News Briefs for the Week Ending
03/04/2011
Copyright 2011, Faulkner Information Services. All Rights Reserved.
Docid:00020009
Publication Date: 1103
Publication Type: NEWS
ACQUISITIONS & DIVESTITURES
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Agilent Technologies Purchases BIOCIUS and Lab901
Agilent Technologies acquired BIOCIUS Life Sciences, the developer of the RapidFire mass spectrometry drug-screening platform. The privately held firm was established in 2009, as a spinoff of BioTrove. It also
acquired Lab901, which manufactures electrophoresis equipment and consumables.
Source: Vendor, 3/1/2011
Arizona Regulators Approve CenturyLink, Qwest Merger
The Arizona Corporation Commission and Minnesota Public Utilities Commission have approved the merger between CenturyLink and Qwest Communications. As part of the
approval process, the telecoms committed to investing a minimum of $70 million in broadband infrastructure in Arizona over five years, and $50 million in Minnesota over five years. Including Arizona and Minnesota, 19 states and the District of
Columbia have approved the proposed merger. The companies must still receive merger approval from Oregon and Washington, and the Federal Communications Commission. CenturyLink said it expects to complete its acquisition of Qwest in
April.
Source: Vendor, 3/3/2011
Earthlink Completes Acquisition of STS Telecom
Earthlink completed its acquisition of STS Telecom, a provider of voice, data and, Internet services to small to medium-sized business (SMB) customers in Georgia and Florida. Earthlink says it will use the
acquisition to add hosted VoIP services to its business product portfolio. No financial terms for this transaction were disclosed.
Source: Vendor, 3/2/2011
Google buys German security firm Zynamics
Google has purchased German security firm Zynamics. Zynamics makes reverse engineering tools used to fight malware. Financial terms of the acquisition were not released.
Source: Vendor, 3/3/2011
Intel Completes McAfee Acquisition
Intel has completed its previously announced $7.68 billion USD acquisition of McAfee. As a wholly-owned subsidiary of Intel, McAfee will continue to develop and sell security
products under its brand name, and will be managed by Renee James, Intel’s senior VP and general manager.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
Telit, Motorola Solutions Complete M2M Modules Business Unit Sale
Telit Wireless Solutions and Motorola Solutions announced that they have successfully completed the transaction under which Telit acquired Motorola Solutions’
M2M (machine-to-machine) modules business unit, and that Motorola Solutions’ employees associated with the unit have now joined Telit. All existing Telit and Motorola products will be maintained and available as originally planned by the separate entities.
Telit said it is in the final stage of transferring all Motorola M2M activities to the global Telit organization. Telit’s headquarters are in Rome, Italy, with regional headquarters in Raleigh NC, USA; Seoul, Korea; and Sao Paulo, Brazil. Motorola
Solutions is headquartered in Schaumburg, Illinois.
Source: Vendor, 3/2/2011
Teradata to Buy Aster Data Systems for $263 Million
Teradata signed a definitive agreement to acquire Aster Data Systems, a provider of advanced analytics, and unstructured data management. Teradata is acquiring Aster via a merger acquisition, and will be
integrating all of the acquired company’s customers and employees into its own business. The acquisition will cost Teradata $263 million, not including an 11% interest it has held in Aster Data since September 2010. The transaction is expected to close
some time during the second quarter of 2011.
Source: Vendor, 3/3/2011
ALLIANCES & JOINT VENTURES
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Apple to Offer Random House Catalog on iBookstore
Apple reported an agreement with trade book publisher Random House to make its catalog of 17,000 e-books available for the Apple iBookstore. iBookstore is part of Apple’s free iBooks app. It lets the user browse and stream content on an iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. Content can be pre-ordered, starting today.
Source: Vendor, 3/2/2011
BroadVision Names ethosIQ Platform-as-a-Service Reseller
BroadVision named ethosIQ as a reseller for the Clearvale PaasPort, its platform-as-a-service product that allows customers to resell their own social business cloud based on Clearvale Enterprise. Typically,
ethosIQ provides clients with products and services to manage call center services, mobile development, Web services, social media, and IT strategies.
Source: Vendor, 3/2/2011
F-Secure to Provide Services to Telefonica Customers
F-Secure has inked a regional partnership to offer security and storage services to Telefonica customers in Latin America. This alliance will eventually be extended to
Telefonica’s European customers.
Source: Vendor, 2/24/2011
NEC LCD Technologies Becoming Joint Venture
NEC Japan announced an agreement with TIANMA MICROELECTRONICS and AVIC International Holding Co. to make NEC LCD Technologies a joint venture with AVIC. The alliance will allow it to take advantage of Tianma’s more
advanced production capacity; it already supplies panels on a global scale. NEC LCD Technologies will continue doing business with its 2,000 corporate customers, worldwide, and operate out of its factory in Akita, Japan. Higher volume and larger-sized
products will be manufactured on Tianma production lines.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
Telstra and PCCW Complete Split of Reach Assets
Telstra and Pacific Century Cyber Works (PCCW) completed the restructuring of their joint venture, Reach. The restructuring split the assets of the formerly 50/50 owned company
between the two owners. As a result Telstra gains increased undersea cable assets, expanded international PSTN voice capability, additional global point-of-presence locations, and satellite services and base stations that reach more than two thirds of the
earth’s surface. Meanwhile, PCCW gains enhanced international connectivity services, direct ownership of fibers on the RNAL system, and increased capabilities for its IPv6-enabled data network.
Source: Vendor, 3/1/2011
CARRIER SERVICES
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AT&T to Launch Mobile, Location-Based Ads in Four Cities
AT&T announced an agreement between its Advanced Ad Solutions group and Placecast to provide “ShopAlerts by AT&T,” which will target consumers via their mobile phones when they are
near a participating store or brand. The location-based mobile messaging service will be launched in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco for customer who opt-in to receive such messages. AT&T is the first US mobile carrier to offer a
large-scale, location-based mobile marketing program to consumers and advertisers.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
T-Mobile USA to Discontinue Danger Data Service for Sidekick Users
T-Mobile USA announced that it will discontinue its Danger data service to all Sidekick models starting May 31, 2011. At that time, Sidekick handset users will no longer be able to access data stored on Danger’s
cloud-based service, including contacts and photos. Internet and e-mail service will also be cut off. T-Mobile USA said Sidekick will still be able to used for calls and text messaging. The carrier is now sending out letters to current Sidekick owners to
alert them to the change and provide information about transferring data and transitioning to a new device.
Source: Vendor, 3/2/2011
CHIP TECHNOLOGY
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Toshiba to Transfer Semiconductor Fab Equipment to SCK
Toshiba Japan reported it executed an agreement with Sony and Sony Semiconductor Kyushu (SCK) – based on a MoU signed December 24, 2010 – to transfer certain semiconductor
fabrication equipment for 53 billion JPY. The transfer should be completed April 1st. Equipment will be housed at SCK’s Nagasaki Technology Center in Nagasaki, Japan.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
CLOUD COMPUTING
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AWS Launches CloudFormation Application Resource Provisioning Tool
Amazon Web Services (AWS) introduced AWS CloudFormation, a new service for designers and businesses with the goal of providing a collection of AWS resources in an orderly and predictable fashion. The user can
submit a “template” in the form of a simple text file with the AWS resources he or she needs to run an application. The system will then provision the appropriate resources, and make any necessary alterations based on resource interdependencies.
CloudFormation also offers its users a catalogue of pre-made templates, which cover a wide range of applications, AWS says. There is no charge for AWS CloudFormation; users pay only for the resources they request. More information about the new AWS service
is available from its details page.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
Fujitsu Australia Introduces Regional Global Cloud Services
Fujitsu Australia unveiled its Global Cloud Services portfolio, which combines public and private secure platforms. The cloud platform – the first of its kind in the region – uses Fujitsu’s Australia Data Center
operations. Fujitsu’s global cloud platform was brought online in Japan last October.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
Google Blames Software Update for Gmail Data Loss
Google says that the recent incident of 0.02% of its Gmail users losing the entirety of their stored emails, contacts, and other data was the result of a storage software update gone awry. The problem started on
February 27 when about 40,000 accounts were suddenly reset to their original state, and cleared of all data. The company says the bug affected several copies of its redundant Gmail backups, which has caused a delay in restoring the affected accounts.
However, according to a March 2 update, the company says all data should be restored for the “vast majority of users.”
Source: Vendor, 3/2/2011
HP Integrates 3PAR Utility Storage, Converged Infrastructure
Hewlett-Packard (HP) announced it integrated 3PAR Utility Storage across its Converged Infrastructure portfolio, for managing scalable cloud computing environments. This integration should allow clients to optimize cloud
delivery, with features such as automatic storage tiering – to improve performance – and thin storage offerings. It will also allow clients to consolidate storage hardware to better address growth in data demands. It also introduced new storage products
for virtualization and data deduplication, including the P4800 G2 storage area network,
Source: Vendor, 3/1/2011
KT, Samsung Partner to Push Eco-Friendly Cloud Computing System
Korea’s telecom giant KT and chip maker Samsung Electronics announced they are partnering on marketing the benefits of an eco-friendly cloud computing system, dubbed the “Green IT
System,” which incorporates Samsung’s 30 nanometer class DDR3 dynamic random access memory (DRAM) technology and KT’s new cloud computing system (ucloud). The two companies are seeking to encourage the global IT industry to use more energy-efficient,
cloud computing systems. The companies will also work together to create market opportunities for the new green IT system through their participation in a “Samsung Semiconductor CIO Forum” that will be held this year in six countries, including the US,
Japan, and China.
