Before I Forget…

THE DEAL

• The world’s largest handset maker announced it was taking control of Symbian, the UK company responsible for the most popular operating system on smartphones. 
• The founding members of the Symbian Foundation are: Nokia, Samsung Electronics, Motorola, LG, Sony Ericsson, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments, AT&T, NTT DoCoMo and Vodafone.  Nokia is paying €264m ($411m) to buy the 52% of Symbian it does not own
• Nokia will contribute the computer code behind Symbian’s operating system to a new non-profit organisation to be called the Symbian Foundation.  The foundation will make the code available for nothing to software developers, in a move aimed at spurring innovation on the mobile internet.  Nokia is also handing to the foundation the code behind the S60, its user interface for smartphones…..The code held by the foundation will be made available progressively on an open-source basis to web developers from next year, and in full by 2010. 

• Symbian is facing increasing competition. In the first quarter of 2007, its market share of smartphone sales to customers was 63.5%, according to researchers Gartner. In the first quarter of 2008 the figure had fallen to 57.1%
• Last year, Google announced plans for its Android mobile software platform, which will also be made available on an open-source basis.  Google’s move, together with Apple’s unveiling of its iPhone last year, underlined how Symbian is facing increasing competition in smartphone software…..

THE IMPACT

• Motorola, the US mobile maker, and Sony Ericsson, the handset manufacturer jointly owned by Japan’s Sony and Sweden’s Ericsson, are also handing the code behind their UIQ user interface to the Symbian Foundation.  NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s leading mobile operator, will contribute the code behind its MOAP user interface to the foundation.  The prospect of reconciling the S60, UIQ and MOAP interfaces into one software platform is one of the main potential benefits of the Symbian Foundation.  Handset makers and mobile operators complain about wasting money because of the complexity of working with 20 to 30 operating systems for mobiles and multiple user interfaces.  The handset makers are forever customising operating systems and software applications to suit the differing needs of mobile operators.
• Analysts said the move would fuel innovation and accelerate the pace at which mobile software applications were rolled out.  Google said: “Openness fosters innovation, benefiting consumers. We’re very pleased to see other major players in the mobile industry moving in this direction.”
• Significantly, mobile makers that are members of the Symbian Foundation will no longer have to pay royalties for use of Symbian’s operating system or Nokia’s S60 user interface from next year.  The mobile makers pay royalties worth $5 per phone to Symbian but Nokia declined to disclose its fees.  Ben Wood, analyst at CCS Insight, the research and advisory firm, said the end of royalties should cut the price of Nokia’s mobiles, and therefore increase sales. 
• He added that Nokia, by taking control of Symbian, would ensure that its operating system integrates better with the software behind the Finnish mobile maker’s internet services such as maps and music.
• Richard Windsor, analyst at Nomura, said that Nokia’s strategy could put pressure on Microsoft to cut the royalties that are linked to its Windows Mobile operating system.

References
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ab1e3c08-424e-11dd-a5e8-0000779fd2ac.html
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f765a768-424e-11dd-a5e8-0000779fd2ac.html

DURING the first half of this decade Carly Fiorina, then boss of Hewlett-Packard (HP), was forever answering the same frustrating questions about Dell and IBM, HP’s two more successful rivals.  Dell, she said, offered computers that were “low-tech and low-cost”, whereas IBM offered “high-tech and high-cost”.  Only HP, she said, was preparing to give customers “high-tech and low-cost”.  It was easier said than done. When Ms Fiorina tried to buy the computer-services arm of PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2000 to compete with IBM, the leader in that field, IBM beat her to it.  And when she bought Compaq to take on Dell, the leading PC-maker, shareholders revolted.  In 2005 the board fired her and hired Mark Hurd, a disciplined operations type, to focus on execution rather than vision.  Three years on Mr Hurd has mostly done that.  HP, having fully digested Compaq at last, has surpassed Dell to become the world’s biggest PC-maker.  This means that Mr Hurd is now ready to take on IBM, which has more than 7% of the $748 billion market for services, such as running the data centres of large companies and governments, or handling entire functions, such as personnel or claims processing.  The second-largest services firm, Electronic Data Systems (EDS), has much lower profit margins.  HP lags in fifth place.  Mr Hurd’s answer, announced this week, is to buy EDS for $13.9 billion.  He is getting a big name: EDS, founded by Ross Perot in 1962, pioneered the business of outsourced data-management.  But the company has been through turbulent times. Mr Perot sold EDS to General Motors in 1984—an unhappy combination that ended in 1996, when EDS was spun off.  It then suffered during the technology bust and made a big loss.  Under a new boss, it went into profit again, but with unimpressive margins.  Its subsequent boss, Ronald Rittenmeyer, will now become head of the combined services arm of EDS and HP, which will be almost as large as IBM’s. 

The prospect of digesting yet another big acquisition after Compaq may seem daunting.  Middle managers at HP still subscribe to the gentle, collegiate “HP way” of doing things.  The culture is that of Silicon Valley—relaxed and casual—and the cafeteria is big on ahi tuna.  At EDS, based in Plano, Texas, the style is “military, buttoned-down, and staid,” says Rick Sturm, the founder of Enterprise Management Associates, a consultancy.  People wear ties.  The cafeteria is full of steak and fries.  Compared with other services firms, which increasingly hire and operate in India, EDS is overwhelmingly American.  Mr Hurd, who came to California from Ohio, is likely to feel the culture clash less than his colleagues in the ranks.  His demeanour makes him “an EDS guy sitting on top of the HP way,” says one consultant.  Culture aside, EDS’s big selling point is to be the largest services firm that is independent of any hardware or software vendor.  It will continue to advise clients to buy systems from all vendors, says Mr Hurd, but those clients are now likely to pay more attention when the boxes come from HP.  Nonetheless, the deal marks another step in HP’s impressive comeback.  This week Mr Hurd increased his estimate of this year’s revenues to over $114 billion, despite the weak economy.  The verdict on Mr Hurd is that he has skilfully executed the strategy of his flamboyant predecessor…..

