Iconic VC Firm Kleiner Perkins Considering Focused Fund for Cloud Startups More than 6 months back, I had written about the launch of the first cloud computing ETF, and how, in my mind, that represented cloud computing’s acceptance in the mainstream investing community (See: Packaging Cloud Computing as an Investment – First Cloud Computing ETF Launched). Now, this latest development may not be as mainstream, but it is certainly important considering the venture capital firm involved – Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. According to a Bloomberg news report , the VC firm is contemplating starting a new fund focused on
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Cloud Computing, Big Data and EMC’s Impressive Quarterly Results One of my recent articles explored the idea of cloud computing contributing to lower margins at Microsoft (See: Can Cloud Computing Be Bad For Microsoft?). While that may still be true with respect to Microsoft’s highly profitable MS Office suite, recent developments have showed how cloud computing has contributed to several storage giant EMC’s impressive quarterly results. EMC reported Q4 of $832 million, or 38 cents a share, on revenue of $5.6 billion, up 14% from a year ago. Non-GAAP earnings were 49 cents a share. Wall Street analysts had predicted
What’s Special about the Joyent Funding Round? There is nothing special about small companies or startups getting funding, other than the obvious vindication of the opportunities in cloud computing. In fact, such funding stories have been the focus of several articles here (See the latest one: Cloud Computing Startups Raise Big Money: UPDATE 8). However, there’s something different, and in my opinion, special, about the $85 million round of funding closed by San Francisco cloud services provider Joyent (http://www.joyent.com/). What’s special about this round of external financing is not the amount (which, by prevailing standards, is quite impressive) or the
To The Cloud: A Book Review When I picked up this book written by three senior Microsoft employees Pankaj Arora, Raj Biyani and Salil Dave, the first thing that struck me was its size, or rather the lack of it. This is no heavy tome extolling the virtues of cloud computing, but a brief yet clear look at the technology over 120-odd pages divided into four chapters. Now, you would expect most books explaining a new technology to be a bit larger, but considering the target audience – the busy, yet informed Chief Information Officer (CIO), as is mentioned in
What Will The Taleo Purchase Bring To Oracle? On 9 February 2012, Oracle announced its purchase of human resources management software maker Taleo Corp. for $1.9 billion. Taleo’s cloud-based talent management solutions optimize how organizations hire, manage, develop and motivate employees to improve performance and drive growth. The $1.9 billion price values Taleo at $46 a share, an 18% premium to the company’s closing stock price of $38.94 the day before. Even for a company as large as Oracle, this represents a significant amount of money. So, what will this acquisition bring to Larry Ellison and company? First of all,
Some Recent Cloud Computing Acquisitions – I This is the second in a continuing series on cloud computing acquisitions. You can read the first one in the series here: Some Recent Cloud Computing Acquisitions. This article covers two recent acquisitions. IBM – Platform Computing IBM seems to be on an acquisition spree as far as cloud computing is concerned. After DemandTec in December (See: Some Recent Cloud Computing Acquisitions) and Green Hat in January (See: How Does the Green Hat Acquisition Help IBM’s Cloud Strategy? ), Ontario-based Platform Computing (http://www.platform.com/) became the latest company to enter the IBM fold, also
Are The Big Players Being Hypocritical On Cloud Computing Standards? The usefulness (and necessity) of developing universal cloud computing standards has been covered in several articles (See: Cloud Computing Standards: How Important Are They? and Cloud Computing Standards – is it time? ). However, now that some concrete steps are being taken towards this goal, the industry is facing non-cooperation from several big players. Come to think of it, that’s not surprising. Consider what the big names like Amazon and Microsoft may lose out on if universal standards come into place. One, they would lose the power of vendor lock-in
Can The US Government Assuage Cloud Privacy Concerns? Even as the world tries to find a balance between individual privacy and the eternal vigilance of a nanny state, cloud computing is a casualty of the heightened security concerns in post-911 America. This is something that I had explored in earlier articles, from the ramifications of the PATRIOT Act (See: Is Cloud Computing a Threat to Consumer Rights?), to how rivals of American cloud vendors are actually touting the latter’s vulnerabilities to government investigation as a key business differentiator (See: Your Data in Australia is subject to the US Patriot Act).
