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CUPERTINO, California —Apple on Thursday, March 06, previewed its iPhone 2.0 software, scheduled for release this June, and announced the immediate availability of a beta release of the software to selected developers and enterprise customers.

The iPhone 2.0 beta release includes both the iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK) as well as new enterprise features such as support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync to provide secure, over-the-air push email, contacts and calendars as well as remote wipe, and the addition of Cisco IPsec VPN for encrypted access to private corporate networks.

The iPhone SDK provides developers with a rich set of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and tools to create innovative applications for iPhone and iPod touch. Starting today, anyone can download the beta iPhone SDK for free and run the iPhone Simulator on their Mac. Apple today also introduced its new iPhone Developer Program, giving developers everything they need to create native applications, and the new App Store, a breakthrough way for developers to wirelessly deliver their applications to iPhone and iPod touch users.

With the iPhone SDK, third party developers will be able to build native applications for the iPhone with a rich set of APIs, including programming interfaces for Core OS, Core Services, Media and Cocoa Touch technologies. The iPhone SDK will allow developers to create amazing applications that leverage the iPhone’s groundbreaking Multi-Touch user interface, animation technology, large storage, built-in three-axis accelerometer and geographical location technology to deliver truly innovative mobile applications.

Apple has licensed Exchange ActiveSync from Microsoft and is building it right into the iPhone, so that iPhone will connect out-of-the-box to Microsoft Exchange Servers 2003 and 2007 for secure over-the-air push email, contacts, calendars and global address lists. Built-in Exchange ActiveSync support also enables security features such as remote wipe, password policies and auto-discovery.

The iPhone 2.0 software supports Cisco IPsec VPN to ensure the highest level of IP-based encryption available for transmission of sensitive corporate data, as well as the ability to authenticate using digital certificates or password-based, multi-factor authentication. The addition of WPA2 Enterprise with 802.1x authentication enables enterprise customers to deploy iPhone and iPod touch with the latest standards for protection of Wi-Fi networks.

Pricing & Availability
Apple plans to release the final iPhone 2.0 software, including the iPhone SDK and new enterprise features, as a free software update for all iPhone customers by the end of June. Third party applications created for the iPhone will also run on the iPod touch, and iPod touch users will be required to purchase a software update to run these applications. The free beta iPhone SDK is available immediately worldwide and can be downloaded at developer.apple.com/iphone/program.  More at Apple.

Feb 05, `08 — Red Hat sponsored open sourced Fedoraproject today released Alpha of its next major release, Fedora 9 (Sulphur).

The Fedora 9 Alpha release notes say, the development continues on Rawhide during and after the Alpha release, leading up to the Beta (March 13, `08) and Release Candidate before the final release (April 29, `08).

Release notes further adds, “As always, Fedora continues to develop and integrate the latest free and open source software. The following sections provide a brief overview of major changes from the last release of Fedora. For more details about other features that are making their way into Rawhide and set for inclusion in Fedora 9, please see their individual Wiki pages which detail their goals and progress. Also, throughout the release cycle there will be interviews with the developers behind key features, so keep an eye on these to get the inside scoop.”

GNOME 2.21 Development Release
GNOME 2.21 brings many improvements, not least of which is the introduction of GVFS and GIO as a replacement for GNOME VFS by Fedora developer and nautilus maintainer AlexanderLarsson. GVFS introduces many benefits including performance improvements, queuing multiple file transfers and additional security benefits through the use of PolicyKit, which is developed and maintained by Fedora developer DavidZeuthen and was first introduced in Fedora 8.

KDE 4.0
KDE 4.0 features upgrades to core components such as the port to QT 4. It also introduces a number of brand new frameworks such as the Phonon, a multimedia API; Solid, a hardware integration framework; Plasma, a re-written desktop and panel with many new concepts; integrated desktop search; compositing as a feature of KWin; and a brand new visual style called Oxygen.Thanks to the hard work of the Fedora KDE Special Interest Group, KDE 4.0 is well integrated in Fedora. As this is the case, KDE 4.0 is the default for the KDE spin of Fedora, and features compatibility packages to ensure applications not yet ported to KDE 4 will continue to work.

Firefox 3 Beta 2
Firefox 3 Beta 2 brings a number of major improvements including a native look and feel, desktop integration, the new Places replacement for bookmarks and a re-worked address bar.
Anaconda Installer Improvements

The Anaconda team is actively developing a number of new features for Fedora 9. The Alpha release includes the following new features:

* Support for resizing ext2, ext3 and NTFS partitions. Watch a screencast
* Support for creating and installing to encrypted filesystems
* Improved Rescue Mode (FirstAidKit)
* Allow the user to set the install source during the second stage of installation
* Use libblkid for filesystem probing

FreeIPA
FreeIPA makes managing auditing, identity and policy processes easier by providing web-based and command line provisioning and administration tools that takes the pain away from system administration: it combines the power of the Fedora Directory Server with FreeRADIUS, MIT Kerberos, NTP and DNS to provide an easy, out of the box solution.

