AMI-Partners releases 2012 India Virtualization Landscape

Through secondary research, AMI has concluded that the small and medium business segment comprises about 30% of the India virtualization market and is likely to grow exponentially in the next few years. This growth will be driven by a need to increase operational efficiencies. The size of this untapped market is considerable, presenting a huge growth potential for leading participants in the market. 

“What makes this industry unique is that the participants compete as well as collaborate to offer best-of-breed solutions to the end users. Desktop virtualization is being adopted by organizations where the cost of maintaining desktops is high; it serves to reduce overall operational expenditures. The key driver for server virtualization is the reduction of overall capital expenditure. Also driving this technology is the need for easy data recovery and business continuity.” said Shweta Baidya, Bangalore-based Senior Research Analyst, AMI India.

According to Baidya, “In India large enterprises are considered Phase 2 participants. The majority of SMBs are Phase 1 players with some of these companies striving to become Phase 2 adopters. Many of the SMB segment are testing the virtualization concept through proof of concept/pilot programs. These pilot programs are opening the doors for marketers to increase awareness of virtualization technology through workshops and informational events, thereby increasing customer confidence.”

VMware to acquire Nicira

VMware has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Nicira. VMware will acquire Nicira for approximately $1.05 billion in cash plus approximately $210 million of assumed unvested equity awards. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. The parties expect the acquisition to close during the second half of 2012. The acquisition has been approved by the boards of directors of both VMware and Nicira and the stockholders of Nicira.

“VMware has led the server virtualization revolution, and we have the opportunity to do the same in data center and cloud networking. The acquisition of Nicira adds to our portfolio of networking assets and positions VMware to be the industry leader in software-defined networking,” said Paul Maritz, Chief Executive Officer, VMware.

“Nicira helps customers dramatically improve business velocity and efficiency by transforming how networking works in the Cloud era. I am thrilled to be joining forces with VMware to help build the software-defined datacenter,” said Steve Mullaney, Chief Executive Officer, Nicira.

Lenovo partners with EMC

Lenovo and EMC Corporation have announced a broad partnership. In the joint venture, Lenovo will contribute cash, while EMC will contribute certain assets and resources of Iomega. Upon closing, Lenovo will hold a majority interest in the new joint venture. During and after the transition from independent operations to the joint venture, customers will experience continuity of service, product delivery and warranty fulfilment.  The joint venture is subject to customary closing procedures including regulatory approvals and is expected to close by the end of 2012.

Yuanqing Yang, Chairman & CEO, Lenovo, said, "This announcement with industry leader EMC is another solid step in our journey to build on our foundation in PCs and become a leader in the new PC-plus era. This partnership will help us fully deliver on our PC-plus strategy by giving us strong back-end capabilities and business foundation in servers and storage, in addition to our already strong position in devices. EMC is the perfect partner to help us fully realize the PC-plus opportunity in the long term."

Joe Tucci, Chairman & CEO, EMC, said, "The relationship with Lenovo represents a powerful opportunity for EMC to significantly expand our presence in China, a vibrant and very important market, and extend it to other parts of the world over time. Lenovo has clearly demonstrated its ability to apply its considerable resources and expertise not only to enter, but to lead major market segments. We are excited to partner with Lenovo as we focus our combined energies serving a broader range of customers with industry-leading storage and server solutions."

OPC Excel Reporter supports MS Office 2010

MatrikonOPC has expanded the functionality of its OPC Excel Reporter software by adding support for Microsoft Office 2010. Engineers, operators, and analysts are now believed to easily work with live and archived data to create reports directly within Excel – regardless of the MS Office 2010 version or OPC connectors used. It is now easier than ever to create powerful, professional looking day-to-day reports without leaving the Excel environment.

OPC Excel Reporter can access live data from RTUs, PLCs, and other OPC-enabled data sources and makes it directly accessible in Excel.  With native support for all real-time OPC DA specifications - OPC Excel Reporter users can easily access all their real time OPC data regardless of what OPC DA server it arrives from.

Jeff Gould, GM, MatrikonOPC said, "Getting the right information to people at the right time and in a format that helps them make better decisions is important for businesses. OPC Excel Reporter provides users with a fast, pragmatic method to do analysis for on-the-spot decisions.”

Federal Bank adopts Fiorano ESB

Fiorano ESB has been deployed by the Federal Bank to streamline its operations and accelerate rollout of value-added services through multiple channels.

K. P. Sunny, Head of Information Technology, Federal Bank, said, "Competing in the banking and financial services market today requires cutting-edge technology. Customers are no longer content to wait. So, responsiveness, accuracy and customer service delineate the leaders from the laggards. The Federal Bank made a conscious decision to invest in Fiorano ESB as its solution of choice. The power of the product is in its architectural simplicity which allows the Bank to put in place a flexible architecture that will scale linearly and allow business decisions to be speedily implemented at the IT level," he added.

"With readily available, reasonably priced consulting services in India, there is always a temptation to try and continue custom development for every project with a point-to-point style of integration," said Sunny. "The question is how big you want to be and how fast you want to grow. The largest and best banks have shown that a solid middleware infrastructure is the secret to building an agile bank ready to roll out any new service that the market asks for. Revenue acceleration is only possible through cutting-edge technology. This is the bottom line for us and we have chosen to go with Fiorano for precisely this reason," he concluded.

HP wins Court Ruling in Itanium Litigation

It has been recently announced that HP has issued the following statement in response to today's proposed ruling in the ongoing litigation with Oracle relating to the Intel Itanium platform:

"Today's proposed ruling is a tremendous win for HP and its customers. The Superior Court of the State of California, Santa Clara County, has confirmed the existence of a contract between HP and Oracle that requires Oracle to port its software products to HP's Itanium-based servers. We expect Oracle to comply with its contractual obligation as ordered by the Court."

In this action for declaratory relief, the Court finds in favour of HP and against Oracle on both the breach of contract and promissory estoppel causes of action brought by HP. The Settlement and Release Agreement entered into by HP, Oracle and Hurd on September 20, 2010, requires Oracle to continue to offer its product suite on HP’s Itanium-based server platforms and does not confer on Oracle the discretion to decide whether to do so or not.

The terms "product suite" means Oracle software products that were offered on HP's Itanium-based servers at the time Oracle signed the September 20, 2010 Settlement and Release Agreement, including any new releases, versions or updates of those products.

Moreover, Oracle's obligation to continue to offer its products on HP's Itanium-based server platforms lasts until such time as HP discontinues the sales of its Itanium-based servers. Oracle is required to port its products to HP's Itanium-based servers without charge to HP.