HP Strengthens Lead in x86 Blade Server Market in Asia Pacific, Japan

HP significantly increased its lead as the No. 1 x86 blade server vendor in Asia Pacific, including Japan, in CYQ4, 2007. According to industry analyst firm IDC, HP captured 40.8 percent factory revenue share, a year-on-year growth rate of 143.2 percent. In unit shipments, HP maintained its lead position in the x86 Blade server segment compared to Q3 2007, capturing 43.4 percent market share. On a year-on-year basis, HP’s x86 blade server shipments in Asia Pacific and Japan surged 144 percent in Q4 2007.

Globally, HP now holds 45.5 percent unit shipment share and 47.7 percent factory revenue share of the $1.2 billion blade server market. HP also led the worldwide blade server market for calendar year 2007, according to IDC. For the blade server market in 2007, HP gained 11.1 percentage points of unit shipment share and 7.5 percentage points in revenue year over year, at the expense of its nearest competitors.

In Asia Pacific, HP continued to lead in x86 server shipments for the 23rd consecutive quarter (since CYQ2, 2002), capturing 27.5 percent market share in Q4 2007. HP also had the largest market share in factory revenue terms in the Windows and Linux server segments in Asia Pacific region in CYQ4, 2007, capturing 29 percent and 28.4 percent shares, respectively.

Fueled by increased demand for HP Integrity and Integrity NonStop servers in Q4 2007, HP’s Intel Itanium (EPIC) processor-based server revenues grew 53.0 percent in Asia Pacific (excl. Japan) region. According to IDC, HP tied for the top position in the Asia Pacific (inc. Japan) Unix server market in revenue terms, securing 33.0 percent market share measured in CYQ4, 2007. HP’s RISC & EPIC Unix server revenues grew 29.3 percent on a quarter-on-quarter basis in Q4 2007, underpinned by 23.8 percent growth in EPIC Unix. RISC Unix server revenues grew by 46.4 percent on a quarter-on-quarter basis, outperforming the market growth of 8 percent during the same period. HP Integrity servers represented the majority of HP’s Business Critical Systems revenue in Asia Pacific (Inc. Japan), with 77.0 percent share in Q4 2007.

“HP’s overall server and BladeSystem portfolios are undergoing constant innovation and also benefit from effective channel strategies for resellers and integrators,” said Diana dela Rosa, Enterprise Servers and Storage Manger, TSG, HP Philippines. “These positive market share results show that our strategies are paying off with the right investments, in the right technologies, at the right time.”

 

Palm Centro Brings Touch Screen and Keyboard to Traditional Mobile Phone Users in Philippines

After recently announcing the sale of its one-millionth Palm Centro in the United States, Palm, Inc. introduced its popular smartphone in the Philippines. With voice, text, email, web, contact and calendar capabilities, a colour touch screen and full keyboard, the glacier white Centro brings Palm simplicity and organisation to users who want to stay connected with friends, family and co-workers.

“Centro is the perfect choice for anyone thinking about stepping up to a smartphone – it’s rich in features but also comes in a small, cool design,” said Olivier Rozay, Palm’s regional director for Asia Pacific. “The combination of keyboard, touch screen and Palm’s trademark ease of use makes Centro ideal for staying in touch.”

Centro is the smallest and lightest Palm phone to date, with a modern, stylish look that feels comfortable in the hand, and discreetly fits in a pocket or clutch. Users can keep track of social engagements, check stock quotes and stay up-to-date on the latest news — all in one small, fun compact phone.

Centro comes with Palm OS, which offers all of the great organiser functionality for which Palm is renowned, such as a detailed and integrated contacts list. The calendar makes it easier to manage increasingly busy lives, whether it’s juggling business meetings or keeping track of drinks with friends. Centro also is highly customizable, with thousands of applications available to help users with everything from maintaining a healthy eating plan to keeping track of golf handicaps or personal expenses.

Additional Palm Centro Features and Benefits

· Superior Phone – Centro’s colour touch screen and full QWERTY keyboard, combined with the simplicity of Palm OS, make it easy to use, with key features such as one-touch speakerphone, conference calling, ignore a call with text messaging and Bluetooth® connectivity.

· Easy Messaging – Centro’s full keyboard makes typing complete messages fast and easy when sending text, pictures, audio and video clips. Plus, Centro keeps all conversations in a chat-style view, just like Instant Messaging, so users can see the entire conversation unfold.

· Personal and Work Email – New users to the smartphone world now have an easy mobile email solution. Personal email, such as Gmail and Yahoo!, is simple to access right out of the box. And, if users have to check their work email, Microsoft Direct Push Technology gives users access to their corporate email, as well as the ability to automatically update work calendars and accept or decline meeting invites, all on the go.

