Friday, September 3, 2010

Samsung raises 2010 smartphone sales target

from Reuters through Yahoo Finance:

>>Samsung raises 2010 smartphone sales target

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS), the world's No.2 handset maker, expects to sell up to 25 million smartphones this year, exceeding its earlier target, and aims to double shipments next year, media reports said on Friday.

JK Shin, head of Samsung's Mobile Communications division, told reporters at the IFA trade show in Berlin that its 2010 smartphone sales would be far higher than its original target of 18 million units, due to the popularity of its Android-based Galaxy S model, news provider EDaily said.

The report also quoted Shin as saying the company had targeted sales of 50 million units for next year.

"Our smartphone shipments will easily surpass 20 million units this year, thanks to strong sales of recently released Galaxy S... We expect the number could rise to as high as 25 million this year," Shin said.

...

Shin also said the company aims to sell 1 million units of its new tablet PC Galaxy Tab this year, local reports said. Samsung unveiled the 7-inch, Android-based tablet PC at the IFA event to challenge Apple's hot-selling device iPad.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

ABC News

ABC News clip discussing CyberKnife radiosurgery for liver tumors:
http://www.pancreaticcancernow.com/blog/Cyberknife-on-the-liver-tumor
www.pancreaticcancernow.com
Listen, contribute to and understand about Cyberknife On The Liver Tumor. Get involved today.

Samsung Galaxy Tab

from slashgear:

Samsung Galaxy Tab hands-on:

The background commentary is in Italian. At min. 4.01 you can hear about the "tactile feed back".

Availability

The Galaxy Tab will be available in Europe within the next two weeks, and Samsung promises a U.S. launch in the coming months. Rumors suggest the 3G-capable Galaxy Tab will launch on Verizon. Samsung has yet to announce pricing or whether there will be a Wi-Fi only version of the Galaxy Tab.

from WSJ:

Rather than sell it directly to consumers, Samsung will rely on its carrier partners to sell the Galaxy Tab, which runs on Google Inc.'s Android software, comes with a cellular connection, and features a seven-inch screen. The tablet will debut in Italy, moving to other markets as Samsung locks in more carrier deals.

Vodafone Group PLC, the world's biggest mobile operator, said it would start selling the Galaxy Tab in most of its European markets and a number of its other markets worldwide in October.

It is expected to launch in the U.S. over the next few months, but the company would only say it was in talks with multiple carriers. The Galaxy Tab is essentially an enlarged version of Samsung's flagship Galaxy S smartphone, which was originally available through AT&T Inc. and Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile, and more recently Sprint Nextel Corp.

While a price hasn't been set, Samsung product executive Hankil Yoon said in an interview that it would likely retail for between $200 and $300, although the final price would vary depending on different carrier subsidies.

Mr. Yoon expects to ship 10 million units and take a third of the global tablet market next year.


Equinix eyes role as RIM, Apple cache

from IT news Australia:

>>Equinix has revealed plans to entice BlackBerry maker RIM, Apple and Samsung to create local caches for their mobile content services in Equinix data centres worldwide.

Chief executive officer Steve Smith told iTnews that the data centre giant wanted to attract the "wireless community" to host servers and storage in Equinix facilities.

"We want to try to relieve their backhaul demands," Smith said.

"We want the stuff that's underpinning all the traffic they're pushing around the world."

Smith believed Equinix's reach and network connectivity made it an attractive way for mobile players to reduce the latency of services via local caches.

"We think mobile data is going to become a possible ecosystem for us," Smith said.

...

"When a customer comes to our data centre it's going to enable them to look into a global portal and see [for example] there's 62 networks in this data centre, access to EC2 and hosted SharePoint," Smith said.

"We want to create demand by showing them what's inside our data centres."

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Accuray Hits 4Q Mark

from www.benzinga.com:

>>Accuray Incorporated reported 4Q revenues of $61.8M (+5.1% y/y) in-line with JP Morgan's estimated $60.6M (+3.1% y/y), driven largely by 10 unit installs, while the company backlog grew from 16 to 56 units during the quarter, with two orders in Japan.

EPS came in at $0.08, service gross margins improved (+690bp q/q and +590bp y/y) increasing profitability, and competitive pressures remain not yet evident, according to JP Morgan.

Orders added to the backlog included seven from America, five from Europe, two from Asia Pacific, and the aforementioned two from Japan, bringing the backlog to $374M (+7%).

JP Morgan maintains its Neutral rating and $6 price target.

