ePostal News articles from September 2004

ePostal News archives from September 2004

Finland Post To Beef Up its e-Services Platform.
September 6, 2004... Finland Post is strengthening its electronic services infrastructure by standardizing development on BEA's WebLogic Platform 8.1, an integrated platform for building, extending, integrating, deploying and managing applications. The platform...

Firstlogic Debuts Mover I.D App.(Mover I.D software)(Brief Article)
September 6, 2004... Firstlogic Inc has introduced a new software option for its address correction and encoding applications that will support the USPS' NCOALink change-of-address database. Firstlogic's new Mover I.D software is supposed to let both end users and...

China Okays Electronic Signatures.(Brief Article)
September 6, 2004... China's parliament has given electronic signatures legal status to spur e-commerce in the country. The legislation gives electronic signatures the same legal status as handwritten signatures. Although China is the most populous country...

Stamps.com Forges Deals To Push PhotoStamps.(with arlsdon Craft and WeddingChannel.com )(Brief Article)
September 6, 2004... Stamps.com is striking channel partnerships to boost the adoption of its new PhotoStamps product. The PC postage outfit said it has teamed up with Carlsdon Craft and WeddingChannel.com to sell PhotoStamps. Carlsdon Craft is a wedding and...

Veritas To Buy E-Mail Archivist.(VERITAS Software for KVault Software )(Brief Article)
September 6, 2004... Veritas is acquiring e-mail archiving start-up KVault Software in a cash deal valued at $225 million. The acquisition will let Veritas offer software to store, manage, back up and archive corporate e-mail and comply with government regulations....

epost Gets Dynamic.(Dynamic Mutual Funds)(Brief Article)
September 6, 2004... epost has added Canadian investment house Dynamic Mutual Funds to its growing roster of mailer customers. epost said Dynamic's clients can now access their account statements and trade confirmations online. Dynamic customers who want to get...

Microsoft Picks Up its Toys & Goes Home.(Center for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business)(Brief Article)
September 6, 2004... Microsoft abruptly pulled out of Cefact, the United Nation's quasi standards group, formally known as the Center for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business. According to the New York Times, which broke the story, it's apparently...

Microsoft Tries Vaseline on SP2 Pain.(operating system enhancements)
September 6, 2004... Microsoft has come up with an XP SP2 mitigation guide and some application compatibility tests to quiet some of the runaway fear the service pack has induced in Windows users. Such is the state of things that Microsoft has come up with a...

CA Extends Presence in Consumer Market.(Computer Associates International Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 6, 2004... CA is trying to broaden its presence, thin as it is, in the consumer market by making two of its desktop security products eTrust EZ Armor 2005 Security Suite and eTrust EZ Antivirus 2005 available through large retail chains such as Best Buy,...

Digital Media Use of Cell Phones Continues Growth.(Brief Article)
September 6, 2004... More than 128 million US adults now have a cell phone according to Mobile Media Monitor. Mobile phone use jumped from 53% to 61% in the latest quarter. The most penetrated age group is the 35-49-yearolds; 70% of them have a mobile phone....

Quit Clicking on Those Spams, Please.(mortgage companies)(Brief Article)
September 6, 2004... Getting lots of spam about mortgages? Blame it on the people who respond to the stuff -- and respond they do. Internet News tells of an e-mail spamming outfit that hawks for mortgage companies and boasts that it can get a click-through...

USPS Bolsters Click-N-Ship.(US Postal Service)
September 13, 2004... The US Postal Service is reinforcing its Click-N-Ship package shipping service with a new option that will let customers buy insurance online starting September 16. The post said that customers who buy Priority Mail and Express Mail labels...

Francotyp-Postalia Beefs Up Ultimail.(Brief Article)
September 13, 2004... Mailroom products vendor Francotyp-Postalia has put some new capabilities in its ultimail digital postage meter by adding some new software. The new features are designed to let users manage outgoing mail and packages and evaluate postage...

