Microsoft acquires ERP products to strengthen vertical approach

Microsoft, the software giant has announced the acquisition of ERP products from four smaller ERP vendors. The acquisition is backed by the possibilities to give Oracle or SAP ERP a run for their market share.

Microsoft is optimistic that with the acquisition of ERP products, the company can grab some share of divisional business from large units that run on standardized Oracle or SAP ERP. 

The company aims to integrate those products into the Microsoft Dynamics AX suite. Among the acquisitions done, the company has acquired process manufacturing software from Fullscope, professional services software from Computer Generated Solutions, and retail software from LS Retail and To-Increase Denmark.

Till the updates, financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

Microsoft Dynamic AX suite was planned after the acquisition of Navision in 2002 and the product is aimed at upper end of the midmarket. The approach is towards involving the mid market customers in vertical strategy and the large influx of partner involvement has made it appealing for Microsoft.

It seems that after gaining a better control over the vertical strategy, Microsoft can better position those products globally.

Adobe taps social networking media, announces availability of Flash Platform services

Adobe, the leading documenting software maker has announced a new Flash platform that will allow users and developers to share Flash platform.

The company has revised as how its Flash applications are used and has gone viral to make Flash apps more social. It will help users to share Flash Applications rather than leading to them an “install” link.

Sensing the current flow of technology and in wake of tapping the potential of social networking, the company is promoting the social and viral distribution of Flash applications on the Web, PCs and mobile devices. 

The company has announced the availability of Adobe Flash Platform Services that will facilitate application distribution, tracking, and monetization. It will be regulated by three main components namely Distribution, Collaboration, and Social.

The company has partnered with Gigya, a social media management platform for the service. The new move will help users to get rid of installation nits and grits. Also, it will help making Flash application metrics more meaningful by not only providing number of visits but will also give measure of social visits in terms of friend-to-friend interactions like “viral grabs” and “stickiness.”

The Social part of the service will be made available later this year, cited related sources and will initially support connections to Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and Yahoo.

Intel introduces Moblin 2.1 with Smartphone capabilities

Intel, the chip giant has introduced an enhanced version of its mobile Linux operating system, Moblin 2.1.
With Moblin 2.1, Intel is planning to expand its reach into mobile devices. The chip maker has added phone and social networking capabilities to its Linux based operating system and is targeting Smartphones.

The new version for Moblin 2.1 was shown at Intel Developer Forum event. The Moblin was earlier pegged for netbook line of products but the latest version has the Smartphone functionality too.

The new version along with Smartphone capabilities has other features also including calendars, social networking, and news updates. The operating system is also provoked with Motorola’s MotoBlur services designed for the Android-powered Cliq.

It is speculated that Intel’s partnership with Nokia to manufacture MIDs could ride on the launch of Moblin 2.1. However, Nokia is also pushing its Linux based Maemo platform.

Also, the company has plans to launch its Moorestown platform that will follow its successful Atom line-up.

Dell to purchase Perot in $3.9 billion deal

Dell Inc, the PC maker has announced the acquisition of the technology services provider Perot Systems in a cash transaction valued at $3.9 billion.

The deal will help the company to diversify beyond its hardware business and to take on rivals Hewlett-Packard and IBM in the lucrative software solutions and services space. Further, it will provide an edge over IBM, Accenture and Indian technology services providers such as TCS, Infosys and Wipro as Perot is a specialist services provider.

The new combined entity will have total revenues of $7.7 billion, where Dell’s revenue totals to $5.1 billion and Perot's $2.8 billion.

Under the deal, Dell will acquire all outstanding common stock of Perot Systems for $30 a share in cash, which is a premium of about 67.5% on the script's Friday's closing price of $17.91 on the NYSE. According to sources, the deal is expected to close by December this year.

With strength of about 24,000, Perot provides IT services and business solutions to customers in healthcare, government and banking space. The deal had been in the works from 2007.

Yahoo announces $100 million campaign, "It's You"

Yahoo Inc, the number two search engine has announced to kickstart a $100 million branding campaign called "It's You." The new campaign revolves around the current position of Yahoo in Internet landscape and will also strengthen the message of how Yahoo wants to be the center of online life of users.

The marketing message centers around the word "you," making a play on Yahoo's iconic "Y" in phrases like "It starts with You" and "It's You." Various analysts said that the web site has been attracting lot of visitors already but the campaign is necessary to provide information to people about recent enhancements to its key products, like home page, search engine and Webmail service.

