Colin C. Haley

With the ink on its corporate letterhead barely dry, security software developer NetSift has been snapped up by Cisco for $30 million in cash and options. The deal gives Cisco the software to protect enterprise customers from large-scale worm and virus attacks. The applications will eventually find their way into the San Jose, Calif., network […]

Ciena announced today that it has formed a new subsidiary dedicated to selling networking equipment and services to government agencies. The Linthicum, Md., company will consolidate a portion of the company’s engineering, support and professional services staff in an entity called Ciena Government Solutions Inc. (CGSI). “We don’t break out revenue numbers by customer segment, […]

Data storage equipment maker McData has announced it is selling its Lumberton, N.J., manufacturing plant to IT manufacturer Solectron . The two companies also agreed to a new outsourcing deal. McData $235 million acquisition of Computer Network Technology (CNT) in January triggered the moves. Milpitas, Calif.-based Solectron will take control of the former CNT facility […]

The telecom giant formed from the merger of Sprint and Nextel will be known as Sprint, but the Nextel name won’t disappear altogether. “The companies are in the enviable position of possessing two incredibly valuable brands with overwhelming positive and powerful equity in the marketplace,” Mark Schweitzer, designated chief marketing officer for the new company, […]

Responding to the popularity of multi-tasking handhelds, Verizon Wireless is introducing a new PDA phone for its business customers and more flexible rate plans. Samsung Telecommunication’s i730 runs on Microsoft’s Windows Mobile software and is available for large-account customers today and will be available for consumers July 7. It features a full slide-under keyboard and […]

Focusing on reach and consistency of services, AT&T is expanding its network into China and other emerging countries in order to improve services to worldwide customers. “We are aggressively deploying new nodes in China, Croatia, Cyprus, Ecuador, India, Malaysia, Qatar, Panama and United Arab Emirates,” Chris Rooney, AT&T’s president of sales, said in a call […]

Australia’s largest telecom is leaving Microsoft’s Internet Protocol television (IPTV) early-adopter program. Telstra was lab-testing the technology, but won’t move to broader residential trials. The decision revolved around a lack of bandwidth in the carrier’s network, not problems with Microsoft’s platform, Ed Graczyk, director of marketing for Microsoft’s TV unit, told internetnews.com. “They decided that […]

When EarthLink and SK Telecom announced their $440 million wireless joint venture in January it prompted a lot of interest and questions. Where would it be based? Besides CEO Sky Dayton who would fill the management team? How would the new wireless company compete against entrenched giants like Verizon and Cingular? Today, the company supplied […]

Web meeting specialist WebEx Communications has a newly minted service to help financial firms comply with data-archiving rules. WebEx Retention Solution allows banks, brokerages and investment houses to securely record all their online meeting content: chat, presentations, audio and video. It also optimizes the information so it can be stored, and easily located, in a […]

IBM has won an outsourcing and consulting contract from NiSource worth $1.6 billion over 10 years, the companies announced this morning. NiSource, a natural gas and electricity supplier with nearly 4 million customers, expects to save $530 million over the life of the contract, much of it from payroll cuts. Under the terms of the […]

Sonim Technologies’ plan to hire engineers for a new R&D center in India came through with a deal to acquire Bangalore-based Synergy Infotech for an undisclosed sum. Next up on the to-do list: filling out its center there to advance wireless Voice over Internet protocol software. “Sonim has been a partner with Synergy from an […]

The operations of large corporations are increasingly dispersed: a corporate headquarters in the United States; a software development lab in India; a manufacturing plant in China; sales outposts all over the world. The structure, which requires fast and reliable communications, bodes well for wide area network service providers, according to Forrester Research . In a […]