Oracle As a Service (Line56)

COCC taps Oracle to extend e-business infrastructure and applications to small and medium-sized banks

Murdoch Will Earn A Payday From MySpace (Forbes)

NEW YORK - One of my favorite sites on the Internet is Amazon.com's little-known Alexa, a traffic-ranking site that finds out its data from a browser toolbar. This toolbar links up similar sites of interest for the user so if you went to, for example, “a pet site,” it would give you links to other popular pet sites as indicated by the behavior of other Alexa users.

Release Dates for Office 2007 Determine New Version Rights (Gartner)

Now that Microsoft has confirmed the release dates for Office 2007, Software Assurance customers should check their agreement end dates to see if they will receive rights to it.

Cool Vendors Heat Up IT Markets (Gartner)

More than 140 little-known but exciting companies offer big possibilities for the future of IT. Organizations, technology providers and investors should become familiar with these cool vendors and their offerings.

Cool Vendors in Emerging Technologies, 2006 (Gartner)

	We examine two sets of related technologies: applications that tie to massively scalable computing resources, and the hardware and software technologies that can cost-effectively deliver those resources. We also identify two breakthrough vendors with portable power solutions. Cool vendors: MotionPoint FYI
	Rackable Systems
	SprayCool
	Parallels
	Invirtus
	Transitive
	Ageia
	UltraCell
	Zinc Matrix Power

KM Blog (Line56)

Your weekly look at books, links, and questions from the world of knowledge management

Beatles take Apple to court over iPod dispute (FT)

The long-running legal tussle between The Beatles' company, Apple Corp, and technology giant Apple Computer returned to London's High Court 15:34 | Read

FileNet to showcase its enterprise content and process management solutions at FT Summit in Dubai (AME Info)

FileNet Corporation, the leading provider of Enterprise Content and Business Process Management solutions, has announced its participation in the upcoming Financial Technological (FT) Summit & Exhibition 2006, which will be held at the JW Marriot Hotel, Dubai, from April 2-4.

FatWire Software Recognized as Sole Leader in Persuasive Content-Centric Applications by Independent Research Firm (FatWire US)

Report cites FatWire's strength in Web Content Management, reporting and analytics, and multichannel content delivery

Mineola, NY - March 28, 2006 -- FatWire Software, a leading provider of content management solutions for deploying Web sites and content-centric applications, announced that it has been ranked by Forrester Research as the sole Leader in persuasive content-centric applications in its Forrester Wave: Content-Centric Applications report. The key findings of this report align with FatWire's strategy to enable enterprises to put content to work by delivering highly targeted and persuasive experiences to customers, partners, and employees.

User trends drove Microsoft to Windows Live, exec says (InfoWorld)

Microsoft has woken up to the fact that advertising is a major force, exec says

Customers' changing expectations are behind Microsoft's (Profile, Products, Articles) decision to offer some of its applications over the Web in the form of free services supported by advertising, a company executive said Monday. The change in course led to last week's management shakeup, he said.

Microsoft: Biz Apps on Track (Red Herring)

Software giant says its business products are on schedule after announcing delays in consumer products.

Microsoft Bloggers Post Gripes (Red Herring)

Postings on company blog reveal low morale over Vista delay.

Joint Venture Riverdeep and Microsoft (Riverdeep)

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., and Orlando, Fla., March 23, 2006 - Improving academic achievement is the key objective behind a unique relationship between Riverdeep and Microsoft, Riverdeep announced today at the Florida Education Technology Conference (FETC) in Orlando.

IBM Expands Its Modeling Suite in Database Design Arena (Gartner)

In releasing its new strategic data modeling and database design tool, Rational Data Architect, IBM takes on leading database design tool vendors. IBM customers should consider acquiring RDA now.

Survey: Vista and Office 2007--What Are Your Plans? (AMR)

Microsoft plans on releasing its long-awaited Vista operating system later this year, as well as an upgrade to its Office productivity suite. The new products claim enhanced search, collaboration, and security, but how important are these new features to your organization? Has your IT department started planning for these events? What would motivate your company to make these upgrades?

