IBM goes shopping

The international ICT market was quiet last week, with the two acquisitions by IBM being the highlight.

* Good year-end figures from Metrofil,e with revenue up 12.4% and profit up over 40%.
* A negative trading update from Dialogue Group.
* Investec made a further investment in Vox Telecom, as part of the latter's de-listing process, which now sees the former stake growing to slightly more than 15%.
* Amazon.com has opened a new customer service and development centre in Cape Town.
* Business Connexion is to discontinue its scheme of arrangement for its 'A' shares.
* ConvergeNet Holdings is being sued for R37 million regarding its last-minute 'pull-out' from the rescue of Choice Technologies.
* Andrew Springate was appointed chairman of ARC Telecoms.

* Mediocre half-year numbers from Maroc Telecom, with revenue and profit both slightly down.
* The US authorities are investigating whether Oracle's deals in Africa violated any anti-bribery laws.

Microsoft is being sued for allegedly tracking the location of its mobile customers.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

* Autodesk acquired certain technology assets of German-based Numenus, a developer and provider of 2D and 3D model-based design, engineering and documentation software and services.
* Cisco bought Versly, a start-up that develops collaboration tools that integrate with Microsoft Office applications.
* IBM purchased Algorithmics, a Canadian risk analysis group, for $387 million.
* IBM acquired i@, a UK-based security analytics software firm.
* Tibco Software bought Nimbus Partners, a maker of software used to improve business performance.
* Xerox's subsidiary, Global Imaging Systems, purchased Bennett's Business Systems, an independent distribution of Canon and HP copiers, printers and multifunction systems.
* Sina (China) made a $66.4 million (9%) investment in Tudou, an online video company that underwent an IPO on Nasdaq earlier this year.
* Hitachi, Sony and Toshiba are merging their display businesses in order to be more competitive in small and medium-sized panels, a sector that's expected to grow.
* The US Justice Department is suing to block AT&T's proposed acquisition of T-Mobile.
* Microsoft is being sued for allegedly tracking the location of its mobile customers even after users requested that the tracking software used be turned off.
* Satisfactory half-year figures from Computacenter (UK) and Vivendi.
* Mediocre quarterly results from Quanta Computer and SAIC.
* Mixed quarterly figures from Hon Hai Precision Industries, with revenue up but profit down.
* Mixed half-year numbers from ZTE, with revenue up but profit down.
* Quarterly losses from Ciena and Mitel Networks.
* A half-year loss from Foxconn International Holdings.
* The appointments of Eric Kip as CEO of Blyk, a mobile advertisement firm; and Olaf Swantee as CEO of UK-based Everything Everywhere.
* The resignations of Pekka Ala-Pietila, company founder and CEO of Blyk; and Richard Moat, deputy CEO and CFO of Everything Everywhere.
* Zynga's planned IPO has been delayed to at least October.

* International:
* The outcome of Vodafone's talks with Wind Hellas, Greece's third largest mobile telecommunications company.
* Further developments from HP regarding its PC and WebOS units.
* The possible acquisition of AOL, with the company either going private or being bought out by a private equity company.
* Africa:
* A possible acquisition by Telkom SA in Africa.
* The merging of the Tower businesses of Safaricom and Telkom Kenya.
* South Africa:
* The outcome of the alleged due diligence currently being done by Orange (France Telecom) on Business Connexion.

* The worldwide social media market is set to surpass the $1 billion mark by the end of next year, according to Gartner.
* The EMEA server market grew 12.5% in 2Q11 to reach $3.4 billion, according to IDC.
* The worldwide external disk storage systems factory revenue grew 12.2% in 2Q11 to just over $5.6 billion, according to IDC.

* JSE All share index: Up 3.7%
* Nasdaq: Down 2%
* Top SA share movements: Ansys (+16%), CompuClearing (-16%), ConvergeNet Holdings (-11.1%), Dialogue Group (+36.7%), Huge (+12%), Ifca Technologies (-12.5%), Net 1 UEPS Technologies (-10%), SecureData (+14%), TCS (-50%) and Zaptronix (+33.3%)

A recent edition of Fortune magazine highlighted 11 'hot start-ups' that were ready for possible IPOs. They included, from a technology perspective, the following:
* Ambarella, a company founded in 2004 that makes video-image-processing chips for cameras, and chips that help provide sharp images on HD TV;
* Jawbone, a company founded in 1999 that provides noise-cancelling technology for headsets; and
* nLight, a company founded in 2000 that manufactured semiconductor laser diodes designed to improve the performance of fibre-optic telecommunications networks, and which is now focused on several other applications.