Verizon and AT&T should face a bigger mobile rival, Sprint CFO says

The U.S. mobile industry would be more competitive with one less carrier, Sprint’s CFO said on Thursday.

The problem now is that Sprint and T-Mobile US are so much smaller than the top two carriers, AT&T and Verizon Wireless, Joe Euteneuer said in an onstage interview at a Goldman Sachs conference in New York. Based on the experience of other industries, closer parity is better, he said.

“When you get down to three comparable-sized players, you get much more effective competition,” Euteneuer said.

Sprint has approximately 55 million subscribers and T-Mobile about 43 million, while Verizon Wireless and AT&T both are around 100 million, though they count customers differently. T-Mobile US CFO Braxton Carter reportedly said Wednesday that a merger between his company and Sprint would be the logical next step in the industry’s consolidation. Some industry analysts also believe the U.S. will eventually go to three competitors, as other affluent countries have.

Though more consolidation might be good for the country, that doesn’t mean it’ll happen, Euteneuer acknowledged. Whether the U.S. should have three or four big mobile carriers is a hotly debated topic, and both the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission have some control over whether another big deal could take place. Regulators nixed AT&T’s attempt to buy T-Mobile in 2011.

MetroPCS, Leap Wireless, and some smaller players have recently been snapped up by big carriers, and Sprint was acquired by SoftBank earlier this year, but the top four operators have stayed the same.

Also at the conference, Euteneuer said Sprint’s combination with SoftBank, which is a major carrier in Japan, finally gives it the kind of scale that Verizon and AT&T have long enjoyed when negotiating with device makers. “I do believe that there is a benefit there,” he said.

Sprint is currently focused on building out its network, which will use several different cellular frequency bands as well as Wi-Fi for better coverage and capacity than it offers today, Euteneuer said.

The company is still building out LTE on its 1.9GHz band and expects to reach 200 million people on that system by the end of the year. It’s using the 800MHz band for voice service now and plans to start deploying LTE on those frequencies at the beginning of next year. By the end of the year, LTE will be available on more than 5,000 cells that Sprint acquired with Clearwire, which use 2.5GHz spectrum. Finally, early next year Sprint will start talking about its plans for LTE on its own 2.5GHz frequencies, Euteneuer said.

By the end of this year, the company will start offering handsets that can take advantage of all those networks with radios for the 800MHz, 1.9GHz, and 2.5GHz bands, he said.

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Oracle makes 'big data' push even bigger

Oracle is doubling down on "big data" with a number of new products and enhancements to existing ones, in hopes that customers looking to analyze massive amounts of information for business insights will in turn invest further in Oracle.

For one thing, Oracle's Big Data Appliance (shown above) now features "enterprise-class" security for Hadoop, the open-source data processing framework, Oracle announced Monday during the OpenWorld conference in San Francisco.

Specifically, Big Data Appliance has been integrated with Kerberos and LDAP authentication, as well as Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall, according to the announcement. The software add-ons can peer into Hadoop audit trails, looking for suspicious activities and alerting administrators, as well as generate reports when desired.

Oracle has also released additional features for Hadoop, including a new connector that "enables standard XQuery operations to process and transform XML documents, executing in parallel across the Hadoop cluster," according to Monday's announcement.

In addition, Big Data Appliance now features Perfect Balance, which modulates workloads for faster performance in MapReduce jobs, Oracle said.

Oracle's big data product arsenal also includes its flagship database, for which a new in-memory option was announced Sunday.

While definitions vary, in general big data refers to the massive amounts of information being created by social media, sensors, websites and other sources. Observers also often invoke the "three Vs" of big data, namely the variety, velocity and volume of information flows.

Some 64 percent of organizations surveyed in a new Gartner study said they are investing now or plan to invest in big data technology, up from 58 percent in 2012.

Still, it appears that most of the activity around big data remains in the heavy hype from vendors selling products aimed at it. Less than 8 percent of respondents to Gartner's survey have in fact deployed their big data platforms.

That said, "there is real substance behind the hype," Gartner research director Lisa Kart said in a statement. "Our survey underlines the fact that organizations across industries and geographies see 'opportunity' and real business value rather than the 'smoke and mirrors' with which hypes usually come."

Big data analytics are "hugely important" to Thomson Reuters, said Mark Bluhm, senior vice president of global data center, during an onstage interview at OpenWorld Monday with Oracle Co-President Mark Hurd.

Thomson Reuters' customers aren't looking for search engines, he said: "It's, give us the research so we can make a decision."

