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Date: Friday, October 06, 2000, 3:41 PM -0400
From: Faulkner Information Services <mailserver@faulknerinfo.com>
To: ???
Subject: Faulkner Systems Flash 10/06/00




Systems &Technology Flash

Copyright 2000, Faulkner Information Services. All Rights Reserved. 



Publication Date: 10/06/2000



Preview
Systems &Technology Flash is a biweekly news summary for Faulkner
subscribers, covering computer systems and software, and vendors. This
flash covers the period 09/20/2000 to 10/06/2000. 



Top of the News
After several unsuccessful attempts to appease European Commission
antitrust regulators with concessions, Time Warner and EMI Group decided to
terminate their attempted merger. The two companies anticipate creating a
joint venture or similar transaction stopping short of a merger. Observers
believe that canceling the merger deal will clear the way for the EC to
approve the larger merger between Time Warner and America Online, since
regulators expressed concern about a merged AOL Time Warner owning one of
the world's five largest music businesses.

   



Mergers/Acquisitions
In a deal valued at $1.77 billion, Sun bought Cobalt Networks. The
transaction sees Sun straying from its motto of selling only those
computers that run its Solaris operating system on its own Sparc
microprocessors. Cobalt's run Linux via AMD microprocessors. The
acquisition allows Sun to address the increasing demand for easy-to-use,
low-end servers. 

  



Alliances/Joint Ventures
3Com and marchFIRST launched their jointly-developed product Contact
Advantage, a call center system for small- to medium-sized businesses. The
system combines 3Com's NBX LAN telephony system with implementation and
support provided by marchFIRST and 3Com. 

Apple licensed Amazon's 1-Click technology, allowing returning web
customers to checkout without having to re-enter billing information. Apple
is using the technology with popular products on the Apple Store homepage.

Artisoft formed a strategic alliance with Hewlett-Packard to deliver an
open software-based phone system for SMBs and corporate branch offices.
Under the terms of the agreement, Artisoft's TeleVantage software-based
phone system will be integrated with the HP NetServer platform. HP will
distribute this offering via direct and indirect worldwide sales channels. 

BCE Emergis and HP created a strategic alliance to deliver a turnkey
version of the Emergis Buyer e-procurement solution to US and Canadian
companies. Mid-market corporate buying organizations will be able to
connect over the Internet with a multitude of suppliers, realizing
significant costs savings for purchased goods and reducing costs related to
time and processing cycles. 

Cisco and NEC formed an alliance to provide enterprise customers with a
cost-effective transition to single IP-based voice, video, and data
infrastructures. The alliance integrates NEC's communications products with
those based on Cisco AVVID. Ultimately, Cisco and NEC look to expand this
regional joint effort worldwide. 

Corio and BroadVision reported an alliance to develop and sell
Marketmaker.net. The site, which allows customers to build a market
exchange while having their application services hosted, will be powered by
Corio and developed and sold by both companies. 

Eontec and Perot Systems formed an alliance, a follow-up to the joint
marketing agreement the firms entered into in November 1999. The deal calls
for a three-year alliance focusing on joint sales, solution services, and
technical support.

ePeople's online marketplace and Adobe Certified Experts joined to provide
Adobe customers with answers to technology-related questions around the
clock. The co-branded service, coined The Adobe Support Exchange has
resolved around 15,000 queries with a satisfaction rating that exceeds the
industry average. 

Ernst &Young and Disappearing formed an alliance to assist customers with
the implementation of email policy. E&Y will advise Disappearing on
extensions to Lotus Notes that support Disappearing Email, the program that
allows email to be "shredded" electronically after a specific period of
time.

Financial Fusion and PricewaterhouseCoopers formed an alliance to offer
services to the banking industry using Financial Fusion's e-finance
technology and PwC's financial services consulting. 

The terms of a supply agreement between Icron and SGI included combining
Icron's USB Ranger line with SGI's 3000 family. SGI integrated the USB
Ranger into its Onyx 3000 series. SGI intends to make a profound mark in
computing with this endeavor in the area of modular design and computer
architecture. The SGI 3000 promises world-leading graphics capabilities,
according to SGI. 

