Business News Holding

Tag: dell

  • Dell and Dropbox Partner on a Business Cloud Storage Push


    Hardware giant Dell has formed a partnership with cloud storage provider Dropbox to sell the business focused cloud storage product through its sales network. The deal aims at helping businesses "meet today’s employee’s expectations for cloud based services."

    Dell will bundle Dropbox’s corporate offering, Dropbox for business with its data protection cloud proposition. According to the company, the move will ensure that the IT Company meets regulatory requirements and also maintain control over sharing.

    Brett Hansen, the executive director of end user computing software at Dell noted that Dropbox was one of the fastest growing, most innovative and most popular solution of its kind. He further noted that through the Dell global ales team, both companies can help organizations of different sizes protect data while embracing consumerisation of IT.

    Global vice president of partnerships at Dropbox, Marc Leibowitz added that Dropbox has always focused in providing a simple and elegant way of accessing their most important stuff. He also noted that Dell offers scalable, innovative and back-end expertise that help to empower IT administrators as well as the end users. The shared values of manageability, simplicity and security make Dell an ideal strategic partner.

    Dell and Dropbox indicated that they will be announcing the developments across Dell’s commercial and consumer client platforms in the coming months. However, they did not expound on when the changes are likely to appear.

    Image: TechMalaysia

  • Nirvanix, IBM Cloud Storage Partner Files for Bankruptcy


    Nirvanix, IBM’s SmartCloud storage service from San Diego last month told customers and partners that it will be shutting down on 30th September. The customers were given just 2 weeks to migrate their data and now the company is filing for bankruptcy.

    The company released this information on a post on its website that revealed chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. Nirvanix gave its customers a further 2 weeks to remove their data from its service. The new deadline for data removal is 15th October.

    The website post indicates that Nirvanix sought to file a voluntary chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in order to maximize value for its creditors and search for alternatives to provide the best possible transition for its customers.

    The initial indication of Nirvanix bankruptcy came as a surprise to many people. The company was formed in 2007 and had partnerships with Dell and IBM. The company was lauded for its superb funding and technical prowess.

    The bankruptcy issue was first reported on the wall street journal and this week’s announcement provides some sort of closure for people who have a keen interest on the company. Nirvanix has specifically mentioned Google storage, Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure and IBM SoftLayer as possible replacements.

    The bankruptcy paperwork indicates that Dell marketing L.P, formerly known as storage outfit EqualLogic is Nirvanix’s largest creditor. Other creditors include Gartner, Nimsoft and Salesforce.com.

  • Dell to Invest in Storage Start-Ups

    Dell has often put money into their own hardware and infrastructure, but after a recent announcement, it seems they are looking to invest outside the company as well. They’ve create a $60 million fund earmarked for Fluid Data Storage, with the goal of supporting developing start-ups that are focused on data storage. In exchange they’ll take an ownership stock in the products, but not the companies themselves, allowing these fledgling computer companies to continue charting their own course.

    It’s a unique mix of building and buying, with the goal of finding the next gamechanger in this evolving industry. Jim Lussier, Dell’s managing director of VC, is hoping to find new products in cloud or memory-based storage, as well as innovative architectures, and it’s clear they are willing to pay other savvy tech entrepreneurs to do the heavy lifting.

    Dell will give five to ten start-ups between $3 million and $5 million during this first round of funding. In return, they’ll take a percentage of future equity, as well as unlimited access to any new IPs the start-ups develop. It’s a great deal for businesses struggling to get off the ground, as long as they’re willing to work off of Dell hardware. Considering the significant market share Dell still enjoys, that shouldn’t be much of a sticking point.

    The start-ups chosen for funding will be selected by a wide range of Dell experts in software, corporate development, acquisitions and storage. On top of the fluid funding, Dell also promises to invest their own sweat equity, hunting down other venture capital groups to keep the money flowing.

  • Microsoft Unveils Windows Phone 7 Global Portfolio

    Microsoft announced nine new Windows Phone 7 handsets that will be available this October and November from over 60 mobile operators in 30 countries in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific.

