Cisco names new servers chief
Cisco Systems (CSCO) named Juniper Networks executive David Yen to lead its server access and virtualization technology group, the latest change in a shake-up of the networking-equipment maker that began last month. Yen will replace Mario Mazzola, Prem Jain and Luca Cafiero, who founded the business that served as the basis for the division, San Jose-based Cisco said in a statement. They will take on advisory roles, the company said. The server business, created in 2008, is part of Cisco’s effort to sell more gear into the burgeoning data-center market. The division includes Nexus network switches and the United Computing System, a range of technologies that help customers manage information.
— Bloomberg News
Microsoft to end logging smartphone data
Microsoft, responding to privacy concerns raised against makers of smartphone software, said it will stop logging and storing location data that can be traced to specific handsets. Microsoft said in a blog post Monday that it’s taking steps to eliminate the use and storage of the so-called unique device identifier from smartphones using its Windows 7 mobile operating system. The number serves as an ID for the gadget. “Without a unique identifier or some other significant change to our operating system or practices, we cannot track an individual device,” Andy Lees, president of Microsoft’s mobile communications business, said in the post. U.S. lawmakers have increased scrutiny of how consumer data is collected from smartphones and tablet computers.
— Bloomberg News
Study: Amgen drug increased risk
A drug sold by Amgen and Johnson & Johnson for people with anemia didn’t reduce heart damage in patients who’d experienced heart attacks and may increase the chances of recurrence or death, a study found. Epogen, approved in 1989 as the first drug for Thousand Oaks-based Amgen, is used by patients undergoing kidney dialysis to boost their depleted red blood cells. J&J sells the drug as Procrit, mostly for cancer patients getting chemotherapy. While animal studies suggested the medicine might reduce heart damage, new findings in the Journal of the American Medical Association found the opposite.
— Bloomberg News