PackageKit
PackageKit is a cross-distribution package management solution that has a complete yum backend. It has been designed to make installing and updating software on your computer easier, with its primary goal to unify all the graphical package management tools used in different distributions. To do this it makes use of some of the latest technologies such as PolicyKit and D-Bus. It is available in the repositories of this release as an alternative package management system using the yum backend.

Fast X
In the opinion of Fedora developers, X takes too long to start up slowing down many aspects of the system including boot, logout and fast user switching. The goal of this project is to tune and make some architectural changes to X so that it can go from exec to ready to accept clients in one second. For a detailed list of changes made to X so far, and what is still to come, check the feature’s wiki page for the latest news.

Kernel 2.6.24
Fedora 9 Alpha features a 2.6.24 based kernel. 2.6.24 includes CPU “group scheduling”, memory fragmentation avoidance, tickless support for x86-64/ppc and other architectures, many new wireless drivers and a new wireless configuration interface, SPI/SDIO MMC support, USB authorization, per-device dirty memory thresholds, support for PID and network namespaces, support for static probe markers, read-only bind mounts, SELinux performance improvements, SATA link power management and port multiplier support, Large Receive Offload in network devices, memory hot-remove support, a new framework for controlling the idle processor power management, CIFS ACLs support, many new drivers and many other features and fixes.

More at Fedoraproject, Fedora 9 Alpha Download Page.

Redmond, Wash — Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) was released to manufacturing on Monday, Feb 04, and will start being available to customers in March, starting with Microsoft Volume Licensing customers.

Windows Server 2008 was also released to manufacturing today and will be available for purchase to new customers on March 1. Microsoft Volume Licensing customers with active Microsoft Software Assurance coverage or an Enterprise Agreement will be able to download the server software toward the end of February as part of the joint Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 “Heroes Happen Here” launch event.

Windows Vista SP1 includes quality improvements that help enhance reliability, security and performance. Windows Server 2008 builds on the success and strengths of past server solutions and helps give organizations a solid foundation for their information technology (IT) infrastructure. Organizations using Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 together can see a number of improvements for IT professionals, including benefits in security and manageability, overall system performance, and streamlined planning and deployment.

More at Microsoft, WindowsVistaBlog.

SUNNYVALE, Calif — Feb 05, `08 –BUSINESS WIRE– Zimbra, a Yahoo! company today announced the availability of Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS) 5.0.

ZCS 5.0 includes hundreds of enhancements that expand Zimbra’s access across desktops and devices while setting the standard for Web-based productivity in a business environment, and showcases Yahoo!’s dedication to providing world-class e-mail and collaboration services.

Enhancements in ZCS 5.0 extend Zimbra’s best-of-breed anywhere access on the desktop, including support for Microsoft Outlook 2007, and on virtually any device, with support for BlackBerry Enterprise Server, J2ME-enabled handsets such as the Motorola RAZR, and a new version of ZCS for mobile web browsers. New features in the award-winning Zimbra AJAX Web client include instant messaging, briefcase, and task applications as well as Zimbra Desktop, the world’s first offline-capable Web 2.0 collaboration experience.

New features in ZCS 5.0 include:

– Native e-mail, contacts, calendar, and task synchronization from Zimbra to Outlook 2007
– Access Zimbra on all BlackBerry handsets, J2ME enabled devices, or any mobile web browser, including the Apple iPhone
– Zimbra Tasks monitor start and due dates, priority, progress, and percent complete of tasks
– Built directly into ZCS, Web-based Instant Messaging supports multiple conversations and group chats
– Conveniently store any file from an e-mail in Zimbra Briefcase instead of as an e-mail attachment; easily share Briefcase folders with others
– Work online or offline with Zimbra Desktop, the AJAX experience for Zimbra users and users of existing POP and IMAP e-mail servers
– Share inboxes and e-mail folders with others, including the ability to provide read-only-access or allow others to completely manage
– Fifteen fully certified languages ship within ZCS for end-users to choose

New Yahoo! and Zimbra Integrated Services
New Zimlets in ZCS 5.0 leverage Yahoo! properties, including Flickr, Yahoo! Local, Yahoo! Finance, and Yahoo! Search. Later this year, Zimbra’s innovative technologies will be incorporated into properties including Yahoo! Mail and Calendar.