Window Book Enhances Postal Software.(Postal Package Partner)(Brief Article)
September 13, 2004... Postal software outfit Window Book Inc has enhanced its Postal Package Partner suite of applications by adding an international shipping option. The Cambridge, Massachusetts concern said the new Global Express Mail Manifesting support...

Pick Up XP SP2 at Post Offices.(Windows XP Service Pack 2)(Brief Article)
September 13, 2004... If you live in Japan and don't want to bother with the hassle of downloading Microsoft's new Windows XP Service Pack 2 software, there's going to be an easy way out. Soon you should be able to head down to the nearby post office and pick up a...

PhotoStamps Sizzle.(Brief Article)
September 13, 2004... PC postage vendor Stamps.com brags that its new PhotoStamps "create your own stamp" widgetry is a hot item. Launched as a test in August, PhotoStamps lets people customize postage stamps with pictures of themselves, their dogs, cats, kids,...

Deutsche Post Extends IT Contract.(Information Technology)(Brief Article)
September 13, 2004... Deutsche Post has extended its existing IT outsourcing contract with Deutsche Telekom's T-Systems unit. The five-year contract is estimated to be worth about 1.3 billion euros ($1.58 billion).

Neopost Sales Up.(Brief Article)
September 13, 2004... Neopost, French mailroom equipment and logistics products supplier, reported sales of 187.5 million euros ($228.3 million) for its fiscal second quarter ended July 31 compared to 186.3 million euros ($226.8 million) year-over-year. Excluding...

Forrester Predicts 7% Growth in IT Spend.(Brief Article)
September 13, 2004... Based on its Q3 CIO Confidence Poll Forrester Research is predicting that IT spending on goods, services and staff will grow 7% a year for the next four year, only slightly faster than the overall economy. It figures the world is half way...

Broadband Added to Grocery Shopping Lists.(Brief Article)
September 13, 2004... "Buy your broadband where you get your groceries" is what consumers will hear when they go into Tesco, the UK's biggest retail chain. Tesco is selling a BT-based 512 Kbps (0.512 Mbps) always-on Internet connection for 19.97 pounds ($36) a month...

Telefonica Bullish on Broadband.(Brief Article)
September 13, 2004... Telefonica will spend three billion euros on its Spanish broadband operation and increase the number of its ADSL broadband subscribers from the current 3.3 million to 7.7 million by the end of 2008, according to what Telefonica chairman Cesar...

Improved Wi-Fi Security Coming.(Brief Article)
September 13, 2004... Atheros Communications, Broadcom, Cisco Systems, Intel and Realtek are supposed to produce Wi-Fi products that meet the new wireless security standards established by the Wi-Fi Alliance. The new wireless security technology, dubbed Wi-Fi...

Networked Homes To Hit 111m by 2008.(Brief Article)
September 13, 2004... The number of homes in the world that are networked will grow from 37 million in 2003 to nearly 111 million in 2008, according market researcher IDC. IDC says that the idea of sharing a broadband connection, files and printers has driven...

CE Industry Doubles Growth Forecast.(Consumer electronics industry)(Brief Article)
September 13, 2004... The consumer electronics industry this year is growing at twice rate that had been forecast according to Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association. The original 4% forecast has been doubled to 8%, three times...

12 Million Americans Use IM More Than E-mail.(Instant messaging)(Brief Article)
September 13, 2004... More than 12 million Americans use instant messages (IM) more frequently than e-mail according to a study done by Pew Internet & American Life Project, which found that: - During an average day around 15 million adults -- 29% of instant...

Intel's Business Weakens.(financial reports)(Brief Article)
September 13, 2004... Intel, the high-tech bellwether, has cut its revenue estimates for the quarter raising fresh fears about the economy and the rebound. In its mid-quarter update, the chip giant said it now expects Q3 revenues to be between $8.3 billion and...

