Maura Ginty

Internet protocol communications company VocalTec Communications Ltd. Thursday launched a corporate initiative to make the jump into the worldwide telecommunications service provider market. The Israeli company plans to form a separate entity with a strategic partner or divest its current enterprise-oriented operation and not sell directly to enterprise customers. The company says it will continue […]

Alexa Internet Wednesday rolled out its free Web navigation service, Alexa for IE, which allows users to search the Web from any site and provides “inside information” on Web usage. Optimized for use with Internet Explorer 5.0, Alexa for IE includes a navigation tool that enable users to conduct searches using HotBot, Yahoo! or AltaVista […]

Investment network Quote.com Wednesday launched its Investor Education Center, a financial Web site for independent investors. The Investor Education Center will provide information, interactive financial planning tools, and tutorials. The site will also include question-and-answer sessions, advice columns, 401(k) investment information and an investment section for women. Conducent Technologies brings the interactive tools to the […]

Cable & Wireless USA Tuesday launched WebReady, an end-to-end e-business solution for small and medium-sized businesses. The solution, which combines Cable & Wireless’s high-speed Internet access with IBM hardware and software, seeks to move more business customers onto the Web while reducing operating costs. “Small and medium-sized business are the fastest growing market today, and […]

ELetter Inc. Tuesday announced that it raised $3.5 million in venture capital, primarily from Trident Capital, for its new online mailing services. Eletter targets small- and medium-size businesses whose lower-quantity mailings are refused by mailing houses, offering an online postal option to envelope-stuffers. Eletter users upload their mailing list, then ELetter verifies the addresses, uploads […]

Lucent Technologies Monday announced plans to roll out a single-chip solution expected to reduce the cost of Internet telephones by up to 30 percent. The new solution replaces up to five chips currently used in the devices and integrates 13 electronic functions onto a single chip. Consumers can also design a customized single-chip phone. “The […]

Sports Internet Group PLC Friday announced it will buy football Web site developer Planetfootball.com Ltd. for £24 million (US$39 million) as the first step in its creation of a Internet sports gaming group. Planetfootball designs, builds and maintains a portfolio of 20 sports Web sites, including Aston Villa, Leeds United and Newcastle United. Peter Wilkinson, […]

Priceline.com Friday announced it has been awarded a patent protecting its airline travel services unit, which allows the airlines to select a customer’s flight and route after the customer purchases the ticket. It is the second patent issued to priceline.com. The first covers priceline.com’s demand collection system enabling customers to give a price for products […]

Intel Corp. and Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products Thursday signed a joint venture deal to develop e-commerce and telephony solutions using the Belgian company’s speech and language technologies. The new venture will combine voice recognition tools and automated translation in computing platforms. Intel also finalized its $30 million investment in Lernout & Hauspie, announced April […]

Lucent Technologies Tuesday launched both its new venture, Persystant Technologies, and the venture’s first product, BitRoom, an Internet-based collaboration tool for online meetings. The new software server creates virtual conferences by linking networked users by phone, laptop, or multimedia PC over the Internet or corporate intranets. The scalable meeting-by-modem system, based on Bell Labs technology, […]

With more than 84 million Internet users in 1998, the potential revenue for reciprocal compensation for Internet traffic is over US$12 billion, according to The Strategis Group’s latest industry white paper. In the first in a series of telecom industry white papers, the report examines the implications of recent and future Federal Communications Commission and […]

Online car dealer Autobytel.com has gone international with the launch of Autobytel.co.uk serving the U.K. and Autobytel.se for Sweden. “Autobytel.com is the recognized leader in online auto buying in North America,” said Mark Lorimer, president and CEO of autobytel.com inc. “Our international presence serves to broaden Autobytel.com’s brand name and establishes our business model as […]