Google forges ahead

The emergence of Google as a major player in the communications space and its proposed additional listing, dominated a quiet ICT week internationally.

At home, the ongoing Altech/Econet Wireless saga and various issues at Telkom SA regarding the new CEO appointment and the awarding of a recent major tender, stole much of the local ICT space.

* Excellent year-end figures from Xantium Technology with revenue up over 100% and back in the black from a bottom line perspective.
* Satisfactory year-end numbers from Bidoffice, part of the Bidvest Group, with revenue and trading income both marginally up.
* Satisfactory annual figures from CompuClearing with revenues slightly up and attributable earnings marginally down.
* Year-end losses from Bidvest Network Solutions and mymarket.com, both part of the Bidvest Group, although revenues up.
* An interim loss from Idion, although revenue was marginally up.
* Good Q106 numbers from FrontRange Solutions.
* Positive trading updates from ISA, Mustek and Square One.
* A positive trading forecast from Zaptronix following its acquisition of DuO Solutions Provider.
* Business Connexion`s acquisition of Bidvest Network Solutions (Bidnet), part of the Bidvest group (originally JSE-listed i-Fusion). The acquisition gives Business Connexion an Internet service provider capability and also positions it as a serious competitor to Dimension Data (Internet Solutions). Bidnet has not made a profit for several years.
* The conclusion of the Unisys Africa black empowerment deal (30%) with Cyberknowledge Systems. This seems to be the first time a major US IT company has sold part of its holdings to an empowerment partner in SA.
* The investment (50%) by UK-based 2KO International in International Business Training Company.
* The proposed re-drafting of the Convergence Bill following extensive hearings by Parliament`s portfolio committee.
* The appointments of Mike Evans as MD for Africa at Mincom and Michael Jacobus as CEO of African Legend Indigo.
* Gartner Africa formed a South African consulting unit, to be called Gartner Africa Consulting.
* The proposed name change of Enterprise Outsourcing Holdings to EOH.

* Telecom Namibia announces retrenchments as part of its restructuring process.
* A battle for control of Telecel Zimbabwe seems to be hotting-up with the focus on James Makamba, its non-executive chairman and a shareholder in Telecel Zimbabwe.

Look out for Deutsche Telekom`s possible acquisition of Atos Origin SA.

Paul Booth, MD

* Canon bought out two of NEC`s units as part of its drive to cut production costs for its new flat-panel displays and other products.
* The appointments of Barbara Dalibard as president and CEO of Equant, David Leonard as CEO of WildBlue Communications, Michael Fields as CEO of Kana Software, Richard Miller as president and COO of Pearl Software, Arif Shakeel as CEO of Western Digital, Richard Smith as CEO and chairman-elect for Equifax, and James Suttie as CEO of Infowave Software.
* The resignations of Charles Dehelly as president and CEO of Equant, and Matt Massengill as CEO of Western Digital (stays on as chairman).
* The retirement of Chuck Bay as CEO of Kana Software.
* Analyst upgrades for Cognos, Coherent, Color Kinetics, Foundry Networks, Lattice Semiconductor, Lawson Software, Linear Technology, Mercury Computer Systems, OmniVision Technologies, Pixelworks, RF Micro Devices, Secure Computing and Solectron.
* Analyst downgrades for Agile Software, ATI Technologies, BEA Systems, Blue Coat Systems, Credence Systems, Intel, New Skies Satellite Holdings, SeaChange International, Seagate Technology, SemTech and TiVo.
* A positive result announcement from Telekom Austria.
* A negative result warning from TiVo.
* Stock repurchase announcements from HP, Lam Research and MTS.
* Job loss announcements from Chunghwa Telecom and Eastman Kodak.
* Private funding obtained for Alloptic, a pioneer in the development and deployment of passive optical networks; Coradiant, a leader in real-time monitoring equipment for data centre applications; Intellon, a chip developer; Mobile Media Company AS, a company that produces branded `made-for-mobile` entertainment; and Telabria, a WiMax-class network operator.
* A private placing of stock by Creative Computer Applications.
* A rights offer from DDi.
* A share split announcement from Versant (reverse 10:1).
* A planned IPO on London`s AIM from Irish mobile software developer, Vimio.
* A planned IPO in Switzerland by Cablecom.
* Planned IPOs on Nasdaq by Passave, a chip developer; and Vonage Holdings, a telecommunications company.

* Deutsche Telekom`s possible acquisition of Atos Origin SA.
* The buyer for Turkey`s second largest mobile telephone network, Telsim.

* Worldwide PC units are set to post double-digit growth in 2005, but revenue will be flat, says Gartner.
* In the Middle East and Africa, notebook shipments more than doubled in 2Q05, according to IDC.
* According to IDC, worldwide server shipment revenue in Q205 increased by 5.6% over Q204, with IBM taking 31.9% market share followed closely by HP with 28.5%.
* Worldwide wireless LAN switch ports revenue was up 55% to $80.8 million between Q1 and Q2 this year. Revenue is expected to top $735 million by 2008, says Infonetics Research.

* JSE All share index: Down 2.1%
* Nasdaq: Down 0.7%
* Top SA share movements: Alliance Data (-40%), Beget Holdings (-10%), Infowave (+8.9%), ISA (-15.6%), Metrofile (-10%), Prism (-10.3%), Spescom (+22%) and Synergy (+8.3%)
* Top international share movements: Cielo Holdings (+27.3%), Corpora (+51.4%), DDi (-28.4%), Entrada Networks (-33.3%), NCDI (-40%), NeoMagic (+30%), OneClickHR (+26.7%), PalmSource (+25.5%), Scan-Optics (-40%) and Ultrasis (+32.1%)

The success of the week, in my mind, is the decision in favour of redrafting the Convergence Bill. Let`s hope the new version will suitably address all the concerns that have been raised.