Larry Barrett

Government tax-collection agencies have a big job, but Big Blue is trying to help. IBM has unveiled its Tax Collections Optimizer, a software application that promises to help government authorities track down and collect unpaid or underpaid taxes. New York signed on as an early adopter of the service, and says it has already helped […]

Ah, the light at the end of the tunnel. After two years of slackened IT spending, enterprises are opening their wallets again, according to Forrester Research, which has declared the tech downturn “unofficially over.” The market analysis firm if forecasting a healthy uptick in IT spending in 2010, as enterprises pursue strategic investments in SaaS […]

It happens every spring. With tax time upon us, malware authors are pumping out a sophisticated wave of phishing e-mails try to lure taxpayers to click on a bogus link in an effort to swipe their sensitive personal information. SonicWall, a security software vendor, issued a warning about the latest phishing scheme, which instructs recipients […]

Adobe has had its share of security troubles with its popular Acrobat and Reader software products. Soon, after six months of testing, the firm is planning to release its new updater service, which will push out security updates, rather than users having to seek out new security improvements and releases on their own. Adobe is […]

Of all the on-demand or Software-as-a-Service providers, Salesforce perhaps best understands the importance of giving developers and customers a place to sell and find new applications for its cloud-based software platforms. eCRM Guide takes a look at ChatterExchange, Salesforce’s new applications marketplace featuring more than a dozen new apps developed by partners throughout the platform’s […]

Once again, lost notebook PCs have exposed the data of thousands of health care patients. It’s the latest in an growing number of security breaches in which third parties have gained unauthorized access to patient files, prompting the company involved to begin alerting the affected patients. In this instance, the two stolen laptops — owned […]

NetApp is upping its bid to compete against giants like EMC and IBM, today announcing plans to acquire Bycast, a Canadian firm specializing in object-based storage software. NetApp sees the acquisition as a vehicle to pad out its unified storage software efforts, offering an object-based service that uses metadata to make it easier to search […]

IBM is marshaling its forces for a new assault on the business analytics market — combining its Power7 servers with IBM WebSphere and DB2 pureScale and other software packages. The idea is a single hardware and software offering targeting high-end enterprise analytics with new levels of performance and efficiency. Of course, this is an area […]

Oracle has souped up its Enterprise Performance Management suite in an upgrade geared for large enterprise customers. The company is billing EPM 11.1.2 as the most comprehensive solution for financial transactions for publicly traded firms. The upgrade is largely based on Oracle’s work integrating its business intelligence capabilities into the EPM offering, and draws on […]

CA is tightening its belt. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the software development shop offered some gloomy news, saying that it’s planning to lay off 1,000 employees, close facilities and report earnings toward the low end of its guidance. Ouch. Word of the restructuring comes after the company reported healthy sales […]

Facebook is scrambling to squash the latest incident of malware to crop up on the popular social networking site. The company is working with Whole Foods Market, the Texas-based upscale grocery store, whose fans have been targeted by a confidence scam that offers a $500 gift card, but is really a ploy to snare users’ […]

Strong demand for chips used to make PCs, netbooks and cell phones kept semiconductor manufacturers busy in February, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association, however total sales actually took a small step backwards from January. Hardware Central takes a look at the latest worldwide semiconductor numbers and explains why most industry pundits are predicting solid, […]