270 Days into Meg Whitman’s Tenure as CEO of Hewlett Packard

270 days into Meg Whitman’s tenure as CEO of Hewlett Packard and battleship HP is listing.  When interviewed by the Wall Street Journal June 26  about Hewlett Packard’s situation, CEO Meg Whitman replied, "Most turnarounds in American industry are anywhere between four and five years.  And we're at the beginning of the journey, not the end of the journey.  Ultimately, you will see the sales decline slow and start to grow again, with the caveat that our services businesses may be a smaller but more profitable business." 

The stock hit a one-year low of $16.24 on June 26.  This is even a 7 year low. Hewlett Packard’s  52 week high of $37.70 occurred last June. June 28 update - A new low of $19.12 was hit.

Some Recent Occurrences   

In a memo sent to channel partners (obtained by CRN) and signed by "The HP Channel Leadership Team,"  the channel was told that executives Scott Dunshire and Mike Parrottino are switching the roles within HP that they were assigned to only two months ago. 

  http://www.crn.com/news/data-center/240002591/hp-names-new-channel-leaders-searching-for-rauch-replacement.htm

 

The lawsuit over Hurd’s payout of $40 million by Hewlett Packard  was dismissed (this was good!) http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/22/us-hp-hurd-lawsuit-idUSBRE85L0XE20120622

 

The Oracle - HP court case still has not been settled.  It should be decided shortly.  http://www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Infrastructure/HP-Oracle-Dispute-Over-Itanium-Now-in-Judges-Hands-473740/

 

HP announced that about 8,000 of the planned 9,000 of the layoffs  will be in the US.  Bad for the US.  She has announced that some of the cuts will be through attrition.  http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/258293/hp_to_trim_9000_jobs_in_us_as_part_of_costcutting_plan.html

 

Hewlett-Packard   released an open source version of WebOS that can be used on legacy TouchPad tablets on June 27.  This is good. Meg Whitman had talked about this soon after being named CEO.   http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9228561/HP_releases_open_source_webOS_Community_Edition_for_TouchPads

 

"There is a lot of frustration and disappointment about what has happened" at HP, said J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz, adding that the tech giant will have to demonstrate significant improvement within a year to reassure skittish shareholders.  http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_20908742/hp-hewlett-packard-long-term-turnaround-tests-investors-patience

There is not a lot of confidence within the channel or the marketplace.There has to be a rudder on this ship somewhere. Whitman has to explain how her actions fit into the big picture of a turnaround.  And the actions have to begin to affect positive change. Or she won't be around to celebrate her fifth or second anniversary of being named CEO.

Seminal Moment for Meg Whitman and Hewlett Packard http://kensek.blogspot.com/2012/05/seminal-moment-for-hewlett-packard-and.html

The Meg Whitman Era – Six Months In http://kensek.blogspot.com/2012/03/meg-whitman-era-at-hewlett-packard-six.html

 

Meg Whitman Era Begins at Hewlett Packard http://kensek.blogspot.com/2011/09/meg-whitman-era-begins-at-hewlett.html

 

Webroot Kills E-mail Security Service, Plans End-Point Offensive

Webroot notified its US resellers on around January 18 that it intended to exit the e-mail security service business. This is in favor of an aggressive endpoint security offensive. This offensive will be spearheaded by a new anti-malware solution for businesses. This was according to a letter viewed by CRN.

"Webroot is exiting the e-mail security business. We will not accept new business orders or renewals for this service," the company stated in the letter.

http://www.crn.com/news/security/232500092/webroot-kills-e-mail-security-service-plans-end-point-offensive.htm

Webroot moved quickly. According to a January 19 CRN article, they have sold their archiving business to Sonian. Sonian will add about 1,000 customers as a result of the transaction. Financial terms weren’t given.

http://www.crn.com/news/security/232500166/sonian-buys-webroot-e-mail-archiving-business.htm

Webroot’s new business anti-malware product line, will be based on the Webroot SecureAnywhere consumer offering. The anti-malware business solution will have Webroot going against larger anti-malware competitors such Symantec, McAfee, Trend Micro, and Sophos. The product will be going into beta in February, it appears.

Some Work For Webroot to Do

Exciting stuff. The 800 pound gorillas in the industry will have a new competitor in the business space. However, Webroot may have some work to do regarding this new product, whether it’s improving the scan engine, extending protection to the cloud, improving heuristics, whatever. Below are some results from leading test organizations. The tests took place in the latter half of 2011.

