Maxim Sees Potential In Smart Grid, Forks Over $315 Million For Teridian

April 12, 2010

The business potential of the smart grid is becoming clearer. At least to Maxim Integrated Products, which announced on Monday it would pay $315 million for Teridian Semiconductor.

Maxim finds smart grid business opportunities, but many utilities aren't yet analyzing the smart grid data they receive, a study finds.

Without a doubt, the development of a more intelligent electrical grid is at an early stage, much like the personal computer was in the early 1980s. A lot of education is needed, both with consumers and utilities.

In a survey released last month, GE found only 4 percent of Americans know what a smart grid is. Another 17 percent are familiar with the term, meaning that the rest haven’t a clue.

An equally alarming study came Monday from IDC and CSC. Research firm IDC discovered that less than half of the nation’s top 20 utilities are using analytical software to comb through the mountains of data starting to come in from millions of smart meters now being installed at homes and businesses. That’s like American Express not studying credit card purchasing data to map new ways to expand its products and services.

Survey “responses indicate that smart utility and meter-to-cash technologies are creating significant amounts of data and analytics for customer intelligence, which (would) allow utilities to study consumer reaction to pricing, identify potential revenue leakage, forecast customers’ ability to pay and limit unbilled usage through move-in/move-out disconnections,” according to a press release.

Many utilities may remain in the dark (pardon the pun), but some businesses do not. Chipmaker Maxim decided it was worth solidifying its smart-grid market position with an bundle of money.

Teridian holds 50% share of the market for integrated energy measurement semiconductors – systems on a chip, according to a Maxim press release. These systems-on-a-chip include an accurate analog front end, or interface, a microcontroller and a display driver. They are quickly replacing independent alternatives.

Maxim said Teridian’s market position with its measurement products would help push sales of its power management, real-time clock, and interface offerings for smart meters. It also could advance Maxim G3 Powerline Communication products.

Some companies are waiting for the smart grid to come to them. Others are not. Maxim’s shares were up an nickel, despite its decision to spend $315 million.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

Forward Insights Challenges IDC “Hockey-Stick” SSD Sales Forecast

August 13, 2009
IDC hockey-stick forecast will put Flash memory maker at a financial risk

If IDC's bearish forecast materialises, then more Flash memory makers will have to declare bankruptcy

For a change, research firms agreed to disagree in forecasting the emergence of the solid-state disk (SSD) drive market.

During a panel hosted today at the Flash Memory Summit conference in Santa Clara, Calif., small technical research firm Forward Insights blasted its larger competitors (including IDC and Gartner) for their hockey-stick-like projections of the SSD market.

But first, to set the stage, IDC research manager in hard-disk drive (HDD) components and solid-state disk (SSD) drives Jeff Janukowicz said he expects the SSD market to reach $3 billion in sales next year, compare to $733 million in 2008 and less than a billion dollar this year.

IDC’s forecast will lead Flash memory makers to bankruptcy

A bearish growth that for Janukowicz will be mostly driven by enterprises adopting SSDs to improve the performance and lower the consumption of their data centres and by early-adopters in the PC market like gamers in the desktop segment or executives’ laptops.

Here’s a video excerpt of Janukowicz remarks:

Great outlook, right?

Well, not really according to Forward Insights President Greg Wong who thinks that this kind of hyper growth can not be done in a profitable way.

“If you take a look at the industry right now, profitability is a big challenge for everybody. So where will they get the money to invest and expand at the big growth rate that you see here [pointing at competitors' forecasts]… wether its through technology migration, plus 3-bits per cell, plus 20% CAPEX. That’s what you need to achieve those rates that [competitors] are predicting for next year. If you believe that it’s feasible, then I guess you’ll have to use their projections… And even if demand is quite strong next year, where will they get the cash?,” explains Wong.

A more prudent sentiment that was echoed during the conference by Sandisk CEO Eli Harari and Samsung vice president of memory marketing Jim Elliot.

In this video excerpt Wong explains his opposing arguments to the explosive growth of the Flash memory market:

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Optimistic Signs From The Personal Computer Market

June 11, 2009

It is hard to envision even a small rebound in the personal computer market given that consumer spending appears as weak as its been in decades.

However, forecasters at IDC say the worst of the global PC decline might be behind us and that optimism is building about growth toward the end of the year.

IDC sees a 3.2 percent decline in the PC market this year, but 7.4 percent growth in 2010.

IDC sees a 3.2 percent decline in the PC market this year, but 7.4 percent growth in 2010.