Source: Vendor, 3/2/2011
Siemens Introduces Hybrid Cloud Management Platform
Siemens IT Solutions and Services began offering Operational Framework, a process platform for managing hybrid cloud environments and integrating them with other services. It acts as a central handling interface for
reporting, analyzing, and orchestrating processes, and managing services and systems.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS & EQUIPMENT
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Alcatel Completes Trial of TETRA/LMR Network in NJ
Alcatel-Lucent and PowerTrunk completed the trial of a Terrestrial Trunked Radio / Land Mobile Radio (TETRA/LMR) network, with NJ TRANSIT in Newark, New Jersey. The
trial is the first of TETRA – and specialized TETRA-enabled applications – in the US. TETRA is a digital trunked mobile radio standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute widely deployed by public safety agencies, utilities,
and transportation companies outside North America. The trial allowed buses to communicate with operations personnel, using voice and data at a higher data bandwidth and 6.25-KHz voice equivalency.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
Deutsche Telekom Plans Fiber Optic Expansion in Germany for 2011
Deutsche Telekom announced plans to begin a fiber optic expansion in Germany this year. The company said it will bring broadband speeds of up to 1Gbps to 160,000 new homes in the country before the end of the year. The
rollout will include 10 cities in total, and will also help support the company’s other network expansion efforts, including creating LTE 1800 and LTE 2600 networks, raising its VDSL/DSL services to 50 Mbps, and increasing the speed of its 3G network to 42
Mbps.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
Global Crossing to Provide SIP Trunking to Microsoft Tech Centers
Global Crossing announced that it has been selected to provide its Session Initiated Protocol (SIP) Trunking solution to support Microsoft Technology Centers throughout the United States. SIP Trunking is the
enabling technology that network providers use to establish a broad range of Unified Communications tools, such as “presence” solutions.
Source: Vendor, 3/2/2011
Huawei Introduces the AR G3 Access Router
Huawei Technologies unveiled its new AR G3, an enterprise access router that supports mobile and fixed WAN access to address multi-service processing needs.
Source: Vendor, 3/2/2011
Juniper Introduces Supercore Switch, Express Chipset
Juniper Networks unveiled a converged, supercore switch – the PTX series packet transport switch – that scales up to 3,800TB. It merges the core packet and optical network layers to support the growing use of mobile
video and cloud computing applications. It also introduced the new Junos Express chipset, which offers scalability of up to 2TB per slot.
Source: Vendor, 3/3/2011
Motorola Mobility Sets Record for Return Path Data Transmission
Motorola Mobility said it has achieved a new world record for return path data transmission by using Motorola technology on Cox Communications‘ Las Vegas network
infrastructure. Using the Motorola DOCSIS 3.0 RX48 return path receiver module operating within a Motorola BSR 64000 CMTS Edge Router, the record of 356 Mbps for a 5-85 MHz return path was set by transmitting across twelve return path channels of which
six channels employed 256QAM modulation. Motorola Mobility said the test demonstrates how broadband operators can support more customers and more broadband services over existing networks, removing the need for complex and costly new network
construction.
Source: Vendor, 3/2/2011
NEC, Pacnet to Upgrade EAC Pacific Submarine Network
NEC Japan and Pacnet signed an agreement to upgrade the 9,620 kilometer stretch of the EAC Pacific Cable Network, representing two of five fiber pairs of the Unity
Cable System connecting Chikura, Chiba (off the coast of Japan) to Los Angeles, CA, US. NEC will provide technology to support a 300G-bps upgrade for the submarine network, which already has a 1.92T-bps capacity. It is scheduled to be completed in several
phases before being ready for service in June. EAC Pacific was installed in March 2010.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
Nokia Siemens to Provide Optical Networking for Copel
Nokia Siemens Networks reported it was selected by Copel – a regional telecommunications operator in Parana, Brazil – to provide optical networking equipment to increase its network capacity. Copel is
preparing to deploy a 3,000 kilometer optical fiber network for high-speed consumer data services. Nokia Siemens will provide dense wavelength division multiplexing technology and photonic cross-connect technology, for managing network scalability to
address future demands.
Source: Vendor, 3/1/2011
Verizon Deploys 100G Ethernet Link on Euro Long-Haul Network
Verizon Communications said it has deployed the first standards-based, multivendor, 100-gigabit Ethernet link for an IP backbone on a portion of the company’s European long-haul network. Using Juniper Networks
routers and Ciena’s commercially-available 100G Ethernet coherent optical transport solution, Verizon implemented 100G Ethernet connections between routers on its European backbone network between Paris and Frankfurt, a distance of 555 miles (893
kilometers). Verizon said the 100G router-to-router technology enables IP traffic to be more efficiently transported on the underlying 100G wavelengths.
Source: Vendor, 3/2/2011
CONFERENCING
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Citrix and Skype Team up for New GoToMeeting-Based Conferencing Tools
Citrix and Skype jointly announced a new strategic alliance which will see GoToMeeting technology from Citrix being implemented in new Web and audio conferencing capabilities from
Skype. The new products will be geared towards business users, and will supplement the existing Skype for Business desktop experience. New features are expected to include connectibility with public switched telephone network (PSTN) phone numbers, the SILK
audio codec, and interactive screen sharing. The new joint solutions are expected to be available some time late in 2011.
Source: Vendor, 3/1/2011
Global Crossing Debuts Cloud-Based Conferencing Service
Global Crossing introduced Communications as a Service (CaaS), which the carrier describes as the first phase of its network-centric, cloud-based solution set. Global Crossing said CaaS provides an on-demand,
“pay-as-you-grow” set of capabilities designed to simplify a business’s audio conferencing experience from multiple services to a single-service, cloud-based model. The company said future releases of CaaS will include video, telephony, and IT services,
including Instant Messaging, presence, and email. The company also said it is developing cloud-based solutions for virtual computing, storage and infrastructure capabilities, and enterprise network security. Also planned are cloud-based solutions for
hosted application development and hosted software applications.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
CONSULTING & MANAGED SERVICES
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Accenture Receives $6 Million Contract from Consip
Accenture received a 4-year contract from Consip, a public company owned by the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF). The company has been tasked with building an eProcurement system to handle the
procurement operations of the Italian government. Accenture will also be providing management consulting and IT services, in addition to overseeing the development and daily maintenance of the new eProcurement system. The agreement has a total value of
approximately $6 million.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
Accenture Signs Procurement Contract with City of London Corporation
Accenture received a contract from the City of London Corporation to create a procurement shared service center, a project designed to reduce the company’s procurement costs. The new central City of London
Procurement Service will handle all of the company’s procurement and procure- to-pay functions, and will be staffed by a joint team of City of London and Accenture employees for the duration of Accenture’s contract. No financial terms for the agreement
were disclosed.
Source: Vendor, 3/2/2011
BT Signs Global Connectivity Agreement with The Kuoni Group
BT signed an agreement to provide global connectivity to the Kuoni Group, a leisure travel company. Under the contract, BT will connect 51 of the company’s locations around the world, including sales offices, travel
agents, and other facilities. The services will be provided via BT’s Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network, and are expected to reach 40 countries. No financial terms for the transaction were disclosed.
Source: Vendor, 2/25/2011
Capgemini Wins EDF Energy IT Contract
Capgemini UK won an IT support contract with UK energy company EDF Energy. Capgemini will be tasked with providing service desk support, procurement, and managed desktop services, including email, instant
messaging, and file sharing. The contract has a three-year base period, a two year extension option, and a total value of about GBP 100 million.
Source: Vendor, 3/2/2011
Dell to Provide Infrastructure, Services for N Texas School District
Dell reached an agreement to provide a technology infrastructure for the Keller Independent School District of Northern Texas. It will provide new storage and network management capabilities, as well as 24×7 help-desk,
deskside, and e-mail support services. The Keller district includes almost 33,000 students. The contract spans 10 years.
Source: Vendor, 3/1/2011
Dell to Provide Managed Staff Services for TUI Travel
Dell Services announced it will provide managed infrastructure services for TUI Travel – a pan-European travel firm – over the next six years. Services will include IT
Infrastructure Library based best practices and systems, and cloud based asset management. The services will support TUI staff, providing desktop, laptop, and printer support, and managed client services.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
HP to Provide Services for Centrica Cloud Migration
HP Enterprise Services UK signed a seven-year, $400 million USD agreement to provide outsourced services for Centrica, as it migrates to a utility based, private cloud computing environment. The migration will
allow it to better respond to changing business conditions, providing access to next generation technology with the correct amount of computing capacity. Centrica will also have access to HP cloud computing services to improve data access and product and
service delivery for customers. HP will provide these services from UK data centers. It will also provide project and applications services.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
Lenovo Announces PC, Network Premium Services
Lenovo announced new Care Premium support services, including home network setup, OS upgrades, and browser troubleshooting. The services focus on initial setup through the entire lifecycle of Lenovo PC products. The
services are available immediately in the US and Canada.
Source: Vendor, 3/2/2011
Northrop Grumman to Install Flight Control System for Thessaloniki AP
Northrop Grumman received a contract to provide an Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control System (A-SMGCS) to the Thessaloniki International Airport in Greece. Northrop will deliver its NOVA 9000 A-SMGCS
system, a system it also installed at the Athens International Airport. The system will be used to efficiently manage air traffic, particularly in periods of unusually high volume. No financial terms for the agreement were disclosed.
Source: Vendor, 3/2/2011
Unisys Receives Multi-Year IT Support Contract from Air France
Unisys‘ French subsidiary received a multi-year contract to provide end-user IT support services for 60,000 employees of Air France and its subsidiaries. The work will be performed at various locations around France
and will include procurement, software distribution, hardware installation, maintenance, and support services. No financial terms for the agreement were disclosed.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
Verizon Business Achieves Cisco Data Center Certification
Verizon Business announced it has achieved Data Center Unified Computing Authorized Technology Provider status from Cisco. The designation means Verizon Business has
fulfilled the training and program prerequisites to sell, deploy, and support the Cisco Unified Computing System in the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Netherlands.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
Metro Transit Authority Taps Verizon Business for Info Security
The MTR Corporation, which carries 4 million passengers every week day in Hong Kong, has selected Verizon Business to help bolster security for
its corporate and customer information. Verizon Business consultants helped the mass transit operator update existing security and data classification policies and implement a new Information Rights Management program. Verizon conducted a series of process
assessments and workshops for employees with access to sensitive and classified information. As a result, MTR’s 14,000 employees are now able to quickly and consistently identify, classify, and encrypt sensitive company information, Verizon said.
