February 24, 2016-Microsoft Agrees To Buy Xamarin In Latest Mobile Cloud Push

February 24, 2016

DistilNFO IT Advisory

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Wednesday Feb 24, 2016

IT Advisory Weekly Top Stories

Google Fiber is heading close to home for its next location: San Francisco. Google announced this morning that it intends to bring its fast gigabit internet to “a portion of San Francisco,” specifically to apartments, condos, and affordable housing units. Details on exactly where and when are nonexistent for now, and Google suggests that we may be waiting a while to hear more. What Google Fiber does say is that it won’t be building out its own network in San Francisco, as it’s done in many other cities. Instead, it’…The Verge (02/24)

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8 Secret Habits Of Successful CIOS

CIOs today must keep the lights on, but also transform the business to meet the demands of real-time customer requirements. How do they stay productive? How do they find the right people to hire? What traits do they nurture? What secrets keep them ahead of the game? We’ve collected the top secret habits of successful CIOs here. Do you consider yourself successful in the role of CIO? The definition of success for CIOs has probably changed as much as the job description has changed over the last few years. Yet some CIOs seem to be navigatin…Information Week (02/24)

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Apple Shipped 11.6 Million Apple Watches Last Year Says IDC

In its first nine months selling wearables, Apple has shipped an estimated 11.6 million Apple Watches, according to a report this week from research firm IDC. That puts Apple at third place in the industry with 14.9 percent of the market, just behind Xiaomi. Fitbit is still far and away the leader, however, with 21 million shipments in 2015. The worldwide wearable tech market, which includes fitness trackers and smartwatches, grew a staggering 172 percent last year, shipping 78.1 million units. The growth was driven by the popularity of lower-c…The Verge (02/24)

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Microsoft Agrees To Buy Xamarin In Latest Mobile Cloud Push

Microsoft Corp. said it agreed to buy startup Xamarin in the tech giant’s latest move to attract more software engineers to write programs using its cloud services. Integrating Xamarin into Microsoft’s Visual Studio will improve developers’ ability to build mobile applications across Apple Inc.’s iOS, Google’s Android and Microsoft’s Windows by making it easier to share code among the different operating systems, Scott Guthrie, Microsoft’s executive vice president of cloud and enterprise, wrote Wednesday in a blog post. The terms …Bloomberg (02/24)

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Apple’s Siri Is Finally Going Where It’s Always Belonged

Apple’s voice-enabled virtual assistant already lives on the iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and Apple Watch. Now, Siri might finally come to the Mac, according to a new report from 9to5Mac’s Mark Gurman. Apple is expected to debut the new feature during its Worldwide Developer Conference in June, where the company is likely to unveil its next major software update for the Mac. Siri will be the headlining feature of this new software version, the report says. The update will reportedly bring a new button to the Mac’s menu bar next to the Spotligh…Time (02/24)

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Hertz Division Chooses Cognizant To Support IoT Plans

The equipment hire division of Hertz has contracted IT services firm Cognizant to support the implementation of its internet of things strategy HERC, the equipment rental division of Hertz, has outsourced its digital transformation to IT services firm Cognizant in a deal that will see internet of things technology implemented. Cognizant will update the division’s core business applications to integrate digital capabilities, including mobile interfaces for field technicians to improve efficiency and productivity, as well as digital services fo…Computer Weekly (02/24)

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VMware’s Hybrid Cloud Business To Be Boosted By IBM Partnership

IT Giant IBM announced that it has signed an agreement with virtualization and cloud computing provider VMware under which VMware customers will be able to migrate data from their existing data centers to the IBM Cloud. Customers can choose to migrate data to IBM’s cloud seamlessly using VMware’s vCenter management and automation tools without having to rewrite data. IBM aims to compete with public cloud market leaders such as Amazon in the growing cloud computing market. On the other hand, VMware can capitalize on its growing hybrid cloud …Forbes (02/23)

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EU Taps Microsoft Accenture Comparex To Boost Public Cloud Services

The European Commission Directorate-General for Informatics has inked a deal with Microsoft, Accenture and Comparex to provide their expertise in public cloud service schemes. Announced on Wednesday, the EC said the companies will form a consortium — with Microsoft as a subcontractor — to “enable access to new cloud and digital capabilities for public services.” The contract is for two years with the option to extend. Under the terms of the deal, the consortium will work in two areas; one for infrastructure as a service …ZD Net (02/24)

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Time Warner Cable CIO Transforms IT As Charter Merger Looms

CIOs who want to test their mettle should join a company where the IT department is disorganized and disconnected from the business. Then throw in the potential issues associated with a megamerger for good measure. Sven Gerjets is facing such challenges as the CIO of Time Warner Cable (TWC), which sits between its failed 2015 acquisition by Comcast and a pending merger with Charter Communications. “It’s an interesting transformation opportunity because with the Charter deal looming, we’ve got a lot to clean up and a lot things to get read…CIO (02/22)

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IBM Just Gave Apple Even More Enterprise Credibility

Swift happenings Reaction to the news seems to have been fairly muted, but the news will have a big impact on enterprise users engaged in digital transformation projects. There is a growing tend in which enterprises will coalesce their efforts around iOS within heterogeneous platform strategies that extend to OS X. Apple’s recently introduced Swft development language is already winning hearts and minds beyond the company’s traditional heartlands, and the decision to make the language open source seems set to pay bigger dividends. IBM’s m…Computer World (02/23)

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