Bluhm gave the example of a South Pacific storm and its potential effect on oil prices. If customers can know quickly how the storm will delay tankers, "suddenly instead of becoming victims, they become opportunists," he said.

Chris Kanaracus covers enterprise software and general technology breaking news for the IDG News Service.
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SAP aims for bigger presence in 'big data' with Hadoop partnerships, new apps

Few tech buzzwords of late have been more prevalent than “big data,” and SAP is hoping to make sure the market knows it’s hip to the trend with a series of new announcements.

Perhaps the most significant announcement, made at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco on Wednesday, concerns a pair of new agreements under which SAP will resell and support Apache Hadoop distributions from Intel and Hortonworks.

While SAP had already begun building bridges between its own products and Hadoop, the open-source framework for large-scale data processing, the Intel and Hortonworks deals will allow it to offer customers a more well-rounded set of Hadoop tools.

“We have signed a formal agreement driven by both companies at the executive level to make HANA plus Hadoop a winning combination for our customers,” said Irfan Khan, senior vice president and general manager, SAP Big Data, in an interview.

Beyond the reseller deals with Intel and Hortonworks, SAP plans to continue certifying and supporting other Hadoop distributions.

While definitions of “big data” vary, in general the term refers to the large amounts of unstructured data being generated by websites, social media services, sensors and other sources. Big data discussions also often refer to the “three Vs,” or the velocity, variety and volume of information streams.

SAP plans to roll out a series of specialized applications that focus on specific big data use cases. One announced Tuesday is aimed at manufacturers and called Demand Signal Management. It focuses on capturing and crunching what SAP calls “downstream demand” data, such as from retail point-of-sale systems, for insights that could help marketing teams and supply chain managers operate more effectively.

Other big data-themed applications target areas such as fraud management and customer engagement. Ten applications are in “ramp-up,” SAP’s term for its early-adopter program, and the vendor has “an aggressive timeline for the remainder of this year and leading into 2014,” Khan said.

Finally, SAP has created a new Data Science organization within the company.

This team brings together about 100 data scientists, people with high-level degrees in mathematics, and will be “closely aligned with SAP’s overall big data strategy,” according to a statement.

More details of SAP’s big data strategy and products will likely come in October at the Tech Ed conference in Las Vegas.

Chris Kanaracus covers enterprise software and general technology breaking news for the IDG News Service.
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Samsung goes even bigger with Galaxy Note 3

Samsung continues its tradition of testing the public’s appetite for supersized mobile displays with the new Galaxy Note 3.

Meet the Galaxy Note 3, the new Android phone from Samsung.

While the 5.7-inch phone comes in shy of the 6.3-inch display of its pituitary-affected Mega cousin, the Note 3 ups the ante over its 5.5-inch predecessor, the Galaxy Note II.

To be sure, the Note 3 is big. But not too big. I won’t bring up that annoying P-word the media uses to describe these extra girthy handsets. However, the Note 3 does indeed fit into that nebulous territory between phone and tablet.

The display is ideal for gaming and video, but can still comfortably be used for phones’ original purpose: making and receiving calls. While the Note 3 may stretch the practicality of pockets for some users, it feels comfortable to use in the hand and against your face.

The Note 3 feels good in your hand.

Despite some extra display space, the device is actually lighter than the Note 2 at a surprisingly feathery 5.9 ounces versus 6.4 ounces. The Note 3 is even a bit thinner at svelte 0.32 inches and it is powered with 3GB of RAM (compared to only 2GB with the Note 2).

The speedier engine comes in handy as the phone readily flips between screens and apps (more on that below).

Another great new design feature is the stitched “leather” backing (I couldn’t get an exact answer as to the make-up, but the animal-free backing has a truly “leather-like” feel to it). The phone feels nice in your hand and looks top-shelf, and Samsung could have lied to me and told me it was actual leather, and I might have believed it.

While Steve Jobs famously disdained all styli when it came to mobile gadgets, Samsung—wisely by most accounts—has demonstrated no fear when it comes to incorporating a digital appendage into its Galaxy Note line of supersized phones. And Samsung continues to flaunt that Jobsian wisdom with the just-unveiled Galaxy Note 3, complete with “S Pen” in tow.

With this generation, the stylus has a few additional tricks. Hovering over the screen will present a small dot on the screen and once “clicked,” it will unveil a fan of choices through a feature called Air Command.

Creating a Pen Window

The coolest new function from Air Command is “Pen Window,” which allows the user to draw a square window on the ample display in which to open a new app. So, for example, if you chatting with someone, you could open a new pen window by simply drawing a box and selecting the calculator app, which will then open directly into the dimensions of the box you drew.

You can probably imagine various situations when this feature would come in handy.