Source: Vendor, 3/3/2011
CONTENT DELIVERY NETWORKS
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Level 3 Signs Deal with Saudi Telecom
Level 3 announced a strategic long-term agreement with Saudi Telecom (STC) to enable international IP and content distribution services in Saudi Arabia and across the Middle East. Level 3 said both US and European
Content Distribution Network customers will have access to a new broadband market in the Middle East, and content customers in the Middle East will have the ability to distribute their content across both STC’s and Level 3’s international networks.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
CRM
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Progress Software Launches Integrated Trouble Management Solution
Progress Software launched its new Progress Integrated Trouble Management (ITM) solution accelerator. The new software is
designed to enhance the Progress communications solutions portfolio by providing users with “end-to-end management and rules-based problem resolution for customer initiated problems.” Progress says it also supports the preemptive identification of
problems, reducing the impact on customers. The Progress ITM solution accelerator is available now.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
CYBERCRIME
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UK Takes a Stand against Scam Email Messages
The UK’s National Fraud Authority is instructing the British population to submit any scam emails that they receive to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau in an effort to crack down on Internet
crime. The collection of these fraudulent messages will help authorities to disrupt criminal activity, the agency said.
Source: NFA, 2/25/2011
DATA BREACHES
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Report: Morgan Stanley Hit by Aurora Attacks in 2009
The UK’s Guardian reported that Morgan Stanley‘s network suffered a serious breach in June 2009 by the same Chinese hackers who launched an attack on Google last year. This information was found in a leaked email message from HB Gary Federal, the security firm that was working with Morgan Stanley. In 2009, the investment bank was attacked by Operation Aurora, the same
hackers that hit Google in 2010. The leaked email did not disclose what, if any, information was stolen from Morgan Stanley
Source: Guardian, 3/1/2011
DBMS
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Autonomy Launches IDOL Powered Info Management Platform for Law Firms
Autonomy unveiled its new cloud-based information management platform for the legal market. The platform uses the company’s Intelligent Data Operating Layer (IDOL), and consists of five modules: WorkSite, which
creates links between relevant information in a case; Records Manager, which provides dual hierarchy records for both the firm and clients; Universal Search, which leverages IDOL technology to let users search any digital records on their system; Process
Automation, a form and document manager; and ConflictsManager, which automatically detects potential conflicts of interest prior to accepting a new client. More information about all of these modules is available from Autonomy’s meanings based governance page.
Source: Vendor, 1/31/2011
Autonomy Releases New IDOL-Based Records Manager
Autonomy released its new Autonomy Records Manager, now powered by its IDOL technology. The company says the addition of IDOL to the Records Manager allows the software to intelligently identify patterns, and
create organized data from unstructured information. The updated software includes automatic classification, retention, and disposition of information, as well as new modules for enterprise, legal, and government customers. More information about the new
records manager is available from the company’s meanings based governance page.
Source: Vendor, 11/8/2010
DESKTOPS
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Lenovo Announces ThinkCentre M91p Tower, SFF
Lenovo announced its new ThinkCentre M91p, a high end business desktop PC available in tower and small form-factor versions that use Windows 7. The new M91p offers eight USB ports for external devices, and supports
high definition voice and video conferencing. It will be available in April, and will retail starting at $899 USD.
Source: Vendor, 3/3/2011
DEVELOPMENT SOFTWARE
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Adobe Releases Beta of ColdFusion Builder 2
Adobe released a beta version of its ColdFusion Builder 2 integrated development environment (IDE). The new release of the Eclipse-based software includes professional coding tools, server management, testing tools, and new deployment capabilities. The software also features a customizable work environment, and support for extensions built in
CFML. More information about the beta program can be found at the ColdFusion Builder 2 product page.
Source: Vendor, 3/3/2011
Progress Software Releases DataDirect Connect XE Driver for Salesforce
Progress Software announced the general availability of the Progress DataDirect Connect XE for JDBC, Salesforce.com driver. The driver,
which has been in beta testing for 5 months, allows Java based SQL to connect directly to Salesforce.com via JDBC. The company says this will make it easier to query and modify data in Salesforce.com from both custom-designed and commercial Java-based
applications. Other features of the driver include full read/write access; SQL-92 compliance; type 5 functionality; bulk insert, update and delete capabilities; and connection failover protection.
Source: Vendor, 3/2/2011
Yahoo Releases Technical Documentation for Search BOSS v2
Yahoo released the technical specifications for its upcoming Yahoo! Search BOSS v2 API. The API Guide includes information on using oAuth with the
new API, syntax specification for querying the API, syntax for calling ads from the platform, and a list of markets supported by the product. The company has still not set a date for the release of the Search BOSS v2 API.
Source: Vendor, 3/1/2011
ENTERPRISE APPLICATION SOFTWARE
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Adobe Adds Major App Subscription Platform Support to Publishing Suite
Adobe revealed that its Adobe Digital Publishing Suite will support both Apple App Store subscriptions, and Google One Pass subscriptions. This
ability joins the suite’s existing payment options, which included free content, single issue purchases, and third party e-commerce and fulfillment mechanisms. Apple App Store subscriptions are already supported when used with a publisher entitlement
server, however, wider support for both publishing platforms should be available in the near future.
Source: Vendor, 2/25/2011
IBM Releases 4 New Software Titles for Infrastructure Management
IBM released a quarter of new software titles designed to improve physical infrastructure. The titles are IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus
software, which offers users the ability to monitor, visualize, and analyze telecommunications networks; IBM Intelligent Metering Network Management, which provides a service
management solution for the monitoring of devices on transmission and distribution networks; IBM Real-Time Asset Locator for Healthcare, a software solution for optimizing asset
usage and tracking clinical, biomedical and other high-value equipment; and IBM Smarter Buildings Software, a selection of software designed to help building managers with analysis,
facilities, and space management capabilities. All titles are available now.
Source: Vendor, 3/1/2011
Microsoft Updates Retail Solution
Microsoft launched Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail R2. The updated version of the company’s solution for retail stores features point-of-sale, store management, supply chain, merchandising, and financials
capabilities. Microsoft says the updated software will also provide customers with improved insight, simplified users interfaces, and support for more varied business scenarios. More information about Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail R2 is available from
the company’s retail solutions page.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
Zoho Upgrades Challenge Application
Zoho debuted two new features for its Zoho Challenge testing application. The first is the ability for test givers to provide candidates with an option to have their results emailed to them. The new option joins the
previous result delivery method, which all relied on the application itself to deliver the results. The second new feature is the ability to add rich text to answer options. This allows test creators to insert formatted and multimedia content as part of
their questions. Both changes are available in the latest edition of Zoho Challenge.
Source: Vendor, 2/24/2011
ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING
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NetSuite, Informatica Partner for Cloud-Based ERP Solution
NetSuite and Informatica jointly announced plans to deliver what they say is the first cloud computing-based solution for deploying two-tier ERP systems. The new offering
will combine Informatica’s enterprise data integration with NetSuite’s cloud ERP suites to create a unified solution. The companies say the benefits of the cloud-based ERP product are scalability, reduced IT costs, reduced implementation times, and
increased speed to market. No time frame for the release of the new joint offering has been set.
Source: Vendor, 3/1/2011
FINANCIAL
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Autonomy Reports Modest Gains Across the Board in Q4 and 2010 Results
Autonomy reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2010. For the quarter, revenues totaled $244.5 million, up from $223.1 million during the last quarter of 2009. Net profit was $70.3
million, or $0.29 per share, compared to $69.3 million, or $0.29 per share reported for the same quarter, last year. For 2010 Autonomy took in $870 million up from $739.6 million in the prior year. Year-end net profit was $217.9 million, or $0.90 per
share, compared to $191.5 million, or $0.81 per share reported for 2009.
Source: Vendor, 2/1/2011
Autonomy Posts Positive Results for Q3, 2010
Autonomy posted its financial results for the three months ending September 30, 2010. Revenue for the quarter was $210.5 million, up from $191.6 million, reported for the same period in 2009. Net profit was $44.8
million, or $0.19 per share, up from $36.7 million, or $0.15 per share. Autonomy also signed 12 new contracts during the quarter for products based on its IDOL technology, including agreements with GE, Iron Mountain and Symantec.
Source: Vendor, 10/19/2010
Autonomy Posts Spike in Revenue, Modest Profit Gains in Q2 2010 Result
Autonomy posted its financial results for the second quarter of its fiscal year ending June 30, 2010. Revenue for the quarter totaled $221.2 million, up from the $195.1 million reported for the corresponding
quarter in 2009. Net income was $52.3 million, or $0.22 per share, up slightly from the $50.8 million, or $0.21 per share reported a year ago.
Source: Vendor, 7/22/2010
Autonomy Posts Impressive Revenue, Profit Gains in First Quarter
Autonomy reported its financial results for the first quarter of 2010, ending March 31. The company’s revenue for the period totaled $194.1 million, up significantly from $129.7 million from the first quarter of
2009. Net income was $49.7 million, or $0.21 per share, jumping from the $34.5 million, or $0.15 per share reported for the same quarter in 2009. The company touted repeat customers as having accounted for 51% of the boosted revenue during the quarter.
Source: Vendor, 3/31/2011
Belgacom Reports Weak Q4, Strong Year in 2010 Financials
Belgacom posted its financial results for the last quarter and full year 2010. For the quarter the company took in EUR 1.65 billion, up from EUR 1.59 billion in the same quarter of 2009. Net income was EUR 230
million, or EUR 0.71 per share, down significantly from the same quarter in 2009 when the company made EUR 287 million, or EUR 0.90 per share. For the year, Belgacom took in EUR 7.04 billion, up from EUR 6.06 billion in 2009. Net income for 2010 was EUR
1.28 billion, or EUR 3.94 per share, up from EUR 904 million, or EUR 2.82 per share in 2009. On these results Belgacom posted a 2011 outlook including a 1% expected decline in revenue due to increased regulatory measures.
