Data Sheet—Friday, September 19, 2014

Happy Friday, Data Sheet readers! The day of reckoning is here, and I don’t mean Alibaba’s impending U.S. IPO—on track for $21.8 billion after trading starts sometime today. I’m referring to Oracle’s move to name new co-CEOs: HP alumnist Mark Hurd and long-time insider Safra Catz. On paper, Larry Ellison is now CTO. What does it all mean? My take in today’s FAQ column. Plus, you might have missed it amid the Larry love, but SAP just proposed its biggest buyout ever to improve its cloud story. Read on to find out who.

SAP spares no expense with $8.3 billion offer for Concur. The proposed buyout will be its largest yet (the Sybase deal was "just" $7.1 billion) and also ranks among the top 10 enterprise software deals EVER. For that price, SAP gains 50 million cloud-inclined users who rely on Concur's travel and expense management apps. The deal could close by year-end. (WSJ)

Proceed with caution on Alibaba. Investors have talked up the Chinese Internet giant's U.S. stock debut for weeks (nay, months!), but do they understand what they're getting for $68 per share? Can anyone seriously understand the scale and personality of China's secretive tech scene. Maybe not, but the site's allure with the country's exploding middle class is undeniable. Here's a summary of pros and cons. (Fortune)

CLOUD CHATTER

CloudFlare: We can drive better security without your keys. Its technology thwarts denial-of-service attacks via a global network of 28 data centers—the U.K. and Australian governments are two big clients. No one denies the need, but some banks and other financial services are reluctant to trust the cloud-based approach. CloudFlare—which has so far raised $72 million—is addressing those concerns with a new offering that doesn't require businesses to expose SSL keys outside their firewall. (Ars Technica)

Attention please: Twilio adds video, images to mobile notifications. Want to create a service that sends boarding passes directly to a smartphone? Send a photo of your repair technician before arrival so a homeowner will open the door? Share coupons with certain shoppers? Twilio has so far raised $103.7 million to reduce the cost of delivering bursty messages: its latest technology adds multimedia support. (New York Times)

STATS & SPECS

Sony's comeback plan? The struggling consumer electronics maker (it's expecting a $2.1 billion loss this fiscal year) just released software for writing apps that work with its forthcoming SmartEyeglass technology, a rival to similarly named Google technology that looks decidedly less hip. Samples so far: pedestrian navigation and face recognition. It's gonna to make than that.

Home Depot defines scope of security breach. The five-month attack on its point-of-sale systems resulted in a leak of "approximately" 56 million credit-card numbers (compared with 40 million leaked during Target's compromise during the 2013 holiday shopping season). The good news: repairs are complete, so its systems aren't currently vulnerable.

STARTUPS & DISRUPTORS

Red Hat sates appetite for mobile apps. It's paying roughly $82 million for Irish developer FeedHenry, which sells a platform for writing native apps that run on pretty much any device you can name (iOS, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry and HTML5). IDC projects the market for this sort of technology at $4.8 billion by 2017 (more than triple 2013 sales).

Faster switches for Cisco? Just one day after buying Metacloud (to improve its hybrid cloud story), the acquisitive networking giant disclosed plans to swallow up chipmaker Memoir Systems to speed next-generation data center hardware. The price for neither was named, but both deals should close by the end of October. This is just the beginning: Cisco has set aside $1 billion to invest in its cloud portfolio over the next two years.

FAQ

What's in a title? In the case of Oracle, it's telling that founder Larry Ellison's resume update this week—he's now chief technology officer instead of chief executive (the title he's held since 1977)—gets mentioned before we hear the answer to who gets his job. No surprise here: it's both Safra Catz and Mark Hurd. Because, you know, big shoes to fill. Plus, why risk one of them leaving?

On paper, things look pretty much the same. Catz (at Oracle since 1999) keeps her existing operational and manufacturing responsibilities. Hurd (on board for four years) retains sales, services and industry verticals. Ellison, who just turned 70, gets to pontificate about technology direction (chief lieutenant for this function, Thomas Kurian, stays put.) Life is good.

"The three of us have been working well together for the last several years, and we plan to continue working together for the foreseeable future," Ellison said in the company's announcement, referring to the co-CEO decision. "Keeping this management team in place has always been a top priority of mine."

The big difference: Larry doesn't have to hold Safra and Mark accountable for what they're doing, he shares that burden with the Oracle board. Here too, a subtle but notable change: Ellison is now Executive Chairman; the current Chairman Jeff Henley is now Vice Chairman.

By the way, maybe you weren't supposed to notice but Oracle missed its first-quarter projections (both earning and revenue). Overall sales reached $8.6 billion for the quarter ended Aug. 31, up 3%. Net income was essentially unchanged year-over-year at $2.2 billion.

Cloud services, still a relative sliver of Oracle's overall business, generated $475 million, up about 30%. For perspective, that's about three times the size of rival Workday. Writes analyst Elizabeth Hedstrom Henlin with Technology Business Research: "Monetizing Database 12C with in-memory while extending growth in the Oracle cloud business will dictate that Oracle continue to adjust its go-to-market and portfolio investments to tie software, cloud and engineered systems together. ... TBR sees Oracle setting the state for competitive database sales engagements against competitors including SAP and IBM."

You can expect Ellison to have fun with those themes at others' expense during Oracle Open World later this month. Yep, technically he's retired, but we're still in for a whole lot of Larry.

ONE MORE THING ...

Can you stop hunting for power outlets? So far, the technology has only made it to the reference design stage, but a newfangled wireless router from Energous—a two-year-old company that already managed to go public—would charge smartphones and other gadgets (watches anyone?) that roam within a 15-foot-radius. The power potential diminishes as more stuff connects, but one WattUp transmitter can handle up to two-dozen devices. Plus you don't have to crawl around to plug in. The technology could be in your hands by late 2015. (Computerworld)