Daily Tech Snippet: Thursday February 12

• 25,000:1 - that's the ratio of data center machines to employees at Facebook, says FB's VP Engineering: While most enterprises have a ratio in data centers of one person for every 250 to 500 computers, Facebook has 25,000 machines for every person, Mr. Parikh said. Facebook’s entire network, he said, is overseen by just one person at any given time. Given Facebook's employee strength of ~10,000, this implies that its data centers could have ~250M machines; similar calculations would place Google at between 25M and 50M machines.

• A curated introductions startup gains as a way to meet top tech talent in Silicon Valley's red-hot job market: Given the current job market in Silicon Valley, one of the biggest challenges faced by startups and established companies alike is the difficulty in finding and recruiting the best engineers. If you’re a company that’s got a lot of mindshare, you might not have much trouble getting those hot applicants — or you can raise enough to buy smaller teams. But for those without years worth of networking under their belts, finding new engineers can be a real struggle that takes focus away from the task of actually building a product. Enter InterviewJet, which gives employers who sign up a weekly curated introduction to experienced engineers with in-demand skill sets — think Ruby on Rails, Python, and mobile developers. Once the introduction has been made, potential employers have 72 hours to lock down an interview with candidates. InterviewJet co-founder and CEO Joshua Holtzman says the startup has facilitated 1,000 interviews and signed up more than 450 employers to their network since rolling out as a beta in early 2014. With just ten employees, InterviewJet is currently signing up approximately half of the 40-50 companies that apply to join each week and vetting 10-12 new candidates to show off to its member companies. InterviewJet takes a flat fee for every hire it facilitates — $9,500 to be more precise, which Holtzman says often undercuts the finders fee usually paid to headhunters working for top firms. That rate might change in the future based on factors like candidate skill sets or when companies use the service to hire multiple engineers in one pass as an acquisition. That’s happened three times now, including an acqui-hire arranged last summer by Samsung that was facilitated entirely through the service. Since launching its beta version, InterviewJet went through the Talent Tech Labs incubator in New York, which is dedicated to bolstering startups in the talent acquisition space. Post-incubator, the startup has raised $750,000 in seed funding from Mitchell Martin, an IT and healthcare staffing company. Holtzman says that money will go to expanding InterviewJet’s sales and product teams, increasing staff on both by half.

• Facebook Unveils Networking Switch to Take On Cisco, Juniper: Facebook Inc. unveiled a new networking-equipment system designed to displace products from companies like Cisco Systems Inc. and Juniper Networks Inc. with flexible hardware at the heart of large data centers. The system, nicknamed 6-pack, will let Facebook build networks by filling large racks with a smaller switch called Wedge, introduced in June. Using its own design helped Facebook, whose social-networking website has 1.4 billion users, reduce spending on infrastructure and upgrade its capabilities without depending on outside suppliers. The 6-pack is built to replace high-capacity spine switches that handle the bulk of traffic in data centers. Though it was originally marketed as a cheaper, top-of-rack switch, Wedge was designed to become a building block for systems to replace more expensive kinds of gear, said Najam Ahmad, Facebook’s vice president of infrastructure. The spine switch market was worth about $2.9 billion in 2014, smaller yet more profitable than the $3.1 billion top-of-rack switch market, according to Infonetics Research, a unit of IHS Inc. In the past, Menlo Park, California-based Facebook bought its spine switches from traditional networking-gear providers like Cisco and Juniper, Ahmad said, without specifying the company’s suppliers.

• Competitors react cautiously to Facebook's moves: Kelly Kramer, Cisco’s chief financial officer, downplayed the risk to Cisco, and pointed to strong sales of its Nexus family of switches in its most recent quarter. She noted that Cisco was also a member of the Open Compute Project, to “better understand where our customers are going.” Juniper is more actively supporting the open approach. In December, it submitted a design for a new switch called the OCX1100 to the Open Compute Project. If accepted, any OCP member could build the machine or write software for it. Arista Networks Inc., a fast-growing supplier specializing in data center switches, is the most threatened by the open approach, given that it gets a high percentage of its sales from a few large cloud providers, according to Jason Noah Ader, an analyst at William Blair & Co.