The week in technology: Vista now further off (FT)

Microsoft sent shock waves through technology equity markets this week after it delayed the release of Vista - its next generation operating system - until early next year because of engineering problems.

Microsoft delays new Office to January (FT)

Microsoft on Friday announced the new version of its Office software suite would be delayed until next year for consumers, appearing in January to coincide with the postponed launch of its Vista operating system.

Gates Pushes Office as Dev Platform (cbronline)

Microsoft Corp chairman Bill Gates this week pitched the virtues of Office 2007 and its server-side counterpart Sharepoint 2007 as platforms that can be extended and built upon by developers, speaking at a company conference in Redmond, Washington.

Microsoft's 'People-Ready' Campaign Offers New Opportunity (Gartner)

The People-Ready campaign is a reasonable differentiating strategy. However, as presented, People-Ready is a marketing program for Microsoft's product launches rather than a compelling vision for the future.

Understanding Google: Exclusive look at a JupiterResearch report (ZDNet)

JupiterResearch recently released a Concept Report entitled Understanding Google. Subtitle: Competing and Partnering with the Most Influential Company Online. It costs $750 to purchase this report, so I asked Jupiter's Michael Gartenberg if I could get it for free and blog about it - as I did almost 1 year ago with their report on RSS Readers. Happily Michael agreed and so I've been mulling over the Understanding Google report for the past few days.

Stellent the Platform for Broader Content Management (SOCJ News)

The Stellent platform provides a solution to organizations that want to leverage the platform for broader content management investments as well as for GRC purposes.

Microsoft to shake up its Windows unit (FT)

Microsoft shaking up its beleaguered Windows division. The move follows problems that led the world’s biggest software company to delay the launch of the consumer version of its latest operating system until next year.

In Brief: BEA boosts data access technology with Microsoft support (InfoWorld)

BEA Systems on Wednesday will announce the release of AquaLogic Data Services 2.1, for unifying data assets from disparate sources. Version 2.1 adds support for Microsoft's (Profile, Products, Articles) ADO.Net (Active Data Objects), enabling native access to this data. Previously, access required use of Web services.

SAP EP Business Package für FIRSTspirit (FIRSTspirit)

Vista Slip, Enterprise Testing, Make 2007 Deployment Unlikely (Gartner)

The latest Windows Vista delay affects consumers more than businesses -- most of which wouldn't have been able deploy it until 2008 anyway. But once Microsoft misses the 4Q06 holiday season, further slippage is possible.

Portals and SOA (Line56)

The evolving role of enterprise portals in a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) world

Judge: Google must give govt index data, not queries (InfoWorld)

Google must provide the government with 50,000 Web addresses in its search engine index, but not with sample of users' queries.

Google scans French literature for Book Search support (InfoWorld)

Google's plan to digitize all the world's books and put them online in searchable form has upset authors and publishers on both sides of the Atlantic

Mindjet Adds WebEx Collaboration to MindManager Pro 6 (geekzone)

Mindjet Corporation has released its new Mindjet MindManager Instant Meeting, powered by WebEx. The software enables users to instantly launch a WebEx Meeting Center session from within MindManager Pro 6 and invite other team members, regardless of their location, to the online meeting.

Web 2.0 (Publisher)

In referring to the Internet, The Economist, says that since its, "Inception in 1969 engineers have tweaked it in a piecemeal fashion. That the system has scaled up well enough to handle almost 1 billion users and blazingly fast fibre-optic links is nothing short of amazing." During this period the Internet has done much more than scale-up. It has fundamentally changed the way businesses operate and interact with consumers and its impact on the software industry has been radical. The Internet itself is reaching for a new milestone and though consensus on a definition of the milestone may be hard to reach, its name is Web 2.0.

