Dell launches new cloud and virtualization solutions

Dell has announced a new range of cloud and virtualization solutions. These include data centre and cloud client computing solutions based on the company's partnership with VMWare. 

"Customers are in the driver's seat when it comes to procuring cloud and virtualization solutions and Dell is on target with its new offerings as the company is both innovating and partnering to give customers exactly the solutions that will best fit their business needs," said Wayne Pauley, senior analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). "Dell's new offerings should help customers boost IT performance and better enable business agility. When you include VMware's virtualization technology with Dell's solutions, customers will want to take a close look at how they can further enhance and quickly optimize their businesses with these joint solutions." 

Dell Networking expanded its S-series portfolio with the new S6000, a switching platform for data centers with built-in virtualization and automation features. Dell claims that S6000 offers up to twice the density and throughput while consuming up to 50% less power than previous generation top-of-rack switches. S6000 supports advanced network virtualization and software-defined networking features including hardware-accelerated L2 Gateway functionality for use with VMware NSX, bridging traffic between virtualized and non-virtualized environments. 

Dell is also previewing functionality with Active Fabric Manager (AFM) 2.0 specifically for VMware environments. Active Fabric Manager provides simplified configuration, management and monitoring of Dell Active Fabric leaf and spine elements. 

The company also launched Fault Resilient Memory, a technology jointly developed by Dell and VMware. It allows Dell PowerEdge 12 generation server customers using VMware vSphere 5.5 to maximize available server memory while increasing protection for the hypervisor against memory faults. 

Two more additions are Dell Storage integrations with VMware vSphere 5.5 and OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter. Dell also updated its cloud-based virtual desktop solution, Dell Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) On Demand with new features from Desktone's secure multi-tenant VDI platform, delivering session-based desktops, published applications, persistent or non-persistent Windows 7 or XP desktops, RSA secure authentication, among others. 

Dell Software also introduced the next generation of its Foglight Virtualization Operations Management suite. The suite helps improve IT staff efficiency and cut operational costs by reducing infrastructure complexity.

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Facebook: Govt agencies asked for data of 38k users

Government agents in 74 countries demanded information on about 38,000 Facebook users in the first half of this year, with about half the orders coming from authorities in the United States, the company said.

The social networking giant is the latest technology company to release figures on how often governments seek information about its customers. Microsoft and Google have done the same. Facebook said it planned to start releasing these figures regularly

As with the other companies, it's hard to discern much from Facebook's data.

"We fight many of these requests, pushing back when we find legal deficiencies and narrowing the scope of overly broad or vague requests,'' Colin Stretch, Facebook's general counsel, said in a blog post. "When we are required to comply with a particular request, we frequently share only basic user information, such as name.''

Facebook and Twitter have become organizing platforms for activists. During anti-government protests in Turkey in May and June, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called social media "the worst menace to society.''

At the time, Facebook denied it provided information about protest organizers to the Turkish government.

Data released show authorities in Turkey submitted 96 requests covering 173 users. Facebook said it provided some information in about 45 of those cases, but there's no information on what was turned over and why.

Facebook and other technology companies have been criticized for helping the US National Security Agency secretly collect data on customers. Federal law gives government the authority to demand data without specific warrants, and while companies can fight requests in secret court hearings, it's a challenge.

It's not clear from the Facebook data how many of the roughly 26,000 government requests on 38,000 users were for law enforcement purposes and how many were for intelligence gathering.

Technology and government officials have said criminal investigations are far more common than national security matters as a justification for demanding information from companies.

The numbers are imprecise because the US government forbids companies from revealing how many times they've been ordered to turn over information about their customers. Facebook released only a range of figures for the United States.

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Infosys planning to cut onsite jobs: Sources

In an attempt to ensure cost efficiency in its operations, Infosys -- India's second-largest IT services exporter -- is likely to reduce its onsite operations, reported ET Now. 

According to ET Now sources, Infosys is considering downsizing its onsite, which implies that a lot of people in the support functions are likely to face the possibility of a job cut. 

ET Now understands that the marketing team in the US is also on the radar. "Also, the Infosys management is looking to cut costs in the strategic global sourcing (SGS) division," ET Now reported. 

This is being seen as an attempt to restructure the sales engine in the US. "Infosys feels that the SGS group is overlapping with what the sales function does," ET Now added. 

It is believed that NR Narayana Murthy and his son Rohan Murty have been in the US for the last two weeks to fine tune the strategy to cut costs on onsite. Infosys' onsite cost accounts for 46% of total cost as of March 2013. The management refused to comment on any queries pertaining to 'internal organizational matters.' 

ET had earlier reported that Infosys under Chairman Murthy is centralising decision making. The chairman's office — the new power centre created after the return of retired co-founder Murthy — has to sign off on key decisions related to large technology contracts, such as pricing or the way a deal is structured that might expose Infosys to future risks, at least three senior executives told ET on the condition of anonymity. 

"For all practical purposes, Murthy is the chairman, CEO, COO all rolled into one," said one of the executives. 

Before Murthy's return, chief executive officer SD Shibulal was in the process of decentralizing decision-making, especially those related to negotiating and signing contracts. 

