Dice News Roundup:
More Mobile Devices Than People in 2012: The number of mobile-connected devices will exceed the number of people on earth by the end of 2012, and by 2016, there will be 1.4 mobile devices per capita. That year, there will be over 10 billion, including machine-to-machine (M2M) modules. That’s the key finding in Cisco’s
Visual Networking Index (VNI) Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, which also says that mobile data traffic grew 2.3-fold over 2011, more than doubling for the fourth year in a row. In 2011, mobile data traffic was eight times the size of the entire global Internet in 2000 (597 petabytes vs. 75 petabytes).
TechCrunch New Fed Budget Calls for Some IT Cuts: U.S. government spending on IT would decline 1.2 percent next fiscal year under the budget proposal from the Obama Administration. The technology budget calls for $78.9 billion in spending next year, led by Defense Department reductions, as the administration promotes savings and efficiencies in federal-data programs. The administration has been trying to hold federal IT spending steady while increasing efficiency through the use of cloud computing and mobile devices. Information technology expenditures rose 7.1 percent a year on average from 2001 to 2009 and “has effectively been halted” with no growth from 2009 to 2013, according to the budget.
Bloomberg Outsourcing Appears to be Declining: Outsourcing in the U.S. tech industry has declined for the third straight year, according to a study by accounting firm BDO Seidman. Among the 100 U.S. CFOs polled, just 32 percent say they outsource services or manufacturing to companies outside the U.S. That’s a big drop since 2009, when nearly twice as many companies (62 percent) were outsourcing. As the tech industry moves jobs home, companies are looking to bolster their work force in 2012. In fact, 50 percent of CFOs plan to hire more employees this year. Among the companies not currently outsourcing, 80 percent report that they are unlikely to outsource services or manufacturing in the near future.
Business News Daily Connecticut Offers Big Bucks to Tech Startups: Connecticut officials are committing $250 million over five years to help develop startup technology companies in the state. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy promised that the "deployment of $250 million will accelerate growth in high-tech startups and redefine how we help bring innovative ideas to the marketplace."
CBS News Oracle’s Purchase of Taleo Extends Its Cloud Ambitions: Oracle has taken another swipe at SAP with the
$1.9 billion purchase of Taleo Corp., a company that helps businesses hire and manage their employees using cloud-based technologies. The deal comes just two months after SAP agreed to buy a similar software service, SuccessFactors, for $3.4 billion. "Many of Oracle's recent acquisitions are of companies that specialize in delivering software and services over the Internet. Oracle and other advocates of cloud-based computing are trying to convince customers that they can save money that way by avoiding costs associated with installing and maintaining products on individual machines.
USA Today Senators Want DHS to Have More Cybersecurity Power: A bipartisan group of senators has introduced long-awaited cybersecurity legislation that would give the Department of Homeland Security new authority over critical private-sector infrastructure and seek to encourage the sharing of information about threats and attacks between government and industry. The Cybersecurity Act of 2012 would direct DHS to work in concert with industry and relevant agencies to conduct a series of risk assessments and determine which private-sector firms could operate "covered critical infrastructure," a designation that would determine whether a private-sector entity could be subjected to new regulatory oversight.
CIO.com
Upcoming Tech Events
Cloud Computing for DoD & Government February 21-23—Washington, D.C. IDGA's third annual event is your opportunity to claim your place in the virtual world of DoD and federal government data storage. This time-critical event will emphasize how cloud computing can cost-effectively revolutionize the way your enterprise works
Mobile World Congress February 27-March 1—Barcelona Mobile is enhancing and expanding education and thus, transforming the world. Mobile World Congress 2012 will celebrate the current state of mobile and offer a glimpse into where mobile has the potential to go next.
TED February 27-March 2—Long Beach, CA From dazzling technology and leading-edge science to the richest veins of human creativity and interconnection, TED 2012 will display remarkable speakers, new uses of music, extravagant use of underused senses, intricate choreography between speaker and screen, new ways of involving the audience, breakthroughs in animation, intense, campfire-style storytelling and some "spectacular surprises."
