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FF’s Elisa and VillarrealUSA’s Allen get into the deep, dark finances of Spanish Football.  Enjoy!

TRANSFERS

ALLEN:  so I think the topic of today’s chat is: no one in Spain has any money!

ELISA:   well, we have seen that money or lack there of, has affected transfers thus far.

ALLEN:  yes, we have.  It’s interesting how quiet the market has been so far.

ELISA:  most of the transfers have been very cheap or on a free.

ALLEN:  yes, and they were players that were rumored to be moving for €2-3m a year ago (Chori Castro, for example).

ELISA:  see Guardado, Emre (has been), Cebolla Rodriguez, Joao Pereira, and Diego Lopez.

ALLEN:  well Guardado’s deal was tied up last year, but Diego Lopez is a good example.  a year or two ago Villarreal could have gotten more for him, it’ s not just that they were relegated–it’s the market.

ELISA:  Exactly!  but I expect to see more of those type of transfer deals.  also Laftia and Abraham are cheap buys.

ALLEN:  What’s happening in Spain (and to some extent elsewhere as well) is the biggest clubs–RM and Barca–are off in their own world somewhere.  they are wheeling and dealing at the €20-30m/player level, competing with Man Utd and Chelsea (and Man City), but for most everybody else the wheeling and dealing is at a very cheap level.  There is no middle any more.

ELISA:  plus the vultures are going after Sporting, Villarreal and clubs who are desperate for money IE Espanyol, etc.

ALLEN:  Who has money in Spain?   Malaga, I guess, when the sheik actually visits.  Athletic?  well, they will only buy Basques (as defined). Valencia seem to think they do, or at least they continue to churn a third of their club every year.

ELISA: …and the big two. Hopefully the other clubs will stick to their guns if a non Spanish club or the big two come calling and ask for full transfer value. I will be interested to see how much Jordi Alba goes for.

ALLEN:  well, Alba is a perfect example.   he goes either to Barca or RM, or to a big club overseas.  but the tragedy is guys like Isco and who is the other youth star Valencia still have?  I forget his name but apparently Malaga want him and now Barca wants Isco.

ELISA:  well I don’t think Malaga will sell Isco, unless they get big bucks. he is their most improved player and the future.

ALLEN:   (Btw the Nou Mestalla deal is, I believe, in real trouble now that Bankia has been nationalized and wants more money)

ELISA:   well that is par for the course.  I mean Valencia is still in the US, trying to make as much money as possible.

ALLEN:  Yeah, plus the Houston stadium I guess is sponsored by BBVA so there is a tie in there.

ELISA:  back to VCF, Bernat is being wooed by Rayo Vallencano on loan.  Alcacer is wanted too.

ALLEN:  Paco Alcacer, that’s the name I couldn’t remember.

ELISA:  I hate to say it but, VCF and Sevilla really don,t know how to develop talent.  It’s crazy how Valencia are selling Tino Costa and Topal.  Matthieu, Pablo, who isn’t for sale?

ALLEN:  Sevilla has developed some, but sold them off.  at VCF if you don’t become a huge star quickly, they just sell you on, it seems to me.

ELISA:  VCF are like Real Madrid, one chance and if you don’t shine then boom bye bye!

THIRD PARTY OWNERSHIP

ALLEN:  I will also be curious to see if the match-fixing probe causes problems for Serie a clubs.  before this came out, I was thinking Italian clubs to be very active this summer

ELISA:  Exactly, who wants to go there now?  Have you noticed that cheap stars from Portugal and France are the latest craze?  Speaking of trends, the Doyen Group will be getting more involved with clubs again. looks like Depor will be another active party using third party investment.

ALLEN:  My sense is what we are seeing is the Spanish economy just dragging everyone in the league down, and everyone has to either cut their budget or come up with creative ways to acquire players, like Doyen.

ELISA:  so true, so many people out of work in Spain.

ALLEN:  I mean Doyen are being linked with so many clubs now, even Espanyol.

ELISA:  Banks are unwilling to loan monies anymore.  Doyen always had Espanyol players on their website.  Alvaro Vazquez is the flavor of the month, being linked with everyone

ALLEN:  Sure, I think it was pretty clear last year the banks had put pressure on Sr. Roig to separate his business loans from Villarreal (which is why he converted his ‘advances’ to equity)

ELISA:  It’s a slippery slope.

