Strategy

During the last two weeks we saw two acquisitions of relatively small purveyors of scalable file systems by big storage players. First, HP finally pulled in its partner IBRIX. Only days later, LSI made a surprise acquisition of ONStor. If both IBRIX and ONStor offer platforms upon which one can build scalable network attached storage (NAS), do these back-to-back deals indicate some sort of emerging trend? Yes and no. Yes it is in that, if you're a major NAS vendor and want to compete with NetApp who is readying GX8, scalability is now a must-have. But IBRIX extends capabilities … Read more

These days, it's virtually impossible to avoid open-source software. If you're a Web company, don't even bother trying.

That's the message I got from a conversation Friday with Raju Vegesna, evangelist at Zoho, a leading competitor to Google Docs. According to Vegesna, the company--formerly known as AdventNet, now called Zoho Corp.--has been around for 13 years, and has always used free, but not necessarily open-source, software as part of its strategy. The company has released software under open-source licenses before, including the somewhat controversial vTiger project.

With 1.8 million users of Zoho.com, growing … Read more

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer probably wishes his prediction of a "fundamental economic reset" wouldn't have proved so prophetic as the company Thursday reported "disappointing" earnings, with net income plummeting 17 percent, online ad sales down 14 percent, and overall sales for the year down 3 percent.

Disappointing? That's generous. The results are traumatic and point to the need for a "fundamental reset" in how Microsoft does business. Fortunately for the company, its SharePoint business offers some clues as to how it can revive its fortunes.

Despite the occasional base hit in its … Read more

At this week's Oscon conference, someone asked me what the secret to commercializing open-source software is, as if a secret cabal has been jealously guarding some arcane knowledge.

My response? "There is no secret: we simply don't know how to do it very well yet."

One thing, however, is clear: while the Web promises a brave new world of technical and financial prosperity, getting there from here is still very much in doubt. If we think of companies like Google as Software 2.0 and old-school vendors like IBM as Software 1.0, this leaves open-source … Read more

There was a time when vendors knew how to color inside the lines. A database vendor sold databases. An operating system vendor peddled operating systems. And application server vendors were in the business of selling application servers.

Customers knew what "application server" meant, which is what paved the way for low-cost, high-value open-source application servers like JBoss, Geronimo, and others to arise. The category was well understood. The only thing the customer had to decide was whether she wished to overspend on a brand-name application server or buy into an open-source upstart.

As the economy continues to pressure … Read more

Waiting for Google to crush Microsoft to powder? You might be waiting a long time, as The Wall Street Journal's Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. suggests in a compelling but surprising argument.

Maybe Google and Microsoft don't really want to beat each other up.

Sure, Google has Google Apps to wave in front of Microsoft's face when it gets too serious with Bing, and Microsoft keeps pressing on its online-ad business to keep Google from thinking too hard about Chrome OS. But is Jenkins right?

Do these two rivals really want to upset their cozy corners of dominance … Read more

IBM's storage group is now in the habit of making smorgasbord announcements. They'll take a look at their storage lineup--one that includes everything from SSD to tape, storage-related software and services--select the new stuff going on within each product development cycle they think is significant and therefore want to publicize, then bundle all of these separate announcements up in a wrapper ("Information Infrastructure" begets "Smart Planet")--and step up to the microphone.

And so it is with IBM's most recent storage table selection. They're now offering replication and deduplication for ProtecTIER, faster … Read more

Red Hat marketing guru Chris Grams posits a simple but powerful key to Red Hat's strategy: default to open. It's not new to Red Hat--Tim O'Reilly's analogue is the "architecture of participation"--but it has apparently influenced everything from product design to office layouts at Red Hat.

In a nutshell, it means:

...[R]ather than starting from a point where you choose what to share, you start from a point where you chose what not to share.

You begin sharing by default.

It's a good principle for any company, open or not. It'… Read more

In 2007 Red Hat stood on top of the Linux kernel contributor list with room to spare. At 12.7 percent of the Linux kernel contributed by Red Hat (measured in terms of lines changed), IBM was the runner-up at a comparatively distant 5.9 percent. In 2008, Red Hat slipped a little but maintained the top spot (11.2 percent), with Novell making a burst into second place at 8.9 percent.

In 2009, things get more interesting, with Intel making a serious challenge to claim the top spot in Linux kernel contributions.

Red Hat, Novell, and IBM all … Read more