Briefly: HP goes SDN; el cheapo tablets

A new direction for HP as the company plans to create a smartphone style developer’s kit and app store for enterprise level customers toying with software-defined networking.

The company says it plans to build what it calls an ‘ecosystem’ around SDN or more precisely its SDN controllers and OpenFlow, the company’s SDN protocol. However HP emphasises its plans are open and the technologies will support other equipment maker’s kit.

Software-defined networks are the next big thing, but it is still relatively new so HP’s early move into the space is borderline visionary. Of course the support of a major player like HP means SDN is more likely to take off.

What’s interesting for entrepreneurial tech-savvy New Zealanders is the software development kit and app store lowers the barriers to entry into what could become a gold mine.

The developer’s kit is due to land next month while the app store is expected to open for business early in the new year.

• How cheap can tablets go? Laser Corporation is selling a seven inch el cheapo Android tablet in Australian stores for $129 – by the time exchange rates and GST differences kick in that’s about NZ$160. It will almost certainly land here – it comes with built-in maps of Australia and New Zealand.
• Is there a role for small technology consulting companies in New Zealand’s all-of-government procurement system? Usually the onerous requirements set too high a barrier for micro-businesses but as an anonymous story in the latest IITP newsletter reports, there could be a workaround.
• The Entrepreneurial Organisation of NZ – no, I’ve never heard of it before either but it’s a good idea – wants to promote business-like thinking in the nation’s youth. The organisation wants to send a local student to Washington DC to compete against other student business owners for the title of Top Global Student Entrepreneur. At the time of writing there’s no information on the organisation’s website, but entrants are asked to send a one or two page business overview to Tony Falkenstein tf@jwi.co.nz by 25 October – presumably he can answer any questions you might have about the award too.
•  Technology companies feature among the finalists in the search for the Kenexa 2013 New Zealand Best Workplaces. Vend, Microsoft New Zealand, Leading Edge Communications, Trademe, Provoke, ClearPoint and Brother International all made the list.