More at Yahoo!, Zimbra.

LONDON, England, and TOKYO, Japan, February 4, 2008—LiMo Foundation, a global consortium of mobile leaders delivering an open handset platform for the whole industry, today announced the on-schedule availability in March 2008 of the first release of the LiMo Platform—the first globally competitive, Linux-based software platform for mobile handsets—together with the immediate public availability of the application programming interface (API) specifications.

LiMo’s technology will be showcased in Booth 8b135, Hall 8 at Mobile World Congress, February 11-14 in Barcelona.

LiMo’s initial Founder members—Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic Mobile Communications, Samsung Electronics and Vodafone—collaborated on Release 1 (R1), and nearly all of the enabling technology within R1 has been commercially deployed and proven within handsets enjoyed by consumers today.

The LiMo Platform—leveraging standards and open-source projects—is a modular, plug-in-based, hardware-independent architecture built around an open operating system, with a secure run-time environment for support of downloaded applications. Linux was selected as the core technology for the LiMo Platform for its acceptability by the whole mobile industry, its rich functionality and scalability, its record of success in embedded systems and mobile phones and its potential to easily “cross-platformize” with other product categories.

Third-party developers will use LiMo’s API specifications—available in beta form immediately at www.limofoundation.org—to build new applications that deliver next-generation consumer experiences across a tremendous, stable base of globally deployed mobile devices. Middleware components for the LiMo Platform can be implemented in either C or C++ programming languages.

Launched in January 2007, the LiMo Foundation is open to all vendors and service providers in the mobile communications marketplace, including device manufacturers, operators, chipset manufacturers, independent software vendors, integrators and third-party developers. More at Limofoundation.org.

MySpace will open its doors to software developers allowing them to create games and media-sharing applications for the popular social network, reports the BBC.

MySpace will formally launch its “Developer Platform” next Tuesday but is already allowing people to sign up. The tools have been developed with Google and will allow programmers to create programs similar to those used by millions on rival site Facebook.

Facebook opened up its site to outside developers last year. It has since had great success, with nearly 15,000 applications written for the site.

These include photo-sharing and music recommendation tools as well as games such as scrabble. However, despite its popularity, Facebook still lags behind MySpace in terms of overall users. MySpace has around 200 million registered users, compared to 63 million who use Facebook.

Last October MySpace announced that it would join OpenSocial, Google’s platform designed to allow developers to build applications that will work on any website.

Other networks such as Bebo, LinkedIn and Orkut already use the tools.

The tools, available from 5 February, will allow developers to build applications that make use of MySpace member profile information and their connections with other users.More at BBC News.

Brussels — On Thursday, Dec 20, the Protocol Freedom Information Foundation (PFIF), a non-profit organization created by the Software Freedom Law Center, signed an agreement with Microsoft to receive the protocol documentation needed to fully interoperate with the Microsoft Windows workgroup server products and to make them available to Free Software projects such as Samba.

Microsoft was required to make this information available to competitors as part of the European Commission March 24th 2004 Decision in the antitrust lawsuit, after losing their appeal against that decision on September 17th 2007.

After paying Microsoft a one-time sum of 10,000 Euros, the PFIF will make available to the Samba Team under non-disclosure terms the documentation needed for implementation of all of the workgroup server protocols covered by the EU decision.

Although the documentation itself will be held in confidence by the PFIF and Samba Team engineers, the agreement allows the publication of the source code of the implementation of these protocols without any further restrictions. This is fully compatible with versions two and three of the GNU General Public License (GPL). Samba is published under the GNU GPL which is the most widely used of all Free Software licenses. In addition it allows discussion of the protocol information amongst implementers which will aid technical cooperation between engineers.

Under the agreement, Microsoft is required to make available and keep current a list of patent numbers it believes are related to the Microsoft implementation of the workgroup server protocols, without granting an implicit patent license to any Free Software implementation.

No per-copy royalties are required from the PFIF, Samba developers, third party vendors or users and no acknowledgement of any patent infringement by Free Software implementations is expressed or implied in the agreement. More at Samba.

Armonk, NY — Dec 18, `07 — IBM today announced the availability of IBM Atlas for Lotus Connections, a corporate social networking visualization and analysis tool.

IBM Atlas for Lotus Connections is designed to help organizations maximize their investment in social software by answering questions such as who the key experts are on a given topic, how they are connected, and whom a user’s contacts know that they do not.

Developed by IBM Research, Atlas has four Web 2.0-based components — My Net, Find, Reach and Net. These components help users spot the important connections and the relationships between various groups and navigate their personal and corporate networks.

