How many incentives?

O2 have launched an aggressive push into the business broadband market. The service is targeted at small to medium sized businesses and was launched on 1st May alongside home broadband for the whole of the UK. The package comes with free 24/7 UK-based support and businesses can get on-site support at no extra cost. The offering will allow customers  unlimited downloads based on a fair usage policy, of course! In addition, O2 will carry out line speed checks to ensure customers don’t pay for speeds that are not achievable on their telephone lines.

I’ve got a tie and I’m coming in.

Although O2 were late coming to the market the incentives I’ve just outlined could potentially save money on support calls for businesses.  This would seem to be an aggressive move designed to encourage users to shift service provider. I expect to see other providers start to offer similar incentives if they don’t want to lose customers.

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Does anybody want to stay here?

Yesterday I wrote an article about Indian techies preferences. Well, it would appear they’re not the only deserting our fair shores. A survey just by LoudHouse suggests that up to 65% of IT pros are seriously considering going abroad to work. The major reason cited by 87% or respondents: quality of life. I’m not going to launch into an anti-government rant, let’s just say that we’re feeling the burden more and more every day.

Retention of experienced staff is another issue for companies with over a third of workers polled saying that they are actively seeking a new job. The survey backs this statement up, suggesting IT workers know their skills are in high demand and are prepared to move in order to find a role that will stretch them.

An added bonus for all of us techies: the average salary of £35,160 is expected to rise by 4.5% this year, up from 3.3%in 2007 - happy days.

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…India!

That’s right. According to recent survey, the number of IT graduates staying in India to work has risen from 65% between 1964 and 2001 to 84% between 2002 and 2008. The number of IITians believing that the West offered greater opportunities fell from 60% to 49% over the same period. Note: IITians - graduates of Indian Institutes of Technology. No, I didn’t make it up. That’s the phrase doing the rounds.

Respondents to the survey stated that India is catching up the West fast, citing improved range and career prospects quality and the major reason for no going West. Interestingly, 72% of IITians think that India will hold more promise of success within the next ten years. America polled 17% followed by Europe with 5% - Oops!

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A snip at $8.5 billion!

Even the European regulators said ‘yes’! But why the rush to buy a middleware company? BEA produces code  that allows business applications to interact with databases. Now you can see why this acquisition is so highly prized by Oracle. The recent spending spree ($35 billion in total) effectively sets Oracle up as a one stop shop for businesses needing a single source of databases and business apps. Other companies snapped up along the way include PeopleSoft (databases) and Captovation (Enterrprise Content Management). When you look at these strategic acquistion a picture rapidly forms around Oracles future direction.

One point to consider here will be the workforce. BEA employs around 4,000 personnel and Oracle has acknowledged there will be layoffs as it tries to generate maximum profit from the acquistition.

Popularity: 31% [?]

Your route will gridlocked for 10 years…

…have a nice day! Well, maybe not that long but don’t your journeys to work seem to get longer and longer by the day? Yes, I travel as well. Endless queues of traffic stretching over the horizon. Not much fun, eh? Users of Nokia mobile devices are in for a treat. The mobile phone company has teamed up with ARC Transistence to provide Nokia handset owners with Real Time Traffic Information. Rather than just telling you that you are, in fact, stuck in a traffic jam the service will allow you plan a route around bottlenecks. The offering is a Premium Service - i.e. ‘We want your money’!

The techy magic.

Nokia Maps 2.0 will be overlaid with information from ARC Transistence. As updates are applied the application can create new and faster routes for the user, apparently. Sounds a bit like the service my GPS gives me now. The bonus here is that Nokia maps currently covers over 150 countries so setting off from Brixham for a countryside drive in the Sahara desert just got a whole lot easier.

P.S Nokia Map 2.0 is currently available for selected devices. Just to to the Beta Labs website.

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Part of the comeback plan?

AMD has announced an initiative to get ‘Business Class’ chips into small enterprises. This should, in theory, allow hardware vendors to extend the lifecycle of PCs.

