HP breaks $100bn barrier

HP became the first IT company to break through the $100 billion annual revenue barrier in a week that was quiet from an international ICT perspective. Locally, the interim results from Telkom SA and Vodacom stole much of the ICT media space.

* Excellent year-end figures from Spescom (back in the black) and TeleMasters (maiden results).
* Good interim numbers from Vodacom, with revenue and profit both up more than 17%.
* Mediocre interim figures from Telkom SA, with revenue slightly up but profit well down.
* Good year-end figures from ConvergeNet Holdings (no meaningful comparison regarding 2006, but back in the black).
* Mixed full-year numbers from Reunert, with revenue up 16% but profit down 31%.
* Positive trading updates from Stella Vista, UCS and Zaptronix.
* Infowave acquired Microzone Investment Holdings for R11.7 million, and an extra 7.5% interest in ApplyIT. Following this deal, Infoware will own Adapt-IT (100%), ApplyIT (74.4%) and Isizinda Consulting (70%).
* The South African unit of Nokia Siemens Networks made a 26% BEE investment in Sekunjalo Telecoms Holdings and Africom Telecom Holdings.
* Royal Bafokeng Capital, which already has a major set of IT investments, invested 30% in Zaptronix.
* Michael Aitken and Steven Dent, two of its main board directors, have bought out Centratel Group, a PABX distributor.
* SecureData has been appointed the sub-Saharan distributor for Passlogix and Shavik Technologies.
* Infoware intends changing its name to AdaptIT Holdings.
* The e-Skills Academy opened in Sandton.
* Reuben September was appointed CEO of Telkom SA.

New research has surfaced from Forrester Research, suggesting Microsoft Vista adoption by businesses is extremely slow.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

* MTN made an additional 15% investment in MTN Rwanda, raising its shareholding to 55%.
* Telkom Media invested 49% in One Africa Television, a Namibian free-to-air TV operator.
* Vito Bonafede, the regional director of sub-Saharan Africa for Sun Microsystems, resigned, and Tom Pegrume was appointed his successor. Pegrume will also be responsible for SA, but based in Dubai.
* France Telecom was granted a fixed-mobile licence in Niger. Only two weeks ago, the telco won the tender for the majority stake in Telkom Kenya.

* SAP announced the CEO and several members of the management team of its TomorrowNow unit, which is involved in a legal dispute with Oracle, have resigned. SAP also indicated it might sell off the unit, and Rimini Street, a provider of software support, would be a willing buyer.
* The European Commission has imposed fines of EUR75 million on Fujifilm, Hitachi Maxwell and Sony for price fixing in the videotape market.
* Good quarterly numbers from HP (now through the $100 billion barrier for the year), and QAD.
* Satisfactory quarterly results from Forrester Research.
* Mediocre quarterly results from Fujitsu.

* The possible buyout of EDS by Deutsche Telekom, the former having a market capitalisation of about $10 billion.
* The possible buyout of EchoStar Communications by AT&T, a deal that could be worth in excess of $25 billion.
* The possible IPO of Uganda Telecom.

* Worldwide semiconductor manufacturing billings reached $11.13 billion in Q307, 1% up on Q207 and Q306, according to SEMI.

* JSE All share index: Down 0.9%
* Nasdaq: Down 1.5%
* Top SA share movements: Ansys (-14.8%), Beget Holdings (+50%), Blue Label Telecoms (-10.2%), Cape Empowerment Trust (-9.3%), Cyberhost (-21.9%), SAB&T Ubuntu (-12.5%), Stella Vista (+20.6%), TeleMasters (+22.7%) and Zaptronix (+50%)

Some new research has surfaced from Forrester Research, suggesting Microsoft Vista adoption by businesses is extremely slow. The information shows only 2% have adopted Vista and 38% have no current plans to do so. It seems the resistance to Vista is strongest among Windows 2000 users, who represent about 11% of users; XP represents approximately 84%. It seems optimistic that 2009 will be the year for mainstream enterprise adoption, the time when Microsoft supposedly is wrapping up Vista`s successor.