Clint Boulton

UPDATED: We knew the fines were coming. It was just a matter of when. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) settled stock-option backdating cases with Mercury Interactive and Brocade Communications Systems totaling $35 million. Mercury, acquired by HP last year, agreed to a permanent injunction and a $28 million fine without admitting or denying the […]

NAND flash memory , the popular storage technology used in certain iPods, cameras, and USB devices, is getting a boost from some high-tech partners. Intel , Microsoft  and Dell  today said they have formed the Non-Volatile Memory Host Controller Interface (NVMHCI) working group to provide a standard application programming interface (API)  for NAND flash systems. […]

UPDATED: Social-networking startups continue to be a fertile playground for acquisitions, as CBS  today acquired music network Last.fm for $280 million in cash and Fox Interactive Media nabbed Photobucket and Flektor in separate deals. Last.fm, one of the largest social-networking sites, with more than 15 million users around the world, brings together music lovers with […]

Looking to cement its place in the red-hot market for virtualization management software, ToutVirtual introduced products that helps customers monitor and manage the performance of virtual machines. Managing server virtualization software is a big plus at a time when long-time users of virtualization are weary of virtual machine sprawl: in the process of paring physical […]

BMC Software  is looking to head off problems before they stymie business processes, agreeing to acquire software maker ProactiveNet for an undisclosed sum. Privately held ProactiveNet makes analytics software that determines normal operating behavior of IT services across corporate computer systems. The software creates filters and correlation rules that detect and determine probable cause on […]

Avaya, which made billions selling equipment to help companies zip voice, video and data across networks, is in talks to sell some or all of its company, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited people familiar with the matter. The report comes as Microsoft and Nortel Networks , and Cisco Systems  and IBM  have […]

Fresh off of its biggest platform refresh in more than two years, Hitachi Data Systems today said it has significantly upgraded the digital archiving appliance it co-created with Archivas, adding diskless storage, de-duplication and new security features. HCAP version 2.0 provides an archive tier of storage where aged data on primary storage can be stored […]

BEA Systems  takes complex computing events very seriously. The software maker made that clear today when it announced BEA WebLogic Event Server, a Java application server geared to handle loads of streaming data and complex event processing (CEP) in real time. WebLogic Event Server collates information from distributed systems on the fly and applies rules […]

Multi-core is red hot. But most people in the IT industry don’t realize how much of a pain it is to write applications that can handle the increased performance that comes with multi-core processors. Most application developers have just been trained on your classic single-core scenario and lack the wherewithal to program for many cores […]

With enterprises clamoring for hardware and software that helps them consolidate gear in their datacenters, it’s no surprise that startups are lining up to drink from the multi-billion-dollar virtualization product well. Count 3Leaf Systems as one of those in the line. The company, which emerged from stealth mode in April with $32.5 million in funding […]

Opsware Inc. has fortified its server automation in a bid to improve its chances of gobbling more market share against IBM, HP and CA in the multi-billion dollar market for datacenter automation software. Opsware Server Automation System automates server provisioning, compliance, updates, and application configuration management — all mundane tasks that can eat up IT […]

Are two heads better than one to solve computer security challenges? Cisco Systems  and EMC’s  security division RSA are giving it try with a deal to encrypt customers’ confidential information. The offering, designed to preserve the integrity of anything from credit card numbers to medical records, includes Cisco Storage Media Encryption (SME) fabric software and […]