International CES Named Largest Tradeshow with Highest Economic Impact

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)® has announced that the 2010 International CES® was named both the largest tradeshow and the tradeshow with the highest economic impact by Trade Show Executive (TSE)Magazine.

CEA was awarded the highly coveted number one spot in TSE’s Gold 100 Rankings of 2010. CES has earned top honors as the largest annual tradeshow in each of the four years of the Gold 100 Award's existence.

"For the fourth year in a row, no show was able to unseat the International CES as the largest annual trade show in the U.S.," said Darlene Gudea, president of Trade Show Executive Media Group. "CES held a commanding lead, spanning 586,000 more net square feet of exhibit space than the next annual show on the list." Gudea noted that CES, with its significant exhibitor and attendee participation, enriched the

Las Vegas economy with more than $119 million of new dollars, easily earning the distinction of the show with the highest economic impact of 2010.       

The 2012 International CES will run January 10-13 in Las Vegas, Nevada and is expected to span more than 1.6 million net square feet of exhibit space, with more than 2,700 exhibitors from 140 countries. The 2012 show looks to bring in more than 140,000 attendees, with some 30,000 from outside of the U.S., to experience more than 20,000 product launches across cutting edge technology categories such as; 3D, mobile DTV, tablets, apps, connected TVs embedded internet, green technology and

more.

"We are thrilled to again top TSE’s Gold 100 Rankings as the leader in the tradeshow industry," said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, CEA. "The International CES prides itself on being the world's largest consumer technology tradeshow and generating business for the global CE industry."

Tradeshows underscore the importance of face to face interactions. CES attendees collectively save 700 million miles of business travel – by taking one trip to meet all their current and future customers. Each CES attendee conducts an average of 12 onsite meetings with key contacts such as buyers, investors, analysts and media, highlighting the effectiveness of attending the International CES.

More than 200 conference sessions and 500 speakers are planned for the 2012 CES, spanning industry topics from entertainment content and distracted driving to social media and the connected home.

Oracle to acquire data management company - Endeca

Oracle has announced that it will buy Endeca Technologies, a provider of unstructured data management, Web commerce, and business intelligence solutions. The value of the deal has not been disclosed and it is expected to be completed before the end of 2011. 

Based in Cambridge, Massachusets USA, Endeca provides products that enable companies to analyze unstructured data and retrieve business intelligence using its core technology, the MDEX engine.

Endeca has two products: Endeca InFront and Endeca Latitude. Infront is a customer experience management platform that helps businesses deliver targeted customer experiences online. Latitude is a technology platform that enables businesses to produce business intelligence reports from unstructured and structured information sources.

For those in the procurement, supply chain and manufacturing worlds who don't know Endeca, they should. The company represents what is believed to be a truly next generation toolset for managing not only general ledger, invoice and related spend data, but more important, combining these financials insights with material information, part specification data, warranty claims insight and many forms of third-party structured (and even unstructured) data.

Yet because they've been going in so many directions (e.g., fueling lots of consumer sites from a search/faceted/guided navigation/shopping perspective), the manufacturing vertical as well as the emphasis on selling into procurement and supply chain was only given limited focus at Endeca.

Oracle has always had its own data management product, called Secure Enterprise Search (SES), which is able to sort through unstructured data but has limited capabilities, say analysts.

Thomas Kurian, executive vice president of Oracle Development, referred to a "changing data environment" in which the combination of Oracle and Endeca would be extremely compelling. “Together, we will provide best-in-class technology to manage structured and unstructured data together; business intelligence tools to analyze structured and unstructured data together; and a broad suite of packaged applications which extends the value of unstructured data into ERP, supply chain, CRM, EPM, Web commerce, and specialized applications," Kurian said in a statement. It just makes sense as Oracle seeks to consolidate its hold in the ever volatile ERP space. 

By acquiring Endeca, Oracle appears to be acknowledging the need to pursue the unstructured data market, notes Nick Patience, research director of information management at 451 Group. "For years Oracle has championed the use of relational databases, but now they're finally acknowledging that not everyone is on a relational database and they need a company like Endeca which has a mix of enterprise search, analytics, and e-commerce management [for dealing with unstructured data]," he says.

