Computerworld articles from May 2005

Computerworld archives from May 2005

Power partners: Xcel Energy's six-vendor strategic advisory board takes collaboration to a new level.(PREMIER 100 SPOTLIGHT)
May 2, 2005... LOTS OF CIOs talk about "partnering" with technology vendors. But Xcel Energy Inc. CIO Ray Gogel has given the term new meaning. Late in 2001, Minneapolis-based Xcel began evaluating how it could apply IT to help rearchitect business...

Microsoft details plan to put virtualization in OS: road map includes 'hypervisor' code for Longhorn; architecture parallels VMware's.(NEWS)
May 2, 2005... Microsoft Corp. last week fleshed out the details of a plan to build virtualization capabilities directly into Windows as part of its effort to catch up to virtualization software market leader VMware Inc. Microsoft plans to adopt an...

Users rip Veritas on license tracking; CEO vows action.(Gary Bloom)
May 2, 2005... Users of Veritas Software Corp.'s storage management tools complained last week that the company has done little to improve its confusing and hard-to-track software licensing models. Many IT managers at the annual Veritas user conference...

PMOs viewed as unneeded bureaucracy.(project management offices)
May 2, 2005... As project management offices work to instill more-disciplined approaches to managing IT projects, their leaders are often finding it tough to avoid the perception that they're creating excessive bureaucracy. "We all know there's...

Microsoft profits double in Q3.(third quarter)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Microsoft Corp. reported that profits almost doubled in its third quarter on a 5% increase in sales. The company's revenue fell short of Wall Street expectations. MICROSOFT BY THE NUMBERS REVENUE PROFIT Q3'05 $9.62B...

Sun scales back N1 Grid software.(AT DEADLINE)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Sun Microsystems Inc. this week will announce new N1 Grid software for managing and provisioning groups of servers in a data center. The product focuses on managing only Sun hardware, reflecting Sun's recent move to scale back the original N1...

China's top bank turns to Linux.(AT DEADLINE)(Industrial and Commercial Bank of China)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... China's biggest bank--Industrial and Commercial Bank of China--has signed an agreement to deploy Linux-based Turbolinux 7 DataServers across its network of 20,000 branches. The bank is in the process of choosing an integrator to oversee the...

Juniper purchases Peribit, Redline.(AT DEADLINE)
May 2, 2005... Juniper Networks Inc. last week agreed to acquire Peribit Networks Inc., a developer of WAN optimization technology, and application front-end vendor Redline Networks Inc. The Peribit acquisition is valued at $337 million, and the Redline...

Cisco adds 11 routers for branch-office apps: says new models support wire-speed performance, offer VPN security tools.(Cisco Systems Inc.)
May 2, 2005... AT THE INTEROP conference in Las Vegas today, Cisco Systems Inc. will expand its line of wireless-enabled routers that provide advanced security functions and support data, voice and video traffic. The announcement by Cisco is one of...

Offshore tech support still stirs controversy: some say communication is a problem, but outsourcing of help desks continues.(NEWS)
May 2, 2005... Dell Inc. last week announced a three-year contract to manage 57,000 desktop and laptop PCs in the U.S. for Honeywell International Inc., expanding a deal under which Dell already manages 16,000 Honeywell PCs in Europe. About 18 months...

Tobacco firm shifts development to SOA.(British American Tobacco PLC uses service-oriented architecture)
May 2, 2005... British American Tobacco PLC this week will start moving developers at 180 locations worldwide to a new development platform as the company begins to build most new applications as services. The London-based supplier of tobacco products...

Cisco adding Sipura to Linksys unit.(Sipura Technology Inc.)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Cisco Systems Inc. plans to purchase voice-over-IP vendor Sipura Technology Inc. for $68 million in cash and stock. San Jose-based Sipura will be integrated into Cisco's Linksys division. The acquisition is the first that Cisco has made for...

Sales boost doesn't grow Amazon profit.(BRIEFS)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Amazon.com Inc. blamed higher taxes for a decline in first-quarter profit but reported that revenue, at $1.9 billion, was up 24% from a year earlier. Chief Financial Officer Tom Szkutak described the results, which beat Wall Street...