Furthermore, you can use Pen Window to open two windows of the same app. For example, you might be able to have two Internet windows open simultaneously on the same screen. Currently Pen Window will only work with a handful of secondary preloaded apps such as calculator, Internet, and YouTube. However a rep promises that more may follow.

Starting Sept. 25, the smartphone will be available in more than 140 countries around the world. It will also be available in the U.S. later this year on AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, and U.S. Cellular, Samsung said without elaborating on exact dates.

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Evan lives in Brooklyn, NY and enjoys writing about what future may hold and taking long romantic walks on the beach.
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A Samsung smart watch and smartphones with bigger screens expected at IFA show

IDG News Service - A smart watch from Samsung Electronics, an Acer smartphone that can shoot 4K video and a Sony phone with a 20-megapixel sensor, plus a plethora of tablets and TVs are expected at this year's IFA consumer electronics show.

Consumer electronics manufacturers from all over the world are heading to Berlin for the show, which doesn't open its doors to the public until Friday. By then, though, most of the new products will have already been announced at press conferences on Wednesday and Thursday.

Samsung is expected to launch a smart watch, the voice-controlled Galaxy Gear, rumored to allow users to keep track of calls, messages and social networks. The device will also have calorie and pulse monitors, and apps that take advantage of those features, according to media reports. The smart watch segment is being increasingly hyped, but expectations should in this case be tempered by the fact that the Galaxy Gear is a first generation device, and few vendors get everything right the first time.

The Korean company is expected to launch a new Galaxy Note too. When it launched the first phone-and-stylus combination back at IFA in 2011, the form factor had its detractors. But Samsung has managed to create a new product category, in which it now faces stiff competition from the likes of Sony and LG Electronics.

The Note's screen size has increased from 5.3 inches to 5.5 inches and is expected to be 5.7 inches on the Galaxy Note 3, with a 1,920 x 1,080 pixel resolution. The Note 3 will have a 13-megapixel camera and Samsung is also expected to stick with a MicroSD card slot, in addition to the 32GB or 64GB of integrated storage.

The device will be powered by either a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 or Samsung's own Exynos 5 Octa processor. The company demonstrated a new model of the latter in July. The Exynos 5420 has four Cortex-A15 processors running at 1.8GHz and four additional Cortex-A7 cores at 1.3 GHz. It also has a six-core Mali-T628 GPU for improved graphics performance. Compared to its predecessor, the Exynos 5420 will also be more power efficient, according to Samsung. At the time, Samsung said the processor was scheduled for mass production in August.

Any large-screened new Samsung smartphone will probably have to duke it out with the Xperia Z1 Sony is expected to launch at IFA. In an effort to differentiate its new flagship from the competition it looks like Sony is taking a note from Nokia's play book by focusing on the camera, which will have a 20-megapixel sensor. The smartphone's specification is also rumored to include a 5-inch full HD screen and a quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor.

Reprinted with permission from IDG.net. Story copyright 2012 International Data Group. All rights reserved.

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Despite recent cloud service outages, security a bigger concern than availability

Wow. No sooner did I finish writing about how the Google and Microsoft outages were not a reason to lose confidence in the cloud, than Amazon went down. The online retail site—and its associated cloud services—were down for just under half an hour Monday afternoon. I stand by my assertion that the sky is not falling, but there’s more to using the cloud than just availability.

Amazon.com was the third major cloud service to suffer an outage in the last week.

Over on WindowsITPro.com, Paul Thurrott summed up the hysteria over cloud outages nicely. “And of course, the cloud computing doubters—who, like global warming doubters are increasingly at odds with reality—will argue that such outages prove that our move away from on-premises hardware and local storage is nothing but a temporary trend.”Let’s start with some perspective, breaking down the math like I did yesterday for Google and Microsoft. Amazon was down for about 25 minutes (although I’ve seen reports from 15 minutes to 40 minutes). In the grand scheme of things, Amazon was down for an infinitesimally small period of time. Depending on the estimate you go with, Amazon lost about $5 million in retail commerce during that timeframe—or about two percent of what it cost Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to buy the Washington Post, or about two thousandths of a percent of his net worth.

Thurrott also pointed out the irony of how many users turn to Internet-based services like Facebook or Twitter to complain about cloud outages and declare the impending death of this cloud fad.

The debate over cloud availability is silly. As I pointed out my post about the Google and Microsoft outages, local networks and servers are not impervious to outages, so the risk is essentially the same as it pertains to availability.

Security and privacy are more relevant cloud concerns than availability.

