1/09/06
issue
Next due date to submit stories: 1/11/06 to [email protected]
Backup service providers witness
substantial growth
Arrow Electronics launches ISV
growth initiative for IBM iSeries
Upfront - 2006
What will be shaking with the iSeries in 2006? by Timothy Prickett Morgan IBM has a new release of the i5/OS operating system--Version
5 Release 4--coming out some time in 2006. No one seems to be sure if i5/OS
will be announced in Jan., Feb. or March; the gradually coalescing
expectation is that the i5/OS announcement will be in January with shipments
following perhaps in February or March. There has been a lot of talk about the Power5+ processors
that the pSeries machines just got in some entry and midrange boxes, but the
performance gains from Power5+ compared to Power5 are just not that
great--about 15 percent, core for core. The whole IT industry is gradually coming to the
realization that core counts are not necessarily the best way to price
systems software. Core counts and other things--like adjunct processing--are
going to change, and software makers like Oracle are going to have to either
have pricing structures that are so complex they can't understand them or
they are going to have to come up with some other measurement. IBM could lead
here with i5/OS by pricing by socket, but it seems unlikely. What IBM does intend to focus on in 2006 is software, and
not just i5/OS V5R4, which will be the focal point of IBM's plans.
Services-oriented architecture (SOA) application development is going to be a
focus area over the next two years, not just because independent software
vendors will start coding software using the SOA approach, but because the
vast number of iSeries shops have homegrown code that also needs to be
refitted for the SOA world. One of the neat new capabilities that is coming
with V5R4 is the ability to take RPG artifacts and wrap them in Web services. IBM will be working with iSeries ISVs to not only take
better advantage of the mixed operating system capabilities of the
iSeries--which can run i5/OS, Linux, and AIX natively and Windows on internal
and external X86 servers--as well as helping ISVs work together to integrate
their software into a more complete solution for very specific sets of
customers. The idea is to take integration--the hallmark of the iSeries--up a
notch and get ISVs to play together to win more deals. By taking this
approach to integration, the iSeries can get a lot bigger piece of the IT pie
at companies. Visit www.ibm.com. Air filters
Telecom switch air filters
are NEBS Certified HP
HP teams with Symas to
deliver open source directory across HP server platforms Visit www.hp.com.
iSeries
IBM targets SMBs for iSeries take-up IBM is targeting to tap into the “healthy growth” in the
local small to medium business (SMB) sector to promote its highly successfuleServer iSeries line of servers, according to
Lynn Loke, eServer iSeries Asean/South Asiageneral
manager. “In Malaysia, the markets that are strong are the insurance,
banking, and manufacturing sectors from the medium to low size. We’ve seen
healthy growth in these markets and we are bullish about the Malaysiamarket,” she said. Loke
also said the pharmaceutical, steel and automotive sectors wereimportant markets for IBM in Malaysia.Loke said the Malaysian SMB market accounted
for about 70% of IBM’s business. IBM currently hasmore than 350 clients in Malaysia. IBM
System & Tech-nology Group AsiaPacific
eServer iSeries director Nick Lambert said the Asean region and China were
IBM’s fastest growing markets,with
Korea, Australia and New Zealand fast catching up. Visit www.ibm.com. Arrow
Electronics launches ISV growth initiative for IBM iSeries Visit www.arrownacp.com. Middleware
NetManage consolidates
IBM iSeries middleware products NetManage, the 15-year old company best known for the
Rumba AS/400 screen scraper, is consolidating and reducing the price point of
its iSeries web middleware. The new combined offering is being branded OnWeb
for IBM iSeries. Previously, its web middleware consisted of two offerings,
including a server and rendering engine. The first piece, NetManage Management
Server, provided the ability to host, manage and web-enable web-enabled
iSeries applications without need for an appserver. The rendering piece,
OnWeb-to-Host, provides web-based terminal emulation, representing terminal
emulating screens in web browser or mobile device environments. With the
web-enabling, the server piece enables you to encapsulate iSeries application
functions as Enterprise Java Beans or .NET constructs, or exposed as web
services. In so doing, you could compose services that might represent
functions from multiple iSeries applications. Additionally, they have ported
the Management Server on OnWeb from UNIX and Windows to run native on the
iSeries OS/400 operating environment. Visit www.netmanage.com. Moves, adds & changes
HP completes
acquisition of Peregrine Systems HP announced the completion of its acquisition of
Peregrine Systems, Inc., a leading IT asset and service management software
company. Peregrine will become part of the HP OpenView business unit, which
is led by Todd DeLaughter, vice president and general manager. The
acquisition, initially announced in September 2005, will add key asset and
service management components to the HP OpenView portfolio, a distributed
management software suite for business operations and IT. With these
components, HP can offer chief information officers more insight into and
control over their technology environments in an efficient and cost-effective
manner. The close of the deal builds on HP's recent acquisitions of companies
like AppIQ and Trustgenix, which strengthened the OpenView portfolio in
storage and security management. Return to
top
Printers
Fuji Photo to buy Avecia Japan's Fuji Photo Film Co. said it would take over ink
dyes supplier Avecia Inkjet Ltd. for 150 million pounds in February. Fuji
Photo's copiers and laser printers business has been supporting the company's
earnings. The company said it aims to meet growing demand for ink dyes for
home-use ink jet printers through the acquisition. "By integrating its
own synthetic chemicals technology, dispersive technology and raw materials
tech-nology with Avecia's ink-jet production technology, Fujifilm will
develop ink-jet materials with high durability and other superior
characteristics that will enhance its technical position in the market,"
the company said in a statement. Fuji Photo paid about $230 million this year
to buy British-based industrial ink maker Sericol Group Ltd. The company aims
to expand revenues at its printing-related operations, mainly through mergers
and acquisitions, to 300 billion yen (1.5 billion pounds) in 2008/09, up from
about 220 billion yen in the 2004/05 business year. Visit www.fujifilm.com. Xerox launches three
sub-15K laser printers As part of its initiative to drive the conversion from
inkjets to lasers, Xerox India launched three printers - Phaser 3121
(printer), Phaser 3116 (printer) and WorkCentre PE114e (multifunctional laser
copier/printer) - in the sub Rs 15,000 category. The products are priced at
Rs 8,990, Rs 8,900 and at Rs 15,000 respectively. The mono-chrome and color
laser printer market in India is expected to grow to about 3.7 lakh units in
2006 according to IDC. The laser printer market is projected to grow by 11%
in 2006 vis-à-vis inkjet printers, which are expected to show a negative growth
of 7%. Within the laser printer market, small and medium businesses are
considered one of the fastest adopters of laser printers. Visit www.xerox.com. Storage
Backup service
providers witness substantial growth Asigra, the technology leader in agentless distributed
backup and recovery software for network computing, announced that backup
service providers have reported substantial increases in data under
protection for the first ten months of 2005.
Reviewing physical compressed capacities that are under management by
Asigra Televaulting in the period from January 1, 2005 through October 31,
2005, backup service providers are showing dramatic increases of 140 percent
in the first ten months of 2005 as compared with figures for the entire 12
months of 2004. Asigra Televaulting for Service Providers incorporates
everything needed to deploy, provision and sell storage services, including
business features not available from off-the-shelf backup software
packages. Televaulting’s agentless
architecture ensures that installation and maintenance is fast and easy, and
its built-in multi-tiered storage billing system saves the time and expense
of developing or modifying an existing billing system to accurately track
expenses by operating unit, division or department. Visit www.asigra.com. |
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