The Financial Times says that, "Web 2.0 is the name being given to a wave of web services that offer more interactivity in the browser and 'social software' such as photo-sharing and public tagging of web pages." By that definition Web 2.0 is already emerging. The subject of the article, Google's recent purchase of the online word processor, Writely, indicates this as well. Writely, which allows users to do word processing via the Web, is specifically the type of Web service which the Financial Times and others are referring to. According to information leaked by Google, they also have the intention to offer a virtual storage service known as a "Gdrive." According to one source the Gdrive, "Would give Google users access to their data from any internet-enabled device and could make Google the biggest information storage company in the world." Google is not alone in its move to Web services, Yahoo! has made similar purchases and Microsoft stepped into the arena with Windows Live!. The offering of applications and services, once linked to the PC, via the Web shows the presence of Web 2.0 and this indicator may have far-reaching implications. For example, such services may affect the PC and software industries by leveling the field. If one can word process on the web there may not be a need to buy MS Office and if Web services such as online word processing may be used regardless of a machine's operating system there may be no need to buy Windows. Whatever the impact on these markets, they will not be alone.

Gartner singles out retail as one of the industries which needs to prepare for what has already begun. Specifically Gartner mentions the need of retailers to embrace the community aspect of Web 2.0. "In particular, the Web community will erode retailers' control over their brands, services and products and force them to design more-open and transparent processes and practices." Blogs and other community related aspects of Web 2.0, while posing a challenge, also hold great potential. By monitoring and utilizing customer driven content retail enterprises gain the ability to respond efficiently to consumer feedback and to do so with more personalization. It follows then that the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) industry will enter a period of change.

The nature of Web 2.0, particularly richer user/customer interfaces, personalized content and information delivery, and embedded business intelligence and process flows will, according to Gartner, "Give businesses more choices on how to improve their interactions with customers, prospects and partners." In order to exploit the potential Gartner says that budgets will need to take into account technology training for business executives and that, "Organizations must begin to research these emerging areas to build new skills, with a focus on usability for employees, partners and customers." Further, opportunities will open for software and service providers to design revolutionary new CRM systems to fill the needs of enterprises.

Gartner cautions, "Current excitement about a second wave of Web capabilities is a major development, but there will be another wave starting early next decade."

Competition Looms in Bloomberg Real-Time Market Data Feed Use (Gartner)

A vendor has announced a feed handler system for Bloomberg's B-Pipe feed, and Reuters has confirmed that it will deliver the B-Pipe feed over its own platform. Banks should enhance their applications to accommodate multiple feeds.

Cool Vendors in High-Performance Workplace, 2006 (Gartner)

High-performance workplace includes technologies that span enterprise activities. The cool vendors in 2006 reflect that richness and illustrate unique approaches to achieving performance improvements.

Gethuman...Or Not?

The following article contains a blog entry from Gartner Resarch Director Esteban Kolsky on the subject of the gethuman.com service, which lists ways to bypass automated systems and get humans on the telephone at hundreds of different companies followed by my short response. My own longer take on the state of service can be found in today's From the Editor column. - - Editor

Microsoft unwraps software, financing for SMBs (InfoWorld)

Microsoft Corp. will hold its first Small Business Summit Tuesday as a way to increase communications between the software vendor and its small and mid-size business (SMB) customers.

Mindjet presents the latest highlights at CeBIT 2006 (Mindjet)

This year we are focusing on Mindjet® MindManager® as a solution platform for dynamic integration of external information and efficient team collaboration.

In Hall 6, Booth B26 Mindjet will be demonstrating the latest MindManager Pro 6 integration solutions for enhanced project and information management along with our partners Emprise Process Management GmbH, Mastersolution AG, MindBusiness GmbH, Spirit Education, Wodey Informationssysteme and Visual Technology Solution LTD.

Google buys online word processor (FT)

Google on Friday said it was buying "Web 2.0" start-up Writely, an online word processor, for an undisclosed sum.

The move might be seen by Microsoft - whose Word program is the dominant application in word processing - as a threat to its market share.

Google has challenged Microsoft in areas including search technology and email.

Google and other internet companies such as Yahoo have been focusing on making applications, commonly run from a computer's hard drive, available remotely over the web.

Web 2.0 is the name being given to a wave of web services that offer more interactivity in the browser and "social software" such as photo-sharing and public tagging of web pages.

Writely allows users to compose and print text from inside a web browser, as well as collaborate with other users on a document.

Google revealed its acquisition in an entry in its official blog by Writely co-founder Jen Mazzon. "For the last five months, I've been part of a Silicon Valley start-up called Upstartle, which makes Writely," she wrote. "As of Monday, I'm happy to say that I and the rest of the Writely team are now part of Google."

