Category Archives: Intel

EMC, Financial Results, Intel, News & Analysis, SAP

Cloud takes top spot at EMC, SAP and Intel quarterly announcements

Growth on a black boardEMC, SAP and Intel have all reported quarterly figures, with cloud taking centre stage during all announcements.

EMC demonstrated positive growth within the cloud business units, though its staple business unit, EMC Information Infrastructure saw double-digit year-on-year declines. The $67 billion merger with Dell was prominent throughout the earnings call, as the team would appear to be in the final stages of confirming the transaction.

SAP’s HANA once again dominated the company’s earnings call, demonstrating healthy growth in revenues and customer numbers over the period. The company saw positive growth worldwide, despite challenging conditions in Latin America.

Finally, Intel is seemingly succeeded in its transition programme as it reported positive growth during Q1. The company is moving away from its historical playground, setting its sights on the increasingly affluent IoT and cloud market segment.

EMC core business unit drags while cloud soars

EMC Corporation has reported its Q1 2016 results at revenues $5.5 billion a year-on-year decrease of 2%, though its VMWare and Pivotal businesses experience positive growth over the same period.

While the EMC Information Infrastructure business saw Q1 revenues decrease of 6% to $3.8 billion, the company was bolstered by 5% revenue growth from VMWare, and a 56% increase from the Pivotal business. The company highlighted healthy growth within the Pivotal cloud and big data subscription software in particular, with annual recurring revenue up over 200% year-on-year, to $116 million.

EMC“Work forces are becoming increasingly mobile,” said Joseph Tucci, President and CEO at EMC Corporation. “There is an explosion of data from connected smart device as sensors and telemetry are being built into every imaginable product. Companies are embarking on digital transformations to exploit this ever increasing amount of data, get more connected with their customers, employees, and suppliers. In short, we feel very good about the depth and breadth of our product portfolio.”

The results continue a trend of under-performance according to analysts, as this is now the sixth straight quarter EMC has missed analyst expectations. The company’s core business also saw declines as sales for its high-end storage services dropped 14%, though the flash storage business countered these declines somewhat, growing 122% year-on-year.

“The spending environment continues to be challenging as customers focus more on transformative IT projects while also minimizing transactional spend,” said Denis Cashman, CFO at EMC Corporation. “This customer behaviour is impacting our traditional business in the near-term. However, the major trends in IT remain intact, and we are having positive discussions with customers regarding how EMC and eventually, the combination of Dell and EMC, can help them with their IT and digital transformation.”

While the management would appear to be upbeat about the progress of EMC as an individual entity, attention could not be drawn away from the $67 billion Dell merger. The company claims the integration programme has been accelerated over recent months, and a number of EMC executives have included in the new leadership team announced by Michael Dell recently. Tucci also claims the team are now only awaiting regulatory approval from China, before the transaction can be completed.

S/4HANA dominates headlines at SAP quarterlies once again.

SAP has reported positive growth in the first quarter of 2016 as the company continues its transition from an enterprise to cloud-focused organization, with S/4HANA demonstrating healthy progress.

SAP1Cloud subscriptions and support revenues grew 33% year-on-year to €678 million, and new cloud bookings grew at 23% over the quarter to €145 million. The cloud business, as well as software support revenues, accounted for 69% of the quarter’s total revenues. EMEA demonstrated solid growth over the period, accounting for an 8% increase, whereas the Americas reported a 29% increase, despite political and economic instability in Brazil creating a challenging environment.

“Our cloud results this quarter leave no doubt that this business continues on its fast-growth path,” Luka Mucic, Chief Operating & Financial Officer at SAP. “Cloud revenue came in at 33% growth this quarter, which marks the 12th quarter in a row with 30%-plus growth rate excluding acquisitions. This is at the high end of our implied guidance range and ticking well ahead of our CAGR through 2020.

“New cloud bookings saw robust growth, up 23% or up 26% at constant currencies. With our strong cloud backlog and our strong bookings performance in 2015, we are well on track to deliver on our midterm growth ambitions in the cloud.”

