Computerworld articles from February 2007

Computerworld archives from February 2007

Springing forward leads to IT worries: early start to daylight-saving time forces system evaluations, updates.(NEWS)(information technology)
February 5, 2007... It isn't quite the Year 2000 scare all over again. But the early switch to daylight-saving time in the U.S. this year is prompting concerns about a potential IT crisis that many companies have yet to resolve. IT managers who have started...

Microsoft slow to turn on Vista tools: missing volume-activation technologies may block rollouts.(NEWS)
February 5, 2007... Unlike most large organizations, the University of Oklahoma plans to deploy Windows Vista on more than one quarter of its 65,000 PCs by the end of this year. Because of those early migration plans, Dennis Aebersold, the university's CIO,...

From the editor in chief.(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... THIS ISSUE marks our launch of "Strategies & Tactics," a revamped, redesigned and re-energized features section that aims to more accurately mirror the reality of the challenges that confront you and the way you need to address them. ...

Shareholders file lawsuit against Dell.(AT DEADLINE)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... A group of Dell Inc. investors filed a lawsuit alleging that the company used illegal accounting methods to hide secret kickback payments that it received from Intel Corp. The suit charged that the payments ensured that Dell used only Intel...

Governor proposes voting paper trail.(AT DEADLINE)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Florida Gov. Charlie Crist announced plans to spend $32.5 million to replace touch-screen e-voting machines used across the state with optical-scanning devices that print out paper records. The move follows a series of disputes over Florida...

CA sales pass $1B, profits fall by $7M.(AT DEADLINE)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... CA Inc. said revenue increased by 4% in its third fiscal quarter, rising to just over $1 billion. But profits decreased by $7 million. CA BY THE NUMBERS REVENUE PROFIT Q3 '07 $1B $50M Q3 '06 $965M $57M

HP contractor won't face Calif. charges.(AT DEADLINE)(Hewlett-Packard Co.)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... A California judge has dismissed state charges against an independent contractor in connection with Hewlett-Packard Co.'s efforts to spy on its board members. The charges against Bryan Wagner were dropped because he pleaded guilty to similar...

Oracle promises easier upgrade to E-Business software suite: rolls out first major release in six years, hopes to avoid previous migration woes.(E-Business Suite 12.0)
February 5, 2007... FOR THE first time in six years, Oracle Corp. is shipping a new version of its flagship E-Business Suite applications, and company officials vowed last week that upgrading won't be as challenging as moving to the last release was. During a...

PeopleSoft, J.D. Edwards applications get makeovers.(NEWS)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... NEW YORK IN ADDITION TO E-Business Suite 12, Oracle last week announced upgrades of its PeopleSoft Enterprise, Siebel CRM, J.D. Edwards EnterpriseOne and J.D. Edwards World applications--all of which it has gained via acquisitions. ...

Office 2007 training fears are overblown, Microsoft exec says: Capossela: new user interface 'far less of a concern' than IT managers think.(conversation with Chris Capossela)(Interview)
February 5, 2007... Many IT managers have voiced concerns that the dramatically different user interface in Microsoft Corp.'s Office 2007 software will force them to plan migrations more carefully than they have had to in the past, with increased end-user...

Microsoft looks to boost project software's appeal.(Microsoft Project 2007)
February 5, 2007... The most unsung member of Microsoft Corp.'s Office suite may be Project. Despite a claimed installed base of 20 million users worldwide, the project management software toils in the shadows--so much so that it wasn't included in any of...

Symantec to acquire Altiris for $830M.(BRIEFS)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Symantec Corp. plans to acquire Altiris Inc., a maker of asset management software for mobile devices and other hardware, in a stock deal valued at $830 million. Symantec will use the Altiris technology in its compliance, backup and security...

Vermont Agency warns of breach.(Social Security numbers and personal data stolen, reports Department of Human Services)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... The Vermont Agency of Human Services has started sending letters to about 70,000 residents warning them of a computer compromise that may have exposed their Social Security numbers and other personal data. The breach, discovered Dec. 8,...

IBM agrees to buy data mobility firm.(International Business Machines Corp.)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... IBM has agreed to buy Softek Storage Solutions Corp. for an undisclosed sum. The deal is expected to close at the end of March. IBM plans to use Softek's data mobility technology to build storage systems for customers of its Global Technology...

