Economy
HP
IBM
In the news
LeasingLeasing
Linux
Market
Storage
The technology race

Economy

Economic Smoke Signals

Does manufacturing slowdown signal economic softness ahead for tech sectors too?
North America's commercial trucking sector is reeling from a sharp decline in new orders following last year's pre-emissions buying frenzy, compounded by a weakening U.S. economy. The Financial Times reports that U.S. truck makers have encountered an even steeper slide in orders than expected. Data from ACT Research cited by the Financial Times shows new orders for Class 8 trucks were down 72% from January through March compared to last year. The downturn has had a ripple effect on the entire industry, leading to a decline in freight volume, diminishing freight rates and layoffs at most major truck manufacturers. The American Trucking Associations reported U.S. freight volume fell 1.7% in February compared to 2006, marking the eighth straight monthly decline. An analyst from ACT quoted by the Financial Times predicts that North American truck manufacturers will build only about half as many vehicles in coming months as in the second half of last year. Kenny Vieth, a partner at ACT, added that an improvement in 2008 depended heavily on an economic rebound in the second half of this year.


Foreign demand may bail out U.S. economy
Citing commentary from the chief economist at HSBC in London, Bloomberg News reported that demand from overseas is throwing a lifeline to a United States weighed down by the housing slump and weak business investment. The flagging U.S. economy may get by with a little help from its friends. Demand from overseas is throwing a lifeline to a United States weighed down by the housing slump and weak business investment. With exports accelerating and imports shrinking, trade this year may add to growth instead of subtracting from it for the first time in more than a decade.
To read the Bloomberg story in its entirety, click here.

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HP

ProCurve Networking by HP launches alliance program
ProCurve Networking by HP launched the ProCurve Alliance, a membership program designed to offer customers security, mobility and convergence solutions that have been tested and qualified for interoperability with ProCurve offerings. Four companies – Mitel, AirWave Wireless, DVTel and ShoreTel – are the initial members of the ProCurve Alliance, with Mitel and AirWave recognized as top-tier strategic members. Each alliance member completed a rigorous application process that includes technology certification to ensure solution interoperability, simplified deployment and optimized performance. ProCurve plans to add further member companies based on customer needs.
Visit www.procurve.com/alliance.
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IBM

IBM upgrades high-end system i5 servers
IBM has upgraded its high-end System i5 595 server with its fastest Power5+ processors. In addition to upgrading the i5 595 processors, the company has also tweaked its i5/OS pricing on the midrange i5 550 and 570 servers as well as on the 595 box to make it more amenable and economical to use i5/OS as an application serving platform. The move to the 2.3 GHz cores in the Power5+ multichip module is no big surprise, particularly since IBM is not yet shipping the Power6 processors. IBM has already delivered the 2.3 GHz Power5+ MCMs in the System p5 AIX server line at the end of July last year. The Power5 and Power5+ MCMs pack four dual-core processors and four 36 MB L3 caches (one for each chip) into a single chip package. With the upgraded i5 595 machine just announced, IBM is once again not shipping a 16-socket box and is merely upgrading the MCMs to the fastest 2.3 GHz Power5+ chips. The new i5 595 machine comes in the same 8/16-way, 16/32-way, and 32/64-way configurations that the prior i5 595 did. The new i5 595 is also available in two different Capacity BackUp (CBU) configurations for high availability clustering against production systems. The new i5 595 requires i5/OS V5R4, the current release, and will not support OS/400 V5R3, the prior release. iSeries 825, 870 and 890 servers as well as i5 570 and 595 servers can be upgraded to the faster i5 595 box.
Visit www.ibm.com.
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In the news

CDW gears up for new season
CDW Corporation, primary sponsor of the No. 9 CDW/RSPORTS car driven by Justin Wilson, is pleased to kick off the 2007 Champ Car World Series season by announcing its returning and new co-sponsors. Excited to start the new season in Las Vegas, CDW brings its reputation for technology expertise and high-speed delivery to the racetrack for the second consecutive year. Last season CDW’s sponsorship involved much more than just a logo on the car. In addition to supplying the No. 9 CDW/RSPORTS car with cutting-edge technology products from some of its leading business partners, CDW provided the team with IT expertise and technology solutions to increase the team’s competitive advantage on the race track. CDW welcomes back returning partners including HP, providing laptops and servers; Plantronics, supplying communications headsets; and Edge Tech Corp., providing memory and portable solutions. CDW also is pleased to welcome as new co-sponsor Time Inc.’s Business and Finance Network.
Visit www.cdw.com/racing.
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Leasing

IDC releases preliminary data on global IT leasing market
Preliminary data from an upcoming report by market research group IDC revealed market sizing and forecast results for the worldwide IT leasing and financing market, encompassing leasing or financing IT equipment, software and IT-related services. According to IDC, the market exceeded $70 billion worldwide in 2006, and will pass the $100 billion mark by 2010, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 8%. Among the preliminary findings, the report noted the industry's mainstay product, equipment leasing, will come under increasing pressure from expected changes in accounting treatment, heightened global competition and limited increases in IT equipment spending growth. The changing market for IT equipment leasing will be overshadowed by strong growth in financing of both IT software and services. In 2006, equipment leasing accounted for approximately 70% of the worldwide leasing and financing volume. By 2010, IDC predicts that this share will drop by about twenty percentage points, while software and services financing will comprise approximately 50% of the worldwide market.
Visit www.idc.com.
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Linux

Ubuntu Linux forges tighter DB2 ties
The latest IBM database will now download and deploy easily from the Ubuntu desktop. If users want DB2, they can go to the download site and Ubuntu automates the download and installs it. The Linux distribution is free and includes five years of server security updates. Customers can have a strict service-level guarantee and can license that from Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu. Canonical and IBM collaborated on the database/Linux integration. Six-year-old Ubuntu is seen as an up-and-coming Linux distribution. Some industry observers call it the fastest-growing Linux in the enterprise. IBM partners agree that there is rising interest in Linux among their customers.
Visit www.canonical.com.
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Market

Netuitive secures $8 million in financing to accelerate market expansion
Netuitive, Inc., the leading provider of self-learning performance management software, announced that the company has secured an additional $8 million in financing. This new round of funding, led by MK Capital, will be used to expand Netuitive’s sales operations and accelerate market presence in the US and Europe. Netuitive has experienced tremendous momentum in the last year - growing revenues by 400%, adding more than 50 new customers - shipping the enterprise edition of its Netuitive Service Analyzer product and delivering the first self-learning performance management system for VMware. The company has also received numerous accolades during this time, including being named a “Cool Vendor” in IT Operations by Gartner Inc, listed as one of the companies “crashing the gates” in 2007 for IT Service Orchestration by Yankee Group and named a CODiE Award finalist for best new Systems Management solution. Built on eight patented technologies and techniques resulting from more than 15 years of academic and commercial research, Netuitive’s Real-Time Analysis Engine provides the underlying technology for Netuitive SI and Netuitive Service Analyzer. Completely self-learning, self-configuring and continuously adaptive, this unique technology performs sophisticated statistical trends analysis and multi-variable correlation to automatically determine normal system behavior, measure and predict deviations from the norm, and interpret symptoms for proper alerting and diagnosis.
Visit www.netuitive.com.
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Storage

QLogic announces release of HP StorageWorks IP Distance Gateway
QLogic Corp. announced the release of the HP StorageWorks IP Distance Gateway, an intelligent storage router based on QLogic SANbox 6142 technology. The IP Distance Gateway is fully qualified with HP StorageWorks Continuous Access EVA software and HP StorageWorks Business Copy to improve data management and replication for HP StorageWorks XP and EVA arrays. In addition, the router offers SAN growth without limitations by utilizing the company's established IP network to share SAN devices and data replication services across remote SAN islands.
Visit www.qlogic.com.
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The technology race

IBM targets small businesses with per-user pricing on its iSeries solutions; HP announces new system aimed at SME market
IBM is offering "all-in-one" solutions for up to 40 users that include systems, storage and related software and services. While most small-business users who are new to IBM will be looking at the pSeries of Unix and Linux servers, the iSeries is IBM's workhorse system for small and medium-sized businesses. The iSeries includes features that the company hopes will appeal to SMEs, including a built-in workload manager that helps companies run and manage multiple applications independently on one system. Pricing is $7,995 complete with five user licences. Additional user licences cost $1,250 per five users.

Meanwhile HP has also announced a new system aimed at the SME market. The AiO1200 is the fourth HP server and storage product released in 2007 designed specifically for small businesses. The HP AiO1200 is aimed at larger customers than those whom IBM is targeting. It includes a storage array with a high-performance controller in a 12-drive array, which allows storage to be allocated at a granular level. The HP AiO1200 is available with up to 9TB (terabytes) of capacity and SATA (serial ATA) or SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) options. HP also announced that it now has alliances with "the five major global independent software vendors" targeting small businesses: Citrix Systems, Microsoft, Oracle, Sage and SAP.
Visit www.ibm.com or www.hp.com.
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