Foster-Melliar, a subsidiary of Simeka BSG, has partnered with ExecuTrain to deliver training for the Help Desk Institute's (HDI) qualifications, recommended for IT help desk agents, supervisors and managers. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
The Joburg Centre for Software Engineering at Wits University says that it is one step closer to offering introductory courses to the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) after two of its members went overseas for training. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
PPC has entered a multi-million rand contract with Pragma Products for the development and implementation of a software solution aimed at increasing cement production volumes by better managing plant maintenance. The property boom of the past few years has placed extreme pressure on existing plant capacity, forcing PPC to optimise the effectiveness of its plants. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
Microsoft SA has announced that it will launch Xbox 360, the next-generation video games and entertainment system, at midnight on Friday, 29 September. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
Vodacom has announced Vodafone Simply - claimed to be an easy-to-use mobile solution for subscribers who utilise their cellphones for voice and text services. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
Following the expansion of its EMEA operations last month, with the launch of a local office, Expand Networks, a supplier of application acceleration over the wide area network (WAN) has announced the deployment of its Compass platform at Corobrik. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
SA Quantum Employee Benefits, a financial services company, is using GoldMine, the customer relationship management solution from FrontRange, to trace more than 230 000 employees who have unclaimed benefits in retirement funds. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
The tuXlabs project, initiated by the Shuttleworth Foundation, has had new life breathed into it with the formation of Inkululeku Technologies - a company formed to continue the work begun by tuXlabs. This new company aims to take tuXlabs to the next level as a serious business. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
Dr Michael Hammer, co-author of the bestselling book 'Re-engineering the corporation', and professor at MIT's Sloan School of Management, is scheduled to speak at this year's third annual Business Process Management (BPM) Congress at Gallagher Estate in Johannesburg from September 11 - 14. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
World Usability Day on 14 November hopes to draw attention to an often overlooked part of modern industry and one that is responsible for changing the way in which products are created. It aims to promote the values and benefits of usability engineering and user-centred design, because everyone has the right to have things that work better. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
In the past two years Sentech says that it has taken on 60 candidates for its learnership, certificate and internship programmes, and has an 87% employment success rate. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
Invisinet Technologies has launched a wireless device, the iLog, which is designed to enable companies to monitor employee attendance in real time. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
"In terms of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) view of a project lifecycle, any project is underpinned by the following process groups: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and closing," says Dries van der Colff, director of Fulcrum. "In fact," he adds, "in most organisations the life of a project is tracked even earlier, from the registration of an idea, through an approval and budgeting process, before a project is registered." [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
As part of a process to standardise practices across its operations, Clover has rolled out production monitoring technology from Pragma Products across the group's 72 packaging lines. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
With the proposed East Africa Submarine cable system (EASSy) fibre cable coming on stream in 2008, and the steady roll-out of national backbone and cross-border links, it might be expected that the proportion of African traffic carried by fibre would increase very quickly. This appears unlikely to happen within the next three to five years, according to a recent report from consultancy company, Balancing Act. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
Quadrem, the global eMarketplace, has posted mid-2006 sales numbers 27% higher than those in the first half of 2005. Supporting this growth, the company achieved record marketplace activity in Q2, with 522 080 purchase orders worth $3,33bn flowing through the marketplace platform, bringing the first half 2006 totals to 1 012 471 purchase orders worth $6,23bn. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
Juan Carlos Perez, IDG News Service (Miami Bureau)
Yahoo is testing a security service designed to prevent Web surfers from landing on sites that look like they are from Yahoo but that are fake ones set up by fraudsters to carry out phishing scams. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
Jeremy Kirk, IDG News Service (London Bureau)
Microsoft will release two versions of Windows XP in South Korea to comply with a ruling that it violated the country's fair trade practices. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
