News Desk

Cloud Expo NY: Predictive Analytics Leads to Successful Recommendations

Fri, 18 May 2012 16:00:00 EDT

Businesses today generate billions of events or 100s of TBs of data in a month. These data contain valuable insights into customer behavior, key trends, buying patterns, etc. If these are successfully mined, they can lead to successful decision-making to maximize revenue and traffic for the business. Successfully driving a business is only partly about understanding what happened; the other part lies in knowing what’s going to happen next. In order to use past data and predict future events, there needs to be sufficient technology that is not merely extrapolating events. Powerful machine learning algorithms in association with combinatorial and graph algorithms are imperative to make accurate predictions about future events based on cross-dimensional correlations within the data, time-event correlations and recognizing patterns that would not be identified or understood using standard statistical, AI or Bayesian techniques. Handling the scale and the complex relationships within the data requires purpose-built algorithms that are specially designed to handle the needs of online businesses.

Google Moves to Get Around ‘Google’s Pet’ Issue

Fri, 18 May 2012 15:18:00 EDT

Google has reportedly figured out a way to sort of avoid looking like it’s playing favorites if the Chinese ever decide to let it take over Motorola Mobility. With Jelly Bean, the next version of Android, the Wall Street Journal says it’s changed its strategy. Rather than work with just one Android pet on so-called “lead devices” before releasing the software to other OEMs, it’s going to work with as many as five vendors that will get early access to the code and also get to send their developers to the Googleplex to work shoulder-to-shoulder with Google and Google’s other pets.

Cloud Expo New York: Industry-Leading CxOs to Present June 11-14

Fri, 18 May 2012 15:15:00 EDT

What do the CTOs of the CIA and the U.S. Dept. of Justice and the CIO of the National Reconnaissance Office have in common with the CEOs of Eucalyptus, GoGrid, ActiveState, Appcara, OpSource and Nortonworks, the CTOs of Rackspace, SoftLayer and AppZero, the Founder & General Manager of Dell Boomi, the VP of Big Data & Streams at IBM and the Chief Strategy Officer at Pacific Controls? Answer: all are shortly to present breakout sessions as members of the distinguished Speaker Faculty of Cloud Expo New York, taking place June 11-14, 2012, at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City.

SilkRoad Rakes in More Funding Ahead of IPO

Fri, 18 May 2012 14:42:00 EDT

SilkRoad Technology, the aptly named competitor of, say, the up-and-coming Workday that peddles cloud-based social talent management solutions, has topped up its funding with another reportedly oversubscribed $35 million round. That makes an incredible $162 million since 2003. The latest money comes from new investors Keating Capital and NTT Finance along with existing investors Intel Capital, Crosslink Capital, Foundation Capital, Azure Capital and Tenaya Capital, among others. It’s supposed to support worldwide expansion and product innovation ahead of a potential IPO this year or next.

Best Buy Chairman to Step Down After Probe

Fri, 18 May 2012 13:47:00 EDT

Best Buy founder and its largest shareholder Richard Schulze, 71, will be stepping down as chairman June 21 after a board investigation found he didn’t disclose CEO Brian Dunn’s “extremely close personal relationship” with a 29-year-old female employee to the board’s audit committee. Instead, based on an informant’s written testimony and ignoring possible liabilities to the company, he confronted Dunn who denied it. Dunn and the woman maintained to investigators that their relationship wasn’t “romantic or otherwise improper” – although he called her 33 times, sent 149 text messages and 42 pictures or video messages during two trips abroad last year and she wasn’t discrete among co-workers about favors he did for her like soliciting a vendor for a ticket to a concert in Vegas and helping her pay for the trip.

Cloud Expo New York: A Blueprint for Organizational Agility

Fri, 18 May 2012 13:06:00 EDT

We are a part of a dynamically connected world where consumers are rapidly adopting new technology and dismantling business models in their wake. Disruption, unpredictability and variability happen without warning. The challenge for any organization is to evolve, to adopt new architectures and processes that increase business agility, scalability and governance/compliance and decrease risk. While cloud is complex, the consideration and adoption process can be simplified. In his general session at the 10th International Cloud Expo, Kevin Hanes, Executive Director, Dell Service & Solutions, will talk about a pragmatic approach to realizing the potential of cloud today while building a strong foundation for the future.

