In several research reports over the past year we have focused on the role that security plays in the rate of cloud adoption. On a couple of occasions we pointed out the functional gaps that exist in many typical cloud offerings. It has also been our point of view that any actual or perceived shortcomings in security are not likely to meaningfully ...

New MGI Research report: "Deploying Enterprise Apps to the Cloud: 20 Questions with Coert Baart, the CEO of release automation company XebiaLabs" ...

We recently attended VentureWire’s CloudBeat. The senior-level crowd made for great networking, and the combination of main-tent and one-on-one interviews and panels made for a lively two-day conclave of cloudy companies. With a heavy dose of Silicon Valley-think, this event was for senior business dev execs, CTOs, cloud evangel ...

New Research Report: 20 Questions with LogLogic CEO Guy Churchward, focuses on the key issues that are shaping the market for IT security management tools. Guy is one of the more technically competent enterprise technology CEOs we have spoken to in recent history. He is also someone who keenly understands the holistic picture of what is needed ...

Aside from the noise generated over the last couple of days about Google potentially acquiring Akamai, we see several other potential suitors.   ...

There is a very decent, albeit not foolproof treatment of Salesforce.com (CRM) on SeekingAlpha.com. The article looks at number of relevant accounting red flags but sometimes fails to interpret those correctly or put them into context. Some of commentary following the article highlight the discrepancies. ...

The 2012 Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) valuation guide is now available to MGI Research subscribers as well as in the MGI Research Store and via Bloomberg, L.P. ...

The $16 per share deal to acquire Convio (CNVO) by Blackbaud (BLKB) translates into an enterprise value that is slightly below that projected by our March 2011 SaaS valuation model but is still within about 10% of the target. We believe, the price reflects Convio's relatively small revenue of $77 Million and sub-par growth, profitability and effici ...

Interview with Rootstock Software CEO Pat Garrehy Is SaaS ready to support complex manufacturing solution requirements? Until recently, successful SaaS companies have excluded core manufacturing functionality, and focused on departmental and/or horizontal functionality far from the plant floor.  That’s about to change.  ...

While the overall analyst commentary generally has been pretty constructive and supportive of SAP’s $3.4 Billion bid for SuccessFactors, Inc., many questions remain.  Although many analysts believe SAP is overpaying for SuccessFactors (SFSF), in our view, the valuation is not unreasonable and is not the critical factor in assessing this deal. ...

Earlier in February we spoke at length with Joel Semeniuk who is an EVP in charge of Telerik's Agile project management division and a recognized Microsoft development tools expert. ...

Agile is a massive change agent that is dramatically transforming timeframes, quality and economics of software development. As part of “20 Questions”- an MGI Research Interview Series with leading technology industry innovators, investors, and executives, Andrew Dailey recently conducted an in-depth interview with Bill Portelli, CEO and co-founder ...

20 Questions with a leading Agile expert, CTO of Rally Software Ryan Martens. What could users expect from Agile? Are companies underestimating the impact of Agile on their applications software development backlog and on business? What are the realistic time and productivity improvements? Why haven't more companies adopted Agile? ...

MGI Research 20 Questions Session with Roy Singham - Agile Pioneer, Founder and Chairman of Thoughtworks and Thoughtworks Studios - http://bit.ly/gekNex   Mr. SIngham shares his ideas on promises and pitfalls of Agile as well as thoughts on successfully growing high tech businesses. ...

New Research Report - 20 Questions Interview on Agile with Dr. Israel Gat http://bit.ly/i5w5FH ...

In a change of heart which we were already expecting (see our note: "Who Benefits from Disarray at HP?"), HP announced that it is keeping its PC business. In a funny coincidence, the official announcement takes place right before Halloween. Still, a lot of damage has been done by this jerking around to the HP brand, its reputation with customers, s ...

New research published: "Large Systems Vendors Scorecard: October 2011" @mgiresearch #IBM, #CSCO, #ORCL, #EMC, #Dell, #HPQ, #VMW, #BRCD, #NTAP, #JNPR Our current, October 2011 vendor scorecard provides a qualitative rating for large systems vendors such as Hewlett-Packard, Oracle, Dell, IBM, EMC and Cisco. ...

New research published: "Who Benefits from the Disarray at HP?" @mgiresearch #HPQ, #Dell, #IBM, #ORCL, #EMC, #VMW, #CSCO #Cloud HP customers, investors and business partners are beginning to feel like they are stuck in a bad remake of the movie "Groundhog Day". In the film, Bill Murray's character is stuck in time and keeps waking up to face the ...

Real recovery in HP shares is not around the corner ...

The passing of Steve Jobs is impossible to capture in words. Given the massive MGI score of Apple (9,171 MGI-X score vs. 2,156 for Oracle, and HP's abysmal 1,971), though, we are admittedly impressed by the organization that Steve built.  Not so much for the stuff on the surface, which is mostly beyond precedent (e.g., success of Apple Stores ...

Over the last couple of days, two mega investors, - Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway and Leon Cooperman of Omega Advisors have announced large stakes in IBM and Research in Motion (RIM) respectively. On the heels of these announcements questions have been raised, if these two events represent a beginning of a new up cycle for tech equities. ...

US House passed the H.R. 2930 Crowdfunding Bill on November 3rd. ...

The new MGI Research Blog is now officially live. It is now integrated into our main web site. We will continue to maintain the original MGI Research Blog on Typepad as a mirror to the new site. We welcome your comments and suggestions on our posts. ...

A brief visit to Europe generated several key observations relative to EU zone economy and impact of the unfolding debt crisis on technology companies. Euro as a monetary union is in clear danger of coming apart. In addition to the mountains of direct evidence and ECB balance sheet data, there are many indirect signals. ...

Earlier this week we attended the OSBC 2011 (Open Source Business Conference) in San Francisco. Like the open source movement, this event has ebbed and flowed, and managed to stay relevant.  Here is our summary. ...