October 2009 Archives

Cisco Systems Inc. has opened a secure site for SMBs at its Partner Central portal, calling it the Cisco Small Business Advantage.

The site, aimed at helping channel partners to build and sustain a small business practice, has three main sections--Products, Support and Profitability.

The product section sports Cisco's portfolio aimed at small businesses, and includes the vendor's Small Business Product Guide, information about Cisco Smart Designs and click-to-chat tools.

The support section features tools, training and resources to help partners build an SMB practice, including SMB Partner Practice Builder, Campaign Builder and Marketing Acceleration Planner.

The profitability section lists information on incentive programs and rebates, including financing options.

 

 

 

 

 

The federal government is set to start handing out some $4 billion in an initial round of stimulus funding to expand broadband access to rural communities and under-served areas of the country. Another $3.2 billion is slated for a second round of funding next year.

According to a recent Associated Press report, so far about 2,200 applications, requesting some $28 billion in stimulus money, has come into the government's Commerce and Agriculture Departments.

The AP reviewed some of the applications, finding one from the Coeur d'Alene Indian tribe in Idaho, asking for $12.2 million to set up fiber optic lines to connect about 3,500 homes at one end of it rural reservation. The tribe has an existing wireless network that reaches less than half of the reservation.

Another request was submitted by Clearwire Corp., a WiMax provider, for $19.4 million to build a high-speed wireless network in some poor neighborhoods in Detroit that it might not otherwise serve.

And, in the mountains of North Carolina, the Mountain Area Information Network is requesting $2.5 million to extend its wireless network in Asheville, NC and several remote mountain communities.

It seems like the feds are going to have some tough choices on their hands.

IBM chief Sam Palmisano is the IT industry's biggest recession buster, well ahead of Apple's Steve Jobs, according to a recent poll by TheStreet.com of its readers.

 

About half of the 4,000 survey participants placed Palmisano at the head of the list, more than twice as many as named Jobs. EMC's Joe Tucci finished third in the running followed by HP's Mark Hurd.

 

Dell chief Michael Dell finished last among the 10 executives named, behind Yahoo!'s Carol Bartz and Microsoft's Steve Ballmer.

 

TheStreet.com pointed out that Palmisano has pushed aside criticism of his cost-cutting layoffs and redirecting of some business overseas, and navigated IBM through the economy's choppy waters by honing in on software and services to boost margins despite diminished revenue.  

IBM Global Financing is offering customers what it is calling a smart financing toolkit that includes deferred payment options, zero percent financing and favorable pricing on used IBM gear.

 

Earlier this year, the vendor said it would be more aggressive with its financing options as a means to stimulate business, making available up to $5 billion in equipment and services leases for projects that map to its smart infrastructure initiative.

 

The current promotion, which starts this month and also is available through channel partners, includes deferred payments for 90 days on purchases of hardware, software and services.

After three months, customers can choose either at a 36-month fair market value lease, a full payout lease or software/services financing at competitive rates. The offering includes new and used IBM equipment.

 

IBM also is extending zero percent financing for software purchases in North America, Europe, Japan and Asia-Pacific. The offer is valid for software and services valued at a minimum of $5,000 over a 12-month term.

 

On most IBM Lotus products and solutions, customers can finance multi-year leases as low as zero percent financing for three years.

 

IBM said that its channel partners can leverage the software financing options.

 

The vendor also is promoting to mid-market clients a set of "Cost Buster" solutions that incorporate all of its financing promotions. IBM is listing the mid-market financing options on a secure web site available to channel partners.

IBM is offering rates as low as 1.5 percent to customers financing hardware solutions in the U.S. for projects underwritten by the federal government's stimulus package. The offer is good only through the end of this calendar year.

Apple Computer Inc. earned $1.67 billion for its fourth quarter, a 47 percent leap over the $1.14 billion it posted for the similar period last year, exceeding even the most optimistic of estimates from financial analysts.

