About the only reason to be in bonds is for income. Indiv. bond prices may go up or down but you always get your original investment back if you hold on until they mature. Plus the price swings do not affect your income. When prices are down it is not a good time to sell. Be patient.
This might be the best time to sell for a VERY long time. Once interest rates start to climb, we will see the value of previously-issued bonds go down. Bond values and current interest rates work opposite of each other.
I agree that for those that acquired bonds at good rates, it makes sense to hold them for the steady return they will provide.
Does anyone think there is a better systems services company than IBM? Worth a look. Although at a high, it was one of the stand outs in the Great Recession.
My wife is a genius as she purchased at work in the '80's in the 40 -50 range + discount of 15%.
My wife's Putnam Bond fund is a good income device. She put in $120k and gets $811 per month like clock work. The annuities they talked her into are fine for the Heirs, just lousy providers of income. Our best investments are 1st deeds of trust. One for $350k pays 7% and if they default we get the 400 acre ranch with two homes back. The other is my daughter which only pays 5%. But then she is family. And will have her home paid off when I bug out of here. It also dropped their cost of living by about $300 a month. Renting can be a big waste of money when home prices are reasonable.
In my IRA I am up 25% on "C", 959% on "F" and up 31% on the bulk which is in FLPSX. Those percentages are since retiring in April 2006. I have not added any cash since then. I bought the C and F over the last 2 years. I am up 13% over the last peak in late 2007. So far so good. I keep thinking I should cash it all and just be happy with where it is now. And the other side of me is a gambler. It did drop well below half of its current value in the crash of 2008. I don't have to start taking out for 2 more years.
I think our investments are well diversified. We also have gold in the Safety deposit box. All bought under $300 per ounce. It is tempting to sell now. Just what to do with the cash. Also don't want to pay capital gains on that much all at once.
CEO Steve Jobs said on Monday the company's board of directors had granted him a medical leave of absence to allow him to focus on his health.
Jobs will continue as CEO and be involved in major strategic decisions for the company, but has asked Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook to be responsible for all of Apple’s day-to-day operations, Jobs said in an an e-mail sent to Apple employees.
"I have great confidence that Tim and the rest of the executive management team will do a terrific job executing the exciting plans we have in place for 2011. I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can," Jobs wrote.
Apple shares dropped 5 percent in trading in Frankfurt following the announcement.
Jobs' health has come into question before, creating large fluctuations in Apple shares. Cook has already managed the company on a day-to-day basis in Jobs' absence previously.
Jobs had surgery for pancreatic cancer in 2004 and also underwent a liver transplant in June 2009.
Steve Jobs has requested medical leave, and his choice of words suggests, IMHO, that his condition may be serious. While he has not stepped down, it is very possible that later this year he will do so. The inevitable is getting much closer.
We all owe a huge amount of gratitude to Steve Jobs... he is a legend and icon in his own time. I wish him well.
Even though we can all be glad that Steve is still amongst us, it is important to be prepared to buy more shares of AAPL if and when the market excessively punishes its stock price as a result of this situation... which will continue to evolve over the near term.
My wife and I were driving back home this afternoon after a nice lunch when I heard on NPR that Steve is taking a medical leave. I hope this is not very serious, but TM is probably correct that it is quite serious. However, I also agree that AAPL stock will continue to prosper overall. But this news will probably result in some sort of a break tomorrow morning.
I wish him the best. TM is both considerate and visionary in that this chapter in Steve Job's life and career that is about to be written will be both bitter and sweet.
When one comes from a place that has most positively influenced society, there is no higher honor. We all pray it is a happy and rewarding time for him and his family.
Great minds (or stupid minds) think alike. My broker had orders to buy 50 more at the opening and got filled at about the same price you did.
Unfortunately, on my new little E Trade account, there was a "cluster...." I placed an order prior to the opening to sell my 100 shares of FDX at a limit price of 95.99 so that I would have enough cash to buy 30 more shares of AAPL. Well, with my luck they had computer problem and the system was very slow to respond. It first told me my request was there. But when FDX opened way above my price, I could not see a confirmation of a sell. about 15 minutes after the opening I finally got confirmation. AAPL, meanwhile, rallied to $335. I said what the hell, "I will still buy 30 shares here. It would not take my order due to supposedly insufficient funds which was BS. I ended up calling customer service and they told me that I could no place the order to buy AAPL. I got filled at $334.28. I got screwed out of $7.
