Larry Ellison On The Econony: U.S. Consumers Broke; No Recovery Ahead

October 6, 2009
Oracle chief wants to impose tariffs on goods originating from China and India

Oracle chief wants to impose tariffs on goods originating from China and India

The Oracle co-founder and CEO Larry Ellison has a dismal view on the future of the U.S. economy and sees no recovery in sight.

“Somebody said it’s going to be an L-shaped recovery: down, not coming back. I believe that,” said the software executive.

Ellison argues that the U.S. consumer is so deeply in debt that the economy will not come back at least before 5-years; during which the U.S. economy will not be the world’s engine of growth as used to be, while U.S. consumers start saving to pay off their debts.

The Oracle CEO also expects a higher tax regime to pay for some of the Obama’s administration initiatives.

“I’m surprised that there are so many huge spending programmes, like the stimulus package ($800 billion), the health-care bill ($1 trillion), cap and trade ($1 billion)… There are a lot of things that is going on right now that make me believe that we’re not going to have a rapid recovery,” adds Ellison.

Follows, is the video excerpt of Larry Ellison on the state of the economy:

Oracle CEO favours tariffs on imported goods from India and China

Ellison also explained that the U.S. should impose tariffs on imported goods along with its decision to adopt the cap and trade programme.

“Because you can’t suddenly say that energy is going to be very expensive in the U.S. which would send manufacturing overseas and without having tariffs on things coming back to the U.S. for countries like India and China who said very clearly that they have no interest in monitoring their CO2 output until they have the same per capita CO2 output as the U.S… As a results, China will be able to increase their CO2 output by a factor of 4,” adds Ellison.

Follows another video excerpt where the Oracle CEO talks about imposing tariffs on goods coming from India and China:

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Posted by TechPulse 360

VC Offshoring On The Rise As US Investing Slips

April 17, 2009

Venture capitalists continue to look abroad for opportunities to invest – at the expense of fueling companies in the United States.

The impact on the U.S. economy may be modest at present because the majority of venture money still is placed domestically. But the trend should alarm entrepreneurs who continue to see Silicon Valley, Route 128 and the Austin vicinity as the world’s hives of startup activity.

Venture investors, such as Robert Ackerman at Allegis Capital, have recently raised warning flags that the industry has become too risk adverse. Many investors chose to weather the downturn by hording funds for their existing portfolio companies instead of planting the seeds for a new wave of innovation.

Others have more willingly looked abroad to sidestep financial markets at home that seem uninterested in IPOs – the most lucrative way for VCs to recoup investments in risky startups.

Figures from Dow Jones VentureSource show the severity of the trend. In 2005 for instance, only 4.8 percent of the world’s venture money went to startups in China. Last year, 10 percent did. India has seen a similar uptick in venture investing.

Meanwhile, U.S. startups received 71 percent of venture money in 2007. By 2008, it had fallen to 67 percent.

The entrepreneurs starting many of the companies overseas were educated in America and previously employed by U.S. technology companies.  “They are returning to their roots, and the capital is following them,” Ackerman said in a recent interview.

The migration is shifting innovation from the U.S. to foreign nations, just as a share of the country’s manufacturing went to China. If the U.S. is to counter this trend, it needs to create a more inviting environment for the technical vanguard.

And VCs need to build new companies at home.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

US Venture Capitalists Pour More Money Overseas

February 18, 2009

The United States remains the primary destination for investments from domestic venture firms.

But 2008 saw these partners and general partners continue to place more money overseas as the industry follows the general economy and globalizes.

China investments were up 50% last year

China investments were up 50% last year

According to Dow Jones VentureSource, U.S. VCs increased their investing overseas by 5 percent last year, putting more than $13.4 billion to work in deals in Europe, Israel, China and India.

That represented about 32 percent of the money they spent. (Domestic startups got $28.8 billion, VentureSource says.)

The growth was particularly strong in energy investing, which accounted for more than 10 percent of overseas dollars. In Europe, for instance, energy startups attracted 89 percent more money than in 2007, or $816 million.

In China, VCs set a record by investing $4.2 billion last year, up 50 percent. Information technology startups got a significant share –$1.6 billion.

