Business News Holding

Tag: market-data

  • Vyke Names New CEO, Confident of Continued Growth


    Vyke has appointed Kim Berknov as chief executive, effective from April 1.

    The announcement came as the VoIP service provider forecast it will meet market expectations for 2009.

    However, Vyke, which had expected to have a positive earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) figure by the end of 2008, said it now expected a loss of GBP 3.5 million for 2008, before exceptional costs of GBP 1.75 million.

    It expects a 46 per cent rise in gross billings to GBP 39 million for 2008.

    Despite this, Tommy Jensen, executive chairman of Vyke, said prospects for 2009 were encouraging with the company benefitting from acquisitions and a new product.

    Tommy Jensen, executive chairman Vyke

    "Trading in the current year has started strongly with the full effect of the cost synergies related to the acquisition of Callserve and Iios being realised during the first half of 2009," he said.

    The company expects to release its multi-channel Vyke Air platform, a new mobile service, next month.

    Earlier this month Vyke announced it had formed a partnership with mobile social networking company Nimbuzz.
    The move is intended to build upon the strengths of both Vyke and Nimbuzz by combining the former’s paid mVoIP service with the latter’s mobile peer to peer mobile social messaging and VoIP services.

    Vyke, which provides VoIP mobile services, expects gross billings for 2009 to be no less than GBP 70 million pounds (USD $97.49 million), with an EBITDA of at least GBP 3 million pounds.

    The company said this will include an expected continued growth rate of around 3,000 paid users per day.

    Berknov is currently managing director of Structured Investment Products plc and Evergreen Capital Partners Limited and holds a number of non-executive board positions in private companies.

    He has previously held positions as executive vice president of Aldata Solution Oyj and managing director of Digital Mountain AG, TransConnect Corporate Finance GmbH and GE Capital IT Solutions.

    Before joining those companies, Berknov was a management consultant with McKinsey & Company and previously held international sales and marketing positions at both AT&T and NCR Corporation.

  • Jajah Attracts $ 2.8M To Expand VoIP services


    Jajah has secured USD $2.75 million from an anticipated USD $5 million fourth round of funding.

    Launched three years ago, the VoIP communication service has grown steadily and now provide a service to millions of users.

    Although the identities of the latest investors haven’t been released, Jajah has been backed by Globespan Capital Partners, Intel Capital, Deutsche Telekom and Sequoia Capital in the past, according to VentureBeat.

    The Menlo Park, California-based company previously raised USD $23 million.

    Last April it signed a deal with Yahoo to provide phone-to-PC calling capabilities to the 90 million people who use the search giant’s messenger product.

    In February, it rolled out software for Windows Mobile, Blackberry and Symbian that allows them to make VoIP calls over WiFi or the cellular network.

    It also released a system that allows any carrier to deliver calling and text messaging services to the iPod Touch, no SIM card required.

    At the start of this month, Jajah began a partnership with Bravestorm, developer of the click-to-call BoldCall product.

    Under the deal, companies using BoldCall will allow visitors to their sites to call live customer service representatives in real time for free via the Jajah IP network.

  • Renewable Energy Critical to Connecting the Next 2 Billion Mobile Subscribers


    Over 800,000 base stations will utilize alternative energy solutions such as wind or solar energy in 2009, according to ABI Research.

    The forecast was made by the researchers’ new Clean Telecoms Research Service, set up to meet the growing need for detailed market information about green initiatives.

    It also estimated that nearly 70 million mobile devices will be ethically disposed of or will be recycled in 2009.

    Vice president and chief research officer Stuart Carlaw said one only had to look at the splash of solar powered mobile devices at Mobile World Congress 2009 to see that environmentally friendly solutions are becoming increasingly important to mobile consumers, service providers, application developers and OEMs alike.

    At MWC, Dutch company Intivation launched the world’s first low-cost solar-powered mobile phone that combines a single solar cell with its chip software.

    "Renewable energy will be a critical aspect in connecting the next two billion subscribers in off-grid and brown power areas," said Carlaw.

    "Not only is it environmentally friendly but it is also extremely cost effective."

    The new ABI Research Clean Telecoms Research Service covers important aspects such as:

    • energy consumption
    • renewable energy penetration
    • manufacturing and materials usage
    • corporate responsibility
    • regulatory issues
    • recycling
    • product end-of-life management

  • Mobile Internet Becoming Part of Daily Lives


    The number of people in the US using their mobile device to access news and information on the Internet more than doubled in the last year.

    An estimated 63.2 million people accessed news and information on their mobile devices in January 2009, up from 36.9 million doing so in January 2008, according to figures released today from comScore.

    Of these, 22.4 million (35 percent) did so daily – also more than double the size of the audience last year.