IDC now expects PC shipments to fall just 3.2 percent in 2009. They were down 6.8 percent in the first quarter.

This would be a welcome improvement.

“New product introductions coming this fall, including low-cost, thin-and-light consumer portables, low-cost Intel Atom-based all-in-ones, and, of course, Windows 7, should provide a spark that helps to push market towards positive shipment growth over the next 12 months,” said Vice President Bob O’Donnell.

Yet don’t look for fireworks. Rehabilitation will be slow. IDC sees a 7.4 percent rise in the market next year with only 0.8 percent growth in the U.S. followed by a more respectable 13.6 percent increase in 2011.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

IDC: IT Enjoys Renaissance In Current Economic Recession

May 5, 2009
IDC Chief Research Officer, John Gantz, believes enterprise computing is having a good time. But in which planet?

IDC Chief Research Officer, John Gantz, believes enterprise computing is having a good time. But in which planet?

Well that’s thinking way out of the box!

Speaking at the Citrix’s Synergy conference, IDC chief researcher John Gantz told an audience of IT executives that despite the economic meltdown, their line of work is enjoying a long period of growth.

“That’s about as good as it gets,” said Gantz.

For IT, the boom-bust cycle works this way: 5 years of exhuberance, a crash and a long period of growth until the next bubble.

And since the launch of the IBM 360 in 1964 there were only 3 technology crashes (70s, 85, 2000s), and today is just not one of them!

“We just had the IT bubble in 2000-2001,” Gantz recalls.

So what’s all the fuss about IT budgets shrinking and all that?

Well for Gantz, the economic recession is simply forcing companies to “do more with less,” and “sharpen their senses.”

The IDC chief researcher ended its presentation with another unbelievably optimistic line:

“The next four years are a once-a-career opportunity.”

I wonder for who! And with that, “good luck,” he ended!

IDCs point: the IT bust and boom cycles do not coincide with the worlds economys cycles

IDC's point: the IT bust and boom cycles do not coincide with the world economy's cycles

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Posted by TechPulse 360

H-P Passes Dell In U.S. PC Sales; But Industry Continues Decline

April 15, 2009
Apple needs to come up with a low cost PC to reverse the slide of its Macintosh sales (mock up by Isamu Sanada)

Apple needs to come up with a low cost PC to weather the downturn (mock up by Isamu Sanada)

H-P is now the world’s undisputed leader of the computer market, period.

Until today, Dell always bragged that it was selling more PCs in the U.S. market than its Palo Alto, Calif.-rival.

But according to studies released today by analyst firms Gartner and IDC, H-P now holds the crown with a 27.6 percent market share, ahead of Dell at 26.3 percent.

Low-cost PC sales growth helped avoid steeper fall

However, today’s analysts findings contradict Intel’s CEO Paul Otellini optimistic comments made yesterday about an end of the PC industry slide, as worldwide PC shipments for the first quarter of 2009 continue to decline: -7.1 percent compared to the same quarter a year ago for IDC and -6.5 percent for Gartner.

Apple also suffered from the continuing downturn and saw a 1.1 percent decline globally of its Macintosh sales. “Apple’s relatively higher ASP (average selling price) created challenges for it in the tough economy,” said Gartner analysts.

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Intel Nehalem Is Also A Cash Machine!

March 31, 2009

Speaking yesterday at Intel’s most important server launch ever, vice president Pat Gelsinger said that the latest Xeon 5500 becomes a cash machine for IT after only 8 months of use.

“It’s printing money that allows IT to go focus on innovation and business value [...] The value proposition is so high that even Intel IT is very interested,” added Gelsinger.

However, this “value proposition” becomes reality only if enterprises “refresh” single or dual-core servers with the new quad-core Xeon 5500.

Which is why Gelsinger conveniently pointed to an IDC study revealing that 80% of the world’s 30 millions X86 servers are single or dual-core servers.

Is Nehalem, Intel’s secret bailout plan for shrinking IT budgets? Let’s start printing some money then :)

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Skype Targets Enterprise Telephony

March 23, 2009

Enterprise telephony is big business for Skype, potentially

Enterprise telephony is big business for Skype, potentially

In a blog post today, Skype announced the launch of the beta of “Skype For SIP,” a service geared to small and large businesses looking to reduce their telephony costs.

SIP is the leading voice over Internet protocol used in businesses telephony networks – there are millions of installations across the globe, says Peter Parks, a Skype’s spokersperson.