Inktomi, Portal Software, Redback Networks, and Sun Microsystems announced
a joint venture to integrate a broadband service delivery framework,
enabling the distribution, personalization, and billing of broadband
value-added services. With this tool, broadband service providers can take
advantage of an easy plug-and-play method to deploy new revenue-generating
service offerings. The tool for delivery of billable broadband services
includes: content distribution and streaming media, integrated billing,
account provisioning and authentication, and scalability and reliability. 

Inktomi formed a strategic alliance with Mitsubishi Electric under which
Mitsubishi integrates and distributes Inktomi's Traffic Server, Content
Delivery Suite and Media IXT to ISPs, access and hosting providers, content
delivery networks, and enterprises in Japan. These groups are optimizing
their network performance, reducing bandwidth requirements, and improving
quality of service to their end users.  

Inktomi also formed a strategic alliance with MediaDNA under which
Inktomi's Internet site customers can access otherwise unattainable content
through their search engine. This means of searching is made possible
through MediaDNA's eLuminator. The eLuminator makes protected content on
the Web accessible to customers. 

Micromuse entered an expanded agreement with AOL whereby Micromuse will
provide AOL with enhanced operations support infrastructure through its
Netcool/Impact v.2.0 This expanded agreement with AOL is part of an ongoing
project within the company's NOC. 

Microsoft, IBM, and Arthur Andersen created Enfrastructure, a ThinkTank.com
company designed to encourage new e-business. In order to ensure that new
e-businesses can launch and operate their companies, the startup relies on
an infrastructure of hardware, software, and services from MS, IBM, and
Arthur Andersen. 

Novell entered a strategic and financial partnership with Digital Cement to
grow and develop online marketing portals to help companies establish
relationships with small business customers. As part of the alliance,
Novell VP Monty became a distinguished Digital Cement board member.  

In other news, Novell inked an agreement with Vocalis to add telephone
access to Novell GroupWise e-mail through Vocalis SpeechMail, adding easy
voice access to the Novell GroupWise business communication backbone.  

Novell also signed an enterprise-wide agreement with British
Telecommunications that establishes Novell as a strategic supplier of
directory-enabled technology for BT worldwide. The first phase of this
multi-million dollar agreement will include an upgrade of BT's network to
the latest version of Novell's NetWare 5.1 OS and connecting Novell's NDS
eDirectory across BT's enterprise. 

PricewaterhouseCoopers and Glemser Technologies reported an alliance to
co-market GMPharma and other delivery services to the pharmaceutical
industry. The services are aimed at improving implementations of
pharmaceutical companies' content management systems.  

In addition, PricewaterhouseCoopers and TeaLeaf Technologies formed a
partnership to bring PwC's Privacy Risk Management and Compliance practice
to TeaLeaf customers. TeaLeaf named PwC as its preferred provider of online
privacy training. 

PSINet will host the Web site of General Electric International, a business
unit of General Electric. Financial terms were not disclosed. PSINet will
provide GE Japan with collection hosting services in PSINet's Tokyo hosting
center.  

PSINet also reported that Hewlett-Packard has selected the PSINet
subsidiary for its global supply chain management system. PSINet will
provide operational support, application development, and application
hosting from its Atlanta hosting center. 

Qualcomm and Agilent Technologies forged a pact that will allow Agilent to
use several of Qualcomm's patents as well as its software. In addition,
Agilent will supply equipment for the testing of Qualcomm's CDMA systems. 

Redback Networks awarded a five-year contract worth $18 million to Qwest
Communications. The contract includes implementation services, which will
be provided by KPMG Consulting, and QCS will provide ongoing ASP services. 

Saba reported a hosting agreement with USinternetworking. Through USI's
AppHost program, Saba will use USi's network of enterprise data centers and
applications management experience to deliver Saba's Web-based learning and
performance applications to companies. 