Could it be that Steve Jobs made this announcement yesterday because he knows the earnings report will be a blowout? In other words, if he knew it would be a bearish report he would have waited until tomorrow. A very bullish earnings report will take the stink out of his announcement. Anyway, that is my thinking. Good luck to those of us who bought additional shares this morning and most of all GOOD LUCK to Steve Jobs with his health issues.
My friend, that e-trade fiasco was inexcusable. I hope you contacted someone over there. At the very least to report the BS... I doubt they will give a rat's a _ _ about you.
Many years ago, I had many similar experiences with what was known as "Sure Trade". The final straw came when they blundered a huge deal... cost me big... after contacting them, they proved they could care less. I immediately pulled my money from that account, of course. I purposely left a couple dollars to force them to account for it and generate statements, just to increase their internal costs, even if only a tiny bit. I was furious. I was going to press charges, but was advised I would probably waste time and money. Bunch of crooks.
I am glad, however, that your broker got you 50 shares at the open. And, I am confident that ultimately those e-trade shares will make you money, too. So, you will be OK. But that was definitely BS the way e-trade had "computer" issues. I wouldn't be surprised if they used your money during the "delay" to skim off that $7 for themselves... having purchased it at the lower price, waiting for the price to go up and then confirming your purchase. :surprise:
Regardless, they cost you some dough. I'd tell 'em to stick it, and find a better company... before they cost you even more.
I was very upset and did talk with customer service. Unfortunately, their excuse is that they cannot guarantee anything when placing trades. This includes computer problems. That was SO upsetting. When I first encountered the problem at the opening, I thought that maybe they do not allow order placement prior to the opening. This seemed stupid. As it turned out, it was their slow computers.
I tried to place the AAPL order as soon as I got confirmation of the FDX sale. But I did not get confirmation until about 15 minutes after the opening. I was actually talking to customer service when their system would finally accept my purchase of AAPL (about 20 minutes after the opening). So, it was not a case of them cheating and trying to take the $7 profit. I will give them one more shot. If they screw up, I'm heading elsewhere.
E*Trade There are too many big discount brokers in the U.S. There have been persistent rumors that E*Trade will be bought by one of its larger competitors --Charles Schwab or TDAmeritrade. The rumors even caused a large move in E*Trade's options early last month. Broker Collins Stewart downgraded E*Trade shares recently, pointing to problems with loan portfolio growth on the banking side of the online brokerage's business.
Wall Street's view of the other two discounters is much more positive. The brokerage business has been ideal for consolidation for years. Full-service brokers went through a large number of mergers and acquisitions in the 1970s, 80s and 90s. The reason for the rollups were compelling then as they are now for E*Trade. There are a number of expensive duplicate functions among these companies -- which include marketing costs, trading platforms and administration. Either Schwab or TDAmeritrade will use those economies of scale to buy E*Trade, the weakest member of the sector.
>
Here are nine other companies that could be history this year
Well the news is out. AAPL had blowout numbers on the report. I bet when it resumes trading in a few minutes, it will trade at least $10 higher. I'll give an update.
UPDATE: How about $15 higher or about $355 per share. New highs!!
Thanks CW! This was my first experience trading (opened account on Dec. 1) with a discount broker online. I went with E-trade since my business partner had started to trade with back in the spring of 2010. I,m not going to worry about it. If they get bought out by someone like Schwab, that's fine with me.
In another report, Wells Fargo analyst Jason Maynard said IBM’s stock “has upside potential as it executes against the large data center opportunity with a well-positioned portfolio of software, hardware, and services assets.”
The tech industry is widely seen as getting a boost from strengthening demand in corporate tech products and services, including personal computers and servers.
The strength is based largely on the shift to cloud computing, in which businesses tap computing power through a network, instead of in-house data centers, and the rise of more power-efficient information technology systems.
