Marc Ferranti

IDG News Service

Ferranti is a reporter for the IDG News Service.

marc_ferranti@idg.com

Recent articles by Ferranti

Sun slashes up to 18 percent of workforce
Nov. 14, 2008
Sun announced Friday that it will cut up to 18 percent of its worldwide workforce to curb costs in the face of tough economic times.

Wall Street Beat: Bad news gets worse for IT
Nov. 14, 2008
Despite a market rally Thursday, the financial news for IT just keeps getting worse, with bellwethers like Intel cutting revenue guidance, shares of high-flyers like Google sinking to multiyear lows, investment analysts ...

Wall Street Beat: Another week of tumult for tech
Nov. 06, 2008
Election week in the U.S. turned out to be another tumultuous time on the stock market for tech companies, with a weak forecast from Cisco Systems and bad news for companies including Advanced Micro Devices, Dell, Nokia ...

Google abandons ad deal with Yahoo
Nov. 05, 2008
Google Wednesday abandoned its advertising deal with Yahoo, citing regulatory concerns.

Reporter's notebook: Excitement, fear on the e-vote trail
Nov. 04, 2008
No one's doubting the outcome of the massive turnout in the U.S. presidential election in Democratic New Jersey, but for some voters and elected officials, e-voting glitches and long lines are undermining confidence in ...

Ed Felten on e-voting: What can go wrong
Nov. 03, 2008
Voting machines of all stripes have remarkably similar flaws and though geographically scattered, inaccurate tallies of votes are not likely to flip a whole presidential election, there is a "nightmare scenario" that ...

Wall Street Beat: Financial reports confirm fears for IT
Oct. 30, 2008
Financial reports from vendors including Motorola, Sun Microsystems, SAP and STMicroelectronics, along with economic and IT sector surveys, this week are confirming market watchers' fears that the U.S. is heading into ...

Wall Street Beat: IT earnings mixed, but offer some relief
Oct. 16, 2008
Earnings season got under way with a vengeance this week, as bellwether companies such as Google, IBM, Intel, Nokia, Advanced Micro Devices, and eBay issued quarterly reports that, while mixed, offered some good news to ...

Wall Street Beat: Tech shares slump to 2003 levels
Oct. 09, 2008
Analysts are cutting revenue forecasts for bellwether IT vendors as the U.S. financial sector crisis caused markets around the world to tumble again this week, pushing the tech-heavy Nasdaq down to 2003 levels as shares ...

Wall Street Beat: IT shares hit but hope for midterm remains
Oct. 02, 2008
The U.S. financial crisis is taking a toll on mergers and acquisitions and share prices in the technology sector, causing the tech-heavy Nasdaq to slump to a new 52-week low Thursday, but industry watchers have an ...

Wall Street Beat: IT investors eye buybacks, earnings
Sep. 25, 2008
As the U.S. financial services crisis roiled markets around the world, stock buybacks from bellwethers Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard and earnings reports from Red Hat and Research in Motion caught the eye of IT ...

Wall Street Beat: Confidence buoys tech despite turmoil
Sep. 18, 2008
Even though a smattering of IT vendors including Dell and Nortel issued earnings warnings this week, industry insiders remain hopeful that tech companies won't be dragged down as Wall Street giants collapse.

Forrester says IT spending up in '08, but cautions on '09
Sep. 16, 2008
Despite turmoil on Wall Street, U.S. spending on IT will increase more than previously expected, though the outlook for 2009 is dimming, Forrester Research said Wednesday.

Wall Street Beat: Yahoo slumps, strategic M&A continues
Sep. 04, 2008
As economic worries battered tech stocks in a brief post-Labor Day week, Yahoo hit a 52-week low, Oracle continued its buying spree to strengthen its SOA (service-oriented architecture) offerings, and Red Hat snapped up ...

Wall Street Beat: Salesforce, HP, M&A in the spotlight
Aug. 21, 2008
Salesforce.com gave IT investors cause for concern this week, even though it announced record second-quarter results, while Hewlett-Packard's star shone again despite reporting a slowdown in its printing business.

Wall Street Beat: Tech looks up, Apple gains
Aug. 14, 2008
Apple, Amazon and Brocade Communications this week gave IT investors cheer as the tech sector, despite inflation fears, looks upbeat at the midpoint of the third quarter.

iPhone activation woes hit early buyers
Jul. 11, 2008
Some of the first people in the U.S. to purchase the iPhone 3G walked out of an Apple Store in New York disappointed Friday when Apple's plan to activate the new devices in stores backfired.

Wall Street Beat: IT slumps in first half
Jul. 03, 2008
As the U.S. markets take a break for the long Independence Day weekend, economic worries and a disastrous June on the markets are battering shares of high-fliers including Apple, Google and Amazon, underscoring concerns ...

Wall Street Beat: Oracle, RIM caution weighs on tech
Jun. 26, 2008
In a tumultuous week on the markets, the big news for the tech sector was Research in Motion falling short of Wall Street's first-quarter expectations, and Oracle's caution about the current quarter.

Wall Street Beat: Small M&A deals flourish
Jun. 19, 2008
While the overall value of mergers and acquisitions in the tech sector will likely decline this year, this week illustrates how strategic, and sometimes smaller, deals are still important for the sector, as BMC, SAP, ...

Wall Street Beat: All eyes on Apple, Yahoo
Jun. 12, 2008
Yahoo and Apple announcements overshadowed all other tech events this week for IT investors. Apple's iPhone 2.0 launch raised mobile and consumer market issues, while the breakdown of talks between Yahoo and Microsoft ...

BULLETIN: Verizon Wireless to acquire Alltel
Jun. 05, 2008
Verizon Wireless announced Thursday that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Alltel for US$5.9 billion, plus the assumption of debt, in a deal that will create the biggest mobile phone company in the U.S.

Wall Street Beat: M&A stirs tech as share prices rise
Jun. 05, 2008
Good news about the U.S. economy gave a boost to the tech sector this week, but mergers and acquisitions news including Verizon Wireless' US$28 billion acquisition of Alltel also helped pique IT investor interest.

Wall Street Beat: Dell, chips under the spotlight
May. 29, 2008
Dell earnings, chip market growth and new U.S. government figures for economic growth came under the scrutiny of IT investors this week as tech-vendor shares struggle to get out of the trough they hit during the first ...

Wall Street Beat: Salesforce, HP weigh in as tech steadies
May. 22, 2008
Solid earnings from Salesforce.com and Hewlett-Packard helped investor confidence in the tech arena this week, as talks between Microsoft and Yahoo suggest that the Internet sector will be reshaped.