3Com secures 100% of Huawei-3Com

The international world of ICT was quiet last week with 3Com's buy-out of Huawei's 49% stake in its joint venture being the highlight; while at home, a flurry of IPOs on AltX stole much of the ICT headline space.

* An excellent set of full-year numbers from UCS, with revenue up over 50% and profit up over 160%.
* A satisfactory set of full-year figures from Sekunjalo Investments, with revenue up 7%, but profit up about 75%.
* Full-year losses from Spescom (revenue also down) and Zaptronix (revenue also down).
* A mediocre set of interim numbers from Labat Africa, with both revenue and profit down.
* Interim losses from Beget Holdings (revenue also down) and SilverBridge Holdings.
* A negative trading update from Stella Vista.
* SilverBridge Holdings listed on the JSE's AltX. This is a reverse listing of Synergy following the latter's purchase of SDT Financial Software Solutions. Synergy was listed in the Venture Capital sector of the JSE.
* The listing on the JSE's AltX of Africa Cellular Towers, a manufacturer of communications towers and involved in the management of telecommunications network projects.
* The listing on the JSE's AltX of SAB&T Ubuntu, a professional services company that has a major IT component.
* The 26% investment by Vodacom in G-Mobile Holdings, the holding company for WirelessG, which provides broadband access including the WiFi wireless Internet infrastructure.
* The appointment of Grant Hodgkinson as MD of Mint, a Microsoft Gold certified partner.
* The retirement of Terence McPhail, MD of Mint.
* The name change of Minolta SA to Konica Minolta SA.
* Kgabo Hlala, the former CIO of the Department of Home Affairs, won the overall individual award at the African ICT Achievers Awards.

* Telecom Namibia entered the local mobile market as the third mobile operator. The other two players are MTC Namibia and PowerCom.
* The appointment of Katim Touray as MD of Gamtel (Gambia).
* The "removal" from office of Omar Ndow, MD of Gamtel.

IBM snaps up Vallent in order to beef-up its telecommunications services to the wireless environment.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

* Microsoft lost its legal battle with a South Korean company over its Office software.
* IBM snapped up Vallent in order to beef-up its telecommunications services to the wireless environment.
* 3Com bought Huawei's 49% stake in its joint venture, Huawei-3Com.
* Symantec acquired Revivio, a data protection vendor.
* Job loss announcements from Cable & Wireless, Ericsson, Pixelworks and Shenandoah Telecommunications.
* Private funding obtained for Hakia, a search engine start-up; Horizon Wimba, a provider of collaborative software for the online education market; NetWitness, a network security company; OZ Communications, a mobile messaging software provider; and Tangoe, a developer of telecommunications expense management software.
* Planned IPOs from Guidance Software, a developer of forensic software; ICICI OneSource, an Indian BPO provider; and Netlist, a maker of gear for the server and communications markets.

* EDS's take-over of UK BPO company, Vertex.
* Oracle's possible acquisition of Intec Telecom Systems.

* According to IDC, worldwide external disk storage revenues for 3Q06 grew 9.9% to $4.3 billion, compared to 3Q05. The total disk storage market grew to $6.2 billion, up 7.9%.

* JSE All share index: Up 0.3% (highest-ever weekend close)
* Nasdaq: Down 1.9%
* Top SA share movements: Cape Empowerment Trust (+27%), DataPro (+10.5%), I-Solutions (+17.2%), ISA (+11.3%), Metrofile (+9.5%), UCS (+13.2%) and Vesta (-30%).
* Top international share movements: Bell Canada (-24.2%), BroadVision (+23.4%), Epicus Communications Group (+183%), Exabyte (-36%), Level 8 Systems (+95%), NeoMagic (+22.6%), OmniVision (-26.1%), Pegasus Wireless (-19.2%) and PixelPlus (+31.1%).

Next week will see my review of the year, while the next weekly column will appear on Monday, 15 January, featuring complete coverage of the intervening holiday period.