Anne Shields

In October 2017, Oracle announced that Oracle 18c, its first fully automated database system, would offer data-warehousing services at half the price that AWS charges.

Among hyperscale cloud providers that drove growth in the server space, the majority of the share was taken by ODMs, which are also known as white box manufacturers.

In the last quarter, VMware’s (VMW) NSX license bookings grew 100%, indicating that NSX continues to see increased traction.

Though both Aconex and Textura cater to the construction industry, there is only a small overlap between them.

Brad Reback, an analyst with Stifel Nicolaus, explained the factors that led his firm to raise the price target for VMware stock to $152 from $150.

VMware’s acquisition of VeloCloud and Cisco’s acquisition of Viptela hint of a trend toward a preference for subscription-based business models.

Citing IHS Markit, Channel Partners reported that VMware’s recent buyout of VeloCloud Networks has established it as one of the top two companies in the SD-WAN space.

Earlier this month, Oracle announced a partnership with Slack. Oracle aims to integrate its enterprise software offerings with Slack’s workplace messaging app.

Consistent growth in the cloud and mainframe systems enabled IBM to post a lower-than-expected fall in its revenues in 3Q17.

IBM was trading at a forward EV-to-EBITDA multiple of ~9.25x on November 11, 2017.

Tax reforms for repatriation of US companies’ cash reserves Previously, we discussed the rationale behind Trump’s proposed tax reforms, which aim to lure US companies back to the country. According to Goldman Sachs (GS), if the Republicans manage to pass the tax legislation, US companies (SPY) (SPX) are expected to repatriate $250 billion in foreign profits. Technology […]

Through the Altspace acquisition, Microsoft’s Windows 10 can now boast a self-VR social networking service and can now compete with Google and Facebook.

Last year, more than 4,000 ransomware attacks happened on a daily basis in the EU (EFA).

Red Hat’s dominant presence in the Linux space will further enable it to cross-sell its OpenStack to new and existing clients as hybrid cloud adoption increases.

In 2017 to date, Oracle stock has surged 33% and outperformed the computer software sector, which grew 24% year-to-date.

Mark Hurd, Oracle’s co-CEO, nearly doubled the company’s sales staff to ~35,000 workers in the last six years.

According to MarketsandMarkets, the global SWG market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 20.5% to $5.6 billion by 2020, up from $2.2 billion in 2015.

Symantec announced the acquisition of Fireglass in early July 2017.

In late May 2017, Microsoft (MSFT) acquired Hexadite to strengthen its position in the cybersecurity space.

In fiscal 2Q17, IBM’s cash reserves and marketable securities stood at ~$12.3 billion, and the company had ~$45.7 billion in debt.

Azure Stack is expected to find a preference among companies and industries that prefer the hybrid cloud’s ability.

Microsoft’s Cosmos DB is expected to make conventional data migration easier. Although this bodes well for Microsoft, it is expected to have an adverse impact on Oracle’s cash cow—its database business.

Several prominent cybersecurity stocks rose on Wednesday, June 28, following the Petya ransomware attack.

In this part of the series, let’s see how IBM’s (IBM) Systems segment performed in 1Q17. The Systems segment includes systems hardware and OS (operating system) software.

In 1Q17, IBM’s GTS (global technology services) business’s revenue accounted for ~45% of its total revenue. Its performance is crucial to IBM’s overall growth.

Despite its aggressive measures to tap growth, top line growth continues to be elusive for IBM. The company’s 1Q17 results marked its 20th straight quarter without revenue growth.

Microsoft’s forward annual dividend yield was ~2.3% on May 15, 2017, and Oracle’s and IBM’s yields were ~1.7% and ~4.0%, respectively.

Investment in Israeli cybersecurity companies rose 23% from $560 million in 2015 to $689 million in 2016.

In the week ended May 26, 2017, Microsoft (MSFT) announced the acquisition of Hexadite. Microsoft’s acquisition price for Hexadite is reported to be $100 million.

Launched in September 2015, App Cloud now has more than 5.5 million apps and 2.3 million developers. It was designed specifically for the enterprise crowd.

In the past seven years, including its fiscal 4Q17 results, Salesforce (CRM) has met or exceeded analysts’ expectations with each passing quarter.

On May 9, 2017, FireEye’s (FEYE) market cap was ~$2.9 billion at the end of trading, which was much lower than that of its peers.

In late March 2017, FireEye launched Helix, its latest offering in the security space.

On April 18, 2017, Oracle announced the acquisition of Moat. Founded in 2010, Moat has raised $67.5 million to date in four rounds from investors.

The fourth quarter of 2016 marked the third straight quarter in which Microsoft emerged as the leader in the overall enterprise SaaS market.

Salesforce meets or exceeds analyst expectations Earlier in this series, we discussed Salesforce’s (CRM) initiatives and the threat posed by Microsoft (MSFT), Adobe (ADBE), and Oracle (ORCL) in the cloud space. Despite this mounting competition, with each passing quarter, Salesforce has managed to increase its revenue guidance. Earlier, Salesforce expected revenue of $10.1 billion–$10.15 billion […]

Salesforce’s deferred revenue So far in this series, we’ve discussed Salesforce’s (CRM) position in the cloud space and the threat posed by its peers. In fiscal 4Q17, Salesforce reported deferred revenue of $5.5 billion. Its unbilled deferred revenue stood at $9 billion. Its revenue grew 29% and 27%, respectively, in constant currency terms, indicating improvement […]

Microsoft’s edge over Salesforce in the cloud Earlier in this series, we discussed how Adobe’s (ADBE) and Microsoft’s (MSFT) collaboration could loosen Salesforce’s (CRM) grip on the cloud computing space. Salesforce pioneered SaaS (software-as-a-service) and had a first-mover advantage over peers Microsoft, Oracle (ORCL) and IBM (IBM). However, Microsoft soon became a dominant player in […]

Collaboration is the largest segment in the SaaS space and, after enterprise resource planning (or ERP), it grew the most in the SaaS space.

In fiscal 2Q17, Microsoft’s (MSFT) Azure revenues rose 93%, and its computing usage more than doubled on a year-over-year basis. In constant currency terms, MSFT’s growth reached 95%.

Oracle (ORCL) has targeted the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East, and North America to open more data centers in 2018.

Cisco Systems is considered a leader in security appliances, but IDC recently stated that Palo Alto, with its 17.1% market share, leads the security market.

As of January 25, 2017, Microsoft continues to be the largest software player by market capitalization on a global scale.

To gain a strong foothold in the public cloud space, VMware has pursued a hyper-converged infrastructure (or HCI).

Salesforce pioneered SaaS, and since its launch, Salesforce has developed an impressive mix of cloud-based offerings.

IBM (IBM) spends ~6% of its annual revenue on R&D (research and development). In 2016, IBM spent $5.4 billion on R&D

Despite a fall in overall revenue and no growth in any of its operating segments, IBM’s Strategic Imperatives segment managed to post growth in 3Q16.

Oracle’s better-than-expected SaaS (software-as-a-service) and PaaS (platform-as-a-service) revenues generate hope, as SaaS revenues are usually more predictable than licensing deals.

As the IT (information technology) space is engulfed by the SMAC (social, mobile, analytics, and cloud) revolution, technology players have poured in billions of dollars to increase their scale and competitiveness in the cloud space.

A slowdown in RDBMS (relational database management systems) was reflected in Oracle’s new software licenses, falling 11% in fiscal 1Q17 to ~$1.03 billion.