Prepare for quarterly results flood

* IBM, Nokia and Oracle have joined the European Committee for Interoperable Systems as part of the European Union`s anti-trust battle against Microsoft.

* The final draft of the ICT empowerment charter was released. This version, which some say is soft on the multinationals, scraps timelines and spells out the minimum targets that are necessary for compliance. However, it seems there are still many parties that are dissatisfied with this latest version, including the SMME Forum and some of the large multinationals.

* Very good year-end numbers from Datacentrix. Revenue up about 17% and profits up about 40% although the second six months were poorer than the first half-year.

* Unisys Africa is to sell 30% of its local operation to Cyberknowledge Systems Investments, a provider of technology consulting services

* Tilos merged with Germany`s COSA, with the latter`s CEO, Dietmar Ley, taking over the helm of the new entity that will also trade as COSA.

* Dimension Data acquired Australian-based consultancy, Bellerephon.

* Enterprise Connection`s 26% investment in DocQnet.

* Technews will launch the African edition of Computer Business Review in May 2005.

* Computing SA to launch LinuxWorld Magazine SA in May 2005.

* Mafahle Mareletse was appointed as MD of the Cell C Service Provider Company.

* David Setshedi resigned as COO of Elexir.

* Gauteng`s Innovation Hub Science Park was officially opened.

* Gauteng`s Growth and Development Strategy, which features the growth of the IT industry as a key factor, was launched.

* Kustek IT was appointed as the southern African distributor for Software602.

* The Nigerian government delayed the Nitel sale deadline to September 2005.

* Vodacom SA finally entered the Zambian market as MTC Vodafone, following the acquisition of Celtel International by Kuwait`s MTC, the latter having a partnership with Vodafone Group.

The final ICT empowerment charter draft, which some say is soft on the multinationals, scraps timelines and spells out the minimum targets that are necessary for compliance.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

* Cablevision Systems shut down its loss-making Voom satellite service.

* Newport sold off its robotic systems operations.

* Time Warner and Comcast have reached an agreement for the $18 billion purchase of bankrupt Adelphia Communications. The deal should be ratified shortly.

* Pitney Bowes is to spin-off its Capital Services business.

* The appointments of Tom Cook as CEO of Permabit, Vikram Gulati as CEO and president of Intelligroup, and Mark Thompson as president and CEO of Fairchild Semiconductor.

* The resignations of Philippe Germond as president and COO of Alcatel SA, Kirk Pond as president and CEO of Fairchild Semiconductor (stays on as chairman), and Michael Sawtell as president and COO of Interchange.

* Analyst upgrades for Altera, Amdocs, Chartered Semiconductor, Cisco, Cognos, Cree, Covad Communications, Google, Mentor, Network Appliance, Novell, PDF Solutions, Photronics, Radyne Comstream, Red Hat, Telewest Global, Unisys, US Cellular, Verint, Viisage Technology and WebMethods.

* Analyst downgrades for Accenture, ACS, Ask Jeeves, Borland Software, Ceridian, Concord Communications, Cypress Semiconductor, Deutsche Telekom AG, Embarcadero Technologies, IDX Systems, Mentor Graphics, NMS Communications, Polycom, Regent Communications, RSA Security, Storage Technology, Ultimate Electronics, Virage Logic and Visual Networks.

* Positive results announcements from Actel, Autodesk, Autonomy, Nam Tai Electronics, Napster, Nintendo, ScanSource and Secure Computing.

* Negative result warnings from Altris, Ariba, Borland, Brooktrout, Eastman Kodak, Enterasys Networks, Imagination Technologies Group, Imagistics, NETIQ, NMS Communications, Research in Motion, SeeBeyond Technologies, Siebel Systems, Silicon Graphics and Visual Networks.

* Private funding obtained for Applied MicroStructures, a provider of components for nanotechnology applications; Applimation, a start-up in the lifecycle management space; Elixent, a developer of a reconfigurable chip for mobile devices; Fortiva, an e-mail archiving company; ION Networks, a provider of security products; and Siano Mobile Silicon, a fabless semiconductor start-up.

* A share split announcement from Vignette (reverse 1:10).

* A planned IPO from Canadian-based March Networks in Canada and on London`s AIM.

* An IPO filing from Advanced Analogic Technologies, a supplier of power management semiconductors for

mobile electronic devices.

* A good IPO on London`s AIM by Telit Communications, a player in the mobile telecommunications market.

* The SEC is conducting a formal, non-public investigation of Blue Coat Systems.

* Worldwide semiconductor manufacturing sales reached $37.6 billion in 2004, up 64.2% from 2003, says Gartner.

* In a survey of a range of IT development professionals and R&D organisations in North America that VA Software conducted last October, 74% used open source technologies such as JBoss and Linux, 65% used open source tools such as GNU compilers and Bugzilla issue trackers, and 13% said they did not use open source at all within their corporation.

* JSE All share index: Down 0.09%

* Nasdaq: Up 0.07%

* Top SA share movements: ADEO (+27.8%), Alliance Data (-11.1%), AST (-39.2%), Elexir (-33.3%), Jasco (+12.5%), Metrofile (-16.7%), Pinnacle (+14.3%), Square One (-33.3%), Stella Vista (+14.3%), Trematon (+10.8%) and Zaptronix (-13.3%).

* Top international share movements: Attentiv Systems (+44.2%), Comtech Telecommunications (-33.7%), Concord Communications (+69.3%), Enterasys Networks (-34.8%), Mentor Graphics (-33%), Paxson Communications (+122.6%), RF Monolithics (+35.4%), SONICblue (+50%), Silverline Technologies (-52.4%) and Ultimate Electronics (-48.3%).

The latest issue of African Business lists the top 200 African companies. The telecoms companies listed from outside SA include MTN (Nigeria) at 70, Orascom Telecom at 72, Tunisie Telecom at 109, Vodafone Egypt Telecommunications at 119, Sonatel at 158, Orascom Telecom Algerie at 165, Medi Telecom at 169 and Nigerian Telecommunications at 187.

The only IT companies listed were South African ones. The SA positions are as follows: Telkom (11), Datatec (24), MTN (26), Dimension Data (33), Altron (41), Reunert (65), Altech (94), Business Connexion (101), Bytes Technology Group (117), Mustek (120) and AST (150).