Reference : http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11376881

IBM doesn’t think every user in the enterprise should be locked into the same two-factor authentication scheme.  And to prove it, it bought a whole company.  Big Blue yesterday announced it has acquired Encentuate, a three-year-old, privately held maker of single sign-on, authentication management, and access tracking tools.  Financial terms of the buyout were not disclosed.  Encentuate’s will be integrated into IBM’s Tivoli line of products, which includes Tivoli Access Management (TAM), Tivoli Identity Management (TIM), and a single sign-on product powered by technology from Passlogix.  Officials at IBM/Tivoli said the Encentuate line offers greater flexibility, particularly in the second factor of authentication, than its current single sign-on (SSO) line.  “In the past, SSO meant that everybody had to have the same second factor, like a token or a smart card,” noted Joe Anthony, program director for security and compliance management at Tivoli.  “It’s just another thing to keep track of.”  With Encentuate, end users in different parts of the enterprise can be authenticated with tools they already have, such as smart cards, biometrics, tokens, RFID badges, or even personal objects, Anthony observed.  And once they are authenticated to the system, they can gain access to all of the applications and data they need, rather than just one or a few of them, he observed.  Encentuate also tracks which systems a user accesses and when, which is becoming a critical element of many regulatory and vertical-industry compliance requirements.  “Compliance is driving a lot of our customers’ decisions,” Anthony said…..The move toward risk management is also spurring renewed interest in SSO, according to Scott Crawford, an analyst at Enterprise Management Associates.  “Access privilege abuse allegedly played a major role in the Societe Generale case, for example, and auditors can be expected to scrutinize business risk exposure in IT more carefully going forward.”  Given IBM’s OEM relationship with Passlogix, the decision to acquire Encentuate is “a bit of a surprise,” Crawford said.  Tivoli will offer a program to upgrade users from the Passlogix-based technology to Encentuate, which may irk some current users.  “IBM likely got a very good deal for Encentuate,” Crawford said.  “And to IBM’s credit, this is a solution that has the reputation of being readily integrated out-of-the-box with a wide range of access targets, with good customer satisfaction and rapid time-to-value.”

Reference : http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=148292

In a move to strengthen its virtualization portfolio, Microsoft said today that it intends to buy four-year-old Israeli virtualization company Kidaro for an undisclosed sum.  Though Microsoft already has a product, Virtual PC, for desktop virtualization, it is unmanaged.  That makes it a hard sell to big businesses.  Kidaro acts as a management infrastructure for Virtual PC, including a small client-based add-on that allows Virtual PCs to be managed.  Microsoft will add Kidaro’s desktop virtualization capabilities into Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP), a set of desktop management tools for businesses.  The Kidaro technology would allow administrators to manage deployment, operation, and security of virtual desktops.  Businesses would typically use Kidaro with Virtual PC to access legacy applications that are no longer compatible with current operating systems…..Virtual PC can currently only be loaded in full, so that a user loading it up would see the full version of Windows 95 or some other operating system open inside a window.  But Kidaro makes it possible to deliver only a single application that can be loaded like any other.  Kidaro is currently also able to manage VMWare virtual desktops, and while Microsoft said it will continue to be able to do so, it’s unclear whether that capability will continued to be developed since Microsoft’s intentions for Kidaro seem Windows-centric…..One of the main goals of Microsoft’s application and desktop virtualization strategy is to push toward giving enterprise users access to their data wherever they are, even if they don’t have access to their own corporate laptop.  In that case, Kidaro also offers the capability to deliver a virtual image of an operating system via a USB key or a DVD, which would install the client and connect to the server-based management infrastructure upon being connected to the computer.

Reference : http://www.informationweek.com/industries/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206903294

Ping Identity today announced the acquisition of Sxip Access, a pioneering product for on-demand identity management.  The deal enables Ping to accelerate its SaaS program and obtain proven technology for extending its flagship PingFederate product with the complementary Sxip Access feature set and deployment options.  Ping Federate is the world’s first rapidly deployable software for secure Internet single sign-on (SSO).  The Ping and Sxip technologies combine the best identity and access management solutions for software-as-a-service and federated identity.  The acquisition positions Ping Identity as the undisputed leader in secure Internet SSO, bolstering Ping’s installed base and market share.  With nearly 200 enterprise customers and staff distributed across the US, Europe, and now Canada, Ping Identity can solidify its market presence in the SaaS space, which Gartner estimates will grow at double the rate of the total enterprise application market though 2011.  “With the addition of Sxip Access capabilities to PingFederate, we’ll be able to deliver to SaaS customers a comprehensive, secure, and easy-to-use federated identity solution that enables deployment in days rather than the months required with IdM suite vendor products.  The collective technologies and additional talent also will allow us to deliver new features on our product roadmap at a significantly faster rate,“ said Andre Durand, CEO of Ping Identity Corporation.

Reference : http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=148141