· Web Browsing – The full keyboard and colour touch screen provide quick access to online information and allow users to directly feed their personal blogs. The built-in Google Maps application offers fast access to maps, directions and local searches.

· Multimedia – Pocket Tunes on Centro lets users “sideload” songs and manage music, audio books and videos easily. Users can also shoot pictures or videos with the built-in digital camera and share them with friends.

 

Viewsonic introduces VP series

Driving performance through color, ViewSonic® Corp. introduces the VP 50 Series – 22-inch widescreen VP2250wb, 26-inch widescreen VP2650wb and traditional 4:3 19-inch VP950b –that includes up to 110 percent color gamut (VP2650wb) based on the National Television System Committee (NTSC) guidelines and OptiColorTM technology for better accuracy and more detailed images in any viewing environment. In comparison, most CRT and LCD monitors on the market today only display 75 percent of the NTSC’s range of colors. The stylized VP 50 Series ensures the widest tonal range and largest color gamut, making the displays ideal for both creative and business professionals.

“ViewSonic’s heritage is based on bringing innovative and competitively priced displays to business professionals and consumers,” said Alan Chang, Managing Director of Americas, EMEA & Asia Pacific Regions. “The inclusion of OptiColor™ technology provides precise colors for a more satisfying viewing experience and makes these displays critical for professionals that depend on vibrant color for anything from desktop publishing and movie reproduction to CAD/CAM.”

To compliment the increased color gamut, the displays have quick response time, dynamic contrast ratio and four USB ports, making up a rare assembly of high-end features at competitive price points.
–  The VP950b combines 1280×1024 native resolution, 2ms response time, 280 nits of brightness (typ) and a 2000:1 dynamic contrast ratio (typ), to make it one of the most feature-rich traditional LCDs on the market.
–  The VP2250wb sports a 1680×1050 native resolution, 2ms response time and 3000:1 dynamic contrast ratio (typ) for clear, crisp images and beautiful color quality.
–  The VP2650wb boosts a 1920×1200 native resolution, 3ms response time and a 3000:1 dynamic contrast ratio (typ) providing the ability to display true high definition 1080p Full HD content and deliver fluid, full-motion images.

To further enhance the quality of these new products, ViewSonic has included PerfectSuiteTM Plus software, for easy settings adjustments, color calibration, asset management and theft deterrence features making for hassle-free set-up and maintenance.

All VP 50 Series displays support HDCP, are Windows Vista™ Certified and offer an ultra-slim bezel featuring an industrial design that enables advanced ergonomic adjustments—including 4.7-inch height adjustment range, a 120 degree swivel, pivot and tilt. With its ThinEdge™ design and integrated mounting holes, these new models also allow for easy tiling of multiple displays.

The ViewSonic VP 50 Series displays will be available in March through authorized ViewSonic resellers, distributors, retailers and e-tailers. The displays are compliant with the strictest safety and environmental standards, including TCO and ENERGY STAR®, and are made with environmentally friendly materials. ViewSonic’s LCD monitors are backed by a three-year limited warranty on parts and labor.

 

Cebu Pacific Chooses Navitaire’s Hosted Reservation and Revenue Management Services

Cebu Pacific (CEB), the leading low fare airline in the Philippines, has converted to Navitaire’s New Skies hosted reservation services and SkyPrice® revenue management system.

Navitaire, a wholly owned subsidiary of Accenture, provides technology and business solutions to the airline industry on an outsourced basis.

An integrated Web enabled passenger management system, New Skies includes Internet booking, call center, real time reporting, ancillary revenue generation and airport check-in capabilities. Navitaire’s SkyPrice revenue management system is designed to help low fare airlines make better inventory allocation decisions and maximize revenue.

Lance Gokongwei, CEB President and CEO, said, “Over the past 12 months, we’ve experienced tremendous growth, both domestically and throughout Asia. Navitaire is the ideal technology partner to help enable our vision and support our rapid growth with innovative technology and tightly integrated products. We will now be able to offer our guests more services and options through our website because of the system’s flexibility.”

John Dabkowski, Navitaire managing director, said, “Having built a reputation in the industry as a leader in innovation, creativity and high-performance, Cebu Pacific understands how Navitaire’s advanced systems can help them achieve their aggressive growth goals. With the addition of Cebu Pacific, Navitaire’s reservation services now power 17 of the world’s 25 largest low-cost airlines, including Ryanair, JetBlue, Virgin Blue, AirTran Airways, GOL and AirAsia.”