MS buys Zoomix

Microsoft has agreed to buy Zoomix Data Mastering, a small Jerusalem-based company that provides data-quality technology, to bolster its SQL Server business, reports Computerworld.

Microsoft plans to add Zoomix's technology to future releases of its SQL Server database, the company said.

Zoomix's development team will join the SQL Server team at Microsoft's research and development centre in Israel.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) expects to introduce its first Energy Star rating for servers by year's end, though a more comprehensive system that measures the energy consumed by actual workloads will take longer to develop, says Computerworld.

The Energy Star programme is designed to make it easier for customers to compare the energy efficiency of different products. Ratings are available for more than 50 types of products, including desktop PCs, monitors and ceiling fans. But the server rating system has been difficult to develop.

"This server programme is one of the most complicated we've tried to deal with," said Arthur Howard, an associate at ICF International, a US firm that provides technical consulting to the EPA on the Energy Star initiative.

The new iPhone is in more than one million customers' hands despite server problems over the weekend, reports WNBC.

The updated iPhone went on sale Friday, but a server meltdown at Apple meant many users faced hours of frustration trying to get their new phones activated.

A spokesman for AT&T, the exclusive carrier for the iPhone in the US, said there was a global problem with the Apple iTunes servers. AT&T had planned to offer in-store activation, but many buyers were sent home and told to try later.