IBM said its fourth-quarter profit rose to $5.3 billion, or $4.18 a share, compared to $4.8 billion, or $3.59 a share in the same period a year earlier. Revenue rose 7% to $29 billion.
Analysts had estimated IBM would earn $4.08 a share, and $28.2 billion in revenue, according to FactSet Research’s survey.
Only up 130% for my wife. Not stratospheric but tried and true. I wonder if it makes it to 200?
I must be missing something here. Tell me why you like IBM so much.
I can't help but think that IBM is going to find itself challenged to continue to generate those sizeable revenues. Where will it continue to come from?
1) they are soaking with cash for acquisitions. They are focused on advanced tech companies which will continue to transform the company. 2) they are focused on software services which are higher margin 3) If businesses ramp up investments in tech spending, IBM continues to grow (as Appl does on consumer spending). 4)Cloud computing - IBM will be a big player - it's the future of IT.
Not a fast return but perhaps double digits in 2011. Not 100% safe but better than most as investments go. I'm a turtle compared to you!
IMHO... We have already been in a correction for a few days. I believe it is, so far, more of a sector-focused correction,... tech and financials, for example. We will just have to wait and see where this goes. At this point, I intend to stay in the market, and unless something very disruptive occurs, I expect to ride with the market for most of this calendar year.
Unfortunately, in spite of improvements, the economy is still very unhealthy... and it is not clear if/how our government is going to handle the enormous challenge.
Just read about Brazil raising their interest rate to 11.25%. The Brazilian currency has gained against the Dollar by 100% over the last 8 years. What are the thoughts on investing to take advantage of their higher rate of return in the banks?
Brazil central bank raises interest rate to 11.25% Jan 19 07:11 PM US/Eastern
IMHO... We have already been in a correction for a few days. I believe it is, so far, more of a sector-focused correction,... tech and financials, for example. We will just have to wait and see where this goes. At this point, I intend to stay in the market, and unless something very disruptive occurs, I expect to ride with the market for most of this calendar year.
I sold only 40 shares AAPL at about $347 after the opening yesterday morning. I bought 20 back this morning back this morning at $331. Basically, I am also riding this out.
GS, is it time to purchase QLIK once again on this decent break?
On another matter, my AMZN has been getting crushed the past week or so and i don't understand why that is the case. I believe their next quarterly report is suppose to be out on the 27th. I don't see why that will not be a positive report. I know that I have been doing my share of buying all kinds of stuff at Amazon.com.
I know that I have been doing my share of buying all kinds of stuff at Amazon.com.
Me too. Amazon might be getting a hangover from F5. Not many realize it but Amazon is a big player with Cloud computing. They have extensive server/storage farms.
So not only is Amazon a retailer, they are a tech company too. I'd love to get in, but I'm going to wait for now. I've got to much tied up in Apple as it is.
It wasn’t so long ago that the primary appeal of cloud computing was cost-savings. Companies struggling to slash their operational costs moved their data and applications out of their own back offices and handed them off to cloud providers. Now the question about the cloud is turning in a new direction. CIOs who last year asked “How much can I save?” are now asking “What more can I do with it?”
Often they’ll turn to public cloud providers like Amazon or Google or Microsoft. Those are the three names that usually get mentioned in the same breath whenever enterprise cloud services come up. But what about IT giant IBM? It turns out it’s a significant player in the cloud game, offering both public and private cloud services. Last week I sat down with Ric Telford, IBM’s VP of Cloud Services to talk about how Big Blue’s cloud business is going and what it’s priorities are in the year just started.
IBM will make a few billion in acquisitions. Cloud is one of the four key growth areas we’re focused on. The others are Smarter Planet, and analytics and the growth markets. We’ve said those four growth initiatives we’re going for $20 billion in additional revenue by 2014. Four initiatives, five years, and $20 billion dollars. That’s certainly not all going to happen organically.
That's pretty interesting OW! But I have to be honest with you. I read the article and do not really understand what "cloud computing" is. I wonder how many here are as lost about this subject as I am? In any case, this is big business and IBM and AMZN will hopefully profit from it in a big way.
Charlie, I have no long-term concerns about Amazon. It's a good stock to own for the long run. If the price gets beaten up enough, just consider buying more and continue to hold it. What's not to like?