Altria CIO named president of SIM.(BRIEFS)(Jim Noble, Society for Information Management)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Jim Noble, group vice president and CIO at Altria Group Inc., has been named president of the Society for Information Management. Noble succeeds Stephen Pickett, vice president and CIO at Penske Corp., as head of the Chicago-based professional...

The end users will be driving ...(ON THE MARK)
February 5, 2007... ... innovation in IT shops. You've long had to cater to end-user needs, whether it be creating custom reports with mainframe data or giving users the ability to do it themselves on desktop PCs. Well, hang on. It's about to get worse--um,...

IBM agrees to resell Lawson applications.(International Business Machines Corp.)(Lawson Software)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... IBM has signed an agreement to resell the $3 and M3 lines of applications from Lawson Software Inc. The deal is a result of efforts by both firms to better target small and midsize business users. The pact extends an earlier agreement under...

Lenovo profits up 23% on flat sales.(BRIEFS)(Lenovo Group Ltd.)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Lenovo Group Ltd. reported a 23% increase in third-quarter profits despite flat revenue. The vendor's worldwide PC shipments increased 8% during its third quarter, which ended Dec. 31. LENOVO BY THE NUMBERS REVENUE PROFIT Q3...

BT Group acquires U.S. services firm.(International Network Services Inc.)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... BT Group PLC has agreed to acquire International Network Services Inc. as part of a corporate effort to expand its services offerings in the U.S. The deal is valued at about $196 million. The acquisition will add 900 employees to BT's worldwide...

Man accused of pirating software.(Gad Zamir)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... California police have arrested a 64-year-old man for allegedly selling illegally copied Microsoft Corp. and Adobe Systems Inc. software on the Internet for the past seven years. The alleged criminal sales netted Gad Zamir of Menifee, Calif.,...

SOA can be a tough sell: IT often must promote benefits to developers and business users alike.(service-oriented architectures)
February 5, 2007... MANY COMPANIES are banking on getting substantial financial returns from service-oriented architectures. But shifting to an SOA requires considerable changes in an IT department's focus and its approach to internal operations, according to...

SOA projects need to be systematic, exec says.(service oriented architecture)(Maja Tibbling of Con-way Inc.)(Interview)
February 5, 2007... SAN DIEGO OVER THE PAST nine years, Con-way Inc.'s SOA has evolved into an event-driven architecture that lets computer systems subscribe to, publish and process "events"--such as the receipt of an order--based on predefined business...

ERP rollout continues to weigh down Symantec: vendor blames weak earnings on process problems.(enterprise resource planning)(David Thompson)(Interview)
February 5, 2007... Symantec Corp. continues to try to work through a challenging rollout of Oracle Corp.'s ERP applications that has started to affect its bottom line. In an interview last week, Symantec CIO David Thompson said the problems facing the...

ITIL update to cover security, outsourcing: users eager to try new version of IT services spec.(Raymond James Financial Inc.)(IT Infrastructure Library)
February 5, 2007... AFTER the IT department at Raymond James Financial Inc. implemented best practices from the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL), the number of calls to the company's help desk dropped as much as 25% within 18 months. Fewer phone calls means...

Revised framework aims to help CIOs demonstrate ROI.(Sharon Taylor of Aspect Group Inc.)(return on investment)(Interview)
February 5, 2007... SUGGESTIONS for Version 3 of the IT Infrastructure Library came from thousands of people around the globe. But the person responsible for the end product is Sharon Taylor, who is ITIL's chief architect, as well as president of Aspect Group...

Bob Schwartz, 1951-2007.(of Panasonic Corporation of North America)(Obituary)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Robert A. (Bob) Schwartz, former CIO at Panasonic Corporation of North America and president of Panasonic Management Information Technology Co., died suddenly on Jan. 19 at the age of 55. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Schwartz was one of...

Microsoft takes new tack on license checks.(GLOBALDISPATCHES)(plans for legal action against companies using unlicensed software)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... LONDON MICROSOFT CORP. plans to take a tougher stance with midsize companies in the U.K. that it suspects are using unlicensed software. The new approach could culminate in threats of legal action by the Business Software Alliance. ...

Workforce in India will be Accenture's largest.(recruitment plans)
February 5, 2007... BANGALORE, INDIA ACCENTURE LTD.'S top executive said at a press conference here last week that the IT services firm will employ more workers in India than it does in any other country by the end of August. William Green, Accenture's...

Kenya launches effort to build PCs locally.(GLOBALDISPATCHES)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... NAIROBI, KENYA WITH HELP from Lenovo Group Ltd. and two other hardware vendors, the Kenyan government is launching an effort to promote the assembly of low-cost PCs that could be sold to users in that country and other African nations. ...