• Cisco Q4 Earnings: revenue $11.94B, +7%, net income $2.4B, shares up 5.5% on earnings beat: Network equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO.O) reported stronger-than-expected quarterly revenue and profit as demand for switching equipment and routers helped make up for weak spending by the company's traditional telecom customers. Cisco, which saw its shares rise 5.6 percent in extended trading on Wednesday, has been trying to make a transition toward a new cycle of high-end switches and routers. ""We executed very well in a tough environment, and I'd say our strategy is playing out like we expected," Chief Financial Officer Kelly Kramer told Reuters. The switching business, which makes products that handle traffic at large internet data centers, brought in about 39 percent of Cisco's total hardware revenue in 2014, while the router business accounted for about 21.2 percent. "They are seeing very robust switching sales," Needham & Co analyst Alex Henderson told Reuters, adding that this was good news for others in the sector such as Infoblox Inc (BLOX.N), Gigamon Inc (GIMO.N) and F5 Networks Inc (FFIV.O). Revenue from Cisco's hardware business rose 7.8 percent to $9.08 billion in the company's second quarter ended Jan. 24. Revenue from services, which includes the company's software and cloud offerings, rose 4.6 percent to $2.86 billion. Subscriptions generate more predictable recurring revenue than hardware sales. The services business is also less likely to suffer from sudden shifts in demand. "They may have the worst in the rear view right now," said Wedbush Securities analyst Scott Thompson.

• Baidu Q4 earnings: revenue $2.26B, +47.5%; shares down 9% on earnings miss; Baidu, owner of China's dominant search engine, reported a lower-than-expected 47.5 percent rise in quarterly revenue as more users switched from PCs to mobile devices, which have less space for more lucrative forms of advertising. Shares of the U.S.-listed company fell 7.8 percent to $198 in extended trading on Wednesday. Baidu, sometimes referred to as China's Google, reported revenue of 14.05 billion yuan, or $2.26 billion, for the fourth quarter, falling short of the average analyst estimate of 14.12 billion yuan, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Mobile revenue represented 42 percent of total revenue, up from 36 percent in the third quarter, Baidu said. "In December, for the first time search revenue from mobile surpassed PC," Chief Executive Robin Li said in a statement. Baidu forecast revenue of 12.65 billion-13.07 billion yuan ($2.04 billion-$2.12 billion) for the current quarter. Analysts on average expected revenue of 13.62 billion yuan. The forecast reflects the combined impact of the late timing of Chinese New Year and increased contribution from mobile as a percentage of overall revenue, the company said. Baidu is facing increased competition on smartphones as companies such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA.N) and Tencent Holdings Ltd (0700.HK) invest in apps and content to keep users engaged. Net income attributable to Baidu jumped 16 percent to 3.23 billion yuan, or $520.4 million, for the fourth quarter.

• Bangalore lending platform Capital Float, SME lender to Flipkart, Snapdeal sellers, gets $13M in funding: Bangalore-headquartered Zen Lefin Pvt Ltd, the company behind Capital Float, an online platform that provides working capital finance to SMEs (small and medium enterprises) in India, has secured $13 million (Rs 81 crore) in Series A funding from Sequoia Capital with participation of existing investors SAIF Partners and Aspada, it said on Wednesday. The funds will be used for expanding into more cities, improve its tech platform and launch new products. Capital Float works with underserved small businesses via a technology-led loan origination and credit underwriting platform. It provides short-term loans to SMEs that can be used to purchase inventory, service new orders or optimise cash cycles. Borrowers can apply online, select desired repayment terms and receive funds in their bank accounts in seven days. The firm caters to SMEs across a variety of sectors, including manufacturing, services and e-commerce. “We’ve focused on building the platform to deliver flexible and convenient access to finance that can scale with their business (borrowers). By leveraging alternative data in our underwriting model, we are increasingly able to not only make faster decisions but also lend to emerging business models,” said Hinduja and Rishyasringa in a joint statement. To date, the platform claims of having lent nearly Rs 40 crore to SMEs across more than 10 cities in India. Most of the loan applications come from vendors on marketplaces such as Snapdeal, Flipkart, Amazon, PayTM and Myntra.

