IT Services

Oracle Q2 net income jumps 17 percent, but hardware sales slump

Oracle's net income for the second quarter ended Nov. 30 rose 17 percent to US$2.2 billion, with software sales rising but hardware-related revenue falling, the company reported Tuesday. Revenue for the quarter rose 2 percent to $8.8 billion.

By Chris Kanaracus | 21 December, 2011 08:22

Tags: business issues, hardware systems, software, financial results, cloud computing, internet, Oracle

Cloud activity to explode in 2012

In testing cloud computing services and observing the growth of cloud activities, we've noticed that there are distinct phases that organizations go through in adopting cloud.

By Tom Henderson | 20 December, 2011 22:28

Tags: Microsoft, security, Cloud, cloud security, cloud computing, internet, OpenStack

Nimbula offers help building private clouds

Some businesses that rely on Amazon Web Services to run Web applications are starting to realize that they can save money or get better performance by building their own internal clouds -- and Nimbula is hoping to help them out.

By Nancy Gohring | 20 December, 2011 03:01

Tags: nimbula, cloud computing, internet

'Server huggers' impede cloud migrations

Chipita America may be as close to a serverless company as one can find today. Its ERP, EDI and BI systems, Office and Exchange applications and file servers are all hosted in the cloud. About six years ago, when many IT managers were debating the merits of Nicholas Carr's book Does IT Matter? , Chipita CIO Scott Martin was moving the Tulsa, Okla.-based snack food maker's email to service provider CenterBeam's cloud-hosted platform.

By Patrick Thibodeau | 20 December, 2011 02:07

Tags: freemium, Configuration / maintenance, SaaS, Chipita America, hardware systems, Data Center, Software as a service, cloud computing, internet

House readies green card bill for tech

WASHINGTON -- There is a big push to get Congress to allow advanced degree graduates in science, technology, engineering and math to automatically get green cards.

By Patrick Thibodeau | 19 December, 2011 22:20

Tags: Gov't Legislation/Regulation, outsourcing, IBM, regulation, careers, House Judiciary Committee, IT management, government, Gov't Legislation, services

A running start to 2012

For IT, 2011 was a transitional year. A lot of big things were on the horizon ( data center as a service, for instance), but few of the profound concepts jelled.

By Scot Finnie | 19 December, 2011 22:09

Tags: Configuration / maintenance, virtualization, hardware systems, Data Center, cloud computing, internet

IBM tracks pork chops from pig to plate

IBM is deploying technology that allows meat suppliers to track a single pig all the way from farm animal to pork chop.

By Patrick Thibodeau | 19 December, 2011 22:09

Tags: BI and Analytics, hardware, IBM, hardware systems, health care, industry verticals

Web 'Handles' vs. Phone Numbers

Forget phone numbers and email addresses; the era of the Internet "handle" is emerging.

By Matt Hamblen | 19 December, 2011 22:09

Tags: Gartner, skype, Emerging Technologies, hardware systems, Web 2.0 and Web Apps, internet

E-health test site kicks off e-discharge pilot

A Katoomba-based hospital has kicked off a trial under which it will share electronic discharge summaries with GPs and vice versa, ahead of the Federal Government’s Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) launch in July 2011.

By Chloe Herrick | 19 December, 2011 12:50

Tags: Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR), Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA), National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA), e-health

EMC works to boost acceptance of public and private clouds

EMC has tied its fortunes to the future of cloud computing and is working hard to change the hearts and minds of IT executives so they will embrace the same vision, according to the firm's chief marketing officer.

By Tim Greene | 17 December, 2011 04:31

Tags: public cloud, Cloud, big data, private cloud, cloud computing, internet, VMware, emc

Securing the daisy chain

It's 2 p.m. Do you know where your cloud data is? Really? Executives at one large Fortune 500 company thought they knew, but a routine audit of the cloud provider uncovered a serious problem.

By Stacy Collett | 17 December, 2011 03:00

Tags: freemium, SaaS, Mayer Brown, security, Software as a service, cloud computing, internet

Enomaly buy to fuel new Virtustream exchange

Virtustream's acquisition of Enomaly could help enterprises turn a drawback of private clouds--excess capacity--into a profit center.

By Nancy Gohring | 16 December, 2011 06:16

Tags: business issues, Virtustream, Enomaly, cloud computing, internet, Infrastructure services, Mergers and acquisitions

Squeeze WAN providers now for a better cloud later

Businesses should be formulating cloud strategies now that get the most out of their network providers to better support whatever cloud services they wind up buying, according to a prominent cloud-economics expert.

By Tim Greene | 16 December, 2011 03:35

Tags: Joe Weinman, cloud strategy, cloud computing, internet, cloud management, cloudonomics

IBM buys Emptoris for contract managment, supply software

IBM has signed a deal to buy supply and contract management software vendor Emptoris in another bid to fill out its growing catalog of business-to-business and business-to-consumer commerce technologies, the company announced Thursday. Terms of the deal, which is scheduled to close in the first quarter of next year, were not provided.

By Chris Kanaracus | 16 December, 2011 02:16

Tags: business issues, IBM, Emptoris, Mergers and acquisitions

IT hiring expected to rise in 2012, says survey

The IT job market in 2012 shows some signs of improvement when it comes to hiring, but most companies still aren't expanding.

By Patrick Thibodeau | 16 December, 2011 01:38

Tags: Management and Careers, business issues, personnel, Janco Associates, IT industry, robert half technology

Amazon launches Web services from Brazil

Amazon Web Services has launched services for South American customers from data centers in Brazil, the company said Wednesday.

By John Ribeiro | 15 December, 2011 17:45

Tags: Amazon Web Services, cloud computing, internet

IBM system monitors food supply chains in China

IBM is helping a Chinese state-owned firm to monitor food safety in the country, by building a new system meant to prevent tainted products from being sold to consumers.

By Michael Kan | 15 December, 2011 15:18

Tags: business issues, IBM, investments

Aussie retailers to cut costs with managed print services

After a tumultuous year for Australian retailers, the industry’s national body has formed a five year managed print services partnership with Upstream Print Solutions in an effort to cut costs internally and for its members.

By Chloe Herrick | 15 December, 2011 11:22

Tags: Printers, managed print services, Upstream Print Solutions, Australian Retailer’s Association (ARA), Russell Zimmerman

Commonwealth Bank glitch leaves customers furious

Customers flooded the Commonwealth Bank of Australia's Facebook page with complaints last night after a network issue affected their ability to access their money.

By Rebecca Merrett | 15 December, 2011 10:22

Tags: glitch, connectivity, CBA, commonwealth bank, Facebook

Department of families offloads surplus ICT assets

The Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs is seeking tenders for a partner to dispose of surplus ICT assets, including desktops PCs, printers, servers, mobile phones and other telecommunications gear.