Slashdot Mirror
Commercial Exoskeletons
FalconZero writes "For those of you with superhuman aspirations, your dream may be a step closer; New Scientist (recently) and the Japan Times (last year) covered Yoshiyuki Sankai's work at
the University of Tsukuba in Japan developing powered exoskeletons
with commercial versions expected soon costing between $14,000 and $19,000
(£7,500-£10,000). Other work with exoskeletons previously covered
here(1),
here(2) and
here(3)."
Frist psot!
João Pinheiro
An informed subscriber posting AC? Huh.
10% is about 700 people worldwide - article hints at up to 25% layoff
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3 12 5621
Houston Chronicle - April 8, 2005, 11:46PM
BMC is on the verge of a major shake-up
10 percent of work force could be laid off as software company starts restructuring
By JOHN C. ROPER
IN an effort to remedy lackluster performance, BMC Software is expected to unveil next week a restructuring plan that will include cutting at least 10 percent of its work force, according to current and former employees.
When BMC announced its third-quarter results in February, it came up short of analysts' expectations, and its stock dropped 11.5 percent by that day's closing.
In a conference call with analysts then, BMC President and Chief Executive Bob Beauchamp telegraphed that changes were coming, saying: "We're taking immediate steps to address the cost structure."
Current and former BMC employees, the latter in frequent contact with high-level managers there, say the job cuts will be across the board, including some of its 1,600 Houston employees. BMC has 6,900 employees worldwide.
When asked about the restructuring moves, a spokesperson at BMC said the company won't comment on "speculation and rumors."
Weak sales of Patrol
Analysts who follow BMC are awaiting what they say is a necessary shake-up of the Houston-based company, which makes software for managing and monitoring large computer networks.
"I think in many ways it's going to take something drastic to change things at BMC," said David Rudow, a senior research analyst for Piper Jaffray who favors a restructuring.
Rudow, who is optimistic about BMC, upgraded its stock in mid-March from "market-perform" to "outperform."
"My call is the numbers are going to go up because they are going to have this restructuring," Rudow said.
Rudow and other software industry analysts expect the restructuring to address problems that have plagued sales of BMC's Patrol network-monitoring software.
For example, most of the company's third-quarter woes were blamed on poor license sales of Patrol, which came in at $28 million for the company's recent third quarter, compared with $36 million in the same quarter a year before, a drop of 22 percent..
Software is often sold via license agreements, which authorize customers to use the product for specified periods of time. Much of BMC's income is derived from selling such licenses.
BMC's stock started the year closing above $18; Friday, it ended down down 16 cents at $14.60. In the first half of 2000, it often closed above $40.
In February, Beauchamp fingered the company's sales force, which he said may not have been pushing hard enough to sell Patrol. He also said he might tweak sales incentives to help push the product.
Analysts, however, hope BMC makes Patrol a better and more marketable product.
"There are cheaper solutions out there that do a pretty good job," said Gregg Moskowitz, a senior research analyst with Susquehanna Financial Group in New York. "What I think BMC needs to do is to make Patrol more of a lightweight monitoring tool, in other words, less complex and less expensive."
Along with the job cuts, BMC next week is expected to discuss new technology designed to improve Patrol, sources familiar with the restructuring said.
Much of BMC's product line is geared toward mainframe computers, a market that is largely flat and is expected to remain so for at least one to two years. Wall Street analysts say that reliance, and the shortcomings of Patrol, have been the primary cause for the company's stock performance.
But BMC is banking on a strategy that is taking the high-end software business by storm.
The strategy is called business-service management, a suite of product offerings that lets companies monitor, in real time, server data that show key business activities.
Moskowitz and other analysts
"Take this, you BITCH!"
Jesus christ! Stop fucking posting. Put it all in one post! I know you're doing this just to get people to participate it the stupid, god damn "free offers" in your "sig", which isn't really a sig because it's too long and I have sigs off. You just paste it there so even people like me can see your trash. Fucking stop it. Now.
And please don't mod me down. I know I'm offtopic (though the topic is cool) and I turned off karma bonus off but I feel like posting anonymously would take away from what I'm trying to say here. Which would be fuck the parent posted for being a lamer. Fuck him in his stupid lamer asshole, where he no doubt stores hundreds of "free", lame gaming consoles.