MCI sues former CEO

Japan`s anti-competitive pricing warnings to Microsoft and the $400 million lawsuit brought by MCI against its former CEO dominated the international world of IT and telecommunications during the last two weeks.

At home, the IST announcement and the news that the ICT black empowerment charter would become a legal document took much of the local ICT headline space.

* We saw a positive trading update from FrontRange; and

* The suspension and formal de-listing of CCN`s shares.

* The JSE announced late on Friday that it has reversed its decision to close the development capital and venture capital sectors as from 31 July. This is going to be a blessing for the many technology companies listed in these sectors and which seemingly had nowhere to go. For those handful of companies that did publicise their intentions, I wonder how many will continue to follow them through. Specifically, I`m thinking of Casey, Infowave and Synergy.

Other local news included:

* Sondeza Transformation Holdings` 25.1% investment in Rethink Management Consulting;

* CCI sold off 51% of its company to its staff;

* The formation of an empowered consumable supply company, Inkosa Consumables, as an initiative of Cartridge.co.za;

* The possible buy-out of IST by a consortium represented by Ethos Private Equity that could lead to the de-listing of IST shares on the JSE;

* Job cut announcements from Telkom;

* The resignations of Fani Titi as deputy chairman of Bidvest Group and Chris van Niekerk as SA country manager for 3Com;

* The appointments of four new senior executives at SITA, Chris van Niekerk as SA country manager for McAfee (ex Network Associates), Popo Molefe as chairman of Xantium Technology and Cyril Ramaphosa as non-executive chairman of Bidvest Group;

* Nokia opened an SA-based mobile phone and networking division; and

* Square One Solutions Group acquired Latitude.

New local distributorships included that of Axios Systems by NSS Consulting.

* MCI filed a lawsuit against Bernard Ebbers, the former CEO of MCI, in order to recover more than $400 million in loans and interest;

* Japan`s Fair Trade Commission warned Microsoft to change its allegedly anti-competitive pricing policy for Windows;

* IPVoice Comms changed its name to NewMarket Technology; and

* The termination of the acquisitions of ATSI by TransAct Technologies and of Silicon Space by NetSol Technologies.

Look out for the outcome of the unsolicited bid for Secure Computing by CyberGuard; and the possible acquisition of MCI by Leucadia National, a New York investment company.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

International strategic partnerships were announced between Brooks Automation and Cimetrix, MetaCarta and Group 1 Software, NetEase and Google; Saflink and Microsoft; and Sytex and Media Services Group.

Additionally, look out for the outcome of the unsolicited bid for Secure Computing by CyberGuard; and the possible acquisition of MCI by Leucadia National, a New York investment company.

Other international news included:

* The appointments of Jeff Brandmaier as president of Fiserv SourceOne, David Burns as CEO of Copernic Technologies, Phillip Docker as CEO of EasyScreen, Rudy Graf as interim president and CEO of Citizen Comms, Anders Gustafson as CEO of Spirent, Ronald Harper as chairman of MPSI Systems, Klaus Kleinfeld as CEO of Siemens (as of 1 January 2005), Paul McBride as CEO of Interactive Enterprise, Shlomo Rodav as CEO of Gilat Satellite Networks and Divesh Sisodraker as CEO of Pivotal;

* The resignations of Allan Bracklin as CEO of Volante, Bo Manning as CEO of Pivotal, Oren Most as president and CEO of Gilat Satellite Networks, Peter Scott as CEO of EasyScreen, Christopher Snowden as CEO of Filtronic, Leonard Tow as CEO of Citizens Comms and Heinrich von Pierer as CEO of Siemens (as of 31 December); and

* A job loss announcement from TTI Telecom.

We saw excellent* figures from Aetrium (back in the black), AMD (back in the black), ASML (back in the black), California Amplifier (back in the black), Chian Wireless, Intevac, LG Philips LCD, Micronas Semiconductor, Novellus Systems, ProMana Solutions (back in the black), Samsung Electronics, SanDisk and Yahoo.

Very good* numbers were posted by Adtran, Apple, Audiovox, Bonso Electronics, CyberSource (back in the black), Cypress Semiconductor, Infosys Technologies, Intermagnetics, Mphasis BFL Group, NetScout Systems (back in the black), Pace Micro (back in the black), PMC-Sierra (back in the black), Sony Ericsson (back in the black) and Vega Group (back in the black).

Good figures* were recorded by Accenture, Digi International, DigitalNet, Fairchild Semiconductor (back in the black), Intel, Netgraphe, NMS Comms (back in the black), Philips Electronics NV, Rambus and Shenandoah Telecomms.

Satisfactory* figures were posted by CEC Entertainment, Excel Technology, IBM, Manatron, MRO Software, Nokia, OSI, Printronix and QLogic.

Mediocre* returns came from AlphaSmart, Aspect Comms, CellStar (but back in the black), Concord Comms, Exar, Netflix, Oce, Planar Systems, Stratos Global, Troy Group and Unisys; while very poor results* came from Creative Computer Applications and iGate Global Solutions.

