LITTLE ROCK — 14% rise seen for software as service
Global revenue from selling software as a service to businesses will rise about 14 percent this year to more than $8.5 billion as companies shift more resources to this model, according to information-technology research firm Gartner Inc.
Software-as-a-service, or SaaS, refers to software that is primarily delivered remotely via Internet connections rather than hosted on a user’s own servers. This business will account for about 16 percent of combined revenue within enterprise software markets by 2014, Gartner said in an e-mailed statement.
So-called cloud computing, of which SaaS is an example, is growing in popularity as businesses look to reduce the costs of maintaining their own systems. In May, International Business Machines Corp., the largest computer services provider, bought Sterling Commerce for $1.4 billion to bolster its enterprise cloud offerings.
Adoption of SaaS is likely to “far outpace” overall market growth through 2014, Sharon Mertz, research director, said in the statement. The technology will become more popular as “tighter capital budgets demand leaner alternatives,” she said.
Kinect game controller price $150
NEW YORK - Microsoft says its Kinect motion-sensing game controller will cost $150 when it goes on sale Nov. 4.
The Kinect system recognizes a user’s gestures and voices, so the user can control onscreen characters in racing, action and sports games simply by speaking or moving his body. It will come packaged with a game, Kinect Adventures.
Microsoft Corp. said last week it will also start selling an entry-level Xbox 360 game console in August. The $200 unit will have a 4-gigabyte hard drive. It’s $100 less than the Xbox with much more storage, 250 gigabytes.
The entry-level console, plus Kinect and the game, will also be available as a bundle for $300.
Facebook: At 500 million members
Facebook, the social network created in the dormitories of Harvard University six years ago, said last week that it now had 500 million members.
The company has doubled in size from a year ago and is pushing international competitors aside.
Each month, Facebook says, more than 30 billion photographs, links to websites and news articles are shared through the site, and its members spend roughly 700 billion minutes there.
“This is an important milestone for all of you who have helped spread Facebook around the world,” Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s 26-year-old chief executive, said in a company blog post.
Facebook’s rise has not been without some stumbles.
Most recently, the company was the focus of intense scrutiny over changes to its site that encouraged members to make more information about themselves accessible to anyone on the Internet.
But if anything, the site’s steady growth in spite of its setbacks only validates the company’s approach, said Ray Valdes, an analyst at the research firm Gartner.
Facebook has been aggressive in pushing users “to the edge of their comfort zone,” Valdes said. “But Facebook has proven that it can weather those challenges and still grow.”
Google boosts lobbying for Net rules
Google Inc., which favors regulations on Internet providers, increased its spending on lobbying by 50 percent this year as the Federal Communications Commission took up the regulation issue.
Google, based in Mountain View, Calif., spent $2.7 million on lobbying activities in the first six months of 2010, compared with $1.8 million during the same period in 2009.
The FCC is trying to develop a consensus on ways to allow the commission to regulate providers such as Verizon Communications Inc. and Comcast Corp. Google participated in talks led by congressional staff members last month.
The commission is seeking comments until Aug. 12 on adopting so-called net-neutrality rules that would prevent companies that provide Web access from favoring some sites over others or limiting subscribers’ traffic. The commission didn’t say when it might act.
Chairman Julius Genachowski has proposed that the agency use the same rules to regulate the Internet that it now uses to oversee telephone service. Verizon chief executive Ivan Seidenberg has said the idea would “cause uncertainly in the marketplace, create disincentives for investment,” and make the telecommunications industry less competitive.
Genachowski’s efforts followed a U.S. appeals court decision in April that the FCC didn’t have the authority to censure Comcast for blocking subscribers using peer-topeer software often used to view videos.
Business, Pages 22 on 07/26/2010