Slackers?

Happy Hump Day.

If you’re a Nintendo fan of any sorts, you should know this: The Nintendo Switch Lite is arriving September 20th, and it will only put you back $200.

That’s $100 less than the original Switch. The new Switch won’t have detachable Joy-Con controllers and can’t plug into a TV, which is why C|NET posed the inevitable question: What’s the point of a Switch that doesn’t Switch?

Methinks that could be getting a bit too philosophical, especially when it comes to video game systems. The original Switch sold 34 million systems (and counting), so I suspect there’s a market out there for a slimmer, even more portable version.

Meanwhile, back on the enterprise ranch, the IBM Red Hat deal has finally closed. The  $34B deal was IBM’s largest ever, and we now know the Red Hat brand will operate as a unit inside IBM’s Cloud and Cognitive Software segment.

From Barron’s:

IBM asserted in its announcement today that most enterprises are about 20% through their transition to the cloud. The next phase for many companies, IBM says, “Is about shifting mission-critical workloads to the cloud and optimizing everything from supply chains to core banking systems.

In its announcement, IBM emphasized that it remains committed to open-source software and to keeping Red Hat as a neutral vendor.

Also on the enterprise front…here’s a provocative headline from Recode: “Microsoft might crush Slack like Facebook crushed Snapchat.”

Subhead: “Microsoft Teams isn’t better than Slack, but it is freer.”

Remind anyone of browser partying like it’s 1999??

The lede:

Tech workers’ favorite communications tool, Slack, is losing ground to its biggest rival, Microsoft Teams, which has copied its way into popularity. In other words, Slack has the same problem as Snapchat, which has suffered from its bigger rival Facebook’s relentless appropriation.

Slack’s market share among the world’s largest companies is mostly flat, adoption rates are declining, and a bigger portion of these companies indicate they plan on leaving the service, according to a new survey by market research firm ETR, which asks chief information officers and other leaders at the world’s biggest organizations* where they plan to spend their company’s tech budget.

Meanwhile, Teams is seeing increased market share, relatively higher adoption rates, and low rates of defection, according to the data.

Good thing Slack floated like an IPO before it got stung by the Microsoft Teams bee!

Wide Open (Source) Software

2018 has been the biggest year for open source software (OSS), evuh.

So writes Astasia Myers with Redpoint Ventures:

The most significant exit for an open source business was IBM’s $35B acquisition of Red Hat. As my colleague Tomasz Tunguz claimed, it was “a triumph of open source.” Red Hat’s acquisition was the largest software acquisition in history, and the third largest technology acquisition after Dell/EMC at $67B and JDS/SDL for $41B.

Next, in early November VMware acquired Heptio, a startup that helps companies deploy and manage upstream Kubernetes. Founded by ex-Googlers Craig McLuckie and Joe Beda, Heptio was mostly a services business with some open source projects like Ark, Sonobuoy, Contour, and Gimbal. Heptio competes against Red Hat so it is clear VMware is trying strengthening its role in the cloud-native ecosystem.

Hortonworks had a $5.2B merger with Cloudera, and Myers notes that there’s been at least $46.8B spent on acquiring open source companies.

See Myer’s post for a full breakdown of OSS deals since 2011.

The rise in open source and cloud solution has also led to some changes in the more traditional vertical software market.

Just today, HCL Technologies has paid $1.8 billion to pick up a number of IBM Software products, including Notes and Domino; Connections; on-prem versions of Portal, Commerce, and Unica; BigFix; and AppScan.

According to ZDNet:

“The products that we are acquiring are in large growing market areas like security, marketing, and commerce, which are strategic segments for HCL,” president and CEO of HCL Technologies C Vijayakumar said.

“Many of these products are well regarded by clients and positioned in the top quadrant by industry analysts.”

Vijayakumar added the company sees “tremendous potential” for creating as-a-service offerings by combining the acquisitions with its existing products.

A year ago in October, IBM had already entered into an arrangement that had HCL become responsible for the development of Domino products. 

End of an era?

Smarter Software, Better Business

I went for a walkabout along the Las Vegas Strip late this morning, partially to walk off some of the jetlag and partially to do a quick photo safari.

