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SAP has a new star

Michal Lev-Ram, writer — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:11:40 +0000

The company has been notoriously lagging in software-as-a-service. Enter one energetic and eccentric executive, Lars Dalgaard.

FORTUNE -- SAP's Lars Dalgaard has been called irrepressible, energetic and eccentric (and, according to at least one analyst, a "lunatic"). But he may be just what the stodgy company needs to give it a shot in the cloud.

As nimbler players like Salesforce (CRM) and soon-to-be-public Workday have expanded their cloud offerings and customer base, MORE

SAP throws down the gauntlet in database wars

Michal Lev-Ram, writer — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 19:01:20 +0000

SAP's latest earnings report shows some progress in the software giant's quest to remake itself. Now it wants to become the fastest-growing database company in the world.

FORTUNE -- SAP's efforts to become more nimble and innovative appear to be working—to some extent. Revenue from new products like an in-memory database technology called HANA and cloud-based software from recently-acquired SuccessFactors is growing, but it still makes up a small fraction of MORE

Oracle earnings: Some growth, plenty of SAP-bashing

Michal Lev-Ram, writer — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 14:02:27 +0000

Between talk about increased software sales and the company's new cloud service, Larry Ellison and his posse took plenty of time to bash their rivals.

FORTUNE -- There are some in the tech media who think covering enterprise technology is a major snoozefest. But it can actually be incredibly entertaining -- especially when Oracle (ORCL) CEO Larry Ellison goes off on a tirade against his competitors.

Redwood City, Calif.-based Oracle announced its MORE

Blue Jeans Network brings Skype, Cisco users together

Michal Lev-Ram, writer — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 13:00:05 +0000

The Mountain View, Calif. startup is offering a cloud-based product that unites groups of users of several different videoconferencing services.

FORTUNE -- Videoconferencing has become (almost) mainstream, but there are still plenty of challenges getting different technologies like Cisco's (CSCO) TelePresence and Skype to work together. In industry-speak, that's called interoperability -- or lack thereof.

Enter Blue Jeans Network, a Mountain View, Calif.-based startup that says it's found a solution to the MORE

What Google needs now? To wow again

kpkelleher — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 15:06:55 +0000

Larry Page has successfully refocused the company on its core products. What he needs to do now is recapture some of the firm's early magic with bold new products.

By Kevin Kelleher, contributor

FORTUNE — When was the last time Google did something dazzling?

For a company that turns 14 this summer, Google (GOOG) has a history thick with moments when it surprised the web -- many outlined on the company's site, starting in MORE

Where social networking is headed next

kpkelleher — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:36:44 +0000

Companies are generally slow to adopt new online tools consumers love. That has been true of social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn. Until now.

By Kevin Kelleher, contributor

FORTUNE -- What do you get when you cross a buzzword like "social networking" with an eye-glazing term like "enterprise software"? A buzzkill -- in this case, one called "enterprise social networking."

As long as the web has been around, the consumer side of things MORE

Intel finally ups the ante in mobile

Michal Lev-Ram, writer — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 14:23:15 +0000

Intel's mobile processor is finally getting some love from mobile phone manufacturers.

FORTUNE -- After years of trial and error, Intel's (INTC) Atom processor is finally getting some love from mobile phone manufactures. But that doesn't mean they'll be a hit with consumers. To win over the smartphone-wielding masses, the company will need to get everyday buyers to believe that phones with Intel inside are somehow superior to phones that run MORE

Look who’s reinventing the firewall

Michal Lev-Ram, writer — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 19:25:36 +0000

Goaded on by a smaller rival, Cisco is changing its approach to firewall technology.

FORTUNE -- For the past few years Cisco's firewall business has been losing market share to a much smaller rival called Palo Alto Networks. Now the network equipment giant is set to unveil its answer to Palo Alto's disruptive technology -- its own next-generation, so-called "context aware" firewall.

The announcement was made Monday afternoon, a day before the MORE

Meet the next-generation in intelligence

mvella1271 — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 18:01:19 +0000

Data has broken outside the typical confines of most companies. Now, guarding against security breaches means looking to world around you.

By Marc van Zadelhoff, contributor

FORTUNE -- Already in the first two months of 2012, high profile hacks are threatening to make 2011, characterized by experts as "The Year of the Security Breach", seem tame. It's becoming a common occurrence to hear about companies and governments falling victim to security attacks.

Therefore MORE

Huawei is here to stay

Michal Lev-Ram, writer — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 17:25:41 +0000

The Chinese multinational networking and telecommunications company has gotten into plenty of scrapes with American firms. Now, it wants competitors to know it isn't going anywhere.

FORTUNE -- Last week, China-based Huawei unveiled its latest effort to make nice with corporate America, announcing it will spend more than $6 billion on processors and other components from Broadcom (BRCM), Qualcomm (QCOM) and Avago Technologies (AVGO). The company has spent the last few MORE

Nvidia throws down

Michal Lev-Ram, writer — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:41:18 +0000

The chipmaker is making a bigger play in cell phones -- one that could spook competitors.