PSA Peugeot Citroen.(Briefly Noted)(contract with Novell Inc.)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... PSA Peugeot Citroen has signed a multiyear contract to deploy Novell Inc.'s SUSE Linux software on up to 20,000 desktop systems and 2,500 servers. Novell, which announced the contract with Paris-based Peugeot Citroen last week, didn't disclose...

Unilever Group.(outsourcing data center operations to Hewlett-Packard Co.)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Unilever Group has signed a tentative deal to outsource its data center operations to Hewlett-Packard Co. in the Americas region, as well as Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Turkey. The companies said they hope to reach a definitive agreement...

German Federal Armed Forces.(Briefly Noted)(contract with SAP AG)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... The German Federal Armed Forces have agreed to install more of SAP AG's software as part of an ongoing IT modernization project. The new contract, which covers more than 140,000 end users, calls for the military to deploy the vendor's SAP for...

Satellite network stops paying off for Edward Jones: CIO says new IP network will boost performance, support more apps.(conversation with chief information officer Vinny Ferrari of Edward D. Jones & Co.)(Interview)
February 5, 2007... AT&T Inc. last week announced a five-year, $54 million contract to develop an IP network supporting voice, video and data traffic for Edward D. Jones & Co.'s 10,000 branch offices. The project will provide the St. Louis-based financial services...

The rogue lawyer.(John Hancock Financial Services Inc. asks the Computerworld magazine to remove an article about the company from their web site)(Viewpoint essay)
February 5, 2007... IT ALL BEGAN innocently enough with a story that was hardly an eyebrow-raiser. The article, "John Hancock reaps big benefits with new SRM software," was written by Computerworld's Lucas Mearian and posted on our Web site on Jan. 17. It was the...

Diepold systems.(OPINION)(Cartoon)
February 5, 2007... REMIND ME AGAIN WHY THIS WAS SUCH A GOOD IDEA. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] C'WORLD [c] OJ Klossner www.jklossner.com

The rise of the business analyst--again.(OPINION)(Column)
February 5, 2007... WHEN I got into the IT business years ago, I thought the business analyst was the most pivotal person in the whole profession. That was the person who was the bridge between business and technology, the one who could see and understand both...

Readers' views on techies' language skills, H-1B visas and free markets.(Letter to the editor)
February 5, 2007... THERE'S NO doubt the e-mail writer to whom Don Tennant refers in his editorial "A Wake-up Call" [Opinions, Jan. 15] is not the most erudite, but the messages I've seen authored by H-1B visa holders show that neither citizens nor immigrant...

Readers' views on techies' language skills, H-1B visas and free markets.(Letter to the editor)
February 5, 2007... I OFTEN HAVE to communicate with what Tennant calls "the brightest and best from all over the world," and while I can at least understand what the guy he quoted was saying, I can't say the same for them. I also don't buy the argument that...

Readers' views on techies' language skills, H-1B visas and free markets.(Letter to the editor)
February 5, 2007... AS MORE companies hire more and more H-1B visa holders, displacing Americans from their jobs, the brightest in future generations will not go into high-tech and engineering careers. Then the colleges and universities will discontinue computer...

Readers' views on techies' language skills, H-1B visas and free markets.(Letter to the editor)
February 5, 2007... I AM AGAINST the H-1B visa program, but we need to let go of the misperception that somehow we would be better off if only we could keep foreigners from taking our jobs. This is not a zero-sum game. If the work we perform has value, it...

Readers' views on techies' language skills, H-1B visas and free markets.(Letter to the editor)
February 5, 2007... I DO NOT believe we have a tech worker shortage in this country, but that doesn't mean I believe in absolute protectionism, either. Someone needs to bring a realistic proposal to the debate. We cannot shut our borders, but we should not...

Readers' views on techies' language skills, H-1B visas and free markets.(Letter to the editor)
February 5, 2007... I AGREE WITH Tennant. Excellence in all we do is required to stay at the top of our game in IT. After 20 years in IT, I still avail myself of technical training and the continuous pursuit of knowledge. I know I have more to offer than an...

Caught in the IT pay squeeze: CIOs struggle to reward top performers as they pay out big bucks to land niche skills.(STRATEGIES&TACTICS)
February 5, 2007... CIOs are in a tight spot. They need to court IT stars and keep current staffers happy--all without knocking the budget out of whack. Thomas Hoffman explains how they manage. TIM RAMSAY faced numerous challenges in his search for a security...