The Net component of Atlas provides a visual indication of the important hubs among topic experts and informal groups that have developed while working on similar projects.

My Net offers similar capabilities for a user’s personal network. For example, a salesperson can better manage and understand their social networks making sure they have connections across the right topic areas.

Reach, the social software dashboard feature in Atlas, helps users navigate the up to six degrees of separation that divide them from a colleague. The dashboard shows users the shortest path to reach an expert and ranks the expert based on the level of interaction across the network.

The Find component of Atlas builds upon core Lotus Connections expertise capabilities by taking searches beyond the corporate directory to include results based on social data such as reporting structures, blogs and communities.

Atlas is designed to work with IBM Lotus Connections, the industry’s first integrated enterprise social software platform. The latest version of Lotus Connections, version 1.02, is now available and features:

* Expanded support for operating systems such as SUSE Linux, browsers such as Mozilla Firefox 2.0 and directories such as Microsoft Active Directory, enabling businesses to deploy and integrate social software across their IT environment.
* Plug-ins for IBM Lotus Notes, IBM Lotus Sametime, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Explorer and IBM WebSphere Portal, enabling people to interact with their professional networks using their everyday productivity tools.
* A rich API based on the REST and Atom standards allow other applications to utilize the profiles, community, bookmarking, blogging and activity services of Lotus Connections.

More on IBM Atlas at IBM.

SAN JOSE, Calif — Dec 17, `07 — Adobe Systems today reported financial results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended Nov 30, `07.

In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007, Adobe achieved record revenue of $911.2 million, compared to $682.2 million reported for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006 and $851.7 million reported in the third quarter of fiscal 2007. This represents 34 percent year-over-year revenue growth. Adobe’s fourth quarter revenue target range was $860 to $890 million.

Adobe benefited from global demand for Creative Suite 3, which includes software for editing photos, designing Web sites and creating video. Chief Executive Officer Shantanu Narayen, who took over from Bruce Chizen this month, predicted first- quarter earnings that topped estimates, and reaffirmed a forecast for 13 percent sales growth in 2008.

Adobe Reports Record Annual Revenue in Fiscal Year 2007
In fiscal year 2007, Adobe achieved record revenue of $3.158 billion, compared to $2.575 billion in fiscal 2006. On a year-over-year basis, annual revenue grew 23 percent. More at Adobe.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 delivers flexible power of choice and familiar Outlook experience.

REDMOND, Wash — Dec 17, `07 —The new version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, formerly code-named “Titan,” has been completed and released to manufacturing, Microsoft announced today.

The new version is offered under two product names: Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 for on-premise and partner-hosted deployments and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Live for Microsoft-hosted deployment. Designed with a single unified-code base for both on-premise and on-demand deployments, Microsoft Dynamics CRM enables customers to choose the right deployment model for their specific business and IT needs, with the flexibility to change deployment models over time if their needs or preferences change.

Some of the significant new benefits and capabilities of this new release include these:
• An advanced multitenant architecture that supports multiple customers per server
• Extended global capabilities including user choice of more than 25 languages and pervasive support for multiple currencies
• New business intelligence capabilities including cross-entity views and an end-user ad hoc reporting wizard
• Advanced business process automation based on Microsoft Windows Workflow Foundation
• New collaboration capabilities with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 including real-time presence indicators within the CRM application

More at Microsoft.

BURLINGTON, MA, Dec 17, `07 – Cognos today announced that it has extended its wireless business intelligence solution, Cognos 8 Go! Mobile, to support Windows Mobile 6 smartphones.

Cognos 8 Go! Mobile is the industry’s first business intelligence solution designed to make it convenient to view, consume and interact with highly relevant performance information on mobile devices.

Cognos 8 Go! Mobile delivers enterprise data through an intuitive interface optimized for each different type of mobile platform. It now brings timely decision-support information directly to Windows Mobile 6 devices. All decision makers who need to access BI content across the enterprise, either through a mobile device or on the Web, are able to use the same consistent, trusted source of operational information. More at Cognos.

REDMOND, Wash — Dec 13, `07 — Microsoft this morning delivered a holiday surprise for customers and partners, unveiling a public beta for its hypervisor-based server virtualization technology called Hyper-V, a feature with some versions of Windows Server 2008.

Customers and partners today can download Windows Server 2008 RC1 Enterprise with the beta version of Hyper-V to evaluate the new technology, test applications and plan future consolidation, business continuity and high-availability projects. The beta was previously expected to be ready in the first quarter of 2008 with the release to manufacturing (RTM) of Windows Server 2008. The beta is available for download at Microsoft.com/ws08eval.

