StraightTalk


Succinct, incisive, and challenging insights and analysis from Ovum's global analyst team.


We welcome your suggestions, questions, and comments. You can reach us at straighttalk@ovum.com. You can also chat with us on Twitter at @OvumICT and at our LinkedIn group.

Broadband IP&TV Asia: It’s all about services

Broadband IP&TV Asia, sometimes called Broadband Asia, began May 15 in Kuala Lumpur with show keynotes by Malaysia’s Deputy Minister for Information, Communication, and Culture, followed by Australia’s Shadow Minister for Communications & Broadband. Afternoon sessions for Stream A, Fixed Access Advancement, focused on FTTx networks in the Asia-Pacific region. Speakers included service providers from… Read more

Julie Kunstler

Foreign takeovers highlight the plight of Europe’s telcos

The recent news that America Movil’s Carlos Slim is looking to increase his stake in KPN has highlighted the undercurrent of vulnerability facing European telcos in the post-recession era. Faced with a mature market, economic challenges, over-the-top (OTT) competition, and stringent regulation, Europe’s telcos have seen their revenue growth stall. This has attracted cash-rich suitors… Read more

Emeka Obiodu

Big changes ahead for mobile content in emerging markets

The rapid growth of mobile connections in emerging markets and the beneficial impact of greater connectivity have largely overshadowed the story of mobile content and apps and the development of mobile Internet. Ovum’s forthcoming signature research report The Future of Mobile Content and Apps in Emerging Markets outlines the progress that has been made in… Read more

Shiv Putcha

Oracle envisions an integrated health sciences platform

On April 19, 2012, Oracle held its 7th annual Health Sciences Forum in Parsippany, New Jersey.  At the event’s keynote presentation, Oracle laid out its mission, vision, and strategy for the health sciences industry. Oracle envisions a connected ecosystem which enables stakeholders to be agile and cost-effective while providing high-availability secured data to foster a… Read more

Andrew Brosnan

Tealeaf sharpens IBM’s focus on CMO

IBM’s analytics acquisition streak continues. Hot on the heels of its acquisition of data-discovery software provider Vivismo, IBM has purchased Tealeaf Technology to bolster its Smarter Commerce initiative. Tealeaf develops web analytics software that, by analyzing web consumer experiences, helps companies understand and react quickly to online customer behavior. Financial terms of the deal, which… Read more

Madan Sheina

Compuware realigns branding to reflect DynaTrace acquisition

The highlights of Compuware’s application performance management (APM) Spring 2012 Platform Release includes a consolidation of functions in its traditional Vantage data center products, and a realignment of branding that highlights Compuware’s relatively recent Gomez and DynaTrace acquisitions. Compuware is significantly down the path of reducing the number of moving parts of its different performance-management… Read more

Tony Baer

Orange Business Services takes the A road in Africa

In our last Enterprise Strategy Review of Orange Business Services we wrote that it was the first of the global service providers to place emerging markets at the heart of its global growth strategy. We did so on the strength of the operator’s investments in new services in Africa. On a recent visit to the… Read more

David Molony

Are Harvard and MIT pioneers on the frontier of online learning?

Aiming to benefit campus-based education and more, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) recently announced an online learning partnership. The $60m ($30m each) open source platform edX will host online courses from both institutions free of charge, and has the potential to enhance campus-based teaching and learning, and give students worldwide a… Read more

Navneet Johal

CRM outsourcers off to a good start in Q1

It was unclear at the end of last year how 2012 would play out for CRM outsourcers after a lackluster revenue performance for a good number of players in this space. However, Q1 results announced during the past few weeks make it apparent that many outsourcers began the year on a positive note, pointing to… Read more

Peter Ryan

Informatica 9.5 platform natively engages Hadoop

As predicted in the Ovum report “Informatica’s 2012 strategy”, this year Informatica is going to place strong emphasis on extending its data integration to support Big Data including Hadoop. While the new Informatica 9.5 platform adds a number of capabilities and enhancements across the board, Ovum believes that Hadoop integration is a major highlight. Some… Read more

Tony Baer