Facebook: $38 to $38 in 20 Minutes

Fri, 18 May 2012 12:35:00 EDT

Facebook, which had jaundiced New Yorkers congregating in Times Square to see what would happen, opened a half-hour late Friday at around 11:30am at $42.05, up around 11%, hovered there briefly and then proceeded to drop back to its $38 IPO price within 20 minutes. It then started to get a little support and, without going negative (yet), at noontime in New York the stock was trading at $39 and change. Its execution leaves Linux Systems’ phenomenal record IPO rise untouched. The open was reportedly delayed because of trouble canceling and changing orders and after the open the Nasdaq was having trouble delivering execution confirmations, which may be impacting the stock’s performance. More broadly it’s a terrible day on Wall Street.

Cloud Computing Standards | CTO Power Panel at Cloud Expo New York

Fri, 18 May 2012 11:30:00 EDT

In this CTO Power Panel at the 10th International Cloud Expo, chaired by Jeremy Geelan, industry-leading CTOs & VPs of Technology will discuss such topics as: Which do you think is the most important cloud computing standard still to tackle? Who should and shouldn’t be using a PaaS product today, and why? Can a public cloud ever be truly secure? How important is open source to cloud computing and Big Data? "Mission-critical apps are now safe in the cloud." True or false? In your company how important a component is mobility in your cloud thinking? If we now have "elastic IT" does that mean you view yourself as an "elastic CTO"???

HTC Phones Cool Their Heels in US Customs Due to Ban

Fri, 18 May 2012 11:30:00 EDT

Shipments of two new HTC smartphones have been seized for inspection by US Customs because of the limited import ban Apple got from the International Trade Commission in mid-December. HTC was found to have infringed an Apple patent on “data tapping.” That’s when you, say, tap on a phone number and the dingus dials it for you. The Taiwan company wouldn’t be in this predicament if it had followed through on its initial decision to just rip the functionality out. Instead it ultimately decided on a workaround and the customs people are checking to see if it’s abiding by the rules. That means that the HTC One X that AT&T just started selling out of shipments that beat the ban’s April 19 enforcement date is now listed as “out of stock” and the HTC Evo 4G LTE that Sprint was to start selling this Friday has been put on hold. Sprint is taking pre-orders.

Citrix Buys Virtual Computer

Fri, 18 May 2012 11:06:00 EDT

Citrix has acquired Virtual Computer, a little Massachusetts outfit with enterprise-scale management solutions for client-side virtualization. It means to combine the acquisition’s NxTop widgetry with its XenClient hypervisor to create a new Citrix XenClient Enterprise edition that can manage “large fleets” of corporate laptops across a distributed enterprise and give users a virtual desktop “to go.” It’s due this quarter as a standalone product at a reported $175 a user. Citrix said it’s getting the management piece faster by buying it. Virtual Computer has historically focused on solutions for Xen-based client hypervisors. Its technology includes backup, disaster recovery, provisioning, security and monitoring capabilities. The merger also promises greater integration between XenClient and XenDesktop.

Leveraging the Cloud for Better User Experience at Cloud Expo New York

Fri, 18 May 2012 10:45:00 EDT

The cloud has many benefits, but when it comes to application development, how does the cloud help enterprises and development teams create custom software and applications that end users actually care about? Using real world examples from Adobe, Herff Jones and Navy Federal Credit Union, this session will highlight the advantages cloud computing provides for quickly developing custom software and applications with compelling user experiences. In their general session at the 10th International Cloud Expo, Anthony Franco, president of EffectiveUI, and Ken Guiberson, CTO of EffectiveUI, will explore: Using the flexible nature of cloud computing to rapidly design and deploy integrated enterprise applications Leveraging the cloud for a highly visible and transparent development process Using a service-oriented architecture (SOA) to create a hybrid cloud

SHI Coupon Code ▸ shiVIPgold Special Offer as Cloud Expo Sponsor

Fri, 18 May 2012 10:29:00 EDT

As the Diamond Sponsor of Cloud Expo New York, SHI International is offering special passes to SYS-CON's 10th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 11–14, 2012, at the Javits Center in New York City, New York. Founded in 1989, SHI International Corp. is a global provider of technology products and services. Driven by the industry's most experienced and stable sales force and backed by software volume licensing experts, hardware procurement specialists, and certified IT service professionals, SHI delivers custom IT solutions to Corporate, Enterprise, Public Sector, and Academic customers. With over 1,800 + employees worldwide, SHI is the largest Minority/Woman Owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) in the U.S. and is ranked 19th among Everything Channel's VAR 500 list of North American IT solution providers.