Nortel pays $448M for services firm.(Nortel Networks Inc.)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Nortel Networks Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Canada's Nortel Networks Corp., has agreed to buy Fairfax, Va.-based government IT services provider PEC Solutions Inc. for about $448 million. The acquired firm will become the centerpiece of a new...

Microsoft names Liddell to CFO post.(BRIEFS)
May 2, 2005... Microsoft Corp. has chosen Chris Liddell as its new CFO. He was previously CFO at International Paper Co. and CEO of Carter Holt Harvey Ltd., International Paper's affiliate in New Zealand. Liddell replaces John Connors, who left Microsoft in...

IT execs scurry to consolidate ...(ON THE MARK)
May 2, 2005... ... tools for securing e-mail--and possibly their spyware defenses, too. Those are the insights that Anne Bonaparte gleaned from a survey of 200 IT executives that was conducted for her company in March by InsightExpress LLC in Stamford, Conn....

Juniper targets Cisco with security strategy: adds net access tools, details plans for broad offering.(NEWS)
May 2, 2005... LOOKING TO ratchet up its competition with Cisco Systems Inc. in the corporate networking market, Juniper Networks Inc. this week will introduce a set of security tools designed to help IT managers more efficiently enforce access-control and...

IBM to consolidate Med Center systems.(University of Pittsburgh Medical Center)
May 2, 2005... The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) has tapped IBM for a $402 million project to consolidate its IT infrastructure. The project aims to reduce operating costs and support new applications like electronic health records. The...

Secunia warns of Netscape flaw.(vulnerability in browser could cause it to crash)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... A "highly critical" unpatched vulnerability in Netscape Communications Corp.'s browser could allow hackers to compromise Internet users' systems, according to an advisory from Denmark-based security firm Secunia. The buffer overflow...

IBM plans to unveil ThinkPad tablet.(BRIEFS)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... IBM has developed a ThinkPad laptop with a rotating screen that can be used as a tablet computer, according to documents filed with the Federal Communications Commission. FCC approval is required for the sale of any device that supports...

Verizon profits up more than 40%.(BRIEFS)
May 2, 2005... New York-based Verizon Communications Inc. reported improved first-quarter earnings, citing sharp increases in wireless customers and broadband connections. VERIZON BY THE NUMBERS REVENUE PROFIT Q1 '05 $18.2B $1.8B ...

Equity firms pay $1.1B for DoubleClick.(JMI Equity Fund LP)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Two private equity firms have bought online advertising company DoubleClick Inc. for $1.1 billion. Buyers Hellman and Friedman LLC and JMI Equity Fund LP expect to complete the deal in the third quarter. New York-based DoubleClick hired Lazard...

Difficult ERP rollout slows furniture maker: Rowe blames backlog, losses on SAP implementation and training problems.(enterprise resource planning)(Rowe Furniture Inc.)
May 2, 2005... PROBLEMS DURING an SAP AG software installation have hit Rowe Furniture Inc.'s bottom line as the company scrambles to fill a backlog of customer orders that arose during the rollout of the new technology. Just over a month ago, the custom...

IT Services heat up in Western Europe.(industry revenue growth predicted)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... LONDON THE IT SERVICES MARKET is making a modest comeback in Western Europe, according to survey results Gartner Inc. released last week at its Outsourcing and IT Services Summit here. After several years of market stasis, overall IT...

South African agency migrates to Linux.(South African Revenue Service)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... JOHANNESBURG THE SOUTH AFRICAN Revenue Service (SARS) has opted to migrate its mainframe-based SAP system to Linux-based servers under a contract awarded to Novell Inc. last month. SARS CIO Ken Jarvis said the tax agency will run SAP's...

Trend Micro plans to reimburse Virus victims.(compensating for delivering faulty antivirus software update)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... TOKYO TREND MICRO INC. last week said it will compensate 3.5 million home users and its corporate customers in Japan for the cost of repairing PCs after it delivered a faulty antivirus software update. Whether the company will offer...

Microsoft Corp.(French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Microsoft Corp. has agreed to collaborate with INRIA, the French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control, to set up a joint research center by 2006. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and French Minister of Research Francois...

TAM Brazilian Airlines.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... TAM Brazilian Airlines has awarded Unisys Corp. a five-year contract to provide IT infrastructure outsourcing services. Unisys said it will support more than 7,000 TAM workers in 300 locations worldwide. TAM CIO Maricelio Lauand said airline...