Virus Bulletin – Failed to receive a VB100 award in the December 11 test on Windows 7. http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archive/vendor?id=55

AV-Test.org – Passed the Nov/Dec test on Windows 7. However, its scores (out of 6) weren’t stellar. 4.0 for Protection, 3.5 for Repair, and 4.0 for Usability.
http://www.av-test.org/en/tests/test-reports/novdec-2011/

AV-Test.org – Webroot came in 17th overall in the August through November Whole Product “Real-World” Dynamic Protection Test.

http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/dyn/wpdt2011_2_en.pdf

AV-Comparatives.org – Anti-Virus Comparative Summary Report 2011. In 9 tests, Webroot received on Adv+ score for performance (AV), an Adv score for the removal test, and Std for performance (suite). Webroot received Tested or N.A. on the remaining tests.

http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/summary/summary2011.pdf

AV-Comparatives.org – In the Anti-Virus Comparative, Malware Removal Test (December), Webroot came in 7th out of 18 overall with an Advanced (2 stars out of 3) rating.

http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/removal/avc_removal_2011.pdf

There are other tests on the www.av-comparatives.org website, as well.

While positive reviews from PC Magazine are great, businesses pay more attention to 3rd party test results than consumers do. Also, other competitors have been aggressive in moving scanning and heuristic activity to the cloud. Webroots products were the recommended/preferred product of Best Buy's Geek Squad for awhile.

PC Magazine gave Webroot SecureAnywhere Complete 4.5 stars out of 5 as its top consumer product.

http://kensek.blogspot.com/2011/08/best-internet-security-suites-2012-pc.html

PC Magazine also gave 4.5 stars to SecureAnywhere Complete Antivirus 2012. Both products received Editors Choice designations from PC Magazine. http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

http://kensek.blogspot.com/2011/08/best-antivirus-software-2012-pc.html


About AV-Comparatives

AV-Comparatives is an Austrian Non-Profit-Organization, which provides independent Anti-Virus software tests free to the public.

Go to the AV-comparatives website for complete details about the organization, the many tests they perform, and to download copies of reports.

www.av-comparatives.org

CRN - The 15 Best Products Of 2011 - BitDefender in Security

CRN has come out with their 15 best products of 2011. In the area of security, BitDefender Security: BitDefender Business Solutions Version 3.5. This isn't an in depth slide show. Light reading.


http://www.crn.com/slide-shows/channel-programs/232300166/the-best-products-of-2011.htm


We liked this product’s ability to install anti-virus and security software across the network, even on unmanaged computers where there is not an installation ofhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif Active Directory. Also: Bitdefender’s approach is a two-fer: It’s targeting SMBs with this product but also has begun engaging VARs more aggressively. It’s a good product with channel opportunity.

http://www.crn.com/slide-shows/channel-programs/232300166/the-15-best-products-of-2011.htm?pgno=3


How Has BitDefender Performed in 2011 in the Test and Review World?

4 stars out of five from Neil Rubenking and PC Magazine http://kensek.blogspot.com/2011/08/best-internet-security-suites-2012-pc.html for Best Internet Security Suites 2012

Above 90% in reactive and above 80% in proactive detection in Virus Bulletin’s Rap Average Quadrant http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/latest_comparative/index

9 for 10 in the last ten Virus Bulletin VB100 Awards
http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archive/vendor?id=11

Scored 16.0 out of 18.0 in www.av-test.org August test on Windows XP platforms http://www.av-test.org/en/tests/test-reports/sepoct-2011/

8 out of 12 on www.av-comparatives.org November Retrospective Test Static Detection Test for New and Malicious Software. A number of vendors declined to participate in this test. Worth reading the details. http://kensek.blogspot.com/2011/11/av-comparatives-anti-virus-comparative.html

BitDefender was not in the top 10 in OPSWAT’s Latest Market Share Report (showing that quality and share do not necessarily go hand in hand http://kensek.blogspot.com/2011/12/december-2011-opswat-report-on.html

They scored 5th out of 17 in the latest www.av-comparatives.org Whole Product Dynamic Test http://www.av-comparatives.org/en/comparativesreviews/dynamic-tests