SAP added more than 500 S/4HANA customers, of which approximately 30% were new. The company now boasts 3,200 customers for across the world for the product. HANA Enterprise Cloud was credited with particularly strong performance from the management team, as it highlighted customers are now utilizing the cloud platform for sensitive and mission critical processes.

“Companies are running their supply chain, manufacturing, asset management, sales and distribution that all operate on a 24/7 basis on the SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud,” William McDermott, CEO at SAP. “The triple-digit growth in this business is a validation of SAP Cloud innovation and we are only getting started.”

Intel cuts 12000 jobs to focus on IoT and cloud markets

Intel has reported year-on-year growth of 7% for Q1, taking the company’s revenues to $13.7 billion. Despite the positive growth, the management team also confirmed it would be cutting 12000 jobs, equivalent to 11% of the global workforce.

IntelThe Internet of Things group reported revenue of $651 million, an increase of 22% year-on-year, Security group revenue was up 12% to $537 million and the Data Centre group reported a 9% year-on-year growth to $4 billion. The company’s historical playground, its Client Computing group which includes PCs and mobile devices, was down 14% to $7.5 billion. The Client Computing group is where the management have revealed the majority of the job cuts will come from.

“Our results over the last year demonstrate a strategy that is working and a solid foundation for growth,” said Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, who is leading the company’s shift away from client computing and towards IoT and the cloud.

“The opportunity now is to accelerate this momentum and build on our strengths,” said Krzanich. “These actions drive long-term change to further establish Intel as the leader for the smart, connected world. I am confident that we’ll emerge as a more productive company with broader reach and sharper execution.”

During the call Krzanich detailed the company’s restructuring programme, in which the team aim to move away from the perception Intel is a PC company, focusing on the cloud and connected devices markets. The company claims the staff reductions will enable Intel to focus its resources on new priorities

“You take a look at it, 40% of our revenue, 60% of our margin comes from areas other than the PC right now,” said Krzanich. “It’s time to make this transition and push the company over all the way to that strategy and that strategic direction. So that’s why we wanted to do it now.”

Intel, News & Analysis

Only 13% trust public cloud with sensitive data – Intel survey

Solving problems. Business conceptA survey from Intel has highlighted companies are now becoming more trusting of cloud propositions, though public cloud platforms are still not trusted to secure sensitive data.

The Blue Skies Ahead? The State of Cloud Adoption report stated 77% of the respondents believe their company trusts cloud platforms more than 12 months ago, though only 13% would utilize public offerings for sensitive data. 72% point to compliance as the biggest concern with cloud adoption.

“This is a new era for cloud providers,” said Raj Samani, CTO at Intel Security EMEA. “We are at the tipping point of investment and adoption, expanding rapidly as trust in cloud computing and cloud providers grows. As we enter a phase of wide-scale adoption of cloud computing to support critical applications and services, the question of trust within the cloud becomes imperative. This will become integral into realising the benefits cloud computing can truly offer.”

One area of the survey which could be perceived as a concern is only 35% of the respondents believe C-level executives and senior management understand security risks of the cloud. Industry insiders have told BCN that executives are almost using cloud security as a sound-bite to demonstrate to investors that the board prioritizes technology as a means of driving business innovation, though few could be considered technology orientated or competent.

“The key to secure cloud adoption is ensuring sufficient security controls are integrated from the start so the business can maintain their trust in the cloud,” said Samani. “There is a growing awareness amongst the C-suite of the potential consequences of a data breach. Yet IT must take steps to educate senior management further on the enabling capabilities of the cloud, underlining the importance of always keeping security considerations front of mind.”

“Securing the cloud is a top-down process but getting every employee to follow best practice and behave in a secure manner requires company-wide participation. For example, when faced with many of the cloud threats defined by the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), IT will absolutely require employee support to ensure data remains secure.”

Contemplate. Business concept illustrationFrom an investment perspective, Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) continues to lead the way with 81% of respondents highlighting their organization is planning to invest in this area. Security-as-a-Service followed closely with 79%, whereas Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) accounted for 69% and 60% respectively. The survey also highlighted respondents expect 80% percent of their IT budgets to be dedicated to cloud computing services in the next 16 months.