Threatened, BMC Adopts Poison Pill

Fri, 18 May 2012 10:13:00 EDT

BMC Software Monday adopted a defensive poison pill to ward off Elliott Associates and its sister firm Elliott International, which have acquired 5.5% of its stock and want BMC to form a special committee to chase a sale of the company. Elliott, you will remember, is the activist hedge fund that pushed Novell into the arms of Attachmate. BMC said Elliott’s proposal is not in the best interests of other shareholders. In a letter to the board Tuesday, Elliott Management said BMC’s future will be increasingly difficult as a standalone public company; it’s suffering from sluggish growth, underperformance on its business plan and substantial execution challenges – it’s changed its sales chief four times since 2010; it’s been written off as a “growth-impaired legacy asset” with a low stock price; it lacks revenue-scale compared to its major competitors, IBM, HP and even CA; it’s late to SaaS and the cloud; and it’s facing new rivals eager to carve up its territory

The Most Immediate Way of Getting to the Cloud: Cloud Expo New York

Fri, 18 May 2012 10:00:00 EDT

Whether you are a large enterprise, a growing business, a government organization, or a service provider, Cloud Expo New York is THE place you need to be June 11-14...so you can better understand both the provision and use of the cloud services that increasingly transforming IT and business alike. Cloud Expo covers every aspect of Cloud Computing: performance, integration, security, availability, compliance, purchasing, budgeting, development, visibility, automation...the works!

Defining Hybrid Cloud at Cloud Expo New York

Fri, 18 May 2012 09:45:00 EDT

Hybrid is an end state for most customers as it balances choice and the needs of the business against cost, flexibility and risk. In his session at the 10th International Cloud Expo, Mark Clifton, Director Cloud Solutions at Dell Commercial Business Unit, will discuss Hybrid cloud adoption as well as the issues around data portability, integration and security that need to be proactively addressed.

Nvidia Claims Cloud GPU

Fri, 18 May 2012 09:17:00 EDT

Nvidia Tuesday unveiled a VGX platform – reportedly the result of five years of effort – that it called the world’s first virtualized GPU meant to accelerate graphics from cloud computing centers. IT departments are supposed to use it to deliver virtualized desktops with the graphics and GPU performance of office PCs or workstations to employees using any connected and BYOD devices regardless of operating system including thin clients, laptops, tablets and smartphones. The dingus, an enterprise implementation of the company’s new Kepler GPU, is also supposed to work with 3D design and simulation tools previously deemed too intensive for virtualized desktops. Nvidia claims the platform “delivers an experience nearly indistinguishable from a full desktop while substantially lowering the cost of a virtualized PC.”

Running Big Data Applications on Eucalyptus IaaS Cloud at Cloud Expo NY

Fri, 18 May 2012 08:00:00 EDT

Infrastructure as a Service cloud platforms enable enterprise to experience agility. Infrastructure agility is key to deploying Big Data platforms and applications. As datasets grow in size and numbers in the enterprise, there needs to be a place to store, secure and analyze the datasets. IaaS clouds like Eucalyptus, with the industry's de facto standard IaaS API implementation, can be “the place” to enable enterprises to deploy Big Data analytics and applications. Because all data is now in a centralized secure system, it becomes easier to enforce precise and well-documented security policies on sensitive data. The combination of flexibility, rapid automation, speed with which you can dynamically programmatically control infrastructure using Eucalyptus IaaS API, enable enterprises to develop, test and deploy new Big Data applications at a fraction of the cost that's never been possible before.