ALLEN:  yes, Doyen had players on the website, but I think I see more teams willing to use third parties.  it is a slippery slope and UEFA/FIFA are really concerned about this.  what incentive do you have to manage your team properly when you can pull a deal like Zaragoza did for Roberto?

ELISA:  FIFA and UEFA have so much to do in so many matters, they are reactive not proactive.  The betting corruption shite has hit the fan!

ALLEN:  Remember 3rd party ownership started in leagues that had lots of talent that was probably going to be eventually exported, but very little money (Brazil, for example).  is La Liga going to become like that?

ELISA:  unfortunately yes.  Thankfully the cantera, and youth structures in Spain are superb.

ALLEN:  or, is it going to become a league where the super agents like Mendes have such a large stable of players they can control, where a lot of talent goes?  probably, yes again.

ELISA:  well yeah, both.  but what scares me is competition.  is it manufactured in that type of league?  is it easy to fall prey to betting business models and more corruption.  But I digress…

ALLEN:  Exactly, how do you know what is going on when Atletico and Getafe pay and say half the players out there are owned by Doyen Group or repped by Mendes?

ELISA:  That’s why I asked Ravi to do his agent by club stats analysis on Spain, we might see more big players agent wise per club.  We might see a monopoly.  Serie a has farm clubs IE Juve, Udinese, the other striped team.  In La Liga you have Real Madrid – Getafe – Castilla.  Atletico – Rayo.  Then you have the agents.

ALLEN:  I think we will.  I go back to what I said before when we did the podcast–the problem is Spain’s judicial system has not caught up with the “Wild West” mentality in sports these days

ELISA: The league nor the judicial system.  Did you know that Zaragoza B also stayed up in Segunda B?

DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY MONEY IN SPAIN?

ALLEN:  well, the league is simply the big two, really…they make the decisions.

ELISA:  Exactly, but do you agree with what Raul said that in England or Germany the big two, would still be the big two?

ALLEN:  well, not totally.  in Germany there is much more of a “we are all in this together” mentality–the Bundesliga really does try to keep itself solvent as a league and make decisions for the benefit of all its members.

ELISA:  Bayern is still the man.

ALLEN:  Sure, but Bayern’s strength is due to their business acumen as much as it is the players on the pitch.  That seems pretty fair to me.

ELISA:  and their past glories or competitive edge.  Some would say the marketing power of the big two makes a huge difference.

ALLEN:  Sure, but they, RM, and to a lesser extent Barca, lead the way when it comes to revenues from sponsorship deals.

ELISA:  but the tv revenues as we all know is the key.

ALLEN:  Yeah, but they are not as big a key for the big two as they are for everyone else.  RM especially has a really good revenue stream between match day revenues/TV/sponsorship.  they market themselves very, very well.

ELISA:  oh I know, but they are highly dependent on the monies, as part of the equation.

ALLEN:  TV is critical for a team like Villarreal or many of the mid-level teams in the Primera that have limited match day revenues, and aren’t going to get the big sponsorship deals.

ELISA:  That is why Malaga is choking. I think their new deal will help along with Europe.

ALLEN:  Malaga’s problem is they are where Chelsea was years ago and where Man City was a couple of years ago.  if they can build on CL, get out of the group stage and start developing a larger fan base, they can probably challenge Valencia for 3rd each year!

ELISA:  That too, but the 12M TV revenues probably was a shocker this year.

ALLEN:  That’s right.  if Malaga were in the EPL, they’d have 50M+ TV revs, and I saw today the sheik says he’ll spend 40-50M.  so basically he is kicking in the TV money they would get under a better system.

ELISA: looks like the Dubai group have disappeared for Getafe.

ALLEN:  yes, Getafe Team Dubai seems to have gone away.

ELISA:  well I expect a lot of turmoil this year in La Liga.  I read that athletic club made 16M from europa league, not bad!

ALLEN:  16M sounds awfully high for EL.  Villarreal got 10M last year (OK, we lost in the semis) but we were the only Spanish team in the last 8, I think.  The market pool runs by country and all the teams in the country that are still playing split it, and it’s not an even split–the team finishing 5th in La Liga gets more than the team that was 6th.