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO DISMISS

from www.leagle.com:

>>

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO DISMISS

CLAUDIA WILKEN, District Judge.

Defendants Euan S. Thomson, Wayne Wu, Li Yu, Robert S. Weiss, Elizabeth Dávila, John P. Wareham, Robert E. McNamara, John R. Adler, Jr. and nominal Defendant Accuray Incorporated move to dismiss this shareholder derivative complaint. Derivative Plaintiffs Thomas Beebe, Sanjayh Israni, Eric Bachinski and Christopher Borrelli oppose the motion. The matter was heard on August 12, 2010. Having considered all of the papers filed by the parties and oral argument on the motion, the Court GRANTS Defendants' motion to dismiss and grants leave to amend.

...

CONCLUSION

For the foregoing reasons, the Court GRANTS Defendants' motion to dismiss. Docket No. 35. The complaint is dismissed with leave to amend, although the Court is doubtful that Plaintiffs will be able to plead sufficient particularized facts to establish demand futility in any amended complaint. Any amended complaint shall be filed no later than September 20, 2010. Defendants shall respond by October 7, 2010. If Defendants file a motion to dismiss, Plaintiffs shall file an opposition by October 21, 2010 and Defendants shall file a reply by October 28, 2010. The motion will be heard on November 11, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. If Defendants answer the amended complaint and no motion to dismiss is filed, a case management conference will be held on October 19, 2010 at 2:00 p.m.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Virtacore Joins VMware vCloud ExpressTM Program With Launch of First Infrastructure-as-a-Service Offering for the Mid-Market

PR byVirtacore:

>>Virtacore Delivers Seamless Scalability, Unified Management Console Across Public and Private Clouds to Answer Mid-Market Companies' Call for 100% Uptime Even During Rapid Growth

STERLING, VA and SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - September 1, 2010) - Virtacore Systems, Inc., a leading provider of cloud computing solutions designed for the mid-market, unveiled today its vCore platform, the first infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) offering tailored to meet the swiftly changing needs of mid-market, emerging businesses, independent software vendors (ISVs) and service providers.

Virtacore's vCore platform provides a unified management console and seamless upgrade between VMware vCloud™ Express, a pay-as-you go, on-demand, self-service cloud offering, and private and hybrid VMware-virtualized environments.

"Growing mid-market companies and smart ISVs and service providers want simple, swift and affordable pathways to the efficiencies of the cloud, but they also don't want to end up underpowered without a clear upgrade option," said Tom Kiblin, CEO of Virtacore. "We're focused on providing this segment not only all of the control and service visibility they require, but a level of support that goes well beyond directing them toward self-service tools."

Virtacore manages over 10,000 virtual environments in state-of-the-art Tier 3 facilities throughout North America. For customer INDUS Corporation, the ability to deploy mission-critical applications and services using both on-premise virtualization and external cloud resources slashed monthly IT operating costs by 30 per cent.

--

Over 10,000 virtual environments are managed by Virtacore in state-of-the-art Tier 3 Equinix facilities throughout North America.

Happy Anniversary CyberKnife of Chicago!

Congratulations on celebrating one year at Elmhurst Memorial Hospital
and treating more than 250 patients with CyberKnife radiosurgery! See one patient’s story
about receiving CyberKnife treatment at Elmhurst.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifACqyxo3ug

First in Europe to Install a CyberKnife VSI System

The Leon-Berard Center of Lyon, France, is now offering its cancer patients the benefits of Full Body Radiosurgery

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Sept. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Accuray Incorporated (Nasdaq: ARAY), a global leader in the field of radiosurgery, today announced that the first CyberKnife VSI System to be installed in Europe was placed at the Leon-Berard Cancer Multidisciplinary Center (CLB) in Lyon, France. The CyberKnife VSI System is the newest addition to the CyberKnife product family.

One of France's leading cancer treatment facilities, the Leon-Berard Cancer Center, is a non-profit hospital dedicated to cancer treatment and research located in the Rhone-Alpes, the second largest region in France . The addition of the CyberKnife System to the already well-equipped Radiation Oncology department, – which features five treatment accelerators, one dedicated scanner and one brachytherapy suite, – will expand the range of therapeutic options available to the center's 2,000 yearly cancer patients.