I read the article and do not really understand what "cloud computing" is.
I think it's still evolving but essentially it's utilizing storage, processing, and applications that are not local on your computer/server/network.
Ex. Netflix may need more processing power to stream movies on the weekends then during the week. The "cloud" can allow netlix to either buy or sell processing power to meet the demands over the weekend or sell their processing power during the week when demand is low.
Amazon does this, allowing their server and storage farms to be used by organizations that need extra processing/storage.
Then you have SAAS (software as as service) such as Salesforce.com and other companies a software on demand model where the software being used is not necessarily located on a local pc or server. i.e. gmail and it's online calendar and productivity suite works that way. I can access it from any web connected device and any email or document I store is located in the "cloud" not my computer. It could be located on a Google server or maybe even an Amazon server or storage facility or a combination of both.
Think of Cloud Computing this way: You need the power of a full-blown ERP system, so you rent it instead of buying the hardware. Same with services.
Think of the Verizon commercial with the unending team waiting to support each call on your cell...
It's a virtual IT pool to support your business.
From wikipedia:
Cloud computing is location-independent computing, whereby shared servers provide resources, software, and data to computers and other devices on demand, as with the electricity grid. Cloud computing is a natural evolution of the widespread adoption of virtualization, service-oriented architecture and utility computing. Details are abstracted from consumers, who no longer have need for expertise in, or control over, the technology infrastructure "in the cloud" that supports them.[1]
So, you buy a cloud to do whatever you would need a computer to do. All you need is an address...secure, of course!
I'm sure some of you have the same concern that I have about one of our own (Len). Since he informed us (about 3-4 weeks ago) that he got diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, we have not heard from him at all. Please Len, stop in and say hello so that we know you are doing fine.
I'm fine Charlie. Been meaning to post but every night I get caught up in a local weatherboard and I forget to stop in. I'm back to 100% myself with sugar under excellent control. Been real busy catching up on things and closing out the books of the company. I have an audit to deal with, a budget that I just gave to the bank and I'm trying nicely to say no to someone who wants to buy us and tell them they are 2 years too early. But they are throwing a nice multiple at me. However business is great, the ad economy is booming (just watch autos and if they are selling and advertising we love it), we have record contracts and just closed a record profit year, we are strategizing a new product that has tested very well and are sitting on the biggest prospect list ever and myself and partners are having a lot of fun. So it's hard to sell out now, and these folks came and found us.
I've not made any changes in equity positions and I'm convinced the economy is gaining steam and we are headed for 14K on the Dow and 500+ for Apple. I did buy some more Apple on the Steve Jobs news. What an earnings report!
Now about the weather here. This winter is a killer. Another storm with blizzard conditions and 8-12" snows now predicted for tomorrow (still have a solid 6- 8" of cement, 2-3 feet in spots on the ground from 12/26 and following storms) and its non-stop cold. I never took any pix of the blizzard here but my daughter did and I attach them for you. The first one is of my dog and is funny as he looks out the patio door and wonders how he's going to get outside.
I'm sure that I speak for everyone here that we are very much relieved that you are HEALTHY Len. That is awesome news. I was honestly getting concerned that something had happened since the first of the year. That must be the Greek in me (worrying).
You are certainly having a snowlover's delight kind of a winter. Amazing!
It's great to hear that you agree about the economy and the stock market. AAPL has been phenomenal.
we are headed for 14K on the Dow and 500+ for Apple
Good to hear from you Len. Now, can I assume that the DOW at 14K will be the result of huge financial sector run up?
Now if someone offered my partner and I a few millions for our company, we would jump at it, and then I'd go fishing and golfing in Florida. I hate this ice/snow stuff.
Comments
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
I agree that for those that acquired bonds at good rates, it makes sense to hold them for the steady return they will provide.
TM
My wife is a genius as she purchased at work in the '80's in the 40 -50 range + discount of 15%.
I'm a lucky guy!
Close: 150.
