NEWS IN BRIEF
For the record 29 May
29-05-2007
by Stephen Errity
Cisco Systems completes acquisition of WebEx | Editors discuss future of written press with EU Media Commissioner
Cisco Systems announced Tuesday it had completed the acquisition of WebEx Communications, a Santa Clara, California-based provider of network and internet collaboration solutions. As a result of its tender offer for the company, Cisco purchased 46,339,278 shares of WebEx common stock, or approximately 90.1 percent of shares outstanding. On Tuesday, all remaining outstanding WebEx shares not tendered were converted into the right to receive USD57.00 per share, making WebEx a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cisco. WebEx's subscription-based business model, seen as key to its success, is to be preserved.
Editors of major European newspapers are to meet with EU Media and Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding in Brussels Tuesday. On the agenda for discussion will be the Commission's recent media pluralism initiative and the impact on the written media of Web 2.0 features such as user-generated content and enhanced cross-media competition. In attendance will be editorial staff from newspapers in Belgium, Germany, Austria, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia and Spain. This is the third high-level dialogue between the written press and the Commission, following earlier meetings in autumn 2005 and autumn 2006.
Amanda Rowland has been appointed Partner Sales Manager for Novell in Ireland. Rowland will be responsible for the management of existing Novell partner relationships and recruitment of new partners into Novell's Partner programme. She is also tasked with driving new business revenue with, and through, accredited partners. Rowland, who was previously the company's UK & Ireland distribution manager, will report UK & Ireland Partner Sales Manager John Bainbridge.
UK telecoms regulator Ofcom confirmed Tuesday that it would be removing its requirement for BT to publish its charges, terms and conditions for certain business services, where businesses spend in excess of STG1 million per annum on BT communications services. Ofcom had outlined the specific conditions necessary for this requirement to be removed in April 2006. BT was required to deliver certain specific product development targets for Wholesale Line Rental (WLR) as an input to business retail services.
HP has secured a USD5.6 billion NASA contract to provide a range of technology solutions to US federal government agencies. The 'indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity' (IDIQ) contract will include supply of desktop PCs and workstations, blade PCs with Linux and Unix capabilities, servers and printers. The entire federal government and its authorised prime contractors can purchase HP technology through the scheme, which is known as NASA SEWP (Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement) IV. In addition, the US Department of Veterans Affairs has made NASA SEWP IV its mandatory contract for the acquisition of technology.
University College Dublin has awarded the contract for a new storage solution to HP supplier Redstone Technology. The contract calls for a system that will ultimately be scaleable up to 300 terabytes. The initial stage of the project is valued at EUR730,000, with an ultimate projected value of EUR4.5 million over 5 years. The new storage solution will support the academic, teaching and research activities of the university's 3,000 staff and 22,000 under- and post-graduate students across the five colleges and research institutes.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 