Network Break 83: Smartphones Slip & PCs Plummet; Intel Targets IoT

It’s the Network Break! Visualize a virtual donut, sip hot coffee, and join us as we take a swing at the latest tech news. We lead off with alarming stats for the PC industry (six quarters of falling sales) and debate the future of this computing form factor.

We also speculate on the implications of the latest smartphone sales, which failed to reach double digits for the first time ever.

Intel is looking to boost its presence in the IoT market by courting manufacturers and developers in China, and Facebook has appointed former Google exec Regina Dugan to lead a new hardware development arm inside Facebook.

Greg does an “I told you so” dance on confirmation that Cisco did invest in SpringPath, the startup that’s providing key software for Cisco’s HyperFlex converged appliance. The U.S. government says it has yet to find anything of value on the iPhone of the San Bernadino shooter, and we explore why information-gathering wasn’t the real goal.

IBM’s Power9 chips hope to make a splash in the data center, Huawei’s carrier division is on track to tower over Ericsson, NEC and HPE integrate around SDN, and Juniper lowers guidance on its revenue.

We’re joined this week by guest pontificator, Craig Matsumoto, editor in chief at SDX Central.

You can get links to all the stories, and see sponsor details, just below the donut.

Sponsor: Viptela & The Big SD-WAN Mixer

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Sponsor: Nuage Networks

This week’s show is sponsored by Nuage Networks from Nokia. These network experts bring the power of the cloud to your datacenter and WAN network. Connect across any cloud, any network, any hardware and any form factor. Partner with Nuage Networks to move your business into the next era of network freedom. Learn more about their open, scalable approach to network virtualization at nuagenetworks.net.

Show Notes:

PCs Plummet, Smartphones Slip To Single-Digit Growth

Global PC shipments drop to lowest level since 2007 – Seeking Alpha

Gartner Says Global Smartphone Sales to Only Grow 7 Per Cent in 2016 – Gartner

Apple Supplier TSMC Sees Demand Waning for Phones Above $500 – Bloomberg

Intel Targets IoT

Secretive Intel quietly woos makers in China – Network World

Facebook Invests In Hardware

Facebook Poaches Google’s Regina Dugan For Hardware Push – InformationWeek

Cisco Put A Ring On SpringPath

Confirmed: Cisco did invest in SpringPath – The Register

iPhony

Source: Nothing significant found on San Bernadino iPhone so far – CBS

IBM’s Hopes For Power9

Power9, GPUs, FPGAs Will Have A Profound Effect On The Data Center – Packet Pushers

IBM Unfolds Power Chip Roadmap Out Past 2020 – The Next Platform

Huawei The Giant

Huawei’s Carrier Division Set to Dwarf Ericsson by 2018 – Light Reading

NEC, HPE Integrate For SDN

NEC Integrates SDN Technology From HPE Aruba – SDX Central

Juniper Networks’ Preliminary Estimates

Juniper Networks Announces Preliminary First Quarter 2016 Financial Results and Date of Its Conference Call and Webcast – Seeking Alpha