Motorola split on the cards

Motorola's impending break-up into two entities, and a couple of acquisitions by Oracle, were highlights in the international ICT market last week.

At home, the news regarding CBS Distribution's liquidation announcement seems to have stolen much of the local ICT media space.

* Mixed interim numbers from Net1 UEPS Technologies, with revenue up but profit down.
* Positive trading updates from Metrofile, Mustek and Pinnacle Technology Holdings.
* A negative trading update from Simeka Business Group.
* Airborne Consulting, a BEE compliant IT and management consulting company, acquired DFA, a BEE compliant consulting, project management and support services organisation.
* Ntsundeni Madzunya made an additional 25% investment in KSS Technologies, raising the company's BEE shareholding to more than 60%.
* CBS Distribution, the main procurement arm of Computer Corporation, one of the country's largest independent retail chains, has filed for liquidation.
* Vodacom has offered to buy out 86 000 'odd lot' shareholders at R56.61 per share, a slight premium over its current share price.
* IPINX was established. It is an initiative that enables ISPs to pass the benefits of more affordable local and international bandwidth to their subscribers.
* Sean Bacher was named editor of Gadget, SA's longest-running online technology magazine.

* The final construction phase of the Eassy undersea cable has started, with the cable-laying ship ready to depart from Durban. The cable is expected to go live in August.
* Nigeria's Bureau of Public Enterprises said the short list for the 75% acquisition of Nitel includes MTN Nigeria Communication, Globacom Nigeria and a Telefonica consortium. The opening of the financial bids is scheduled for this week.

Look out for a possible acquisition of RIM by Microsoft.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

* Dell acquired Kace Networks, a systems management company that caters to mid-size businesses and public institutions.
* Google purchased Mechanical Zoo, a company that operates a free question and answer Web service called Aardvark.
* Micron Technology bought Numonyx Holdings, a spin-off from Intel and STMicroelectronics, in a deal that adds varieties of memory chips to Micron's portfolio and is a further consolidation of the semiconductor industry that has been under way for several months. The deal was worth $1.27 billion.
* Oracle acquired Israel-based Convergin, a provider of software that assists businesses moving from old telephone-type networks to more modern systems.
* Oracle purchased AmberPoint, an SOA management provider.
* Skyfire, a mobile browser company, bought kolbysoft, an organisation known for its expertise in creating browsers for the Android operating system.
* Motorola expects to split into two companies by the first quarter of next year. There would be a unit that brings together its core handset business and its TV set-top box business; while the other unit would combine its two-way radio, bar code scanners and gear for telecommunications carriers businesses.
* Very good quarterly figures from Baidu (China) and Netgear (back in the black).
* Good quarterly numbers from Cognizant Technology Solutions, McAfee, Millicom Cellular International, SingTel and Software AG.
* Satisfactory quarterly results from Acer, Bell Canada and CSC.
* Mediocre quarterly results from Forrester Research, TeliaSonera and Telstra.
* Mixed quarterly figures from Alcatel-Lucent, with revenue down but back in the black; BT Group, with revenue down but profit up; Epicor, with revenue down but profit up; Kofax, with revenue up but profit down; and Tieto, with revenue down but profit up.
* Quarterly losses from Nuance Communications and Sprint Nextel.
* The appointments of Jeff Fox as president and CEO of Convergys; Jason Hirschhorn as co-president of MySpace; Mike Jones as co-president of MySpace; Bill McDermott as co-CEO of SAP; Nabil Bin Salama as CEO of Zain; and Hagemann Snabe as co-CEO of SAP.
* The resignations of Leo Apotheker, CEO of SAP; David Dougherty, CEO of Convergys (stays on as a consultant); and Owen van Natta, CEO of MySpace.

* International:
* A possible acquisition of RIM by Microsoft. Look for an announcement of some sort at this week's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
* A possible US acquisition by Autonomy now that it has secured a $1 billion war chest for this purpose.
* Africa:
* The Nitel short list financial unveiling.
* South Africa:
* Further developments regarding Sentech.

* JSE All share index: Up 1.8%
* Nasdaq: Up 2%
* Top SA share movements: AdaptIT (+13.5%), ConvergeNet (-16.7%), Huge (+12.5%), ISA (+11.9%), Labat Africa (+80%), Mustek (+21%), SecureData (-12%), Silverbridge (+22.1%), Spescom (+11.9%) and TCS (+40%)

Fortune magazine recently highlighted four technology trends it saw as the next 'big things'.

They were:
* On-demand software, ie, software delivered over the Internet.
* The rise of the smartphone.
* The handling of data that may come from anywhere, including home videos, e-mail and employee records, for instance. This will benefit companies that can capture, store, manage and make sense of the growing volume of data that is becoming available.
* Smart electricity tracking/grid as the demand for energy outpaces the generation capability of many countries. Already, companies such as Software AG, in conjunction with Siemens, are partnering to support the UK's 26 million home smart meter upgrade programme.