued patents and patent applications to CPTN Holdings for $450 million in cash. Attachmate, which started as a terminal emulation company (I spent a lot of time configuring the green screen emulator as a newbie network guy) in 1982, is privately held. ZDNet says the primary owners are the private equity firms Francisco Partners, Golden Gate Capital, and Thoma Bravo. The Attachmate side of the company still works in X Window and terminal emulation.

Novell logoWhen the company started up in Utah in 1979, it was a hardware company making CP/M based gear and had to be rescued from bankruptcy by a last-minute fund-raising effort. In January 1983, Ray Noorda headed the firm and introduced the multi-platform network operating system (NOS), Novell NetWare.  Originally NetWare ran on a Motorola 6800 CPU supporting 6 MUX ports per board for a maximum of 4 boards per server using a star topology with twisted-pair cabling.  Novell based its network protocol on Xerox Network Systems (XNS), and developed what it called the internetwork packet exchange (IPX) and sequenced packet exchange (SPX).

By 1990, Novell was the only choice for any company which wanted to run a network. In 1993, the company bought Unix System Laboratories from AT&T (T), with the idea of challenging Microsoft. The next year it bought WordPerfect, as well as Quattro Pro from Borland to give it an Office package. Taking on Microsoft (MSFT) did not work out so Novell sold off WordPerfect and Borland off by 1996.

Novell tries to buy its way into new markets

Attachmate logoIn 1996 it pushed into internet-enabled products and a TCP/IP stack. The result was the excellent NetWare v5.0 (Which I installed over 30 of), released in October 1998. But by 1999 Novell had lost its dominant market position, and was continually being out-marketed by Microsoft. Novell focused on net services and platform interoperability, but products like DirXML, failed to set the world alight. Between 2002 and 2003, Novell tried to buy its way into new fields, particularly Linux in November 2003, Novell acquired SuSE.

Although Novell did not stop releasing products, it did not do as well as it hoped. Its Linux business grew slowly but not enough to make up for the lack of revenue from Netware. It then scored its own goal by signing a deal with Microsoft to cover patents on Linux. This angered the Open Source community, which had seen itself at war with Microsoft. In November 2010 Novell agreed to be acquired by Attachmate for $2.2 billion. Attachmate said it will split Novell into two units, one being SUSE.

Less than a week after completing its acquisition of Novell, Attachmate has laid off as many as 700 to 800 of Novell’s employees. According to Utah’s Daily Herald, many of the jobs that are being lost will be in the human resources, finance, accounting, and legal departments, as well as under-performing departments.

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In the interests of full disclosure, I do did hold Certified Novell Engineer certifications CNE3, CNE4, and CNE5 certs. Now that the deals are done, we’ll have to see if Attachmate lives up to its promises to keep supporting NetWare and Linux.

What do you think?

Does Novell even matter anymore?

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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| May 4, 2011
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Another Go at Virtualization

Another Go at VirtualizationA New York start-up called NeverWare is trying to break the Microsoft (MSFT) upgrade loop. Each time a new version of Windows is released, many computer users find that their hardware is suddenly outdated. NeverWare is targeting cash-strapped schools that cannot afford to upgrade to the latest hardware with each major Microsoft software release. NeverWare is offering a possible solution a virtualization server that lets even decade-old PCs upgrade to the latest Windows 7 operating system reports MIT’s Technology Review.

Neverware logoTechnology Review says that the NeverWare server, called the JuiceBox a100, does the hard work of running the latest operating systems for many aging computers on the same network. To users of those old computers, it will feel as if the PCs are running the latest version of Windows, when in fact they are accessing it over the network. Their typing and mouse commands are sent to the software on the server, and the imagery for their display is sent back. This is called virtualization.

Once connected to a JuiceBox virtualization server, a PC doesn’t even need a hard drive, or any local software at all according to the article. NeverWare’s founder, Jonathan Hefter, says a 10-year-old desktop computer running Windows 98 would work just fine. He’s targeting the U.S. education market and institutions in the developing world with the technology. “Schools can’t afford to upgrade PCs, and developing countries can’t afford PCs, so if we can use the power of the cloud, we can move to a more efficient model of computing, Mr.  Hefter says. Several New Jersey schools. are testing JuiceBox servers to power networks of desktops in two

NComputing logoAnother company, NComputing, also uses servers to offer “virtual desktops” to multiple users and supplies its technology to some schools around the world. Mr. Hefter says in the article that, NComputing’s approach requires a new device that links a user’s keyboard, mouse, and monitor to a distant server over the Web. He claims that one NeverWare JuiceBox is larger than an NComputing device, but then it only takes one JuiceBox to “upgrade” a network of tens of computers.

Joyojeet Pal, professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Washington, thinks NeverWare’s approach has potential. “What this project seems to offer is an alternative to an online operating system like Google’s (GOOG) Chrome OS,” Mr. Pal says. Google’s approach requires users to use Web versions of software packages, rather than providing access to traditional software. However, Mr. Pal says, the cost of maintaining an outdated machine could still be considerable due to the need for repairs and labor, for example.

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Mr. Hefter is right with his comparison of US education and third wold education. The way the Republicans are attacking teachers and ravaging budgets the third-world nations will soon be better off.

Thin clients and virtual desktops have been around for a long time. It may stick this time because the economics are right and the technology is adequate.

What do you think?

Has the time of virtual desktops finally arrived?

Is it because of the technology? The economics?