Source: Vendor, 2/25/2011
Charter Posts Losses for Q4, 2010 following Emergence from Bankruptcy
Charter posted its financial results for the final quarter and fiscal year 2010. Quarterly revenues were $1.78 billion, up slightly from the $1.71 billion reported for the same quarter in 2009. The company
suffered a net loss of $85 million, or $0.75 per share, for the quarter, down from the net income of $12.7 billion, or $33.55 per share, it reported in the same quarter of 2009. It should be noted that the Q4 2009 net income total consisted of $12.5
billion derived from Charter’s emergence from bankruptcy. For the year, the company posted a revenue of $3.68 billion, flat with 2009’s total. Charter suffered a net loss for the year as well, dropping $237 million, or $2.09 per share. This is a
significant decrease from the $11.3 billion reported for 2009, even when considering the $11 billion contribution to that total resulting from the company’s bankruptcy proceedings.
Source: Vendor, 3/1/2011
Cogent Narrows Loss in Fourth Quarter
Cogent Communications, based in Washington state, reported a fourth-quarter 2010 net loss of $9.97 million, or 21 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $20.3 million, or 47 cents a share, in the year-earlier
period. Revenue rose to $40.5 million from $33.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2009. Cogent is a multinational, Tier 1 Internet service provider.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
CSC Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.20 Per Share
Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) declared a quarterly dividend of $0.20 per share on the company’s common stock. This amount will be payable on April 15, 2011 to all stockholders of record by March 15, 2011.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
Deutsche Telekom Reports Losses for Q4, Profit Growth for 2010
Deutsche Telekom reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2010. For the quarter, the company’s revenue totaled EUR 15.4 billion, down from EUR 16.2 billion during the same period in 2009.
Quarterly net loss was EUR 582 million, versus a loss of EUR 3 million for Q4, 2009. For the year, Deutsche Telekom took in EUR 62.4 billion, down from 2009’s EUR 64.6 billion. 2010 Net profit was EUR 1.69 billion, up from 2009’s EUR 353 million. It should
be noted that these results all reflect the effect of T-Mobile UK no longer being a fully consolidated division of the company, following its part in forming the joint company Everything Everywhere with Orange UK. During 2010 the company lost a net total
of 1.5 million fixed line customers, and 4.4 million of its mobile phone customers.
Source: Vendor, 2/25/2011
General Dynamics Declares $0.47 Dividend
General Dynamics declared a quarterly dividend of $0.47 per share of its common stock. This amount will be payable on May 6, 2011, to all shareholders of record on April 8, 2011. This represents a 12%
increase over the previous dividend of $0.42.
Source: Vendor, 3/2/2011
Harris Corp Declares $0.25 Quarterly Dividend
Harris Corp declared a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share of its common stock. This amount will be payable on March 17, 2011 to all shareholders of record by March 7, 2011.
Source: Vendor, 2/25/2011
L-1 Identity Solutions Releases Q4, Year-End Financials
For the fourth fiscal quarter of 2010 that ended on December 3, L-1 Identity Solutions announced revenues of $126 million USD, a net income of $5.0 million, and earnings per share of $0.06. Revenues for the year were
$450.1 million, while L-1 reported a net loss of $31.0 million and a loss per share of $0.73.
Source: Vendor, 3/1/2011
LG Posts Net Loss for Q4, Very Modest Growth in 2010
LG posted its financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2010. For the quarter, the company’s revenue totaled KRW 14.69 trillion, up very slightly from the same quarter in 2009, when it reported revenues of
KRW 14.43 trillion. LG suffered a net loss for the quarter, dropping KRW 256 billion, compared to net earnings of KRM 362 billion for the same period last year. For 2010, LG reported revenues of KRM 55.75 trillion, up slightly from KRW 55.49 trillion
posted for 2009. Net income for 2010 was KRW 1.28 trillion, a little more than half of the KRW 2.35 trillion the company earned in 2009. The company said it predicts an 8% year-over-year increase in mobile sales next year, driven primarily by an uptick in
smartphone adoption.
Source: Vendor, 3/2/2011
LimeLight Networks Proposes Public Offering of Its Stock
LimeLight Networks, a content delivery network provider, announced its intentions to hold a public offering of its common stock. A shelf registration statement was filed with the Securities and Exchanges
Commission in November 2010. It will soon be followed by a preliminary prospectus supplement, which will be available on the SEC’s Web site. Jefferies & Company, Inc and Piper Jaffray & Co are working as joint book-running
managers for the offering.
Source: Vendor, 2/24/2011
Nielsen Reports Increased Revenues for Q4, 2010
Nielsen released its financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2010. For the quarter, Nielsen reported a revenue of $1.37 billion, up from the $1.29 billion reported for the same period in 2009.
Net income for the quarter fell to only $4 million, or $0.02, down from $44 million, or $0.17 reported for the same quarter of 2009. Nielsen’s year-end revenue totaled $5.1 billion, up from 2009’s $4.8 billion. Net income for the year was $132 million, a
vast improvement over the $489 million net loss the company suffered in 2009. Nielsen said its recently held initial public offering made approximately $2.1 billion, the majority of which was used to repay indebtedness.
Source: Vendor, 3/1/2011
Rogers Posts Gains Across the Board in Q4 and 2010 Financials
Rogers released its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ending December 31, 2010. The company’s quarterly revenue was $3.15 billion, up slightly from Q4 2009’s total of $3.05 billion. Quarterly net
income was $327 million, or $0.58 per share, compared to the $310 million, or $0.61 per share reported for the same quarter of 2009. For the year, Rogers took in $12.1 billion, up from revenues of $11.7 billion reported for 2009. Year-end net income was
$1.7 billion, or $2.96 per share, up from $1.5 billion, or $2.51 per share. The year saw Rogers gain 319,000 net new postpaid users with a 1.18% churn rate, and 24,000 net new prepaid users with a churn rate of 3.18%.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
Rogers to Repurchase Another 1.2 Millions Shares of its Class B Stock
Rogers agreed to undertake another re-purchase of its Class B Non-Voting shares for the purpose of cancellation. This transaction will include 1.2 million outstanding shares, or about 0.27% of the company’s total
outstanding shares. The agreement was made between Rogers and an “arm’s-length third party seller.” The total purchase will cost Rogers about $38.3 million, a discount from the current market price of equivalent shares of the company.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
Salesforce.com Reports Climbing Revenue, Falling Income in Q4, 2010
Salesforce.com released its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2011. The company’s revenue totaled $457 million during the last quarter, a 29% increase over the $327 million reported for
the same period in 2010. Salesforce recorded a net income of $10.9 million, or $0.08 per share, in Q4, 2010, about half of the $20.3 million or $0.16 per share reported in 2010. For the year, Salesforce took in $1.65 billion, up from the $1.3 billion in
revenue reported for fiscal 2010. Net income for 2011 was down, however, to $64.4 million, or $0.50 per share, from the $80.7 million or $0.65 per share posted for 2010. Salesforce added 5,100 net new customers during the final quarter of the year,
bringing their total customer-base to 92,300, and finishing 2010 with a 27% year-over-year increase.
Source: Vendor, 2/24/2011
T-Mobile USA Posts Bleak Numbers for Q4 2010
T-Mobile USA said its net income fell to $268 million USD in the fourth quarter of 2010, down from $306 million in the same quarter of the prior year. Total revenue was $5.36 billion, down from $5.41 billion in the
year-earlier fourth quarter. Service revenues were $4.69 billion, up from $4.65 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009. The carrier said service revenue growth was driven by the adoption of mobile broadband data plans, handset insurance services, and
prepaid unlimited plans. Contract churn in the fourth quarter was 2.5 percent, up from 2.4 percent in the third quarter of 2010 and flat compared to the fourth quarter of 2009. T-Mobile USA lost 318,000 postpaid subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2010.
CEO Philip Humm said he was pleased with the carrier’s growth in service revenues, data ARPU (average revenue per user), and its HSPA+ network but noted: that “high-contract churn and significant contract customer losses in the fourth quarter of 2010
indicate that we still have a fair amount of work ahead of us and that any turnaround will take time.” T-Mobile USA unveiled a turnaround strategy in January based on several goals: reducing churn, increasing sales of cheaper smartphones based on Google’s
Android platform; and promoting the company’s HSPA+ network, which the company has said will be upgraded to HSPA+ 42 technology covering 140 million PoPs by the end of this year. T-Mobile USA is wholly-owned by Germany-based Deutsche Telekom.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
Telecom Italia Sees Growth Across the Board in 2010
Telecom Italia posted its results for the final quarter and full year 2010. The company’s quarterly revenue was EUR 7.6 billion, up 11.2% from the EUR 6.89 billion reported for the same quarter in 2009. Q4
EBITDA were 2.9 billion, up 13.5% from the EUR 2.5 billion posted for the same quarter of 2009. For the year, Telecom Italia’s revenue was EUR 27.5 billion, up 2.5% from EUR 26.8 billion in 2009. EBITDA for 2010 were EUR 11.4 billion, up 2.4% from the EUR
11.1 billion reported in 2009. On these results the company proposed a dividend distribution of 5.8 Euro cents per ordinary share and 6.9 Euro cents per savings share.
Source: Vendor, 2/24/2011
Telefonica O2’s Revenues Up, Profits Down in Q4, 2010 Financials
Telefonica O2 released its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2010. Quarterly revenue was EUR 4.0 billion, up from EUR 3.4 billion reported for the same quarter in 2009. Operating income for the
quarter was EUR 271 million, down from EUR 325 million for the fourth quarter of 2009. For 2010, Telefonica O2 took in EUR 15.3 billion, up from 2009’s total of EUR 13.5 billion. 2010 operating income was EUR 923 million, down from EUR 1.0 billion in
2009.
Source: Vendor, 2/25/2011
Unisys Closes Mandatory Convertible Stock Offering
Unisys announced the closing of its previously announced offering of Mandatory Convertible Preferred Stock. The company sold all 2.25 million shares, as well the additional 337,500 shares included in an
over-allotment option, for $100 per share. Unisys says it plans to use the proceeds to redeem a total of $124.7 million of the its 12 3/4% Senior Secured Notes due in 2014 and a total of $86.3 million of the its 14 1/4% Senior Secured Notes due in
2015.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
Windstream Revenues Up 30 Percent in Fourth Quarter
Regional telecom services provider Windstream said its fourth quarter 2010 revenues were $981 million USD, a 30 percent increase from the prior year’s fourth quarter. Net income for the quarter was down 4
percent versus the prior year period to $72 million, or 15 cents per share. The carrier, which serves primarily rural residential and business customers said capital expenditures during the fourth quarter were $143 million, up 56 percent year-over-year.