ELISA:  The thing with Athletic is that they always had a full house and top rivals.  plus Europa monies have increased this year.  also, Athletic build ticket demand with this whole scarcity tactic.  it is so hard to buy Athletic tickets!

ALLEN:  The key thing for me is going to be do players like Llorente, Muinain (and Falcao for Atletico Madrid) stick around, or do they leave for England or somewhere?

ELISA:  I think the most likely player to move could be Javi Martinez.  I don’t think he likes to play at center back, so it could be Bielsa dependent.  Athletic doesn’t need to sell. they are pretty financially sound. Atleti need to figure out how to keep Falcao at the club, because they owe a lot of money to Porto.  they need to sell some players and replace them with cheaper versions.  Well I expect a lot of turmoil this year in La Liga.

ALLEN:  Yeah, turmoil for sure.  Actually I think we may have seen the blueprint for this year, in last year’s competition.  The big 2 are off in their own world, the other 18 are pretty much competing against each other.  Yeah, there are some teams with better players than others (Valencia, Malaga), but in the end… back to Falcao and Llorente, if players like that leave, then La Liga starts to become a development league.  As long as there are still stars being developed here who stay here, the league will be OK.

ELISA:  BTW, Diego is not returning to Atletico.  Right now La Liga still has the biggest payroll in the world, but yes that whole development league moniker is slowly becoming a reality.

ALLEN:  Yeah, I saw Diego was leaving.  AM has the problem of the money owed the government.  Maybe in Spain you can keep the taxman at bay forever, but I wonder…

ELISA:  The LFP and government talk as if they are going to keep 30% of transfer fees to cover debt owed to the taxman, but that’s why there are third party groups, another tax loophole.

ALLEN:  La Liga has the biggest payroll, but take out the big 2 and then look at it.  Sevilla have cut their budget by 30m; Villarreal the same.  Espanyol says they have to cut their budget, Valencia already have cut salaries and probably will again.

ELISA:  Atleti need to cut too.  Athletic can handle their payroll and they have very little debt.

ALLEN:  Yeah 30% of nothing is going to be nothing.  and Osasuna want to pay off their debt over 50 years!!  Right, Atleti need to cut.  I guess Athletic are really about the only club in the “liga Justa’ that have no financial worries–plus they are moving into a new stadium.

ELISA:  Interesting times to say the least, take out the big two, and there is parity and competition. Osasuna are considered to be a well run club for La Liga.  But you won’t see the big players coming there if the money disappears, as you said earlier, a development league…

ALLEN:  That’s right.  (I guess Malaga don’t have financial worries if the sheik visits often enough; that seems to be the only time people get paid).  Osasuna owe a bunch to the taxman though.

ELISA: How much is that?

ALLEN:  Osasuna–I forget, but I know they presented a repayment plan that stretched for 50 years!

ELISA:  well, most clubs have a payment plan til 2020.  i didn’t think Osasuna’s was that big, my bad.

SEGUNDA TALK

ALLEN:  Segunda will be interesting with RM Castilla, Barca B, and Mirandes along with Villarreal and Sporting.

ELISA:  La Liga will be stronger too with Depor and Celta Vigo.

ALLEN:  I think Celta is financially OK, though they went bankrupt awhile ago. Depor I don’t know. Hercules and Valladolid, if they make it, are basket cases.

ELISA:  Celta and Depor are not big spenders, but crafty and develop talent well.  Depor is not in Ley Concursal aka administration.  The Primera playoffs, well I would like to see a new team like Cordoba come up.

ALLEN:  yes they do.  You know Iago Aspas wanted to come to Villarreal last summer, Celta would not let him go.  Depor as I recall ran a breakeven budget the last year in Primera.

ELISA:  Celta is smart, don’t sell your crown jewels like Mallo and Aspas.

ALLEN:  Cordoba have been playing well but Valladolid have been the most impressive, at least the two games I saw against Villarreal B.

ELISA: The playoffs are a crap shoot.

ALLEN:  Celta have an excellent attacking midfield and front; defense is only OK.  yes, the playoffs are always iffy.  Alcorcon could get in, they have had a good run of late.

ELISA:  Yeah that would 5 madrid teams in the top flight!  Hmm, Florentino has one more chance to make good with Castilla and the cantera in Segunda a, as well, but I worry that Mendes might get his grubby hands all over it!

