Google goes local

After all the excitement of the last few weeks, both the international and local ICT markets were comparatively quiet last week.

* ICASA`s proposals re black empowerment shareholdings for VANS have caused much consternation within the local market and are likely to be a major stumbling block for many organisations.

* The court ruling in favour of SCO that compels IBM to hand over further information re its AIX and Dynix Unix variants. This is the latest in an ongoing legal battle that has been under way for nearly two years.

* The Competition Tribunal conditionally approved the merger of M-Web and Tiscali.

* Cornastone Technology Holdings acquired eMsol, which becomes a Cornastone subsidiary.

* The launch of the Google.co.za domain.

* 4C ECT was appointed as distributor of Document Sciences` integrated software solution that manages the lifecycle of high-volume transactional documents. This is an integrated solution involving EMC and Document Sciences.

* ProScan acquired the CleanStart licence for SA.

* The launch of Tectonic Magazine, the print version of the open source news site, with the first issue due in March 2005.

* The International Telecommunication Union is launching an initiative to set up a network of at least 100 multipurpose community telecentres in 20 African countries. They will provide communities with critical access to information and communications technologies.

* The $43.2 million investment in Starcomms, a Nigerian fixed wireless telecoms operator, by equity investor Actis and the AIG African Infrastructure fund, a move that gives them a >50% shareholding in the company.

* Paul Edwards (ex-CEO of Johnnic Holdings and MTN) was appointed as chairman of Starcomms.

* A3 was named as African and Middle East distributor for Temetec, a provider of intuitive self-service analysis and reporting software.

* IBM`s current review is likely to see a shake-up in the structure of the company`s EMEA region. My reading of this is that there will be significant cost savings implemented, including a slimming of the management structure for both Europe and Africa.

IBM`s current review is likely to see a shake-up in the structure of the company`s EMEA region.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

* EDS and Towers Perrin Administration Solutions created a new company that will deliver a range of human resource outsourcing services. The deal includes a $420 million take-over of the latter.

* The $1.3 billion sell-off by the Dutch government of some of its shares in KPN NV, reducing its shareholding to 14%.

* Bull completed its controversial recapitalisation process.

* Intel reorganised into five divisions: platforms for mobility, the digital enterprise, the digital home, a digital health group and a channel products group.

* The appointments of Laurence Alexander as CEO of O2to, Ed Coringrato as president and CEO of CyOptics, Stephen Elop as CEO of Macromedia, Sean Feeney as president and CEO of Inovis, Sir Peter Gershon as chairman of Premier Farnell, Dennis Haar as president and CEO of SS8 Networks, Shantanu Narayen as president and COO of Adobe Systems, Dwanyne Nesmith as president and COO of Clear Technology, and Michael Shea as president of Global Imaging Systems.

* The resignations of Edward Barnholt as chairman and CEO of Agilent Technologies, Myer Bentob as chairman of Unity Wireless, Debbie Miller as CEO of Maranti Networks, and Carl Vogel as president and CEO of Charter Comms.

* The retirement of Sir Malcolm Bates as chairman of Premier Farnell.

* The death of Steve Goggiano, president and CEO of CoSine Comms.

* Analyst upgrades for Acxiom, AMD, Amdocs, ASML Holdings, BellSouth, Broadcom, Business Objects, CACI, Check Point Software, CheckFree, Jamdat Mobile, Lam Research, Macromedia, Mattson Technology, Mercury Computer Systems, Micros Systems, Napster, Plantronics, Photronics, QLogic, SBC Comms, Seagate Technology, Serena Software, Symbol Technologies, Trident Microsystems, Virage Logic and Yahoo.

* Analyst downgrades for ACS, CellStar, Charter Comms, Comverse Technology, F5 Networks, France Telecom, Input/Output, Juniper Networks, MapInfo, Motorola, NMS Comms, Nokia, SafeNet, Skyworks Solutions, Somera Comms, Storage Technology, Symbian, Tibco Software, Triton PCS, UnitedGlobalCom, Verisity and WebSense.

* Positive results announcements from Alliance Fiber Optic, Axon, Dmatek and Spring Group.

* Negative result warnings from Adaptec, ChipMOS Technology, Ementor, GlowPoint, JDS Uniphase, Kana Software, Parity Group, Rambus, Sony and Teradyne.

* Job loss announcements from Copper Mountain Networks, Stratus Technologies and T-Mobile.

* A planned IPO on Nasdaq by China-based Hurray Holding, a company that offers WAP services to wireless carriers in China.

* Planned IPOs on NYSE from FairPoint Comms, a rural telecoms provider; Syniverse Technologies, a wireless value-added services provider; and Valor Comms.

* The termination of the proposed merger of Oplink Comms and Ezconn.

* The outcome of Siemens`s revised bid for Austria`s VA Technologies.

* Trilogy has made a bid for Selectica, which is already in the midst of a battle for I-Many.

* The JSE All share index was down 2.2%.

* The Nasdaq was down 2.6%.

SA share movements

Beget (+100%)
Datatec (-8,1%)
Digicore (-14.6%)
Elexir (+50%)
Labat Africa (+17.4%)
MGX (+36.4%)
Pinnacle (-12.9%)
Reunert (-8.9%)
Trematon (-10%)
Zaptronix (-25%).

The latest Fortune Magazine has published its annual '100 Best Companies to work for in the US` list. The highest rated technology companies are Xilinx at five, Adobe at 13, CDW at 14, SAS Institute at 16, Qualcomm at 17, and Network Appliance at 24.

It`s interesting to note that only one of these organisations - SAS - is directly represented in SA and is the only non-listed company in the above list.