FORTUNE -- The battle for the teeny-tiny chips that power cell phones is heating up. Santa Clara, Calif.-based chipmaker Nvidia just announced the ZTE Mimosa X, the first phone that runs on its Tegra 2 processor and an Nvidia-made modem chip (and quite possibly the first phone named after an alcoholic beverage).

Why is this significant? MORE

The iPhone is (still) saving the mobile industry

kpkelleher — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:08:32 +0000

Apple's iPhone almost singlehandedly saved AT&T and Sprint. But it come at a steep price, one that the mobile carriers will be paying for years.

By Kevin Kelleher, contributor

FORTUNE — The iPhone has been, by many measures, one of the most successful products in business history. Nearly 200 million iPhones have been sold in four and a half years, 37 million of them in the last three months of 2011. Apple's MORE

Inside Google’s bet on ‘consumerization’

Michal Lev-Ram, writer — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:21:53 +0000

Google's sales to large businesses are still relatively small, but the company is making rapid gains. And it plans to ride the wave of "consumerized" IT to even greater heights.

FORTUNE -- Here's Google's (GOOG) strategy for selling to the enterprise: Take a popular consumer product, make a few small enhancements and tack the words "for business" on the end of the name. Sound simplistic? Turns out, it works. Larger and larger MORE

Let the cloud wars begin

Michal Lev-Ram, writer — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:59:40 +0000

Oracle's $1.9 billion acquisition of cloud-based talent management software maker Taleo is a shot across the bow to rival SAP.

FORTUNE -- Take that, SAP. Oracle just announced it is buying Taleo, maker of cloud-based talent management software, for $1.9 billion. The move comes just two months after rival SAP said it would acquire HR software provider SuccessFactors for $3.4 billion.

Both tech giants have been buying their way into the cloud. MORE

Is Cisco back?

Michal Lev-Ram, writer — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:02:26 +0000

Not yet. But for the first time in a while, it's showing positive signs of a working turnaround.

FORTUNE -- Cisco's turnaround efforts are starting to pay off -- slowly. The networking equipment giant released better-than-expected profits and sales on Wednesday, but it still has a long road ahead.

MORE: Stocks only look cheap

First, the numbers: Cisco (CSCO) reported second-quarter profit of $2.2 billion, up from last year's $1.5 billion. Revenue came in MORE

IBM’s Watson is changing careers

Michal Lev-Ram, writer — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:56:37 +0000

The Jeopardy-playing supercomputer is interesting in doing more than sparring with Alex Trebek. So it's going into business.

FORTUNE -- Beating lowly humans on Jeopardy was just the beginning. IBM's famed Watson supercomputer will soon be available as a commercialized analytics tool for data-heavy industries like healthcare, telecom and financial services.

It's been one year since Watson followed in the footsteps of its chess-playing predecessor Deep Blue and proved -- just in MORE

Meet SOPA’s evil twin, ACTA

Dan Mitchell, contributor — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:38:08 +0000

The brouhaha over the American internet piracy bill has died down, giving way to proposed international legislation with many similar elements.

By Dan Mitchell, contributor

FORTUNE -- It's only fitting that a loud, global outcry over ACTA, an international agreement to govern intellectual property, began just after the anti-piracy bills SOPA and PIPA were shelved by the U.S Congress in the face of massive public pressure. If "copyright maximalists" can't get legislation MORE

Google: The thrill is back

kpkelleher — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:29:51 +0000

Disappointing quarter aside, it's too early to tell whether Google is fundamentally doing better or worse under Larry Page. But the company is more focused, more willing to take risks and -- for the first time in years -- more interesting.

By Kevin Kelleher, contributor

FORTUNE -- It may be unfair to grade a work in progress, but in the case of a closely watched company like Google, it's inevitable. In the MORE

Thorsten Heins: Not the right CEO for RIM

kpkelleher — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:23:34 +0000

The troubled phone maker's new CEO has had a very bad introduction. Here's why he may not be right for RIM right now.

By Kevin Kelleher, contributor

FORTUNE -- If only they hadn't released that video.

The good news, the part that investors had been clamoring for, came first. Mike Lazaridis, who co-founded Research-in-Motion (RIMM) in 1984, and Jim Balsillie, who joined the company in 1992, were stepping down as co-CEOs and co-chairmen of MORE

A year of transition for Microsoft and Intel

Michal Lev-Ram, writer — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:06:58 +0000

Intel and Microsoft helped usher in the era of personal computers. Now the two companies are reinventing themselves in an industry where PCs are no longer the primary driver of innovation and growth.