IBM has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Internet Security Systems, a publicly-held company based in Atlanta, Georgia, in an all-cash transaction, at a price of approximately $1,3bn, or $28 per share. The acquisition is subject to Internet Security Systems shareholder and regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2006. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
Oracle has announced that it will enhance its Oracle Business Intelligence Suite and Oracle Fusion Middleware offerings by acquiring the intellectual property assets of Sigma Dynamics, a provider of real-time predictive analytics technology. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
EMC has announced that MGM Mirage, a hotel and gaming company, has upgraded its EMC information infrastructure, aiming to better monitor and manage customer activity to offer real-time appreciation services. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
Elizabeth Montalbano, IDG News Service (San Francisco Bureau)
Microsoft partners are asking the software vendor to do whatever it takes to make the transition to Windows Vista easier, including offering discount coupons for upgrading to Vista to customers who purchase PCs during the busy November-December holiday shopping season. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
Robert Mullins, IDG News Service (San Francisco Bureau)
Sun Microsystems has rebounded in the server market, according to figures for the second quarter of this year. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
Steven Schwankert, IDG News Service (Beijing Bureau)
Cisco Systems says that it will acquire on-demand video software company Arroyo Video Systems for $92m. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
China Martens, IDG News Service (Boston Bureau)
Lenovo has taken the wraps off a business unit which is aimed at helping the computer company to keep a closer eye on how its operations meet the needs of customers. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
ACI Worldwide, an international provider of enterprise payment solutions, has announced that Access Bank, of Nigeria, has selected ACI Proactive Risk Manager software to automate its procedures in order to comply with Nigeria's Money Laundering Prohibition Act of 2004, and to meet global anti-money laundering requirements. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
Steven Schwankert, IDG News Service (Beijing Bureau)
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has opened a research and development (R&D) centre in Shanghai, where it plans to employ 'hundreds' of workers, the company says. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
Dell reported revenue of $14,1bn for the second quarter of fiscal year 2007, an increase of 5% year-over-year. Operating income was $605m, or 4,3% of revenue, which includes $119m of stock-based compensation. The company priced aggressively in a slower market, resulting in operating income which was lower than its May expectations on similar revenue. As a result, EPS for the quarter finished at 22 cents. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
Professional eSport is becoming ever more popular in Europe. With the Core 2 Extreme Masters, Intel has extended its support of electronic sports, and some say that the new series can be compared to the UEFA champions league. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
Following the launch of Ubuntu 6.06 LTS earlier this month, Canonical has announced that Panda Software DesktopSecure for Linux is now available to all users of Ubuntu 6.06. The solution aims to combine Panda's latest security suite and Ubuntu's interface, to give all users the opportunity to safely and easily browse, shop and interact over the Web. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
Imation, a worldwide supplier of removable data storage media, has announced the availability of its first recordable HD DVD media. Imation HD DVD and Imation Blu-ray media aim to provide businesses of all sizes with a high-capacity solution for managing their growing quantity of critical data storage. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
AMD has introduced its Next-generation AMD Opteron processor family. As the only x86 server processor with planned upgradeability to native quad-core within the same thermal design power envelope, AMD says, Next-generation AMD Opteron processors are designed to enable customers to increase computing capacity without altering data centre infrastructure. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
Robert McMillan, IDG News Service (San Francisco Bureau)
Instead of making the browser more secure, Microsoft's August Internet Explorer security update introduced a critical security bug, according to researchers at eEye Digital Security. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
Provider of ERP solutions, Sage Line 500 and SalesLogix CRM, Softline Enterprise has launched Sage Business Intelligence (SageBI) v5.0. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
The British Royal Academy of Arts (RAA), founded in 1768, which has a tradition of displaying fine art, has upgraded its security systems, and expanded its camera monitoring to an IP Video system using Axis cameras. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
When 1485am Radio Today presenter, David Batzofin decided to climb Kilimanjaro, the world's highest free-standing, snow-covered equatorial mountain, to raise funds for Hospice Witwatersrand, he realised that he needed sponsors. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
Henry Norr, Macworld.com