    Windows Phone 7 will be available in a variety of form factors from device-makers such as Dell, HTC Corp., LG and Samsung, and from mobile operators including América Móvil, AT&T, Deutsche Telekom AG, Movistar, O2, Orange, SFR, SingTel, Telstra, TELUS, T-Mobile USA and Vodafone.

    All Windows Phone 7 phones will include the Snapdragon processor from Qualcomm. A broad selection of phones will begin shipping in October 2010 with more arriving in 2011, including phones from Sprint and Verizon Wireless.

    The following devices will come to North America, Europe and Asia Pacific in the holiday 2010 timeframe.

    In North America:

    AT&T
    • HTC Surround, United States
    • Samsung Focus, United States
    • LG Quantum, United States

    T-Mobile USA
    • HTC HD7, United States
    • Dell Venue Pro, United States

    TELUS
    • HTC 7 Surround, Canada
    • LG Optimus 7, Canada

    América Móvil
    • LG Optimus 7, Mexico

    In Europe:

    O2
    • HTC HD7, United Kingdom, Germany

    Orange
    • HTC 7 Mozart, including France, United Kingdom
    • Samsung OMNIA 7, including France, United Kingdom

    SFR
    • HTC 7 Trophy, France
    • Samsung OMNIA 7, France

    Movistar
    • LG Optimus 7, Spain
    • HTC HD7, Spain
    • Samsung OMNIA 7, Spain

    Deutsche Telekom AG
    • HTC 7 Mozart, Germany
    • Samsung OMNIA 7, Germany

    Vodafone
    • HTC 7 Trophy, including Germany, Spain, United Kingdom
    • LG Optimus 7, including Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom

    In Asia Pacific:

    SingTel
    • HTC HD 7, Singapore
    • LG Optimus 7, Singapore

    Telstra
    • HTC 7 Mozart, Australia
    • LG Optimus 7Q, Australia

    Vodafone
    • HTC 7 Trophy, including Australia

    “We have a beautiful lineup in this first wave of Windows Phone 7 handsets,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft. “Microsoft and its partners are delivering a different kind of mobile phone and experience — one that makes everyday tasks faster by getting more done in fewer steps and providing timely information in a ‘glance and go’ format.”

  • Samsung Launches "Industry First" Self-encrypting SSDs


    Samsung Electronics has unveiled what it claims are the first hardware-based self-encrypting solid-state drives.

    To be available in 256-, 128- and 64-GB versions, the SSDs provide full-disk encryption using Wave Systems’ technology, which activates and manages the encryption.

    Dell has already said that it will use the drives in its next laptops.

    Despite the improved security, Samsung maintains the SSDs’ performance is not affacted.

    It says the encryption provides better security than the software alternative, because encryption keys and access credentials are generated and stored within the drive hardware, making it more difficult to hack.

    Each Samsung self-encrypting SSD will come bundled with Wave’s EMBASSY Trusted Drive Manager, which provides pre-boot authentication to the drive and enrolling drive administrators and users.

    Jim Elliott, memory vice president, Samsung Semiconductor, said the SSD drives offered business users the best of performance and security in a single drive.

    "Samsung has combined the tremendous performance advantages of solid state technology with integrated hardware encryption for drives designed especially for today’s ‘road warrior’ professionals," he said.

  • Storage Market Slows, Modest Growth Forecast


    Well, it was only a matter of time. The data storage market has slowed down – and much more than anticipated, writes Samantha Sai for storage.biz-news.

    IDC revealed last week that global external disk storage systems’ factory revenues dropped by a half per cent in the fourth quarter.
    This is the first quarterly drop for data storage in more than 5 years.

    According to IDC, EMC, HP, Dell and Hitachi did grow a little in the last quarter, as expected.

    However, IBM, NetApp and Sun Microsystems all posted year-over-year sales declines.

    In the 4th quarter, external system revenues dropped slightly to USD $5.3 billion, while the total disk storage system market dropped 5.9 per cent to USD $7.3 billion chiefly due to limitations in server system sales.

