IBM

IBM buys Cognos for $4.9 billion as industry consolidation hits overdrive

Who do you want to buy from today? Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, or SAP? Those are pretty much the only choices left, now that IBM has announced its acquisition of Cognos for $4.9 billion.

The deal has long been expected, given that IBM had to play catch-up with Oracle and SAP, both of whom have gone on the business intelligence buying binge in the past year. The Cognos acquisition should work financially for IBM by giving it economies of scale in the sales process.

But what does it give customers? One less choice. That is, unless they opt for open … Read more

IBM to acquire Cognos for $5 billion

IBM on Monday announced plans to buy business intelligence software company Cognos in a $5 billion all-cash transaction.

The acquisition, which was rumored for several months, continues IBM's strategy of acquiring companies to fill out its software portfolio and boost earnings growth.

Cognos, a public company based in Ottawa, Canada, provides tools for building business reports and business performance management dashboards.

The software will complement IBM's existing set of products for data warehousing and information management.

Cognos' existing products will "match nicely with (IBM's) middleware and software products," Steve Mills, senior vice president and group … Read more

IBM's security offensive

Last week, IBM announced a major new initiative focused on data security and risk management. IBM will introduce new products and services and partner with industry leaders like Application Security, PGP, Verdasys, and Seagate--and spend $1.5 billion in the process. Why is IBM jumping into the security pool?

1. Security has become strategic. CEOs are scared to death when they read the daily headlines about the latest publicly disclosed security breach. You can no longer address this by implementing the security product du jour since confidential data and security vulnerabilities are everywhere from mobile endpoints to mainframes. Executives now … Read more

Lenovo bids an early adieu to IBM brand

If you haven't already, say goodbye to that little IBM sticker on your ThinkPad.

Turns out, Lenovo doesn't need the reputable computer brand to sell its notebooks and desktops anymore. Lenovo Chief Executive Bill Amelio said as much following the company's most recent earnings results, which was noted by E-Channel Line.

"By making substantial progress on all of our critical priorities over the past few quarters, we're now a stronger, healthier company," Amelio said. "One important sign of this progress is our decision to completely transition our Think products from the IBM brand … Read more

No fear at IBM? Add open source to the mix

Dan Farber reports on IBM's $1.5 billion security push, dubbed "an enterprise free of fear." (Note to IBM: "Free from fear" would be the more direct way of saying it.) But IBM, like others, is approaching security as code an enterprise would layer on other code, and processes on top of that code, rather than something inherent in the code itself, as Stuart McIrvine, director of IBM?s Corporate Security Strategy, relates:

"Our approach is that security is kind of broken. Companies are leaving security in the hands of IT and operations people, looking at servers, databases and putting up firewalls and updating antivirus signatures. But they have no real view of what they are protecting from a business strategy viewpoint, understanding the core objectives and risks to meeting those objectives."… Read more

Microsoft's quarter booms--when will open source make a dent?

Microsoft sure is taking its time dying. What with open-source cutting it off at the knees and all, I would have expected it to be packing its bags and heading home. But no, the company continues to frustrate my prophecies with great earnings. Microsoft's only weak area was online. Everything else is booming to the tune of $4.29 billion in profit.

Which begs the question: who wins in the standoff between open source and proprietary software? And when?

In the short term, the answer is clearly that open source and proprietary vendors will coexist relatively peacefully because there's still plenty of room for Oracle's consolidation play, Microsoft's ecosystem play, and IBM's...IBM play ("We're IBM, always have been, and always will be, so buy from us"). Open source has plenty of room to grow without unduly upsetting these three.

I don't think we'll have any head-on friction between these major players and open source until an open-source ecosystem player emerges.… Read more

SCO hopes selling Unix will raise $36 million

The SCO Group, working to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, hopes to sell its Unix assets to York Capital Management for up to $36 million, the company said this week in regulatory and bankruptcy court filings.

Through the deal, York would provide SCO with $10 million in cash; up to $10 million in credit to fund its Linux-related legal fight and to get 20 percent of revenue from that action; $10 million for a 20 percent stake in the company; and $6 million to license the Hipcheck products from SCO's Me mobile device software effort and to share … Read more

Episode 590: What's your brain's bandwidth?

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IBM ready to "kick Oracle's teeth in"

Ever wonder what the sales guys at BigCos like IBM are thinking about? Seems that IBM has assembled "what it calls a Viper 500 program with IBM's account teams to replace Oracle in more than 600 accounts."

I do enjoy a slap-fight amongst software vendors... "I am actively hiring people to go kick their teeth in," said Mike Borman, IBM vice president, worldwide sales for the IBM Software Group in a wide ranging 90 minute interview earlier this week before the hostile Oracle bid for BEA.

Despite it sounding a little bit silly, this is … Read more