HP keeps up the spend

The international ICT world witnessed several acquisitions last week, including another $1 billion+ one from HP; and was strongly suggesting that VMware's purchase of the Linux unit of Novell was very close. At home, the market also saw some local acquisitions and some very good financial results.

* Excellent year-end numbers from AdaptIT, however, with the change of year-end no direct comparisons are available.
* Very good year-end numbers from EOH, with revenue up 38% and profit up 37%.
* Good year-end figures from Pinnacle Technology, with revenue up 11.8% and profit up almost 28%.
* Mixed year-end figures from Jasco, with revenue down 7% but profit up 4.5%.
* Positive trading updates from Cape Empowerment and Gijima.
* A mixed trading update from Dialogue Group.
* Negative trading updates from Altech, Altron, ConvergeNet Holdings and Digicore.
* Datatec bought Biodata, a security distributor, in a move seen to boost the remit of Weston and its security portfolio in particular. The deal was worth R30 million.
* Dimension Data acquired UK-based mvision, a videoconference integrator, network and managed services provider.
* Net-1 UEPS Technologies purchased KSNet, a Korean card payment processor company, for $233 million.
* Garmin Distribution Africa has opened its first concept store in this country, which gives customers the opportunity to view and explore its extensive range of products.

* Equateur Telecom Congo's Azur Congo, a new network, has 'gone live' in the Republic of the Congo. Azur Congo is a subsidiary of Bintel (Dubai), which already has GSM operations in CAR, Gabon and Somalia, as well as a majority stake in Swiss-based Telesonique.

Twelve million tablet PC shipments are expected this year, and 18 million in 2011.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

* Calix Networks, a telecommunications equipment maker, bought Occam Networks, one of its rivals, for $171 million.
* CVC Capital Partners acquired Sunrise, the Swiss operation of Danish telecommunications provider TDC, for $3.25 billion.
* Google purchased Quicksee, an Israeli developer of software that enables users to turn video into interactive virtual tours.
* HP bought ArcSight, a security company whose products in SA are currently distributed by SecureData. The deal was worth $1.5 billion, the second security company acquisition by HP in recent months, as it gained TippingPoint Technologies when it acquired 3Com.
* IBM purchased OpenPages, a software company that develops risk and compliance management systems.
* Motorola bought Aloqa (Germany), a location-based software provider.
* Paetec Holding, a US telecommunications company, acquired Cavalier Telephone Corporation, one of its rivals, for $460 million.
* Very good quarterly figures from Research in Motion.
* Good quarterly numbers from Oracle (revenue up 48%).
* The appointment of Koo Bon-Joon as CEO of LG Electronics.
* The resignations of Jorma Ollila, chairman of Nokia, by 2012; and Nam Yong, CEO of LG Electronics.

* International:
* The acquisition by VMware of Novell's Linux operating system business (SuSE) unit (Attachmate could buy all or part of the rest of the assets of Novell).
* The acquisition of Trapeze Networks, currently owned by Belden, by Juniper Networks.
* The acquisition of Radware, a networking specialist, by either HP or IBM.
* Africa:
* The $2.6 billion sell-off by Bharti Airtel of its African telecommunications towers business to a subsidiary.

* Twelve million tablet PC shipments are expected this year, and 18 million in 2011, according to IDC.
* Worldwide storage software grew 3.3% in Q2 this year compared to Q2 2009, reports IDC.
* The number of worldwide business mobile e-mail subscribers is expected to surpass 250 million by 2014, according to IDC.
Reducing SA's piracy rate by 10% in two years instead of four would boost the economic impact by 34%, according to a new study by Business Software Alliance.

* JSE All share index: Up 1.2%
* Nasdaq: Up 3.3%
* Top SA share movements: AdaptIT (+19.6%), Blue Label Telecoms (+18.7%), Cape Empowerment (+11.1%), Dialogue Group (+14.3%), FoneWorx (+10.5%), Gijima (+20.8%), Huge (+14.6%), MICROmega (+11.2%), TCS (-25%), Vox Telecom (+10.5%) and Zaptronix (-33.3%)

This year's 'Best Global Brands' included many technology companies, including IBM at number two; Microsoft at number three; Google at four; Intel at seven; Nokia at eight; and HP at 10. Other entries in the top 50 included Accenture, Apple, Canon, Cisco, Dell, Oracle, Samsung, SAP and Sony.

Also, this year's 'Top Taiwan Global Brands' report showed some interesting changes from last year. The top spot went to Acer, followed by HTC, Asus and Trend Micro, with HTC and Trend Micro switching positions from those they held in 2009. Other technology companies/brands in the top 20 included CyberLink, D-Link, Genius, Gigabyte, Synnex, Transcend and Zyxel.