Mexican broadcaster Televisa reported that it was "very disappointed" with
the design of its Internet portal by marchFIRST. The company cited
technical problems upon launch of the site four months ago and has not
ruled out the possibility of a lawsuit to settle the matter. marchFIRST
defended its work, saying that it fulfilled all promises to Televisa. 

Ultimate Software and IBM launched an initiative to offer Ultimate
Software's employee management software tool via the Internet to small
businesses through co-branding relationships. The offering, coined
Intersourcing for Small Businesses, is an enhancement of the hosted payroll
and employee management tool that the companies already provide to
mid-sized companies. The tool provides in-house control through outsourced
convenience for businesses ranging from 500-10,000 employees looking to
eliminate the need for an on-site payroll system. 

The US Navy postponed the award of a $16 million contract for computer
services due to congressional qualms over prospective job losses in
members' home districts. The contract to own, maintain and update Navy and
Marine Corps computers worldwide would be the largest government computer
services contract to date if the five-year contract and the three-year
extension were fully exercised. 

USinternetworking will use Novient eServices and Lawson Software's insight
e-business management system as a part of its iMAP package for professional
services organizations. USinternetworking also will manage the Web site of
24k Gold Points. The e-commerce site will provide travel services and
access to online retailers.  



Convergence
BEA Systems reported that London start-up Kizoom will launch a personalized
travel information service WAP device built on the BEA WebLogic Server.
Kizoom's offering delivers information to mobile phones in response to
timetable and journey planning inquiries for UK mainline trains. 



Electronic Business
Alysis Technologies will join IBM's Solution Investment Initiative. Alysis
will combine its WorkOut e-billing software with IBM's e-business tools,
including the DB2 Application Server. Support for IBM's e-business tools is
available with the next release of WorkOut, scheduled for this fall. 

BroadVision and Compaq joined forces to establish and market tools pawned
from BroadVision's line of e-business applications and Compaq's ProLiant
servers. The applications are running on Compaq's ActiveAnswers Web site. 

Commerce One and Hewlett-Packard agreed to combine their complimentary
technology and services offerings to e-business customers worldwide. The
relationship will certify Commerce One's e-marketplace tools for HP's
NetServer line, provide HP's engineering and technical support to Commerce
One, commit joint initiatives for  engineering and marketing resources. 

In addition, Commerce One reported the immediate availability of MarketSet
and EnterpriseBuyer, jointly developed e-business offerings that combine
Commerce One's e-marketplace infrastructure with SAP's and SAPMarket's
e-procurement, supply chain, product planning, and analysis applications.  

Commerce One also signed a two-year b2b deal that names Commerce One as
Compaq's supplier, and Compaq as an authorized reseller of Commerce One
products. The agreement will lead more companies to take part in b2b
commerce by combining and simplifying the technology and reducing costs. 

The Supplier Advantage program, Dell and Microsoft's joint venture, assists
e-commerce suppliers in accessing a wide array of B2B marketplaces,
including Dell's. Dell's hardware is combined with Microsoft's e-commerce
software and Lante's services. The program is ideal for time-conscious
e-commerce suppliers looking to visit one source for their marketplace
needs. 

Freshwater Software jumped on the Intel Online Services bandwagon to
provide e-business advancements in management and monitoring. The companies
combined Freshwater's Global SiteReliance with Intel's managed hosting
services making e-business options more readily available to e-business
customers.  

Xmarc's WIISE location services converged with HP's e-speak platform,
leading to a common goal of targeting mobile network operators. Ecosystem
users who are e-speak-enabled now have the choice of Xmarc services. The
WIISE platform includes location services for the development and delivery
of mobile data. 



Web Authoring, Web Development Software
Fujitsu Software launched Qoetient.com, a Web site management tool
delivering important Quality of Experience data for e-business. Qoetient
uses agents and Web site monitors to provide in-depth analysis of
performance and availability from the perspective of the end user of a
site. The Qoetient service is being offered at $49/month. 



Messaging and Groupware
Active Voice unveiled its Unity Enterprise, a unified messaging
communications server for Lotus Notes and Domino. The 15N02 Unity
Enterprise for Notes/Domino showcases software that includes native IP
telephony integration with Cisco's CallManager IP telephone system. Unity
Enterprise for Domino offers Lotus customers a lower total cost of
ownership for this converged infrastructure. 

