Cisco gets talking

In the international world of ICT, Cisco made another acquisition, purchasing Starent. This move takes Cisco into the telecommunications space. At home, the discussions regarding interconnect charges took much of the local ICT media space.

Look out for the formal debut by Microsoft of Windows 7.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

* Very poor interim numbers from Datatec, with revenue down 20% and profit down over 70%.
* An interim loss from Labat Africa. Revenue also well down.
* The transfer of the listing of Beget Holdings from the VCM sector of the JSE to AltX.
* A positive trading update from Silverbridge Holdings.
* Negative trading updates from African Cellular Towers, Huge and Labat Africa.
* Intervate, provider of enterprise content management solutions, acquired Oakwell, a Microsoft mobile and custom development solution specialist.
* Dr Deenadayalen Konar was appointed chairman of Mustek; and Videsha Proophveerajah was named SA country manager for Intel.
* Wilson Cuba, chairman of Mustek, resigned.

* Victor Oisaghie was appointed MD of Linkserve, a Nigerian ISP.

* Cisco acquired Starent, a maker of software and equipment for wireless-communications carriers, for $2.9 billion.
* Etisalat bought Millicom International Cellular's Sri Lankan operation (Tigo Sri Lanka) for $155 million.
* Perot Systems purchased BearingPoint's China consulting unit. This will strengthen Dell's capability as it absorbs Perot Systems.
* TeliaSonera acquired shares in Eesti Telekom (Estonia) and TEO LT (Lithuania), giving it a majority stake in each entity.
* Viadeo (France), a social networking Web site for professionals, bought Unyk (Canada), in a deal that makes the new entity the second largest after LinkedIn.
* BMC Software has moved its listing to Nasdaq from the NYSE.
* Excellent quarterly results from LG Display.
* Good quarterly numbers from Tandberg.
* Satisfactory quarterly results from Acer and Google.
* Mediocre quarterly results from ASML, Intel and Philips Electronics.
* Mixed quarterly figures from IBM, with revenue down, but profit up.
* Quarterly losses from AMD, Elpida Memory, Nokia and Sony Ericsson (revenue also significantly down).

* International:
* The formal debut by Microsoft of Windows 7.
* Africa:
* The launch in December by the Mozambique government of a tender for a third mobile operator licence.
* South Africa:
* A decision on the possible reduction of interconnect charges by the telecommunications companies.

* The South African broadband market had revenue of over $290 million in 2008, says Frost & Sullivan, and it estimates this to reach $1.62 billion in 2015.
* Global PC shipments in Q308 rose 2.3%, with Acer overtaking Dell to take the number two slot behind HP, reports IDC.

* JSE All share index: Up 2.4% (highest weekend close for over a year)
* Nasdaq: Up 0.8% (highest weekend close for over a year)
* Top SA share movements: African Cellular Towers (-14.7%), Ansys (-12.2%), Beget Holdings (-33.3%), Dialogue Group (-14.3%), Faritec (-16.7%), Huge Group (-33.3%), Labat Africa (+12.5%), Silverbridge (+10.3%) and Vox Telecom (-18%)

Taiwan has just published its 2009 Top Taiwan Global Brands listing. Acer came in at number one, followed by Trend Micro at number two and Asus at three. Other technology companies in the top 20 included D-Link, Genius, MSI, Synnex, Transcend and ZyXEL.