Writely is in a developing "beta" stage, like many of Google's products, and is "far from perfect", according to Ms Mazzon.

But it will be expected to join a suite of applications being made available by Google through the browser. They include the Gmail email service and an online calendar.

Bloggers on Thursday speculated that Google would next be looking at browser-based spreadsheet applications as it sought to mirror Microsoft's Office suite of software applications.

Yahoo has followed a similar strategy of buying up Web 2.0 companies to fill gaps in its online offering and strengthen its services.

Google buys online word processor (FT)

Google on Friday said it was buying "Web 2.0" start-up Writely, an online word processor, for an undisclosed sum.

Reinventing the internet (The Economist)

Networking: New initiatives aim to overhaul the internet. But how can a “clean slate” redesign ever be implemented?

CeBIT: bizcon und ContentServ zeigen SharePoint Integration (contentmanager.de)

Unter dem Namen bizcon SharePoint Marketing Portals zeigen die bizcon AG, ein erfolgreiches Münchner Consulting-Unternehmen, und die ContentServ GmbH, führender deutscher Softwarehersteller, auf der diesjährigen CeBIT erstmals eine Integration der CS EMMS Suite von ContentServ mit dem SharePoint-Server von Microsoft. Diese neuartige Verbindung kombiniert die umfangreichen Kollaborationsmöglichkeiten der Microsoft SharePoint-Services mit den prozessoptimierenden Lösungen der ContentServ GmbH. Über eine SAP-Schnittstelle der CS EMMS Suite können auf diese Weise in den SharePoint-Räumen sogar SAP-Daten abgerufen werden. Die beiden renommierten Unternehmen zeigen dieses zukunftsweisende Konzept der Kollaboration mit dem Namen bizcon SharePoint Marketing Portals in Halle 3 an Stand E08.

Content Crisis (Line56)

They say they're leery of Google and Amazon, but traditional content distributors like publishers are really afraid of the Long Tail

Blinkx revamps search application (InfoWorld)

Blinkx's free search application will now be called Pico

Drawing work and life together (FT)

CeBIT, which opens tomorrow in Hanover and runs until Wednesday March 15, has grown to become the world’s biggest IT and telecoms fair.

In its current form it is 20 years old, so its adolescence is behind it but there are important decisions to make about the road it will take in adulthood.

It developed into an IT event from an exhibition of office equipment (CeBIT originally stood for Centrum der Büro- und Informationstechnik “Centre for office and information technology”) and has changed along with the industry it serves.

The slogan for this year’s event shows the dilemma facing the organisers, and many exhibitors. “Digital solutions for work and life” embraces both business technology and consumer electronics.

Since the end of the dotcom boom in 2001, much of the market for enterprise IT has been flat or in decline. But consumer electronics has enjoyed significant growth, driven by technologies such as MP3 music players and high definition television.

“Historically, consumer entertainment and enterprise IT have been worlds apart,” says Gartner analyst Steve Prentice, who will be speaking at the conference. “But we are fast reaching the point where the two come together.”

At CeBIT, convergence has led to overlapping themes in different halls. Some companies have taken multiple stands: Symantec, for example, will be in both the security and storage halls.

For smaller exhibitors, however, this is not a practical option. “There has been a lack of clear segmentation of the halls, and that has not worked well in the past,” says Mark Muschelknautz, marketing director for business software company Mindjet. “The organisation does need to be transparent when you have 470,000 sq metres of exhibition space.

For some exhibitors, though, the mix works well. “Some people think that you can segment the business user and the consumer, but after 6pm we all become consumers,” says Oscar Koenders, general manager for marketing at Toshiba’s European computer division.

He adds: “There is the fairly traditional mix of B2B customers at CeBIT, but also a growing number of consumers, and we will be addressing both.” As well as computers, Toshiba will be showing projectors, video players and high definition television.

Other exhibitors are happy to see convergence back on the agenda, despite attempts by the organisers in the mid-1990s to “re-professionalise” the show and attract business visitors rather than the general public.

