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In this Issue: > General Interest |
> GENERAL INTEREST
General
McAfee published a report about Operation Shady Rat, a hacking group that penetrated 72 companies and organizations in 14 countries since 2006 in a massive operation that stole national secrets, business plans and other sensitive information. The data stolen consists of everything from classified information on government networks, source code, e-mail archives, exploration details for new oil and gas field auctions, legal contracts, SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) configurations, design schematics and more.
Eighteen IT workers have filed a class action suit against Molina Healthcare Inc., claiming that the company laid them off in order to hire H-1B workers from India. The lawsuit was filed in April in Los Angeles Superior Court against Molina, Amir Desai (its CIO at the time), and Molina’s outsourcer, Cognizant Technology Solutions. The suit contends that over a period of several years the U.S. workers were marginalized as the IT department became dominated by Indian nationals.
The world economic climate clouded over in the third quarter, after having improved in the first two quarters. The worsening affected both the appraisals of the current situation as well as the expectations for the coming six months. However, despite the weakening, both components are still in positive territory. The global economic upswing is faltering, according to the latest World Economic Survey (WES).
Canada
Following three consecutive months of increases, Canada’s employment was little changed in July, at 17.34 million, Statistics Canada reported. On a year-over-year basis, Canadian employment rose by 252,000, or 1.5 percent in July. The unemployment rate fell to 7.2 percent from 7.4 percent, as fewer people participated in the labor market.
Statistics Canada reported that the composite leading index of the Canadian economy rose 0.2 percent in July after a revised 0.1 percent gain in June. The composite leading index rose to 256.1 in July from 255.5 in June (1992=100).
The Canadian government is planning to slash 5% to 10% of IT spending across dozens of federal departments and agencies by creating a new agency called Shared Services Canada. The new division will be led by Public Works and Government Services Canada. The government said it would continue to spend about $5 billion on its yearly IT budget. Streamlining IT and securing its systems will be the top priority for Shared Services Canada.
United States
U.S. economy added 117,000 jobs in July, better than expected; unemployment rate dipped to 9.1%
Forecasters cut their estimate of third-quarter growth in U.S. real gross domestic product to 2.2 percent from their second-quarter estimate of 3.4 percent, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s third-quarter Survey of Professional Forecasters.
The ECRI weekly leading index of the U.S. economy fell to a reading of 123.9 in the week ended August 12 from the prior period’s reading of 127.6. The index’s growth rate was -0.1 percent in the week ended August 12; it’s the first negative growth since December 2010.
European Union
Spanish unemployment was up by +4.38% or up by +171,164 individuals to 4,079,742 in July 2011 when compared with July 2010, according to the latest data published by the Ministry of Employment (Ministerio de Trabajo). Month-on-month, unemployment was down by -1% or down by -42,059 individuals in July 2011 when compared with June 2010. This was the fourth consecutive monthly fall in unemployment with a total reduction in unemployment of -250,000 over the period.
The entire European Union (EU27) unemployment rate was 9.4% in June 2011, unchanged compared with May 2011. It was 9.7% in June 2010, according to the latest unemployment figures published today by the Statistical Office of the European Union.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased by +0.2% in the European Union during the second quarter of 2011, compared with the previous quarter. Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, seasonally adjusted GDP increased by +1.7%.
Sweden’s working-day adjusted Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased by +5.3% in the second quarter of 2011 compared with the second quarter of 2010, according to the latest data published by Statistics Sweden. GDP in actual terms rose by +4.8%. Seasonally adjusted GDP increased by +1.0% compared with the first quarter of 2011. Total employment, measured as the number of hours worked, increased by +1.8% while the number of employed persons increased by +2.5%.
Irish Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is expected to grow by +0.8% this year although Gross National Product (GNP) may decline slightly by an estimated -0.3%, according to the latest Quarterly Bulletin published by the Central Bank of Ireland.
The Greek unemployment rate in May 2011 was 16.6% compared with 12% in May 2010 and 15.8% in April 2011, according to the latest Labour Force Survey published by the Hellenic Statistical Authority.
Portugal’s unemployment rate for Q2 2011 was estimated at 12.1%, down by -0.3 percentage points compared with the previous quarter, according to the latest data published by Statistics Portugal (INE).
The UK unemployment rate for the three months to June 2011 was 7.9% of the economically active population, up +0.1 on the quarter. The total number of unemployed people increased by +38,000 over the quarter to reach 2.49 million, according to the latest data published today by the Office for National Statistics.
Unemployment in Germany was down by -238,000 individuals to 2,945,000 or down to 7% in August 2011when compared with August 2010, according to the latest data from the German Federal Labour Agency (BA). Month-on-month, unemployment was up by +5,000 individuals due to seasonal variations. Seasonally adjusted, however, unemployment was down in August 2011 by -8,000 when compared with July 2011.
> COMPANY NEWS
The University of Wisconsin’s Milwaukee campus has been subject to a malware attack, which has exposed names and social security numbers of students – past and present – and staff alike. Malware was discovered on a database server, which contained 75,000 social security numbers, and was shut down immediately after the malware was found.
Apple co-founder Steve Jobs has stepped down from his position as CEO of the company and Tim Cook, Apple’s chief operating officer, has been named to take the helm. “I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come,” Jobs wrote in a letter to Apple employees.
