The $1.2 billion acquisition of analytics and data mining vendor SPSS by IBM is a move with positive repercussions for the rest of the industry, says KXEN founder and CEO Roger Haddad. KXEN pioneered next-generation analytics and as a result of the IBM deal moves up to rank second among the world’s independent vendors. Haddad says the IBM deal has placed the spotlight firmly on the sector, with analysts, investors and user organizations now looking more closely at the remarkable value data mining and analytics generates. “The price paid for SPSS of four times revenues and 25 times earnings shows just how valuable this sector really is,” says Haddad. “But the deal has also created a tremendous opportunity for the sector’s remaining independent vendors that KXEN is well placed to capitalize on. “There is no For Sale sign hanging in our window,” continues Haddad. “We ... (more)

Follett Corporation to Acquire BetterKnow, Inc.

RIVER GROVE, Ill., April 8, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Follett Corporation today announced it will acquire BetterKnow, Inc. a provider of tools and technology to the higher education marketplace. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. BetterKnow's products, combined with Follett's footprint on more than 1,000 college and university campuses in North America, will provide instructors and students broader, more affordable access to course materials. Instructors can identify course materials from a wide variety of sources, including traditional textbooks, digital materials, videos and even open source content.  Instructors will be able to read reviews, make their adoptions and collaborate with their peers teaching the same subject across institutions all in one place. Students can go to one place to find and purchase the specific course materials required fo... (more)

The i-Technology Right Stuff

Related Links: Wanted: 19 More of the Top Software People in the World Sung and Unsung i-Technology Heroes Who's Missing from SYS-CON's i-Technology Top Twenty?" Our search for the Twenty Top Software People in the World is nearing completion. In the SYS-CON tradition of empowering readers, we are leaving the final "cut" to you, so here are the top 40 nominations in alphabetical order. Our aim this time round is to whittle this 40 down to our final twenty, not (yet) to arrange those twenty in any order of preference. All you need to do to vote is to go to the Further Details page of any nominee you'd like to see end up in the top half of the poll when we close voting on Christmas Eve, December 24, and cast your vote or votes. To access the Further Details of each nominee just click on their name. Happy voting!   In alphabetical order the nominees are:   Tim Berner... (more)

Java Developer's Journal Exclusive: 2006 "JDJ Editors' Choice" Awards

The editors of SYS-CON Media's Java Developer's Journal are in a unique position when it comes to Java development. All are active coders in their "day jobs," and they have the good fortune in getting a heads-up on many of the latest and greatest software releases. They were asked to nominate three products from the last 12 months that they felt had not only made a major impact on their own development, but also on the Java community as a whole. The following is a list of each editor's selections and the reason why they chose that product. Joe Winchester Desktop Java Editor SwingLabs SwingLabs is an open source laboratory for exploring new ways to make Swing applications easier to write, with improved performance and greater visual appeal. It is an umbrella project for various open source initiatives sponsored by Sun Microsystems and is part of the java.net community... (more)

Eclipse Special: Remote Debugging Tomcat & JBoss Apps with Eclipse

To view our full selection of recent Eclipse stories click here Over the last several weeks I've received a few questions about remote debugging with Eclipse. I posted about this on my other blog back in February here but with not enough info for others to follow. If you go look at that blog entry you will see that I looked into 'in eclipse' debugging but did not find it satisfactory. So without further ado here is how I use Tomcat, JBoss, and Eclipse to build and debug applications. Whichever platform you are using (Tomcat or JBoss) you need to start them with the JPDA debugging enabled. For Tomcat this is very easy. In the $CATALINA_HOME/bin directory there is a script catalina.sh. If you provide the arguments 'jpda start' tomcat will startup and listen on port 8000 for a debugger connection. With JBoss its only slightly more complicated. Basically you need to speci... (more)

Creating Web Applications with the Eclipse Web Tools Project

The Web Tools Project (WTP) by the Eclipse Foundation is a set of open source tools that substantially reduce the time required for the development of Web applications, EJBs, and Web services. The WTP's current version is 0.7.1 and version 1.0 is coming later this year. The framework provides wizards and tools to create EJBs, Web components such as servlets and JSPs, and Web services using the Axis engine. It also provides source editors for HTML, JavaScript, CSS, JSP, SQL, XML, DTD, XSD, and WSDL; graphical editors for XSD, WSDL, J2EE project builders, models, and a J2EE navigator; a Web service wizard, explorer, and WS-I Test Tools; and database access, query tools, and models. In this article I'll show you how to develop and deploy a JSP Web application with WTP in less than an hour. I'll also cover the creation and deployment of a basic servlet and editing JSP ... (more)

