IT spending to grow in 2012 despite economic woes, says IDC
Worldwide IT spending remains on course to grow by 6 percent in 2012 despite the grim economic situation in Europe, thanks to strong software, storage, smartphone and tablet sales, according to IDC.
While 2012 has been a tough year for many IT vendors, they have done better overall than many expected in the first half of the year, IDC said.
For example, software spending has been robust, even in parts of the world where the economy has been weakest, as businesses hope software tools and applications will help them implement cost-reduction strategies.
The 6 percent growth compares to a 7 percent increase in worldwide IT spending last year. IDC expects 6 percent growth in 2013. Read more...
Prepare for the era of the data center in a box
While several of the largest storage vendors, such as EMC, Hewlett-Packard and NetApp, have entered into agreements with server, software and networking vendors to offer bundled products, purpose-built products are just beginning to emerge.
For example, last year startup Nutanix unveiled a virtualized server that is clustered together with solid-state and hard drive storage, all of which can be managed under a single console view.
Today, startup SimpliVity came out of development phase with its first product, an all-in-one array that can act as a VMware server, deduplication appliance and as primary and backup storage.
And, at VMworld next week, expect to see storage vendor Scale Computing exit its development stage and demonstrate its HC3 "datacenter-in-a-box" for mid-sized companies. Read more...
Amazon offers cloud apps at hourly rates from IBM, SAP, others
Amazon Web Services on Thursday announced a new online marketplace that allows customers to buy software and services from a variety of vendors at hourly rates through its cloud infrastructure platform.
Commercial software vendors including IBM, Microsoft, SAP, and CA Technologies are offering products for sale on the site. A variety of open-source software is also available, including the Drupal content management system, SugarCRM and a number of application development stacks. Read more...
Security firms knock heads over Shady RAT hacks
U.S. and Russian antivirus vendors took shots at each other as they quarreled over a recent report of a cyber campaign that allegedly infiltrated scores of Western governments, organizations and corporations.
The report, released earlier this month by McAfee, claimed that a half-decade-long hacker operation compromised more than 70 U.S. and foreign government agencies, defense contractors and international organizations to plant malware that in some cases hid on networks for years.
McAfee's report was picked up by numerous news outlets, and even caught the eye of Congress. On Aug. 10, Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-Calif.), the chairman of the House subcommittee on commerce, manufacturing and trade, sent a letter (download PDF) to McAfee asking for more information on the intrusions. Read more...