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Archive for June, 2011

IDC’s Worldwide Semiannual Storage Software Tracker Forecasts Market to Increase by Nearly $1 Billion in 2011

June 24th, 2011

The worldwide storage software market is forecast to grow 7.8% year over year in 2011 with revenues reaching nearly $13.8 billion, according to the newly relaunched International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Semiannual Storage Software Tracker. The Tracker expands upon the IDC Worldwide Storage Software QView by providing wider geographic coverage as well as a semiannual forecast.

“The storage software market spent 2010 recovering from a difficult downturn. Fortunately, there was plenty of pent-up demand and new product innovations to help create momentum in the market,” said Eric Sheppard, research director, Storage Software. “Looking forward, demand for storage software appears poised to remain strong around the world as organizations continue to address inefficiencies related to storing, protecting, and managing corporate data.”

Of the 55 storage software vendors covered in the Tracker, EMC and Symantec held the top 2 positions for the second half of 2010 (2H10). Combined, the two vendors accounted for nearly 41% of the global market. Within the top 10, there were six vendors that outperformed the global market in terms of growth: Autonomy, CommVault, EMC, Hitachi Data Systems (HDS), IBM, and NetApp. Of these, CommVault and HDS achieved the most impressive growth rates. For HDS, the growth was largely driven by its performance in three major functional markets – Storage Infrastructure Software, Archiving Software, and Data Protection and Recovery Software. Commvault’s growth was based primarily on its performance in the Data Protection and Recovery functional market. CommVault also experienced strong growth (greater than 20%) in several country markets (Australia, Germany UK, and the United States) during the second half of 2010.

For 2011, three of the eight functional markets within the storage software market are expected to grow faster than the overall market. In the Archiving Software functional market, the greatest growth will come from a handful of key country markets, including the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, India, and Russia. In the Data Protection and Recovery Software functional market, high-growth country markets are expected to be Australia, Brazil, China, India, Japan, Korea, and Russia. For the Storage Replication Software functional market, countries growing at double-digit pace include Australia, Brazil, China, India and Russia.

The Worldwide Semiannual Storage Software Tracker provides semiannual vendor share data for six geographic regions and 13 of the largest country markets. Additionally, it delivers five-year forecast data for the same geography coverage across all eight functional markets within the storage software area: data protection and recovery software, storage replication software, archiving software, file system software, storage management software, storage infrastructure software, storage device management software, and other storage software. Results are delivered to clients through Excel-based spreadsheets.

“The Storage Software Tracker is a continuation of our commitment to deliver detailed software data to our clients on a regular basis,” said Wilvin Chee, associate vice president, Worldwide Software Trackers. “This product, which builds upon the success of the IDC Worldwide Storage Software QView, is designed to deliver a better understanding of which vendors are gaining or losing share across mature and emerging countries. While this knowledge is obviously important to the vendors involved, it is also critical to corporate decision-makers in the purchasing cycle, partners, companies exploring merger and acquisition opportunities, and the investment community.”

IDC’s Worldwide Semiannual Software Trackers measure total software revenue, including license plus maintenance plus SaaS and other subscription revenue. A critical component to the Software Trackers is the global presence of IDC’s software analysts who interview vendors, channel partners, and integrators on an ongoing basis at the country, regional, and global levels. This information is supplemented by IDC’s software contracts database and carefully analyzed by IDC’s newly established software company model team before it is entered into IDC’s proprietary Tracker data platform. Annual five-year market forecasts for the software trackers are updated semiannually and include five-year annual market projections. Forecasts are available at worldwide, regional, and country levels.

Source:http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110624005098/en/IDCs-Worldwide-Semiannual-Storage-Software-Tracker-Forecasts

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Tags: IDC Software

Smartphone app to help locate friend in crowd

June 24th, 2011

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Can a smartphone app enable meaningful, face-to-face conversation? Engineers are trying to figure it out with a software that helps people locate their friends in a crowd — and make new friends sharing similar interests.

For instance, at a business meeting, the software could remind a user of a forgotten acquaintance’s name, or help him make new professional contacts in the same area of research.

Dong Xuan, associate professor of computer science and engineering at Ohio State University, said: “Today, online social networking has advanced dramatically, but our ability to meet people face-to-face hasn’t gotten any easier.”

Called eShadow, the software uses nearby wireless networks and smartphones’ wireless communication technologies to alert users that a friend who also uses the software is in the area and gives directions to that friend’s location, according to a Ohio statement.

“We want eShadow to close social gaps and connect people in meaningful ways while keeping the technology non-intrusive and protecting privacy,” said Xuan, who led the project.

As to users’ safety, Xuan feels that, at least for some situations, meeting someone in person is safer than meeting them online.

“Online, people can steal others’ identity, or lie easily without detection. It’s much harder to pull off a masquerade in person,” he said.

The name eShadow comes from the idea that users input their interests into the software, and their smartphone broadcasts those interests to certain other users of the software – but only within 50 yards of the phone. So as users move, the broadcast follows them around like a shadow.

In outdoor tests, they measured how fast the software could detect users who were 20, 30, and 50 yards apart. They tested different numbers of users, from two to seven.

In all cases, the software was able to connect people within about half a minute – an average of 25 seconds for two users, and 35 seconds for seven.

Xuan noted that eShadow’s algorithms could be useful beyond socialising. Soldiers could use something akin to eShadow to locate each other on the battlefield.

These findings were presented at the IEEE International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems (ICDCS) in Minneapolis.

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/personal-tech/computing/Smartphone-app-to-help-locate-friend-in-crowd/articleshow/8977008.cms

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Tags: Crowd Smartphone

Infosys sees big opportunities in cloud computing

June 24th, 2011

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Country’s second largest software exporter Infosys is eyeing big opportunities in cloud computing but advocates that there is need to put in place a policy framework for the same.

Kris Gopalakrishnan, CEO and managing director of Infosys said that Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is preparing a draft on the policy and would submit the same to the Government next month.

Cloud computing facilitates sharing of technological resources, software and digital information. It operates on a pay-per-use model, helping companies to cut costs as they do not have to invest heavily in infrastructure.

“CII is putting together a draft paper on the opportunities in cloud computing and what should be the policy frame work on this. The opportunities are huge for country like India in providing citizen services. And if we have the right regulatory frame work then we can accelerate,” he told reporters on the sidelines of an event here.

He said cloud services currently form about 3% of Infosys’ overall income and more than 10% if cloud products are also included. Replying to a question on the company’s focus, he said Infosys would concentrate on core issues in cloud like transitioning companies towards cloud, running cloud services and new solutions offering.

He, however, said that some of the issues like data privacy and security should be addressed properly and it is possible with a proper regulatory frame work in place.
“Regulatory frame work would give confidence that the service providers will provide the service securely and reliably. We need a regulatory frame work in place also to ensure data privacy. But the data centre should be located in
India,” Kris said.

He opined that creation of infrastructure for cloud computing requires huge investment. A senior official of the company said Infosys has already appointed 2000 experts to work on the technology.

Source:http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/infosys-sees-big-opportunitiescloud-computing_560104.html