Windows Server 2008 Moves Closer to Launch
The release of the Hyper-V beta marks another significant milestone for Windows Server 2008 as it approaches final release by the “Heroes Happen Here” launch in Los Angeles on Feb. 27, 2008. The launch, featuring Windows Server 2008, Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Microsoft Visual Studio 2008, will mark the largest enterprise launch for the Redmond, Wash.-based company and is just one of many events planned for a worldwide rollout. So far, almost 2 million customers around the world have obtained Windows Server 2008 evaluation code.

More at Microsoft.

Microsoft delivers next milestone for highly anticipated Windows Server 2008, makes RC1 (release candidate one) ready for testing; industry readies for worldwide launch wave with “Heroes Happen Here” launch theme.

REDMOND, Wash — Dec 5, 2007 — Reaching a major milestone in development, Microsoft today made available the Windows Server 2008 release candidate one (RC1) for customers to download and evaluate.

In addition, Microsoft committed more than $150 million (U.S.) worldwide for outreach and demand generation to IT professionals and developers, and disclosed additional details and partner programs in preparation for the “Heroes Happen Here” launch events, beginning on Feb. 27, 2008, in Los Angeles.

Windows Server 2008 RC1
Windows Server 2008, which is scheduled to release to manufacturing (RTM) by the Feb. 27 launch event, reached the RC1 milestone today and is available to customers for download at Microsoft.com/ws08eval.

With RC1, Microsoft is enhancing Group Policy with Group Policy Preferences, formerly known as PolicyMaker Standard Edition and Policy Share Manager. As the code approaches final signoff, RC1 is one of the last opportunities for customers and partners to evaluate it and provide feedback. So far, more than 1.8 million customers have obtained Windows Server 2008 evaluation code.

Industry Partners Kick Off Windows Server 2008 Launch Wave
As the industry gears up for the new enterprise and developer platform, thousands of industry partners have been working with Microsoft on product testing and evaluation, and are currently developing new applications, device drivers, services and solutions.

Ten partners in particular — Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Citrix Systems, Dell, Fujitsu, Hitachi, HP, Intel, Quest Software, SAP AG and Unisys — have already invested significant time and resources to be platinum sponsors of the upcoming launch, demonstrating their strong support for and excitement about Microsoft’s next-generation products.

To date more than 140,000 IT professionals and developers have been trained on Windows Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008, and 3,100 certifications have been granted on Windows Server 2008. More at Microsoft.

Boston — Dec 04, ‘07 — SAP said on Tuesday that new software for sales-force automation that it is hailing as one of the most user-friendly products to date would be compatible with iPhone, reports Reuters.

SAP, the world’s biggest maker of business management software, will include the program as part of new sales-force automation software that it is launching this month.

SAP is breaking with precedent by introducing versions of the new software that are compatible with the iPhone ahead of ones for mobile devices that businesses traditionally use. These include Research in Motion’s Blackberry, Palm’s Treo and devices that run on Windows Mobile from Microsoft.

The iPhone software, part of a new sales-force automation suite from SAP, uses a Web-based interface with drag-and-drop tools similar to ones available on Google. More at Reuters.

WASHINGTON — Dec 04, ‘07 — US antitrust authorities said on Tuesday they have approved IBM’s purchase of software maker Cognos for $5 billion, Reuters reported.

IBM’s proposal to buy Canada-based Cognos, the last major independent maker of business intelligence software, was on a list of approved deals that the Federal Trade Commission releases periodically.

Cognos makes software that combs through vast amounts of data to analyze business trends. For example, Harrah’s Entertainment uses a Cognos program to keep frequent gamblers coming back to its casinos.

Software is IBM’s fastest-growing and most profitable division. IBM also uses software products to get customers to buy its consulting services and hardware. More at Reuters.

REDMOND, Wash — Dec 03, 2007 — Microsoft today unveiled two tools and an accreditation program designed to help customers make the most of their experience with Microsoft adCenter and Live Search.

Microsoft adExcellence

The Microsoft adExcellence program provides agencies and advertisers with the opportunity to become certified adCenter experts. The program offers more than 20 free training modules and a fee-based examination, providing users with the ability to demonstrate to their customers and prospects that they are fully trained and proficient in using adCenter. More at adExcellence.

Microsoft adCenter Add-in for Excel 2007

Microsoft adCenter Add-in for Excel 2007 is a fully integrated Microsoft Office Excel-based tool that enables adCenter customers to easily research keywords to help them reach and capture the right audience with their paid search advertising campaigns.