ALLEN:  Time to wrap our chat. Here’s my parting thoughts:  It’s going to be interesting for me to watch the Primera with my team not in it, and I think this could be a watershed year for the league depending on what happens in the EU.   La Liga’s foundations may be built on sand, I’m afraid.  I hope not, but if the economy implodes…..  I worry about Mendes and his ilk too. and Doyen.  I just think Spain doesn’t understand the danger (competition, betting, etc) these sorts of things set them up for.

ELISA:  Yeah are you really going to be excited with Villarreal in Segunda to watch Primera?

ALLEN:  yes, well, I think if Celta go up I will probably try to see how they do.   and hopefully Villarreal will get off to a decent start in the Segunda (no one has any money there either, and the B teams can’t get promoted!)

ELISA:  funny how it seems to be status quo – two B teams in 2A.

VILLARREAL

ALLEN:  it will be strange though not watching the Primera with an eye toward seeing players we need to watch out for or who we might want to acquire.  By the way, we forgot Russia supposedly Borja Valero may go to Rubin Kazan.

ELISA:  I wonder if Ravi will be enthused.  plus we have the new provider Al Jazeera. I heard you guys sold Marcano to Rubin.  Russia is a buyer for sure.

ALLEN:  Ravi’s been a fan for a long time, but I think this season took a lot out of all of us.  Yeah, supposedly we sold Marcano for €6m which is amazing if true.

ELISA:  I think the whole sponsorship transfer market like that in Brasil might come to Spain too. Yeah the end of the season for Villarreal was so very sad.  A well-run club like Villarreal going down, really makes you despise the league organization and problems.

ALLEN:  Yeah, really.  and there are going to be more cases like Racing where crooks and charlatans play trusting politicians for all they’re worth.  I still can’t believe they can’t get rid of Ali Syed!

ELISA:  That is disgusting!  When I was down there in March, the Villarreal staff was so nervous. they already had the fear of relegation.

ALLEN:  at the end of the day being well run doesn’t matter if you can’t perform on the pitch.  but it does leave a bitter taste when Zaragoza stay up and their best player (Roberto), they shouldn’t have been allowed to have.  and Granada the feeder club of Udinese….

ELISA:  We might see more setups like Granada.

ALLEN:  it seemed to me the Villarreal players were nervous from about August on.  When did we play well?  I can’t remember a match.

ELISA:  but talking doom and gloom? in March?  I really don’t like Granada

ALLEN:  well, development league is the Granada model.  None of our players had ever been through anything like this at Villarreal.  Even when Valverde got fired, the team was mid table.

ELISA:  but normally teams stay positive?

ALLEN:  I don’t like Granada either.  but I like Zaragoza less.

ELISA:  Yeah when a team (with no relegation fighting experience) gets in the scrap heap, I feel that it could all go down hill. BTW, I keep hearing that Agapito will step down at Zaragoza, but I just really doubt it.

ALLEN:  Normally teams do stay positive.  I don’t think we had a team leader though, and with Santi and Joan Capdevila gone, we didn’t have the jokers to lighten things up.  Agapito won’t leave.

ELISA:  Yeah, Agapito is king of the hill.

MP: despite many empirical studies showing that the large majority of gender differences in pay can be explained by hours worked and individual career and family choices made by men and women, the myth of a gender wage gap due to systematic workplace discrimination persists.  even though the Equal Pay Act of 1963 prohibits sex-based wage discrimination, new legislation in the form of the Democratic-sponsored Paycheck Fairness Act was passed in the House of Representatives in 2008 was considered in the Senate this week.  the legislation failed to generate enough votes in the Senate on Tuesday, and so its future is now uncertain.

Maybe another approach should be considered.  since some of the gender wage gap results from differences in hours worked, perhaps federal legislation could be introduced to eliminate the unfair “gender-hours gap,” e.g. what about the “Equal Workweek Act” or the “Workweek Fairness Act“?  Closing the “gender-hours gap” by forcing women to work longer hours (or men to work fewer hours) would go a long way towards closing the “gender pay gap.”

By MARK JEWELL, AP Personal Finance Writer – 1 minute ago BOSTON (AP) — Could the international investments in your mutual fund portfolio be setting you up for a summer of anxiety, rather than rest and relaxation? Recent headlines suggest it's time to …
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Cal State San Bernardino’s Palm Desert Campus has announced the 18 recipients of the prestigious Rogers Scholars awards for the 2012-2013 academic year. 