Happy Birthday.(Brief Article)
September 13, 2004... The Internet, a work fated to be perpetually in progress unless it collapses under the weight of spam, or succumbs to a killer virus, turned 35 this past Sunday. It all started at UCLA with two computers joined by a 15-foot cable. A few months...

Electronic Postmark Slow To Gain Traction.(United States. Postal Service)
September 20, 2004... More than four years after it was introduced, the USPS' Electronic Postmark is still finding it hard to get traction in the marketplace even though the post office brought in AuthentiDate two years ago to push it. In fact, AuthentiDate, whose...

The Unabomber & Milosevic Taint PhotoStamps.(Stamps.com)(Brief Article)
September 20, 2004... Stamps.com has been forced to start censoring its popular new PhotoStamps after smart alecks started ordering stamps with Slobodan Milosevic, the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski and Monica Lewinsky's infamous blue dress on them. The company said Monday...

Thai Post Eyes IPO.(Brief Article)
September 20, 2004... Buoyed by a positive revenue outlook, Thailand Post is reportedly considering getting listed on the local stock exchange by 2007. It expects revenues to grow 9.5% a year for the next three years.

Norway Post Tries :-).(stamps to release)(Brief Article)
September 20, 2004... With mail volumes falling everywhere and the practice of letter writing giving way to e-mail and SMS messages, the Norway Post, which is probably fighting a losing battle, plans to launch text-message theme stamps in hopes of luring teenagers...

Reply Mail To Go Online.(US Postal Service)(Brief Article)
September 20, 2004... The US Postal Service plans to provide Internet access to its Reply Mail service. Officials said the post would set up a new web site for Reply Mail at usps.com to make it easier for businesses and organizations to connect with customers....

Posts Turn to Applix TM1.(Brief Article)
September 20, 2004... Applix brags that several postal operators have turned to its TM1 planning and analytics software for financial transparency. The Westborough, Massachusetts ISV counts Australia Post, Deutsche Post, Hungarian Post and New Zealand Post as...

FedEx Completes Parcel Direct Purchase.(Brief Article)
September 20, 2004... FedEx said Tuesday that it had closed its $120 million acquisition of national parcel consolidator Parcel Direct from Quad/Graphics. Parcel Direct is supposed to extend FedEx' capabilities in addressing the fast-growing e-tail and catalog...

EPM Likely To Get Postal Service Status.(Electronic Postmark)(Brief Article)
September 20, 2004... The Universal Postal Union plans to amend the UPU Convention during its ongoing congress and legally define the Electronic Postmark as an optional "postal service." Since the UPU Convention doesn't currently cover the EPM as a mail service, the...

Oracle Wins.(Department Of Justice)
September 20, 2004... Oracle has won the suit brought by the Justice Department to stop it from acquiring PeopleSoft just as the armchair speculators who kept tads on the four-week trial said it would. The judge said the government failed to prove its case but...

Nielsen Rates Broadband at 51% Market Share.(Brief Article)
September 20, 2004... Nielsen//NetRatings reports that for the first time broadband connections reached 51% of the American online population at home during the month of July, as compared to 38% in July of '03. It says that 63 million web users connected to the...

BusinessWeek: US a Broadband Backwater.
September 20, 2004... The US is a broadband backwater, according to a BusinessWeek story that calls for the US to establish new policies such as forcing the phone and cable companies to lease their infrastructure to third-party broadband providers at "reasonable,...

$300 PC v $5 a Month: The Fight for the Dial-up Market Goes On.(Brief Article)
September 20, 2004... Ads that attempt to keep the dial-up market going have been arriving at many southern homes lately. AOL is offering a $299.99 PC, with monitor and color ink-jet printer, plus shipping and handling, to sign up for its $23.90-a-month dial-up...

New Internet Users Increase in UK.(Brief Article)
September 20, 2004... The number of new Internet users in the UK has increased to the highest level since the Internet boom days of 2001, according to NOP World. It says that nearly two million Brits used the net for the first time in the first half, the highest...