HR gets a dose of science: Human Resources departments are embracing software that brings efficiency, rigor and ROI to the art of managing people.(human resource)(return on investment)
February 5, 2007... IMAGINE PLACING an electronic order to hire an employee the same way a factory manager uses ERP software to order more parts for the assembly line. That's roughly what's happening at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). And the...

Silence is deadly: having five critical conversations can mean the difference between success and failure in IT projects.(IT MENTOR)(conversation and communication in project management)
February 5, 2007... IN A WEB 2.0 WORLD, IT is dramatically redefining business models. Whether providing new ways to reach customers, establishing radically new business-to-business relationships, cutting new-product time to market in half, or enhancing worker...

Nobody's perfect: the best IT leaders know it and build around their weaknesses.(conversation with Kathleen Melymuka)(Interview)
February 5, 2007... The "myth of the complete leader" goads some managers into a futile effort to be all things to all people. The result can be damaging to the person and the organization, says Deborah Ancona, professor of management at the MIT Sloan School of...

Another impetus for IP protection: a virus infection points up the dangers of making it all too easy for visitors to get on the company network.(SECURITY MANAGER'S JOURNAL)
February 5, 2007... A VIRUS INCIDENT this week caused me a bit of anxiety about my last big undertaking. But once the infection was under control, it got me thinking about a pending project and the need to get it funded. My anxiety arose from the timing of the...

Security Bookshelf.(Cisco Network Admission Control: NAC Deployment and Trouble-shooting, vol. 2)(Book review)(Brief review)
February 5, 2007... Cisco Network Admission Control, Volume II: NAC Deployment and Trouble-shooting, by Jazib Frahim, Omar Santos and David White (Cisco Press, 2006). A spectacular follow-up to Volume I, this book dives deep into the configuration and...

More stolen PCs put data at risk.(SECURITY LOG)(personal computer thefts)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... The theft of computers containing sensitive personal information continues to make headlines. For example, a laptop recently stolen from the Salina Regional Health Center in Kansas contained personally identifiable information, including Social...

Manufacturing.(EVENTS)
February 5, 2007... Feb. 12-15, Orlando Sponsor: Arc Advisory Group Inc. Collaborative Manufacturing Strategies: Driving Performance in the Flat World includes sessions on bench-marking for continuous improvement, the risks and rewards of emerging global...

Health care.(EVENTS)
February 5, 2007... Feb. 25-March 1, New Orleans Sponsor: HIMSS HIMSS07, the Annual Conference and Exhibition of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society includes a CIO forum as well as training and symposia on topics such as clinical...

Human Resources.(EVENTS)
February 5, 2007... Feb. 28-March 1, San Diego Sponsor: The Conference Board Inc. Strategic E-HR: Maximizing the Value of HR Through Technology addresses topics such as maximizing your return on technology in HR, making the case for e-HR, implementing...

Business intelligence.(EVENTS)
February 5, 2007... March 12-14, Chicago Sponsor: Gartner Inc. Driving Business Performance With Business Intelligence includes tracks on business applications, technology and architecture, and IT management. Presentation topics include analytics and...

Why managers fail.(STRATEGIES&TACTICS)(leadership methods)
February 5, 2007... WHEN I first joined the workforce, I naively believed that workers supported their bosses, looked up to them, followed their directives and sought out their counsel. I also assumed that bosses were generally deserving of respect, since they had...

Correction.(NEWS)(Correction notice)
February 5, 2007... In a story in last week's News section about the Chicago Board of Elections being hit with two lawsuits over the distribution of CD-ROMs containing the Social Security numbers of voters ("Chicago Elections Board Faces Charges Over Breach"), the...

Some vendors offer fixes for daylight-saving time change: but others haven't said if their apps will be affected.(software patches)
February 5, 2007... Some major IT vendors have made significant progress in releasing software patches and fixes designed to enable their products to handle the earlier start of daylight-saving time, which takes effect March 11. But others have not made clear how...

Passwords--why?(FRANKLY SPEAKING)(using USB security dongle for better security than passwords)(Gemalto to launch a new security device)
February 5, 2007... AT THE RSA conference this week, smart card vendor Gemalto will be showing a new product: a device the size of a thumb drive that plugs into a USB port and automatically authenticates a user at multiple Web sites. What a great idea, I thought...

