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In this Issue:
> General Interest |
> GENERAL INTEREST
British web users are spending 65% more time online than three years ago, according to research of net habits. The average surfer spends 22 hours and 15 minutes on the net each month, according to the UK Online Measurement company (UKOM). The lion’s share of that time is spent on social networks or blogs, which accounts for nearly a quarter of users’ time online. Three years ago, 14% of online time was spent using IM but that has fallen to just 5%, but e-mail, also predicted to suffer as more people used Facebook and its rivals, is still healthy and accounts for 7.2% of time compared to 6.5% of time three years ago.
The Spring Forecast 2010 published by the Commission of the European Union (EU), confirms that the economic recovery is in progress in the EU. After having experienced the deepest recession in its history, the EU economy is set to grow by +1% in 2010 and +1.75% in 2011. This implies an upward revision of +0.25 of a percentage point for this year from the Commission’s autumn forecast, as the EU countries benefit from a stronger external environment.
Statistics Canada reported a jump of 108,700 jobs in April, up 0.6% for the largest percentage gain since August 2002, bringing total employment to 17.07 million. The unemployment rate edged down to 8.1% in April from 8.2% in March. Canada gained 43,800 full-time jobs and 64,800 part-time jobs.
According to the latest Monster Employment Index Europe online recruitment activity reached a 12 month high and had its third consecutive month of growth in April.
Manpower’s fifth annual Talent Shortage Survey revealed that talent is elusive, it’s everywhere yet nowhere, as talent shortages persist in many countries and industry sectors. Thirty-one percent of employers worldwide report having difficulty filling key positions within their organisation, a rise of one percentage point from 2009, amidst a perpetual global pool of available workers.
comScore reported that more than 180 million Internet users watched online video in March. The most popular site was YouTube, with more than 135 million users during the month, or three quarters of all online video viewers, with each person watching an average of 96 videos in the month. A distant second was Hulu, which recorded 1.1 billion videos watched, Microsoft had 655 million views, Yahoo, 478 million views, and CBS Interactive, 457 million.
> COMPANY NEWS
European antitrust regulators fined nine semiconductor manufacturers more than 331 million (about $404 million) following a years-long investigation into price fixing in the market for DRAM memory chips. The European Commission said all of the companies submitted settlements admitting their liability for infringement. The companies fined are Samsung Electronics, Infineon, Hynix Semiconductor, Elpida Memory, NEC Electronics, Hitachi, Toshiba, Mitsubishi Electric and Nanya Technology.
> MERGER & ACQUISITION ACTIVITY
SAP paid US$5.8 billion for Sybase Inc., betting that mobile business applications are the way of the future. “With Sybase, we see the opportunity to dramatically accelerate our presence in mobility,” SAP CTO Vishal Sikka said during a conference call to discuss the deal. “We can untether and mobilize every single deployment we have of core SAP products, as well as the SAP and Business Objects analytical products. Sybase is still best known in some quarters as a database company, but Sybase also sells a set of products that are widely used to deploy business applications on smartphones and other mobile devices, and it’s those products that SAP seems most interested in.
Symantec is buying Verisign’s security business. The agreement would mean that Symantec would acquire VeriSign’s identity and authentication business, which includes the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificate Services, the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) Services, VeriSign Trust Services and VeriSign’s Identity Protection (VIP) Authentication Service. Just last month, Symantec announced that it would purchase two encryption companies, PGP and GuardianEdge, at a total price of $370 million in cash. These acquisitions are expected to close during the June quarter, pending customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. Under the agreement to acquire VeriSign, Symantec will purchase specific business units, which also includes the majority stake in VeriSign Japan, at a cash purchase price of about $1.28 billion. The VeriSign check mark validates the authenticity of Web sites and lets users know that any sensitive information they share with the site is encrypted during online transactions. This, combined with Symantec’s existing security technologies and products, will enable businesses to have a high-level of security, while at the same time, assuring users that their information is safe and secure.
