Samsung Gains On Intel

Globally semiconductor revenue is expected to increase this year, with Samsung gaining noticeable ground on top semiconductor company Intel in market share, Gartner said in a study released Wednesday.

Revenue is expected to reach a “landmark” US$300.3 billion in 2010, up 31.5% from 2009, according to preliminary results released by Gartner. The semiconductor market has been rebounding after the worldwide recession curtailed chip revenue in 2009, when year-over-year revenue declined by 10%.

As the economy stabilized this year, semiconductors manufacturers quickly added capacity to meet the growing demand of parts from system makers. But semiconductor demand started weakening again starting in the third quarter this year, Gartner said.  Read More……

Apple Previews New Operating System

Apple today released a preview version of Mac OS X 10.7, also known as  Lion, to developers, who can download the new operating system from the Mac App Store.

The preview is developers’ first look at the upgrade scheduled to reach consumers sometime this summer.

Included in the preview, and to be bundled with the operating system when it ships, is Lion Server, Apple’s new server software. One analyst saw that move as an admission by Apple that it hasn’t been able to make inroads into the corporate server market.

“They’ve recognized they’re not going to break into the data center,” said Ezra Gottheil of Technology Business Research. “They’re admitting that what server sales they’ve made in the past have been to very small businesses.”

Currently, Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server is sold separately from the general-purpose edition for $499.

Late last year, Apple killed its Xserve line of rack servers, halting sales of the hardware on Jan. 31, 2011. Instead, Apple now steers customers toward Mac Pro and Mac Mini systems with Leopard Server pre-installed.  The bundling of Lion Server with Mac OS X 10.7 will save customers hundreds of dollars, said Gottheil, assuming Apple sticks to its traditional $129 price point for Lion next summer.

“A very small server should cost about $700 [this summer], not the $1,000 [a server-equipped Mac Mini] costs now,” said Gottheil.

Read more…..

Windows 7 SP 1 Released Into The Wild

As we have stated in the past, Microsoft officially rolled out the final release of Windows 7 yesterday to the general public. 

Microsoft says Windows 7 SP1 includes all the previous security, performance and stability updates, as well as some major improvements to features and services to make Windows 7 perform even better. Microsoft advised users to use the regular Windows update process, although manual download will probably be the faster way to go.  Read More……

Acer Returning To Server Market In U.S.

Acer, the No. 4 PC maker in this country, has released a line of servers and storage products for the United States market.

The launch marks the company’s return, or reinvestment, in the U.S. as a server vendor. Acer sells consumer PCs and related devices under its own name, as well under Gateway, eMachines, and Packard Bell brands.

It had previously sold servers in the U.S., but it let that business dwindle over the last few years. The company said it has made a major investment in this market.

It said it has expanded its support and service capabilities, and will manufacturer its server products in the U.S. through third-party makers.

“I want to make sure that we can we build very, very quickly and deliver much faster than everyone else,” said Todd Mottershead, senior manager for servers and storage at Acer.

IDC ranked Acer No. 3 worldwide PC shipments in the fourth quarter of 2010, following Hewlett Packard and Dell. In the U.S., Acer is the fourth largest vendor; HP has 28.6% of the U.S. market; Dell about 22%; Toshiba, about 10%; and Acer 9%.

Acer has been selling servers outside the U.S.

For its U.S. reintroduction, Acer has released a tower rack, blade system, and systems especially designed for cloud computing, all with a number of configurations, as well as network attached storage products. Prices range from $721 for a tower to $10,499, for storage. Acer will be selling through channel partners. Read More…..

Support Calls To Help Desks Are On The Rise

At a time when technology is supposed to be getting simpler, less complex and easier to manage, more people are calling help desks for assistance than ever before, according to a new report. That’s one of the findings that HDI, formerly known as the Help Desk Institute, revealed in its recently released 2010 study of help desk trends.

What HDI found is that the number of incidents reported to help desks via chat, e-mail, telephone, self-help systems, social media, the Web and walk-ins is rising, with 67% of all help desk operations experiencing increases in 2010. That’s roughly the same percentage who reported an increase in 2009.

In recent years, many organizations have moved to centralize their help desk operations and establish a single point of contact for workers, said Roy Atkinson, an analyst at HDI, whose members represent a help desk community of about 50,000 people.

Those centralization efforts have improved incident data collection, which helps to explain the spike in reports. Moreover, creating a single point of contact, and offering multiple ways for people to reach the help desk, encourages users to seek assistance, Atkinson said.

While centralization and better record-keeping may explain much of the increase in reported calls, it doesn’t completely explain it. Atkinson said another part of the explanation could be the fact that IT complexity is actually increasing, especially as users seek to connect multiple devices, including mobile phones, tablets and laptops to corporate networks. Read More…….

80% Of Browsers Found To Be At Risk Of Attack

About eight out of every ten internet browsers run by consumers are vulnerable to attack by exploits of already-patched bugs, a security expert said today.

The poor state of browser patching stunned Wolfgang Kandek, CTO of security risk and compliance management provider Qualys, which presented data from the company’s free BrowserCheck service Wednesday at the RSA Conference in San Francisco.

“I really thought it would be lower,” said Kandek of the nearly 80% of browsers that lacked one or more patches.

BrowserCheck scans Windows, Mac and Linux machines for vulnerable browsers, as well as up to 18 browser plug-ins, including Adobe’s Flash and Reader, Oracle’s Java and Microsoft’s Silverlight and Windows Media Player.

When browsers and their plug-ins are tabulated together, between 90% and 65% of all consumer systems scanned with BrowserCheck since June 2010 reported at least one out-of-date component, depending on the month. In January 2011, about 80% of the machines were vulnerable.  Read more….

Windows 7 Service Pack 1 Coming February 22nd

The service pack is said to be a hefty 1.2GB download will feature all prior updates and fixes and Microsoft stated the update will improve networking, security and mobility.   Read More….

Microsoft Eyeing More Software For The iPad

The current rumor on the street is that Microsoft might be looking beyond the recently released OneNote for iPad. Insiders are saying Microsoft is closely monitoring the number of downloads of OneNote for iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch to perhaps gauge the possible interest in adding more productivity software for Apple iOS suite of products. Read More…..

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