 

For the quarter, the company recorded sales of $9.87 billion, a 25 percent increase over the $7.9 billion it posted during the same time last year.

 

International sales accounted for 46 percent of the quarter's revenue.

 

Apple said that better than expected sales of Macintosh notebooks backed by persistently strong revenue from its iPhones worldwide drove its financial performance for the period.

 

The company said it sold 3.05 million, or 17 percent more, Macintosh computers during the quarter than it did last year. It sold 10.2 million iPods and 7.4 million iPhones in the period, for an 8 percent and 7 percent increase, respectively, over the same quarter last year.

 

Looking ahead, Apple projected earnings in the December quarter of at least $1.70 per share and revenue in the range of $11.3 billion to $11.6 billion.

A group of 27 IT executives, including leaders of prominent social networking and e-commerce companies, have penned a letter to the Federal Communications Commission supporting its move to adopt a set of rules to secure an open Internet.

 

The letter, dated October 19 and signed by executives at Google, Amazon, eBay, Mozilla, Skype, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and others, stumps for a so-called net neutrality convention that would bar broadband providers from blocking or impeding the flow of information on the Internet.

 

"We write to express our support for your announcement that the Federal Communications Commission will begin a process to adopt rules that preserve an open Internet," the letter said. "An open Internet fuels a competitive and efficient marketplace, where consumers make the ultimate choices about which products succeed and which fail."

 

Last week, FCC chairman Julius Genachowski, in a speech delivered at the Brookings Institute, detailed a plan to keep the Internet open. That was followed at week's end by a letter sent to the FCC by 72 House of Representative Democrats, many of whom are so-called Blue Dogs, arguing against new rules and expressing concern that regulation would retard investment in broadband networks.

 

The Democrats' letter suggested to the FCC that it "carefully consider the full range of consequences that government action may have on network investment."

 

The FCC is scheduled to vote this Thursday on a process of proposed rule making, which is the initial step to affirming formal net neutrality rules. An informal code of engagement has existed for about four years, but cable provider Comcast is challenging the FCC's right to enforcement.

 

A number of telecom companies, including Cisco Systems Inc. and Nokia, have argued that additional rules are not needed, in part because instances in which the pipes have been squeezed are infrequent.

 

Also, some minority groups are opposing government regulation, arguing that if enacted, new laws could inhibit the expansion of broadband to traditionally underserved communities.

 

About a year ago, AT&T launched a test case in which it capped the monthly bandwidth use for customers in Reno, NV, limiting downloading to a certain amount of data. At the time, AT&T contended that 5 percent of users camped on a few sites occupied a disproportionate percentage of bandwidth. The action following similar moves by Comcast, Time Warner and others to impose limits on usage.

 

Earlier in the year, the FCC told Comcast to stop slowing traffic from some peer-to-peer applications, contending that it was discriminating against specific online services.

In the past two weeks, Cisco Systems Inc. has spent $6 billion to acquire Tandberg and Starent Networks. Since 2000 the networking giant has doled out some $45 billion for more than 85 companies.

When's it all going to end? No time soon, according to Ned Hooper, Cisco's chief strategy officer.

Hooper told Dow Jones that despite the high ticket items, Cisco will continue its aggressive acquisition posture. He said that the vendor is prepared to use cash and stock for any future deals.

With about $35 billion in cash at the close of last quarter, Cisco's stash is among the largest in the industry.

Vodafone, the mobile telecom giant, is launching a cloud-based, data backup service for businesses and consumers.

The company is trying to capitalize on the burgeoning market for online backup, figuring that business customers and consumers in growing numbers will be looking for a place to house the ever-increasing volume of data residing on their computers.

Vodafone plans to package the service, which is built on Decho Corp.'s popular Mozy online backup, with its PC and mobile anti-virus and market it to customers as a suite of offerings to access, organize, protect and share digital content.

The company will introduce separate versions of the service for business customers and consumers. Businesses administrators will be able to access it through a web-based management console.

The backup service initially will be offered in Europe. The company did not say when it might extend it to the U.S.