For the full year 2010, Windstream posted revenues of $3.7 billion, a 24 percent increase from 2009. Net income for the year was $311 million, or 66 cents per share, down 7 percent from 2009. Capital expenditures for the full year were up 39 percent, to
$415 million. Windstream said that, in the business channel, advanced data and integrated solutions increased 6 percent year-over-year. Special access circuits increased 5 percent year-over-year, driven by increased wireless backhaul demand. The company
added more than 12,000 new high-speed Internet customers during the fourth quarter, bringing its total customer base to approximately 1,303,000 – an increase of 6 percent year-over-year. Overall broadband penetration is now 43 percent of total voice lines
and 61 percent of primary residential lines, Windstream said. The company ended the year with approximately 434,000 video customers, representing 8 percent growth from a year ago and 23 percent of primary residential customers. Total access lines declined
by approximately 36,000, or 3.6 percent year-over-year. Total lines at the end of the year were 3.3 million.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS
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Autonomy Places on Shortlist for UK Governmental Procurement
Autonomy received a place on the UK’s national procurement framework agreement. The agreement was signed with Digital Continuity by Buying Solutions, the national procurement partner for all UK public services.
This places Autonomy on a shortlist of vendors that can be used for procurement by UK governmental agencies. The company says its tender process for Digital Archiving Solutions was key to its selection for the list.
Source: Vendor, 3/1/2011
Booz Allen Hamilton Receives $113.8 Million Contract from FHWA
Booz Allen Hamilton won a contract from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to provide intelligent transportation systems for its Research & Innovation Technology Administration (RITA) Intelligent Transportation
Systems Joint Program Office (ITS JPO). The goal of the project is to install a system which will allow vehicles, infrastructure, and passengers’ personal communications devices to communicate important information with each other. Booz’s tasks will
include project planning, modeling, simulation activities, systems engineering and integration, business model development, procurement, deployment, and program evaluation. The agreement has a duration of $113.8 million, and a duration of 5 years.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
General Dynamics Receives Navy Contract for Cyberspace Examination
General Dynamics received a contract from the US Navy to examine the areas of science, architecture, engineering, functionality, interface, and interoperability of its cyberspace systems at the tactical,
operational, and strategic levels. Under the terms of the agreement, General Dynamics will provide cyberspace research, reverse engineering capabilities, cyber mission planning, doctrine and policy development, and modeling and simulation. The agreement
has a total value of $204 million over 5 years, if all options are exercised.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
Harris Corp Receives $14 Million Order for Tactical Radios from Brazil
Harris Corp received a $14 million order from the Federative Republic of Brazil to provide its Falcon III and Falcon II tactical radios to the nation’s armed forces. The radios will be deployed in the country’s
humanitarian, security, and disaster relief missions.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
Harris Corp Receives Follow on Contract for VA’s VistA System
Harris Corp received a contract from the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to continue providing software engineering and enterprise support for the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology
Architecture (VistA) Imaging System. The VistA Imaging System in an information system that can incorporate clinical images, scanned documents, and other data into a patient’s electronic medical record. The original contract for this task was signed by
Harris Corp in 2008. No financial terms for the new agreement were disclosed.
Source: Vendor, 3/2/2011
IBM Signs 5-Year IT Outsourcing Agreement with Peruvian Government
IBM received a five-year IT outsourcing contract from the Government National Business Funding Agency of Peru. The agreement calls on IBM to provide IT services to 10 government-owned companies that provide services
such as utilities, postal, port shipping, transportation, housing and others. IBM’s tasks include the consolidation of 10 data centers, the virtualization of 130 servers, and the centralization of administration for 40 applications.
Source: Vendor, 2/23/2011
Northrop Grumman Selected for Navy SSC Pacific Cyberspace Contract
Northrop Grumman received a contract to provide cyberspace operations support to the US Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific (SSC Pacific). Northrop Grumman is one of four companies which will be
able to compete for tasks in the areas of cyberspace science, research, engineering and technology integration. The agreement has a two-year base period, three one-year options, and a ceiling value of more than $200 million if all options are
exercised.
Source: Vendor, 3/1/2011
SAIC Signs $28 Million Navy ERP Contract
Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) received a prime contract from the US Navy Strategic Systems Programs (SSP) Command for the provision of management planning and systems integration services to
support its enterprise resource planning (ERP) program. Under the terms of the contract, SAIC will provide systems integrator assistance, support, and expertise with the goal of preparing, implementing, deploying, and sustaining the Navy ERP application
across all SSP Command areas. The agreement has a one-year base period, three annual options, and a total value of more than $28 million if all options are exercised.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
SAIC Receives Contract for US Navy Warfare SSCP Cyberspace Systems
Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) received a prime contract from the US Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific (SSC Pacific) to provide technical services relating to its cyberspace
operations. SAIC will examine the areas of science, architecture, engineering, functionality, interface, and interoperability of the Center’s cyber systems, as well as providing support for requirements analysis, concept development, software design and
implementation, and systems integration. The agreement has a two-year base period, three annual options, and a total value of more than $219 million for the four included awardees.
Source: Vendor, 3/1/2011
XO Wins Managed Network Services Contract with US Postal Service
XO Communications announced that it has been awarded a six-year contract with potential revenue of $45 million to provide managed network services to United States Postal Service facilities under the Telecom Integrated
Postal Network contract. Under the terms of the multi-vendor agreement, XO Communications will provide managed network services, including design and engineering, onsite installation, router management, and managed MPLS IP-VPN services to more than 1,400
US Postal Service facilities.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS
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Autonomy Debuts Meanings-Based Healthcare Platform
Autonomy launched its new Autonomy Meaning Based Healthcare (MBH) platform. The new offering is designed to provide Healthcare Delivery Organizations (HDOs) with a comprehensive set of clinical diagnosis and
information governance technologies. The software uses Auminence, Autonomy’s newly dubbed version of its Bayesian inference technology, to extrapolate usable data from unstructured information. The company claims the resulting data output will allow
healthcare professionals to gain a deeper and more meaningful understanding of their data. Autonomy Meaning Based Healthcare (MBH) platform is available now.
Source: Vendor, 11/15/2010
Oracle Releases Oracle Health Sciences Central Coding 3.0
Oracle unveiled Oracle Health Sciences Central Coding release 3.0. The updated software is designed to handle the
clinical trial data coding and dictionary management. This version includes improvements such as expanded query management, automated workflows, enhanced integration with Oracle Health Sciences InForm Global Trial Management system, a new user interface,
and simplified status information. Oracle Health Sciences Central Coding 3.0 is available now.
Source: Vendor, 3/2/2011
INTERNET
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Fujitsu to Open Online E-Book Store in May
Fujitsu Japan is planning to establish an online e-book store in May 2011. The service – which will include a wide array of digital content – was designed to extend Fujitsu’s PC and mobile handset businesses in
Japan. Content will be available through a partnership with Dai Nippon Printing and its MobileBook.jp affiliate, giving it access to 300,000 magazines, whitepapers, statistical information, survey reports, and other business publications. It will also
include business, IT, test prep, and other e-book content from Fujitsu’s FOM publication unit. Fujitsu also announced it will establish agreements with several e-book providers.
Source: Vendor, 3/3/2011
ICANN Approves String Evaluation for Pakistan’s IDN ccTLD
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced that the IDN (internationalized Domain Name) ccTLD (country code Top Level Domain) string for Pakistan has passed the String Evaluation phase.
This clears the non-Latin domain for the third, and final, phase of ICANN’s approval process, String Delegation. This is the 24th country to pass the String Evaluation phase, with 17 of those having also passed String Delegation and been put into use.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
ICANN Approves String Evaluation Phase of Ukraine’s IDN ccTLD
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) approved the String Evaluation Phase of the IDN (Internationalized Domain Name) ccTLD (country code Top Level Domain) for Ukraine. This clears the
non-Latin domain for the third, and final, phase of the ICANN approval process: String Delegation. Once String Delegation has been approved, the domain may be put into use. This marks the 25th country to pass the String Evaluation Phase, 17 of which are
eligible for public use.
Source: Vendor, 3/1/2011
Mozilla Responds to FTC’s Request for Updated Privacy Framework
Mozilla posted its response to the Federal Trade Commission’s request for a proposal for a new framework to protect consumer
privacy. The request resulted in more than 400 comments. Mozilla itself provided a summary of its own comments. A follow up report is expected from the FTC later this year.
Source: Vendor, 3/2/2011
Verizon Expands IPv6 Support for Internet Dedicated Services
Verizon Communications has enabled its Internet Dedicated Services for customers in the US, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region and to carry traffic using the next-generation Internet protocol, IPv6. Verizon said
its global Internet services are among the first to be able to accept IPv6 data in several formats, including “native” or pure IPv6; “dual stack,” which can handle IPv4 and IPv6 concurrently; and IPv6 traffic within IPv4 packets, which is known as
“tunneling.” The company later this year will continue to roll out IPv6 capabilities across Canada and Latin America as well as on its global Private IP service, an MPLS-based (multiprotocol label switching) virtual private network.
