Dell, HP battle it out

The battle between Dell and HP for control of 3Par dominated the international ICT world last week, a week that also witnessed several other small acquisitions from some of the 'big boys'. At home, the activities at the Kelly Group and the Department of Communications stole much of the ICT headline space.

* Mixed year-end numbers from Net 1 UEPS Technologies, with revenue up 14% but profit down 55%.

* Good year-end figures from Blue Label Telecom, with revenue up 11% and profit up 16.5%.

* A negative trading update from Ifca Technologies.

* The merger of Aptronics Group, which includes Linux Systems Dynamics and Ubusha Technologies, with KwaZulu-Natal-based PSI IT Specialists.

* A provisional order has been granted for the liquidation of Beget Holdings.

* Mamodupi Mohlala has been reinstated as DG of the Department of Communications, although some sources suggest this is not the case and that Mohlala will be redeployed elsewhere within the government.

* Solly Mokoetle, CEO of the SABC, was suspended.

* Mthunzi Mdwaba, deputy CEO of the Kelly Group, was suspended and then the decision was suddenly reversed.

* ExcellentCom was unveiled. The telecommunications network operator will trade as Hits Tanzania and will offer voice, SMS and data services.

* Kenya's mobile penetration has now passed the 50% mark, with the number of SIM cards rising to 19.9 million in Q1 this year.

* Cisco bought ExtendMedia, a maker of software that allows media companies to send video to computers and mobile devices.

* Google acquired Angstro, a social networking start-up.

* HP bought Stratavia, a database and data-centre automation company.

* Motorola purchased 280 North, a company that has created a programming environment called Cappuccino that can be used to create rich Web applications. The deal was worth $20 million.

* PSP Holding, a special purpose vehicle backed by Marlin Equity Partners and Samnite Technologies, acquired Nortel's multi-service switch business for $39 million.

* Research in Motion bought Cellmania, a company that develops infrastructure for application stores.

* Tencent Holdings purchased Chinese social media networking firm, Comsenz, for $60 million. Tencent's major shareholder is Naspers.

* Netscape's company-founder Marc Andreessen's venture capital firm is starting its second fund and targeting $650 million to invest.

* Hon Hai, Taiwan's largest technology company, is planning to open at least 10 large electronics stores in the Shanghai area by the end of 2011. It also intends to open 45 to 50 branches of Cybermart, a small retail chain it purchased about 10 years ago that currently operates in 34 stores in 20 Chinese cities.

Mthunzi Mdwaba, deputy CEO of the Kelly Group, was suspended and then the decision was suddenly reversed.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

* Investors are seeking a pre-listing stake in Facebook, which is now worth as much as $33.7 billion based on secondary market transactions. This implies that its 'yet-to be-announced' IPO could be larger than that of EBay and Yahoo.

* Good quarterly numbers from Micros Systems.

* Satisfactory quarterly results from China Telecom.

* Mediocre quarterly results from China Unicom and Novell.

* Very poor quarterly figures from Aruba Networks (but back in the black) and QAD (back in the black).

International:
* The outcome of the bidding war between Dell and HP for 3Par, a company that is rated by some analysts as the best high-end storage asset to go for. HP's bid is currently the highest at $2bn, 74% above Dell's original offer.
* The fate of ArcSight, a security software company, that looks as if it will be acquired by one of the big boys, eg, HP or Oracle, for as much as $1.5 billion.

Africa:
* A possible investment by VimpelCom (Russia) in Orascom telecom.

South Africa:
* The new Group CEO of MTN.

* Worldwide server shipments grew 27% and revenue increased 14% in Q2 2010, with HP regaining the number one slot by revenue from IBM, according to Gartner.

* JSE All share index: Down 0.9%
* Nasdaq: Down 1.2%
* Top SA share movements: AdaptIT (-8%), Dialogue Group (+33.3%), Jasco (+12.5%), MICROmega (+8.9%), Stella Vista (-16.7%), TeleMasters (-13.3%) and Vox Telecom (+10%)

In the latest listing of SA's 'Best Employer in South Africa for 2010/2011' that has just been published, SAP SA came out tops, closely flowed by Accenture SA and MTN SA. In the 'Best Empowered Employers' listing, MTN was the top technology company, followed by Vodacom.