This led to a shorter event with higher ticket prices but the trend seems to have reversed, at least in part. This year there will be evening opening of selected halls aimed at teenage visitors, and the digital home hall is expected to be one of the busiest.

“CeBIT plays to our strengths in voice, broadband and home media,” says Martin Kinne, chief executive of Siemens’ home and office communication devices. Last year, Siemens made an impact, bringing in Brazilian footballer Ronaldo to promote its wares.

This year, the presence might be slightly lower key, with Siemens exhibiting alongside BenQ, which bought Siemens’ mobile phone division last year. But Mr Kinne still expects to do a significant amount of business, especially with network operators and internet service providers interested in Voice over IP and other advanced services.

Mr Kinne expects a significant number of leads to come from overseas visitors. Last year, a third of visitors to Siemens booths were international. But for some vendors, that figure is as low as 15 per cent. This has led some companies to question CeBIT’s value as an international event, rather than a show for the, admittedly large, German market.

The telecoms, broadcast and internet services market that provides the key customers to Siemens’ home and office communication devices division is very international. This helps explain the high level of overseas interest. It may be that visitors want to see German vendors on their home turf.

For other companies, however, the focus for CeBIT is primarily on Germany, Austria and Switzerland or central Europe.

Tim Pickard, vice-president for international marketing at RSA Security says: “We find that the most benefit for us comes from opportunities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. We justify attending CeBIT on the basis of our German business.”

For overseas exhibitors, this appears to be the pragmatic approach. Microsoft, for example, found that 82 per cent of its non-German requests for information came from elsewhere in Europe. But German visitors still generated more than 90 per cent of requests for further information.

Microsoft treats CeBIT primarily as a German event, although Frank Mihm-Gebauer of Microsoft Germany points out that it is a critical event for the software company. One reason Microsoft is committed to CeBIT, he explains, is that it is a chance to speak directly with customers.

As a company that sells through channels and partners, rather than direct to the public, this is an opportunity Microsoft values. But as Mr Mihm-Gebauer adds, the show does have to justify itself by generating new sales leads and ultimately, licence revenue for Microsoft.

It is this hard-headed, metrics-based approach that persuades IT vendors to put, and keep, CeBIT on their agendas. Over the years, there have been some significant absentees from the event: Apple Computer will not be exhibiting, nor will Oracle, nor HP.

But for companies which manage their CeBIT presence well, it can be a profitable, if exhausting, week. Amanda Jobbins, EMEA vice-president for marketing at Symantec, says she constantly asks her German marketing team for evidence that CeBIT generates business leads.

So far, it has done so. “Our research shows that 25 per cent of visitors have come to CeBIT planning to invest in technology,” she says. “Up to 40 per cent of attendees are IT decision-makers or managing directors.”

The event, she says, is a chance to meet channel partners and distributors, and raise awareness with the public and with the media. She stresses that making the most of the event requires thorough preparation.

But the investment is worth it. “The opportunity pipeline for Germany shows a spike after CeBIT,” she says. “In terms of our German business alone, it is pretty compelling.”

Buying a television used to be such a simple business (FT)

Televisions are getting bigger. This week at CeBIT, Samsung will announce what it claims is the world’s first 82-inch LCD TV – there is already a 106-inch plasma screen one.

Content Management Giant Acquires Rights Management firm (Content Wire)

EMC acquires Authentica

EMC has acquired Authentica, provider of security software.

Authentica’s solution is based on patented technology, our Active Rights Management platform to dynamically control information throughout the content lifecycle.

Six Apart takes blogs to work (InfoWorld)

Six Apart launches two new business-class blog offerings

Google seeks to quell fears on growth (FT)

Google executives on Thursday sought to dispel recent doubts about their company’s growth prospects, using an annual meeting with analysts to promise further strong growth in its core search engine business and to sketch a broader role in the “offline” advertising world.

Office 2007 Includes Several New Twists (NewsFactor Network)

John Carins, Microsoft's senior director of information worker licensing and packaging, says the company expects a majority of corporate users to opt for the Professional Plus edition of Office and couple it with SharePoint Server. "This is the nod that SharePoint is the server we are going to put a lot of the collaboration work under," he said.