The winner include Shannon Ashcom, Whitney Chavez, Amanda Emmett and Jonathan Maule of Palm Desert.  

The Mary Stuart Rogers Scholarship fund was established in 1994 to provide monetary awards for deserving students. Recipients, called Rogers Scholars, must demonstrate a sincere commitment to their own personal growth, compile outstanding academic records, demonstrate leadership qualities, and show a desire to serve their fellow students and communities. The award is a merit-based scholarship and only awarded to the top students at the campus.

Each year, the recipients of the scholarship are honored at a banquet where they meet John Rogers, the son of Mary Stuart Rogers, and his family. since its establishment, the Rogers Scholarship has been awarded to more than 300 CSUSB Palm Desert Campus students, adding up to more than $1 million in awards. 

“Since I was a little girl, I have always wanted to be an elementary school teacher,” said Ashley Granik Orozco of Indio. “Thanks to the Mary Stuart Rogers Foundation, I am able to pursue my dream.”  

The most recent government report on high school students involved in abusive relationships found that nearly one in 10 has been physically hurt by a boyfriend or girlfriend. Programs to teach teenagers about relationships are proliferating, but questions about their effectiveness and reach remain. what advice have you received about relationships? what advice do you wish you had received? what would you encourage a younger friend to keep in mind before dating?

In the article “A Warning to Teenagers Before They start Dating,” Jan Hoffman writes:

Esta Soler, president of Futures Without Violence, a national anti-violence organization, said there were many reasons to start talking to younger students about abuse.

In middle school, Ms. Soler said, they are rocketing through emotional and social development, beginning to make their own choices. “But they still respond to input from caring adults,” she added. A 2010 study of 1,430 seventh graders in eight middle schools in three cities underscores the need for such education.

The study, commissioned by the Johnson Foundation and released this spring, showed that three-quarters of students had already had a boyfriend or girlfriend. one in three said they had been victims of psychological dating violence; nearly one in six said they had experienced physical dating violence. Almost half said they had been touched in an unwanted sexual way or had been the target of sexual slurs.

It can be daunting to engage adolescents about intimate topics. to ease their awkwardness, Ms. Miller incorporates the students’ creative work and pop icons. For example, her staff created surveys rating the relationships of the characters in “The Hunger Games” books and movie. They sponsor poetry slams, with teenagers reading “Love What’s Real” poems, dancing to a “Relationship Remix” of hits.

Middle-school intervention programs are so new that assessing their effectiveness is difficult. the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave grants to middle-school programs in four urban sites last fall. in reauthorization drafts this spring for the Violence Against Women Act — Michael D. Crapo, Republican of Idaho, was a co-author in the Senate — the eligibility age for dating violence education and service programs is now as young as 11.

Students: if you have been dating for a while, what tips or words of wisdom would you give those who are new to it? if you haven’t, what kind of advice would you like someone older to give you? Have you ever heard of someone your age in a detrimental relationship? how would you help a friend in such a situation? what kind of behavior in a relationship would you consider inappropriate, and what might you do if you were the victim of it?

by Andrés Cardenal – June 7, 2012 | Tickers: AAPL, BRK-B, BRK-A, FB, GS | 0 Comments

Andrés is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network — entries represent the personal opinions of our bloggers and are not formally edited.

“The investor’s chief problem — and even his worst enemy — is likely to be himself.”

It’s not recessions, unscrupulous bankers or even nontransparent business practices what should concern investors the most. The biggest threat to your financial well being, my friend, is no other than yourself.

Fortunately, not only for their mistakes are investors responsible, the same goes for making the right decisions and choosing the best companies to invest in. Contrary to generalized opinion, I believe there has never been a more interesting time to be an investor. for better or for worse, investors have now much more possibilities and flexibility to implement their strategies.

Information has never been so abundant and easy to access as it is nowadays, education about personal finance and investing is widely available for those interested in the topic and willing to do the learning effort.  You can access financial statements, recommendations and all kind of relevant news about companies in almost no time and no cost.

The technological revolution has also created many companies which have a tremendous potential to reward investors in an extraordinary way over the long term. Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) for example is the biggest company in the world, and last quarter the company reported a 88% unit sales increase in iPhone and 151% increase in sales of iPads, which produced a 94% growth in net income versus the same quarter of the previous year. if the Cupertino giant wasn´t such an innovative company making the best use of technological advancements, those kinds of growth rates would be impossible for companies of this size.