Sony Corp.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Sony Corp. blamed price competition in several of its key business areas for another loss during its fourth quarter, which ended March 31. Sony reported a net loss of 56.5 billion yen ($533 million) compared with a loss of 38.2 billion yen...

Siebel reports sharp sales drop; execs 'embarrassed': new CEO stays quiet about plans.(George Shaheen of Siebel Systems Inc.)
May 2, 2005... Two weeks after deposing J. Michael Lawrie as its CEO, Siebel Systems Inc. reported first-quarter results in line with the reduced business levels that the CRM vendor warned about just days before Lawrie's departure. Siebel's software...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
May 2, 2005... Last week's Page One story about the new data-protection requirements being imposed on companies that handle credit card information ("Merchants Face Deadline for Data Safety") misstated the date on which the mandates will take effect....

The Opteron option.(Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s microprocessor preferred over Intel's Itanium chip)(Column)
May 2, 2005... QUICK: Who was Employee No. 1 at Sun Microsystems--Scott McNealy or Bill Joy? OK, it's a trick question. The answer is neither one. Unless you're really into this stuff, you've probably never even heard of the individual who holds that...

Apple takes major leap with Tiger.(operating system)(Product/Service Evaluation)(Column)
May 2, 2005... WANT TO SEE what the future of personal computing looks like? Don't wait for Microsoft to show you; go out and get yourself a copy of Apple's latest operating system release, OS X Tiger. It's that good. For the past few weeks, I've been...

Just a handful of techniques.(developing information systems)(Column)
May 2, 2005... IN SPITE OF all the complexity inherent in business and the constant change in technology, there is just a small set of techniques for IT professionals to use in developing any information system. In fact, there are six. I call them the "core...

Former attendees mourn Comdex demise.(Letter to the Editor)
May 2, 2005... I WAS A REGULAR ATTENDEE of Comdex during the mid-'90s, when I was CIO at Guess Jeans ["No Comdex This Year? No Problem, Say Users," QuickLink 53515]. I found the show to be both useful and educational. We brought several ideas back to our...

A modest proposal.(Letter to the Editor)
May 2, 2005... I THOROUGHLY ENJOYED Mark Hall's article, "Secure the People," about end-user security training [QuickLink 52486]. Punishing workers who flout security procedures is not only right, it's most essential. I would add a different type of...

Moore follows in Marconi's footsteps.(Letter to the Editor)
May 2, 2005... JAMES NICCOLAI'S TRIBUTE to Gordon Moore ["Gordon Moore Looks Back, and Forward, 40 Years," QuickLink 53773] was both a moving and meaningful salute. Moore's 1965 prediction created a worldwide industry standard that has extended computing from...

Incremental improvement: companies are using synthetic backup to cut backup and recovery time--and minimizing downtime in the process.(TECHNOLOGY)
May 2, 2005... BERNARD SHEN, a technology consultant at aerospace company BAE Systems North America Inc., went from shipping 1,200 data archive tapes to an off-site storage facility every 90 days to sending just 200 over the same time period. He did it by...

Edgy about blades: despite initial enthusiasm, some users are still hesitant about widespread deployment of blade servers.(TECHNOLOGY)
May 2, 2005... HERE'S WHY. WHAT'S NOT TO LIKE about blade servers? The technology is sleek and sexy. With fewer cables to interconnect, blades, which share a common backplane, are easier to manage than other types of servers. They take up less floor...

Python.(QUICK STUDY)
May 2, 2005... DEFINITION Python is an object-oriented, open-source programming language often used for rapid application development. Python's simple syntax emphasizes readability, reducing the cost of program maintenance, while its large library of...

The cost of securing the people's privacy: as a bill on consumer privacy heads to the legislature, our security manager has to do a fiscal impact analysis.(SECURITY MANAGER'S JOURNAL)
May 2, 2005... I WAS RECENTLY ASKED to analyze a legislative bill to determine what fiscal impact it could have on our agency. In this state, it is a requirement that before a proposed bill can go before the legislature for approval, it must be distributed to...

Yellow light for online banking.(SECURITY LOG)(online fraud threatening internet banking)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... New research from TowerGroup has found that advances in online fraud pose a significant and fast-growing threat to consumer confidence in online banking. New approaches go beyond e-mail-based phishing scams and include the use of spyware,...