Source: Vendor, 3/2/2011
LAPTOPS & TABLETS
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Apple’s Thinner, Lighter iPad 2 Makes its Expected Debut
As expected, Apple unveiled its much-hyped iPad 2 tablet at a press event in San Francisco. In attendance, surprisingly, was CEO Steve Jobs, who was forced to take a medical
leave of absence from the company in January. Jobs told those in attendance he had been working on the product for some time and he “didn’t want to miss it.” The new model of the popular device is thinner, lighter, and faster than its predecessor, while
still retaining its 9.7-inch LED-backlit LCD screen. It has a front-facing camera (VGA, for running FaceTime and Photo Booth applications) and rear-facing camera (for capturing 720p high-definition video). iPad 2 also features Apple’s new dual-core A5
processor, comes with the iOS 4.3 mobile operating system, and has a 10-hour battery life. iPad 2 runs almost all of the 350,000+ apps available on the App Store. It will begin shipping on March 11th in the US, for AT&T’s and Verizon Wireless’ 3G
networks. Retailers such as Best Buy, Wal-mart, and Sam’s Club were among the first to announce they would sell the new iPads. They will cost $499 (16GB), $599 (32GB), $699 (64GB), $629 (16GB+Wi-Fi support), $729 (2GB+Wi-Fi support), and $829
(64GB+Wi-Fi support). On March 25th, iPad 2 will be rolled out to 26 additional countries. More than 15 million iPads have been sold since it was introduced about a year ago.
Source: Vendor, 3/2/2011
Asus Introduces New Tablet, Laptop Offerings
Asus International introduced new Eee Slate and Pad tablet computers, including seven- and 12-inch models, a version with sliding keyboard, and a model with full size docking keyboard, as well as new Intel based K
series laptops and Republic of Gamers G series laptops. The K series systems offer “Palm Proof” technology for detecting errant touchpad contact to prevent accidental use of the pointer. The G series gaming laptops were designed for gaming enthusiasts and
feature a 3D display that uses lenticular lens technology to eliminate the need for special glasses. 2D and 3D operation are available simultaneously. Asus also introduced new WAVI Xtion technology, a peripheral that lets consumers wirelessly access PC
content, using simple gestures, in front of a TV.
Source: Vendor, 3/2/2011
Barnes & Noble Settles Spring Design Suit over Alex Reader
Barnes & Noble settled the lawsuit brought against it by Spring Design over the company’s Alex Reader, TechCrunch reports. The settlement states that Spring Design will grant Barnes & Noble a “non-exclusive, paid-up royalty free license for the entire portfolio of Spring Design patents and
patent applications.” Other terms of the settlement are being kept confidential. This effectively ends all claims against Barnes & Noble related the Alex Reader. Spring Design has since begun to phase out its production of the device in question.
Source: TechCrunch, 3/3/2011
Librarians Angry about HarperCollins’ New Limitation on E-Books Loans
Librarians around the US are reportedly very angry about a new HarperCollins policy which would limit the length of its library licenses to a maximum of 26 loans per electronic book title (e-title).
Publishers Weekly reported the story. Librarians say the change will put a strain on budgets, and ignores the role of libraries as a force for promoting literacy. As a result of the move, several librarians have organized a boycott of
newly-published HarperCollins titles. The policy change was revealed in a letter from Steve Potash, CEO of OverDrive, a library e-book wholesaler. The letter warned that “several trade publishers are
re-evaluating eBook licensing terms for library lending services.” For its part, HarperCollins responded with an open letter explaining that the new policy
(which was written before e-readers became ubiquitous) was needed to protect publishers and authors from declining royalties. If the changes stand, libraries would be required to purchase a new copy of an e-title about once a year.
Source: PW, 3/2/2011
LEGAL
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Major Comm Companies Sued over VoIP Patent
CED Magazine reported that law firms representing Bear Creek Technologies have filed a lawsuit in the Eastern District of Virginia against 23 defendants, alleging infringement on a VoIP (Voice over IP) patent.
Twenty three defendants are named in the suit, including Cox, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, RCN, Verizon Communications, Vonage, AT&T, T-Mobile USA, Charter Communications, Qwest Communications, and CenturyLink. The suit claims the defendants infringed on
United States Patent No. 7,889,722, titled “System for Interconnecting Standard Telephony Equipment to Internet Protocol Networks.” A press release from Bear Creek Technologies said the patent was issued on Feb. 15 of this year. The complaint seeks both
injunctive relief and unspecified damages. Bear Creek Technologies, headquartered in Alabama, develops network management software.
Source: CED Mag, 2/28/2011
Former Apple Employee Admits Guilt in Kickbacks Case
Former Apple executive Paul Devine pled guilty in US federal court in San Jose, CA, on charges he accepted kickbacks from company suppliers in Asia, according to a statement by the US Department of Justice. He will forfeit more than $2.25 million. Apple filed a civil case against Devine last year. Shortly after he was
charged, federal agents found more than $150,000 in cash, stowed away in shoe boxes at Devine’s home. Suppliers were also named in the complaint.
Source: US DOJ, 2/28/2011
AT&T Loses Case before Supreme Court
The US Supreme Court ruled unanimously that corporations have no personal privacy rights for purposes of the Freedom of Information Act. AT&T, the plaintiff in the case,
wanted to block the public release of documents it had provided to the FCC. CompTel, a trade association, submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for documents AT&T had provided to the Federal Communications Commission Enforcement Bureau
during an investigation. In the Supreme Court case, AT&T argued that the documents should be withheld under an exemption to the FOIA that applied to records that could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. AT&T
lawyers contended the statutory definition of the noun “person” specifically included corporations and other entities. It followed, the company said, that the adjective “personal” must also apply to corporations. The top US court emphatically disagreed;
Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote the court’s decision.
Source: Vendor, 3/2/2011
LG Wins Injunction Against Sony; All PS3 Imports Banned in Europe
LG won a preliminary injunction against Sony, halting the import of all Playstation 3 consoles in Europe, the Guardian reports. The current injunction is the result of an ongoing patent dispute over Blu-Ray technology between the two electronics companies. The current ban
will last 10 days, and could either be extended, or lifted depending on which company the European patents office sides with. No decision has been made by the patent office as of the time of writing.
Source: Guardian, 2/28/2011
MALWARE WATCH
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London Stock Exchange Gets a Malware Taste but No Compromise
Computerworld reported that the London Stock Exchange Web site was hit with malware over the weekend, resulting in malicious pop-up ads appearing on site visitors’ computers. The issue, which was caused by an
online ad that linked to a third-party site hosting the malware, was removed once it became evident. The Stock Exchange’s site was not compromised by the malware.
Source: Computerworld, 3/1/2011
CSS Drive-by Attacks Hit Big in February, Says Kaspersky Report
Kaspersky Lab‘s latest report on malware activity has found that the majority of drive-by attacks in February
consisted of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to store data for script downloaders, a new method that is difficult for most antivirus products to detect. Three entries in the Top 20 most malicious programs detected on the Internet in February corresponded to
pages containing CSS data and a malicious script downloader. In addition, dangerous PDF vulnerabilities were also targeted throughout the month.
Source: Vendor, 3/3/2011
SonicWALL Spots Windows Live Malware Making its Rounds
SonicWALL has spotted a new variant of a Windows Live messenger worm in the wild. The malware is spread by presenting links to users on the MSN contact list of the compromised
user.
Source: Vendor, 2/25/2011
New Trojan Hitting Mac OS X
Sophos researchers are alerting Mac OS X users that a new backdoor Trojan is in circulation. The author of this new piece of malware refers to it as BlackHole RAT, but Sophos has dubbed it OSX/MusMinim-A. The malware
uses a mix of German and English in its user interface.
Source: Vendor, 2/26/2011
Symantec Report Sees Growth of Web Attacks in February
In its February 2011 MessageLabs Intelligence Report, Symantec found that 1 in 290.1 emails was malicious, while monthly Web attacks grew as a result of Zeus, Bredolab, and SpyEye malware. The report revealed that the global ratio of spam from new and previously-unknown "bad sources" was 81.3% in February, while phishing activity took place in 1 out of 216.7 emails. The
automotive sector was the most spammed industry during the month and the US and Canada had a spam email percentage of 81.4%.
Source: Vendor, 3/1/2011
MOBILE APPS
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Belgacom Launches Mobile App Guide
Belgacom launched its Mobile App Guide, a new feature on its m.skynet.be mobile site. The guide focuses on Android apps, and provides users with suggestions for applications, mobile Web sites, and other information
the company believes will be useful to smartphone users. The guide consists of three parts: Application of the Week, a weekly spotlight for an app the company wishes to promote; Belgacom applications, a list of apps made by Belgacom and its partners; and
The Belgacom Selection, a section dedicated to the hand-picked Belgian and international apps.
Source: Vendor, 3/2/2011
Sprint Launches Lost-Smartphone Locator App
Sprint introduced a new smartphone application called Protection App. Customers subscribing to the carriers Total Equipment Protection service, which costs $7 per month, can download the new app at no additional
charge. The Protection app can locate a lost smartphone using GPS technology; remotely lock the smartphone; erase contacts in the address book of a lost smartphone; and backup, manage, and restore contacts. It is available to Sprint customers with phones
using BlackBerry and Android mobile platforms.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
Walgreens Says Customers Embracing Refill by Scan App for Smartphones
Walgreens, the largest drugstore chain in the US, said its newest mobile feature, Refill by Scan, already accounts for more than half of all prescription refills ordered through its “Walgreens Mobile” – less than
four months after becoming available for both iPhone and Android platforms. Walgreens did not say what percentage of prescription refills overall are done via mobile apps. Using a smartphone’s camera, Refill by Scan enables users to scan the barcode
printed on a prescription label in order to place a refill order within seconds. The technology was launched on the Walgreens mobile application in 2010 and has been available for both Android and iPhone users since November.
Source: Vendor, 3/3/2011
MOBILE PLATFORMS
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Apple Introduces Updated iOS Mobile Operating System
Apple introduced iOS 4.3, an update for its mobile operating system that includes a Nitro JavaScript engine; iTunes home sharing features, and Personal Hotspot for sharing an iPhone 4 cellular data connection over a
Wi-Fi. It will be available as a free software update for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch users, beginning March 11th.
Source: Vendor, 3/2/2011
HP Announces Mobile Communications Management Product
Hewlett-Packard (HP) announced the HP Mobile Access Solution, for managing mobile communications through a wireless access point. The HP Mobile Access Solution operates as a converged network solution for wired and
wireless environments. It transmits three data streams per wireless radio to accommodate more mobile devices than previous technology, and provides up to 15 concurrent, high definition video conferencing sessions, per network. Clients can standardize
equipment on a single solution that includes operating system, management tool, and access control security.