Data Center Fabric for Cloud Computing at Cloud Expo New York

Fri, 18 May 2012 08:00:00 EDT

Enterprise IT organizations want to deploy a virtualized data center fabric that will provide the foundation for agile private cloud computing. Getting there does not have to be difficult, but it does require a new approach to data center infrastructure design – an approach that is non-disruptive, vendor-agnostic, and very adaptable to changing business requirements. In his session at the 10th International Cloud Expo, Bruce Fingles, Chief Information Officer and VP of Product Quality at Xsigo, will look at the limitations of traditional thinking, and show how extending the power of virtualization can help maximize performance, minimize complexity, and empower IT organizations with an agile data center fabric.

Facebook IPO Likely at $38 a Share: WSJ

Thu, 17 May 2012 16:10:00 EDT

Facebook decision makers and their bankers were reportedly closeted together shortly before the markets closed in New York Thursday trying to decide whether to price Facebook’s IPO at $38 or $39 a share, according to the Wall Street Journal, which evidently had a glass – in the way of a source – pressed to the conference room door. Although nothing is definite yet, evidently the $39 price might break the camel’s back. They reportedly tried it on investors and got told no. At $38 Facebook would be valued at a record $104 billion for an IPO and raise $18.4 billion. It would take $41 a share for the social networking site to best Visa’s record-setting IPO in 2008. Of course Visa had a proven business model. Facebook doesn’t.

HP Will Reportedly Lay Off 10%-15% of Workforce

Thu, 17 May 2012 14:53:00 EDT

An HP source told Business Insider that HP is going to make “massive” job cuts of 10%-15% of its workforce of 324,600 people. Bloomberg then picked up the tambourine and said the number is more like 8%, or 25,000 people. Factoring in attrition, early retirement and shifting jobs offshore, Business Insider reckons “HP’s total workforce numbers won’t reflect all of the cuts.” It thinks “we might also hear that HP is not going to rip the bandage off in one fell swoop, but will do one modest layoff in 2012, shift more work to offshore workers, and trim the workforce more over time.” It’s expecting to hear that HP Services is having “another abysmal quarter” and that “HP’s outsourcing units could be particularly hit hard with whatever layoffs come and many of their jobs moved offshore. We’re hearing that people with eight-10 years of experience – or are at the top of the salary charts – are the most vulnerable.”

Cloud Expo New York: Private PaaS for the Enterprise and Beyond

Thu, 17 May 2012 14:15:00 EDT

If your organization already uses virtualized infrastructure, you are well on your way to providing IT as a Service. But as businesses demand faster results in today’s competitive market, organizations look to gain more benefits from cloud computing than just virtualized infrastructure. Learn how to extend & ensure your private cloud investment with a private Platform as a Service (PaaS) and provide on-demand availability, flexibility, control, and ultimately, faster time-to-market for your development teams. In his session at the 10th International Cloud Expo, Bart Copeland, President & CEO of ActiveState Software, will discuss how Private PaaS technology gives you control over where, when and how you leverage the cloud.

Cloud Expo New York: How Secure Are You?

Thu, 17 May 2012 11:45:00 EDT

Nearly every enterprise is evaluating cloud computing solutions either today or in the near term. Many have already made the leap, and many more are getting close to putting that first toe in the water. But there are key considerations that should be made, questions to be asked, and designs to consider before you can feel secure with your provider. In his session at the 10th International Cloud Expo, David Gulick, Product Manager, Hosting Product Management at Savvis, will help give you food for thought when having these conversations both internally and externally with service providers.

Cloud Computing Growing on the Businesses Priority Front

Thu, 17 May 2012 11:30:00 EDT

A survey of small and mid-size businesses found an interest in harnessing technology to improve business efficiency. Midsize businesses are turning to IT investments to grow their businesses and the larger the organization, the more likely it is to cite technology as having the greatest potential to increase productivity, according to a new survey of midmarket companies by Deloitte. The study shows cloud computing emerging as an investment priority. When asked what types of investments companies were likely to make in technology, 40 of the respondents cited cloud computing. That's close to automation of business processes (46 percent) and data analytics (41 percent), according to eWEEK. "Interestingly, there seems to be a greater recognition of the benefits of cloud computing," the report stated. "In our September 2011 survey, it was recognized as a distant fourth as a means to increase productivity. In this survey, it nearly equaled data analytics and business intelligence in terms of likely investments."