The intention was to empower client-facing sales executives who are aware of moves by competitors and other considerations critical in negotiating and winning large outsourcing contracts. Under that model, a business unit head would be empowered to close large deals. 

For Infosys, which gets the lion's share of its over $7-billion (Rs 42,000 crore) revenues from corporations in the US and Europe, this could mean longer decision cycles when it comes to large contract negotiations

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Soon, travel with Google‘s taxi service

Technology giant Google is planning to create a fleet of driverless 'robo-taxis' to pick up and drop off passengers. 

The ultimate goal of Google's self-driving car project is to create a 'robo-taxi' that picks up commuters on demand. 

Such a system could transform transport systems around the world, doing away with the need for most people to buy cars, company executives believe. 

They also believe that it would reduce the number of road accidents as well as having environmental benefits, 'The Times' reported. 

Google's move to create a driverless vehicle of its own comes after the company held talks with major manufacturers in recent months, hoping that carmakers would build vehicles that incorporated Google's self-driving software. 

Since the launch of its self-driving car project in 2010, Google has created self-driving systems that have been installed in both a Toyota Prius and a Lexus RX. 

Cameras, sensors, radars and the company's own software has been added to the cars. Such vehicles have been given the green light to be tested on British roads before the end of the year, website 'cnet.co.uk' reported. 

However, it is believed the carmakers have been reluctant to enter a partnership with Google, not wishing to give the technology giant a foothold within the motoring industry. 

Frustrated by the lack of progress, Google is understood to have turned to designing its own cars instead. 

Last week the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported that Google was close to reaching a deal with Continental, one of the world's largest car component makers, to supply parts for its vehicles. 

The robo-taxi system is being created within Google X, the department that develops futuristic technologies, including 'Glass' - a pair of high-tech spectacles that sends information straight to the eyes.

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Micromax, Karbonn beat Samsung, Apple in India: IDC

The rising demand for affordable smartphones in the major emerging markets of India and China has helped local mobile manufacturers surpass shipments by established global brands like Samsung and Apple in April-June quarter this year, research firm IDC says.

According to IDC data in the Asia/Pacific excluding Japan region, homegrown vendors shipped 46 million units, while Samsung and apple combined shipped 35 million units in second quarter this year.

Other global brands like HTC, BlackBerry, Nokia, Sony, LG and Motorala shipped a combined 10 million units, whereas, the internal vendors from China like Huawei, ZTE and Lenovo shipped a total of 27 million units in April-June 2013.

IDC identified Micromax, Karbonn, Lava, Maxx and Intex as the rising players in the emerging smartphone market in India and brands like Coolpad, K-Touch, Xiaomi, Gionee and Oppo in China.

The research firm said local brands in the world's two most populous country, part of Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) region (APEJ), have aggressively scaled up their operations and are competitive on both price and hardware specifications.

"Aside from the top-tier international brands or Chinese brands that also ship globally like Huawei and ZTE, there is also a rising segment of homegrown brands, which as a group have been steadily rising in shipments and prominence," IDC said in its latest report on mobile shipments.

These homegrown players comprised 38% of second quarter 2013 volumes, up from 20% in the same quarter of 2012 and 7% in 2011 second quarter, it added.

Asia/Pacific region saw mobile shipments of 119 million units in April-June 2013, up 10% quarter-on-quarter and a huge jump of 75% from Q2 2012, IDC said.

"In emerging markets like China and India, IDC has seen many local competitors spring up, but only in the last few quarters have we seen them aggressively scale up, competitive on both price and hardware specs like bigger screens.

"We are now hitting a place where there are smartphones for every price point, where the masses will benefit from the slew of players bringing in more options," the firm said.

This is the first quarter that IDC saw both the under $50 segment of smartphones gain some traction in China. While, the 4-inch plus screen size segment drove most shipments, the 5-6-inch segment saw its first gain in both China and India, it added.

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3 things you may be doing wrong on Facebook

There are millions of Facebook users worldwide; however, many of them might be unaware of the fact that they are using the popular social media site in a wrong fashion. 

Those who use the site and post messages on their Timeline or their friends' Timeline might be unaware that what they post on timelines is still visible to others and none of it is 'private' and is visible to friends of friends or whichever customized settings one is using. 

Either one should directly send a message to the concerned person through clicking on the Messages link to the left of news feed and clicking on a new message button or going to the particular user's profile and clicking on the message button near the top right of the page, Fox News reports. 

Another usually done yet mostly unrealized feature is that of 'oversharing'. Most of the users do not realize that sharing everything on the social media might be a good way to let out all the updates of their lives but can also damage real-life relationships. 

The report said that if a user wants to post pictures of self, or photos with certain friends, settings should be either customized in a manner that other friends or family aren't offended or better still not post them at all. 

Apart from oversharing, the feature of putting in too much information in photos is risky. Smartphones today are enabled with embedded GPS info into photos which can let those who know how to extract the info get sensitive data about where the photos were taken including one's house, kids' school or other important locations. 

