SaaS Yahoo! Web Analytics Surpasses Google

Google Analytics is no longer the only free SaaS analytics that is fit for enterprise level use. Yahoo!'s Web Analytics service surpassed Google in several key categories according to a 470-page web analytics report released today by CMS Watch.

This is, of course, a surprise, considering that the analytics service provided by Yahoo! is younger than Google's: Yahoo! Web Analytics was born in 2008, after the acquisition of IndexTools. Yahoo! Web Analytics has also better features than Google, as it is obvious if you compare the related links above.

The report evaluates twenty web analytics platforms against twelve potential use-cases. Out of the web analytics platform 7 are Saas only: Coremetrics, Digital River's Fireclick, Google Analytics, Intellitracker Enterprise R6, Nedstat's Sitestat, Omniture SiteCatalyst and Yahoo! Web Analytics.

CMS Watch found that Yahoo!'s free Web Analytics software is better than Google's in some important key areas, including:

• Access control options and approach to multi-site analytics
• Monthly page-view limits (200MM for Yahoo! vs. 5MM for Google – unless an active Google AdWords campaign is present)
• Access to traffic data – both vendors retain the right to hold and use your web analytics data, but only Yahoo! gives the ability to export unaggregated data.
• Longer historical availability of reports and data.

Although Google has made some advances in its analytics platform, including report API, enterprise consumers are still concerned about data access and migration in Google analytics. This gives Yahoo! an advantage.

There are still issues regarding Yahoo! – most importantly the absence of 24/7 customer support, but Yahoo! was never a customer support champion, so this issue will probably stay fluid. Another drawback is that Yahoo! Web Analytics is only being offered to Yahoo! Small Business customers who host e-commerce sites with Yahoo!, and to advertisers who work with Yahoo! Custom Solutions and Yahoo! Buzz Marketing.

Microsoft partners unconcerned by retail plans

Microsoft's plans to open retail outlets in the US have been shrugged off by the vendor's local retailers and resellers.

Last week, the software giant appointed David Potter as its corporate vice-president of retail stores, and announced it will open a number of branded retail outlets across the US.

Microsoft could not confirm whether there were plans to expand the plan to Australia.

Harvey Norman general manager of computers and communications, Luke Naish, said he didn't think the giant would develop retail outlets locally.

"It wouldn't make a lot of sense, unless it was designed as a marketing or PR showcase," Naish said. "The branded store seems to be designed as a counter to Apple, but Apple is a different business, and retail is a challenging industry at the best of times.

"All the major retail outlets in Australia, such as Harvey Norman and JB Hi-Fi, have already carved out strong niches. It would take a lot of energy to set up a new retail presence."

Quantum Business Technology managing director, Tony Banks, said it would be highly unlikely for Microsoft to sell any business applications through retail stores.

"I'm unaware of the Apple business model, but Microsoft lives on its partner model," Banks said. "While resellers of Office – and anything else a user or small business would be able to install themselves – might be affected, the business side for Microsoft is very much partner driven."

Axxis Technology managing director, Matthew Dickerson, was likewise unconcerned with the effect that a Microsoft retail outlet would have on resellers.

"Most Microsoft resellers would make the majority of business through value-adding," Dickerson said. "A Microsoft store would chew away at the fringes of a reseller's business, but nothing substantial – the stores would be more competing with mass retailers."

Savvis Delivers IT Infrastructure in the Cloud

Savvis has unveiled Savvis Cloud Compute, a new virtual data center hosting and private cloud computing solution providing enterprises with an opportunity to cut costs without having to sacrifice security or performance.

With the introduction of an advanced customer portal, these new offerings feature enhanced user control and flexibility in provisioning virtual compute and storage capabilities on top of both private and shared platforms. This enables "right-sized computing" via the ability to purchase fractional compute resources on demand by the "instance" with flexible month-to-month business terms.

Savvis Cloud Compute provides essential benefits for enterprises that have substantial fluctuations in web traffic and computing requirements from heavy business day peaks. Immediate benefits are available for SaaS applications, seasonal web eCommerce traffic, and financial trading applications. In addition, Savvis Cloud Compute assists in the implementation of disaster recovery for back-office locations, and shifting test and development environments to lower cost footprints.

 

Savvis Cloud Compute inaugurates Savvis' moving its utility compute and storage solutions into the cloud and marks the first in a series of new, integrated value-added IT solutions delivered in cloud technology that Savvis will roll out this year.

Savvis Cloud Compute delivers secure, enterprise-class cloud compute and storage functionality designed to meet customer requirements for on-demand, scalable, flexible and cost-effective managed hosting services for business-critical applications and infrastructure.

Businesses with seasonal or unpredictable computing needs will benefit from easy access to more efficient, low-cost, IT resources provisioned in near-real time, helping them maintain a competitive edge by limiting financial risk, keeping IT costs in check, and enabling speed to market. Customers can tap the benefits of cloud computing without significant initial investment and minimum commitments. This zero capital expenditure model appeals to customers that want to reduce their capital budgets without sacrificing IT growth in the long run.

Ideal for production and pre-production environments, Savvis Cloud Compute provides flexible infrastructure, delivering greater end-user control through the SavvisStation Portal to add servers and storage capacity automatically and in minutes. This combines with comprehensive capacity management reporting to help customers optimize their IT spend by anticipating and acting on changes in demand.

Cisco Pushes ‘City-as-a-Service’

Cisco has taken a piece of a really ambitious grid-turned-cloud company in Oz called Majitek that intends to turn all the devices and systems in an entire city into money-making utility services.

This, it appears, is "intelligent urbanization," especially in emerging markets, and is supposed to make for better city management, better quality of life and real economic development.

Cisco claims that it represents a "major market transition" and "whole new multibillion-dollar industry" considering that 500 million people will move to cities in the next five years and 60% of world's population will be living in cities 10 years from now.

So it has just kicked off a global initiative to make the network "the fourth utility."

Cisco figures it can capitalize on this mass migration and will focus initially on sustainable solutions for public safety and security, transportation, buildings, energy, healthcare and education.

Cisco's chief globalization office Wim Elfrink is telling governments that a city of five million can add $15 billion in revenues and some 375,000 jobs over the next 20 years with intelligent urbanization.

It's apparently talk like that's gotten Cisco a memorandum of understanding with the city of Incheon in Korea to work on so-called "u-City" technologies and a pilot program with one of the states in India to use the city of Bengaluru as something of a Petri dish. Tata Consultancy Services will build a new practice to push the Cisco widgetry.

Anyway, getting back to Majitek, Cisco just went in on a $7.5 million B round in the Australian outfit whose other investor is Pierce & Pierce, an equity house.

Majitek is supposed to work with Cisco's Globalization Center in Bangalore to refine its software platform for the real estate sector as well as transportation, smart grid and safety and security.

The company says its Service Delivery Platform can enable next-generation telecom companies, utilities and managed service providers to deliver any digital service to any digital device over any digital network, all managed through a single customer account and paid on a single bill.

Majitek is already taking its widgetry to Dubai and into the so-called connected real estate market. '

Dubai, it appears, is the epicenter of a multi-trillion-dollar Middle Eastern property industry and the company has just hired a new CEO, Bernie Devine, a property industry veteran with experience in Dubai who has designed and implemented operational infrastructures for developers of large buildings, campuses, gated communities and entirely new cities - mostly recently the iconic Palm Jumeirah, the man-made island in Dubai.

Meanwhile, a couple of weeks ago Cisco closed on another acquisition that will feature in its intelligent urbanization drive.

Richards-Zeta Intelligence has the middleware to translate building infrastructure data from power systems into an IT-friendly format that integrates with existing applications over the network.

Cisco's already got or soon will have the Catalyst switches that can measure, report and reduce the energy consumption of IP devices such as phones, printers, laptops, video surveillance and wireless access points.

Buildings switches are due early next year - lights, elevators, air conditioning, heating, fire alarms, employee access systems - all with a low-carbon "EnergyWise" intent.

Cisco's also got a couple of video surveillance acquisitions to throw into the mix.

Merrill to move most work from Satyam to TCS

Merrill Lynch is shifting a majority of its contracts from troubled Indian software firm Satyam Computer Services Ltd to rival Tata Consultancy Services, the Economic Times reported on Monday.