Just one bad idea after another.(SHARK TANK)(computer troubleshooting tales)
February 5, 2007... IT manager pilot fish at a hospital gets a call from a user at a remote clinic who says their network has gone dead, so he heads off to investigate the outage. "We traced a cable going through a wall," grumbles fish. "No plans, of course. The...

Drives destroyed as governor exits: Arkansas IT unit helped Huckabee expunge data.(NEWS)(Mike Huckabee, information technology)
February 12, 2007... Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a potential candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, ordered the destruction of hard drives from nearly 90 computers before leaving office last month--a controversial move in which his...

IT faces networks without borders: Web apps shift security focus from perimeter defenses to data protection.(NEWS)
February 12, 2007... As end users at different companies conduct more business with one another via the Web, corporate information security strategies are being turned inside out--literally. Corporate security managers have spent many years and tens of...

Johns Hopkins loses worker, patient data.(AT DEADLINE)(Johns Hopkins University)(Brief article)
February 12, 2007... Computer backup tapes containing personal information on 135,000 Johns Hopkins University workers and 83,000 Johns Hopkins Hospital patients were lost last month. Johns Hopkins officials said the data was stored on nine backup tapes that were...

Cisco exec quits amid reorganization.(AT DEADLINE)(Mike Volpi, Cisco Systems Inc.)(Brief article)
February 12, 2007... Mike Volpi has resigned as senior vice president and general manager of Cisco Systems Inc.'s Routing and Service Provider Technology Group. A spokesman said the move "coincides" with a reorganization of that unit, but the shake-up was not the...

Microsoft to issue 12 security updates.(AT DEADLINE)(Brief article)
February 12, 2007... Microsoft Corp. plans to issue a dozen security updates tomorrow to patch vulnerabilities in Windows, Office, Visual Studio and its antivirus software. The list includes five patches for Windows vulnerabilities and two for Office. At least five...

Cisco buys social networking tools.(AT DEADLINE)(Five Across Inc.)(Brief article)
February 12, 2007... Cisco has agreed to acquire Five Across Inc., a maker of social networking software, for an undisclosed price. Cisco said it expects the deal to close by April 30. It plans to use Five Across Connect Community Builder software to help companies...

Latest mobile devices tempt users but test IT: companies face hurdles on adopting iPhone and other consumer gadgets.(NEWS)
February 12, 2007... NEW MOBILE devices, such as the iPhone and the OQO ultra-mobile PC, are putting pressure on IT managers to address compatibility and security challenges that could create roadblocks to corporate uses of the technologies. Apple Inc.'s...

NASA testing RFID chips for trip to Mars: wants to see whether the technology can survive in outer space conditions.(NEWS)(National Aeronautics and Space Administration, radio frequency identification)
February 12, 2007... The National Aeronautics and Space Administration this summer plans to begin testing whether radio frequency identification technology can survive in outer space. Agency officials said the test is the first step in an effort to determine...

Citrix upgrade untethers mobile users from servers: app streaming shifts processing workloads to PCs.(NEWS)(Citrix Systems Inc.)
February 12, 2007... Road warriors have never been a perfect fit for Citrix Systems Inc.'s server-based applications because they require continuous connectivity. But in a software upgrade being announced today, Citrix is adding application streaming capabilities...

Capgemini buys U.S. services firm.(BRIEFS)(Software Architects Inc.)(Brief article)
February 12, 2007... Capgemini SA has agreed to acquire Software Architects Inc. as part of an effort to expand its presence in U.S. cities. Paris-based Capgemini said that Software Architects provides project management, architecture and business technology...

Spy case lawyer joins HP staff.(BRIEFS)(Hewlett-Packard Co.)(Brief article)
February 12, 2007... Hewlett-Packard Co. appointed as its new general counsel the outside lawyer it hired last year to investigate a spying scandal at the company. Mike Holston, a partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, succeeds Ann Baskins, who resigned in...

Akamai acquires Netli for $170M.(BRIEFS)(Akamai Technologies Inc.)(Brief article)
February 12, 2007... Akamai Technologies Inc. has agreed to acquire Netli Inc., a provider of services to help accelerate content and services online, for about $170 million. The deal is expected to close by the end of this quarter. Akamai said it expects the...

Former CA exec to lead security firm.(BRIEFS)(Application Security Inc. hires Toby Weiss )(Brief article)
February 12, 2007... Application Security Inc., a maker of database security tools, has named Toby Weiss president and CEO. Weiss had been senior vice president and general manager of CA Inc.'s security management business unit. At Application Security, Weiss...