Yahoo has also announced that the new campaign will highlight its strength in blending Internet technology and communications services with a vast selection of news and entertainment content. 

The campaign will be launched in the United States by next week, in the United Kingdom and India in October and other countries by next year. The campaign will encompass all media types including television, radio, print and the Internet.

Trendnet to release 150Mbps mini wireless N USB adapter

Trendnet has recently introduced a 150Mbps mini wireless N USB adapter (TEW-648UB), bringing enhanced efficiency of wireless networking. This tiny adapter is believed to be little larger than a quarter, weighing merely 1.3 inches (3.3cm).
The device helps in connecting a personal computer or laptop to a wireless network at up to 6x speed and 3x coverage of a wireless connection. Its one-touch Wi-Fi Protected Setup or WPS technology simply reduces the necessity of convoluted codes. Coexistent, this technology assists in connecting to a wireless network. In order to connect, users merely need to press the WPS button on a suitable router and then press the WPS button on 150Mbps mini wireless N USB adapter.
“We have looked high and low and are confident in our claim that the TEW-648UB is the smallest adapter on the market today. In fact it is half the size of the average wireless N USB adapter,” said Zak Wood, Director of Global Marketing for Trendnet. “Despite its diminutive size, it performs well. We welcome all independent tests against any other 150Mbps (or 1×1) adapter on the market today. The adapter features an equally small price tag. With a predicted street price in the low $20 range, this adapter sets a new price-to-performance standard.”
The device’s highly-forward wireless encryption also ensures securing of important information. Further, its Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM) Quality of Service places higher significance on eminent video, audio along with gaming traffic for delivering superior wireless experience.
Users can purchase the new 150Mbps Mini Wireless N USB Adapter model TEW-648UB for $24.99 (approx Rs. 1,197).

Reliance Comm to sell its 10% stake in Rel Infratel

Reliance Communications Ltd., India’s second-largest wireless carrier has announced to sell its 10% stake in its Reliance Infratel Ltd.

Reliance Infratel Ltd is a telecommunications infrastructure unit. According to the latest updates, Reliance Communications is seeking regulatory approval for sale of its 10 percent stake in its Reliance Infratel Ltd. unit.

Earlier to this, the telecom infrastructure unit has already sold a 5 percent stake to seven global investors for about $290 million in 2007. Earlier, the company has plans to sell off plans back in 2008, but the company delayed its plans in view of slumping India’s benchmark stock index. The India’s benchmark stock index slumped 52 percent.

The sale will also help Reliance Infratel to pull funding for nationwide network of 48,000 towers as demand for leasing networks increases.

The related sources cited that Reliance Infratel is reviving its plan to raise around $1 billion by selling shares.

Google News witnesses two hours outage

Google News, the online news aggregation service by Google witnessed outage yesterday for long two hours. It would have affected referral traffic on many of the online publications, says market watchers.

The unavailability of news service for long two hours has led to a decline in referral traffic across many online news publishers. This is not the first time that Google is facing such a problem. Few days back, Gmail also faced the same problem. The mail in fact had faced the outage problem thrice this year.

According to the recent updates, Google News service was down from about 12:25 p.m. to 2:20 p.m. PDT. However, the issue has been resolved for now but it again fuels the debate of cloud services over conventional approach. The problem occurred due to a router overload after some routers were taken offline for maintenance.

The related sources said that web services are commonly faced and indicated that even Facebook users faced problem while logging into the site on Monday.

The outage seems to be a recurring problem with many of the Google free services. To maintain the performance scale of many of its paid service, Google maintains an Apps Status Dashboard but no such information is offered for its free services.

Vodafone unveils its Internet service, Vodafone 360

Vodafone, the second largest mobile telecom group in the world has announced a Web service meshing social networks, contacts and entertainment to compete with Apple, Google and Nokia.

Vodafone said that its “Vodafone 360” service would be available on two Samsung mobiles and four Nokia phones in eight European countries by this Christmas. The new service will offer visitors to synchronize their contacts from social networks such as Facebook and other Internet accounts.

Analysts predict that the vendor is planning to increase customer loyalty and data revenues in the face of stiff competition from Apple's iPhone, RIM's Blackberry and Google's Android platform, which all offer applications such as games and music applications.

At present, Vodafone 360’s catalog offers over 1,000 applications will be available at launch. However, non-Vodafone customers will also be able to access some of the services.