While the increased trust in cloud platforms is a positive, it would appear in some circumstances it is a case of blind trust. More than a fifth of IT decision makers are not sure whether unauthorized cloud services are being used within the organization and 13% cannot account for what is currently being stored in the cloud. Shadow IT continues to distress IT departments throughout the industry and the most popular means of dealing with it would appear to be database activity monitoring according to 49% of the respondents.

Shadow IT maybe a concern for the vast majority of companies in the journey to cloud security, but it does lead to the question as to whether conquering shadow IT is possible, and whether 100% secure can ever be a realistic goal. “Faced with a rapidly expanding threat landscape, IT should never consider their infrastructure to be 100% secure,” said Samani. “Attack methods are constantly updated: there is no room for complacency. IT departments must ensure they regularly update and check their security measures, undertaking their due diligence to ensure corporate data remains secure.”

The concept of secure IT would appear to be a growing conversation throughout the ranks within enterprise, though the concrete understanding and commitment behind the sound-bites from executives remains unclear. 100% may well be an unattainable goal however until the concept of secure IT is appreciated completely throughout the organization, from top-to-bottom and bottom-to-top, it would appear companies will be unlikely to utilise cloud platforms for any sensitive data.

cloud orchestration, Enterprise IT, hybrid cloud, Intel, News & Analysis

Intel backs software-defined-infrastructure to bolster position in hybrid cloud market

IntelIntel has backed the growth of software-defined infrastructure to bolster its management and orchestration position in the hybrid cloud market segment.

The company announced the launch of Xeon processor E5-2600 v4 product family, and the SSD DC D3700 and D3600 Series, alongside industry partnerships with VMware and the Cloud Native Computing Foundation. To boost its open-source credentials, Intel will also be collaborating with open-source players CoreOS and Mirantis.

“Enterprises want to benefit from the efficiency and agility of cloud architecture and on their own terms – using the public cloud offerings, deploying their own private cloud, or both,” said Diane Bryant, GM of Intel’s Data Center Group. “The result is pent-up demand for software-defined infrastructure. Intel is investing to mature SDI (software-defined infrastructure) solutions and provide a faster path for businesses of all sizes to reap the benefits of the cloud.”

It would appear Intel is backing the growth of SDI as a means of building its position the management and orchestration market. As part of the Cloud for All initiative, Intel is investing in others in the industry to accelerate SDI-enabled clouds. A survey from 451 Research also provides weight to the Intel position as 67% of enterprises plan on increasing spend on SDI over the course of 2016.

The E5-2600 v4 product family also includes Resource Director Technology which it claims will aid customers to move to fully automated SDI-based clouds. The updated product offering will provide 20% more cores and cache than the prior generation, which could provide an improved orchestration position, according to the company.

As part of the collaboration with CoreOS and Mirantis, Intel will assist in merging together the technologies to create an open-source solution to orchestrate container and virtual machine-based applications. It would appear that alongside the move to differentiate the brand through a SDI product offering, Intel are seemingly joining the charge on open-source propositions, a growing trend throughout the cloud industry.

connected car, Intel, Internet of Things, IoT, News & Analysis, Wind River

Wind River partners with Roland Berger and Ricardo to develop automatic driving systems

connected-car-normalIoT software company Wind River is to develop car automation software with civil engineering specialist Ricardo and consultancy Roland Berger.

In its car-making partnerships, Wind River will provide automotive software along with architectural and engineering support while Ricardo will integrate it with its physical vehicle systems. The projects will range in scope from advanced in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) to safe and secure advanced driver assist system (ADAS) technologies to autonomous driving.

Autonomous driving calls for advances in software, physical vehicle systems and intelligent connectivity within and outside of the car, according to Marques McCammon, general manager of connected vehicles at Wind River. These will only become a reality if Ricardo can integrate them, which means bringing together new vistas of algorithm development, sensor fusion and hardware integration, according to McCammon.

Wind River has also announced another partnership with global consultancy Roland Berger to help it confront the ‘slew of new challenges’ created by the jump in safety and security demands that all car makers now face. “Many in the industry are currently playing catch-up and looking to experts to fill in the gaps,” said Wolfgang Bernhart, senior partner and automotive expert at Roland Berger.