Lotus reported the availability of Lotus Sametime 2.0, the latest version
of its real-time collaboration platform. Sametime 2.0 features new
multimedia capabilities, including interactive audio/video conferencing
over IP and capabilities of broadcasting audio/video/data presentations
over corporate networks and the Internet. 



Communication Systems
North American Gateway (NAGW) announced Mockingbird Networks as its VoIP
telephony subsidiary in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). The
joint venture consists of NAGW deploying Mockingbird VoIP application
switches as it assists ISPs, established operators, and new-entrants to
establish unique and profitable voice services as quickly as possible.
NAGW's initial goal is to offer basic voice and calling card service. 



Network/Systems Management
BMC Software formed a distributed database management strategic business
unit, designed to provide customers with products, support, and services.
This new unit's products will include BMC's DataOne family, which covers
such database products as SQL Development Tools, Change Management,
Performance Monitoring, and Backup &

Recovery, all to be supported by Oracle, Microsoft, and Sybase platforms. 

BMC Software introduced the PATROL Storage Resource Manager, PATROL for
Network Appliance Filers, and LAN-free backup and recovery in PATROL
Recovery for Oracle. These offerings expand BMC's commitment to
Application-Centric Storage Management services; they combine with MAINVIEW
for PATROL, which enables customer data recovery. 

Compaq and Computer Associates combined to launch two IT management
packages that target medium-sized businesses across EMEA and make desktop
and server management services more affordable. The Desktop and Server
Management services include optional Asset Management or Remote Management
and provide IT Management at $45 per seat in a 500 seat environment. 

Computer Associates unveiled an updated version of the Unicenter TNG Lotus
Notes/Domino Option for collaborative work environments. Version 2.0 offers
features that simplify administration through centralized management of the
Lotus Notes environment. It also provides centralized performance reporting
and predictive analysis via CA Neugents technology. 

Computer Associates also launched its Certified Managed Services Provider
Program, which is designed to deliver strategic sales, marketing, and
technical tools to channel partners entering or expanding their presence in
the remote network and systems management market. 

In other news, Computer Associates unleashed a suite of e-business
management software for IBM's eServer zSeries 900 mainframes. By
implementing CA's Enterprise Management Suite, IBM's eServer mainframes
will enable clients to manage new workloads. 

IBM unveiled version 5.1 of its Integrated Customer Management System
(ICMS), a telecommunications industry customer care and billing service.
Version 5.1 provides new tools to enhance the existing ICMS product,
including features that handle the increase of data, voice and video
traffic. Version 5.1 also offers communications providers a single view
across wireline, wireless, cable, Internet, and data services. 

Micromuse launched the Netcool/Precision Version 2.0. This updated version
of Netcool/Precision is integrated with the Netcool ObjectServer, the core
component of the Netcool suite. Netcool/Precision 2.0 also includes
enhancements to Netcool/Precision's performance and graphical user
interface. 

Tivoli Systems launched the Tivoli Point-of-Sale Manager v2.0, thus
extending its management technology to IBM 4690 POS devices. Now POS
devices can be managed as part of an end-to-end strategy involving
multi-channel retailing, where services are provided via online channels
such as Web sites and kiosks, mail order, and various other channels. 



Application Development
The unveiling of a relationship between Scientific-Atlanta and Unisys
displayed the benefits of video-on-demand when combined with the
capabilities of Unisys e-@ction Video-on-Demand and Scientific-Atlanta's
Explorer set-top series and fully interactive two-way digital network.
Unisys is a member of Scientific-Atlanta's CreativEdge Developer Program,
receiving continuous support and services for their video-on-demand
application development. 



Servers and Mainframes
Unisys and HP signed an OEM agreement, under which HP will promote its
NetServer 32-way system modeled from Unisys' Cellular MultiProcessing (CMP)
servers. The CMPs sell under the e-action ES7000 brand. CMPs are based on
Intel and Microsoft technology. The server's scheduled release date is
early 2001. 



