NTT Com's plan to acquire a 74% stake in Netmagic Solutions illustrates the rapid evolution and advancing maturity of the data center market in India, and is a positive sign for organizations evaluating cloud deployments.

Kodak's imaging and print services business will likely survive its Chapter 11 filing in some form, but customers should exercise due diligence in purchasing decisions. Competitors will seek ways to exploit this opportunity.

Proposed changes to European Union privacy legislation will likely prove controversial for many reasons. Organizations should consider their impact but not change business or IT processes until the legislation is finalized.

The National Retail Federation's 101st annual convention showed that retailers will invest more to improve customer-centric retailing. However, they still face the challenge of effectively adopting emerging technologies.

The acquisition of TechTurn will build on Arrow Electronics' 2010 acquisitions of Converge and Intechra to establish Arrow as a major global IT asset disposition player, driving high-end competition in this market worldwide.

Microsoft's private cloud solution System Center 2012 collapses eight products into two, moves to a per-processor license model and makes Software Assurance mandatory. Start planning and budgeting for these changes now.

IBM's new membership in the Banking Industry Architecture Network signifies a critical shift in how vendors will compete, and in how banks should approach technology acquisition, while it will boost BIAN's maturity.

Former PayPal President Scott Thompson faces a huge challenge as he takes the reins of Yahoo. His early leadership decisions will determine the success or failure of Yahoo's course correction, which has proven elusive so far.

The acquisition of VelQuest extends Accelrys' reach into the regulated life science arena and strengthens its portfolio. Integration of architectures may prove to be a minor hurdle early on.

Cover-All Technologies' purchase of BlueWave Technology aims to build a more end-to-end component-type core system for property-and-casualty insurers. However, more is needed for Cover-All to match competitors.

360Facility gains Accruent market share in the corporate and commercial property markets and enhances its software-as-service offering. But the deal adds further architectural complexity to Accruent's product suite portfolio.

A U.S. consumer advocacy group calls for mobile operators to beef up their mobile-commerce transactions' consumer protection. However, mobile operators lack the skills to manage billing disputes, repudiation and chargebacks.

This acquisition deal signals a major change in application strategy for Salesforce.com. The company is betting that customers will embrace new solutions that use social capabilities to transform human resources processes.

Upon completion, IBM's acquisition of Emptoris will give IBM a robust suite of procurement solutions to bolster its Smarter Commerce initiative while improving Emptoris' prospects for growth.

McKesson will converge its clinical and revenue offerings on its Paragon platform, and halt development of Horizon Enterprise Revenue Management. It's a logical step, but it risks opening a large base of McKesson's customers to rivals.

A new General Electric-Microsoft joint venture in healthcare IT has a lot to prove. Healthcare delivery organizations shouldn't rush to join or postpone analysis of competitors.

The joined forces of two major enrollment technology providers will not cause major disruptive ripples, yet should be of strong interest among higher education institutions globally.

DemandTec could help IBM extend the Smarter Commerce platform and gain essential functionality. But to realize its vision, IBM must grapple with the complexities of adding a number of vendors, products and partners.

FedRAMP gives U.S. government agencies new policies for assessing and monitoring the security of cloud services, but the approach also includes obstacles to government adoption of cloud services.

Kofax's Singularity purchase will combine Kofax's intelligent capture capabilities with Singularity's business process management solutions. Offering on-premises or cloud options may draw customers and drive revenue growth.

The acquisition of Jobs2Web will enable SuccessFactors to further broaden and strengthen its talent management suite. The relatively high valuation of this deal illustrates the growing importance of social recruitment.

Merced's service and sales performance management solution will add sophistication to Nice's performance management offering. Customers should explore the business value of the added functionality this acquisition will bring.

Siemens' purchase of eMeter widens its offering in the smart grid segment while putting eMeter in a better position to compete in the meter data management application software market.

A widely deployed mobile phone utility has been shown to collect far more information than previously imagined. Carriers, end-user enterprises and the security industry need to recognize the serious potential for misuse.

SAP plans to invest $3.4 billion to acquire SuccessFactors in order to gain talent management market leadership and broaden its SaaS credibility. This is a decisive but overdue shift in SAP's cloud and SaaS strategy.

Autodesk's cloud-based product life cycle management announcement is a bold move, since PLM software as a service has struggled in the market. PLM in the cloud eventually will prevail, but Autodesk must address significant issues.

HP described reports of a potential security vulnerability in some HP LaserJet printer software as "sensational and inaccurate." This debate should not distract IT managers from updating security plans to address real threats.

Upcoming changes to European Binding Corporate Rules will enable businesses to demonstrate good privacy practices and facilitate international transfers of personal data. Businesses should begin preparing for the changes now.

3D Systems' plan to purchase Z Corp. affirms the growth of the 3D printer market. Evaluate 3D printing technology's current benefits for business and education markets while watching for moves toward consumerization.