Supermicro to Exhibit at Cloud Expo 2012 New York

Thu, 17 May 2012 11:15:00 EDT

SYS-CON Events announced today that Super Micro Computer, Inc., a global leader in high-performance, high-efficiency server technology and green computing, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 10th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 11–14, 2012, at the Javits Center in New York City, New York. Supermicro (NASDAQ: SMCI), the leading innovator in high-performance, high-efficiency server technology, is a premier provider of advanced server Building Block Solutions for Embedded Systems, Enterprise IT, Data Center, HPC, and Cloud Computing worldwide. Supermicro is committed to protecting the environment through its "We Keep IT Green" initiative and provides customers with the most energy-efficient, environmentally friendly solutions available on the market.

Mule ION iPaaS Connects Cloud to On-Premise Apps

Thu, 17 May 2012 11:00:00 EDT

New tools and services for swift software-as-a-service integration in the cloud lowers the barrier to SaaS adoption for SaaS providers and developers. MuleSoft this week launched Mule iON SaaS Edition, providing a broad set of new tools and services for swift software-as-a-Service (SaaS) integration in the cloud, and lowering the barrier to SaaS adoption for SaaS providers and developers. In recent commentary, Ross Mason, founder and CTO of Mulesoft, said, "The world today is moving at lightning speed to SaaS and cloud applications, and the idea of gaining competitive advantage through legacy enterprise applications is no longer relevant."

Smarter Computing and IT Consolidation with IBM's Enterprise Linux Server

Thu, 17 May 2012 11:00:00 EDT

Data centers today are stretched to the limits with fast-paced business demands. On top of that, integrating and managing IT infrastructures can pose major challenges. Organizations need a new solution that consolidates servers and workloads without breaking the bank—and Linux, together with IBM Enterprise Linux Server offers exactly that. In this informative webcast you’ll gain Jean's perspective on how you can overcome your IT challenges by optimizing workloads and lowering costs with an enterprise-wide Linux strategy, and gain “the flexibility of many and the efficiency of one.”

Cloud Expo New York: How the Cloud and Mobile Are Improving Business

Thu, 17 May 2012 11:00:00 EDT

Come learn real-world examples where cloud and mobile are changing the way business works and the impact they're having on efficiency and productivity. In his session at the 10th International Cloud Expo, Rodrigo Coutinho Senior Product Marketing Manager at OutSystems, will look at how mobile and the cloud are interwoven and the wave of change these two 2012 megatrends will bring to your organization. He will also provide a roadmap to assure you can navigate this sea change for business success.

GigaOM Code ▸ gigaomdiscount Special Offer as Cloud Expo Partner

Thu, 17 May 2012 10:35:00 EDT

As a media partner of Cloud Expo, GigaOM is offering a special 20% discount for each registration package for SYS-CON's 10th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 11-14, 2012, at the Javits Center in New York City. To obtain your 20% discount, here is a quick summary of all you need to do - feel free to cut and paste these instructions into any email blast you might be sending out. Cloud Expo 2012 New York, June 11–14, 2012, at the Javits Center in New York City, New York, will feature technical sessions from a rock star conference faculty and the leading Cloud industry players in the world.

Speech and Sound: The Next "Killer Paradigm Shift"..?

Thu, 17 May 2012 10:15:00 EDT

There was a time, not so very long ago, when IT directors and chief information officers dismissed the Internet as something of a passing fad. Somehow though, things took off pretty well with the whole web thing didn't they? Mobile telephony has also grown to a level of dominance that we could never have predicted when it first started appearing around 30 years ago. Then came the tablet... just another fad right? Well, the first few were, but then "Magic Steve" produced the tablet we all love and cherish didn't he? (OK yes - I know Android is doing well in this space too, you don't need to write in)... so what's coming next?

Rishidot Research Announces DeployCon 2012

Thu, 17 May 2012 08:49:00 EDT

Rishidot Research LLC, the next-gen analyst firm, on Thursday announced DeployCon 2012, the first conference focused exclusively on Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) for enterprise. According to market research firm IDC, the worldwide public PaaS market is expected to grow from $2.2 billion in 2010 to $9.1 billion by 2015. As this service-driven model of cloud computing matures and enterprises accelerate adoption, the focus shifts towards PaaS. Even though PaaS has been comfortably embraced by individual developers and startups in large numbers for a few years, enterprises today are evolving their opinion and implementation of PaaS in their IT strategy. DeployCon 2012, the enterprise PaaS Summit, aims to bridge the gap.