Regards,
OW
In my IRA I am up 25% on "C", 959% on "F" and up 31% on the bulk which is in FLPSX. Those percentages are since retiring in April 2006. I have not added any cash since then. I bought the C and F over the last 2 years. I am up 13% over the last peak in late 2007. So far so good. I keep thinking I should cash it all and just be happy with where it is now. And the other side of me is a gambler. It did drop well below half of its current value in the crash of 2008. I don't have to start taking out for 2 more years.
Fantastic testimonial to the wisdom of having invested in Citigroup and Ford.
And interesting info regarding the first deeds.
TM
CEO Steve Jobs said on Monday the company's board of directors had granted him a medical leave of absence to allow him to focus on his health.
Jobs will continue as CEO and be involved in major strategic decisions for the company, but has asked Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook to be responsible for all of Apple’s day-to-day operations, Jobs said in an an e-mail sent to Apple employees.
"I have great confidence that Tim and the rest of the executive management team will do a terrific job executing the exciting plans we have in place for 2011. I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can," Jobs wrote.
Apple shares dropped 5 percent in trading in Frankfurt following the announcement.
Jobs' health has come into question before, creating large fluctuations in Apple shares. Cook has already managed the company on a day-to-day basis in Jobs' absence previously.
Jobs had surgery for pancreatic cancer in 2004 and also underwent a liver transplant in June 2009.
THIS COULD BE IT. The beginning of the end.
Steve Jobs has requested medical leave, and his choice of words suggests, IMHO, that his condition may be serious. While he has not stepped down, it is very possible that later this year he will do so. The inevitable is getting much closer.
We all owe a huge amount of gratitude to Steve Jobs... he is a legend and icon in his own time. I wish him well.
Even though we can all be glad that Steve is still amongst us, it is important to be prepared to buy more shares of AAPL if and when the market excessively punishes its stock price as a result of this situation... which will continue to evolve over the near term.
TM
When one comes from a place that has most positively influenced society, there is no higher honor. We all pray it is a happy and rewarding time for him and his family.
Regards,
OW
AAPLE pre-market trading shows 5% drop in share price.
Buying opportunity? Volatility ahead?
My order is already in. Going to be interesting.
TM
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
I own more AAPL now at $327.05/share.
If it goes down from there, I'll buy even more.
TM
Great minds (or stupid minds) think alike. My broker had orders to buy 50 more at the opening and got filled at about the same price you did.
Unfortunately, on my new little E Trade account, there was a "cluster...." I placed an order prior to the opening to sell my 100 shares of FDX at a limit price of 95.99 so that I would have enough cash to buy 30 more shares of AAPL. Well, with my luck they had computer problem and the system was very slow to respond. It first told me my request was there. But when FDX opened way above my price, I could not see a confirmation of a sell. about 15 minutes after the opening I finally got confirmation. AAPL, meanwhile, rallied to $335. I said what the hell, "I will still buy 30 shares here. It would not take my order due to supposedly insufficient funds which was BS. I ended up calling customer service and they told me that I could no place the order to buy AAPL. I got filled at $334.28. I got screwed out of $7.
Could it be that Steve Jobs made this announcement yesterday because he knows the earnings report will be a blowout? In other words, if he knew it would be a bearish report he would have waited until tomorrow. A very bullish earnings report will take the stink out of his announcement. Anyway, that is my thinking. Good luck to those of us who bought additional shares this morning and most of all GOOD LUCK to Steve Jobs with his health issues.
Many years ago, I had many similar experiences with what was known as "Sure Trade". The final straw came when they blundered a huge deal... cost me big... after contacting them, they proved they could care less. I immediately pulled my money from that account, of course. I purposely left a couple dollars to force them to account for it and generate statements, just to increase their internal costs, even if only a tiny bit. I was furious. I was going to press charges, but was advised I would probably waste time and money. Bunch of crooks.
I am glad, however, that your broker got you 50 shares at the open. And, I am confident that ultimately those e-trade shares will make you money, too. So, you will be OK. But that was definitely BS the way e-trade had "computer" issues. I wouldn't be surprised if they used your money during the "delay" to skim off that $7 for themselves... having purchased it at the lower price, waiting for the price to go up and then confirming your purchase. :surprise:
Regardless, they cost you some dough. I'd tell 'em to stick it, and find a better company... before they cost you even more.