Mass demonstrations spurred by Occupy Wall Street add fuel to the ongoing social e-governance revolution. Study the spectrum of OWS outreach to elevate and intensify the impact of your social risk management program.

Adobe's shift to cloud-based subscriptions is a radical disruption of its business model, strategy and offerings. If successful, it will ignite more growth and opportunities for Adobe and the industry segments it serves.

Adobe will focus its LiveCycle business process management and composite content applications on the financial services and public sectors. Those in other sectors or customers needing platforms should move to other products.

Siemens manufacturing customers should benefit significantly from the company's acquisition of Vistagy, particularly those in the automotive and aerospace industries. But some customers must act to mitigate potential risks.

Lowering the cost of Internet access is fundamental to narrowing the U.S. "digital divide." The FCC's Connect to Compete initiative makes a strong start and offers opportunities to corporate social responsibility programs.

It is inaccurate to say that "HTML5 killed Adobe Flash," as widely hyped in the media. The end of support for the mobile Flash plug-in reflects Adobe's shift to HTML5, which could advance its capabilities and market position.

The reported security flaw in an iOS app shows that Apple needs to strengthen its App Store security processes. But malware on Apple mobile devices will remain a minor risk compared with data leakage.

SQL Server 2012 replaces per-processor licensing with per core or per-virtual-core (thread), but grandfathering rights minimize the impact on existing licenses with Software Assurance. Plan now to optimize for these changes.

In rescinding a fee for customers' use of debit cards, large U.S. banks are reacting to a grassroots campaign fueled by social media that underscores the increasing potency of social media in public and business life.

HP's decision to keep its Personal Systems Group intact within the company alleviates most of the concerns we expressed when the potential spinoff was first announced. But HP still needs to regain its customers' confidence.

We expect IBM's new CEO, Virginia Rometty, to maintain the growth strategy laid out by Sam Palmisano, while drawing from her background in global business services to grow revenue across all segments and increase margins.

GE Healthcare has notified GE Centricity users that meaningful-use attestation reports may overstate compliance. Users of electronic health record systems other than GE Centricity should check for similar problems.

The acquisition of b-process will bolster Ariba's presence in French-speaking European countries and give Ariba and its customers expanded e-invoicing capabilities.

With its planned RightNow Technologies acquisition, Oracle aims to vault itself into the market for cloud-based customer self-service technologies for business-to-consumer needs and solidify the Oracle Fusion CRM line.

Infor's acquisition of ENXSuite signals increased focus on sustainability within asset management, and further challenges the viability of stand-alone emissions and energy reporting software.

The acquisition of Endeca will broaden Oracle's information and analytics capabilities, but Oracle needs to address several challenges.

The planned purchase of Platform Computing will expand IBM's offerings in the technical computing area and enable it to offer more options in Big Data and high-availability software.

Thailand floods closed many factories in the HDD supply chain. Shipments will decline in 4Q11, and inventories will fall to near zero. Makers and users of PCs, servers and storage systems must take steps to avoid disruptions.

Thailand flooding spurred massive evacuations and factory shutdowns. This supply chain disruption will affect semiconductor companies' materials production, manufacturing services and electronics product delivery worldwide.

Oracle's latest foray into the collaboration market centers on informal enterprise social networking. However, Oracle's checkered history and the crowd of competitors in this market may make it difficult to gain traction.

The U.S. bank card industry's delayed adoption of the Europay, MasterCard and Visa security standard has left the global payment infrastructure vulnerable to large-scale identity theft operations.

The iPhone 4S offers Siri, a virtual assistant for voice control over apps. It raises the bar for natural-language-based, human-machine interaction, especially for vehicle-centric Information and communications technology.

Adobe will gain credibility in mobile application development with this acquisition, but it needs to preserve partnerships and demonstrate the viability of the subscription-based business model for enterprises.

The acquisition of Autonomy could help HP become competitive in the growing market for information management capabilities. But HP must resolve challenges in integrating and marketing Autonomy's distinctive point of view.

Google's new Analytics Premium offering includes deployment help and ongoing support that enterprises need. Its flat fee will attract interest, but its limitations will keep it from changing the market's competitive dynamics.

Donovan Data Systems and MediaBank intend to merge and brand themselves as MediaOcean. This merger of fierce rivals pits new media against old in the battle for the future of the advertising business.

Verint Systems' agreement to acquire GMT brings together two top workforce management vendors and will create a hard-to-beat WFM solution for the retail banking market.

With a $200 price and the full weight of Amazon's cloud content services behind it, the Kindle Fire will be a real market disrupter.

Salesforce.com continues to buy tools for the Social Enterprise. This latest deal focuses on social customer service for small and midsize businesses, and is driven by intellectual capital more than technology or market share.

A newly developed hacking tool simplifies the process of attacking the widely used Secure Sockets Layer protocol. Enterprises need to prioritize upgrading to the latest versions of Web browsers and servers.

Facebook's planned overhaul will further its evolution from social network to platform. The changes will enable developers to create more socially aware apps, and help organizations learn more about customers in real time.