Six Months In.
We're only half-way through 2009 and there have already been dozens of stories that have shaken the tech and IT industries to their knees.
If the first half of the year is any indication, 2009's second half is going to get exciting.
Oracle moves to buy Sun
Oracle has acquired more than 50 companies in less than five years. But it still came as a shock when the company announced in April that it would buy Sun Microsystems for US$7.4 billion -- just weeks after a similar bid by IBM to acquire Sun fell apart.
But those who understand Oracle CEO Larry Ellison's ambitions weren't so surprised. By acquiring Sun Oracle gains control of Java and the Solaris operating system, two critical technologies that underlie many of Oracle's products.
And while some were scratching their heads over the logic of Oracle buying a hardware vendor, Ellison & Co. actually entered the hardware market last fall when it debuted a database server it jointly developed with Hewlett-Packard. That's the hardware appliance blueprint you can expect Oracle to follow once it completes the Sun deal sometime this summer.
Cisco takes the Data Centre by storm
Cisco Systems closed out 2008 at the centre of the rumour mill, with the industry watching and speculating that the California-based networking giant was soon to make a play in the server game.
In March, that rumour became reality with the revealing of the Unified Computing System (UCS).
UCS will roll out in a limited release through about 30 to 50 solution providers for the rest of 2009 and spread wider with time.
The system includes a host of new Cisco products, foremost two types of Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Servers, which are based on the Intel Nehalem processor.
Intel unveils Nehalem
The Intel Xeon "Nehalem" 5500 and 3500 processors may be the workhorse of the coming technology refresh across the market.
The new, high speed processors from Intel have already been adopted by computer makers such as Apple, Lenovo and Sun.
The chips are already or will soon begin to pop up in workstations, notebooks and servers.
The convergence of Intel's Nehalem processors and Windows 7 hitting the market could spur a technology refresh that has been put off by customers due to the economic climate around the world.
Conficker wiggles its way in
Call it the tech world's equivalent of the H1N1 Swine Flu. The malicious worm known as Conficker exploited a critical Windows flaw and infected at least 9 million PCs, spreading rapidly across corporate networks worldwide.
The malware maelstrom replicated at a blinding speed with a variety of attack vectors. And then if that wasn't enough, the industry braced for an April 1 update of the worm.
That April Fools date came and went with no major meltdown. But security experts say that silence might end with a malicious attack down the road.
Dell opens up distribution
Dell did something that may have been unthinkable just two years ago. In March, the long-time direct sales outfit inked a distribution deal with Ingram Micro and Tech Data.
Currently Dell is offering a limited supply of notebooks and desktops through distribution, but one analyst called it a "significant change in psychology" for the vendor.
Some solution providers hailed the move as further commitment from Dell to the channel, while others weren't so optimistic about the move.
The consistent pricing on preconfigured systems is appealing to solution providers, but they still wonder about the margins they may or may not be able to make on the products sold through Tech Data and Ingram Micro. Only more time will tell who really wins in this deal.
Issue: 275 | January, 2010