Chip Technology News
The PC8739X, National Semiconductor's latest family of LPC Super I/O
devices, made its debut. The family's notebook Super I/O devices support
Intel's forthcoming LPC notebook chipsets and others while still fully
supporting existing legacy functions. The PC8739X family offers advanced
thermal management functionality and adds robustness to the overall system. 



Vendor Services
Arthur Andersen launched Hotelbenchmark.com, a service which aims to
provide real-time delivery of the monthly results from the firm's Hotel
Industry Benchmark Survey. 

Comdisco reported the release of VPNOffice and VPNTelework, which are
packages aimed at providing clients with a virtual private network through
which companies can conduct communication to remote offices, teleworkers
and mobile users. 

Electronic Data Systems released E.store Xpress, a package to help
companies create online shopping Web sites. The product is built on the
Microsoft .NET platform, which includes Windows 2000, SQL Server 2000, and
Commerce Server 2000. 

Ernst &Young released its Online Advisor service in Canada for a capped
fee. The service allows subscribers to access a service which responds to
tax questions online. It is divided into standard and express service,
which takes three to four business days and one or two days of response
time, respectively. 

Microsoft released its latest server software for the enterprise, Windows
2000 Datacenter Server. The platform is touted by Microsoft to be as
powerful as UNIX and supports up to 32 processors on what is Microsoft's
most extensive OS released. 

Oracle reported a new initiative aimed at helping independent software
vendors, application service providers, and system integrators build
wireless portals, Internet applications and services using Oracle9i
Application Server Wireless Edition. The initiative will be part of the
existing Oracle Partner Program. 

PSINet Limited, reported the opening of an Internet hosting center in
Toronto. The C $140 million facility is the largest Web hosting center in
Canada. 



Financial News
IBM reported plans to invest up to $65 million over the next 18 months to
forge partnerships with Internet consulting firms in Europe. The move
reflects an attempt by IBM to build its service offerings to bolster its
traditional hardware sales. 

MicroAge subsidiary MicroAge Teleservices has filed a voluntary petition
for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code and will be sold
through competitive bidding procedures under Section 363 of the US
Bankruptcy Code. 

Reaching $500 million in revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2000
put Micron at a 50 percent increase over that 1999. After taxes, the
company came out with $23 million. The company chalks it up to: VND,
SpecTek, and HostPro. 



Personnel and Organizational Changes
Boca Research appointed Eduard Will as the company's CEO, effective Nov. 1.
Will replaces Robert W. Ferguson, who will continue to serve as the
company's chairman of the board. In addition, Boca's shareholders
officially approved the company's name change to Inprimis. 

Hitachi transferred its Fiber Optic Components Unit into OpNext Japan, a
subsidiary of its US counterpart. OpNext is focused on becoming a world
leader in the fiber optic components market for data and telecommunications
applications. 

KPMG appointed Abraham "Hap" Shashy, Jr. as a lead partner in the firm's
Stratecon group. Shashy, a former Chief Counsel for the Internal Revenue
Service and senior partner at McKee Nelson Ernst &Young LLP, will be
headquartered in KPMG's Washington National Tax practice. 

The leader of the antitrust division and of the case against Microsoft is
resigning from the Department of Justice at the end of September. In a
statement released by the DOJ, Klein, an Assistant Attorney General to
Janet Reno, said that he is leaving to seek "new challenges." Since he was
appointed by President Clinton, Klein would most likely have been replaced
after the election in November. Doug Melamed, who served as Klein's
Principal Deputy during his five and a half years, will serve in Klein's
place until a new appointment is made. Klein's battle with Microsoft led to
a decision from US District Judge Thomas Jackson to breakup the company,
which the court found to be using its monopoly to hurt rivals and slow
competition. 

Leigh Alexander sits at the helm as new CMO and corporate vice president
for Unisys. Her key responsibilities include overseeing marketing research,
relationships with the company's user groups, and operations and processes,
developing strategic alliances, and pushing Unisys' Customer Business
Excellence program. 



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