There are, however, other concerns that offer a much more valid argument against cloud services for some businesses. Chief among them is security and privacy.

The convenience of outsourcing the IT infrastructure to a cloud-based third-party comes with increased risk that your network traffic or stored data could be compromised in some way, either directly by the IT support personnel charged with maintaining your services, or inadvertently by exposing it to increased risk on Internet-based servers.

It doesn’t have to be that way, though. You can enjoy some of the benefits of cloud servers and storage without sacrificing control, or putting the data at increased risk by hosting your own private cloud, or using a hybrid approach that includes on-premise and cloud-based services.

For example, you could store your data locally in an appliance like the ioSafe N2. The NAS (network attached storage) device can hold terabytes of data in a redundant configuration inside a fire proof, flood proof enclosure. Best of all, the N2 connects to the network and to the Internet, and it makes the data available from virtually anywhere, and from any computer or mobile device.

Another option is to choose a hybrid cloud solution like Egnyte. Egnyte does provide cloud file storage, but it can also connect and sync with local storage platforms.

Just keep in mind that this approach has tradeoffs. In order to gain greater security and privacy, you have to take responsibility for managing and maintaining the servers and data, which is arguably one of the biggest benefits of cloud services for small businesses. Also consider the fact that the third-party cloud support personnel might know more than you do about security and privacy, so managing it yourself may give you an illusion of greater security and privacy, while actually putting your servers and data at greater risk.

Tony is principal analyst with the Bradley Strategy Group, providing analysis and insight on tech trends. He is a prolific writer on a range of technology topics, has authored a number of books, and is a frequent speaker at industry events.
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Denial-of-Service attacks trend to bigger scope, shorter times

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are getting bigger, but their duration are getting shorter, according to an analysis released last week by Arbor Networks.

During the first six months of 2013, the average size of DDoS attacks remained solidly over the 2Gbps, Arbor reported—something the company has never seen before.

Although the average may have been skewed during the period by the massive attack on Spamhaus in March, which reached 300Gbps at its zenith, large attacks in general have been going up too, Arbor found. From January to June this year, it said attacks exceeding 20Gbps more than doubled over 2012.

Several security experts agreed with Arbor's analysis. Michael Smith, CSIRT director for Akamai Technologies, cited two factors affecting DDoS numbers during the period. "It's just easier to do these days," he said in an interview. "You can rent a botnet for $20."

He added that a hacktivist group known as the Izz ad-Dim al-Qassam Cyber Fighters (QCF) has adopted a strategy that is also driving up the raw number of attacks and depressing their duration. "They attack multiple targets during the course of a day," Smith explained.

Not only do they attack multiple sites, but they don't prolong an attack if they don't see immediate results. "They'll move from target to target after 10 or 20 minutes until they find one they can cause an immediate impact on," Smith noted.

Attacks are becoming bigger because hackers have more resources to mount attacks than ever before, said Marc Gaffan, founder of Incapsula. "There's more ammunition for hackers in the wild which is why attacks have grown in size," he said.

New techniques have also contributed to the size of the attacks. For example, in the Spamhaus attack, hackers exploited openings in DNS servers to amplify the magnitude of their attacks on the website.

They do that by sending a request to a server with an open DNS resolver. In the request, they spoof the address of their target so when the server answers the request, it sends its answer to the target.

"When the resolver sends back the answer, which is larger than the question, it's amplifying the attacker's request," Gaffan said. "Sometimes the answer can be as much as 50 times larger than the request. So an attack can be 50 times the original firepower used for the request."

In addition to improving their techniques, hackers have also increased their efficiencies by shortening their attacks. They will hit a site long enough to bring it down, disappear into the ether, then return to take it down again just as it's recovering from the initial attack.

"When a website goes down, it takes time to bring it back up," Gaffan said. "There's no point continuing to fire at that target when it's down. You want to conserve your ammunition and fly under the radar, because the more you fire the greater the chances of someone identifying you as the source of the fire."

The technique also allows the attackers to get better mileage from their resources. "They could hit multiple targets with a single piece of infrastructure as opposed to hitting one target for an hour," Gaffan said.

Part of the reason attackers are sharpening their skills of deception is that defenders are getting better at blunting DDoS attacks. "The Internet as a whole is getting better at responding to these attacks," said Cisco Technical Leader for Threat Research, Craig Williams.

"We've seen DNS amplification shoot through the roof, but I suspect that's going to start dropping with the addition of RPZs that can mitigate queries and people getting better at closing down open resolvers," Williams told CSOonline.

John Mello writes on technology and cyber security for a number of online publications and is former managing editor of the Boston Business Journal and Boston Phoenix.
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