Webmaster CenterThe Webmaster Center is a portal specifically designed for webmasters and search engine optimizers. It provides all the necessary resources to optimize a Web site for achieving the highest possible algorithmic or “organic” listing on Live Search.

This includes information about how Live Search crawls and indexes site pages; site map creation and submission; statistics about Web sites currently indexed by Live Search; consolidated content submission guidelines; and new content and community resources. The beta version of the Webmaster Center can be accessed at webmaster.live.com.

About Microsoft Advertiser & Publisher Solutions

Microsoft Advertiser & Publisher Solutions (APS) provides world-class advertising platforms and tools for advertisers, agencies and publishers. Its mission is to make buying and selling media simpler, smarter and more cost-effective across media and devices in the Microsoft network of properties and beyond.

The APS portfolio includes Microsoft adCenter, Atlas, DRIVEpm, Massive and ScreenTonic. APS businesses span search, display and emerging media including mobile, gaming, video on demand and IPTV. More information can be found at advertising.microsoft.com.

As a strategic partner of Microsoft, Infosys has a multidimensional relationship with the company. Infosys has established the new 400-seat capacity VOF to facilitate and highlight its expertise in working on Microsoft programs and industry-leading solutions. It is completely compliant with Microsoft’s rigorous security and privacy standards.

The companies’ collaboration has resulted in measurable enhancements to productivity, customer and partner experience, and operational efficiencies across Microsoft’s businesses while enabling Infosys to refine its industry service offerings for high-tech companies. Examples of joint projects include:

“The Infosys and Microsoft relationship is a shining example of how a strong collaboration may enhance a client’s competitive advantage in the marketplace,” said Anand Swaminathan, associate vice president, High-Tech & Manufacturing, Infosys. “Infosys is committed to combining its industry solutions and services and extending the global delivery model we pioneered to enable Microsoft to deliver world-class software and customer experience in the flat world.”

More at Microsoft.

Round Rock, Texas — Nov 27, ‘07 — Dell today will help simplify enterprise search for U.S. customers by selling the Google Search Appliance and the Google Mini , through Dell’s direct corporate and public sales organizations ( see dell.com/googlesearch).

The Google Search Appliance starts at $30,000 and the Google Mini starts at $1,995. Both search appliances are covered by Google warranty and support services.

“Google’s turnkey search appliances align well with Dell’s priority to simplify information technology in the data center”, said Terry Klein, Dell vice president, Americas Advanced Solutions Group

The Google Search Appliance, with its distinctive bezel and yellow chassis, is designed for larger enterprises, while the blue Google Mini is targeted for the small and medium business market.

These appliances deliver relevant search results from information sources within a company’s firewall. Companies can also design their own interface that users recognize from their familiarity with Google.com, without compromising existing corporate security requirements.

Since 2006, Dell’s OEM Industry Solutions Group has coordinated with Google on the customization of Dell PowerEdgeTM 2950 servers to form the foundation for the yellow Google Search Appliance (GSA). More at Dell, Dell.com/GoogleSearch.

Brussels — November 27, ‘07 — The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of Franco-US company Business Objects, an independent provider of business analytics software, by SAP AG of Germany. The Commission concluded that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it.

SAP provides a wide range of enterprise application software solutions. Business Objects, headquartered in France and the US, offers business analytics software solutions and in particular business intelligence solutions which corporate customers use to analyse, report and visualise data across their organisation to gain better insight into their businesses with a view to optimising organisational performance.

The Commission examined the effects that the proposed merger would have on the overall market for enterprise application software and particularly the business analytics sector. In both instances, the Commission found that the horizontal overlap would not give rise to competition concerns, since the parties’ combined market share would be moderate at EEA level. The combined SAP/Business Object entity would continue to face several strong competitors and customers would find sufficient alternative suppliers of such software products.

More at European Commission.

WASHINGTON — Nov 25, ‘07 — BRIAN BERGSTEIN of The Associated Press reports an excellent article on Business Software Alliance bullying over small business firms in North America.

“Michael Gaertner worried he could lose his company. A group called the Business Software Alliance was claiming that his 10-person architectural firm was using unlicensed software.

The alliance demanded $67,000 — most of one year’s profit — or else it would seek more in court. “It just scared the hell out of me,” Gaertner said.

An analysis by The Associated Press reveals that targeting small businesses is lucrative for the Business Software Alliance, the main copyright-enforcement watchdog for such companies as Microsoft Corp., Adobe Systems Inc. and Symantec Corp.

Of the $13 million that the BSA reaped in software violation settlements with North American companies last year, almost 90 percent came from small businesses, the AP found.