Investment growth was slower in India, where $864 million went into 80 deals, a 3 percent increase.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

Outsourcing To Grow In 2009 Despite Satyam Scandal

January 15, 2009

The Satyam financial fraud scandal has rocked the outsourcing world, but the market should grow in 2009 despite headwinds from the crisis in India and the global economic pullback.

Satyams Infocity campus in India

Satyam's Infocity campus in India

Outsourcing will become a carefully considered as more organizations seek to cut costs and plan for long-term recovery, says Gartner. This will be especially true as economic woes force businesses to change their strategies in a hurry.

Competition in the market will be fierce with vendors offering low prices to build market share or meet quarterly revenue goals. Current contracts will come under pressure as well, with customers renegotiating terms in response to downsizings, acquisitions, divestitures and general cost cutting.

In this environment, new services will boost adoption, including vendor offerings built around software-as-a-service, computing and storage infrastructure delivered as a utility, cloud computing and remote system management.

“During the next five to seven years, a broad set of new and alternative IT delivery models — already in use by aggressive early technology adopter organizations — will become mainstream,” said Research Vice President Ben Pring.

2 Comments | news, services/outsourcing, software | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Mark Boslet

Downturn Unlike Others For Tech: Cisco’s Chambers Sees U.S. Being First Country Out Of Malaise

December 10, 2008
chambers-cisco-cscape-2

Cisco is not seeing unusual volumes of used gear being sold, said John Chambers

The present downturn facing technology companies with slumping sales and slowing investments in new products is unlike others the industry weathered in 2001, 1997 and before, says Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers.

A powerful wave of innovation coming from the industry didn’t exist at the start of other economic pullbacks, Chambers said Wednesday at the company’s C-Scape meeting for analysts. That could blunt the impact an expected global recession will have on the business.

“There has never been a time in my lifetime where there has been as much change on a global basis,” Chambers said, describing the environment facing companies here and abroad.

But technology companies stand at the beginning of the next generation of the Internet, he claimed, with the growing use of video, collaboration and virtualization driving change.

Chambers suggested innovation could help lift the nation from the economic malaise. “We are going to see the U.S. be the first out of this global slowdown,” he said.

Hoping to capitalize on the turmoil, Cisco intends not to be a shrinking violet. The company will expand into new and existing markets even as it cuts at least $1 billion in expenses over the next several quarters.

Chambers promised aggressive investment in India and China and said he would simultaneously examine opportunities in Mexico and Brazil. He also vowed to use some of Cisco’s $27 billion in cash to pursue acquisitions

“We’re probably going to be a little more selective than in the past,” he said, but “I do intend to very active moving into these (new) markets.”

He also said he has not seen unusual piles of used Cisco gear being sold on re-seller markets from companies going out of business, despite speculation to the contrary. “We are facing no abnormal pressure on our discounts,” he said.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

The Return Of The Network Computer; Novatium Targets A Million Homes In India

November 5, 2008
Thirty million Indians use Internet cafes

Thirty million Indians use Internet cafes

In India, 30 million people reach the Internet by visiting Internet cafes. This immaturity creates an opportunity for Novatium, the maker of a sub $80 home computer, said co-founder Rajesh Jain.

Jain said at the Web 2.0 Summit that he has deployed 5,000 computers to homes in the country. “For most people in India, the Novatium computer is their first taste of computing,” he said. “The goal is to take this to millions of homes in India

The target after that is small businesses, he said. Users of the comuter may $10 a month for connectivity and applications.

1 Comment | computers, news, web 2.0 | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Mark Boslet

Will Human Rights Take Center Stage Over Profits? Google, Yahoo And Microsoft Sign On

October 29, 2008
Internet censorship continues around the world

Internet censorship continues around the world

Internet censorship continues not just in autocratic nations such as North Korea, Iran, Syria and China, where it is becoming more sophisticated, but in more liberal countries, including South Korea, India and Singapore.

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University hopes to put a foot down – dressing down censorship in addition to Web site filtering and government surveillance in violation of international standards. Google, Yahoo and Microsoft have joined in.

The three companies along with the center and a coalition of human rights groups, academics and investment firms launched the Global Network Initiative.

“From the Americas to Europe to the Middle East to Africa and Asia, companies in the information and communications industries face increasing government pressure to comply with domestic laws and policies that require censorship and disclosure of personal information in ways that conflict with internationally recognized human rights laws and standards,” the group said.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

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