TM
I tried to place the AAPL order as soon as I got confirmation of the FDX sale. But I did not get confirmation until about 15 minutes after the opening. I was actually talking to customer service when their system would finally accept my purchase of AAPL (about 20 minutes after the opening). So, it was not a case of them cheating and trying to take the $7 profit. I will give them one more shot. If they screw up, I'm heading elsewhere.
E*Trade
There are too many big discount brokers in the U.S. There have been persistent rumors that E*Trade will be bought by one of its larger competitors --Charles Schwab or TDAmeritrade. The rumors even caused a large move in E*Trade's options early last month. Broker Collins Stewart downgraded E*Trade shares recently, pointing to problems with loan portfolio growth on the banking side of the online brokerage's business.
Wall Street's view of the other two discounters is much more positive. The brokerage business has been ideal for consolidation for years. Full-service brokers went through a large number of mergers and acquisitions in the 1970s, 80s and 90s. The reason for the rollups were compelling then as they are now for E*Trade. There are a number of expensive duplicate functions among these companies -- which include marketing costs, trading platforms and administration. Either Schwab or TDAmeritrade will use those economies of scale to buy E*Trade, the weakest member of the sector.
>
Here are nine other companies that could be history this year
10 American Companies That Will Disappear in 2011
See full article from DailyFinance: http://srph.it/hddPIe
Regards,
OW
UPDATE: How about $15 higher or about $355 per share. New highs!!
Thanks CW! This was my first experience trading (opened account on Dec. 1) with a discount broker online. I went with E-trade since my business partner had started to trade with back in the spring of 2010. I,m not going to worry about it. If they get bought out by someone like Schwab, that's fine with me.
The tech industry is widely seen as getting a boost from strengthening demand in corporate tech products and services, including personal computers and servers.
The strength is based largely on the shift to cloud computing, in which businesses tap computing power through a network, instead of in-house data centers, and the rise of more power-efficient information technology systems.
IBM said its fourth-quarter profit rose to $5.3 billion, or $4.18 a share, compared to $4.8 billion, or $3.59 a share in the same period a year earlier. Revenue rose 7% to $29 billion.
Analysts had estimated IBM would earn $4.08 a share, and $28.2 billion in revenue, according to FactSet Research’s survey.
Only up 130% for my wife. Not stratospheric but tried and true. I wonder if it makes it to 200?
Regards,
OW
I must be missing something here. Tell me why you like IBM so much.
I can't help but think that IBM is going to find itself challenged to continue to generate those sizeable revenues. Where will it continue to come from?
TM
1) they are soaking with cash for acquisitions. They are focused on advanced tech companies which will continue to transform the company.
2) they are focused on software services which are higher margin
3) If businesses ramp up investments in tech spending, IBM continues to grow (as Appl does on consumer spending).
4)Cloud computing - IBM will be a big player - it's the future of IT.
Not a fast return but perhaps double digits in 2011. Not 100% safe but better than most as investments go. I'm a turtle compared to you!
Regards,
OW
TM
Unfortunately, in spite of improvements, the economy is still very unhealthy... and it is not clear if/how our government is going to handle the enormous challenge.
TM
Brazil central bank raises interest rate to 11.25%
Jan 19 07:11 PM US/Eastern
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.2b77591c55e379cfdb5543b179328f06.d51- &show_article=1
I sold only 40 shares AAPL at about $347 after the opening yesterday morning. I bought 20 back this morning back this morning at $331. Basically, I am also riding this out.
Careful, my good buddy... you might be inching your way towards being a day-trader!
TM
Hmmm. Something about pots & kettles comes to mind.
I've had lots of experience in day trading with commodities, but hardly any with stocks.
A caring word of caution from one that knows the ropes, and the dangers that can lie therein.
TM
As Spiderman's dad said, "With great power comes great responsibility."
TM
On another matter, my AMZN has been getting crushed the past week or so and i don't understand why that is the case. I believe their next quarterly report is suppose to be out on the 27th. I don't see why that will not be a positive report. I know that I have been doing my share of buying all kinds of stuff at Amazon.com.
Me too. Amazon might be getting a hangover from F5. Not many realize it but Amazon is a big player with Cloud computing. They have extensive server/storage farms.