Internet Purchases Grow in Germany.(Brief Article)
September 20, 2004... German consumers purchased goods worth more than 5.3 billion euros over the Internet in the first half of the year, according to Gfk Panel Services Consumer Research. It forecasts that the yearly total will be over 11 billion euros. The number...

Hong Kong Leads World in Internet Access Affordability.(Brief Article)
September 20, 2004... The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) says Hong Kong has the most affordable Internet access as a percentage of per capita income. Affordability Top 5 By Internet Tariff as a Percentage of Per Capita Income 1 Hong Kong, China...

Siemens Readies New Address Quality Application.
September 27, 2004... Siemens wants to expand its postal business in the US and is preparing to introduce new web-based software to tackle a major bugbear for the mailing industry -- incomplete or inaccurate addresses. At the National Postal Forum in Washington,...

E-Services Seen Expanding at Posts.(Brief Article)
September 27, 2004... Posts worldwide are beginning to exploit the opportunities provided by the Internet; online services are now available in 40%, or 80, of the Universal Postal Union's member countries, a new UPU report says. The online services postal...

Firstlogic Debuts Mail.dat Tool.
September 27, 2004... Firstlogic has expanded its Postalsoft suite of mail automation software with a new analysis and reporting tool. Dubbed Postsort.dat Manager, the new Windows-based program is designed to let organizations use the Mail.dat standard to improve...

Convenience, the USPS.com Way.(United States Postal Service)
September 27, 2004... "How do you spell convenience," US postmaster general Jack Potter asked the audience at the National Postal Forum on Monday in Washington, DC and then provided an answer -- The easy way, usps.com. In his address, Potter highlighted several...

Sender ID Runs Aground.(Brief Article)
September 27, 2004... The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has refused to standardize Microsoft's spam-fighting Sender ID proposal because Microsoft has applied for patents on the technology. In an e-mail to the group's discussion forum, the co-chairs of...

JP Morgan Ditches Giant Outsourcing Deal with IBM.(Brief Article)
September 27, 2004... IBM's great outsourcing scheme, the centerpiece of IBM CEO Sam Palmisano's growth strategy, fell down the stairs the other day and threw its back out when JP Morgan Chase canceled its huge $5 billion-over-seven-years outsourcing deal with IBM....

Symantec To Buy @stake.(Brief Article)
September 27, 2004... Symantec is acquiring @stake, the start-up providing digital security consulting, and security auditing and analysis products to business. Financial terms of the transaction, which is expected to close this month, were not disclosed. ...

Oracle Beats Estimates; Apps Biz Bleeds.
September 27, 2004... Oracle earned $509 million, or 10 cents a share, in its fiscal first quarter ended August 31 beating Wall Street's expectations by a penny. However, its beaten-up applications business, the reason it's chasing PeopleSoft, cast a cloud over the...

EDS Plans Major Layoffs.(Brief Article)
September 27, 2004... EDS CEO Michael Jordan told a Smith Barney conference that the company expects to lay off 15,000-20,000 people in the next two years to save $3 billion. EDS, which currently employs 120,000 people, already cut 5,000 jobs this past year. EDS...

Intel: New Internet Needed.(Brief Article)
September 27, 2004... Intel's Pat Gelsinger says that the Internet is stretched to the breaking point and that a smarter version needs to be overlaid on top of the existing one, developed 30 years ago. The smarter version would be able to identify and stop "worm"...

Micropayments To Grow.(Brief Article)
September 27, 2004... E-mailed payments for e-commerce transactions, such as PayPal's, will generate $326 million in revenues in 2005, up 139% from $134 million in 2003, according to Celent Communications. Micropayment providers, invoicing providers and...

Broadband Cable Gear Sales Up, DSL Gear Down.(Brief Article)
September 27, 2004... Arecent study by the Synergy Research Group (SRG) shows that the combined DSL and cable broadband equipment market fell 11.4% in the second quarter compared to the first but increased 0.6% over 2Q03. Broadband services reported strong DSL...