Oracle will acquire Secerno, which makes firewall products for databases that protect against hackers and data breaches. Secerno makes a series of hardware and software products called DataWall, which control how information in databases is accessed. DataWall monitors a database and blocks unauthorized access. DataWall uses what Secerno calls its Synoptiq engine, which “fingerprints the intent of all database requests and clearly and concisely shows exactly how an organization’s data is accessed or changed.” Synoptiq, designed to detect and stop attacks in real time, came from research done at Oxford University’s Computing Laboratory. DataWall is compatible with Oracle and also Microsoft’s SQL Server and Sybase ASE databases. Oracle said there is rising demand for data protection products. Companies that lose data or are hacked can face fines from regulators and loss of confidence from their customers. “This combination is expected to further enable customers to reduce the cost and complexity of securing their information throughout the enterprise with a protective perimeter around Oracle and non-Oracle databases,” Oracle said in a letter to customers on its Web site. Oracle said it would continue to honour Secerno partner agreements for a smooth transition. “Partners should continue to reach out to their existing Secerno contacts until we advise otherwise,” the company said.
Cisco likes the design consultants who worked on its Flip Video camera so much that it is now buying the design firm. Cisco didn’t disclose financial terms of its acquisition of Moto Development. Mindful of the agonies most consumers are faced with when they try to install new computer and electronics products, Cisco is working to develop user-friendly consumer products. In addition to its design effort on the Flip Video, Moto has worked on developing different products from companies ranging from startups to major corporations. Cisco noted that the Moto acquisition is just another step toward its goal of embedding consumer design and ease of use into Cisco products for the consumer market. Once anchored primarily in developing switches and routers, Cisco has recently been branching out into broader areas ranging from consumer electronics to enterprise data centers.
Cisco announced plans to acquire privately held CoreOptics, a designer of digital signal processing technology for optical networking applications, for $99 million in cash. CoreOptics will bring to Cisco expertise in digital ASIC design, advanced modulation formats, as well as optical systems, applications and network architecture. Cisco says CoreOptics will enable it to provide “highly advanced” 100Gbps transmission technology to service providers for supporting IP-based video, mobility and cloud services. Citing its own research, Cisco believes global IP traffic will increase fivefold from 2008 to 2013 with a 40% compound annual growth rate. Cisco says the next phase of optical networking innovation will be sophisticated modulation formats and advanced DSP technologies to enable efficient transmission of large amounts of data over existing fiber optics. This will allow service providers to manage capital expenditures by accommodating growth in network traffic over existing infrastructure, the company says. CoreOptics is based in San Jose, but a majority of its employees are in Nuremberg and Gerlingen, Germany. Upon completion of the acquisition, CoreOptics employees will become part of the Cisco Service Provider Technology Group and work with Cisco’s existing optical engineering teams in Monza, Italy; Bangalore, India; and Richardson, Texas.
Yahoo reported that it has signed a definitive agreement to purchase Associated Content, which calls itself “the people’s media company.” The acquisition gives Yahoo an army of some 380,000 freelancers to provide a new source of content. Associated Content consolidates material from freelancers who are typically paid $5 and up for providing online content. Yahoo indicated it will consolidate AC to attract more viewers and advertisers. Yahoo didn’t disclose financial details of the acquisition, but various media reports placed the deal between $90 million and $100 million. Luke Beatty, AC founder and president, noted that the AC platform delivers content on more than 60,000 topics. Founded in 2004 in Denver, AC said it receives more than 16 million unique users a month, according to online market researcher comScore; more than 50,000 content pieces a month are examined by its editorial staff. “Combining our world-class editorial team with Associated Content’s makes this a game-changer,” said Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz in a statement. “Together, we’ll create more content around what we know our users care about, and open up new and creative avenues for advertisers to engage with consumers across our network.” Currently aimed at U.S. viewers, the AC material will likely be scaled to global users, Yahoo indicated.