So not only is Amazon a retailer, they are a tech company too. I'd love to get in, but I'm going to wait for now. I've got to much tied up in Apple as it is.
It wasn’t so long ago that the primary appeal of cloud computing was cost-savings. Companies struggling to slash their operational costs moved their data and applications out of their own back offices and handed them off to cloud providers. Now the question about the cloud is turning in a new direction. CIOs who last year asked “How much can I save?” are now asking “What more can I do with it?”
Often they’ll turn to public cloud providers like Amazon or Google or Microsoft. Those are the three names that usually get mentioned in the same breath whenever enterprise cloud services come up. But what about IT giant IBM? It turns out it’s a significant player in the cloud game, offering both public and private cloud services. Last week I sat down with Ric Telford, IBM’s VP of Cloud Services to talk about how Big Blue’s cloud business is going and what it’s priorities are in the year just started.
Here's the total article.
In the Clouds...
IBM will make a few billion in acquisitions. Cloud is one of the four key growth areas we’re focused on. The others are Smarter Planet, and analytics and the growth markets. We’ve said those four growth initiatives we’re going for $20 billion in additional revenue by 2014. Four initiatives, five years, and $20 billion dollars. That’s certainly not all going to happen organically.
Regards,
OW
IMHO.
TM
I think it's still evolving but essentially it's utilizing storage, processing, and applications that are not local on your computer/server/network.
Ex. Netflix may need more processing power to stream movies on the weekends then during the week. The "cloud" can allow netlix to either buy or sell processing power to meet the demands over the weekend or sell their processing power during the week when demand is low.
Amazon does this, allowing their server and storage farms to be used by organizations that need extra processing/storage.
Then you have SAAS (software as as service) such as Salesforce.com and other companies a software on demand model where the software being used is not necessarily located on a local pc or server. i.e. gmail and it's online calendar and productivity suite works that way. I can access it from any web connected device and any email or document I store is located in the "cloud" not my computer. It could be located on a Google server or maybe even an Amazon server or storage facility or a combination of both.
Hope that helps.
Think of the Verizon commercial with the unending team waiting to support each call on your cell...
It's a virtual IT pool to support your business.
From wikipedia:
Cloud computing is location-independent computing, whereby shared servers provide resources, software, and data to computers and other devices on demand, as with the electricity grid. Cloud computing is a natural evolution of the widespread adoption of virtualization, service-oriented architecture and utility computing. Details are abstracted from consumers, who no longer have need for expertise in, or control over, the technology infrastructure "in the cloud" that supports them.[1]
So, you buy a cloud to do whatever you would need a computer to do. All you need is an address...secure, of course!
Regards,
OW
I've not made any changes in equity positions and I'm convinced the economy is gaining steam and we are headed for 14K on the Dow and 500+ for Apple. I did buy some more Apple on the Steve Jobs news. What an earnings report!
Now about the weather here. This winter is a killer. Another storm with blizzard conditions and 8-12" snows now predicted for tomorrow (still have a solid 6- 8" of cement, 2-3 feet in spots on the ground from 12/26 and following storms) and its non-stop cold. I never took any pix of the blizzard here but my daughter did and I attach them for you. The first one is of my dog and is funny as he looks out the patio door and wonders how he's going to get outside.
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=iz6q9c&s=7
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2u8i3qh&s=7
You are certainly having a snowlover's delight kind of a winter. Amazing!
It's great to hear that you agree about the economy and the stock market. AAPL has been phenomenal.
Good to hear from you Len. Now, can I assume that the DOW at 14K will be the result of huge financial sector run up?
Now if someone offered my partner and I a few millions for our company, we would jump at it, and then I'd go fishing and golfing in Florida. I hate this ice/snow stuff.
Re selling - Too much growth in the pipeline. Gotta leave enough runway for any buyer but right now that runway is too long.
Hell of a snowstorm going on here with whiteout conditions. Gonna be yet another 12-15" or more storm. I feel like I'm living in Maine.
Maine has nothing on you this season. Hell, I believe you have picked up much more snow than Portland, ME to this point.
I hope that will be the case for all of 2011.