FORTUNE -- Both Microsoft and Intel are still money-making machines--they raked in $20.9 billion and $13.9 billion, respectively, in quarterly earnings announced on Wednesday. But their core businesses are increasingly under threat because they're largely dependent on demand for desktops MORE

Why today’s Web blackouts are working

Dan Mitchell, contributor — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:59:09 +0000

There's no guarantee that the decision by Wikipedia and others to go dark in protest of SOPA and PIPA will stymie the legislation. But the blackouts are dominating media -- and that's the whole idea.

FORTUNE -- I just looked at a Google cache version of a Wikipedia page. It's easy to do that, so today's blackout of the online encyclopedia, in protest of proposed anti-piracy legislation, isn't totally effective in blocking access MORE

Oracle: Warning of another tech slowdown?

kpkelleher — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:50:06 +0000

The enterprise giant's stumble may not bode well for the technology sector -- and not just enterprise providers, but all big cap tech companies.

By Kevin Kelleher, contributor

FORTUNE - Oracle missing its earnings guidance is like Mariano Rivera blowing a save opportunity, or Bob Dylan putting out a disappointing record. It happens, but not very often. And when it does, the only real question is: Why?

The answer matters beyond the world MORE

Is there a cloud bubble?

Michal Lev-Ram, writer — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 11:04:43 +0000

There are plenty of signs that the cloud computing market is maturing -- including blockbuster acquisitions. But is it starting to froth?

FORTUNE -- People like to talk about bubbles. And the cloud. And, more recently, a potential cloud bubble. But are we really heading in that direction?

Not yet. It's too early to tell whether some of the recent inflated valuations (a la SAP's acquisition of SuccessFactors) are justified. What's clear MORE

Who will win in IT in 2012?

Michal Lev-Ram, writer — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:20:34 +0000

A bigger portion of spending will go to mobile computing, social networking and analytics. That means a new lineup of companies could benefit next year.

FORTUNE -- Worldwide IT spending is expected to hit $1.8 trillion in 2012, according to research firm IDC. An increasing portion of those dollars will be spent on fast-growing technologies like mobile computing, social networking and analytics, which means a new lineup of companies could start MORE

Intel’s emergency maneuver in mobile

Michal Lev-Ram, writer — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:14:47 +0000

The chip maker reigns supreme in the PC and server markets, but it's failed to crack mobile. It wants to change that.

FORTUNE -- In an effort to speed up development on tablets and smartphones, Intel is forming a new business unit, the mobile and communications group. The group will be led by Mike Bell and Hermann Eul (two current Intel executives), and is made up of four existing divisions: mobile MORE

HP’s punt on WebOS

Michal Lev-Ram, writer — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 20:09:06 +0000

The future of the innovative-but-troubled mobile operating system is more or less resolved.

FORTUNE -- WebOS isn't completely dead, at least not yet. Hewlett-Packard today announced that it is taking its struggling mobile operating system open source -- a.k.a. making its code freely available to developers and other hardware manufacturers.

"WebOS is the only platform designed from the ground up to be mobile, cloud-connected and scalable," Meg Whitman, HP's (HPQ) new chief MORE

What would a Bill Gates comeback look like?

Fortune Editors — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 18:40:04 +0000

He's watched the company he founded muddle along for half a decade. What would happen if the successes of peers like Howard Schultz and Steve Jobs finally got to him?

By Alex Konrad, reporter

FORTUNE -- Is Bill Gates mulling a comeback to the iconic company he founded?

It wouldn't be the first time a legendary founder stepped back into the fray to right his faltering company. Perhaps Gates has noticed the MORE

Why SAP bought SuccessFactors

Michal Lev-Ram, writer — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:29:41 +0000

The business software giant is shelling out $3.4 billion to buy its way further into the cloud.

FORTUNE -- Over the weekend, SAP announced the $3.4 billion acquisition of human resources management software provider SuccessFactors -- big news by any measure.

The first question (besides why SAP (SAP) chose Saturday morning for the announcement) is whether or not shelling out so much money to buy its way into the cloud makes sense?

SAP's MORE

Exclusive: Huawei employees ask U.S. for right to compete

Stephanie N. Mehta, Executive Editor — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 20:10:26 +0000

The fast-growing gear maker has been thwarted in the U.S. by national security concerns. Now, employees are rallying on behalf of the company.

FORTUNE -- Earlier this year Fortune chronicled China-based telecom equipment maker Huawei's efforts to win private contracts in the United States. Thus far the fast-growing gear maker, which last year had sales of $27 billion, has been thwarted by national security concerns.

Now FORTUNE has learned that external relations MORE

Rackspace’s plan to beat Amazon: “Fanatical support”

Michal Lev-Ram, writer — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 12:00:03 +0000

The much buzzed about cloud computing provider is planning to take on industry giants not with pure technology, but radical customer service.

FORTUNE -- Rackspace Hosting is one of the most buzzed-about players in cloud computing. The Texas-based company recently hit the $1 billion mark (in annualized run rate revenue), and has signed on more than 160,000 customers. Last year it unveiled OpenStack, an open source cloud platform also backed by MORE