Broadcom adds hardware security.(SECURITY LOG)(NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet controllers)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Broadcom Corp.'s newest NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet controllers will include integrated Trusted Platform Module 1.2 functionality. TPM is a security standard created by the Trusted Computing Group for a hardware-based secure computing...

New IPS line.(new intrusion prevention system)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... NitroSecurity in Portsmouth, N.H., will announce its newest intrusion-prevention system product line tomorrow. The NitroSecurity IPS 6.0 suite includes an event management tool designed to identify and neutralize internal and external attacks...

Tacit Software upgrades ActiveNet.(Colloboration software)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Tacit Software Inc. in Palo Alto, Calif., has released Version 3 of its collaboration software. ActiveNet 3 can be integrated in business processes, including procurement, research and development, using wizards that help users connect with...

ClearStory unveils latest Media Server.(BRIEFS)(ClearStory Systems)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... ClearStory Systems in Westboro, Mass., has unveiled Radiant Enterprise Media Server 2.0. The product was designed to allow users to organize and manage file types, including complex video, graphics, compound documents and other rich media,...

Barracuda Spyware Firewall released.(BRIEFS)(Barracuda Networks Inc.)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Barracuda Networks Inc. has launched Barracuda Spyware Firewall, which offers antispyware and Web filtering in one gateway appliance, the Cupertino, Calif.-based company said. Available June 1, the devices range from $1,999 to $5,999, with no...

Microsoft previews SQL Server 2005.(BRIEFS)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Microsoft Corp. last month announced the availability of its SQL Server 2005 April Community Technology Preview. The company said that future iterations of the database will be offered exclusively in the CTP format and that the current release...

The future is more than Moore's was.(Moore's Law and Law of Accelerating Returns)(Column)
May 2, 2005... MOORE'S LAW IS DEAD. Long live Moore's Law, which for most of us was the opening salvo in the intellectual exercise of relating society to technology. Intel founder Gordon Moore's observation, made 40 years ago last month in Electronics...

Changing gears from frugality to innovation.(ThinkTank)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... A GENERATION OF IT LEADERS has focused on reducing costs, outsourcing and calculating investment metrics. With an uptick in IT budgets, they're supposed to be able to move from the cost-cutting mind-set to more innovative and strategic IT work,...

Best Bits.(A Whole New Mind: Moving From the Information Age to the Conceptual Age, by Daniel H. Pink)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... The most useful parts of recent business and IT management books THE BOOK: A Whole New Mind: Moving From the Information Age to the Conceptual Age, by Daniel H. Pink (River-head Books, 2005). Pink, a bestselling author who has become the...

Research roundup.(MANAGEMENT)
May 2, 2005... Retail Web site designers should worry less about alienating dial-up users and use more of the rich media features that appeal to broadband users, says a study by Nielsen/NetRatings, a service of NetRatings Inc. in New York. Why? The study says...

Security software remains the highest spending priority among IT managers.(The IT Economy)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Security software remains the highest spending priority among IT managers, according to a survey of 100 IT managers by Goldman Sachs. Business intelligence software is also high on IT shopping lists, with 59% of the respondents saying they plan...

President Bush proposed a 7.1% increase in the fiscal 2006 federal IT budget.(The IT Economy)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... President Bush proposed a 7.1% increase in the fiscal 2006 federal IT budget. But vendors hoping to get rich quick in the government market need to realize that federal IT spending is very uneven, says Gene Leganza, an analyst at Forrester...

IDC economic research.(Buying Intentions)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... IDC economic research continues to offer a positive, but not spectacular, picture of growth in IT spending in the U.S. over the next 12 months. [GRAPHIC OMITTED] "While buyer optimism has dropped a hair, the macroeconomic picture has...

A road map: here's how Automotive Resources International hardwired customer service into the IT group.(IT MENTOR)
May 2, 2005... JUST ABOUT EVERY COMPANY and IT group today claims to be "customer-centric," but at my company, it's more than a slogan. In my 38 years in the IT profession, I've learned that working closely with our external customers to develop mutually...

Career watch.(survey says)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... No Time to Choose The median time that employees spend thinking about and making benefits decisions is 30 minutes. 31-60 minutes: 7% 1-2 hours: 18% 2-3 hours: 11% 3-4 hours: 3% More than 4...