Google is buying Global IP Solutions (GIPS), a provider of voice and video IP communication technology. Google Acquisition Holdings, a Google subsidiary, will pay $68.2 million for the San Francisco-based Norwegian company. That’s 142.1% over the closing share price of GIPS on January 11 and 27.5% over the closing share price of the company on May 14. GIPS’s technology allows for the delivery of high-quality real-time audio and video over an IP network and Google will likely use the technology to enhance the Web as a development platform. Google did not provide specifics about how it intends to develop or deploy GIPS technology, but the company could use it to enhance Google Voice, Google Talk, or audio and video capabilities in its Android operating system or Chrome OS. With Google reportedly set to launch an Android-based “Smart TV” platform in conjunction with Intel and Sony, GIPS technology could find its way into consumer electronic devices as well.
Google has bought BumpTop, a Canadian startup that developed a 3D interface for Mac and Windows PCs. BumpTop described its product as a “desktop workspace” that offers a visually intuitive way to organize and access pictures, video, and documents. People can use a mouse to interact with the software, or their fingers if their computer has a multi-touch screen. A demonstration of the software was available on YouTube. Google has not commented on the acquisition, so it’s not clear what the search engine has planned for BumpTop. However, elements of the technology could possibly be used on a smartphone built with Google’s Android operating system or in a future slate computer, similar to Apple’s recently released iPad. Founded in February 2007, BumpTop received $1.65 million in funding from angel investors and the venture capital firms GrowthWorks and Xtreme Venture Partners, according to tech blog TechCrunch.
Google invested in Recorded Future, a startup company that claims to be able to predict the future. Recorded Future’s web site doesn’t list any products for sale, but the company appears to have developed a data analytics technology that could be used to try to predict future stock market events or even terrorist activity, according to blog posts and videos on its site. The startup has claimed its customers include “some of the top government agencies and trading firms in the world,” according to a February profile in The Boston Globe. It’s one of several companies to receive investments from Google Ventures, which just turned one year old. Google is expanding the investment arm and plans to put US$100 million into startups this year.
Comtech Telecommunications is moving to acquire CPI International in a deal that will help Comtech in its goal of developing a one-stop shopping approach for radio frequency products. CPI said the transaction will have an enterprise value of $472 million. Comtech has three main business segments — telecommunications transmission, mobile data communications, and RF microwave amplifiers. Comtech indicated that it targets many of its products toward providing or enhancing communications capabilities in situations in which terrestrial communications infrastructure doesn’t make sense, for instance, in situations where terrestrial communications infrastructure is unavailable, inefficient, or too expensive. CPI, the parent company of Communications & Power Industries, markets several varied product lines ranging from the transmission of radar signals to signals involved in electronic countermeasures as well as for a variety of commercial, medical, and military products.
Aruba Networks is acquiring Azalea Networks in a move that will beef up Aruba’s outdoor mesh offerings, as well as provide Aruba with a new operations center in Beijing. Aruba said the acquisition terms call for a total consideration of $27 million in stock and up to $13.5 million in cash over two years. Aruba noted that, combined with robust 802.11n, mesh can represent a more favorable alternative than wired networks in many applications, particularly in rapidly emerging outdoor apps. Aruba has focused much of its latest effort on cloud computing and networking. The company added that it will integrate Azalea’s mesh products into its AirWave OnDemand software-as-a-service application, which is cloud-based and housed in secure Aruba data center facilities. Noting that Aruba has operated in China for years, Sheth said the Azelea acquisition represents a substantial increase in its commitment to the Chinese market. The new China operations will work with Aruba’s existing research and development resources in Bangalore and Silicon Valley.
IBM has bought Cast Iron Systems, a privately held company that has specialized in the fast-growing arena of connecting on-premise data and systems to software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings and cloud-based computing platforms. The purchase of Cast Iron will bolster the company’s cloud-based data integration capabilities. It’s an important emerging market where IBM faces increasing competition from Informatica and smaller players including NetIQ, Boomi, Hubspan, and open-source vendor Jitterbit. Cast Iron will be integrated into IBM’s WebSphere business.
> PRIMARY SOURCES:
IT World Canada – http://www.itworldcanada.com
Ottawa Business Journal – http://www.ottawabusinessjournal.com
ZDNet – http://www.zdnet.com
Information Week – http://www.informationweek.com