The other side of the equation regarding the effects of new technologies on our investments would be the danger of investing in companies like Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), but nobody was forced to do so. those who paid a stratospheric price for shares of a social network only because they knew it was popular made a huge mistake, but it was their own mistake. Who knows, maybe the company will find a more sustainable way to generate profits, and with more than 900 million users this could still be an opportunity in the future, especially if bought at much lower levels.

It´s not only about technology, of course, considering our current environment is quite shaky and uncertain regarding global economic conditions. Times have been much better in terms of economic growth in the past, and there are many structural problems in developed countries which need to be fixed. this will probably generate higher levels of volatility and uncertainty in the future, but that also brings opportunity.

 Warren Buffett has delivered extraordinary long term results for shareholders in Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) by capitalizing temporary price decreases to acquire wonderful companies at undervalued levels.  Economic fluctuations create excessive movements in stock prices, and that can be uncomfortable for investors, but at the same time it can be a very fertile source of investment opportunities. Companies like Berkshire will continue increasing positions when economic uncertainties create opportunities, and intelligent investors should do the same with their own money.

Many fellow investors complain about the unethical practices of companies like Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), in which high level management usually puts their own greed before the interest of their clients or shareholders. I am the first to agree on the fact that Wall Street needs to start working harder on ethical issues and transparency, but that doesn´t change the fact that investors should never avoid their own responsibilities when dealing with this kind of institutions.

You can make your own investment decisions using low cost brokers and following independent advice from an enormous variety of sources. Even if you are a client of Goldman Sachs, nobody is forcing you to buy the assets they are recommending, especially when those products are hard to understand like in the case of complex mortgage linked securities or assets involving combinations of derivatives.  Shares of high quality companies or diversified low cost ETFs will always be available as a convenient alternative for smart investors.

The bottom line is this: current times are extraordinarily dynamic in terms of technological advancement, economic change and Wall Street behavior. this provides enormous opportunities to make – or loose – money in the markets. Now more than ever, an investor´s worse enemy – and best friend – is his own behavior.

Twitter:@andrescardenal

It began when shocked investigators found video on a computer of a 2-year-old-boy being sexually abused.  A forensic investigation of that computer in Milford, Mass., lead to a man related to the child in Arizona, and to a day-care worker in the Netherlands who posted the video on an international child porn website.

Two years later, tracking down the picture of that exploited little boy has resulted in 33 arrests worldwide, the rescue of 138 children, and the takedown of an international network of men bent on sexually exploiting children, according to federal officials.

The sprawling, complex investigation was capped off today, when Robert Diduca, the Milford man who had the image of the 2-year old boy on his computer, was sentenced to 18 years in prison.  the Dutch day-care worker, Robert Mikelsons, was sentenced to 18 years in prison on May 21.  the Arizona man, Brandon Keith Jones, was sentenced to 35 years in prison in March, after confessing to repeatedly sexually abusing his nephew, and two other children under the age of 6.  the other suspects in the case, eight from the U.S., have either been sentenced, or are awaiting sentencing.

“Thanks to international cooperation and first class forensic analysis by Homeland Security Special agents here in Boston, along with our Massachusetts State Police partners, an individual arrest in Milford has led to a network of child pornographers that has spanned the globe,” said Bruce M. Foucart, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations, Boston. “an individual photo discovered on mr. Diduca’s computer has led to 33 arrests and 138 children being saved worldwide. Eight of those arrested live in the United States.”

The way investigators from HSI busted the international ring reads like a detective thriller.

Investigators found the picture of the 2-year old boy, and thousands of child exploitation files on Diduca’s computer.  One file showed he had engaged in an online chat with Brandon Keith Jones in Mesa, Ariz.   the subject of that chat was depraved and shocking, with Diduca trying to persuade Jones to sexually abuse a 4-year-old and take sexually explicit videos of the abuse.  Diduca even provided the individual with a camera and suggested how the child should be posed.  Investigators immediately called the Mesa police, who took Jones into custody, and removed his nephew, and other children, from a dangerous situation.

