Enterprise

Facebook's latest big idea: Group Hug

Forget search. Facebook's latest technological feat is—yeah—a motherboard.

FORTUNE -- One day after announcing a search feature that lets users quickly find information through their network, Facebook (FB) unveiled another potentially disruptive product: An open-source circuit board for servers affectionately dubbed Group Hug. Not surprisingly  the aesthetically challenged piece of hardware generated much less hype than Facebook's earlier announcement. But could have just as much impact by changing the way data centers MORE

Facebook vs. Google: It's on! (Again)

Facebook's IPO woes have taken the spotlight off its rivalry with search giant Google. That's changing. Here's why.

By Kevin Kelleher, contributor

FORTUNE -- 2011 was a good year for Facebook. The social network was adding 100 million users every few months. It was on track for an IPO valued as high as $100 billion -- despite a dispirited stock market. And, perhaps most impressively, it had its archrival Google on the run.

Facebook MORE

HP and IBM: Two paths, one future

Despite bedrock similarities, the two giants have very different philosophies.

By Kevin Kelleher, contributor

FORTUNE -- On the face of it, Hewlett-Packard and IBM have a lot in common. Both are storied brands with rich legacies that shaped high-tech. Both are working with companies large and small to help manage their technology. Both are angling for a piece of the markets -- like cloud computing and big data -- that promise years MORE

Intel wants to reinvent computing--again

Intel stays mum on its new smartphone strategy, but it has plenty to say about PC processors.

FORTUNE -- A week after slashing its third-quarter sales forecast due to sluggish demand for PCs, Intel kicked off its annual developer conference with a promise to reinvent computing.

The world's largest chipmaker unveiled its latest processor line, Haswell, due out in 2013. The next-generation, lower-power Intel Core processor family will enable "faster, thinner, better" MORE

Google's audacious bet on fiber -- and why it could work

The company is building an Internet Valhalla in Kansas City. Most observers have scoffed at the effort. But they're wrong.

By Kevin Kelleher, contributor

FORTUNE -- Last month, Google announced its Google Fiber initiative promising 1 gigabit of Internet speed for $70 a month and throwing in dozens of high-definition television channels for another $50 a month. The announcement was greeted with equal parts enthusiasm and skepticism.

The news elicited a lot of excitement MORE

Nextel is running out of minutes

The governor of Delaware and a former Nextel executive looks back at the company's unlikely growth and eventual sale.

By Gov. Jack Markell, contributor

FORTUNE -- The countdown clock on Nextel's final year of service begins in earnest. Sprint declared that Nextel's network will go dark by June 30, 2013.

For the millions of customers that remained loyal to the brand, it will be a time of transition. For those of us who MORE

RIM to face toughest critics: Its shareholders

The troubled technology maker's management is headed for a testy shareholder meeting.

FORTUNE -- Research in Motion CEO Thorsten Heins will face a tough crowd Tuesday morning: investors. The beleaguered company's annual shareholders' meeting takes place in Waterloo, Ont. later today, providing a forum for frustrated investors to vent -- and an opportunity for RIM (RIMM) to clarify its strategy.

The BlackBerry maker's stock price has plummeted about 95% since its height MORE

Behind Microsoft's Yammer acquisition

The spending spree on social business upstarts makes clear the forces transforming enterprise software.

By Ryan Holmes, contributor

FORTUNE -- Microsoft is snatching up business social networking tool Yammer - a.k.a Facebook  for the workplace - for $1.2 billion.  This acquisition hints at a major shift in the way the planet's largest companies use and choose software.

The Wall Street Journal notes that the Yammer purchase shows "Microsoft may be trying to plug MORE

Will Microsoft's Surface storm the workplace?

IT managers have been flummoxed by an influx of iPads into the enterprise. This is Microsoft's chance to change that.

FORTUNE -- The secret to making a tablet that sells well in the enterprise is creating a device that's a hit with ... consumers. Can Microsoft pull off such a feat? The past provides a murky prologue at best. The company failed repeatedly in phones and music players but has succeeded MORE

RIM: What the hell happened?

Research in Motion went from a sleepy Canadian backwater to the world's most innovative and fastest growing phone company in no time. Now, with its Blackberry business all but stalled, the company's future has never looked more uncertain.

FORTUNE -- If aliens had disembarked at Orlando's Marriott Hotel in early May, they would have probably thought the BlackBerry the latest and greatest technology on Earth. Everywhere, devotees tapped away at their MORE