ROUNDUPS
For the record 01 May
01-05-2002
by Ralph Averbuch
Sepro wins top award for its billing software | Ed Zander, president and CEO of Sun Microsystems, has resigned
Sepro, a provider of rating and billing solutions for the telecoms and e-business industries, has won this year's World Billing Award for "Most Innovative Billing Product." The award was announced at Billing Systems 2002, in London. Sepro was nominated for the award by a customer and won on the basis of innovation and functionality.
On Wednesday mmO2 plc announced the launch of O2 -- its new global consumer brand. It unifies the company businesses across the UK, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands.
Ed Zander, well-known as the president and CEO at Sun Microsystems Inc. will be retiring on 01 July. Scott McNealy will take responsibility for Zander's duties, retaking the title of president. The US company said in a statement released on Wednesday that it did not intend to replace Zander who has been with Sun for 15 years.
Cisco Systems Inc., a network hardware and telecoms equipment maker, on Wednesday announced definitive agreements to buy two privately owned companies for up to USD258 million of Cisco common stock. California-based Cisco said it anticipates a one-time combined charge not exceeding USD0.02 a share in relation to the purchase of Hammerhead Networks Inc. of Billerica, Massachusetts, and Navarro Networks Inc. of Plano, Texas.
According to the National Venture Capital Association, a trade association representing the venture capital community, after a brief period of stability in late 2001, venture capital investment continued a two-year decline in the first quarter of 2002. Total investments fell to USD6.2 billion, a 24 percent decrease from the previous quarter, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers/Venture Economics/National Venture Capital Association MoneyTree Survey. Over 780 companies received venture backing compared to nearly 1000 companies in the last quarter of 2001.
InFlow, Inc., a provider of facility-based IT outsourcing solutions and internet data centres (IDCs) with operations in Ireland, announced its plan to reorganise the company to ensure EBITDA positive operations in second quarter 2002. The company is already negotiating terms to sell its Dublin and Dallas IDCs to local companies.
Results from the Yankee Group's second annual European Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Survey shows that European SMEs are making progress in the use of Internet technologies. This will be welcomed by European vendors and service providers who view the SME market as a ripe area for Internet services, but thus far hard to crack due to its fragmented nature.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 