In addition, investigators found an astonishing 27,000 more child porn pictures on Diduca’s computer.  many of those pictures did not appear to originate in the U.S.  Working with Interpol and various national police agencies, investigators were able to determine the pictures came from the Netherlands.

Dutch media and police released edited versions of some of the photos and asked the public to help identify the children.  A 2-year-old was identified, and that broke the case wide open.  the child attended a day care center where Robert Mikelsons worked.  Mickelson subsequently confessed to sexually abusing the child, and dozens of sex crimes, Dutch prosecutors say.  He also was the webmaster for the child exploitation web site.

Dutch prosecutors said Mikelsons provided thousands of leads, resulting in 13 arrests in the Netherlands, eight in the U.S., six in Canada, four in Britain, and one each in Germany and Sweden. the child porn website that Mikelson ran has been taken down.

Officials say the investigation was part of Operation Predator, a nationwide HSI initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders and child sex traffickers.  HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form.

Dinner Miso Beef Noodle Soup this dish comes together as quickly as it takes to cook the noodles. Tonight's TV pick the new comedy show "Comedy Bang! Bang!" kicks off at tonight 10 on IFC with guest Zach Galifianakis. VH1's "the Storytellers" profiles …
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Ojai, CA (June 5, 2012)

External disk storage systems saw big year-over-year growth in the first quarter of 2012, with revenues rising 7.1% or $6 billion, according to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Disk Storage Systems Tracker. More than six petabytes of capacity shipped during the quarter.

EMC continued to lead in external disk storage system sales with 29% of the overall revenue share in the first quarter, followed by NetApp with 14.1% of the market. IBM followed with 11.4%, and Hewlett-Packard and Hitachi Data Systems ended the quarter with 10.2% and 9.4% market shares, respectively.

The NAS market declined 1.9% year over year. EMC led in NAS sales with 42.6% revenue share, followed by NetApp with 36.4%. The iSCSI SAN market continued to show strong sales with 17.6% revenue growth compared to the same quarter in 2011. Dell led the iSCSI SAN market with 33% revenue share, followed by EMC and NetApp with 18.9% and 13.7% market shares, respectively.

Even though monsoonal flooding in Thailand shut down manufacturing facilities last year and caused hard disk drive shortages, the external storage systems market remains strong, said IDC analyst Liz Conner. Hardest hit were entry-level systems that have an average selling price of less than $25,000. Those system sales suffered most because they typically use serial ATA (SATA) or lower-priced near-line serial SCSI (SAS) drives, which experienced the highest price increases due to the flooding.

“However, strong overall growth in emerging regions and the slowdown in price-per-gigabyte erosion helped the market post year-over-year growth,” Conner said.

IHS iSuppli released a report earlier this week that predicted hard drive prices will remain high and are unlikely to fall to pre-flood levels until 2014.

In the wake of the flooding, hard drive prices rose to an average of $66 in the fourth quarter of 2011, a 28% jump from the $51 average price in the previous quarter, according to IHS iSuppli. The average price held steady at $66 in the first quarter of 2012 and is expected to decline only marginally, to about $65, in the second quarter, IHS iSuppli said.

IDC analyst Amita Potnis said the high-end storage segment, which is represented by systems with price tags north of $250,000, remained flat year over year and declined 13% sequentially in the first quarter of 2012.

“The high-end segment grew significantly in 2010 and 2011 owing to the loosened storage budgets after the economic crisis of 2009. IDC believes that the softened growth in the high-end segment this quarter is reflective of what will be a long-term trend,” Potnis said.

Open Networked Disk Storage Systems

The open networked disk storage market, which includes Open SANs, iSCSI SANs and NAS systems, grew 8.5% year over year in the first quarter with $5.1 billion in revenues, according to IDC. EMC maintained its lead there with 32.2% revenue share, followed by NetApp with a 16.4%.

The Open SAN market, which includes Fibre Channel, iSCSI, Fibre Channel over Ethernet, InfiniBand and switched SAS, showed 13% year-over-year growth in the first quarter. EMC also lead that market with 28.3% revenue share, followed by IBM and HP with 13.8% and 12.3% market shares, respectively.

Lucas Mearian covers storage, disaster recovery and business continuity, financial services infrastructure and health care IT for Computerworld. Follow Lucas on Twitter at @lucasmearian or subscribe to Lucas’s RSS feed. his e-mail address is lmearian@computerworld.com.

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