Accord takes the spotlight

The Broadcom/Serverworks and the Tiscali/LibertySurf acquisitions dominated the international world of IT and telecommunications last week.

[VIDEO]At home, the major sell-off by Accord Technologies and the continuing saga re Telkom facilities for other comms suppliers stole most of the local headlines.

• We saw disappointing full-year figures from Conlog (back in the black following significant restructuring and a refocus); and

• a significant set of disposals by Accord Technologies.

[Local]

Other local news included:

• The announcement that the JSE will investigate the situation at Oxbridge Online; and

• Telkom is again being badgered by demands for facilities, supposedly in contravention of the WTO agreements.

• We saw the spin-off from Exabyte of its subsidiary, CreekPath Systems, into a privately-held corporation;

• France Telecom`s announcement that it will make an IPO of 15% of its Orange subsidiary by the end of the month;

• the news that Zap.com and Charged Productions, two subsidiaries of Zapata, had ceased operations;

• Microsoft has lost another senior executive (the fourth in the last 12 months), Jim Ewell, who was responsible for Windows 2000 marketing;

• the name change of Network Systems International to OnSpan Networking;

• AT&T is to increase its stake in Excite At Home; and

• DoCoMo, the Japanese mobile operator, is to issue more shares, aiming to generate some $7.5 billion.

Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, has at long last acknowledged that Linux is his company`s biggest threat.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

Additionally, from last week`s Booth`s Bites, the Tiscali/LibertySurf acquisition has now happened.

Watch out for the reorganisation at Lotus Development expected this week; the possible break-up of the i2 Technologies/Ariba deal by the end of the year; the fate of Xerox as it denies seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, yet appoints a bankruptcy advisor, Blackstone Group, as part of its effort to escape from a credit crunch; the disposal by Corel of its Linux business; and the possible tie-up between KPN and Telefonica SA, the Dutch and Spanish telephony groups.

[International]

Other international news included:

• The

  appointments

  of Robert Bernstock as CEO of Atlas Commerce, Christopher Formant as CEO of IXL Enterprises, Stanley Goldberg as president and CEO of Printware, and Amichai Sobol as CEO of Arelnet;

• resignations

  of Joe Backer, CEO of NEON Systems, Joseph Galli, CEO of VerticalNet, and Daniel Lynch, founder and chairman of CyberCash; and

• job loss

  announcements from Cambridge Technology Partners, Evolve Comms, Getronics, I-Link, ICG Comms, Intershop, LoudEye Technologies, MarchFirst, Nortel Networks, OneSoft, Perot Systems and Startec Global Comms.

Additionally, Bill Hewlett, who co-founded Hewlett-Packard in 1939, passed away at the age of 87.

There were excellent figures from AVX, Celeritek (back in the black), Cree, Infosys Technologies, Metron Technology, Rational Software and Unique Broadband Systems.

Losses were reported by Ariba, ATI Technologies, DoubleClick, Gateway, Innovex, Intraware, Intrinsyc, Microlog, Onyx Technology, Printronix, Robocom Systems International, Virtual Internet and Yahoo.

Good numbers were recorded by Cole Computer, ConMat Technologies, Emmis Comms, FI Group, ITG Group, Oce NV, Pace Micro Technology, Rambus, Recognition Systems Group, Spectrum Control and TESSCO.

Mediocre returns came from MIPS Technologies and Motorola, while very poor results came from Laser Technology (but back in the black).

Other financial news included profit warnings from ASAT Holdings, ATI Technologies, Cambridge Technology Partners, Cisco, Deltek, Enea Data AB, Exabyte, Hewlett-Packard, London Bridge Software Holdings, Looksmart, LoudEye Technologies, NCR, Nortel Networks, OpenMarket, Perot Systems, Sipex, Varian Semiconductor, Yahoo and Zapata.

There were also withdrawn IPOs from Haht Commerce (Internet software), Lineo (Linux technologies and services) and Viewlocity (e-business applications and integration software). AltaVista also cancelled its planned IPO.

Locally

Advtech (+30%)

Cyberhost (-33.3%)

ERP.com (-25%)

I-Solution (+41.7%)

Maxtec (-25.5%)

OSI (-33.3%)

Oxbridge (+100%)

Pinnacle (+25%)

UAM (+89.5%)

Unihold (+27.6%)

Internationally

Covad Comms (+87.3%)

Digital River (+89.8%)

Golden Telecom (+86.5%)

Lightning Rod Software (+141.3%)

Open Market (+87.3%)

PSINet (+169.9%)

Proxicom (+85.5%)

RCN (+115.7%)

SONICblue (+80.3%)

StarMedia Networks (+85.6%)

Terayon Comms Systems (+103.8%)

Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, has at long last acknowledged that Linux is his company`s biggest threat. This statement was part of his speech at a recent Internet conference, at which he also named Oracle and Sun Microsystems as two of the other companies that are major threats to Microsoft.