On the rise

The international ICT market was strangely quiet with little significant news. Google, Neoware and TDK posted excellent/very good quarterly numbers, while disappointing figures emanated from Fujitsu, Kodak, Maxtor and Quantum.

The local ICT scene was again subdued with no earth-shattering announcements.

* Very good interim numbers from Prism with profit up more than 100%.
* A mixed trading update from GijimaAst.
* ICASA awarded a switching systems licence to openVOICE.
* Proudafrique`s 26.2% investment in Square One.
* Netsurit acquired Electron Highway, an Apple support firm.
* The creation of a 50/50 joint venture, Digital Inter-Active, between Digital Mall and Inter-Active Technologies.
* Quintica and Venture Communications created a joint venture for service management.
* The end of the monopoly enjoyed by MultiChoice SA in the pay-TV market, following ICASA`s invitation for others to apply for licences.
* The appointments of Duncan Coles as chairman of UCS, Erik de Rijk as CEO of VenFin, Johan de Villiers as CEO of Enterprise Connection, Johannes Els as chairman of VenFin, and Norman Munzhelele as chairman of the ICT empowerment charter steering committee.
* The resignations of Josua Malherbe as CEO of VenFin, James Murray as joint-CEO of Simeka BSG and Johann Rupert as chairman of VenFin.
* The retirement of Richard Goodman as chairman of UCS.

Fortune Magazine`s list of rising stars includes Ursula Burns of Xerox, Greg Brown of Motorola, Kevin Johnson of Microsoft and Steve Burke of Comcast.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

* The setting-up of a joint venture between Net 1 UEPS Technologies and SmartSwitch Botswana to launch and operate a national UEPS smart card-based switching and settlement system in Botswana.
* Emirates Telecommunications confirmed it will bid for Egypt`s third mobile licence.
* Cisco opened an office in Algeria.
* Econet Wireless Global purchased Telekom Malaysia`s 60% stake in Telekom Networks Malawi for $24.5 million.
* The government of Ghana purchased Telekom Malaysia`s 30% stake in Ghana Telecom, making it a wholly-owned government entity.
* Maroc Telecom posted good quarterly revenues, which were up over 17%.
* The Nigerian government opened up a `new scenario` for the sell-off of a stake in Nitel.

* Vodafone looks to double its stake in Polish mobile operator, Polkomtel.
* The merger of Danish Topnordic AS and Norway`s Ementor ASA, both providers of IT services.
* The appointments of Gary Butler as CEO of ADP, Ron Dougherty as CEO of Surfware, Larry Enterline as CEO of Comsys IT Partners, Jay Freeland as co-CEO of Faro Technologies, Allen Kosowsky as chairman of On2 Technologies, Terry Lewis as president and CEO of Sage Telecom, Dennis McKenna as chairman, president and CEO of SGI, James Meyer as interim CEO of On2 Technologies, Mark Rachesky as chairman of Loral Space & Telecommunications, David Rhodes as CEO of Filtronic, Michael Roach as CEO of CGI Group, Jonathan Romeyn as COO and president of Surfware, Michael Targoff as CEO of Loral Space & Telecommunications and Rhys Williams as chairman of Filtronic.
* The resignations of Robert Bishop as chairman, president and CEO of SGI, Francesco Caio as CEO of Cable & Wireless, Serge Godin as CEO of CGI Group (stays on as chairman), Werner Heid as CEO of Iomega, Sir Julian Horn-Smith as deputy CEO and one of the founding fathers of Vodafone, Douglas McIntyre as chairman, president and CEO of On2 Technologies, John Roulston as CEO of Filtronic, and Michael Willis as CEO of Comsys IT Partners.
* The retirements of Bernard Schwartz as chairman and CEO of Loral Space & Communications, and Arthur Weinbach as CEO of ADP.
* Analyst upgrades for Advent Software, Asyst Technologies, Cisco, Cymer, Electronic Arts, Equifax, Foundry Networks, Freescale Semiconductor, Honeywell, Interactive Intelligence, Juniper Networks, L-3 Communications, Micrel, Microtune, Research in Motion, Texas Instruments, Tibco Software and Yahoo.
* Analyst downgrades for AMD, Artesyn Technologies, Autodesk, CheckFree, ChoicePoint, Cognos, Comtech Group, Epicor, Ericsson, Flextronics, Forrester Research, Gateway, Google, JDS Uniphase, Magna Design Automation, MicroStrategy, NTT DoCoMo, Nvidia, RightNow Technologies, SafeNet, SigmaTel, STMicroelectronics, Synplicity, Take-Two Interactive Software and Zoran.
* A positive results announcement from IQE.
* Negative result warnings from Cable & Wireless, Eastman Kodak, Linktone, RightNow Technologies and WebSideStory.
* Stock repurchase announcements from ChoicePoint, Comcast, SigmaTel and Symantec.
* A job loss announcement from Electronic Arts.
* Private funding obtained for Amalfi Semiconductor; Dexterra, an innovator of mobile business software; InfoSonics, a distributor of wireless handsets; Invision.com, a managed service provider; and The Cloud, a hotspot operator.
* A private placing of stock by InfoSonics.
* A stock offering announcement by Genesys Conferencing.
* Share split announcements from QLogic (2:1), Quality Systems (2:1) and Websense (2:1).
* A disappointing IPO from Smart Modular Technologies, a maker of memory modules and LCDs.
* A good IPO by IncrediMail, an Israeli-based specialist in animated characters, sound and other enhancements for e-mail.

* The worldwide market for handheld devices grew by 37.6% in Q405 compared to Q305, says IDC, with 2.2 million units shipped. Palm maintained its position as the market leader, followed by HP, Dell and Acer.

* JSE All share index: Down 1.1%
* Nasdaq: Down 1.8%
* Top SA share movements: Alliance Data (+14.3%), Beget (-25%), Cape Empowerment Trust (+18.2%), Dynamic Cables (-11.1%), GijimaAst (-11.4%), I-Solutions (+22.2%), Paracon (+11.1%), Pinnacle (+13.1%), Synergy (+25%) and Vesta (-25%).
* Top international share movements: AMIS Holding (-25.1%), Bitstream (+42.1%), eGain Communications (+33.3%), Filtronic (-30.5%), Forgent Networks (-44.5%), Intraware (+25%), Rackable Systems (+25.9%), Silverline Technologies (+46.2%), Sirvis IT (+38%) and Warthog (-50%).

Fortune Magazine has published its latest list of rising stars, ie the most `desired` executives who aren`t yet CEOs. From a technology perspective, the list includes Ursula Burns of Xerox, Greg Brown of Motorola, Kevin Johnson of Microsoft and Steve Burke of Comcast.