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Report: No Itanium Support for Windows XP

Microsoft has reportedly ditched plans to support Intel's 64-bit Itanium processor with its Windows XP desktop operating system, and instead will focus its Itanium support for the high-end server market. Such a move is no great surprise, considering the wave of support in the industry for so-called "X64" processors from Advanced Micro Devices, which pioneered the technology, and Intel, which followed AMD into the market. Microsoft says it is focusing its research and development efforts on supporting Windows XP with the new hybrid X64 processors, which are based on the X86 design and can run 32-bit applications as well as 64-bit applications. The company wants to focus its Itanium support on Windows Server 2003.

Online Shopping Increased 25% During Holiday Season

Online shopping this holiday season increased 25 percent compared with a year ago, according to a survey released by Nielsen/NetRatings. Excluding money spent on travel, U.S. residents spent $23.2 billion on the Web over the 2004 holiday season, from November 1 to December 26. The most common item purchased online was apparel and clothing, which racked up $3.8 billion in sales, followed by toys and video games, which accounted for $2.5 billion in sales, and consumer electronics, which amassed $2.3 billion. Items flying off the virtual shelves included jewelry, which saw a 113 percent jump in sales, from $888 million in 2003 to $1.9 billion in 2004, and flowers, sales of which increased 59 percent to $530 million. What began in the late 1990s as a bit of a novelty has now become a holiday tradition for many Americans, according to Heather Dougherty, a senior retail analyst with Nielsen//NetRatings. "Consumers have become accustomed to purchasing online over the years and look to the Internet to find comprehensive product information, competitive prices, and easy gift delivery." Although it is growing, online spending is still only a fraction of total holiday spending, which totaled $210 billion for the period, according to the National Retail Federation. But if you still don't believe this whole e-commerce thing is for real, please feel free to drop a check for $1 for every $10 in your company's sales. You can make it out to IT Jungle.

What Gates Will Talk About in CES Keynote

Bill Gates, Microsoft's chairman and chief software architect, will be giving the keynote address tomorrow at the 2005 International Consumer Electronics Show being held in Las Vegas. If history is any clue, Gates will use the keynote to talk about some of his company's consumer-facing technologies, like its new MSN search capability that competes with Google, advances in the Xbox video game system, and new tablet and PDA offerings. Gates might also use the bully pulpit to address what Microsoft is doing about security of the Windows operating system. He will also probably talk about Microsoft's new anti-spyware strategy, which received a considerable boost last month, when Microsoft bought Giant Company, maker of an anti-spyware product that is said to compete quite well with the likes of Lavasoft's Ad-aware and Spybot - Search & Destroy. Spyware has increasingly become a problem affecting the corporate desktop, as well as home users.

Software Market Consolidation Looks to Be a 'Predator's Ball'

Now that Oracle is succeeding in its acquisition of PeopleSoft (and the former J.D. Edwards business, too), pundits are declaring that the IT industry is entering a period of consolidation, which is actually something that's been happening for a while. One of the big players you'll likely see more of as this trend accelerates is Oracle. In fact, before settling on a hostile takeover bid for rival PeopleSoft, Oracle's board had seriously considered several other acquisitions, including middleware developer BEA Systems, CRM software developer Siebel Systems, business intelligence software developer Business Objects, and ERP software developer Lawson Software. Oracle may yet succeed in acquiring these vendors. "It's a period of consolidation where the strong are going to get stronger and the weak are going to get weaker," says Larry Ellison, who, as Oracle's chief executive and one of the world's richest men, is one of the strong ones. Another strong player to keep your eye on is IBM, which in December announced its latest acquisition, French procurement services company KeyMRO. According to the Wall Street Journal, court records from the PeopleSoft-Oracle fight show that IBM had been targeting more than two dozen potential acquisitions in the business software market, on a list that bore the title predator's ball. Here at IT Jungle, we understand that surviving, adapting, and thriving sometimes requires a hearty meal of red meat, but some of us are not looking forward to a return of 1980s Wall Street values.

Microsoft Inks Deal with Bell Canada for Software, Services

Bell Canada and Microsoft's Canadian subsidiary inked a deal last month to team up on selling telecommunications services and Microsoft's software to small and midsized businesses. The first step in the new initiative will see Bell Canada offering a Productivity Suite that includes Microsoft Office or Microsoft Office Live Meeting, along with Bell Canada's telecommunications service, including as DSL and backup services. The new joint offering will be sold through Bell Canada's direct-sales force and Microsoft's channel. Pricing and availability details should be announced shortly. Bell Canada also plans to develop a "wizard-type" of application that makes it easy for customers to activate services, and the companies also plan to create a "joint incubation lab" where they can develop integrated services, as well as education programs in support of the services.

Ross Systems OEMs LANSA's UCCnet Software

Ross Systems, an Atlanta provider of an ERP system for manufacturers, has entered into a partnership with LANSA for UCCnet software. As part of the deal, Ross Systems will sell a version of LANSA's Data Sync Direct product that allows Ross System's iRenaissance ERP users to synchronize their product data with trading partners via the Global Data Synchronization Network and the GS1 Global Registry data repository. J. Patrick Tinley, chief executive officer of Ross, says Data Sync Direct provides an "immediate, integrated solution" for iRenaissance customers. "As global data synchronization becomes essential for retail compliance efforts, we've delivered an answer for our customers," he says. About 1,000 manufacturers use iRenaissance, which runs on Windows, VMS, and Unix operating systems. Data Sync Direct also runs on OS/400.

LTO Roadmap Extended Two More Generations, but Transfer Speed Increases Scaled Back

The Linear Tape-Open (LTO) format is alive and well, as the LTO Program late last year tacked two new generations onto the end of its LTO Ultrium roadmap. The roadmap calls for the doubling of tape capacity, as well as a near doubling of data transfer speeds, every generation. In the first three LTO generations, tape capacity and transfer speeds doubled every year, and the LTO-3 tape drives, which are just starting to come to market, offer 400 GB native capacity (800 GB at 2:1 compression) and 80 MBps data transfer speeds (160 MBps compressed). By the sixth generation, LTO will offer 3.2 TB of native capacity and 270 GB-per-second native data transfer speeds. The group says that compression rates will stay at 2:1. The LTO Program also scaled back its anticipated native data transfer speeds for the future of its LTO drives. Instead of an anticipated 160 GBps native data transfer speed, the group said, LTO-4 drives will offer a 120 GBps native data transfer speed, which represents a 50 percent improvement, as opposed to the 100 percent improvement LTO has made in each generation up to LTO 3. The new LTO roadmap shows that top data transfer speeds will increase by 50 percent for each successive generation.