The Merrill account contributed about $40 million to Satyam's yearly revenues, the newspaper said, citing unnamed software industry sources.

"We do not comment on individual clients," a Satyam spokeswoman told Reuters.

Satyam has been struggling for survival since founder Ramalinga Raju resigned in January, disclosing that accounts had been overstated and about $1 billion in cash and bank balances were missing, in India's biggest corporate scandal.

The paper said U.S.-based Merrill, part of Bank of America Corp (BAC.N), had sent a team in early February to assess the situation at Satyam's headquarters, and had told the fraud-tainted outsourcer of its intention to hand over most of the IT services to another vendor.

The bulk of Merrill's contract will now be handled by TCS and Satyam will continue to service parts of the contract, but there are no plans to terminate the contract completely, the paper said.

"IT companies win and lose contracts all the time," Satyam Chairman Kiran Karnik told the paper, without confirming or denying that Merrill was moving most of its work.

Satyam shares were up 5.5 percent at 48.90 rupees ($1.01) in late morning trade on the Bombay stock exchange. TCS shares were flat at 510.80 rupees.

Microsoft sees sales impact from economy: CEO

Microsoft's (MSFT.O) revenues will be impacted by the economic slowdown, Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on Monday.

"Revenues in our industry, and in our company, will be affected by the economic conditions," Ballmer said in an interview with Reuters TV on sidelines of Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona.

On Jan 22 Microsoft stunned Wall Street with disappointing results that included plans to slash up to 5,000 jobs and a warning that profit and revenue will almost certainly drop over the next two quarters.

Casinos are warned about card-counting iPhone app

Nevada gambling regulators have warned casinos in the state about a card-counting program that works on Apple Inc.'s iPhone and iPod Touch that illegally helps players beat the house in blackjack.

Card counting itself is not illegal under Nevada gambling laws, but it is considered a felony to use devices to help count cards.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board sent a memo to casinos last week warning them of the program.

In blackjack, certain card counting techniques help players determine when they are likely to win a hand and adjust their bets accordingly.

Nevada learned of the program from gambling regulators in California, where officials at an Indian casino found customers using it and tipped state authorities.

First solar-powered phone goes on display

Samsung unveiled the world's first solar-powered mobile phone at an industry show here on Monday where the sector is showcasing the new technology it hopes will drive demand through the economic crisis.

The South Korean manufacturer put its "Blue Earth" phone on display in front of curious crowds at Mobile World Congress, with industry insiders keen to see the mini solar panels located on the back of the phone.

"This type of device would be ideal for developing markets where workers have long hours and don't have access to electricity," commented Nick Lane, chief researcher at consultancy Direct2 Mobile.

"It would also interest consumers with an eye on the 'green' aspects, or companies and their CSR (corporate social responsibility) programmes."

The device is to be launched initially in Europe in the second half of 2009 but is likely to be out of the price range of a worker in the developing world. A Samsung representative said it would be a mid to high-end handset.

A full charge taking 10-14 hours in the sun would offer about four hours of talk time. The phone can also be plugged in to charge, with the solar panels used to top up the battery to extend its power.

Fellow South Korean manufacturer LG Electronics also put a prototype solar-powered phone on display although the handset is not ready for market.

LG showcased a mobile phone-enabled watch, which it said was a world first.

The Mobile World Congress, which runs from Monday to Thursday, is the world's biggest mobile phone show and is set to bring together 60,000 industry insiders from 1,200 companies, according to the organisers, the GSM Association.

As well as the launches and new industry initiatives, the economic crisis has cast a pall over the gathering with cost-cutting the new concern of an industry that has become accustomed to constant growth.

Nevertheless, the chief executive of Russia's Vimpelcom operator, Alexander Izosimov, sought to stress the rosy future of the industry as a whole despite the morose economic climate.

"We are dealing with something that is absolutely guaranteed to expand in the future," he told reporters. "Our growth (as an industry) is absolutely secured."

The chief executive of China Mobile, the biggest Chinese network operator, said that his company had felt the impact of the financial crisis, but he underlined the recession-resistant nature of providing phone connections.

