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Technology Stocks : Cloud, edge and decentralized computing -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (164)	8/21/2008 3:55:29 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 1685

Salesforce.com Slides Most Since 2004 as Growth Slows (Update2) By Rochelle Garner Aug. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Salesforce.com Inc., the biggest seller of Web-based customer-management software, dropped the most in four years in New York trading after sales growth slowed and an acquisition cut earnings projections. Deferred revenue, a signal of future sales, grew 49 percent last quarter, San Francisco-based Salesforce.com said yesterday. That was down from 59 percent in the first quarter. The purchase of customer-service program maker InStranet Inc. will reduce profit by 5 cents a share this year. Investors anticipated bigger sales and profit growth after a 65 percent gain in the stock in the past year, said Sasa Zorovic, a Goldman, Sachs & Co. analyst. Chief Executive Officer Marc Benioff aims to maintain the company's expansion by tapping new markets such as call centers for its Web-based business software. ``The stock is down because the expectations were so high,'' Zorovic said in an interview. The New York-based analyst, who advises selling the shares, said his rating is under review. ``This is an expensive stock, and that means you have to give people more across the board -- and that's not what happened.'' Salesforce.com fell $10.63, or 16 percent, to $54.67 at 12:37 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. That's the biggest one-day decline since July 2004. Third Quarter Profit will be 6 cents to 7 cents a share in the third quarter, the company said. The $31.5 million InStranet purchase will reduce earnings by 2 cents in the period. Analysts had estimated profit of 9 cents on average, according to a Bloomberg survey. Sales will be $273 million to $274 million, the company said. Analysts had estimated $272.4 million. Net income in the second quarter climbed to $10 million, or 8 cents a share, from $3.74 million, or 3 cents, a year earlier. That matched the average estimate. Sales rose 49 percent to $263.1 million in the period, which ended July 31. Analysts projected $259.7 million. Deferred revenue, payments for the portion of software subscriptions that haven't been used yet, rose to about $480 million last quarter. While that topped the $475 million anticipated by Zorovic, shareholders wanted as much as $500 million, he said. The deferred-revenue number is hard to predict, Benioff said yesterday. ``We don't run our business with deferred revenue as one of our core metrics,'' he said in an interview. Salesforce.com's research-and-development spending rose 59 percent last quarter to $24 million. Marketing costs climbed 45 percent to $130.8 million. To contact the reporter on this story: Rochelle Garner in San Francisco at rgarner4@bloomberg.net Last Updated: August 21, 2008 12:40 EDT

To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (164)	8/22/2008 2:14:51 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 1685

Will cloud computing transform IT? seattlepi.nwsource.com Cloud Computing: The Coming IT Cambrian Explosion xconomy.com

To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (164)	8/27/2008 12:58:21 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 1685

Enterprise SaaS Solutions: A different animal saasaccel.blogspot.com

To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (164)	8/27/2008 2:13:08 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 1685

Cloud computing bursting on the corporate scene masshightech.com

To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (164)	8/29/2008 2:17:54 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 1685

Microsoft co-founder thinks cloud storage will advance faster than cloud computing byteandswitch.com

To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (164)	9/15/2008 3:37:51 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 1685

Zetta, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based provider of cloud storage solutions for enterprises, has raised $10.68 million in Series A funding from Sigma Partners and Foundation Capital. PRESS RELEASE / September 15th, 2008 Zetta, a provider of cloud storage solutions for enterprises, today announced that it has closed a $10.68 million Series A financing round led by venture capital firms Sigma Partners and Foundation Capital. Zetta plans to use the funding to expand product development, marketing and operations. Zetta was founded by industry veterans Lou Montulli, Jeff Whitehead, Jason Harrison and Jeff Treuhaft. Backed by decades of distributed systems technology and services experience, Zetta is advancing the state of the art for enterprise storage by delivering feature rich solutions for IT administrators without the costs, complexities and risks associated with traditional storage software and hardware solutions. “We are very excited to have Sigma Partners and Foundation Capital as our lead investors,” said Jeff Treuhaft, Zetta CEO. “We are bringing unique innovations to the enterprise storage market and the experience and success of our investors at EqualLogic and VMware will prove invaluable as we continue to accelerate our company.” About Sigma Partners Founded in 1984, Sigma Partners is a leading early-stage venture capital firm. The Sigma team uses their deep operational experience to provide entrepreneurs with practical strategic counsel through every phase of company growth. With over $1.5 billion under management and bicoastal offices, Sigma invests in innovative technology startups across the United States. For more information, visit sigmapartners.com. About Foundation Capital Founded in 1995, Foundation Capital is a venture capital firm committed to supporting entrepreneurs and their companies, targeting innovative opportunities in telecommunications and networking; Internet infrastructure; and enterprise software and on demand services. Foundation Capital funds total more than $1.6 billion. For more information, visit foundationcapital.com. About Zetta, Inc. Founded in 2007 by industry veterans, Zetta is a privately held company headquartered in Silicon Valley. Zetta delivers storage solutions to enterprises that increase productivity, data availability and data protection while reducing the costs, complexities and risks of traditional storage hardware and software solutions. For more information, visit zetta.net.