Colin C. Haley

Yahoo’s China plans and Cisco’s forecast were on investors’ minds Wednesday before surging oil price cast a long shadow over all major markets. The Nasdaq lost 16.38 to 2,158, the S&P was off 2.25 to 1,229, and the Dow shed 21.26 to 10,594. Trading volumes on the Nasdaq and New York Stock exchange were 1.8 […]

Optimism about Cisco Systems’ fourth-quarter results helped investors shake off an expected Federal Reserve rate hike on Tuesday. Overall, the Nasdaq gained 9.80 to 2,174, the S&P was up 8.25 to 1,231 and the Dow rose 78.74 to 10,615. Trading volume was 1.45 billion shares on the New York Stock Exchange and 1.74 billion on […]

Early market rallies fueled by acquisition news in the technology sector were reversed after oil prices touched record levels on Monday. Before the bell, E*Trade announced that it will acquire online brokerage operations of Harrisdirect from BMO Financial Group for $700 million in cash. Investors liked E*Trade’s move to consolidate the online trading industry, sending […]

A Cambridge, Mass., startup has introduced software to broaden the already considerable reach of Internet phone phenomenon Skype. iSkoot’s software, which is designed to appeal to frequent international callers, allows users to connect their regular cell phones to Skype’s service and buddy lists. The application automatically forwards VoIP calls from the PC to a mobile […]

Infosys Technologies today announced a major expansion in China in order strengthen its international presence and workforce. The IT consulting and outsourcing giant has earmarked $65 million over the next five years to build software development centers in Shanghai and Hangzhou. “Infosys follows a strategy of setting up world-class software development centers in locations where […]

Vonage’s Web site was temporarily down, and some customers reported being unable to dial out using the company’s Voice over IP (VoIP) service today. “The Web site was down due to a firewall issue, which was addressed immediately,” Mitchell Slepian, a Vonage spokesman, said. “In the process of repairing it, there may have been isolated […]

Network equipment maker Alcatel and billing specialist Amdocs are partnering to help telecom carriers roll out Internet Protocol TV (IPTV), the companies said today. Under the agreement, Alcatel’s IPTV platform will be integrated with Amdocs’ IP Convergence Solution. In addition, the companies will draw up a joint architectural map, as well as joint sales and […]

Vonage is beta-testing a new Voice over IP service for small and medium businesses (SMBs), a company executive told internetnews.com. “There’s a huge opportunity here,” Mark Lyons, Vongae vice president of value added reseller (VAR) sales, said. “A huge chunk of the market doesn’t have scale to receive discounts from large telcos.” Vonage Business Plus, […]

Vonage and TowerStream, two companies looking to undercut the Baby Bells, are partnering to target business customers. Under the agreement, Vonage’s Voice over IP service will be offered over TowerStream’s fixed-wireless broadband networks in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Providence and Newport, R.I., and San Francisco. The combined offering will be an alternative to integrated T1 […]

Making a play for small and medium business customers, online meeting giant WebEx announced today that it will pay $45 million in cash for Intranets.com. The deal gives Santa Clara, Calif.-based WebEx, which competes against Microsoft’s LiveMeeting service among others, a new suite of on-demand tools. It also brings 300,000 new users in 10,000 companies, […]

Archived content provider LexisNexis is teaming with TV search specialist Critical Mention to improve offerings for owners of small- and medium-sized businesses and independent professionals, the companies announced today. LexisNexis will integrate TV search and monitoring into AlaCarte, its pay-as-you-go service aimed at small and medium business owners and independent professionals. In addition, the interface […]

“Kill Your Television,” the slogan aimed at getting people to kick the TV habit, is in need of an update. It should now read “Kill your Television, PC, Laptop, PDA and Web-enabled phone.” As faster broadband and better compression make the stuttering frame delivery a distant memory, ISPs are moving more video content online. The […]