Whit Andrews, a vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner Research, says the acquisition makes sense. "Oracle is more agile in its business intelligence solutions, but it is also looking for ways to increase its e-commerce footprint, which makes this acquisition interesting," he says. "There's no reason to think that Endeca won't be a huge asset." 

The company adds that the combination of Oracle ATG Commerce and Endeca InFront will enrich cross-channel commerce and online customer experiences, while the integration of Oracle Business Intelligence and Endeca Latitude will provide a comprehensive business intelligence foundation and analytic applications.

The acquisition, subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close before the end of the year. Each company will continue to operate separately until the deal closes.

RIM Preparing for a rash of Blackberry Failure Lawsuits

Troubled Canadian mobile phone outfit RIM is about to be sued for taking three days to sort out a fault which shut down its email services worldwide. Last week's problems began with a failure in a European data centre which spread across the world before it began to recover.

Law firms in the United States and Canada are exploring possible consumer lawsuits against Research In Motion and are trying to make up their mind if they have enough common claims against RIM to team up in a single lawsuit.

As might be expected, the lawyers are looking at breach-of-contract or consumer-fraud claims, Reuters reports.

The breach-of-contract argument is based on the fact that RIM failed in its obligations to provide a service and could include carriers for BlackBerry as additional defendants. If the lawyers go for a consumer-fraud claim it would be based on the fact that customers were misled about the reliability of RIM's networks.

While the outage did not rise to the level of seriousness comparable to a dangerous medication or tainted food, it inconvenienced and angered customers. Frustrated BlackBerry users, turning to blogs, message boards, Twitter and Facebook, complained about losing important emails and missing meetings withing the period. 

What might save RIM from the wrath of the courts is that it will be hard to prove damages beyond loss of service. US state laws make the chances of bringing a nationwide consumer-fraud class action remote.

A recent US Supreme Court consumer class-action ruling in April made it more difficult for consumers to sue if a contract they signed with a company demands that disputes be settled through arbitration. RIM has this clause in its contracts. 

"Here, you just have the loss of (BlackBerry) use, so tons of class-action firms are not running to the courthouse steps," said Jay Edelson, a partner with the law firm Edelson McGuire in Chicago, who represents plaintiffs. "But there are definitely consumers motivated to lend their names to the case to make sure these problems don't happen again in the future." 

Because consumers can hire lawyers on a contingency basis, they would not have to fund the litigation, an added incentive, he said. Winning a class action case for BlackBerry users, in turn, would raise the profile of a small or medium-sized law firm. 

RIM has not offered to compensate customers and is offering subscribers access to premium apps "as an expression of appreciation for their patience during the recent service disruptions." The apps will be available for four weeks and are worth more than $100 per customer, RIM claims, but it's not a thrilling list.

If it did pay back customers and service carriers for the days of service lost, the cost to the company has been estimated at $26 million. Given RIM's problems it needs this like a hole in the head. It would be even worse if consumers go to court, because there would be expensive legal costs on top of this. 

BlackBerry devices have experienced similar, but more short-lived outages each year since 2007. The system failures came as RIM struggles to hold on to market share for BlackBerry smart phones, as more customers opt for Apple Inc's iPhone and Google Inc's Android. RIM did not respond to messages seeking comment on potential lawsuits.

VIA Technologies drags Apple to court

Just before it is to release its highly anticipated iPhone 5, Apple Inc. faces new litigation, this time from a Taiwanese firm.

VIA, the world’s largest independent motherboard manufacturer based in Taiwan, has suied Apple this week for copyright infringement. VIA are claiming that Apple have infringed the copyright on a series of patented microprocessors that are used in the iPod, iPad, iPhone and Apple TV.

VIA have issued a complaint with the US International Trade Commission and the American district court over the alleged infringement of the way the chips in the Apple products manipulate and transfer data.Wen Chi Chen, CEO, VIA Technologies, Inc. in a statement said “We are determined to protect our interests and the interests of our stockholders when our patents are infringed upon.” Apple has not released a statement concerning the lawsuit at this time.

The lawsuit is believed to be connected to an on-going series of legal battles between Apple and the smartphone company HTC. Cher Wang, VIA's chairwoman, is also the chairwoman of HTC. So far Apple has won lawsuits against HTC which state that HTC have infringed on two of Apple’s copyrighted patents. HTC are planning on appealing that ruling and have three other lawsuits filed against Apple at the moment.

