Hewlett-Packard Co unveiled a range of new computer-security software yesterday, part of an effort to tap about US$14 billion in acquisitions during the past year to help customers manage their data centers.
ArcSight Express 3.0, a package of computer hardware and software, combs through logs of network activity and users’ actions to look for cyber attacks, Hewlett-Packard said in a statement.
It also introduced a new Fortify Software Security Center product, which can test applications for vulnerabilities to attack, and Tipping Point Web Application Digital Vaccine software that identifies malicious network traffic.
Hewlett-Packard chief executive Leo Apotheker is under pressure to make acquisitions pay off and expand the company’s foothold in data-center equipment and software. Hewlett-Packard has cut sales forecasts three times and reversed course on a plan to produce smartphones and tablets with its WebOS software, rankling investors. The company also said on Aug. 18 it would explore a spinoff of its US$41 billion personal systems group.
GETTING OFF PC PIPE
Hewlett-Packard, the world’s largest personal-computer maker, has made a run of acquisitions to lessen its dependence on PCs. In September last year, it completed a US$2.1 billion acquisition of data-storage company 3Par Inc.
It also acquired security companies ArcSight Inc and Fortify Software Inc in the past year. On Aug. 18, the company announced plans to pay US$10.3 billion for search software company Autonomy Corp. Hewlett-Packard expects that deal to close by the end of this year.
Jan Zadak, executive vice president of global sales, said there’s “substantial overlap” between customers who buy Palo Alto, California-based Hewlett-Packard’s software and data-center hardware and PCs. That means the company could use its computer dominance to sell the newer software products.
QUESTIONABLE PLAN
Hewlett-Packard’s plan to spin off its PC business has raised concerns about the company’s long-range strategy. The stock has fallen 28 percent since Aug. 17, the day before the news of the shakeup. The shares dropped US$1.22, or 5.1 percent, to US$22.65 on Friday in New York Stock Exchange trading.
Zadak, speaking from Switzerland, said he’s been traveling the world the past three weeks trying to explain the company’s decisions to businesses that buy its products.
“We are of course spending a lot of time with customers,” he said in an interview.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained