HP buys, Google's un-evil twin (and an encyclopediatastic parody)

In today's IT Blogwatch, we look at HP's purchases of Peregrine and AppIQ. Also we'll decrypt Google's new free beta software. Not to mention a hysterical parody of Wikipedia...

HP on acquisition spree, say China Martens and Lucas Mearian: "...plans to acquire IT asset and service management software vendor Peregrine Systems Inc. in a cash deal for $425 million ... HP said it hopes to position itself as one of the market leaders in asset management software ... HP [also] announced plans to buy storage resource management (SRM) vendor AppIQ Inc. for an undisclosed amount, part of an effort to create a single management interface for all HP server and storage products." Andrew Orlowski is his usual curmudgeonly self: "Peregrine hit the headlines three years ago, and eleven officials were eventually indicted on fraud and conspiracy charges including its CEO and CFO were eventually indicted on fraud and conspiracy charges by the [SEC] and the DoJ ... Peregrine admitted it had exaggerated earnings by over $500 million ... HP is paying a considerable premium for Peregrine: the cash deal values the software house at 36 per cent more than its public stock market valuation." But what of AppIQ? David Utter utters this explanation: "High ticket items will have high expectations among their customers. An improved management solution, such as AppIQ's, would make the price tag more acceptable to the typical tight-fisted IT buyer." Mario Apicella asks, "Are you ready for StorageWorks AppIQ? ... HP is pretty good at flexing its sales muscles, for example putting together difficult_to_refuse bundles, so I wouldn't be surprised if AppIQ would be offered, already installed on a Proliant, as an add on for an EVA or XP array ... Now, when the deal completes they will have the golden boy of storage management on their side. Messing things up should be difficult, but you never know ... The last I heard from AppIQ, they were promoting a multivendor effort to create open standards for storage management. Not sure if that will stand under HP rules, but if it does, the other vendors should jump on it."

Google's quietly testing a Wi-Fi crypto service, Google Secure Access Client, which gives you a free VPN for when you're using public wireless networks. Nathan Weinberg foresees another privacy debacle: "Google wants another crack at your entire internet traffic ... routing massive net traffic through Google’s servers is a huge financial undertaking. And in any situation, you must always follow the money. Since the program and service is free the only conclusion is that Google is trying, once again, to get its hands on all of your internet traffic for data collection purposes. Google tried pulling the same thing with Web Accelerator, and the net freaked out. Ultimately, Web Accelerator was pulled." Mark Jen explains: "Upside: ...it’s pretty much VPN-grade security for everyone and of course, it’s free! Downside? … what are they doing with all your net traffic history? ... They are hopefully just using aggregate metrics to optimize and improve the service. Worst case though is that [Google wants to] understand how you personally use the Internet. Ok, ok, enough conspiracy theory."Jeremy Zawodny took a peek and decided that this is, "A regional test deployment. Add this to the GoogleNet bids and you've got some interesting afoot at the Circle K, huh?" Nick W imagines the conversation at Google galactic HQ: "Ok Larry, we couldn't get the bastards' data with GWA, you reckon we can get 'em with GSA? Sure Serg, they're pretty stooopid."

Buffer overflow:

• Linux-based handheld that's open, powerful and cheap
• Here we go again: more anti-spam idiocy
• High Gas Prices To Help The Tech Industry?
• The little Linux email that could
• Or does the cell phone become the smart card?
• More on the coming boom in smart cards
• Target: Desktop
• Standardizing Linux
• The 7 heads of the longhorn hydra
• Swipe here to steal ID
• XBRITE marks the spot?
• RAND on electronic health records

And finally... Ceci n'est pas le Wikipedia.

Richi Jennings is an independent technology and marketing consultant, specializing in email, blogging, Linux, and computer security. A 20 year, cross-functional IT veteran, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. Contact Richi at blogwatch@richi.co.uk.