Car making clients of the two consultancies will receive software strategy direction from Wind River and Roland Berger. Wind River will provide software management, architectural and engineering support as each new car model’s development goes from the strategy exploration phase to the proof-of-concept and production phases. Roland Berger will deliver market insights, trend and business analysis will help design new innovative business models.

Meanwhile, Wind River’s autonomy within Intel looks set to end as plans have emerged to integrate it into the parent company by 2017. A statement outlining the plan was sent to Wind River employees earlier this week.

Intel bought Wind River for $884 million in 2009 and it has remained independent, but in early January president Barry Mainz left to be chief executive of MobileIron. An Intel spokeswoman told Fortune that incorporation of Wind River would be a logical next step. However, while the rationale is to align Wind River, it will retain its branding and continue to support non-Intel processors, the spokeswoman said.

IBM, Intel, News & Analysis, VMware

VMware beefs up security, announces IBM and Intel collaborations

VMWare campus logoVMware has moved to patch flaws in several of its services and has worked with Intel Security to beef up its protection of mobile cloud systems.

In a security announcement on its web site VMware told clients that versions of VMware ESXi, Workstation, Player and Fusion for Windows suffer from a kernel memory corruption which could be exploited.

Earlier this week VMware announced that it is working with Intel Security on two joint mobile initiatives involving AirWatch. It has also joined the Intel Security Innovation Alliance.

The two vendors will allow clients to share mobility data via the McAfee Data Exchange Layer, a component within Intel Security’s system. The integration of AirWatch with Intel Security technologies will help customers get more out of their existing security investments, resolve mobile threats more quickly and reduce operational costs, claims VMware. Additionally, Intel Security has joined the AirWatch Mobile Security Alliance (MSA).

The alliance formed by Intel Security and VMware addresses three areas of enterprise security:  data protection, threat detection and prevention and security management with integrated workflows.

Mobile business transformation will run its course much quicker if companies can get their foundation security system to work with their mobility assets, according to Noah Wasmer, VP of mobile engineering and product management for end-user computing at VMware. “This partnership with Intel Security will deliver a complete mobile security solution. McAfee Data Exchange Layer will communicate essential threat intelligence that can help drive faster response and remediation,” said Wasmer.

News of another partnership was announced on the VMware site, which unveiled a new VMware IBM Partner Hub. This new sales enablement portal has been modified to make it easier for IBM partners to get sales assets, training and event information pertaining to the two companies’ joint efforts on Cloud, Systems, Networking, Mobility and Resiliency. Access is restricted to those with an IBM or VMware email address.

cloud-RAN, Intel, NEC, News & Analysis, Telco Cloud

Intel teams up with NEC on Cloud RAN development

Base stations could get smaller, cheaper and more powerful if a new virtualization project reaches fruition in 2016, reports Telecoms.com.

Kit maker NEC and Intel Corporation are to jointly develop a Cloud-Radio Access Network (Cloud-RAN) that can virtualize the functions of mobile base stations. The first joint proof of concept trial of Cloud-RAN will run in early 2016.

The partners say they aim to virtualize two major components of the next mobile base station, the Digital Unit (DU) and the Radio Unit (RU), which respectively handle data processing and the sending and receiving of radio waves. The new Cloud-RAN system will separate the DU functions from mobile base stations so they can be run on general-purpose Intel servers with multi-core processors. This means DU functions can be centralised which in turn allows for multiple radio units to be centrally controlled from one general-purpose server.

This re-engineering of base stations boosts their communication performance as they have more precise control of radio interference between the radio units. By consolidating the servers it also cuts the power and space consumption. The upshot of Cloud-RAN should be more powerful base stations that are cheaper to run, according to NEC. Virtualization has been a work in progress for a long time at NEC, said Nozomu Watanabe, General Manager for NEC’s Mobile Radio Access Network Division.

“We have been working with Intel on the virtualization of mobile core networks and customer premises equipment and are pleased to extend our collaboration in Network Functions Virtualization to mobile base stations,” said Watanabe.