"Even in difficult times, people need to use their mobile phones," CEO Wang Jianzhou told reporters.

All the major network operators such as Vodafone, MTN or Telefonica were present, as well as the major handset makers -- including new entrant Acer, a Taiwanese manufacturer better known for making computers.

Acer unveiled its first range of phones, with the first four high-end models set to go on sale in March or April and another six handsets to follow, marketing manager Sylvia Pan told AFP.

The touch-screen phones were demonstrated mostly in black with a design that resembles the top-selling Apple iPhone.

The move illustrates two trends in the mobile phone industry: the growing attractiveness of the high-end market for "smart phones" and the arrival of traditional laptop computer makers in this segment.

Software giant Microsoft and Finnish handset maker Nokia also announced their responses to the phenomenal success of Apple's AppStore.

Apple launched the AppStore last July, enabling users of its high-end iPhone to download new applications for their devices. The 500,000th download was celebrated at the end of January.

Microsoft hit back with its "Windows Marketplace for Mobile," while Nokia unveiled its "Ovi Store." Both offer the same service as the AppStore, which allows users to personalise their phones with tailored applications.

Like Apple, Microsoft and Nokia will allow outside developers to write applications that can be downloaded on their sites.

In other news Monday, Google got a boost when Chinese manufacturer Huawei revealed only the second mobile phone to integrate the US company's mobile phone operating system called Android.

Rival developers are battling to create the dominant operating system for mobile phones, with Google competing with Microsoft, Nokia and an open-source Linux-based project.

The first phone to use Android was launched last year in October, the G1, made by Taiwan-based group HTC in partnership with German network operator T-Mobile.

Stimulus 1st step in Obama's broadband goals:

The $7.2 billion in funding to promote high-speed Internet in the stimulus package is just the first step in the Obama administration's effort to fuel expansion of telecommunications services, an adviser to the president said on Monday.

"Despite new federal money, the amount is but a fraction of what is needed" to establish the United States in terms of broadband versus other developed countries, said Blair Levin, an adviser to U.S. President Barack Obama on telecom matters during the transition and now an informal adviser.

"You've got to take a long view," he said.

Blair, who recently returned to his position as an adviser at investment banking firm Stifel Nicolaus, spoke at a conference of state utility regulators in Washington.

Obama's campaign promise to vault the U.S. out of its slump in terms of connectivity, speeds and access to broadband among its industrial peers has raised the hopes of the technology community.

The hopes were somewhat dashed by the size of the stimulus package devoted to broadband. One public interest group had called for $44 billion to build networks to connect rural and other unserved parts of the U.S. to the Internet to help bridge the digital divide.

Obama is expected to sign the nearly $800 billion economic measure, which passed largely down partisan lines, later this week.

WHO WILL BENEFIT?

Wall Street analysts also worry that strings that may be attached to the funding -- such as requirements for open networks -- that may deter investment.

But the chief executive of rural telecom provider Frontier Communications Corp said it will look for a way to benefit. Frontier reaches 90 percent of the markets it is in, she said.

"I do believe for that last 10 percent, it can be a gift for us," Maggie Wilderotter, CEO of Frontier told the conference.

"We're going to take a very hard look at it," she said, noting the money could be useful to upgrade speeds in areas that already have access.

Eyes are now on the U.S. Federal Communications Commission as it has a year under the bill to develop a national strategy for broadband.

No new FCC chairman has been named, but Julius Genachowski, a technology executive and former FCC staffer, is widely expected to be nominated.

Gerald Granovsky, a senior analyst at Moody's, said a key area to watch is reform of the universal service fund, which provides nationwide telephone service.

There is an effort to use some of the money collected from that fund for broadband, which is currently not technically allowed in the law.

Microsoft, Nokia hit back at Apple with virtual stores

Software giant Microsoft and Finnish handset maker Nokia announced the launch of new virtual stores for mobile phone applications on Monday in a clear nod to the success of a similar idea by Apple.

US consumer goods group Apple launched its AppStore last July that enables users of its high-end iPhone to download applications for their devices, with games, travel info or news services on offer.

The California-based company, which allows other developers to provide applications for the phones, claimed it had its 500,000th download at the end of January.

On Monday at industry event Mobile World Congress, Microsoft hit back with its version of the Appstore, which is to be called Windows Marketplace for Mobile.

The site will be "an integrated marketplace for searching, browsing and purchasing mobile applications," the company said, adding that developers would have "unrestricted ability to offer applications."

Nokia, the world's biggest maker of mobile phones that is also aiming to become a service provider and software developer, said it would launch its Ovi Store for applications and content in May.

Users of Nokia phones will be offered personalised content on the site based on their location and preferences and developers will also be encouraged to write applications for download.

"Content providers will be able to get their work into the store via a single channel, Publish.Ovi.com, which will be open for content from February 16," the company said in a statement.

"The Ovi Store is expected to be brimming with exciting new content by summertime," it added.

The applications will only be available for high-end mobile phones, known in the business as "smart phones," which are more like mini computers than traditional mobile phones with their large memories and high processing power.

Apple has demonstrated the benefits of opening up its iPhone to outside developers, who have created new applications to add functionality and personalise the devices.

Nokia is keen to tap into this creativity which offers consumers choices and improve the user experience.

Windows does not manufacture handsets itself, but it is looking to establish its operating system for mobile phones as the industry standard in the same way as it dominates the market for personal computers.

It has therefore decided to open up to outside developers to allow them to improve the core Windows product and encourage handset manufacturers to install Windows instead of rival operating systems.

Freescale aims to sell Google Android netbooks in Q2

Chipmaker Freescale, which began making chips for small netbook laptop computers last month, plans to expand its offering to include chipsets for Google's Android operating system by next quarter.

The privately held company spun off from Motorola in 2004 will also collaborate with wireless technology companies Wavecom and Option to make higher-end netbooks offering faster, third-generation connections.

Netbooks -- pared-down, light, inexpensive notebooks made for easy Web browsing on the go -- have seen explosive growth in the past year and are still a bright spot for computer makers although growth may come at the expense of more expensive PCs.

Google's Android software is so far being adopted by phone companies to make smartphones with computer-like capabilities but is being designed to support all kinds of connected devices.

Freescale expects the amount of netbooks sold this year to double to about 30 million. Mobile research firm ABI Research has a higher forecast of 35 million.

Loss-making Freescale competes with wireless chip giants Qualcomm and Texas Instruments but says it can connect its chips to the computer's memory far more cheaply.

Most of the netbooks in its target markets, aimed at casual, young users in the West, ship with only Wi-Fi connectivity.

"For price reasons, the netbooks are going to primarily be shipped with just Wi-Fi. For mobile professional users, you do need 3G connectivity," Glen Burchers, marketing director for Freescale's consumer business, told Reuters.

As well as Google Android, Freescale will also support third-generation operating systems from Phoenix Technologies and Xandros starting next quarter, the company said at the Mobile World Congress trade fair in Barcelona.

The netbook market is shaping up as a battleground for Intel's Atom processors -- which currently have the market to themselves -- and chips based on designs from Britain's ARM.

Freescale has thrown its lot in with ARM, saying ARM-based processors have battery life of about eight hours -- about four times as long as Atom -- less heat generation, eliminating the need for fans, and far cheaper prices.

Burchers said he believed that in time ARM could capture about half the world's netbook chip market, with the first ARM-based netbooks coming to market this summer.

Freescale designs its netbook chips for free software operating systems such as Ubuntu, saving manufacturers the cost of license fees for Microsoft Windows.

"I think for developed countries you'll see good, better and best. I believe the good and better will be based on ARM. I believe the best will be Atom-based and will still run Windows, because you can do more with it," Burchers told Reuters.

Freescale believes netbooks built around its technology will be able to be made at a cost of about $100. Netbook prices currently start at about $200.

Freescale is focused on developed markets but is now talking to Indian technology firm Encore Software, which is reported to be planning to supply millions of ultra-cheap netbooks to India's government as part of an education program.

"We quickly rushed down there, found who they were and are now engaged with them," said Burchers, when asked about media reports of an Indian government project to supply netbooks for as little as $100. "I do think it's a huge potential market."