• Atlas, Facebook's ad tech network is becoming a platform, as agency giants plug in: Facebook is opening its ad tech to more agencies and brands after making a round of new deals with big holding companies and advertising software firms. Publicis and its tech arm, VivaKi, are now plugged into Facebook's Atlas ad network, which launched in the fall to compete with Google's DoubleClick and to help brands and agencies deliver ads across the Internet, desktop computers and mobile devices. Also, ad tech companies Mediaocean and Merkle are now tapped into the system.These new Atlas partners reveal how Facebook is approaching the future of its ad business, said Erik Johnson, head of Atlas. The social site is bringing on strategic advisors and ad tech experts to help implement its vision for a digital advertising ecosystem. "We have three holding companies on board, and the remaining three of the big six we're optimistic about getting," Johnson said. Omnicom was a launch partner when Facebook unveiled Atlas in the fall. Facebook then explained it would shift from cookie-based digital measurements, which track users by the software placed on websites, to "people-based" metrics. Since the launch, Facebook has brought Havas and Publicis into the fold. The Mediaocean deal means that company's brand clients will be able to use Atlas and its unique measurements. "We're now reporting at an audience level. Most other third-party ad servers all are cookie based," said Bill Wise, CEO of Mediaocean. "Instead of just reporting on unique users or unique devices, we're reporting on unique people." Facebook and its partners say this people-based measurement means more efficient ad spending, because it removes some uncertainty when delivering ads based on user or device identifications that may or may not know exactly who is on the other end. Facebook's 1.4 billion logged-in user base gives it a lot of intelligence about who views an ad on any device.

• Amazon Prime delivery was riddled with problems this holiday season, says survey - Amazon is n't so sure: Amazon.com Inc packages ordered by its Prime members regularly arrived late during the holidays, a Reuters/Ipsos survey shows, reflecting the strain on the logistics network that transformed the company into an e-commerce powerhouse. Customer satisfaction with Prime is extremely high - 96 percent are happy with its two-day shipping service, the survey revealed. But the results raise questions for Amazon as it expands and takes greater control of its shipping system. Amazon said the survey was flawed and disputed its findings. Amazon said U.S. Prime memberships increased 50 percent last year. Analysts reckon that the largest U.S. online retailer now promises standard two-day shipping to what amounts to nearly one-third of U.S. households. In the Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted last month, 10 percent of about 1,700 Amazon shoppers who chose the two-day shipping option said packages ordered between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31 did not arrive on the expected day. Amazon has increasingly tapped local and regional package delivery companies to cut costs and improve speeds. None of the firms Amazon lists as delivery partners on its website would comment for this article. This is the first time Reuters has conducted this survey, so it is unclear how Amazon fared in the past. In addition, Reuters did not compare delays at Amazon with other retailers. The Reuters/Ipsos survey had a credibility interval of plus or minus 1.4 percentage points. Amazon's net shipping costs as a percentage of revenue have remained relatively constant over the last several years, at about 4.7 percent. However, Amazon and other shippers continue to worry about rising costs. Early this month, United Parcel Service Inc said it would begin applying surcharges to deliver packages to homes. UPS, which reported that its earnings were hit by holiday shipping expenses, said its own cost to deliver a package to a residence are three times more than to a business. Guaranteed two-day shipping on items as low as a few dollars - such as $5.17 for a set of measuring spoons - costs Amazon big. Prime is also the vehicle for Amazon's other pricey ventures, including film and television production, same-day shipping and even one-hour delivery in New York.