DICE NEWS ROUNDUP:
Adobe Plans to Cut 750 Jobs: Adobe Systems says it will cut 750 jobs as part of a restructuring plan to focus the company more on digital media and digital marketing. The company plans to reduce investment in enterprise solution products, which will lower licensing revenue. About 200 of the cuts will occur in the Bay Area. The company has eight U.S. offices, including in Seattle and Virginia. Adobe will spend up to $75 million on severance packages.Adobe also said it will end development of a mobile version of Flash. Dice News
AMD Will Cut 1,400: Advanced Micro Devices plans layoffs that will cut the company’s workforce by 10 percent. It will also end some contractual agreements in order to reduce operating costs by $118 million in 2012. The company said it has other moves in mind to streamline its business, though it didn't reveal further details. EE Times
Tech M&A Activity Has Been Growing Fast: Merger and acquisition activity in the tech arena is picking up steam. According to an Ernst & Young report, big acquisitions drove the aggregate value of global technology M&A to $56.5 billion in the third quarter, up 22 percent from a year ago, and up 8 percent from Q2. The totals beat any period since 2007. Deals involving smart mobility and business analytics were especially hot. The biggest deal of last quarter: Google’s $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola. TechCrunch
CIOs and CTOs Are Getting Less Techie: Top corporate IT executives are spending more time on business issues rather than worrying about day-to-day operations of data centers or networks. "That trend -- CIOs more involved in business issues that involve technology instead of focusing on technology infrastructure -- has been gaining steam for years," says IT employment analyst David Foote. "(I'm) noticing that the CIO job has vanished at several employers as they distribute IT strategy, investments, staffing and decision-making all over the enterprise. At some companies, the CIO now just manages external relationships with vendors and managed service providers and participates in tech and information strategy." A recent survey by the Society for Information Management found that 84 percent of CIOs were "always" engaged in the allocation of IT infrastructure resources, but only 20 percent of CTOs were "always" engaged in the allocation of IT infrastructure resources. Network World
Seattle Enjoys a Tech Renaissance: Seattle's South Lake Union district is just one neighborhood where a new wave of tech companies is moving in. The anchor tenant is Amazon, though also in the area is Salesforce.com, the fast-growing champion of so-called cloud computing, and Facebook's new office, double the size of its current rented space, is five minutes away. Zynga, the online gaming company poised for a huge public stock offering, recently took up space just south of downtown, and Google has two growing centers in Seattle and nearby suburbs, housing more than 900 employees. Reuters
Scientists Want to Build a Babbage Machine: Researchers in Britain are about to embark on a 10-year, multimillion-dollar project to build a calculating machine designed in the 1830s by British mathematician Charles Babbage. The Babbage Analytical Engine, a room-size machine that processes punch cards, will be hard to construct because no definitive set of plans exists. The hope is to crowd-source the analysis of what should be built, a process that could take ten years. The New York Times
Upcoming Tech Events IT Roadmap 2011 November 15—San Jose Industry analysts bring fresh perspectives on today’s biggest IT challenges and trends while experienced end users, from places like Google, Harvard University, Turner Broadcasting and Tickets.com share their insights into new, successful technology implementations. New York City Technology Forum 2011 November 15-16—New York The purpose of this event for and about state and local government is to foster discussion and dialogue on the use of information technology as a strategic tool for managers, executives, and policy makers. Cloud Security Alliance Congress November 16-17—Orlando Offers practical solutions for managing the transition to the cloud, and implementing security as a key component, rather than an afterthought, of this transition. Excellence in Government November 17—Washington, D.C. Best practices for government innovators. DisasterRecovery / Business Continuity Data Protection Strategies November 17—Chicago Strategies to help protect and recover your organization's most critical data; how to understand, simplify and leverage the different backup and replication techniques; how to effectively leverage the complementary technologies in DR and archiving environments; and how to develop a business case for DR. Gartner Application Architecture, Development & Integration Summit November 29-December1—Las Vegas This summit delivers on today's key applications issues. Interact with 30 Gartner analysts, your peers and solution leaders in a variety of formats to drill down into your most critical topics.
