Play ‘Tech Madness of the Decade’ – Elite 8: IBM vs. Salesforce and more – Pick your Final Four

The round of Sweet 16 is over! The votes are in and the polls are closed for the previous round. Check out the results at the end and vote for your Final Four.

Now the slate is clean and the match-ups get interesting. Cisco vs, VMware, IBM vs Salesforce, Facebook vs Google, Amazon vs Yahoo. Remember this is just a hypothetical match-up. You are picking who you feel deserves to move on to the next round based on their performance last decade.

Please vote by entering your winners for the Final Four. You can vote for any 4 even if they are opposing, the winner in each game will be determined by the highest number of votes between the two. Your votes will ultimately determine the next stage by the head-to-head with the most vote counts. Remember this is just for fun, so don’t get too invested in the result. Once you vote for your four, it will display the current totals.

Your Votes: [poll id=”3″]

Recap of how the Sweet 16 became the Elite 8 (votes from previous round at the end):

Cisco vs. EMC – In an extremely close match Cisco edges out EMC despite EMC bringing VMware off the bench but later releasing it for free agency. Cisco’s diversification from business dominance to consumer penetration through home networking and entertainment delivery with Linksys and Scientific Atlanta allows them to seal the win in the final 3 mins. Coaches are best of friends and form an all-star virtualization team together with VMware.
Cisco moves on to the elite eight.

Oracle vs. VMware – Oracle heavily favored in this matchup, having handily disposed of Sybase in previous rounds, is pressed by a highly touted snappy relative “newcomer”. VMware at one point leads at the half with massive quarter-on-quarter growth and darling mind share. Oracle rallies by buying up everything in its path leaving the lanes clear for their final drive to the hoop. However with the game on the line, Oracle’s legs get heavy at the final dunk and VMware rejects their enterprise play by reducing the number of licenses needed through virtualization.
VMware pulls off an upset and moves on to the elite eight.

Twitter vs. Facebook – Both teams in their first Sweet Sixteen are tentative in a relatively low revenue scoring affair. Lots of defense and passing with fancy dribbling leaves the crowds ahhhing and oooing. But with little scoring at one point the crowd starts doing the “Google” wave much to the annoyance of both teams. Finally, they both start to drain some 3s and raise the score to 15-12 at the half. But their hesitation to attack the low post makes them both vulnerable in the final quarter. In the end Facebook finally muscles up and uses their other skills to win out. In a post game conference Facebook’s coach says that Twitter’s attempt to win with a better Facebook run-and-gun was bound to fail as they were a one trick pony.
Facebook moves on to the elite eight with their fans giving Twitter the “likes this” thumbs up as they leave the arena.

Apple vs. Google – A highly anticipated match up and somewhat disappointing that the two teams were not in opposing brackets. Showdown draws massive TV interest. Like a Harlem Globe Trotter exhibition both teams score at will, dazzling the crowds with announcement after announcement. Apple pounds the boards with the ipod and later the iphone, while Google fresh from their disposal of printed news media in previous rounds, counters with the launch of Android. Not surprisingly the game goes into triple overtime as both try to use their corporate and business playbooks with little impact. In the end, Apple leads by 2 with 3 tenths of a second to go and declines to foul as Google drains a 3 pointer from half court, sending the crowd into a frenzy having watched the game of the decade.
Google moves on winning 210-209 after triple overtime

Microsoft vs. IBM– With a crowd full of mainly alumni and baby-boomers, Softee and Big Blue Devils play a textbook game full of classic screens and superb passing. IBM has a slight lead at the half which causes Microsoft’s coach to go berserk on the sidelines in what the reporters later decided was a cross between a gorilla and dolphin dance. Exorted on by their coach the Softees play up tempo to try to catch up. Unfortunately they use plays that were not well tested and their short term Vista of the game is impaired and they fall too far behind to catch up. IBM much to the surprise of the crowd actually plays a modern game and wins out through boring but cloud pleasing shots.
IBM moves on followed much to the delight of their Armonk Crazies

salesforce vs. SAP– A classic international match up with a partisan crowd chanting “USA, USA”. The salesforce team runs circles around their German opponents who continue to play zone defense, even as salesforce continues to drain 3 pointers with ease. SAP’s lack of crowd support is not surprising even though the game is played in their home arena. Their season ticket prices were so high and the purchasing process so complicated that only a select few could afford and understand it. salesforce on the other hand had huge support from all SMBs and the crowd’s attire was reminiscent of the Golden State Warriors 2007 playoff yellow shirts brandishing “We Believe … in Public Cloud”.
Salesforce wins in a blowout 100-20 since SAP only started scoring in the last quarter when they realized that the game was not 12 quarters long.

eBay vs. Amazon– eBay the darling coming into the 1st quarter of the decade led significantly and had Amazon completely dominated. eBay continues the rout into the half by bringing Paypal off the bench. After the half however Amazon decides to up the tempo. They re-kindle their play and start to overwhelm with the power of their ecommerce platform. Meanwhile ebay continues to call timeouts and uses all of them up before the crucial 4th quarter. Amazon reveals Amazon Web Services and eBay concedes. In an unusual move, they trade Skype, their flashy player with potential, before the end of the game!
Amazon moves on despite not reaching the reserve point total

Yahoo vs. AOL/Time Warner – Before the tournament began the crowd and analysts felt the two teams had the potential to go all the way. It was an entertaining game for the 1st quarter. AOL had recently transferred their entire team to a venerable institution and felt they had the muscle down low to dominate. Yahoo was still nimble enough and played a “good enough” game despite of themselves. At the half it was rumored that Microsoft’s Coach having just lost out earlier in the bracket visited the Yahoo locker room for a pep talk. However he was escorted to the door and Yahoo played on with their game plan. Softee’s coach would later say he accidentally walked into the wrong locker room and bada bing! Yahoo wins by default as AOL just gives up for no apparent reason. Late breaking news has it that AOL has moved back out of the dorm of the venerable institution to try free agency.
Yahoo moves on but is not tapped to make it through to the next round

Your Votes: [poll id=”2″]