Losses* were announced by Alterian, Anite Group, BestNet Comms, Celeritek, CNET Networks, Comnetix, Datalink, Edgewater Technology, Ementor ASA, HEI, Hifn, Interland, INSCI, International Electronics, Iona Technologies, IPIX, Juniper Networks, Lexar Media, Liberate Technologies, Metron Technology, net.com, Orckit Comms, PerfectData, Plumtree Software, PLX Technology, Tikcro Technologies and Wegener.

Other financial news included analyst upgrades for ADIC, ADP, Altera, AMD, Avid Technology, AVX, BEI Technologies, Blue Coat System, CACI, Ceridian, Embarcadero Technologies, EMC, ICT DeltaCom, Innovative Solutions and Support, Ixia, Lexar Media, Mercury Interactive, Microtune, NetIQ, Network Equipment Technologies, SonicWALL, Sprint, Texas Instruments and Tyler Technologies; and analyst downgrades for 3Com, Applied Materials, Asyst Technologies, Avaya Technologies, BMC Software, Brocade Comms, Business Objects, chinadotcom, Compuware, DST Systems, FalconStor Software, Genus, ICOS, International Rectifier, Intrado, Kana Software, L-3 Comms, Lam Research, Lattice Semiconductor, Linear Technology, Maxim, MCI, Microchip Technologies, Micromuse, National Processing, National Semiconductor, Nvidia, OmniVision Technologies, PeopleSoft, Plexus, PMC-Sierra, Portal Software, Red Hat, RF Micro Devices, Sanmina-SCI, Sohu.com, TriQuint Semiconductor, Triton PCS and Veritas Software, Vitesse Semiconductor and Zebra Technologies.

Share offerings came from iBasis, Motient and Newtek Business Services; private funding was obtained for Artimi, Authentec, BridgeCo AG, Broadlight, IceFyre, Icera, mBlox, PolyFuel, Scali AS, TeaLeaf Technology, Tidal Networks and XOsoft; share buy-back announcements from Juniper Networks, SRS Labs and Storage Tek; positive results/profit warnings from Camtek, Dell, Nam Tai Electronics, Nanjing Panda Electronics, Seiko Epson and Titan; and negative results/profit warnings (often veiled) from Ascential Software, Computacenter, Computer Associates, Concurrent Computer, Conexant Systems, Creo, Embarcadero Technologies, EMS Technologies, Entrust, Extended Systems, Fair Isaac, FileNet, Imation, JDA Software, Komag, LSI Logic, NetEase, Netopia, Nokia, PeopleSoft, Primus Knowledge Systems, Quantum, SCM Microsystems, Secure Computing, Semitool, Siebel Systems, SpectraLink, Three-Five Systems, Thus, Tripath Technology, Ultimate Electronics, Unisys and Veritas Software.

Share split announcements came from Intermagnetics (3:2), Qualcomm (2:1), Stratus Services Group (reverse 1:4) and Zebra Technologies (3:2); a rights issue announcement from Symbian; a delayed IPO from China`s Alibaba; proposed IPOs from bandwidth trading centre Arbinet Holdings and comms supplier Huawei Technologies; an IPO filing from Nanosys; disappointing IPOs from NetLogic Microsystems and KongZhong; but satisfactory IPOs from Freescale Semiconductor in New York, and from NCC Group and Prologic on London`s AIM.

Additionally, Red Hat is to re-state its results for 2002,2003 and 2004 to reflect changes in revenue recognition.

Locally

Bryant (+100%)
Elexir (+33.3%)
Faritec (-16.7%)
Global Technology (-50%)
Grintek (-12%)
Labat Africa (-15.8%)
MGX (+100%)
Stella Vista (+50%)
Trematon (-11.9%)
Vesta (+50%)

Internationally

Arel Comms & Software (-35.7%)
Aspect Comms (-37%)
Auspex Systems (-37%)
ClickSoftware Technologies (-33.6%)
Conexant Systems (-43.9%)
Entrust Technologies (-35.9%)
FiberMark (+64.7%)
PNC Telecom (-34.5%)
SCM Microsystems (-34.1%)
Secure Computing (-36.7%)

The UK`s Computer Business Review has published its ranking of the 10 most influential people in the technology sector last year.

Top of this list is Joe Tucci, president and CEO of EMC, followed by Darl McBride, president and CEO of SCO Group. Larry Ellison of Oracle was rated fourth but there was no one from Microsoft in this top 10, unlike most other rankings.

Other companies represented were Acer, Apple, Intel, Motorola, salesforce.com and Tata Consultancy Services.

The surprise entry was Marlo Monti, the EU commissioner responsible for competition and the person involved with the recent EU Microsoft hearings/probes.

* NB

Guidelines for the categorisation of results are as follows and are always in comparison with the equivalent period for the previous year; pro forma numbers are ignored (the terminology may vary slightly from country to country).

* Excellent: Both revenue and net income growth in excess of 50%.

* Very good: Both revenue and net income growth in excess of 25%.

* Good: Both revenue and net income growth in excess of 10%.

* Satisfactory: Revenue is within 10% of previous year and net income is up.

* Mediocre: Either revenue and/or net income is down.

* Very poor: Net income is less than 1% of revenue.

* Loss: A loss has been recorded.