Business Tech

Nvidia slashes revenue guidance up to 50 percent

Updated at 12:15 p.m. PST with information from iSuppli.

Nvidia is slashing fourth-quarter revenue guidance 40 percent to 50 percent. This comes on the heels of Intel's revision last week. Both companies are citing collapsing demand from customers.

"Total revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 is now expected to decline 40 percent to 50 percent sequentially as a result of further weakness in end-user demand and inventory reductions by Nvidia's channel partners in the global PC supply chain," the largest graphics chip supplier said in a statement Tuesday.

This revises the fourth-quarter … Read more

Global IT spending expected to fall 3 percent in '09

IT spending worldwide is expected to slip 3 percent this year, with computer makers taking the brunt of the decline, according to a Forrester Research report released Tuesday.

Global IT spending is predicted to drop to $1.66 trillion this year, marking the first time in seven years the industry has not grown, according to the report, which used U.S. dollars as its form of measurement.

"Our forecast for 2009 rests on the assumptions that the economic recession in the U.S. and other major economies will start to end in the second half of 2009," Andrew … Read more

Patent wars: RealNetworks wins; Global Crossing pays up

This was originally posted at ZDNet's Between the Lines.

RealNetworks defeated a patent infringement suit that was trying to come back from the dead. Meanwhile, Global Crossing licensed a portfolio of call center patents from Ronald A. Katz Technology Licensing, an outfit that collects dough from a who's who of corporate America.

First, RealNetworks said Tuesday that it defeated an attempt by Friskit to revive a patent infringement suit that sought damages of $70 million. In a statement, RealNetworks outlined:

The Federal Circuit in Washington D.C. upheld a 2007 ruling in which Judge William W. Schwarzer of … Read more

Symantec continues to bet on R&D

Everyone in the technology industry should be sure to read this recent article in BusinessWeek that discusses current problems with the Silicon Valley business model and ideas for improvement. The article suggests that VCs and many firms are too concerned with short-term financial exit strategies rather than real investment in R&D.

Just after I read this article, I happened to meet with Symantec about a new project coming out of its internal incubator called Go Everywhere. Go Everywhere is an online workspace that actually aggregates other services from Web sites like Box.net, Google, and Zoho. In other … Read more

Adobe takes LiveCycle tools to Amazon's cloud

This was originally published at ZDNet's Between the Lines.

Adobe Systems said Monday that it will make its LiveCycle ES Developer Express software available on Amazon Web Services.

With the move, Adobe is using Amazon's EC2 and S3 service to create a development environment for enterprise developers to develop and test using LiveCycle without installing it. The goal appears to be to give enterprise developers a sandbox in which to play with LiveCycle. Think try before you buy.

LiveCycle combines data capture, information assurance, process management, and content services to create rich applications.

As for Amazon Web Services, … Read more

Seagate replaces Watkins as CEO

Updated with additional information about layoffs.

Disk-drive maker Seagate Technology announced Monday that Chairman Stephen Luczo is now also serving as CEO and president of the company.

That spells the end of the tenure of Bill Watkins, who has been with the company for 12 years and has served as CEO since 2004. Seagate said that Watkins will be advising Luczo to ensure a smooth transition and that the two executives will "confer over the next week" on whether Watkins will have any continuing role at Seagate.

The company also announced that it is laying off 800 people, … Read more

Intel to bring out chip for lower-cost thin laptops

Intel will bring out a new Core-architecture processor for lower-cost ultra-thin laptops later this year, according to Intel sources at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The processors will distinguish themselves by targeting a price segment below pricey ultra-portables, which typically start at around $1,500 and range all the way up to $3,000--and higher in some cases. The processors will not compete with the Atom processor that powers Netbooks, which usually top out at $500.

In this sense, the new chips will be comparable to Advanced Micro Devices' recently announced Athlon Neo processor for ultra-thin laptops priced … Read more

M&A prospects better for small companies, new media

Two reports released this week shed some light on just what types of technology sector merger and acquisition deals are expected to show resiliency in 2009. Among the winners: small companies and nontraditional media companies.

Technology M&A deals fell 17 percent to 3,751 transactions in 2008 over the previous year, according to a report released Friday by ICON Corporate Finance. But small technology deals of under $100 million fared better, posting only a 15 percent decline.

These smaller deals, which account for 95 percent of all IT mergers and acquisitions, are expected to show more resiliency in … Read more

Why Netbooks are good for Seagate

LAS VEGAS--When Acer and Asus first started pushing Netbooks, it was all about flash memory. But now, a majority of the small, Atom-powered notebooks have hard drives. And Bill Watkins, chief executive of hard drive market leader Seagate, likes it that way.

When the two Taiwanese Netbook makers first talked with Seagate about the category, they told Watkins they didn't need storage for their tiny Atom-powered, Linux-based Netbooks since they'd be used only for surfing the Web and all data would be stored in the cloud.

Just two years later it's a totally different story. Besides more … Read more