Also, VIA claimed it has built up an extensive intellectual property portfolio including more than 5,000 patents after years of heavy investments in technology research and development.

Similarly Apple and mobile phone producer Samsung are having legal battles in Europe which have caused the ban of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Germany as well as bans on three different types of smartphone in Holland due to the successful claim by Apple that they used Apple’s intellectual property. These are just some the most recent of a series of mobile phone lawsuits, concerning the patents of the hardware and software of top of the range smartphones across the world. Lawsuits have been filed against and by Apple, HTC, Samsung and Nokia as well as others.

Sony in Bravia TV Recall...suspends Gaming Accounts over Hacking

Sony Corp., has recalled 1.6 million Bravia flat-panel TVs sold worldwide since 2007 because a faulty component may cause them to melt or catch fire. Sony recalled the liquid-crystal display (LCD) TVs after a September incident in which a customer noticed a small fire and smoke, said Yuki Shima, a Tokyo-based spokeswoman for the world’s third-largest maker of televisions. Eleven incidents have been reported in Japan since 2008, according to a company statement, and no injuries have been reported.

A faulty component in the backlight systems may be the source of overheating that can melt the top of the TV set, Shima said. It’s the second recall involving Sony products in a month, with KDDI Corp., Japan’s second-largest mobile-phone operator, saying it would replace Sony-made batteries in as many as 2 million handsets because they may overheat and melt.

“Sony-related recalls are following one another, and that may ruin the company’s brand image,” said Keita Wakabayashi, an analyst at Mito Securities Co. with a “neutral plus” rating on the stock. “Considering Sony’s overall business size, the TV recalls won’t shake the company’s grounding.”

The same transformer is used in the five Bravia models in Japan being recalled, according to a Sony statement. The recalled sets, 40-inch models sold in regions including China, the Americas, the Middle East, Africa and Europe, will be repaired if faulty parts are found. Sony will dispatch a service crew to inspect sets, Shima said. The company won’t offer refunds or replacement TVs, she said.

There haven’t been any reports of overheating incidents outside Japan, the statement said, but the recalls are carried out globally. Sony rose 3 percent to 1,562 yen in Tokyo trading, narrowing its loss this year to 47 percent. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 1.1 percent. The recall was announced after Tokyo markets closed.

“It could impact the stock negatively if the recall causes a significant amount of expense,” Wakabayashi said. The repairs will have a negligible impact on Sony’s earnings, Shima said. The recall was voluntary, she said.

Sony shares declined to their lowest in 24 years earlier this month on speculation the yen’s strength and slumping demand for televisions will hurt earnings. The company, which forecast full-year operating profit of 200 billion yen ($2.6 billion) in July, loses about 6 billion yen of annual operating profit, or sales minus the cost of goods sold and administrative expenses, for every 1 yen decline against the euro.

This is the company’s first recall of flat-screen televisions, though not the first associated with the Bravia line. In April 2010, Sony offered to repair the stands attached to two models because the screws weren’t strong enough and the stands could collapse. Later that month, the company recalled 535,000 Vaio personal computers because of possible overheating caused by a temperature-control defect.

Separately, the world’s second-largest maker of video-game machines said yesterday it temporarily suspended about 93,000 user accounts of its online gaming and entertainment services after finding they were hacked.

“A massive number” of unauthorized attempts by intruders were detected between Oct. 7 and Oct. 10, Sony spokesman Satoshi Fukuoka said. The efforts included usernames and passwords that matched 93,000 accounts, including at least 35,000 in the U.S. and 24,000 in Europe, he said. Personal information, including home addresses, in some accounts may have been compromised, he said.

India Post rejects Cisco’s IT upgradation equipment

India's postal department has rejected the bids of four companies - HCL Comnet, Wipro, Dimension Data and UTL - to build an IT network that connects 30,000 post offices across the country, citing the 'obsolete equipment' being provided by Cisco, the technology partner for these bidders. 

After the disqualifications, the department has shortlisted HP, IBM, TCS and Sify for its Rs 1,300-crore project aimed at modernisation of the IT infrastructure of postoffices, two officials with direct knowledge of the development has said. All these companies have opted for a combination of Juniper and HP to be their technological and hardware partners for the project. Cisco is the world's largest company in networking equipment, such as routers, and customer premise equipment. 

