This was originally posted at ZDNet's Between The Lines.
Hewlett-Packard is bullish on 2010.
CEO Mark Hurd said Thursday at a meeting with analysts that he expects the IT industry to return to growth in 2010 and went so far as to say that HP will outpace the market.
"Our broad product and services portfolio and global scale give HP a clear competitive advantage," he said in a statement. "As a result, we see tremendous opportunity to grow our business and improve earnings while delivering value to our customers."
The company provided HP's outlook for the year, with revenue expected to be between $117 billion and $118 billion, reflecting a year-over-year growth of 3 percent to 4 percent. GAAP earnings per share is expected to be $3.60 to $3.70, a year-over-year jump of 17 percent to 20 percent, and non-GAAP of $4.20 to $4.30, or 10 percent to 13 percent year over year. Here's a look at how that breaks down by segment:
(Credit:
HP)
The company said it plans to improve margins, by leveraging a leaner cost structure, while continuing to invest for growth.
(Credit:
HP)
In a Q&A with analysts, Hurd addressed projections for the printing division, once considered a cash cow for the company. HP sees strong growth ahead in printing and executives noted that more revenue will come from hardware than supplies. Hurd said he expects "strong, let me say it one more time, strong growth" in printing and will be aggressive about gaining market share.
"If the market is there, we'll be there to get it," he said.
Google has developed a way to help companies move onto Google Apps--and away from Microsoft's Exchange e-mail software--without forcing a migration to the Gmail user interface.
Google's Dave Girouard discusses how Google is making a play for more and more business customers for Google Apps.
(Credit: Tom Krazit/CNET News)Microsoft's Outlook has been the dominant e-mail client within the business world for years, and Google's new Apps Sync for Outlook plug-in acknowledges that some business workers just aren't ready to give up that familiar interface, even if their CIOs are anxious to get everybody onto Google's version of the cloud. Businesses who have already signed up for Google Apps Premier Edition--as well as Education Edition customers--will be able to roll out this plug-in across their networks and allow Outlook messages, contacts, and calendar appointments to sync with Google Apps.
Google is trying to expand its presence inside the world's corporate IT departments with products like Google Apps, which the company says offers a cheaper and more reliable alternative to traditional IT software companies. Quoting data from Forrester, Google's David Girouard, president of Enterprise products, said companies who chose to use Google's hosted Gmail service save about $17 per user per month as compared to companies that build and host their own e-mail servers.
However, there apparently is a sizable enough number of workers that refuse to move off Outlook, meaning that IT directors who want to sign up with Google were forced to maintain a Microsoft Exchange server to placate those folks while moving everybody else to Gmail. An alternative where Outlook users are connected to Gmail through IMAP got the job done, but at the expense of a severe performance hit, said Chris Vander Mey, a senior product manager with Google.
Now, they can let those people continue to use Outlook but allow IT managers to move completely away from Exchange servers. "We've made it pretty easy to exchange your Exchange server for Google," Girouard said.
Google's eye is squarely on Microsoft's cozy position in the enterprise when it comes to products such as Google Apps. Around 1.75 million businesses are using Google Apps, Girouard said, although he declined to clarify how many of those businesses are Premier Edition customers.
CIOs invited by Google to a press event in San Francisco were naturally bullish on Google's version of cloud computing, and downplayed any concerns about security, reliability or the loss of a competitive advantage when it comes to giving up control of their IT.
"At most businesses, IT is not core. I'm not in the IT business to make money, I'm here to enable (my company) to win," said Bob Rudy, vice president and CIO for semiconductor designer Avago Technologies in San Jose.
The plug-in only works for Outlook users on Windows; Mac users on Entourage will have to wait.
Microsoft announced Thursday it expanded its Exchange ActiveSync IP licensing program and posted technical documents to spur development of prototype applications that link to its Exchange Server and Exchange ActiveSync-enabled mobile phones.
The Exchange ActiveSync software is designed to allow mobile phones to receive wireless push e-mail, as well as synchronize calendar, contacts and tasks. It also aims to allow companies to manage wireless devices and enact security policies.
The software giant also posted the protocols on the Microsoft Developer Network and expanded the licensing program to establish greater clarity on the steps and licensing terms that are needed when other companies want to commercialize the ActiveSync applications.
Advanced Micro Devices warned Thursday its fourth-quarter revenue will come in significantly lower than previously expected, due to weakness across all regions in all its businesses.
AMD shares were climbing back up in the morning, after having dipped to as low as $1.92 just after the markets opened.
The chipmaker said Thursday it expects to post revenue of $1.19 billion in the quarter ending December 27, excluding process technology license revenue. That's 25 percent below its third-quarter performance.
When the company reported its third-quarter revenue of $1.59 billion (excluding the process tech license revenue) in October, AMD predicted its fourth-quarter revenue would be "roughly flat" that of the third quarter.
While AMD is still willing to issue a forecast for its fourth quarter, a number of companies that have released quarterly warnings since late October have indicated they are not willing to stick their necks out again in this uncertain climate.
SAP, for example, pulled its year-end forecast, after reporting third-quarter results. And Dell, when it reported its third-quarter results, declined to provide any guidance on how it expected the fourth quarter to shape up.
Microsoft Office Labs has launched a new product called E-mail Prioritizer that will not only sort through your in-box to figure out what's important, but also give you an honest-to-goodness pause button in case you want to escape an Exchange server e-mail avalanche.
Users must be running the latest version of Outlook (2007), and for now the tool is PC-only. After installing it, you'll get a new toolbar menu option that lets you toggle on the "do not disturb" mode for a certain period of time or based on your meeting schedule. Once you return, or the timer runs out, it'll sync back up and grab new messages.
Unfortunately this is a client-side stop-gap on the way to having such an option on the Exchange server itself. Sure your server admin can put a pause on your account, but you can't. This option simply turns off Outlook's software-based e-mail antenna, so messages will still dutifully arrive on your mobile phone if you've got it set up to receive push mail.
To toggle the 'away' mode you can just use the drop down menu. This menu also lets you sort through prioritized e-mails.
(Credit: CNET Networks)The far more interesting half of this tool is the prioritizer itself. This will rate messages in your in box from zero to three stars. The ratings come from a system used by many folks, including several Microsoft employees I talked to back in March. For instance, e-mails sent to you and nobody else, or those from your bosses gets three stars, whereas mail you're carbon-copied on, or where you're part of a large list, scores far lower.
In my case, my in-box had about 450 messages on it, and it was prioritized in about a minute's time. To make use of it, you must learn from and train Microsoft's system, which could become second nature after a week or two of honing your in-box skills.
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