Businessweek and ZDNet’s Larry Dignan report that Merrill Lynch is the latest mystery customer that is signing up for 25,000 subscriptions. The price for subscription is $500 per user per month. Now, if Merrill Lynch actually were to pay this price, they would be down $150 Million a year. That would be more than 25% […]
VMWare versus Microsoft
According to NYTimes, VMWare is on a collision course with Microsoft. Although Microsoft will fight this battle for a long long time, the battle is probably already over in virtualization and VMWare is the winner. In some ways, the times could not be worse for Microsoft with a whole host of competitors in its various […]
The wrong web services: Customers want SaaS not SOA
SOA: Buy a better, more modular coffee machine that is easier to clean, but still requires a well-trained barista to run, operate, and clean. SaaS: Starbucks coffee. $4 per cup. Consistently delivered. Coffee Machine Coffee(by musicmuse_ca) What do you think?
Hooking up on the internet
I know what you are thinking. Why is Anshu talking about hooking up on a software blog? Is there yet another certified love finding service to challenge eHarmony? And how does this fit into the enterprise software or web2.0 world? Well, rest assured the world, at least the virtual one, is not about to come […]
Joining the Enterprise Irregulars- a study in Ecosystems
I am excited to report that I have been invited to join Enterprise Irregulars, and have accepted. As the Enterprise Irregular says- “We are a diverse group of practitioners, consultants, investors, journalists, analysts and full time bloggers who share a common passion – enterprise technology and its application to business in the 21st century.” Over […]
The comeback story of Sun
Many in the tech world including myself had written Sun off as a real player. They were a dieing company selling ever decreasing number of expensive boxes to people that still had to because they were locked in. Java, a distribution success, never contributed financially to Sun’s bottom line in any meaningful way. Over the […]
Time for a new VC pitch: This is not a Pipe!
“This is not a Pipe” The modern version of this painting is “This is not a computer” by Apple. “This is not a Computer” For far too long, budding entrepreneurs have been asked to explain their ideas in the context and vocabulary of existing success stories- “YouTube is FlickR for videos”, “RFID is barcodes without […]
Organic growth story is now just a story
Organic growth works for human beings and cows. Not so well for large enterprise software companies. After beating up on its competitor for pursuing an acquisition-led growth strategy, SAP failed to meet its numbers this quarter. Message to Waldorf, Germany- let’s leave organic to California’s Yoga-loving Hybrid-driving meditation-praciticing vegans. For growth, you need to eat […]
iBanana released; Chiquita sued by Dole
Bananas at work: Creative Commons license by vidrio Today, Chiquita‘s world-famous marketing wizard Steve Jobless anounced a USB capable, Bluetooth enabled iBanana. Dole had long ago trademarked the name iBanana for a Banana tree that is powered by wireless electricity and claimed that eventually convergence of wirless electricity and Bluetooth will create confusion in the […]
My Blog awarded Time award
I am honored to receive this year’s Time Person of the Year. Okay, so I have to share it with 300 million other internet users, but that’s just details! I was quite suprised to see the extent of my contributions to the Web2.0. My contributions, mentioned on page 1,304,507 of the award declaration include:– Blogger […]
The Yahoo? question: Will Microsoft buy them?
Yes, Yahoo! has gone from an exciting successful brand for consumers and employees to Yahoo?, a me-too player with more questions about its future than answers. And the question of Microsoft buying them keeps popping up. Here are the reasons Micrsoft is not likely to buy Yahoo!-Microsoft acquistion strategy and history shows that they look […]
Holistic is not just for Yoga anymore: Identity & Security
There has been a lot of interest in security and identity management in light of regulatory pressures and in response to incidents of theft and loss. I recently wrote the following article for Security Magazine- an excerpt follows. A Holistic Approach to Physical and IT SecurityWhen a famous bank loses thousands of credit card numbers […]
Dear Workday, Citibank called!
Dear Workday, Citibank called. They want their logo back. Dave Duffield’s team launches Workday on Monday. Dave walked away with billions of dollars when Oracle acquired PeopleSoft. Since then, he and his team have been busy creating the ‘next generation’ of applications starting with HR (or HCM) using the On-demand model (Software-as-a-Service). Much will be […]
Looking for Red Hat?
A picture is worth a thousand words. Money can’t buy you love but it sure can buy you some clicks. You may want to read my earlier post on Open source business dynamics where I suggest that there is little money to be made as an open source vendor.
Identity Management Maturity Model
The Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Journal published my piece on a maturity mdoel for identity management. You can read the full article here. Achieving Compliance Through Identity Maturity 2006-10-27 12:00:00.0 CDT Where do you want to be and how do you get there? By Anshu Sharma Security and identity management have become an important issue on the […]
Top 5 Blog Posts
I wanted to welcome my new readers. Please do participate by leaving a comment below. Here is the list of my top 5 articles- Let’s play games! Open source generates lots of value but little revenue India at a threshold- a first hand account Ever heard of Ufida, Kingdee, Tally? TiE Event: The great Virsa […]
Banking in Brazil – BRIC2.0 or Web2.0
I have been receiving these podcast alerts from Gartner and one of them caught my eye-“What Banks should know about Web2.0”. The podcast available here talks about how Web2.0 will inevitably impact the banking industry. The analyst talks about how money will change hands in MySpace, how banks are using podcasts and that RSS feeds […]
Oracle OpenWorld is here to dominate San Francisco
Did I say dominate San Francisco? I meant Software! Yes, Oracle is taking over San Francisco for the next week with its annual gala that has grown to over 40,000 attendees this year. I will be attending as a member of the Oracle Identity Management team- we have a signficant presence with demo booths and […]
President Musharraf appears on The Daily Show
(This is post is off-topic.) President Musharraf of Pakistan appeared tonight on The Daily Show to promote his autobiographical book In the Line of Fire. He displayed his intellectual capability and ability to communicate. The interview started with Jon Stewart serving tea to the General/President. The interview was soft relative to the usual Jon Stewart […]
Ever heard of UFIDA, KingDee, Tally?
Well, you may never have heard of these enterprise software vendors but they are the giants from China and India. KingDee and UFIDA are #1 and #3 vendors in China and Tally is the top local vendor in India. Gartner recently predicted that a large vendor will emerge from China and India over the next […]