IDC has a positive report on the EMEA PC market-- despite economic uncertainty and HDD shortages, Q1 2012 PC shipments show a "positive rebound," reaching 25.6m units with 7.6% Y-o-Y growth.

Even W. Europe, the worst affected region, sees overall shipment growth of 1.8% Y-o-Y, with "healthier" results across all countries.

Denmark and Sweden PC shipments show double-digit growth, while the UK shows a rebound of 8%. France remains flat (-0.1%), Germany sustains 6.1% growth and debt-stricken Spain posts a soft decline of -2.3% Y-o-Y according to IDC.

Meanwhile Central E. Europe and MEA exceed expectations with Y-o-Y growth reaching 18.3% and 13.5% respectively. CEMA PC volume totals 12.08m, with growth in both portable and desktop segments.

Arrow ECS and DCC agree on a deal for the acquisition of pan-European distribution company Altimate. No financial details of the sale are as yet available.  

Colorado-based Arrow is a value-added distributor of servers, data storage, network security, enterprise software, virtualisation and access infrastructure. It serves as supply channel partner for over 120000 manufacturers and commercial customers, with a network spanning over 390 locations in 52 countries. 

On the other hand Altimate offers a portfolio of hardware, storage, data management, Read more...

Microsoft announces the full selection of Windows 8 editions-- Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro, Windows 8 Enterprise and, perhaps most interesting of all, Windows RT (aka Windows on ARM or WOA).

Windows 8 is the generic consumer edition, for use in 32- and 64-bit x86 machines (both PCs and tablets, Microsoft says), while Windows 8 Pro  is the enhanced enthusiast/professional/business edition.

Enterprise customers get Windows 8 Enterprise (obviously), with features such as PC management and deployment, advanced security, virtualisation and mobility scenarios.

The most interesting edition, however, remains Windows RT-- Windows ARM machines. In a drastic change, Microsoft will not be selling Windows RT separately, instead only pre-installing it in devices.

Smart mobile devices, cloud and growing Internet connectivity create significant increases in the volume of data. Quantification, enabled by enormous sources of new data, will march through academia, business and government: Welcome to the Era of Big Data.

Data, all the time, grows at least 50% a year, or more than doubling every two years. Now, all over the world, innumerable digital sensors in automobiles, retail packaging, electrical meters, shipping containers, and even in our bridges measure and communicate location, movement, vibration, temperature, humidity, or any other change in the air.

There was, for example, at CeBIT, the Koubachi Wi-fi Plant Sensor from Switzerland that measures what matters most to your plant: soil moisture, temperature and light—via Wi-Fi. Free Cloud Service

They even offer Koubachi Plant Care Engine, a free cloud service that diagnoses your plant’s vitality based on their science-based plant care models and sends care instructions and alarms to your iPhone or by e-mail.

Link these talkative sensors (and they will soon talk as well as SMS or write to you) to cloud intelligence and you see the rise of the Internet of Things-- and that is also fuels the trend to Big Data. Read more...