NEC is to strengthen its relationship with Intel for the advancement of NFV as the core technology supporting 5G said Watanabe. NEC contributes to SDN and NFV related standards bodies the Open Networking Foundation (ONF), OpenDaylight, ETSI NFV, and Open Platform for NEV (OPNFV). It also the NEC SDN Partner Space programme to promote the development and use of network virtualization technologies.

5G, Datacentre, Intel, News & Analysis

Intel announces new infrastructure to support 5G cloud development

Tablet PC with 5GIntel has announced new infrastructure products for the cloud-based 5G networks that it claims will run tomorrow’s telecoms and data centre services.

The 5G cloud will be built on its new offerings in the Xeon Processor D-1500 product family, according to Intel, which says processors are the key to extending intelligence from the network core to the edge. By doing so, the new 5G cloud will perform better and interactions will be subject to less delay and lower levels of latency.

Nine new processors will pave the way for the migration of intelligence from the core to the edge of the network of the future. In order to be stationed at the edge of the network, the new processors must characteristically be high performers but low users of power and with twice the maximum memory of previous generations in an integrated System-on-a-Chip, says Intel. This means they can

network, store cloud and enterprise data and run IoT applications in dense, rugged environments. Intel said 50 networking, cloud storage, enterprise storage and IoT systems that use the new additions to the Intel Xeon Processor D-1500 product family are in development.

Among the new inventions are a new Ethernet Multi-host Controller FM10000 range for use in high performance comms network applications and dense server platforms. It has up to 200Gbps of high-bandwidth multi-host connectivity and multiple 100GbE ports for packet processing and the mass movement of data traffic. The new Intel Ethernet Controller X550 family, on the other hand, is a cheap, low power, 10 Gigabit Ethernet connector for data centre servers and network appliances.

Meanwhile, Intel said it is actively driving a networking ecosystem and has grown the Intel Network Builders program to more than 180 companies. Red Hat has become the first ISV to actively contribute to all key focus areas of the Intel Network Builders Fast Track.

“Networks are facing extraordinary demands as more devices become connected and new digital services are offered,” said Sandra Rivera, Intel Data Center Group VP. “Building cloud ready networks calls for more intelligence.”

Datacentre, IBM, Intel, News & Analysis, OpenWorld 2015, Oracle, server

Oracle and Intel announce plans to ramp up the offensive on IBM in the cloud

Oracle openworld 2015Intel and Oracle are to build on a previous collaboration which saw them jointly take on IBM in the cloud computing hardware market. Now they are conspiring again, this time to target Oracle’s database and software customers, in a bid to get them to ditch their IBM computer servers and buy Oracle/Intel servers instead.

The new pact was announced at the opening of Oracle’s tech conference as Intel CEO Brian Krzanich took the stage of Sunday with Oracle CEO Mark Hurd. Project Apollo, in which the two manufacturers pooled engineers in a joint bid to investigate how massive cloud computing data centres can run faster using Oracle hardware with Intel chips, was pronounced mission accomplished.

On Sunday Hurd and Krzanich announced the new hardware partnership and a back up conversion programme. Oracle CEO Mark Hurd said ‘thousands’ of customers have dropped IBM for Oracle when running Oracle software. To back this up, Oracle launched a migration support programme. The ‘Exa Your Power Program’ (EYP) is aimed to help customers move their Oracle Database from IBM Power systems to Oracle Engineered Systems using Intel technology.

The EYP is a free database migration Proof of Concept study in which Oracle will assess a customer’s environment, create a database migration results report and show how it thinks the customer could significantly cut the time and costs of running critical database workloads.

“CSC has successfully migrated dozens of customers’ enterprise workloads,” said Ashish Mahadwar, Executive General Manager of Oracle’s Emerging Business Group. “We recently migrated an Oracle Database for a major insurance provider from IBM Power 7 to an Exadata X5 engineered system as a Proof of Concept.”

Mahadwar claimed that test results showed a Siebel Application runs four-to-ten times faster and ETL Processes running up to 12-times faster on Exadata.

Transformation of the enterprise is already underway with the continuous improvements in a vast software ecosystem that Intel and Oracle jointly deliver according to Mahadwar. “The Exa Your Power program will make it easier for customers to realize the benefits of moving to Intel architecture,” said Mahadwar.