Source: Vendor, 3/1/2011
OPERATING SYSTEMS
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Microsoft Releases Windows Embedded Compact 7
Microsoft officially released Windows Embedded Compact 7. The specialized version of the
company’s operating system is designed to run on non-PC devices such as tablet computers, and other consumer electronic devices. The official release for developers adds new features such as tools for developing Silverlight for Windows Embedded
applications, SMP (Symmetric MultiProcessing) support, DLNA support, and MTP support.
Source: Vendor, 3/1/2011
Novell Launches SUSE Manager Systems Management Software
Novell launched its new SUSE Manager, a systems management solution for enterprise Linux environments. The companies says the benefits of SUSE Manager
include reduced cost of ownership, simplified migrations between enterprise Linux distributions, and simplified IT maintenance. SUSE manager is available now.
Source: Vendor, 3/3/2011
PERSONNEL AND ORGANIZATION
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AT&T Says Energy Efficiency Projects Saved It $44 Million in 2010
Telecom giant AT&T said that it realized $44 million in annualized energy savings as a result of implementing 4,200 energy efficiency projects at AT&T facilities in 2010. Examples of the energy efficiency projects
include: replacing tower light controllers and incandescent bulbs with LEDs at more than 1,100 cell sites; removing switches at 11 central office sites in 2010 as part of ongoing network upgrades, cutting power consumption across the network by more than
300,000 kilowatt hours; and deploying desktop power management software on 169,000 computers, which AT&T said generated a total estimated annualized savings of $614,000.
Source: Vendor, 3/3/2011
Boeing Appoints Jeffrey Johnson as President of Boeing Middle East
Boeing appointed Jeffrey Johnson as president of Boeing Middle East. He will replace Paul Kinscherff, who has been appointed chief financial officer for international finance. Johnson will be tasked with the
company’s growth and productivity plans for the entire Middle East. He will report to Shep Hill, president of Boeing International and senior vice president of Business Development and Strategy. Before this appointment, Johnson worked as a senior director
of business development for Boeing Defense.
Source: Vendor, 3/1/2011
Convergys Announces New Contact Center in Baguio City, Philippines
Convergys announced plans to open a new contact center in Baguio City, Philippines. The new location will be the company’s 14th in the country, and its first in Northern Luzon. Like its predecessors, the new
location will be equipped and staffed to handle thousands of calls per day on topics such as financial services, collections, retail, healthcare, and telecommunications.
Source: Vendor, 3/3/2011
Cox Names Greatrex Senior VP, Chief Marketing Officer
Cox Communications announced that Mark Greatrex has been named senior vice president, chief marketing officer. In this role, he will be responsible for overseeing all marketing activities. Greatrex has more than 25
years of marketing experience for consumer brands, most recently with The Coca-Cola Company.
Source: Vendor, 3/2/2011
Global Crossing Names New VP of Operations for EMEA Region
Global Crossing announced the appointment of Colin Whitbread as vice president of operations for its EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Asia) region. He will be responsible for all EMEA network operations centers,
engineering, logistics, and field operations. Whitbread has more than 20 years experience in the telecom and media sectors. He joins three other recently-appointed Global Crossing executives: Ian Pearson, advisor and senior vice president of business
development; Nigel Stevens, chief marketing officer for EMEA; and Jeff Parris, senior vice president of business development, with particular responsibility for the UK public sector portfolio.
Source: Vendor, 3/3/2011
KPMG Names James Stewart as Next Chairman of Global Infrastructure
KPMG appointed James Stewart as the next chairman of its global Infrastructure practice. Stewart will join the company in the spring, and will officially take over the position from Tim Stone in September. Stone is
retiring is retiring from the position, but will remain part of the company’s leadership team. Prior to this appointment, James Stewart was chief executive of Infrastructure for the UK at KPMG.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
Lockheed Martin’s Board Nominates Rosalind G. Brewer for Seat
Lockheed Martin announced that its board of directors has nominated Rosalind G. Brewer as its newest member. The nomination will be submitted for shareholder approval on April 28. Brewer is currently the
executive vice president and president of Walmart US, East. Lockheed’s board members service one-year terms.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
NEC Announces Merger with Niteo Partners Subsidiary
NEC Corporation of America announced it will merge its Niteo Partners subsidiary, which offers consulting and systems integration services for mid-market firms, into NEC effective
April 1st. The Niteo integration will expand NEC’s IT and network communications expertise.
Source: Vendor, 3/2/2011
Nokia to Open Manufacturing Plant in Vietnam
Nokia announced plans to establish a new manufacturing site near Hanoi in northern Vietnam. Nokia said it plans an initial investment of approximately EUR 200 million (US $276.18 million), with further “sizeable”
investments thereafter. The company hopes to open the new plant in 2012. The site will further expand Nokia’s manufacturing network, which currently comprises ten major facilities in nine countries.
Source: Vendor, 3/2/2011
PayPal Opens New 2,000 Employee Customer Service Center in Arizona
PayPal opened a new customer service and operations center in Chandler, Arizona. The new facility is expected to employ as many as 2,000 new employees, and will service customers around the world.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
PUBLIC SAFETY
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GAO: Motor Carrier Safety Initiative Needs More Resources
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has reviewed information from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to see how well the FMCSA has implemented its
Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) initiative, which is designed to improve the safety of commercial motor vehicles, such as trucks and buses. The GAO found that the FMCSA has used some of its
own staff along with contractors to implement CSA, but has also requested more resources because obligations for the initiative have changed.
Source: GAO, 2/25/2011
Most New Yorkers Unaware of CO2 Law, Says Kidde
A new survey on behalf of Kidde, a unit of UTC Fire & Security, found that one year after a law requiring the use of carbon monoxide detectors went into effect, 57% of
those New York families researched are unaware that all dwellings with a fuel-burning appliance or garage must have a carbon monoxide detector installed. While the survey discovered that many people took the steps needed to protect themselves, homeowners
were not aware that carbon monoxide detectors have to be replaced every five years.
Source: Vendor, 3/1/2011
REGULATORY & GOVERNMENT AGENCIES
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DHS Immigration System Needs to Boost Security, New Report Says
A new report from the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) pointed out
some key flaws that US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has concerning mitigating insider security threats posed by employees and contractors. The OIG utilized the resources of a security engineering team at
Carnegie Mellon University to conduct an insider threat assessment. That assessment team has compiled 18 recommendations and submitted them to the director of USCIS to boost security measures against malicious insider threats. At this time, USCIS has begun
taking action to implement the measures.
Source: DHS, 2/28/2011
EU Agency Publishes Directory of Security Personnel
ENISA, the European Union’s (European Union) Network and Information Security Agency, published a Who’s Who directory of security stakeholders in Europe. The publication documents information on various people in the security industry and includes contacts, Web sites, and areas
of responsibility or activity.
Source: ENISA, 3/2/2011
France, Germany, and Netherlands Present Cyber Security Strategies
Germany, the Netherlands, and France have released cyber security strategies. The strategies are available on the European Union’s Network and Information Security Agency’s (ENISA) Web
site. ENISA recently announced that national cyber security strategies are critical to an overall security strategy for all of Europe.
Source: ENISA, 2/25/2011
NIST Details SCAP 1.1 in New Publication
A new paper from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), identified as SP 800-126 Revision 1, defines and
explains SCAP version 1.1, including the basics of the SCAP component specifications and their interrelationships.
Source: NIST, 2/25/2011
New NIST Paper Highlights Vulnerability Naming Schemes
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released the Guide to Using Vulnerability Naming Schemes. The guide, which is identified as SP 800-51 Revision 1, provides recommendations for using two vulnerability naming schemes: Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) and Common Configuration Enumeration
(CCE).
Source: NIST, 2/25/2011
NIST Seeks Comment for Security Control Catalog Update
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is seeking comments and input for the 2011 update of Recommended Security Controls for Federal Information Systems and Organizations, which is identified as SP
800-53. Suggestions are required by April 29, and the document will be published in mid-December.
Source: NIST, 2/24/2011
TSA Awards New Aviation Channeling Services Provider Agreement
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced channeling service provider agreements with the merican Association of Airport Executives (AAAE), L-1 Identity Solutions, and Telos ID. Through aviation channeling service providers, employee data is collected and submitted to TSA to conduct employee threat assessments necessary to work in
an aviation environment.
Source: TSA, 2/25/2011
SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS
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Harris Corp Wins Contract to Build Antennas for Boeing Satellites
Harris Corp received a contract from Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems to build Ka-band antennas for three of the company’s Inmarsat-5 satellites. The satellites will serve as the backbone of a new constellation
of spacecraft titled Inmarsat Global Xpress. The units will provide high-capacity wireless broadband coverage to the entire globe. No financial terms for the agreement were disclosed.
Source: Vendor, 3/3/2011
SEARCH
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Adobe Updates Search Optimization Platform
Adobe updates its paid search optimization solution – Adobe SearchCenter+, powered by Omniture – to support organic search
data. The company says this will make it possible for customers to manage their paid and natural search programs from a single location. Other features of the updated software include measured paid and organic ranking, automatically adjusted paid search
bids, and integration with Adobe SiteCatalyst.
Source: Vendor, 3/2/2011
Bing Adds New Functionality to Airfare Search
Bing updated its airfare search to accept natural language queries and to automatically detect the searcher’s location. The updated search accepts queries such as “Fly to Chicago,” and provides users with airfare
listings for flights travelling from their nearest airport to Chicago. Additionally, the search engine is now able to autosuggest the lowest upcoming flight prices for certain markets
within the search bar itself. The new features are now live in the US.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
Bing Adds Natural Language Support to its Shopping Search
Bing added support for natural language queries to its shopping search. The search engine now supports search strings such as “Air Jordans under $100,” which will return all listings for the appropriate product within
the price limit set by the user. Bing says the function is limited to the US and can only restrict search results by price, although it plans to expand to other countries and product facts in the future.
