Violin Memory Aims to Simplify the Data Center

According to the IHS iSuppli Data Flash Market Tracker, the NAND Flash memory market  is projected to grow 8% this year to $22.9 billion. Memory market growth is driven by strength in smartphones, tablets, and ultrabooks. The market is projected to grow to $30.9 billion by 2016. The researcher estimates that overall NAND flash consumption for smartphones will grow to 5.7 billion gigabytes this year, up from 3.1 billion gigabytes a year ago. By 2016, NAND memory content in smartphones is projected to reach 18.9 gigabytes and will amount to 16% of total NAND bit shipments. Besides consumer equipment–related growth, the Flash memory market is also seeing strong growth in the enterprise-related flash memory segment.

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Pandora: Business or Non-Profit?

Analysts estimate traditional radio advertising market in the U.S. to be worth $14 billion-$16 billion. Internet players like Pandora (NYSE:P) are lauching a full-fledged attack on this advertising market and are seeing good results. Today, Pandora is ranked as the largest radio station for listeners aged 18 and above in more than 25 markets in the country. It is the biggest radio station in the New York and Los Angeles markets. Among online radio stations, Pandora commands an impressive 75% market share.

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Splunk Performs Following IPO

Market experts CRISIL GR&A believe that the global Big Data market will grow at 45% annually to reach $25 billion by 2015. Last year, global Big Data market was estimated to be worth $5.3 billion. Data analytics and management of this volume of data will become critical for growth. Researchers estimate that 90% of Fortune 500 companies will have Big Data initiatives underway by the end of this year. Companies supporting these Big Data initiatives are seeing strong growth.

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Infoblox Aims to Fend Off BlueCat with New Products

Recently listed automated network control solutions provider Infoblox (NYSE:BLOX) is counting on the growth of “dynamic networks.” Infoblox believes that as businesses switch to automated network control demand for data centers that perform virtualization, cloud computing, software-as-a-service, and high-speed networking, support multiple business operations will grow. The company is riding on the wave of this trend. According to Gartner, Infoblox is a market leader in the segment with nearly 40% of the network control automation market.

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Proofpoint Targets Postini Customers

According to Gartner, cloud-based security software solutions will account for 15.6% of the $26.2 billion market for security software by the year 2016. For 2012, Gartner expects the security software market to be worth $19.1 billion, with cloud-based security solutions accounting for 5% of the market’s share. Gartner believes that demand for cloud-based security solutions will grow at a compounded rate of 23.7% from 2012 to 2016.

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RIM Declines Steadily to Just 5% Market Share

According to Gartner’s second-quarter analysis of worldwide mobile device sales,  sales of mobile devices fell 2.3% over the year to 419 million units. 37% of mobile devices sold last quarter were smartphones. Gartner estimates that smartphone sales grew 43% over the year to 154 million units driven by strong performances by both Apple and Samsung. The two players combined accounted for 83% of smartphone sales during the quarter. Android OS–based devices accounted for 64% of the market compared with 43% a year ago. Apple’s iPhone now accounts for 19% of the smartphone market compared with 18% over the year. Symbian and RIM continued to see sharp declines in phone sales, and Symbian phones now account for 6% of the market, while RIM phones contributed just 5%. A year ago, RIM phones had 11.7% of the smartphone market.

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What Happens to Dell Now?

A recent IDC report estimates that worldwide PC market will grow a mere 0.9% this year to 367 million units. This is the second consecutive year of poor growth, and it is attributed to the slowing down of emerging markets and volume declines in mature markets. IDC research suggests that consumers are waiting to evaluate the performance of Windows 8 and Ultrabook products and are thus delaying their PC purchases. Rising tablet sales are also hurting PC shipments. During the second quarter of this year, the number of tablets sold worldwide grew 66% over the year to 25 million units. IDC projects the PC market to grow at 7% annually over the period 2013-2016, compared with 8.4% projected earlier.

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Angie’s List Imploding

Several social media stocks that went public last year are dealing with stock lock-up expiration periods this year. Not only are leaders like Facebook witnessing strong declines following the expiration period, but other players haven’t been spared, either. Online review site Angie’s List saw its stock price fall significantly the day the lock-ups expired. Add to that a bleak outcome, and things seem to be going downhill for the company.

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Fusion-io Growing Fast but Still Looking for Profits

According to an IDC report, the solid state drive (SSD) market is expected to see strong growth in the coming years. Worldwide SSD shipments are projected to grow at an annual rate of 51.5% over the period 2010 to 2015. Gartner expects the enterprise flash market to be worth $4.5 billion by 2015.  Memory player Fusion-io has seen a year go by since it went public on the NYSE despite economic conditions.

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Niche e-Commerce: Blinds.com Sells More Than $100M of Window Covers

Much of the market may still be following the rise and fall of several social media stocks. There are, however, several other interesting stories and business cases of how traditional retailers have used the Internet successfully to make it big in the connected world. For instance, players like Blue Nile have hurt brick and mortar jewelers. Another such retailer is Houston-based Blinds.com, which has become the largest online window covering store in America.

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