According to IDC, 438,000 IP PBXs were shipped worldwide in 2008.

With Skype for SIP, companies can use Skype’s VOIP network to make domestic and international calls using their existing telephone systems (PBXs and traditional phones) rather than their PCs.

Initially, Skype will charge about 2.1 cents per minute for calls to cellphones and fixed lines, but Skype-to-Skype calls will be free. Much cheaper than using a carrier. Now you’re talking!

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Internet Advertising Set To Fall For The First Time Since 2001

February 25, 2009

Leading publishers from The New York Times to Yahoo have said it: Internet advertising is in the dumps.

The online display market was weak in the fourth quarter

The online display market was weak in the fourth quarter

Now IDC has climbed aboard the bandwagon, predicting the first decline in U.S. online ad spending since 2001 and the days of the dot-com wipeout.

The research agency forecasts a 5 percent fall off in spending during the first three months of the year with perhaps a deeper slump in the second quarter.

The market may improve in the second half of the year.

Publishers have said over the past couple months that a broad-based pull back by big advertisers – automotive, telecommunications, pharmaceutical and entertainment companies included – hit both online and offline campaigns.

Many don’t expect a significant improvement this year.

IDC says fourth-quarter spending rose just 0.4 percent to $7.13 billion. The search market proved stronger than the display and classified markets.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

IBM Tops Shrinking Server Sales, But Blades Is Hot Spot

February 25, 2009

(Revenues are in Millions)

Vendor

2008 Revenue

2008 Market Share

2007 Revenue

2007 Market Share

2008/2007 Revenue Growth

1. IBM

$16,988

31.9%

$17,336

31.4%

-2.0%
2. HP

$15,751

29.5%

$16,041

29.1%

-1.8%
3. Dell

$6,199

11.6%

$6,261

11.4%

-1.0%
4. Sun

$5,377

10.1%

$5,868

10.6%

-8.4%
5. Fujitsu/FSC

$2,566

4.8%

$2,676

4.9%

-4.1%
Others

$6,451

12.1%

$6,949

12.6%

-7.2%

All Vendors

$53,332

100.0%

$55,130

100.0%

-3.3%

It will get worse before the server market improves, late this year or early 2010.

According to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker released today, worldwide server revenue declined 3.3% to $53.3 billion, while worldwide unit shipments grew 2.0% to 8.1 million units, for the full year 2008.

This is the first time the server market exceeded 8 million units in a calendar year, reflecting continued demand for new physical servers even as virtualization makes significant gains in the enterprise, said IDC.

“In the near term, IT customers will increasingly look for IT optimization projects with strong ROI potential and extend virtualization, consolidation, and migration programs in order to lower capital and operational costs while improving efficiencies,” said Matthew Eastwood, group vice president of IDC’s Enterprise Platforms Group in a statement.

Blade servers are hottest products in slowing server market

One bright spot is the market for blade servers – slim computers that slide into a chassis – for which revenues grew 33.3% year over year to $5.4 billion in 2008.

H-P maintained the number 1 spot in the server blade market last quarter with 54.8% revenue share and IBM finished second with 21.7% revenue share. Sun, Dell, and Fujitsu/Fujitsu-Siemens all significantly outperformed the market with year-over-year revenue growth of more than 60% respectively.

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IDC: Worldwide IT Spending To Grow 0.5% In 2009; Impacting Hardware Sales

February 25, 2009

Companies expect to spend less in hardware this year, but more in software and services

Companies expect to spend less in IT hardware this year, but more in IT software and services

Don’t expect a recovery in IT this year.

Today, research firm IDC revised downward its forecast for global IT spending this year, from 2.8 per cent to 0.5 per cent, reaching $1.44 trillion.

And in the U.S., IT spending is expected to grow only 0.1 per cent at $491 billion in 2009.

For IDC, the global recession greatest impact will be felt in hardware markets, where overall spending growth will be –3.6 per cent this year, led by a steep decline in sales of servers, PCs, and printers/MFPs.

In contrast, worldwide spending on software and IT services are each expected to grow 3.4% in 2009, down from 4.6% and 3.7% growth respectively in the previous forecast.

“Fourth quarter data from a number of key markets and geographies clearly shows that companies have been very quick to pull back their spending,” said John Gantz, chief research officer at IDC.

“The data also provides a clearer picture of how companies are curbing their expenditures. Investments in software and services are being maintained in pursuit of productivity and efficiency gains while hardware spending is being slashed in an attempt to stretch refresh cycles and squeeze more out of existing assets.”

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