    The highest growth, however, was in accessing social networking sites or blogs, with 9.3 million using the mobile internet daily to access a social network site or blog in January 2009 compared with 1.8 million in January 2008.

    Mark Donovan, comScore’s senior vice president, mobile, said that that over the course of the past year, mobile Internet use has evolve from an occasional activity to being a daily part of people’s lives.

    "This underscores the growing importance of the mobile medium as consumers become more reliant on their mobile devices to access time-sensitive and utilitarian information."

    Donovan said that social networking and blogging have emerged as very popular daily uses of the mobile Web and these activities are growing at a torrid pace.

    "We also note that much of the growth in news and information usage is driven by the increased popularity of downloaded applications, such as those offered for the iPhone, and by text-based searches."

    In January, 22.3 million people accessed news and information via a downloaded applications, with 8.2 million people using downloaded maps applications.

    SMS is still a strong channel, with 32.4 million people using SMS to access news and information—including 14.1 million people using SMS for search.

    Donovan said that hile smartphones and high-end feature phones, like the Samsung Instinct and LG Dare comprise the Top 10 devices used for news and information access, 70 per cent of those accessing mobile Internet content are using feature phones.

    Other significant segments included:

    • Traded stocks or accessed financial account, which grew by 188 per cent to 3.3 million
    • Accessed movie information, which grew by 185 per cent to 3.1 million
    • Accessed business directories, which grew by 161 per cent to 2.4 million
    • Accessed entertainment news, which grew by 160 per cent to 5.5 million.

  • Smartphone Market: RIM and Apple Closing On Nokia


    Nokia still tops the smartphone market with sales of 60.9 million handsets last year for a total global market share of 43.7 per cent.

    But the Finnish phone-maker’s sales grew by just 0.8 per cent and its market share dropped from 49.4 per cent, with rivals Research In Motion (RIM) and Apple taking bigger slices of the smartphone pie.

    Research firm Gartner said Nokia still has more than double the market share of its closest competitor, RIM, which has 16.6 per cent.

    It points to the introduction of high-profile handsets by competitors as a key factor in Nokia’s slipping market share.

    The researchers predict that while Nokia’s low-end smartphones will continue to fare well, its higher-end N series handsets are in for a tough ride.

    RIM, on the other hand, has profited from new devices, such as the BlackBerry Bold and the BlackBerry Storm, which have taken its market share from 9.6 per cent in 2007 to 16.6 per cent in 2008.

    Generally, Gartner said worldwide sales of smartphones had grown at their slowest pace yet in the fourth quarter of 2008 as the financial crisis hit demand.

    It said an estimated 38.14 million smartphones sold in the three months to December, an increase of 3.7 per cent over the same period in 2007.

    This is the slowest rise since Gartner began tracking the market for smartphones in 2003.

    Nokia suffered a 16.8 per cent drop in sales during the December quarter.

    Total smartphone sales in 2008 reached 139.3 million units, up almost 14 per cent over the previous year.

  • EMC Being Investigated by the Feds


    The Federal government has just announced in a statement that Data Storage giant, EMC is being investigated over its pricing and improper contract practices.

    EMC revealed in its annual report with the SEC several days ago that the US justice Department had filed a lawsuit against the company, writes Samantha Sai for storage-biz.news.

    According to the Justice Department press release, the lawsuit accuses EMC of failing to disclose its commercial pricing practices during negotiation of its General Services Administration (GSA) contracts.

    It also says EMC provided improper payments and other things of value to Systems Integrators and other Alliance Partners on contracts with government agencies.

    The lawsuit alleges that EMC tendered false claims for hardware and services on “numerous government contracts from the late 90s to the present”.

    It is believed that the lawsuit is based on insider information as the suit was filed in US District Court in Little Rock, Ark under the Whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act.

    Among other allegations in the lawsuit are that EMC, "made payments of money and other things of value (alliance benefits) to a number of systems integration consultants and other alliance partners with whom it had alliance relationships".

    The Justice Department further states "that these alliance relationships and the resulting alliance benefits paid by EMC amount to kickbacks and undisclosed conflict of interest relationships".

    The government press release also declares that EMC has been charged with making false statements to the General Accounting Service about its profit-making pricing customs to collect better proceeds on contracts, "thereby overcharging federal agencies purchasing EMC products and services".

    The report filed by EMC to the SEC mentions that the Justice Department is scrutinizing the company’s fee planning with systems integrators and other associates in federal government dealings.

    It is also looking at the company’s "compliance with the terms and conditions of certain agreements pursuant to which we sold products and services to the federal government, including potential violations of the False Claims Act".

    The investigation partly covers a previous audit by the GSA "concerning our recordkeeping and pricing practices under a schedule agreement we entered into with GSA in November 1999, which, following several extensions, expired in June 2007".