"We feel strongly that the CyberKnife VSI System will help us deliver not only more typical radiation therapy, but also allow us to treat cancer patients that would otherwise have no other options," said Christian Carrie, M.D., head of the Radiation Oncology department at CLB. "Although the CyberKnife VSI System has the capacity to deliver conventional fractionation, the main reason we chose this system is for its superior accuracy and efficiency in the treatment of moving targets, in particularly liver and prostate."

Accuray Rated Overweight At Piper Jaffray (ARAY)

from Benzinga.com:

>> Piper Jaffray is reiterating its Overweight rating and $8 price target on shares of Accuray Incorporated, after the company provided much stronger than expected Q4 results.

In a note to clients, Piper Jaffray writes, "ARAY reported very strong new order growth and improved profitability on Tuesday, though the light FY11 outlook may temper some investor enthusiasm. While we attribute some of the FY11 discord to overly aggressive analyst expectations (including us) and continued confusion over the impact of platinum service revenue, we believe there are a number of variables that may ultimately push numbers higher over the next 12 months that leave us encouraged. All-in ARAY reported in-line revenues, better than expected margins and profitability, and impressive new order growth."

Monday, August 30, 2010

The Immersion Team

Three new positions are mentioned on the Immersion Management Team page:

Mr. Rob Lacroix, Vice President, Engineering

Rob Lacroix is responsible for all product development activities including transforming innovative proof-of-concepts into commercial solutions that meet performance and value expectations. During his tenure at Immersion, Lacroix has held a range of positions, including director of software development, Mobility Engineering program manager, and General Manager of Immersion Canada. Before joining Immersion in 2000, he developed firmware for a number of customers that included Haptic Technologies (acquired by Immersion in 2000), the Canadian Space Agency, and other embedded systems device manufacturers. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from McGill University.


Mr. Joseph LaValle, Vice President, Sales

Joe LaValle is responsible for all of Immersion’s sales and business development opportunities on a worldwide basis. LaValle has over 25 years of sales management experience with major technology companies including SiRF, Intel, Telegent Systems, Digital Equipment Corporation and 3M. He served as Vice President of Sales at SiRF Technology and has particularly strong expertise in Asia – a key market for Immersion – having spent eight years on assignment in Hong Kong and Tokyo for Intel and Digital Equipment’s semiconductor division. He was previously Director of Asia Pacific Sales for Intel's Communications Sales Organization, General Manager of the Communications and Embedded Sales Group at Intel Japan and Director of Asia Pacific Sales for Digital Equipment. LaValle was also Vice President of Sales at Telegent Systems and held various sales and marketing management positions at 3M. He is a graduate of Wabash College.


Mr. Dennis Sheehan, Vice President, Marketing

Dennis Sheehan is responsible for leading all product and corporate marketing activities including overall strategy and go-to-market activities for Immersion’s TouchSense solutions in the rapidly growing market for touch feedback-enabled products. Sheehan has a depth of experience in bringing innovative embedded technologies to market in mobile, personal computer and consumer electronics products. He has built his career developing and collaborating with ecosystem partners in the complex consumer electronics market. Prior to Immersion, Sheehan was Senior Director of Product Management at SiRF Technology, a leading supplier of GPS semiconductor solutions for mobile phones and personal navigation devices. Before that, he was Vice President of Business Development and Strategy for Varatouch, an intellectual property components and software company focused on human input devices for hand-held consumer electronics. Earlier in his career, Sheehan held various senior marketing positions over twelve years at Intel. He holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

ESTRO (European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology)

Calling all European Clinicians: Come join us for a conversation discussing Motion Management in Lung Cancer Treatment @ ESTRO (European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology).
Presentations by:

CyberKnife® Symposium: Motion Management in Lung Cancer Treatment
Chair: Prof. Volker Budach, Charité – Universitätsmedizin, Berlin
...

Fiducial-Free Motion Management with the CyberKnife VSI System
Mr. Calvin Maurer, Accuray Incorporated

Physics Aspects of CyberKnife Lung Treatments
Dr. Mischa Hoogeman, Erasmus MC - Daniel den Hoed Cancer Centre, Rotterdam

CyberKnife Radiosurgery of Lung Cancers: 5 Year Outcome
Dr. Joost Nuyttens, Erasmus MC - Daniel den Hoed Cancer Centre, Rotterdam

SBRT for Lung Tumours: Implementation in Routine Practice in a Busy Centre and Results
Dr. Pierre-Yves Bondiau, Centre Antoine Lacassagne, Nice

lunedì 13 settembre 2010 alle ore 13.00
Room 111, Barcelona, Spain

MEDCAC panel validates CyberKnife treatment for prostate cancer

Video- MEDCAC panel validates CyberKnife treatment for prostate cancer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9-qK34WM14

Medicare carrier advisory committee determines that stereotactic body radiotherapy (such as the CyberKnife) is a valid means of treating early stage prostate cancer.

