IBM buys data governance

IBM has acquired Princeton Softech, a maker of data archiving, classification and discovery products, to bolster its own data management offerings, reports ARNNet.

Princeton Softech's products help customers improve database performance by separating historical data from current data and storing it securely and cost-effectively, IBM says. The vendor's test data management technology helps customers maintain data privacy and governance by creating test databases that mask and protect sensitive data.

An IBM spokeswoman says the company expects the acquisition to contribute to growing revenue in IBM's database business.

Dena Bank is working to meet the Basel II revised capital adequacy norms by March 2008, a year ahead of the requirement for banks that do not have an international presence, reports Business Standard.

Towards this goal, the bank is trying to ensure its corporate clients and small and medium enterprises (SME) obtain a credit rating so it can allocate capital more efficiently. Under Basel II norms, the risk weight would be based on ratings, with AAA rating attracting just 20% risk weight and all unrated exposures a 150% risk weight.

The bank signed a pact with credit rating agencies CARE and CRISIL to use their ratings to evaluate credit quality of existing as well as prospective clients. The ratings will help in an independent and objective assessment of credit.

May 2007 saw the launch of version three of the IT Infrastructure Library (ITILv3), the result of a major refresh project that has been underway since December 2005, according to Computer Business Review Online.

"ITIL has just caught on like wildfire," says Alan McCarthy, EMEA director of Pink Elephant, a training company specialising in ITSM best practices such as ITIL and Cobit. "Over the past seven years or so it really has picked up."

That has been driven by governance issues, particularly in the US, for which ITIL was the service management tool public companies were crying out for. "The American market picked it up and once they do it, it moves a lot faster," McCarthy says.