Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO)’s TelePresence System, Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ) Boosts Big Data Processing, International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) Banned from Government Work

Editor’s Note: Related Tickers: Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO), Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ), International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM), Attunity Ltd (NASDAQ:ATTU), NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)

Remotely Exploitable Bug Affects Wide Range of Cisco TelePresence Systems (Threatpost)
There’s a serious vulnerability Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)’s popular TelePresence system that could give an attacker complete control of the affected system. The vulnerability affects a broad range of TelePresence models, although there are workarounds available. The vulnerability results from the fact that there are default credentials set up in the TelePresence systems. If a user account is created with the default credentials, an attacker would be able to exploit the bug and gain complete control of the Web server on which the system is running. Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) has not yet made available patched versions of the TelePresence software.

Margaret WhitmanHP taps Attunity to boost big data processing (Boston Business Journal)
Attunity Ltd (NASDAQ:ATTU) has been tapped by Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) to help the computer and enterprise software giant to load data faster. The Burlington, Mass.-based software company said its Attunity Click-2-Load technology is designed to boost the process of loading data to Cambridge, Mass.-based HP Vertica, which provides analytics platforms enabling companies such as Verizon, Twitter and Comcast make use of their data in real time. The software enables quick set up of data feeds with a drag-and-drop feature, support of data sources including SQL Server, Oracle and DB2 (database software), and loading of large data volumes.

Australian state bans IBM from future work (Register)
The Australian State of Queensland has barred International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) from future government work, “until it improves its governance and contracting practices.” Queensland is grumpy with IBM because of its role in a billion-dollar blowout of a payroll system for its health department. An inquiry into International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM)’s role in the project yesterday concluded Big Blue staffers did not follow its ethical guidelines in bidding for the work. The report also found Queensland’s government didn’t help matters by offering a poor brief, poor governance and being a weak negotiator. The State’s Premier (a title equivalent to a US State’s Governor) today issued a statement in which he said “it appears that IBM took the state of Queensland for a ride.”

Cisco, Nvidia Make Moves in Connected Car Market (eWeek)
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) and NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) are making moves in the growing market for connected cars, a space that is continuing to attract major players in the tech industry. Cisco officials, with their counterparts at European automotive supplier Continental, on Aug. 6 demonstrated a joint proof-of-concept connected car that included networking technology that featured high-speed connectivity and strong security. The companies showed off the concept car during the Center for Automotive Research Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City, Mich. The automobile included Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)’s wireless network switching technology and on-board software that enables seamless switching between 3G, 4G and other wireless networks based on such metrics as cost and quality-of-service while the car is moving.

HP consolidates record management applications (PCWorld)
In a move to consolidate overlapping lines of software, Helwett-Packard is merging three of its records management products into a single offering, to be called HP Records Manager. The company promises that the initial release of the new package will have the best bits from its existing records management products and feature a more practical user interface as well. “Our customers understood it was not a good decision to continue to maintain three different records management products in the market,” said David Gould, Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) global director of information governance software. “The goal of HP was to combine the best of those products into a [single] platform, and make it easier to use and more efficient.”

IBM orders furloughs for systems and technology group (vtdigger.org)
Three weeks after 419 employees worked their last days at International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM)’s plant in Essex Junction, a company official confirmed that mandatory furloughs in the hardware unit have been ordered. Starting either Aug. 24 or 31, members of the Systems and Technology Group will be required to take one week at one-third pay, Bloomberg reports. STG executives will take no pay during that week. The news comes the same day that International Business Machines Corp. announced an alliance with Google to build advanced server, networking, storage and GPU-acceleration technologies, using International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM)’s POWER microprocessor architecture. The companies Mellanox, NVIDIA and Tyan also are involved in the OpenPOWER Consortium.