Intel, Internet of Things, Linux, M2M, News & Analysis, Open Source, Wind River

Wind River announces upgraded IoT software platform

internet of things farmingEmbedded tech vendor Wind River has announced an upgraded portfolio of IoT software development tools for the internet of things (IoT).

The wholly-owned Intel subsidiary made the announcement at the Embedded Linux Conference in Dublin this week, and claimed to bring added flexibility and interoperability to its open-source platform, Wind River Linux 8. It also says it’s thrown in improved user experience and scalability for addressing IoT, stating that a combination of its virtualization services also allows customers to begin developing apps for IoT platforms within minutes of set-up and installation.

Speaking on the development of the upgraded platform, which will underpin a number of Wind River’s existing technology profiles, general manager of OS platforms Dinyar Dastoor is proud of the work the firm’s doing in driving the development of IoT.

“Wind River Linux allows customers to extract vast amounts of business intelligence and value from their data, and supports devices of all sizes, architectures and industries – from general purpose and high-performing real-time devices to carrier grade, virtualization, and highly secure military applications,” he said. “With the latest version of Wind River Linux and our updated Open Virtualization profile, we are delivering a versatile and robust Linux offering to the market that is ideally suited for the development if IoT devices.”

Wind River’s Linux platform is born out of the Linux Foundation’s Yocto Project, a hardware-agnostic an open-source collaboration project designed to provide templates, tools and methodologies for implementing tailored Linux systems on any embedded product – hypothetically ideal for IoT products, software and infrastructures. Jim Zemlin, the Linux Foundation’s executive director, is looking forward to the company’s continued participation with the project, based on its extensive contribution thus far – Wind River has so far contributed more than one third of the lines of code used by Yocto.

“Wind River continues to do important work with the Linux community, as well as foster open-source innovation,” he said. “We look forward to the company’s ongoing contributions to the Yocto Project, and their market success with products like Wind River Linux.”

Visit Europe’s leading IoT event – Internet of Things World Europe – in Berlin on 5 – 7 October 2015

BlueData, Brian Krzanich, Doug Fisher, Hadoop, Intel, Kumar Sreekanti, News & Analysis, Spark

Intel, BlueData partner on big data following $20m funding round

Intel and BlueData are collaborating on big data

Intel and BlueData are collaborating on big data

Hadoop specialist BlueData announced a strategic collaboration with Intel this week after the chip company’s venture capital arm helped lead a $20m funding round for the startup.

BlueData offers a virtualised Hadoop-as-a-Service  software for on-premise infrastructure that speeds up Hadoop cluster deployment and model prototyping. The company also has some IP that The partnership will see the two companies integrate BlueData’s big data software with Intel’s Xeon processor technology, which Intel said builds on its existing big data integration initiatives with Cloudera and Apache Hadoop.

“Intel architecture provides a high-performance, secure, robust foundation for big data analytics,” said Brian Krzanich, Intel chief executive. “BlueData’s innovative software delivers the simplicity, agility and efficiency of big data-as-a-service in an on-premises model. Together, we are focused on bringing big data into the mainstream and unlocking the value for our enterprise customers.”

Kumar Sreekanti, co-founder and chief executive of BlueData  said: “This strategic collaboration with Intel will help advance BlueData’s mission of making it easy to deploy big data infrastructure. Our software platform simplifies the complexity, reduces the cost and delivers faster time to value for big data initiatives.”

“Our go-to-market relationship and joint product development with Intel will allow enterprises to accelerate their deployment of Hadoop and Spark, and deliver on the promise of big data analytics,” he added.

The move comes as Intel Captial, the chip giant’s venture capital arm, led a $20m series C funding round for BlueData along with participation from existing investors Amplify Partners, Atlantic Bridge, and Ignition Partners.

As part of the funding round Doug Fisher, senior vice president of Intel and general manager of its Software and Services Group, will join BlueData’s board of directors.

The BlueData partnership is one of a number of high-profile big data deals Intel has inked as of late. Less than a week ago the firm partnered with Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) to develop a big data platform that can help diagnose and treat individuals for cancer based on their genetic pre-dispositions.