Accuray 4Q 2010 Earnings Preview

Accuray (ARAY) will be reporting 4Q 2010 results on Tuesday, August 31st, after the market closes.

Analysts forecast, on average, revenues of $61.15 Million, with a low estimate of $60.10 M. and a high estimate of $62.26 M., and EPS of $0.05 (with a range between $0.03 and $0.06).

During the last conference call, the Company said that it expected revenues to hit the low range of the yearly forecast – see Seeking Alpha's Q3 conference call transcript:

Derek Bertocci - CFO

Due to some delay in one expected shipment, and differences in service products elected by customers, we now anticipate that total revenue will be towards lower end of our guidance range of $220 million to $230 million.

While it is always difficult, due to an accounting change in the way the Company recognizes revenues, to make an apple to apple comparison at Accuray on a quarterly or yearly basis (you may see for reference one of our previous articles), we still believe checking CyberKnife installations is the best way to track Accuray's performance, also to understand if an inflection point has been reached by the company.

Numbers, unfortunately, are not exciting. As we may see from the following charts, the Company is not even on track to reach last year's installations, unless Q4 comes with very unexpected numbers.


With only 21 installations made in the first three quarters, Accuray doesn't seem capable to accelerate growth, compared to the previous years, even in presence of a good fourth quarter:



Accuray had an installed base of 196 CyberKnife units at the end of Q3:

We installed six CyberKnife systems in the third quarter of the current fiscal year, one in the Americas region and five in the European region. This brings the worldwide CyberKnife's installed base to 196 units at the end of the third quarter, with 125 systems in the Americas, 23 in Asia, 27 in Europe, and 21 in Japan.

A couple of notes related to these numbers.

First of all, Q3 was the only quarter, in the history of Accuray as a listed Company, that saw no new installation in the USA. While we do believe that Accuray will show some installations in Q4 in its domestic region, there's is no doubt that the slow down in its largest market has hit hard the Company.

As reported on the IV Message Board, CyberKnife installations, in the third quarter, were in the following countries:

EUROPE:
(1) Ostrava Cancer Hospital, Ostrava CZECH REPUBLIC
(2) Soest City Hospital, Soest GERMANY
(3) Regional University of Tours, Tours FRANCE
(4) University Hospital of Liege, Liege BELGIUM
(5) Istanbul or Ankara, TURKEY

AMERICAS:
(1) Juravinski Cancer Center, Hamilton CANADA

On June 3rd, Accuray announced the installation of its 200th CK system:

Accuray Incorporated, a global leader in the field of radiosurgery, today announced the installation of the 200th CyberKnife® Robotic Radiosurgery System as continued evidence of its acceptance as the world’s leading device for radiosurgery. The milestone system was installed at Mount Vernon Cancer Centre in the United Kingdom, the first hospital operated by the National Health Service (NHS) in the U.K. to acquire the CyberKnife device.

While the milestone was worth being announced, it would seem to suggest that only 4 systems have been installed in the first two months of Q4, which wouldn't bode well for the total result of the quarter.

We tend to believe that Accuray privileged informing investors about the the first UK NHS installation of Accuray’s CK System, rather than suggesting how installations were doing in the quarter.

Another important milestone was recently achieved when the Company announced that the Japanese Ministry of Health had approved the CyberKnife System to treat tumors anywhere in the body:

Accuray Incorporated (Nasdaq: ARAY), a global leader in the field of radiosurgery, announced today it received Shonin approval from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) to market the CyberKnife® G4 Robotic Radiosurgery System to treat tumors non-invasively anywhere in the body, inclusive of head and neck. The System will be marketed in Japan as the "CyberKnife® Radiosurgery System".

The CyberKnife G4 System will provide Japanese patients with some of the latest advances in CyberKnife technology including:

  • Motion management technology to correct for tumor motion including the Xsight® Lung Tracking System, which eliminates the need for fiducials in many lung cases;

  • Hardware and software enhancements that enable up to 50 percent reduction in treatment time;

  • Customized treatment plans dictated by clinical requirements and objectives;

  • Flexibility to adapt the fractionation scheme to meet the unique needs of each patient simply and conveniently in routine clinical practice.