The Top 250 Players in the Cloud Computing Ecosystem

In the run-up to the next Cloud Expo, 7th Cloud Expo (November 1–4, 2010) being held at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Silicon Valley, it's time to give my earlier list a complete overhaul. Here, accordingly, is an expanded list of the most active players in the Cloud Ecosystem. I have increased it from the 'mere' 150 I identified back in January of this year, to 250, testimony – as if any were needed! – to the fierce and continuing growth of the "Elastic IT" paradigm throughout the world of enterprise computing. Editorial note: The words in quotation marks used to describe the various services and solutions in this round-up are in every case taken from the Web sites of the companies themselves. Omissions to this Top 250 list should be sent to me via Twitter (twitter.com/jg21) and I will endeavor to include them in any future revision of this newly expanded rou... (more)

Where Are RIA Technologies Headed in 2008?

I am always being told off by i-technologists for quoting Picasso as having said that computers are useless. But I still love his reasoning? "Because they can only give you answers." Picasso, like AJAXWorld Magazine, liked questions. So we thought we would share with you what some of the world's leading rich Internet application pioneers are thinking may be the next questions that we need to see answered. From that readers can themselves infer where AJAX is headed. What are the top questions to ask next about AJAX? Eric Miraglia of Yahoo! 1.  (From March'08) How do I calculate the ROI of building my RIA on the iPhone SDK vs using AJAX? 2.  How do I assess the performance of my app and decide what to do next to make it faster?  3.  When it comes to accessibility, how do I know what's required of me for my rich web apps?  Beyond what's required, what makes good business se... (more)

Cloud Expo New York Call for Papers Now Open

Early Bird Savings Cloud Expo Cloud computing is a game changer. The cloud is disrupting traditional software and hardware business models by disrupting how IT service gets delivered. Entrepreneurial opportunities abound as this classic disruptive technology begins to proliferate, so it is no surprise that SYS-CON's industry-leading International Cloud Expo is going from strength to strength. The 5th International Cloud Expo, to be held April 19-21, 2010, at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York, NY, announces that its Call for Papers is fast approaching. Topics on which submission are welcome include all aspects of providing or using massively scalable IT-related capabilities as a service using Internet technologies (see suggested examples below). Help plant your flag in the fast-expanding business opportunity that is The Cloud: submit your speaking propos... (more)

The Next Programming Models, RIAs and Composite Applications

I’ve been around software for 20 years now. Looking back, I have mixed feelings about the progress we’ve made. The end results have been amazing but the process of building software hasn’t fundamentally changed since the 80s. In fact, I see us make some of the same mistakes over and over again. One of the common anti-patterns is over-relying on tools and frameworks instead of inventing new programming models. Layers of abstraction are fundamental to software. Some layers are defined through programming models, e.g., machine language, assembly language, 3GLs, JSP. Others are defined through a combination of tools and frameworks, e.g., MFC and Visual Studio on top of C++. There is a limit to how high we can raise a level of abstraction through tools and frameworks alone. At some point, a new programming model is the best way forward. Here are some examples: CASE tools ... (more)

Cloud Expo 2011 East To Attract 10,000 Delegates and 200 Exhibitors

SYS-CON Events announced today that the 8th International Cloud Expo will take place June 6-9, 2011, in New York City. The International Cloud Computing Conference & Expo series is the world's leading Cloud-focused event and is held three times a year, in New York, Silicon Valley and in Europe. Over 600 corporate sponsors and 10,000 industry professionals have participated in Cloud Computing Expo since its inception, more than all other Cloud-related events put together. Cloud Computing Expo 2011 East Call for Papers Deadline November 30, 2010 - SUBMIT YOUR SPEAKING PROPOSAL TODAY! The four-day event will offer a rich array of sessions led by exceptional speakers about the business and technical value of cloud computing with more than 150 sponsors and exhibitors and over 5,000 estimated delegates from well over 48 different countries. Explore Cloud Expo Sponsorship &... (more)