> MERGER & ACQUISITION ACTIVITY
Cogeco Data Services has expanded its network and voice services to large and mid-sized organizations by buying Toronto-based Quiettouch Inc. Quiettouch had annual revenue of $32 million in 2007 with 77 employees selling managed recovery, converged network, managed security and virtualized infrastructure services; however, Quiettouch now has 35 staffers, who will join CDS staff of 150.
Managed print services provider Intelligent Data Systems (Canada) Inc. (IDS) bought Quebec City-based Maison LaCouline Inc.’s printer and copier business. This acquisition was part of IDS’ “tuck in” strategy, or acquiring businesses with a large related customer base of more than 500 clients. Maison LaCouline had a similar product line, with almost 100 per cent Ricoh products and a similar client base. The company’s overall portfolio now includes copiers, printers, and other technology products as well as equipment maintenance services, managed print services and related consulting. In May, IDS was created (with the help of private equity investors) by acquiring five other printing services organizations- DCI Toner, EBQM, IDS Ricoh, La Vie au Bureau and VOB Consulting Services- to form the largest managed print services company in Eastern Canada, with about 4000 customers. Headquartered in Toronto, with offices in Montreal and Quebec City, the company has a strong presence in Quebec but it is looking to grow rapidly over the next year.
Google is paying about $12.5 billion for Motorola Mobility, a maker of smartphones based on Google’s Android software. The transaction could signal a wave of consolidations in the smartphone industry as players try to hook up manufacturing and software applications providers to compete more aggressively with each other. This could put Canadian technology giant Research in Motion Ltd. in play as a potential takeover target, especially since its shares are well below where they have traded in the past. Google CEO Larry Page said that the deal with “supercharge the entire Android ecosystem.” The deal gives Google direct control over the manufacturer of many of its Android smartphones. The acquisition dwarfs Google’s previous biggest deal, the 2008 purchase of DoubleClick for US$3.2 billion.
Citrix Systems Inc. has finalized the purchase of Mountain View, Calif.-based RingCube Technologies Inc., a vendor of personalization software for virtual desktop infrastructure. Giving users the ability to set personal preferences on a virtual desktop housed in a data centre “really feels like the desktop is theirs (as much as) a physical desktop,” said John Fanelli, Vice-President of Product Marketing for Citrix’s enterprise desktops and applications division. “(And) IT really likes the idea of VDI” for the control, maintenance, management and security advantages. “This technology really simplifies the move from physical to virtual,” Fanelli said.
Bitly, which is known more for being a tool to size down URL addresses, is getting a bit bigger with the purchase of Twitterfeed. Bitly is seen on Twitter streams when shortening long website addresses to just a few characters, and Twitterfeed automatically publishes links to Twitter and Facebook feeds. Additionally, both sites allow users to track visitor statistics and related traffic information.
Salesforce.com has quietly snapped up Navajo Systems, an Israeli cloud security encryption firm. The move by Salesforce to add encryption to its portfolio goes to the heart of reservations about trusting cloud providers to protect their customers’ data. One of the key elements to Navajo Systems’ technology, a virtual private cloud encryption gateway that encrypts all data before it goes to the cloud, including Salesforce.com, is that the customer controls the encryption keys. Salesforce isn’t saying just yet how it will incorporate Navajo Systems’ technology into its services, nor would a spokesperson for the SaaS firm reveal any details about the acquisition. Security analysts say the acquisition of Navajo Systems by Salesforce could help reassure skeptical organizations looking for providers to offer encryption solutions for locking down their data in the cloud.
Cisco Systems will pay about $31 million for service fulfillment software assets (Axioss) from the UK subsidiary of Comptel, in an effort to help operators speed up the launch of new services. Cisco will use the Axioss software to add automated ordering and fulfillment to its Prime platform, which allows operators to automate the management of network services. Operators will be able to quickly launch new video, data, mobility and cloud services to their customers, according to Cisco.
Skype is buying New York based GroupMe, a startup that offers a free group text messaging and conference call service on mobile phones. A short message service (SMS) version for users without smartphones is also available in the U.S. For Skype, which already offers voice and video services, the acquisition of GroupMe will add the ability to offer text messaging for groups as well. Microsoft bought Skype in May US$8.5 billion. Once the merger is complete, Microsoft plans to add Skype support to its Xbox and Kinect gaming devices and Windows Phone mobile operating system, and connect Skype users with its own Lync, Outlook and Xbox Live communications services.
IBM is paying $387 million for analytics company Algorithmics, expanding their reach into risk management. Major clients of Algorithmics include BlueCrest, Scotia Capital, Allianz Group and 25 large banks. IBM also announced the purchase of another analytics company i2. Both companies will report into Rob Ashe, the former chief executive of Ottawa-based Cognos, and currently IBM’s general manager of business analytics. A spokesperson for IBM noted business analytics as a division is expected to reach $16 billion in revenue by 2015, and that revenue in the first half of 2011 increased by 20%. Worldwide, IBM added, Chartis says the financial risk technology market will be $4.19 billion by 2013 following double-digit growth in the years before. In past years IBM has picked up other analytics players including Coremetrics, Unica, Clarity Systems and OpenPages.
> PRIMARY SOURCES:
IT World Canada – http://www.itworldcanada.com
Ottawa Business Journal – http://www.ottawabusinessjournal.com
ZDNet – http://www.zdnet.com
Canada IT – http://www.canadait.com
Monitor – http://www.monitortoday.com