Just-in-time employees.(IBM's labor resource management system)
May 2, 2005... IBM is trying to take the principles of its supply chain for products and apply them to how it organizes and deploys its workers and their various skills. The first issue of Harvard Business School's "Supply Chain Strategy" newsletter reports...

Dave Opton.(Q&A)(Interview)
May 2, 2005... TITLE: CEO ORGANIZATION: ExecuNet, Norwalk, Conn. A recent survey conducted by ExecuNet, an executive job search and recruiting network, reveals that a majority of executives are unhappy with their current positions and that many are...

IT outsourcing still rising.(information technology)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Technology Partners International Inc. reported in its quarterly index that during the first quarter of 2005, the total contract value of IT outsourcing transactions was up 68% from the same period a year earlier. The value of contracts signed...

Quick hits.(MANAGEMENT)
May 2, 2005... IT Checkup Which of the following best describes the business climate for your industry? OK 21% Challenging 18% Weak/very weak 4% Very strong 18% Strong 39% Note: Table made from pie chart....

To motivate, don't demotivate.(MANAGEMENT)(Column)
May 2, 2005... RECENTLY, a couple of intended compliments threw me for a loop. Two people called me in the same week and wanted me to present keynote speeches at their conferences. Of course, that was the flattering part, but what got to me was that they both...

IT Careers: info security continues surge in opportunities.(IT careers: Advertising Supplement)(Column)
May 2, 2005... This IT Careers column is personal. In a funny/not-so-funny twist, this morning's paper included a headline about identity theft. Then it sunk in that by buying a pair of shoes for my daughter, my credit card number was among 1.4 million...

Patents pending.(FRANKLY SPEAKING)(Column)
May 2, 2005... DEPARTMENT OF LET'S-TRY-THIS-AGAIN: In my column last week about patents, I said the draft version of a new patent law would make all U.S. patent applications public after 18 months. That's true. But as Brigid Quinn of the U.S. Patent and...

What the @#$%! Is this?(SHARK TANK)
May 2, 2005... System operator decides to try out a new application's systemwide "message of the day" feature. "He enters an off-color, inappropriate message," says a pilot fish in the know. "He laughs at his clever wit--then realizes the application's...

Oracle moves to upgrade support for database users: expands support windows, adds online tools.(NEWS)(International Oracle Users Group Live 2005)
May 9, 2005... Looking to keep its installed base happy, Oracle Corp. has quietly begun a number of educational and technical initiatives in recent months to beef up its database and application server support offerings. At last week's International...

Emerging ASP model targets health records: hospitals, large physician groups offer small practices hosted access to e-records systems.(NEWS)(application service provider)
May 9, 2005... As electronic medical records take center stage in the effort to eliminate errors by physicians and bolster patient care, the newest players trying to tap the emerging software market are health care providers themselves. Several large...

Missing backup tapes spur encryption at Time Warner: data security boost follows loss of info on 600,000 employees.(NEWS)
May 9, 2005... Time Warner Inc. last week said it will "quickly" begin encrypting all data saved to backup tapes, after 40 tapes with personal information on about 600,000 current and former employees were lost in transit to a storage facility. The...

Smaller arrays, open-source cut IT costs at Ameritrade.(Q & A)(Asiff Hirji of Ameritrade Holding Corp.)(Interview)
May 9, 2005... Ameritrade Holding Corp. CIO Asiff Hirji spoke with Computer-world last week about the company's consolidation with Datek Online Holdings and its efforts to slash IT costs by replacing high-end storage arrays with midrange equipment and using...

IBM plans to lay off 13,000 workers.(AT DEADLINE)
May 9, 2005... IBM plans to cut 10,000 to 13,000 jobs, or up to 4% of its workforce, mostly from its European operations. IBM last month reported poor earnings, and the restructuring is projected to cut costs by up to $500 million during the rest of 2005, and...

Siebel to add SOA, component system.(AT DEADLINE)(Siebel Systems Inc. to launch customer relationship management software based on service-oriented architecture)(Brief Article)
May 9, 2005... Siebel Systems Inc. has detailed plans to roll out a new branch of CRM offerings later this year as industry-standard prefabricated components. The component-based systems, based on a service-oriented architecture, will run on multiple server...