Facebook Tickles Its IPO Again

Thu, 17 May 2012 08:45:00 EDT

Facebook Wednesday upped the number of shares that will be sold when it IPOs Friday by almost 25% or 84 million shares to about 421.2 million shares of Class A common stock. The overallotment has also been increased from 50.6 million to 63.2 million. If all 484.4 million shares move, it’d estimated $18.4 billion could change hands, up from $14.7 billion. The added shares will be coming from early investors. The move, which gains Facebook nothing, will also cut CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s dominant voting power from 57.3% to around 55.8%. Pricing remains, at least for the moment, at between $34 and $38 a share. It won’t be locked down until Thursday night when it could be increased again. The range was between $28 and $35 until Tuesday and the stock has traded as high as $44 in the secondary markets recently.

Apple Said to Buy Half of Elpida’s Output

Wed, 16 May 2012 15:48:00 EDT

Hmm, apparently Samsung has pushed one too many of Apple’s buttons. According to DigiTimes Apple has bought up half of Elpida Memory’s total chip production of mobile DRAM rather than give the iPad and iPhone order to Samsung, its largest supplier, accused of ripping off its technology in courts throughout the world. Reuters said the report – citing unnamed industry sources – cost Samsung, the world’s biggest DRAM factory, $10 billion worth of market cap on Wednesday. Hynix also took a hit.

Beyond BYOD: Mobility Without Compromise

Wed, 16 May 2012 15:45:00 EDT

The BYOD trend requires sweeping changes to the way devices are used in the workplace. Find out how to confront and manage those changes, provide a better user experience, and ensure security. Gartner Hosted BYOD VIDEO: Mobility and the Social Enterprise Technical Design Workshop VIDEO: Bring Your Own Device Without Compromise Design Guide: BYOD – Device Freedom Without Compromising the IT Network

ScaleMP to Exhibit at Cloud Expo 2012 New York

Wed, 16 May 2012 12:00:00 EDT

SYS-CON Events announced today that ScaleMP, a leading provider of virtualization solutions for high-end computing, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 10th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 11–14, 2012, at the Javits Center in New York City, New York. ScaleMP is the leader in virtualization for high-end computing, providing maximum performance and lower total cost of ownership (TCO). The innovative Versatile SMP (vSMP) architecture aggregates multiple independent systems into a single virtual system, delivering an industry-standard, high-end symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) computer. Using software to replace custom hardware and components, ScaleMP offers a new, revolutionary computing paradigm.

Cloud Expo New York: Using APIs to Extend Your Business Reach

Wed, 16 May 2012 10:00:00 EDT

How can businesses harness the power of APIs to reach new customers and markets? In his session at the 10th International Cloud Expo, Alistair Farquharson, CTO at SOA Software, will walk the audience through the growth and evolution of the API, why effective API management is important, and how the game changes when companies expose business applications to the outside world. He will also discuss: A brief history of the API How to use APIs to make money, save money, build brand "Appification" and the innovation model of the open API API management nuts and bolts, and best practices Why Enterprise APIs are important Some great examples of companies doing it right

Qualtrics Raises $70 Million

Wed, 16 May 2012 09:15:00 EDT

Called “the biggest software company you haven’t heard of yet” by one of its shiny new backers, 10-year-old Qualtrics has gotten $70 million from Accel Partners and Sequoia Capital in the VCs’ largest joint investment ever. It’s also the company’s first outside investment. Reportedly profitable since it started, it’s supposed to use the money to expand its SaaS products beyond market research and accelerate its global growth, expecting to hire another 250 employees to add to the existing 200 in the next year. Qualtrics is used for online data collection and analysis claiming to make it “easy for anyone in a company to conduct PhD-level research.” It figures outsourced research and data collection is too expensive – it’s shooting at data generated from customers, sales reps, channel partners and employees – and competitive tools are either too basic or too complicated.