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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| May 2, 2011
Comments Off on Mattel Upgrades Hot Wheels

Mattel Upgrades Hot Wheels

Mattel Upgrades Hot WheelsI know it sounds like I am being a cranky, jealous old geezer, but how else should I react to Mattel‘s (MAT) 21st-century upgrade to the venerable Hot Wheels lineup? At CES 2011, Mattel demo-d the Hot Wheels Video Racer. The Hot Wheels Video Racer upgrades everyone’s favorite die-cast cars by adding a VGA video camera built-in to capture the action.

Mattel Hot Wheels logo According to Engadet the small car houses 512MB of storage, which can hold 12 minutes of video, at up to 60 frames per second. The New York Times says the onboard memory can either be played back without sound at low quality from postage-stamp-sized LCD screen (there are no speakers) or, at higher quality and sound, on your Mac or Windows computer by way of the USB cable. The USB cable is also used to charge the car’s internal batter

The camera is easy to use, reports the NYT, first you start the camera, then let the car rip down the track just as you would any other Hot Wheels car. You can then replay the ride as if you were behind the wheel. You see the tunnels, loops, and the crash at the end when your car flies off the table. Because there are no moving parts, there’s little to break ensuring a twisted first-hand view of the run down the track.

Hot Wheels Video Racer

Mattel also provides a protective case so the cam can be Velcroed to a skateboard, helmet, or Fluffy the cat to record off-track action. They also have included a basic kid-friendly editing package for the PC so the Video Racer’s run down the orange track, under the couch, and past the dog can be made into the movie masterpieces it should be. The software can edit in scene transitions, add special effects and music to spice up the video reports Ubergizmo.

Engadet says the rig will retail for $60 in the fall of 2011, just in time for Christmas 2011 for all the good little boys and not so little boys. The package includes the rubberized mini USB to USB cord for connecting the cam to a Microsoft (MSFT) Windows or an Apple (AAPL) Macintosh computer and PC editing software.

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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| April 30, 2011
Comments Off on IPv4 Address Grey Market Emerges

IPv4 Address Grey Market Emerges

IPv4 Address Grey Market Emerges

The UK’s Register reports that depletion of the world’s IPv4 address space is spawning a new development in the Internet address space, IPv4 address trading. According to the Register, German Python developer Martin von Loewis launched a site called Tradipv4.com in March. The site is offering IPv4 addresses for $3 for v4 addresses in American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)  and $4 for those in the Asia Pacific Network Information Center (APNIC) region.

TradeIPv4IPv4 address trading, however, is still a grey market idea now. FireceTelecom reports that to make sure that unmanaged address transfers don’t compromise network operations or security, the Internet Society (ISOC) said that buyers and sellers should make sure any “transfers be affected per appropriate Regional Internet Registry (RIR) processes.” Citing its own estimate of prices reaching $11 per address, ISOC said, “We strongly urge that such transfers be affected per appropriate RIR processes.” Unmanaged address transfers will undermine network operations, and it could raise security issues since anonymous address spaces can be spoofed according to ISOC.

On their FAQ page, Tradeip4.com says its auctions can cover both the sale and lease of addresses, subject to RIR policies. Some of these policies, the site notes, have grey areas. For example, APNIC policy aims to discourage address transfer by applying what amounts to a 12-month embargo on the originating party receiving new addresses. However, Tradeip4.com dismisses this as irrelevant, since APNIC’s space is exhausted and no new blocks are being assigned according to FierceTelecom. Despite these concerns, Tradeip4.com, maintains that it can sell and lease IPv4 addresses and maintains that it follows RIR policies.

Internet SocietyThis is not just an SMB issue Microsoft (MSFT), recently bought Nortel’s IPv4 addresses (Which I wrote about here). Craig Labovitz, Chief Scientist for network security vendor Arbor Networks, told FierceTelecom that Nortel’s deal with Microsoft reflects how IPv4 depletion is becoming a more pressing issue, now that IPv4 is a scarce resource.

IPv4 addresses have not been a scarce resource and no one has had to pay more, but what really is starting to change is Microsoft spending money to buy Nortel’s IPv4 address space.  For the first time, there’s now a price associated with V4, and one you have a price you start having providers charge for it and start seeing people having a reason to care.

The Register article notes that the Canadian government, via its Industry Canada department, is also against the trade of IPv4 addresses, and it has weighed in on the sale of Nortel’s addresses to Microsoft. In a letter discussed on CircleID, Industry Canada expressed its support for the long-standing position that addresses are not property and therefore cannot be traded.

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I see several problems with the  IPv4 grey market. Trading in IPv4 is just another sign of resistance to IPv6. Firms with a global view have to realize that the reallocation of a handful of IPv4 will not make a difference in an IPv6 world. Another issue could be the routability of an IPv4 address originally assigned to APIC and traded on the grey market to RIPE. Right now there is no guarantee that these types of addresses will be recognized. There are also political issues, the Canadian government opposes the IP grey market. Industry Canada has expressed its support for the long-standing position that addresses are not property and therefore cannot be traded.

The ISOC says IPv4 addresses are worth $11.00, MSFT paid $11.25 and ARIN addresses are now (04-30-11) trading $7.00 per IP. on tradeipv4.com so MSFT appears to have overpaid for the Nortel address range. The bigger issue is the change in the nature of an IP address.

What do you think?

Are grey market IPv4 addresses worth it?

Has your firm started its transition to IPv6?

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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