In order to turn off the feature, users can right click a photo and choose Properties and in the Details tab, click the 'Remove Properties and Personal Information' button for Windows. 

The report further added that in order to turn off the GPS feature while clicking photographs,iPhone users can change the Privacy Location Services from the Settings tab while Android users can change it from the Location Services tab and turn off the feature when not needed.

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Challenges before Microsoft‘s new CEO

The next CEO of Microsoft has one big decision to make: press on with retiring chief executive Steve Ballmer's ambitious plan to transform the software giant into a broad-based devices and services company, or jettison that idea and rally resources around its proven strength in business software. 

Ballmer's grand design - unveiled just six weeks before Friday's surprise announcement that he would retire within a year - calls for 'One Microsoft' to pull together and forge a future based on hardware and cloud-based services. 

But poor sales of the new Surface tablet, on top of Microsoft's years-long failure to make money out of online search or smartphones, have cast doubt on that approach. 

For years, investors have called on Microsoft to redirect cash spent on money-losing or peripheral projects to shareholders, while limiting its focus to the vastly profitable Windows, Office and server franchises. 

Activist investor ValueAct Capital Management LP, whose recent lobbying of the company may have played a role in Ballmer's decision to retire earlier than he planned, is thought to favor such an approach. 

In the last two years alone, Microsoft has lost almost $3 billion on its Bing search engine and other Internet projects, not counting a $6 billion write-off for its failed purchase of online advertising agency aQuantive. It took a $900 million charge for its poor-selling Surface tablet last quarter. 

For now at least, Microsoft seems intent on pursuing Ballmer's vision. John Thompson, Microsoft's lead independent director who is also heading the committee to appoint a new CEO, said on Friday the board is "committed" to Ballmer's transformation plan. 

The eventual choice of that committee - which has given itself a year to do its work - should provide a clue to how committed the board really is, and how open to outside advice. 

"Taking an internal candidate like Satya Nadella - the guy nurturing servers - or some of the other people on the Windows team, that makes sense to keep a steady hand through this reorganization and strategic shift," said Norman Young, an analyst at Morningstar. 

"But a strong case could be made that the company needs a breath of fresh air, someone who can execute on the strategy but also bring an outsider perspective," he added. 

That could mean selling the Xbox and abandoning Bing, or cutting short efforts to make tablets or other computers. 

Shareholders clamour for money, Ballmer's head
Throughout the last decade, as Microsoft's share price has remained flat, shareholders have called for bigger dividends and share buybacks to beef up their returns. 

Microsoft obliged with a one-time $3 a share special dividend in 2004 and has trebled its quarterly dividend to 23 cents since then. 

But shareholders still want a bigger slice of Microsoft's $77 billion cash hoard, $70 billion of which is held overseas. 

Rick Sherlund, an analyst at Nomura, believes that if the retirement of Ballmer means the company is listening to ValueAct and its supporters, then action on the dividend and share buyback could perhaps happen as early as September 19, when Microsoft hosts its annual get-together with analysts and is expected announce its latest dividend. 

"The momentum of shareholder activism is well underway and likely to benefit shareholders even though the process of how this unfolds is not certain," said Sherlund. 

The lackluster performance of Microsoft's stock has long been the stick that shareholders beat Ballmer with, and it has looked all the worse compared with the staggering gains made by Apple Inc under Steve Jobs. 

Yet Ballmer - who owns just under 4 percent of the company - never showed any doubts about his intention to stay in the job. His old friend and ally Bill Gates, who still owns 4.8 percent of the company, never wavered in his public support. 

The first public signs of dissent on Microsoft's board came in 2010, when Ballmer's bonus was trimmed explicitly for the flop of the infamous Kin 'social' phone and a failure to match Apple's iPad, according to regulatory filings. 

It was around that time, though not necessarily connected, that the board started considering how it would manage a succession, according to a source familiar with the matter. Ballmer and the board began talking to both internal and external candidates. 

About 18 months to two years ago, Ballmer started thinking seriously about a succession plan, the internal source said. 

The time since was not marked with glory for Ballmer, with a tepid launch of Windows 8, the disappointment of the Surface tablet, and a $731 million fine by European regulators for forgetting to offer a choice of browsers to Windows users. 

Two to three months ago, Ballmer started thinking seriously about his retirement and concluded it was the "right time to start the process," the source said. That was shortly after ValueAct took a $2 billion stake in Microsoft. 

July's gloomy earnings, which offered no immediate hope of quick improvement, may have sealed the decision. Ballmer said Friday he made the choice in the few days prior, and informed the board on Wednesday. Whether the board urged Ballmer to leave is not known. 

The impending exit of Ballmer leaves a difficult and perhaps impossible choice to his successor - pushing a large and insular behemoth through a highly risky transformation to the mobile world, or clinging to an island of profitable but PC-centric businesses. 

"I'm not sure there is someone who can do Steve's (Ballmer's) job 'better'. It's an incredibly difficult job, perhaps intractable," said Brad Silverberg, a former senior Windows executive and co-founder of Seattle venture capital firm Ignition Partners. "Perhaps the way the job is defined needs to change, and this is the harbinger of bigger changes to come."

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