Microsoft buys stake in Facebook

The Editor, 6 months ago

In a hearty endorsement of Web 2.0, software giant Microsoft this week bought a 1.6% stake in social networking site Facebook for $240 million.Effectively, that values Facebook - which is expected to make a profit of just $30 million this year - at a whopping $15 billion. "We are pleased to take our Microsoft partnership to the next level," said Owen Van Natta, chief revenue officer at Facebook. "We think this expanded relationship will allow Facebook to continue to innovate and grow as a technology leader and major player in social computing, as well as bring relevant advertising to nearly...

Population explosion in UK by 2051; a minor problem compared with our Data Centres?

Christopher Gabriel, 6 months ago

Government statistics do not generally get me excited, but, while I ruminate on the environmental challenges facing IT departments, any news item that talks to increased populations always interests me. Yesterday data from the office for national statistics projected a population growth of 17 million more people by 2051, and it got me thinking. How do you house 17 million more people in a country while your headline objective is managing down carbon emissions to save the planet?I see most politicians stayed away from that discussion yesterday.The same challenge talks directly to the challenge that most IT departments face."Store everything...

SAP to acquire Business Objects

The Editor, 6 months ago

German applications giant SAP has announced that it is to acquire Paris-headquartered business intelligence (BI) provider Business Objects for €4.8 billion ($6.8 billion). The price that SAP has paid for Business Objects is the most the German company has ever paid for an acquisition, and represents the largest transaction ever in the BI space. By buying Business Objects it has also added some 44,000 customers to its roster.According to SAP executives, while there is some overlap between Business Objects' and SAP's performance management and BI tools, they will all, for the mean time at least, be maintained. Our take: This...