    To date, EMC says it has worked together with the inquiry and assessment and engaged in discussions aimed at resolving this matter without any admission or finding of liability on the part of EMC.

    "We believe that we have meritorious factual and legal defenses to the allegations raised and, if the matter is not resolved and proceeds to litigation, we intend to defend vigorously," the company said.

    "If the matter proceeds to litigation, possible sanctions include an award of damages, including treble damages, fines, penalties and other sanctions, including suspension or debarment from sales to the federal government."

    To keep things in perspective, EMC is not the first IT Corporation to face such allegations. Just a year ago IBM did clear up similar charges with a $ 3 million fine. Other companies that have gone through the same process include Accenture, HP and Sun Microsystems.

    StorageIO Group founder and senior analyst Greg Schulz speculates if the new Administration is just getting started.

    "If that’s the case, one has to wonder who’s next, and how big the boiler will be when the government finally gets around to the really big fish," he said.

  • Results Poor for Silicon Storage Technology – CEO Remains Confident


    Silicon Valley continues to take a pounding on the markets.

    The latest stock market news for Silicon Storage Technology, Inc was all bad news, writes Samantha Sai for storage-biz.news.

    Net revenues for the 4th quarter were USD $58.4 million, a drop of nearly USD $40 million from the 3rd quarter of 2008.

    In 2007, the company had net revenues of USD $107.4 million in the 4th quarter alone.

    To add to its woes, product revenues for the 4th quarter of 2008 were USD $46.3 million, which is close to USD $30 million less than in the 3rd quarter of 2008.

    Only technology licensing revenues remain steady, at USD $12.1 million for the 4th quarter of 2008.

    These numbers have not changed much over the past 2 years.

    Rough estimates indicate that loss from operations for the 4th quarter was close to USD $10 million compared with income from operations of USD $4 million in the 3rd quarter of 2008.

    The loss in the 4th quarter of 2007 was double that approximating close to USD $19 million.

    The net loss for SST continues to mount.

    SST’s shares were estimated at $0.31 per share based on approximately 95.5 million diluted shares in the 4th quarter of 2008.

    Incorporated in the 4th quarter 2008 net loss was the price of streamlining fee estimated at USD $2.5 million, an impairment charge connected to the company’s venture in Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation of USD $5.6 million and an impairment cost associated to the company’s assets in ACET of USD $9.7 million.

    By contrast, the company recorded a net income of USD $4.9 million or 40.05 per share based on about 99.7 million diluted shares.

    SST finished the 4th quarter of 2008 with USD $131.7 million in cash equivalents, short-term investments and long term marketable debt securities.

    These numbers are down by 1.1 million from the estimated USD $131.8 million at the end of Sept 2008.
    So what does SST management have to say about this continued decline in profits?

    Bing Yeh, president, and CEO of SST said: "The unprecedented sudden drop in demand of semiconductor products during the fourth quarter resulting from the deepening global financial crisis has caused significant decline in our revenues."

    He goes on to add that: "This persistent difficult economic environment necessitated that we accelerate our planned changes to our business and focus in late 2008.

    "We took important steps to reduce our inventory, streamline our organizational structure, and cut our expenses by focusing our efforts on our most strategic initiatives with the goal of returning the company to profitability.

    "With these organizational changes, we believe that we can control our expenses while continuing to execute our product and technology roadmap and position SST for growth as the economy recovers."

    For the first Quarter of 2009, revenues for SST are projected to be in-between USD $39 million and $45 million.

    All this depends on the gross margin discrepancies, which is expected to very between 38-40 per cent.

    However, the way 2009 has started, the markets remains unpredictable and the above projections mean little.

  • VoIP Solutions Provider Codima Expands Operations Into France


    Codima has announced the launch of operations in the French market.

    The VoIP software tools provider is to offer sales, marketing and support to new and existing resellers throughout France from offices in Paris.

    Codima, a Microsoft Certified Partner, delivers an end-to-end solution that helps organizations manage their VoIP and data networks cost efficiently.

    Codima’s CEO, Christer Mattsson, said the solution reduces IT costs while improving the end user quality experience.

    He said this encourages organizations urgently looking to reduce IT costs to invest in the software based solution.

    Commenting on the opening of the new Paris office, he said: "Our strategy is to always act locally, which enables us to adapt to new markets quickly and benefit from local relationships."

    Mattsson said Codima develops and markets a solution that is built from the ground up to be VoIP specific, in comparison to other products on the market developed from existing platforms.

    According to ARPEC, the French regulator, France had 11.9 million subscribers to a VoIP service in Q1 2008.

    This represented 30 per cent of all fixed telephony services and was growing at the rate of 1 million new subscribers per quarter.