Java Jury Deliberating Google’s Patent Infringement

Wed, 16 May 2012 08:15:00 EDT

Oracle’s Java patent infringement case against Google and Android went to the jury Tuesday afternoon. The jury, which delivered only a partial verdict on copyright infringement last week, deciding that Google infringed but unable to say whether that infringement made “fair use” of the IP, is now down to 11 jurors. One juror reportedly called in from the San Francisco Bay Bridge with car trouble, unlikely to make court at all. The judge excused her from ever coming back, ZDnet said, and pushed on. Only two patents are at issue. In its closing statement Oracle accused Google of being reckless and willful and told the jury that words like fair use, open source and clean room had no meaning in this phase of the trial, only the fact that Google’s Dalvik virtual machine works just like Oracle’s Sun-inherited Java virtual machine and that Google lacked a license. Google continued to maintain that it designed Android from scratch – though that’s not a defense in patent infringement cases – and different from the claims of the two patents. Over the weekend the judge told Oracle the damages phase of the trial couldn’t wait for a retrial of the fair use issue. Oracle, in turn, said it wouldn’t accept a bench verdict on damages and is insisting on asking for disgorgement of infringer’s profits on a few lines of copyright infringement although the judge has tried to disabuse Oracle’s lawyers of the notion that that theory is going to translate into a finding worth billions or even hundreds of million of dollars. It’s unclear when the judge will decide if APIs are copyrightable or not – but currently it won’t be in time for part three of the trial on damages – and until he does there’s no possible liability. According to Law.com Oracle lawyer David Boies tried to strike a deal with Judge Alsup. “He said Alsup should put off the damages phase of the trial until after the judge resolves the burning legal questions, chiefly whether the 37 API packages are copyrightable. And should Alsup rule against Oracle then Boies said he would agree to forgo a jury award on infringer’s profits and would let Alsup award any statutory damages on those two lines of infringed code. But should Oracle prevail in the legal finding that the API packages are copyrightable material then Oracle wants a shot at the more lucrative damages in a jury trial….Alsup seemed to indicate Boies’ idea might be doable if Google agreed. He asked for more briefing.”

Facebook Ups Its IPO Price

Wed, 16 May 2012 07:00:00 EDT

You knew this was gonna happen, right? Facebook has repriced its IPO upwards from $28-$35 a share to $34-$38 a share giving it a valuation of $92 billion-$104 billion, a neighborhood more to its liking than the original $77 billion-$96 billion. The actual price won’t be set until Thursday night. Bloomberg claimed the company’s IPO roadshow was producing less institutional demand for the stock than expected because of less-than-rosy revenue forecasts last week – though the increase in the price would seem to belie that statement – and the AP and CNBC did a survey that found half the people polled thought the original asking price was too high – more among active investors.

GM to Pull Facebook Advertising: WSJ

Wed, 16 May 2012 06:45:00 EDT

Here we are less than three days before Facebook’s historic $100 billion IPO and General Motors or “people familiar with the matter” let slip to the Wall Street Journal that GM’s going to stop advertising on the social networking site because the paid ads are ineffective. The big American carmaker still reportedly intends to do marketing through Facebook but that’s not going to put any money in Facebook’s pocketbook. The paper says GM started having doubts earlier this year and met with Facebook managers, leaving the meetings “unconvinced advertising on the web site made sense.” GM reportedly spends about $10 million advertising on Facebook and another $30 million on its Facebook promotional content and managing its Facebook pages.

Cloud VDI: Leveraging the Full Potential of the Cloud at Cloud Expo NY

Wed, 16 May 2012 06:00:00 EDT

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) has been a hot topic in the IT community for years but delivery models have limited its use. Today there are real options for using the technology to truly replace the existing desktop infrastructure to realize tangible benefits. Today’s cloud-sourced VDI offers the enterprise new opportunities for security, centralization, mobility, and business continuity while avoiding much of the upfront investment of traditional in-house deployments. Utilizing cloud-based VDI to centralize application deployment, secure corporate property, or scale the IT enterprise brings flexibility and a layer of abstraction that was not previously available. There are many different delivery strategies on the market with different benefits, nuances, and use-cases. While most agree that IT’s consumption of infrastructure is changing drastically, how do you choose which is the right model for your business?