Capgemini makes cuts in N. America.(AT DEADLINE)(restructuring)(North)(Brief Article)
May 9, 2005... Capgemini outlined plants to restructure its North American operation--including 200 job cuts and the shuttering of more than half of its 40 U.S. offices. The cutbacks should yield $162.1 million in annual savings once the effort is completed...

IBM to unveil array, storage controller.(AT DEADLINE)(IBM TotalStorage SAN Volume Controller 2.1.1 and IBM TotalStorage DS-4800)(Brief Article)
May 9, 2005... IBM today plans to unveil a new 4Gbit/sec. midrange storage array. The IBM TotalStorage DS-4800 can perform 42,000 I/Os per second and is priced from about $54,000. It will be generally available June 17. IBM will also introduce Version 2.1.1...

Solaris 10 downloads grow, but usage unclear: jury is still out on whether customers will install the OS.(NEWS)
May 9, 2005... AT ITS quarterly product-launch announcement here last week, Sun Microsystems Inc. touted the fact that there have been 1.3 million downloads of Solaris 10 since the operating system was released last November. Sun officials said they are...

EMC unveils midrange Centera: trims capacity, price of array.(NEWS)
May 9, 2005... EMC Corp. today will unveil its first midrange Centera content addressed storage (CAS) array, which offers the same functionality as its bigger and more expensive brother with only half the capacity--2.2TB. The new Centera uses the same...

New Cisco appliances drive debate on network security: IT execs weigh use of internal tools vs. external protection.(NEWS)(Interop conference)(Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance 5540 launched)
May 9, 2005... Network security became a major topic of debate at last week's Interop conference, with differences of opinion emerging among networking vendors, service providers and users over where security tools should be applied and who should provide...

Vendor group adds net access specs.(NEWS)(Trusted Computing Group developed Trusted Network Connect specifications)
May 9, 2005... A proposed network access control standard, developed by a large group of vendors that includes IBM, Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp., could soon help give IT managers a set of vendor-neutral tools for enforcing security policies on end-user...

Juniper, Avaya sign development pact.(BRIEFS)(partnership with Juniper Networks Inc.)(Brief Article)
May 9, 2005... Router maker Juniper Networks Inc. and Avaya Inc., a developer of enterprise IP telephony gear, have signed an agreement to jointly develop, sell and support new products. Details of the agreement, including the type of products to be...

Oracle to buy Indian development sites.(BRIEFS)(acquisition of Covansys Corp. and Hexaware Technologies Ltd.)(Brief Article)
May 9, 2005... Oracle Corp. has agreed to exercise its options to purchase two PeopleSoft development centers in Bangalore, India. Financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed. The centers are operated by outsourcing services companies Hexaware Technologies...

Nortel Q4 sales, profits down.(BRIEFS)(Brief Article)
May 9, 2005... Nortel Networks Corp. profits fell 75% in the fourth quarter of 2004 on a sales decline of 20%. Officials project improving financial results through 2005. NORTEL BY THE NUMBERS REVENUE PROFIT Q4'05 $2.62B $133M Q4'04...

HP pays $325M to settle EMC suit.(BRIEFS)
May 9, 2005... Hewlett-Packard Co. and EMC Corp. have signed a five-year patent cross-licensing deal that will end four years of litigation between the two companies. The settlement calls for HP to pay EMC $325 million over five years for the purchase of EMC...

BI vendor CEO blasts Gates' position on H-1B: no need to eliminate cap on visas, claims Information Builders' Cohen.(Interview)
May 9, 2005... Gerald Cohen, the outspoken founder and CEO of New York-based business intelligence software vendor Information Builders Inc., spoke with Computerworld late last month about the controversy surrounding offshore outsourcing and the H-1B visa...

Government to add 20,000 H-1B visas: the extra visas were approved last fall by Congress.(NEWS)
May 9, 2005... Federal officials will finally open the doors to an additional 20,000 foreign workers under the H-1B visa program beginning Thursday, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) agency announced last week. The start of the...

IBM details its plans for Ascential: users hope for smooth integration.(NEWS)
May 9, 2005... IBM last week detailed plans for folding Ascential Software Corp.'s integration and data-cleansing technology into its information management offerings. IBM closed its $1.1 billion acquisition of Ascential late last month. At a press event...