I’ll work to share some of the pics later, but for now I wanted to share some thoughts about how software is changing the way we live on our smarter planet, which I think will provide you with a broad backdrop for the kickoff of IBM Pulse 2010 and the news that will soon begin to emanate from here in Vegas.

Be forewarned, this is a lengthier post than usual, so settle in.

On a smarter planet, people consume only what they need, when they need it — my excursion to McDonald’s this AM for breakfast aside.

By way of example, IBM is working with a leading international energy provider to launch an automated energy management system to help over 11K households to better control their energy usage.

With such a system, users will be able to establish consumption protocols to minimize electricity use in peak periods and to take full advantage of renewable energy resources when available.

On a smarter planet, people also know the best way to get from point A to point B (Note: My hopscotch trip across Europe last week was not such a journey!).

The Singapore Land Transportation Authority is building just such a capability with improvements on one of the most modern, affordable and heavily used public transport networks in the world. It includes an integrated payment option that can be used for the bus or the train, plus parking and vehicle congestion charges.

But the improvements don’t end at the bus stop — the system will also be studying commuter usage data to help design and maximize schedules and routes that will further reduce congestion.

On a smarter planet, people use smarter software to see hidden patterns.

Like at a major health insurance company, which is creating a first-of-its-kind healthcare data aggregation system that will provide information on how people receive treatment for everything from a sore foot to an ailing heart.  Such a system will yield insights that empower companies to develop employee healthcare plans that provide the highest-quality care at the best value.

(I just hope they include jetlag in their menu of studied conditions!)

In each of these examples is a business, government, or industry that has used software in new ways.

Today, more than ever, organizations use software to enable every facet of their business, but with new models and ways of working also come new challenges.

As a result, a new set of needs has emerged.  How to turn information into insights.  To increase agility.  To connect and collaborate.  To enable business service and product innovation.  To drive enterprise operations effectiveness and efficiency.  And to manage risk, security, and compliance.

Addressing these needs requires smarter software.

Smarter software which knows and acts.   Which connects and adapts.  Which monitors, controls, and optimizes.  And which even protects and helps mitigate risk.

We at IBM believe our software can make the world better, one client at a time.  Though a lot of other companies claim to do the same thing, their software doesn’t work like IBM software.

We know what it takes to solve our clients’ biggest challenges, and we’ve spent the last 50 years delivering software that is fueled by expertise, is built for change, and is ready for work.

IBM Software is fueled by expertise, and by knowledge as to how to apply software for real results.

We know industries, the world of business, and how work actually gets done.

We also know systems, both natural and man-made, and we have the proof points to back it up:

40 innovation centers worldwide, focused on solutions for dozens of industries.  26,000 developers.  80 R&D labs. 30K partners worldwide.  And the world’s largest math department.

IBM software is built for change, because it’s open, easily integrated, and flexible.  It’s built with a systems point of view.

Old, new, ours, theirs…we don’t care, so long as we have the opportunity to make it all work together, and to make it work for your busines.

But we also have forward-looking labs and researchers whose sole purpose is to help our clients be prepared for the future.  In the last several years, we’ve made over 100 acquisitions, established 300 SOA patents, and contributed to over 150 open source projects, more than any other company.

We’ve also invested over $1B in Linux and open source technologies, and continue to invest several hundred dollars annually.

That’s putting our money where the penguin’s mouth is.

And IBM software is ready for work.

It’s software that’s robust, industrial-strength, proven, and ready to scale. And we at IBM work to provide ongoing service that helps ensure our clients’ success, because we want to see our software solve their greatest challenges and create new value.

To do so, we have 60 laboratories around the globe that practice agile development and work hand in hand with clients, business partners, and academia, and 17K sales and 5K support staff to help along the way.

Let us help you build a smarter company and a smarter planet by helping you see your hidden patterns, recognize your problems before it’s too late, find your best way from point A to B.

Together, we can build better software to in turn build a smarter planet.

This week at IBM Pulse 2010 in Las Vegas, you’ll hear more about how.