The BSA is well within its rights to wring expensive punishments aimed at stopping the willful software copying that undoubtedly happens in many businesses. And its leaders say they concentrate on small businesses because that’s where illegitimate use of software is rampant.

But software experts say the picture has more shades of gray. Companies of all sizes inadvertently break licensing rules because of problems the software industry itself has created. Unable or unwilling to create technological blocks against copying, the industry has saddled its customers with complex licensing agreements that are hard to master.

In that view, the BSA amasses most of its bounties from small businesses because they have fewer technological, organizational and legal resources to avoid a run-in.

In Gaertner’s case, employees had been unable to open files with the firm’s drafting software, so they worked around it by installing programs they found on their own, breaking company rules, he said. And receipts for legitimate software had been lost in the hubbub of running his company.

“It was basically just a lack of knowledge and sloppy record-keeping on my part,” said Gaertner, who got a settlement that cost him $40,000.

These cases get costly because the BSA considers software pirated if a company can’t produce a receipt for it, no matter how old it is. Then the BSA generally demands at least twice the retail price of software deemed out of compliance. Plus it charges the “unbundled” prices of software that generally comes together at a discount, like Microsoft Office.

However, software-management gurus say the BSA could do far more to assist companies — which are, after all, its members’ customers.”Instead of just being the software police, be the police in the sense of helping old ladies across the street,” said Barbara Scott, a software consultant for Redemtech Inc. “The BSA could become more of a partner with organizations that they’re hammering as well.”

Gaertner, who worried his BSA encounter would crush his business, wants to rid himself of the Autodesk, Microsoft and Adobe software involved in the case.”It’s not like they have really good software. It’s just that it’s widespread and it’s commonly used,” he said. “It’s going to be a while, but eventually, we plan to get completely disengaged from those software vendors that participate in the BSA.“” More at AP.

San Antonio, Texas, November 19, 2007 — AT&T announced today that an AT&T subsidiary has agreed to acquire privately held Ingenio, a leading provider of Pay Per Call technology. The transaction is expected to close in early January 2008.

AT&T plans to integrate Ingenio’s Pay Per Call solutions into its directory service and local search advertising portfolio, including the YELLOWPAGES.COM Network, AT&T Real Yellow Pages and 1-800-Yellow Pages. Ingenio’s Pay Per Call service is an advertising platform that allows businesses to manage their ad programs and generate valuable phone leads. The platform uses proprietary technology to provision unique published phone numbers to track calls to businesses generated by those ads, and advertisers’ fees are based on the volume of these leads.

Following the closing of the acquisition, Ingenio will be integrated within AT&T’s YELLOWPAGES.COM and will be overseen by Charles Stubbs, president and CEO of YELLOWPAGES.COM. AT&T expects to retain Ingenio’s management team. The transaction is expected to have minimal impact on AT&T’s results, including earnings per share. More at AT&T.

PALO ALTO, Calif –BUSINESS WIRE– Nov 19, ‘07 — Paglo launched today and introduced the world’s first search engine for IT. The free, on-demand service helps turn IT administrators into heroes.

Paglo combines multiple, innovative technologies to enable businesses to capture all of the information about their IT environment and make it immediately accessible and useful. Paglo’s uses are limitless and relevant for any IT, operations, or security professional. For example, a user can run a simple search to determine if they are in compliance with Microsoft software licensing policies and whether their machines have the latest security patches.

Each business has its own Paglo Search Index that keeps the information completely separate and private from every other user. And Paglo takes data discovery to a whole new level — far deeper than Packetyzer and RogueScanner, two popular network troubleshooting and management tools developed by Paglo’s founders. These tools are widely used and have been downloaded by more than 600,000 people.

Paglo’s patent-pending technology highlights include the Paglo Crawler, an open source discovery spider that securely gathers IT information and can be easily extended with plug-ins to capture additional data sources. The Paglo Search Index provides unprecedented search accuracy and returns both simple text and rich quantitative data results.

Additionally, Paglo users can keep their fingers on the pulse of their technology infrastructure via the customizable Paglo Dashboard which automatically presents results from their saved queries.

Users can create as many unique dashboard views as they like — such as one for operations, one for network management, and one for security. Paglo also ensures that IT professionals benefit from the wisdom of their peers.

Queries and dashboard views can be saved and published to the Paglo community for anyone to use. Because the system is on-demand, users can tap the experience of others directly via Paglo and immediately and reliably solve new challenges. You can sign up at Paglo/GetStarted.

ROUND ROCK, TX SANTA CLARA, CA — November 14, 2007 — Dell and Sun Microsystems have signed an OEM agreement for Dell to make the Solaris Operating System (OS) and Solaris support services available directly to customers for select Dell PowerEdge servers.