The contract will be awarded after the financial bids of these companies are examined . But the project could run into a hurdle as Cisco has approached the Communication & IT ministry against the rejection of bids of companies partnering with it. 

It is also learnt that Cisco has besieged the postal department not to open the financial bids of the shortlisted companies until its concerns are addressed. Cisco denied to comment on a detailed questionnaire sent by ET. "As you would expect, several Cisco Partners participated in the RFP process. 

Any questions relating to that should be directed to the Department of Post," a Cisco India spokesperson said. Department of Post officials who evaluated the bids said companies partnering with Cisco were rejected for three primary reasons. 

"As per Cisco's own public announcement in November 2010, a significant majority of the routers and switches it plans to supply its partners for this project, has reached their end-of-life. The manufacturing of these products would stop by 2012-end, the period when we will be awarding the contract. 

Besides, the software updates for these products will also end within two more years," a top official said. This official also added that awarding the project to any company using Cisco hardware would compromise a key requirement of the project being scalable in the future due to obsolete equipment. Cisco has not yet replied to the allegations. Another official in the postal department explained that all bidders partnering Cisco had submitted an undertaking from the IT hardware major that it would support these products for seven years.

Aviat Networks Sells off WiMAX Business To Canadian firm

In line with previous predictions, Aviat Networks, Inc., a leading expert in wireless transmission solutions, has announced that it has sold its WiMAX business to EION Networks, Inc., which is a privately owned Canadian Company headquartered in Ottawa, Canada. The WiMAX business will be consolidated into a division of the company, EION Wireless, as a result of the sale. EION Wireless, a global provider of broadband wireless products, plans to extend its broadband wireless solutions portfolio with the purchase of this business.

Aviat Networks acquired the WiMAX business in 2009 to expand its technology portfolio and capabilities to address opportunities in the wireless broadband and mobility markets. In May 2011, as part of a company restructuring aimed at reducing costs, streamlining operations, and optimizing the Company’s business model, Aviat Networks announced its intentions to sell the WiMAX business for an undisclosed amount.

“The sale of the WiMAX business will enable us to better focus our resources and investments on our microwave transmission products, further positioning us for long-term success,” said Michael Pangia, president and CEO of Aviat Networks. “We will work with EION Wireless to ensure a smooth transition for both our customers and employees.” The sale of the WiMAX business to EION Wireless was effective as of September 2, 2011.

Eion Networks said that the purchase of the WiMax division of Aviat Networks includes its StarMAX fixed and mobile base stations, gateways and end-user devices. “This is a big strategic step for Eion, both from the product and customer point of view,” Kalain Kalaichelvan (pictured), chairman and CEO of privately-held Eion said in an interview. “Their portfolio of products really compliments what we are doing because they have 4G (fourth generation wireless) products.

“The second main reason is Aviat sells to Tier 1 and 2 service providers, and we sell to a lot of enterprises … so this can be the springboard for us into launching LTE.” Eion’s upgrade solution to LTE will be ready by next summer, he said. Over the next six to 12 months WiMax providers will want to convert and “we are already in their living room,” Kalaichelvan said.

Four years ago WiMax and LTE (Long Term Evolution) were fighting to be the next generation of wireless broadband technology, promising to offer at least wireline speeds. Fixed WiMax (also known as the IEEE’s 802.16 standard) got off the mark first and has been chosen by a number of carriers to serve small communities. At the time LTE standards were barely set. But WiMax's mobile version (802.16e) was shunned by major carriers in favour of LTE because major equipment makers like Ericsson LM offered a clear upgrade path from the GSM technology used by most leading cellular operators.

In the U.S., WiMax’s biggest supporters, Clearwire and Sprint-Nextel Corp., have signed they will eventually switch to LTE. That has left WiMax operators in a fix, looking for equipment makers who have to face the inevitable: eventually upgrading to LTE. WiMax equipment makers, meanwhile, have faced struggling sales as service providers wonder whether they should invest in the technology. But in some parts of the world – such as emerging countries with very little in the way of phone lines, WiMax makes sense. Which is why 80 per cent of Eion’s sales have gone to countries outside North America, Kalaichelvan said. In Canada it counts only a few oil and gas companies as customers.