Full 64-bit support got top billing in Steve Jobs' Worldwide Developers Conference keynote - it was first on the list of Leopard enhancements he previewed, ahead even of Apple's Time Machine backup-and-restore technology. Even at a developer conference, however, 64-bit support was an odd choice for the lead-off position, because it is an option that even Apple admits does not yet make sense for most applications. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
Pinnacle Micro has announced MSI's 955X Platinum replacement, namely the 975X Platinum upgrade edition motherboard, which is claimed to be the ultimate platform for Intel Core 2 processors. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
Zeus Technology, a provider of application traffic management software, has announced its partnership with SA systems integrator and consulting services firm, SYSDBA. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
D-Link, a supplier of design, development and manufacturing of connectivity and network solutions, has announced the KVM-221 2-Port USB KVM Switch. The KVM-221 is designed to allow users to control two computers using one monitor, USB keyboard, and USB mouse with Audio Support. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
Unisys has announced another building block in the development of its recently unveiled next-generation server architecture, making the Dual-Core Intel Itanium 2 processor 9000 Series - better known as 'Montecito' - the engine for new models of its ES7000/one Enterprise Server. Unisys was among the first system providers to announce support for the Itanium 2 processor 9000 series. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
In December, the Siemens Communications Group will bring to market two modules for tracking and navigation applications: the XT75 and the XT65. Both modules contain a GPS receiver that allows global positioning, and EDGE or GPRS technology for transmitting data to a mobile device, the company says. The modules are based on Java and have quadband capability, which means they can be used in all GSM mobile networks worldwide, the company adds. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
RealNetworks and Novell are teaming up to deliver state-of-the-art multimedia capabilities on the Linux desktop. Under the terms of the agreement, Novell will distribute Real's upgraded RealPlayer, which will support Windows Media formats, and Helix Banshee music player as part of its SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
Xerox, distributed in 24 sub-Saharan countries by Bytes Document Solutions, has introduced the Xerox Phaser 7760 tabloid colour laser printer, aiming to boost the output quality and productivity of design professionals. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
Local networking and communications distributor, Comztek, has appointed Chris Davies as manager of its KwaZulu-Natal branch. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
Informatica SA adds Synergy Computing to its VAR base
Hand in hand with the dramatic global increase in data storage requirements is the growing demand for security. This trend has resulted in a number of recent mergers and acquisitions, among them security company Symantec's acquisition of storage vendor, Veritas. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
"Mobile operators are used to managing success and launching services where the customers just arrive. But in an increasingly tough market they now need to go out, determine what their customers want, and then develop and offer services to meet that demand," so says Ian James, senior consultant within Ericsson SA. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
The micro-finance industry, regulated by the National Credit Regulator, plays a vital role in the SA economy, by providing loans to people unable to access funding from the formal credit market. In 2005, around 2 000 MFRC-registered micro-lenders provided financing worth more than R25bn. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
Jaco Voigt, MD at VoxTelecom
We take our ability to make telephone calls so much for granted that it is tempting to believe that it is a simple thing to achieve. If that was ever true, it is not any more. During the past ten years the technology of telephony has changed so rapidly - from the advent of cellphones to VoIP - that Alexander Graham Bell would not recognise it. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
Sunil Singh, business unit manager at Datacentrix Pretoria
Successful modern organisations are constantly on the lookout for areas where they can cut costs, but all too few are aware of the real savings to be derived from effective software management. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
Hyperion, distributed locally by Intellient, has experienced an increase in customers buying its Hyperion System 9 Master Data Management solution, with recent sales being made to FirstRand Bank, HBOS, Symantec, Verizon and Xerox. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
In an effort to bolster its service support infrastructure throughout the country, TallyGenicom has announced the appointment of Advocate Solutions, a subsidiary within the listed Simeka BSG group, as an Authorised Service Partner (ASP). [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
Lefatshe Technologies, the local black-owned security solutions provider, has been appointed as Webroot's exclusive distributor in sub-Saharan Africa, bringing to market SpySweeper, the company's anti-spyware and anti-adware product. [Issue:Two hundred (21/8/06 - 25/8/06)]