This approval extends the types of Japanese patients that can be treated with CyberKnife to include those with cancers of the spine, lung, liver, pancreas and prostate, in what is expected to be an important strategic market for Accuray.

Turning our attention to institutional activity, Shapiro Capital recently announced that it increased its ownership to almost 15% of the Company, as disclosed in this 13G filing.

For those readers who may be interested in additional diligence about the Company, we suggest to read the recent interview given by Accuray's CEO, Euan Thomson, and available at Medical Device & Diagnostic Industry.

A few quotes about the announced partnership with Siemens, and the stock performance are worth being shared here, as they also address the sales problem we mentioned at the beginning of this article:

On that note, are you pleased with your stock performance?
Overall, we’re not pleased with the stock performance. We’re an undervalued company. And I think many of the issues relate to the type of commercial threat I discussed. What we’re finding investors are looking for, and we’re happily able to deliver, is sales performance. We have an extra level of proof that we have to go to that we can sell against these larger companies. We have a robust technology that is well protected by IP, but you need commercial position. We have done that and we continue to do that.

In the last three quarters that I can talk about, we took orders for 41 systems, and we shipped 26 systems. In the context of an installed base of 200 units, to sell 41 in 3 quarters and to have a book-to-bill ratio in excess of 1.6 shows that the CyberKnife is truly a differentiated product in the market and that we as a company have the ability to sell it. When I spent time recently with investors I saw they are definitely starting to gain confidence in the ability of the product to continue to gain rapid acceptance.

How did the Siemens alliance come about?
They’re one of the big capital equipment companies that still have a direct interest in radiation treatment. They produce radiation equipment but the applications of that treatment don’t overlap with those of CyberKnife. They have some expertise that we’re trying to tap into. The relationship helps both parties. We have some very high-level intellectual property and expertise inside Accuray that can help them. And obviously they have a huge brand name and market presence that can help us. It’s a very strategic relationship. As well, they can help us to gain access to customers, and we can help them from a technology standpoint.

Does the alliance expand your distribution?
It adds to our distribution capacity. It doesn’t replace the sales team that we already have. I can give you an example that would clarify. For example, there are many cases where an entire hospital may be built or an entire new wing of a hospital cancer center may be built. The customer under those circumstances is often looking for one vendor that can supply all of its equipment. Clearly, they’re not going to come to Accuray with our one very specialized piece of equipment. They’re going to be coming to the big producers, and Siemens is one of those. And now they have the ability to include the CyberKnife as part of their equipment portfolio.

In practical terms how else does the alliance benefit Accuray?
We have a good infrastructure for managing the engineering side and equipment. It’s really more about customer access and relationships.

Equinix is planning to build a second International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data center in Hong Kong

This data center is expected to service strong demand from banking and financial market customers and the expansion of cloud and IT service providers. The new $63 million HK2 facility is targeted for opening in the third quarter of 2011.

The second Hong Kong data center will service strong demand from the banking and financial market participants and the expansion of cloud and IT service providers

Immersion Corporation recent patent applications



Immersion Corporation recent patent applications, according to www.faqs.org:

click to enlage

Samsung Launches Wave 723

from wsj.com:

>>Samsung Electronics launched the Wave 723 smartphone as it looks to broaden the reach of its home-grown operating system, Bada.

The Wave 723 is a lower-end follow-up to the original Wave, which marked the first device to use Bada. Samsung sees Bada as a platform for lower priced smartphones that can eventually be sold to emerging markets. The Wave 723 will launch in September in Germany, and eventually spread through Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. It will sell for around 240 euros (US$306), with the ultimate price decided by the carrier partner.

By making smartphones using Bada less expensive, Samsung hopes to spur adoption of its product and take market share.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Tablet Toshiba Folio 100

some details about the new Toshiba tablet available at notebookitalia.it. No mention of haptic.

>>All'interno della vasta gamma di PC portatili Toshiba, si è venuto a creare un ristretto nucleo di dispositivi ultraportatili dalle caratteristiche innovative, composto dal Libretto W100 e dallo smartbook AC100. Oggi questa famiglia di prodotti si completa con il tablet Toshiba Folio 100, del quale vi sveliamo le specifiche tecniche in anteprima assoluta. La denominazione "smartpad", finora utilizzata per identificare questo tablet, sta quindi unicamente ad indicare la categoria di appartenenza.

Toshiba Folio 100 con Android 2.2