Facebook’s Strategy In Perspective

One of the big technological trends of the decade has been the rise of the social Web, and I do believe that it is a trend that will drive the evolution of the Internet in the coming years. Facebook itself has been one of the biggest trends in the category. The social networking site, started in 2004, calls itself a social utility that helps people to communicate and connect with the various social groups such as family, friends, colleagues, and others in their lives. In this post, we will review Facebook’s strategy – what it is and what it should be. >>>

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Akamai’s Ups And Downs

Akamai (NASDAQ:AKAM) witnessed many ups and downs in 2010. Early in the year, the company landed a deal with Netflix as a primary content delivery network, taking away business from Level 3. However, at the end of the year, Netflix, which accounts for about 20% of primetime Internet traffic, went back to Level 3. In December, Akamai also lost a court ruling in its four-year patent battle with Limelight Networks. Let’s take a closer look. >>>

Digital Keeper RealNetworks Betting On Unifi

According to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2010–2014 (Outlook), the U.S. market for digital media across all segments, including text, games, music, and video will reach $134 billion by 2014 and contribute 26% of the $517 billion media market. Compare this with 2009, when digital content contributed 19% or $81 billion of a $428 billion media market. With entertainment and media spending expected to grow at a compounded annual rate of 3.8% in 2010–2014, digital media players can expect to have a good run in the coming years.

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Should Finisar Acquire Oclaro?

Finisar recently announced that it raised $117.9 million in net proceeds from its public offering of 4.14 million shares. In September of last year, Finisar acquired Broadway and it now appears to be preparing for a shopping spree in 2011. An analyst recently suggested Oclaro as a possible acquisition. Let’s take a closer look. >>>

52-Week Highs For Red Hat And NetApp

According to Gartner, open source solutions providers are expected to benefit from strong growth in the coming years. By 2015, open source software will be used to enable over 60% of Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) offerings. By 2016, open source software will be included in the mission-critical software portfolios of 99% of the Global 2000 enterprises, compared with 75% in 2010. Also by 2016, 50% of leading non-IT organizations will use open source as a business strategy to gain competitive advantage. Open source player Red Hat is already enjoying a good run.

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Weakness In PLD Market

Things were looking up for the programmable logic device (PLD) market, led by Xilinx (NASDAQ:XLNX) with annual revenue of $1.83 billion in fiscal 2010 and followed by Altera (NASDAQ:ALTR) with annual revenue of $1.2 billion in 2009. However, Xilinx recently lowered its sales guidance. Altera, on the other hand, acquired optical network IP vendor Avalon Microelectronics. Let’s take a closer look. >>>

Accenture Should Expand SaaS-Enabled BPO

Earlier last quarter, Gartner announced a dismal projection for worldwide enterprise IT spending. According to the researcher, IT spending will grow 3.2% over the year in 2010 compared with the 3.9% growth projected earlier. In 2011, IT spending is expected to reach $2.5 trillion, recording a mere 2.4% growth compared with 2009. According to the research firm, while key verticals such as manufacturing and financial services may have a couple more years before their IT budgets recover to pre-2008 levels, there will be other areas which will grow faster. The research firm expects IT growth to be “driven by the consumer” along with the four key trends of cloud computing, social computing, context-aware computing, and pattern-based strategy to drive IT business values. But despite the conservative estimates, IT outsourcing giant Accenture declared strong results.

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A Booming 2010 For Semis, But 2011 Weaker?

According to iSuppli, semiconductor revenue in 2010 is believed to have achieved record growth of 32.5% to $304 billion, courtesy of a boom in DRAM and NAND sales. NAND flash has received a major boost from demand from the smartphone and tablet markets. Another new trend that could drive up demand is laptops based on NAND flash memory. Apple’s MacBook Air is based on it and could lead the way for increased use of flash in laptops. Samsung and Toshiba/SanDisk are believed to be the Flash suppliers for the MacBook Air. Samsung and Toshiba are the leading suppliers of NAND Flash and are the main suppliers to Apple products like iPhone and iPad, while Micron is the third-largest supplier. Let’s take a closer look.

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Adobe and Apple: Kiss And Make Up?

The year 2010 has been eventful for Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE). It released its flagship software Creative Suite 5, the momentum of which led to its crossing the $1 billion milestone in quarterly revenue. But it was also a year with controversy surrounding Adobe’s Flash Player 10.1 for smartphones. Let’s take a closer look.

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Tessera And InterDigital Bring In Some Cheer