Source: Vendor, 3/1/2011
Google Changes Search to Improve Quality of Results
Google announced changes to its search algorithms to improve the quality of its search results – quality that has suffered significantly in recent months. The company says it made numerous algorithm tweaks to reduce the number of low-quality sites appearing in results – sites Google defines as providing low value-add for users, sites
that copy content from other Web sites, or sites "that are just not very useful." Google said the changes will significantly affect about 11.8% of searches run on its engines – which involves a *lot* of Web sites given the number
of searches hosted by Google. The company noted that, while the algorithm changes did not incorporate data from its Personal Blocklist Chrome extension, the alterations showed an 84% correlation with the sites most frequently blocked by the extension. The
changes are now live for US users, with other countries to follow soon.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
SECURITY FLAWS & FIXES
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Apple iTunes Users Should Immediately Update to Version 10.2
Multiple vulnerabilities have been found in Apple iTunes. The vendor is directing users to update to version 10.2 to eliminate these issues and has posted an advisory
with more details.
Source: Secunia, 3/3/2011
Cisco Issues 6 Advisories for Multiple Products
Cisco released six advisories to address critical vulnerabilities in multiple products including the ASA 5500 Series Adaptive Security Appliances, TelePresence Endpoint devices, TelePresence Recording Server,
TelePresence Manager, and TelePresence Multipoint Switch. The advisories can be found at Cisco’s Web site.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
Citrix Secure Gateway Has Critical Vulnerability, Requires Update
Citrix Secure Gateway contains a vulnerability that has been fixed in version 3.1.4. Users should read the advisory for more information.
Source: Secunia, 2/28/2011
Facebook: Personal Info Sharing to Go Forward
Facebook announced it will proceed with plans to offer feature a that allows for optional sharing of personal information like addresses and mobile phone numbers among its users of third-party applications. After
originally debuting this feature back in January, Facebook delayed it after a firestorm of criticism from privacy advocates.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
Google Chrome 9.0.597.107 Is Released
Google released an update for Chrome to mitigate risks involved with older versions. The new version, 9.0.597.107, is detailed in an advisory.
Source: Secunia, 3/1/2011
Google Pulls 21 Apps From Android Marketplace for Egregious Malware
Google reportedly has removed 21 malicious applications from the Android Market, following a posting at the Android Police blog revealing the apps to be malware. All 21 of the
applications were posted by a publisher registered under the name Myournet. Some of the Android applications were listed as free, pirated versions of popular paid applications. All of the apps in question, however, included unauthorized and illegal
malware in their coding. This included root kits, the ability to upload personal phone information, and a backdoor to the downloading device could let code be remotely injected and executed. The 21 apps had been downloaded more than 50,000 times prior
to their takedown. Another blog, Lookout, identified another 30 malware-loaded apps in Android Market.
Source: Android Police, 3/2/2011
Mozilla Posts Advisory, Issues Updates for Firefox
Firefox 3.6.14 and Firefox 3.5.17 have been released by Mozilla to mitigate vulnerabilities in earlier versions. Because these flaws also may affect SeaMonkey and Thunderbird, Mozilla has updated these two products
as well. An advisory provides in-depth details about these fixes.
Source: Vendor, 3/1/2011
Novell Advisory, Hot Patch Released for Vibe OnPrem
Novell released a hot patch for a vulnerability in Vibe OnPrem version 3.0. An advisory offers details about this
patch.
Source: Secunia, 3/3/2011
Updates Necessary to Mitigate Wireshark Risks
Denial of service and buffer overflow vulnerabilities have been reported in Wireshark. The vendor has issued three advisories in response to these issues and directs users to update to version 1.2.15 and
1.4.4.
Source: Secunia, 3/2/2011
Critical Flaws Found in WordPress
The BackWPup plugin for WordPress has two critical vulnerabilities, which have been confirmed in version 1.5.2. The only available fix is to edit the source code to ensure that input is properly verified.
Source: Secunia, 3/2/2011
SECURITY PRODUCTS & COMPANIES
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BT Introduces Managed Virtual Firewall Service
BT introduced a new Managed Virtual Firewall Service (MVFS). This cloud-based security solution is designed to provide the same protection as traditional firewalls without the need for any on-site hardware or software to
be installed. The service is available in three packages: Basic, Gold, and Platinum. Gold and Platinum levels of the MVFS include additional services, such as URL filtering, virus protection, intrusion prevention, and extended reporting. MVFS is part of
BT’s global Managed Security Services portfolio, and will be available in Germany in March 2011, with other regions and countries to follow.
Source: Vendor, 2/24/2011
Security Technologies from Kaspersky Awarded Russian Patents
Kaspersky Lab has been awarded Russian patents for 10 data protection technologies. Among the technologies patented are a system that accelerates file scanning during emulation and a system that covers an
algorithm which accelerates the scanning of executable files.
Source: Vendor, 2/25/2011
Domain Name Registry Deploys Verisign SSL
Moniker, an Oversee.net company and a domain name registry, has deployed Symantec‘s VeriSign Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificates and the VeriSign Trust Seal. Moniker now
offers the suite of VeriSign SSL products, including VeriSign Extended Validation (EV) SSL Certificates.
Source: Vendor, 3/2/2011
SERVERS
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Cisco to Provide UCS for Haitian Publisher’s Data Center
Cisco Systems reported it will provide Its Unified Computing System (UCS) for Maison Henri Deschamps – a Hatian publishing company – as it launches its new RETAL information technology division and builds a data
center in the city of Port-au-Prince. The facility will serve as a backbone for Deschamps’ e-learning project, to digitize educational content and better distribute it to students. The UCS technology will allow Deschamps to unify its server, network,
storage, and virtualization capabilities in a single system.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
Oracle Launches GlassFish Server 3.1
Oracle released GlassFish Server 3.1, an update to its Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) 6 software development kit (SDK). The company says the new software is based on the GlassFish Server Open Source Edition, and offers its users more flexibility and high availability in the areas of load balancing, failover, state management, and centralized administration.
GlassFish Server 3.1 is available now.
Source: Vendor, 3/2/2011
SOCIAL MEDIA
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Facebook Debuts New Simplified Privacy Policy
Facebook posted a simpliefied version of its privacy policy. The goal of the simpler version is to improve upon the site’s existing privacy policy, which even
the social network itself refers to as “5830 words of legalese”. Facebook said it had three principals in mind when rewriting its policy for public consumption. First, it should be written in easy to understand language. Second, it should be visually
attractive and interactive. Lastly, it should focus on the most frequently asked questions of Facebook users. The site says that the new version of its privacy policy is not yet its official version, but could become official if enough users provide
positive feedback on the changes. Facebook has set up a comparison page to illustrate those changes in detail.
Source: Vendor, 2/25/2011
UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS
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Alcatel, Vodafone Develop Business PBX UC Software
Alcatel-Lucent and Vodafone Germany developed Business PBX, unified communications software for accessing inquiry calls, call transfers, and brokering by pressing a
button in the menu system. The package includes Alcatel’s Business integrated Communication Solution. Alcatel will also provide end-user devices, and installation and maintenance services.
Source: Vendor, 3/1/2011
Cisco Releases Jabber Unified Communications Software
Cisco Systems released its new Jabber unified communications (UC) application, which has features for conferencing, presence, instant messaging (IM), voice and video, voice messaging, and desktop sharing, whether
using a PC, Mac, laptop, tablet, or smartphone. It has a unified client that can be deployed across an on-premise or cloud-based infrastructure. Users can shift between an IM conversation and a voice, video, or desktop sharing interaction, whether or not
they are in the office. Jabber is available – or in development – for Windows, iPhone, iPad, Nokia, Android, and BlackBerry platforms. It also integrates with video endpoints, including Cisco Unified IP Phones, WebEx MeetingCenter, and TelePresence
connections.
Source: Vendor, 3/1/2011
NEC Demonstrates New UC and Collaboration Platform
NEC Corporation of America is demonstrating new Unified Communications & Collaboration (UC&C) software, a virtualized platform that uses Rich Internet Applications (RIA) to allow businesses to provide collaborative
features for workface customers. The UC&C RIA framework can fit into an existing Web architecture, and can be deployed across any device, whether on a PC, mobile, or tablet. It uses an integral Java application framework and RIA Flash technology to allow
an IT department to assign services and media resources to users based on their role. It was designed to operate within the virtualized data center or cloud computing environment, and can help provide UC-as-a-Service.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
Polycom Teams with Shoretel for Expanded UC Offerings
Polycom expanded its technology partnership with Shoretel in an effort to expand the open standards-based business communications offerings of both companies. The duo plans to offer new voice and video conferencing
solutions based on Polycom’s UC (unified communications) Intelligent Core. The joint solutions will be distributed via ScanSource and Westcon, while partners and resellers will be able to offer a range of video and UC solutions produced by the alliance. No
timeframe for this project has been disclosed.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
Verizon Introduces Cloud-Based UC & C Service
Verizon Business, a unit of Verizon Communications, announced Unified Communications & Collaboration-as-a-Service, a cloud-based UC&C offering. The new solution is
designed to help businesses and government agencies facilitate enterprise adoption of UC&C in a fixed or mobile environment, with predictable per-seat pricing. The service combines applications from the Cisco Hosted Collaboration Solution within Verizon’s
high-IQ network and data center infrastructure. Because the dedicated enterprise applications reside in the cloud, organizations can activate employee subscriptions to some or all of the available services, as needed, and pay for the services on a per-user
basis. The company also announced Mobile UC Client, which enables workers to replace traditional desk phones with mobile devices. The UC client supports a variety of smart phones and tablet devices. Verizon will also offer a suite of Managed Mobility
solutions and professional consulting services in support of its UC &C solution. Verizon said the US state of West Virginia is among the first customers to test an early version of its new offering, which helped Verizon determine specifications for the
version that will be commercially available to US customers this Spring.
Source: Vendor, 2/28/2011
VOIP
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Vonage Launches Plan with Unlimited Calling to the Philippines
Vonage introduced a new calling plan entitled Philippines Unlimited. As the name would suggest, the plan features unlimited minutes when calling the Philippines, as well as unlimited calling to the US, Canada, and
Puerto Rico. Both landlines, and cell phones can be called on this plan, without incurring any additional fees. The plan begins at $64.99 per month, plus any applicable taxes and fees.
Source: Vendor, 3/2/2011
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