    The rapidly increasing usage of VoIP technology by French end users indicates an uptake in the market for products managing VoIP networks.

    Gheorghe Moga, who will lead the Codima operation in France, said VoIP technology is driving IP communications growth in the French market.

    He said the Codima offering responds to the growing demand for ensuring and improving VoIP call quality.

    "With in-depth local knowledge and strong channeling support to partners, we are ideally positioned to take advantage of the uptake in VoIP technology usage," he said.

  • Hosted VoIP Approaches One Million in the US – and Climbing


    The US had almost one million installed hosted IP telephony lines at the end of 2008.

    This figure is expected to grow to about 3.6 million lines in 2014, according to a report by Frost & Sullivan.

    It suggests that integration with other unified communications (UC) applications – chat, presence and conferencing – will provide the most opportunity for the hosted IP telephony market, which it believes is being challenged by the economic downturn.

    Elka Popova, Frost & Sullivan’s global program director, said small businesses will continue to be attracted to hosted IP telephony offerings primarily for cost-efficient voice communications.

    However, she said some of them will also choose a hosted offering for the ability to gain access to a complete UC package from a single provider.

    "Medium and large businesses will also appreciate the economies provided by hosted IP telephony, but will seek such solutions mostly so they can focus on core business processes and gain access to applications and capabilities that they can test without making a capital investment," she said.

    Popova said that integration with other applications can help the hosted IP telephony market plough ahead.

    Barriers to Market

    However, significant technology enhancements to premise-based solutions and extensive private branch exchange (PBX) vendor channels present significant barriers to further market penetration.

    The report said that IP telephony vendors will have to develop astute channel strategies since most market participants are small, next-generation providers with limited geographic presence and service support capabilities – and with no established customer base or brand-name recognition.

    It recommended that service providers should seek to expand and diversify their channels and strengthen relationships.

    Moves that will need to be based on specific portfolio requirements, it added.

    "Meanwhile, the low barriers to entry will cause the North American market to remain extremely fragmented," said the report.

    "The incumbent local exchange carriers (LECs) are reluctant to grab larger market shares due to the fear of cannibalizing legacy service revenues and limited demand for next-gen hosted telephony services among their existing Centrex base."

    Diverse Competitive Landscape

    The competitive landscape is also likely to become increasingly diverse with competitive LECs (CLECs), software as a service (SaaS)/hosted application providers, value-added resellers (VARs) and system integrators (SIs) competing for a share of a slowly growing market.

    In such a scenario, channel support will determine each provider’s chances for success.

    Popova said that in order to ensure extensive customer reach and superior customer support, service providers need to develop stronger relationships with various VARs, SIs, and agents that may include real estate companies, IT consultants, and moving companies.

    "Further, providers should seek to develop an eco-system of partnerships to jointly enhance market awareness and be able to offer customers a range of interoperable solutions and capabilities," she said.

    Other recommendations made in the report include:

    • Telephony providers should cooperate with hosted contact center, email, customer relationship management (CRM), Web 2.0 and other communication and business application providers.
    • Service providers may choose to adopt diverse business strategies. For instance, some may focus on businesses seeking inexpensive voice communication packages, while others may choose to target businesses that seek advanced communication solutions such as UC, where application integration provides considerable productivity benefits.
    • Providers could also take advantage of merger and acquisition opportunities based on complementary technologies, expertise or channels, since consolidation can help improve customer awareness, margins and the value proposition of hosted IP telephony.

  • On Demand Group Wins Greek VoD Contract for IPTV launch


    On Demand Group has won the VOD and subscription VOD contract from OTE for its upcoming IPTV service in Greece.

    ODG is Virgin Media TV’s content management partner for its VOD service in the UK, which is the largest VOD service outside of North America with over 50m views per month.

    Tony Kelly, CEO of ODG said the TVOD and SVOD offering would help kick-start the IPTV launch.

    "The range of movies, TV series, kids programming, documentaries and music videos will help to underpin the successful launch and regular and sustained viewing of VOD in Greece,” he said.

    OTE’s FilmExpress transaction VOD (TVOD) service includes blockbuster movies from major Hollywood studios including Disney-ABC-ESPN Television, Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros.

    Subscribers to the service can select a movie of their choice for a 24-hour rental period with full DVD-like features including control to pause, fast forward, rewind or watch over again.

    OTE’s FilmClub subscription VOD (SVOD) service includes a wide range of TV series from CBS, HBO, HIT, Lions Gate and Warner Bros, as well as documentaries from National Geographic.

    The SVOD service also includes library movies from HBO, Lions Gate, Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros, and hundreds of international and local music videos from EMI, Universal Music and Sony Music.

    Subscribers will also receive more than 30 digital broadcast channels.