Asked about what kind of consumer would buy netbooks in economically hard times, Burchers said: "Nobody needs this stuff but they want it, everybody wants it. And at the price point of $199, it's a great Christmas present or birthday present."

Facebook reassures users in wake of service terms

Facebook on Monday said it is not usurping users' content despite changing service terms to claim "perpetual worldwide license" to anything posted at the social-networking website.

Changes to terms of service were necessary to keep in step with how people share pictures, comments and other information in the popular online community, according to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

"We wouldn't share your information in a way you wouldn't want," Zuckerberg said in an online posting addressing concerns.

"The trust you place in us as a safe place to share information is the most important part of what makes Facebook work."

Under the terms of service, Facebook has rights to freely use anything people add to the website even after members delete material or close accounts.

"It is common language in every website because their cut-throat lawyer says you need to cover yourself," said Future of Privacy Forum director Jules Polonetsky.

"This doesn't mean that Facebook can make a mini-series on your life or write a book about you, but they might be able to create a feed that lets your friends on Twitter know what you're doing. Folks should just calm down."

The terms of service free Facebook to technologically innovate ways members can share pictures, comments, videos or other digital content without hitting legal tripwires, according to Polonetsky.

Meanwhile, Facebook remains bound by its vow to honor privacy settings members use to dictate which of their online postings can been seen by whom.

Facebook members routinely share comments, pictures and more online and the website needs legal permission to be a platform for such exchanges.

Terms of service acknowledge that once pictures or messages are sent to friends at Facebook, senders surrender control of the data.

Internet users want full ownership and control of their online information while simultaneously being able to collect email addresses, phone numbers, pictures and other data from others, Zuckerberg notes.

"These two positions are at odds with each other," Zuckerberg wrote.

"There is no system today that enables me to share my email address with you and then simultaneously lets me control who you share it with and also lets you control what services you share it with."

Facebook said modifications made about two weeks ago to its terms of service let the website work with the realities of sharing information online and don't permit it to commandeer content from members.

"We are not claiming and have never claimed ownership of material that users upload," Facebook said in an email response to an AFP inquiry.

"Any limitations that a user puts on display of the relevant content are respected by Facebook."

Embarcadero offers on-demand tools access

San Francisco - Embarcadero Technologies has forged a licensing plan allowing on-demand access to all Embarcadero database tools as well as development tools.

Being launched on Wednesday, the Embarcadero All-Access program offers access to application and Web development tools, such as Delphi, JBuilder, and C++ Builder; database design and development tools, such as ER/Studio and DBArtisan; and database management tools, such as Change Manager.

[ The development tools were acquired last year, Embarcadero bought former Borland subsidiary CodeGear. ]

All-Access provides a single license for all database and development tools for multiple platforms, said Michael Swindell, vice president of products at Embarcadero. "What All-Access does is makes it affordable for an organization to provide every team member with all the multiplatform application and database tooling they might need," Swindell said.

The initiative arose after Embarcadero began hearing from customers about merger- and economic-related issues. "The result of that [for] developers is that teams are tasking their developers with more responsibilities," Swindell said.

Developers must take on more roles and pressures, and managers must deal with budgetary constraints, Swindell said. And it becomes more difficult to manage tool licenses, especially when there are role-specific suites for persons like developers, testers, and architects, he said.

All-Access provides "a single license that unlocks everything," Swindell said. License options include Workstation, which is tied to a user and a workstation; Network Managed User, which allows a user to float between systems; and Network Managed Concurrent for sharing licenses.

Offered in four levels of access to different sets of tools, pricing begins at $2,250 for a "Bronze" level access for a single-user workstation license. Each level also includes a year of support, maintenance, upgrades, and new products. Users also can access content on Embarcadero Developer Network.

Development platforms supported by Embarcadero's tools include Microsoft .Net and native Wndows, Java, Ruby on Rails, and PHP. Databases supported range from Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server to IBM DB2 and MySQL.

As part of All-Access, Embarcadero is introducing InstantOn, which allows "click-and-run" access to tools on-demand without installation either locally over the network. It is available Wednsday for many All-Access tools and will be offered for all components in the second quarter of this year.