Business Class processors will be drawn from the Phenom line, offering dual and quad core chips. In addition, computer builders will be given the opportunity to use Athlon processsors.

The launch of the Puma platform is expected later this year, extending the programme into laptops.

This could be seen as part of AMDs plan to recover from recent losses in the processor market. Admittedly, it’s a start on the long road back to the top but AMD will have to do a lot more work to pull consumers back onside.

Popularity: 31% [?]

Hide your porn courtesy of Fujitsu!

Fujitsu have announced the launch of a hard drive with 256 bit Advanced Encryption Standard features. The encryption device is incorporated directly into the processor chip on the drive. Apparently, it’s a first for this method. The unit also features a secure erase capability which means data can be destroyed in under a second - no more getting caught with your hand in your pants! The hard drive, available in 80 Gb, 120 Gb, 169 Gb and 250 Gb, will be available in May but no costs have been announced.

Click here to go to the home page.

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Lots of spare cash in the bank.

The economies of the world are in a downward spiral. Central banks are spending billions to avert a crisis. Big business will suffer, jobs will be lost. The good times are coming to an end! Er, a report just released would suggest otherwise. Ok, I don’t dispute the fact that markets are ‘wobbley’ but it would appear that giants of the tech industry are still doing very well. Shares of IBM, Google and Intel all rallied after the posting of their latest results.

The end of the world is not nigh!

I didn’t say that. There is still uncertainty in the markets. Second quarter expectations may still be knocked down to reflect the current economic climate. Other companies may not fare as well as the likes of IBM. Nokia has blamed the American markets for a drop in the global mobile phone market. Cost cutting in the home could see the likes of AT&T and Verizon take a hit as consumers look for ways to reduce their bills.

Bare knuckle bust-up

If you like to play computer games you’re in for a bonus. It would appear that revenue is still flying high although full results have not been released yet. Staying at home and peppering a virtual, enemy combatant full of holes instead of going to the pub, or eating out, will definitely save you some money.

Wibbley, wobbley.

The future of the markets is still uncertain. Reports from the likes of Apple, Microsoft, Cisco and Dell are yet to come and could prove very interesting. For now, let’s just say that this coming year may be very tight, for both the tech sector and consumers.

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But sales are up!

AMD has announced losses of £180 million between January and March even though overall sales were up by 22%. That brings a total of six quarterly losses in a row. The figures are in direct contrast to other hardware vendors who have reported robust earnings.

Cutting out the fat.

AMD has announced the loss of 1600 jobs across its global workforce. So, it would appear that the workers bare the brunt once again. In addition, the chip manufacturer is due to announce the details of a reorganisation plan designed to revitalise the company. But will this help ailing sales? Executives believe so. The company is attempting to catch up with the miniaturisation field, currently led by Intel.

Show me the goodies.

AMD launched a new processor in the back end of last year. The Phenom was widely viewed as a step back up the ladder. Unfortunately, and based on current losses, the CPU has not been the magic bullet AMD were looking for.

Where to now? The restructuring news is eagerly awaited. But it may not be enough to save the company. If figures continue to show dismal returns we may yet see the company split and sell off unproductive assets. Now that would be a real shame.

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A drop in the digital ocean.

Is your laptop missing bluetooth? Do you want half a house brick hanging out of your USB port? Neither do we. That’s where MoGo comes. This tiny bluetooth adaptor weighs in at a miniscule 1cm x 1.8cm x 1cm. Pretty small, eh? It’s simplicity. Plug the device into a USB slot and you’re ready to go. You can connect to:

• Mobile phones
• Bluetooth printers
• MP3 players
• PDAs
• …pretty much anything bluetooth related!

Transfer rates are at 3Mbps so it’s not slow either. The device was built with Windows and Apple in mind but, as with many other peripherals, my Ubuntu laptop picked the MoGo up without a problem.

I love this little tool. In particular the low profile. Plug in, leave and forget about it. No worries about snapping the MoGo when you pack up at the end of the day. All this for about £19. What more could you ask for?

Click here to go to the home page.

Popularity: 1% [?]