    The other big decline was seen in the total disc storage system capacity, which peaked at 2,460 petabytes, a growth of only 27.3 per cent, but this was down by 50 per cent compared to the growth rate in the past.

    Natalya Yezkhova, IDC research manager for storage systems, said: "Because of the global economic crisis, the last quarter of 2008 was tough for the disk storage systems market, resulting in a market decline from the same quarter last year."

    She said that high-end storage sales were upset by a chill in the end-user expenditures and longer acquisition cycles.

    But some low-end and midrange storage sectors have continued to sale well, "as end users broadened their search for storage solutions in these lower-cost segments to satisfy their increasing storage needs while optimizing investments in storage infrastructure."

    EMC continues to hold the leadership with its external systems market share lead of nearly 23.3 per cent of revenue in the fourth quarter, followed by IBM and HP, with 15.7 per cent and 13 per cent respectively.

    Dell did not fare well and ended the quarter in the fourth position with a 9.3 per cent share.

    Hitachi and NetApp followed with 7 per cent growth, while Sun had 5.2 per cent.

    In the Open SAN market, which only grew 2.2 per cent, EMC was again in the lead with 24.2 per cent of the market.

    IBM followed next with 16.5 per cent.

    The NAS market has grown steadily and recorded a 8.6 per cent rise.

    Again, EMC led the pack with 43.8 per cent, followed by NetApp at 24.1 per cent.

    The sum network disk storage market (NAS combined with Open SAN) grew a modest 3.6 pe cent to USD $4.1 billion in revenues.

    EMC again claimed a 28.6 per cent revenue share, followed by IBM at 14.5 per cent.

    So what are the expectations for the rest of 2009?

    Enterprise Strategy Group and IDC both speculate a modest growth of 2-3 per cent for both the data storage industry overall IT spending.

    In an industry, which has always seen green, adjustment to single digit profits may not sit well for many people.

  • Dell Smartphone Needs To Shine


    Suggestions that Dell is to launch a smartphone have surfaced again following a research note by Kaufman Brothers analyst, Shaw Wu.

    Wu speculates that the move would be to offset the impact smartphones are having on notebook sales.

    But the analyst warns that Dell would have to make its device truly distinctive to stand any chance of securing a healthy slice of the extremely competitive smartphone market.

    For this reason, Wu suggests Dell would be well advised to consider acquiring a software maker.

    The comments come after investigations within Dell’s supply chain reportedly indicate that lengthy discussions with potential component suppliers are reaching fruition.

    While details such as device specifications and a launch date are unknown, some reports suggest Dell is planning a handset launch as early as next month at 3GSM or the Mobile World Congress.

    Dell has publicly tried to play down rumors of it launching a phone but has stopped short of openly denying the claims.

  • Logitech Snaps Up VoIP Startup SightSpeed


    Logitech International has announced the acquisition of VoIP and videoconferencing startup SightSpeed for around USD $30 million.

    The deal is expected to close in early November, following completion of standard closing procedures and conditions.

    In a release, the Swiss manufacturer of PC peripherals said the addition of SightSpeed’s video technology and research and development team would allow it to develop new video solutions for the home market.

    SightSpeed’s software has received widespread praise and sits at the core of Dell’s Video Chat application. The service allows people to make video calls, computer-to-computer voice calls, and calls to regular telephones, with free and paid versions.

    Logitech claimed the merger would produce "future video calling initiatives that can enable cross-platform video communications with an intuitive, lifelike experience, for people sitting in front of a personal computer or with their family in a living room".

    Logitech, perhaps best known for computer mice it makes, already sells high-end video cameras for online video conferencing and chat, and some VoIP equipment as well.

    Junien Labrousse, executive vice president of Logitech’s Products group, said: "With this acquisition, we are significantly augmenting our current video R&D resources to help us move more quickly toward our goals for video services that complement the way people socialize, communicate and enjoy entertainment."

    SightSpeed’s 25 employees currently work out of offices in Fremont, California, where Logitech’s US HQ is situated.