The multi-year distribution agreement was announced live from Oracle OpenWorld, where Sun President and CEO, Jonathan Schwartz and Dell Chairman and CEO, Michael Dell, are keynote speakers. With this announcement, Dell is expanding the range of enterprise-class operating systems it offers to its customers and Sun is expanding the reach of its Solaris OS.

Dell and Sun make servers that compete with each other. Sun commands 13 percent of the worldwide server market, while Dell commands about 12 percent, according to the latest data from market research firm IDC.

While Sun risks losing server sales to Dell because of the partnership, it stands to increase adoption of its open-source software products, and that could mean a substantial boost in revenue from related support services.

Once one of Silicon Valley’s most combative companies, Santa Clara-based Sun has been reaching out to former foes since Jonathan Schwartz became CEO in April 2006, taking over from pugnacious co-founder Scott McNealy.

The company now views partnerships with its one-time enemies as a key way to ensure its long-term financial health. It announced a partnership with IBM Corp. in August that will allow Solaris to run on IBM servers. And in September it indicated it would build servers with Microsoft Corp.’s Windows operating system installed

“Dell’s offering of Solaris redefines the market opportunity for both companies,” said Jonathan Schwartz, president and CEO, Sun Microsystems. “The relationship gives Dell broader reach into the global free software community with Solaris and OpenSolaris and gives Sun access to channels and customers across the volume marketplace.”

“Part of our focus to simplify IT means delivering customers choice and by adding Solaris to our solutions set we are able to do that,” said Michael Dell, chairman and CEO, Dell.

Round Rock, Texas-based Dell also is trying to regain its financial footing by altering core sales strategies, having lost its No. 1 worldwide ranking PC sales to Hewlett-Packard Co. last year. It has shaken up its management ranks, laid off thousands of workers and started selling PCs through retailers. More at Sun Microsystems.

ARMONK, N.Y. & OTTAWA, Ontario — 12 Nov 2007 – IBM and Cognos today announced that the two companies have entered into a definitive agreement for IBM to acquire Cognos, a publicly-held company based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, in an all-cash transaction at a price of approximately $5 billion USD or $58 USD per share, with a net transaction value of $4.9 billion USD. The acquisition is subject to Cognos shareholder approval, regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. It is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008.

Cognos provides the only complete BI and performance management platform, fully integrated on an open-standards-based service oriented architecture (SOA), and has a strong history of supporting heterogeneous application environments, consistent with IBM’s approach.

Following completion of the acquisition, IBM intends to integrate Cognos as a group within IBM’s Information Management Software division, focused on Business Intelligence and Performance Management.

Cognos has approximately 4,000 employees worldwide and serves more than 25,000 customers. IBM and Cognos have partnered for more than 15 years, with extensive technical integrations and eight pre-integrated joint solutions already supporting many joint customers, such as New York City Police Department, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Tennessee, Canadian Tire, MetLife, and Bayer UK. More at IBM.

NEW YORK & DULLES, Va.–BUSINESS WIRE–Nov 07, ‘07– AOL today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Quigo, a leading site and content-targeted advertising company based in New York. When completed, the acquisition will let AOL offer contextual advertising that matches ads to the contents of a Web page. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Founded in 2000, Quigo provides innovative, performance marketing solutions for advertisers and premium publishers. The company has more than 500 premium publisher relationships, including a recently finalized deal with Time, Inc., and has a broad network of roughly 3,000 advertisers. Quigo’s AdSonar technology lets advertisers purchase ads on Websites based on specific pages, sections, topics or keywords. Quigo offers many types of advertising and a variety of pricing options including text, display and video ads bought on a cost-per-click, cost per impression, or cost per time basis.

In addition, it operates FeedPoint, a search engine marketing business that helps local and retail advertisers efficiently manage their marketing relationships with search engines and comparison shopping platforms.

Quigo will be the fourth advertising company AOL has acquired in 2007. Earlier in the year, AOL acquired Third Screen Media, a leader in mobile advertising, ADTECH AG, a leading ad serving platform based in Frankfurt, Germany, and TACODA, a leading behavioral targeting company. In addition, in September, AOL announced the formation of Platform-A, the world’s largest digital display advertising platform, which reaches over 91% of the online audience.

“With Quigo, we are putting the final pieces of Platform-A in place. We will be able to offer advertisers and publishers the most advanced set of tools, including contextual and behavioral targeting, superior analytics, and access to the largest display network in the marketplace.” said Randy Falco, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, AOL.