IT's finger-pointing problem ...(ON THE MARK)(Enterprise Suite from eG Innovations Pte.)(Brief article)
February 12, 2007... IT's Finger-pointing Problem... may get slapped down. Srinivas Ramanathan, CEO of Singapore-based eG Innovations Pte., says the biggest challenge IT help desks face when end users complain about a pokey or dead application is figuring out...

Battery performance gets a bit ...(ON THE MARK)(lithium-ion batteries for laptops and other mobile devices from Boston-Power Inc.)(Brief article)
February 12, 2007... Battery performance gets a bit... of a boost. During the second quarter, Boston-Power Inc. in Westboro, Mass., plans to deliver to PC makers the first batch of a new line of lithium-ion batteries for laptops and other mobile devices. CEO...

Predict a storage capacity crisis ...(ON THE MARK)(Storage Horizon software from MonoSphere Inc.)(Brief article)
February 12, 2007... Predict a storage capacity crisis... before one occurs. If you've ever had to scramble to add disk capacity to an application, you know it can be a major hassle. That's probably why so many of you "cheat" by allocating more storage capacity...

There's lots of Web 2.0 talk ...(ON THE MARK)(Seamark Navigator search software from Siderean Software Inc.)(Brief article)
February 12, 2007... There's lots of Web 2.0 talk... but where's the real action? Most serious commercial Web sites are experimenting with advanced capabilities that you can get with AJAX technology. But most of those same sites tend to be stuck with Web 1.0...

Microsoft pushes to make mobile OS more capable: users look for improvements, but analyst calls upgrade 'interim release'.(NEWS)(Windows Mobile operating system)
February 12, 2007... MICROSOFT CORP. today plans to announce the latest version of its Windows Mobile operating system, with new features such as native support for its push e-mail technology and more PC-like display capabilities. Devices based on the Windows...

Health system starts linking patient data: indexing system to form basis for electronic records.(NEWS)(Baylor Health Care System)
February 12, 2007... Baylor Health Care System has completed the initial phase of an effort to link fragmented data from its disparate systems to establish a 360-degree view of its patients. The Baylor project, started about a year and a half ago, is aimed at...

Hitachi to acquire storage company.(BRIEFS)(Hitachi Data Systems Corp. to acquire Archivas Inc.)(Brief article)
February 12, 2007... Hitachi Data Systems Corp. has agreed to acquire storage management company Archivas Inc. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Under a reseller agreement between the firms signed early last year, Archivas provides the software component that...

HP agrees to buy Bristol Technology.(Hewlett-Packard Co.)(Brief article)
February 12, 2007... Hewlett-Packard Co. has agreed to acquire business transaction monitoring software vendor Bristol Technology Inc. for an undisclosed sum. HP said that it expects the acquisition will let the company beef up the business technology optimization...

Ingres unveils Eclipse tool set.(Brief article)
February 12, 2007... Ingres Corp. has unveiled a software bundle to make it easier for developers to build Eclipse-based applications on top of its open-source database. The Ingres Eclipse Bundle includes the Eclipse framework and tools for developing and running...

Greenplum hires Ex-Sun exec as CEO.(Bill Cook)(Brief article)
February 12, 2007... Greenplum Inc., a provider of open-source database technology, has named former Sun Microsystems Inc. executive Bill Cook as CEO. Cook had been senior vice president of sales at Sun before leaving to head the sales and services operation at...

Texas, Minn. bills propose statewide ODF standards: follow Mass. in seeking alternative to Microsoft Office file format.(OpenDocument Format)
February 12, 2007... STATE LEGISLATURES in Minnesota and Texas are considering bills calling for the adoption of the Open Document Format for Office Applications, or ODF, as the standard file format for their state government documents. If the bills are...

Business Objects sets sights on BI's midmarket potential.(business-intelligence)
February 12, 2007... BUSINESS OBJECTS SA is turning an eye toward the midmarket with a newly formed business unit and a new business-intelligence product line tailored for companies with annual revenue under $1 billion. The Paris-based company, which has...

Gorbachev asks for leniency in piracy case.(Mikhail Gorbachev, Microsoft Corp.)(Brief article)
February 12, 2007... MICROSOFT CORP. is sidestepping an appeal from Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the former Soviet Union, to intervene in a piracy case involving a school principal. In a letter sent to Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates last week,...