Michael Hickins

Data integration software maker Sybase  announced a “comprehensive” applications suite today that actually falls a little short of comprehensive. It’s not unusual for a company to introduce an application suite in phases, but when the application is supposed to tie together components that are already in the market, eyebrows do get raised. The Sybase Data […]

AOL may be cutting its ties to part of its business and its workforce, but at least one partner is blossoming thanks to its AOL connection. Plaxo, an online address book that allows users to keep their contacts up-to-date, has been growing rapidly since it signed a partnership with AOL last July. The Web-based service […]

Analysis: Imagine that your baseball team needed to pick up a crafty pitcher and a power-hitting outfielder, and it ended up trading for Babe Ruth. That’s essentially what IBM  is trying to accomplish in agreeing to purchase MRO Software — filling two needs with one move. Pursuing a strategy of offering integrated IT services and […]

UPDATED: IBM  today agreed to purchase software and services provider MRO Software, Inc.  for $740 million in cash. IBM is positioning this move as way of a broadening of its product portfolio. But it will also allow IBM to further integrate enterprise asset management solutions with IT asset management solutions, said Al Zollar, general manager […]

Microsoft  launched Windows Live Spaces today, extending its integration across different components of Windows Live. The company is talking up Live Spaces as the next generation of its popular blogging and social networking site, MSN Spaces. But while it has taken a few steps forward into the world of Web 2.0, it still comes up […]

It’s not the strength of your attacker, but the weakness of your network. Although security remains a top IT spending priority, companies may often focus on the wrong issues. Most security solutions identify critical vulnerabilities based on third-party analysis, but those vulnerabilities don’t mean the same thing for every network. “One of the problems with […]

SAP and Microsoft aren’t strangers to product launch delays. So it seems odd for SAP to be thinking about upgrades when it just barely got the first version out the door a month ago. But maybe it’s learning to limit its product development excesses. SAP, along with Microsoft, developed Duet, a product that allows users […]

In a step that should help slash the volume of unwanted and pernicious e-mail, a group developing technical specs for the e-mail authentication standard DKIM (Domain Keys Identified Mail), has just completed a major portion of its work. According to Dave Croker, a member of the Mutual Internet Practices Association (MIPA), the group put the […]

Verizon Wireless  is singing the praises of its music past and future. And it’s a sweet thing. That might explain the thinking behind Chocolate, a cell phone for music enthusiasts who also happen to need a phone. The phone is designed, priced and laden with features that have more in common with an MP3 player […]

Business Objects (BO) is helping companies take out the garbage. The Paris and San Jose, Calif.-based vendor of business intelligence (BI) software is introducing a product suite designed to improve data quality and help companies comply with the U.S.A. Patriot Act. The solution, called Data Quality XI, integrates seamlessly with government databases so that companies, […]

Reporter’s Notebook: The term “political hack” is taking on new meaning. The threat of someone hacking an electronic voting machine is real enough, but at least folks on both sides of the aisle seem to be taking note. Both Democrats and Republicans got more than they bargained for in the aftermath of GOPer Brian “No […]

Time Warner Telecom  has extended its enterprise reach with the acquisition of privately held Xspedius Communications. The buy, for $531 million including $215.5 million in cash, gives Time Warner Telecom (TWTC) greater market penetration in areas such as Florida, Texas and the high business-density Washington, D.C.-Baltimore metro area. Overall, TWTC increases its reach from 44 […]