Quarterly results flood in

On the international ICT front, last week was dominated by the initial flood of quarterly results, including poor numbers from IBM and Xerox.

Locally, the ICT press space was oriented around MTN`s and Telkom SA/Vodacom`s activities and Kelvin Reynolds` resignation from Oracle SA.

* A positive trading update from Jasco.
* MTN`s drive into Iran continued, with it potentially becoming a 49% shareholder in IranCell.
* Nokusa, a black-owned management consultancy, acquired a 30% stake in Pragma Africa, a physical asset management specialist.
* Sihayo Technology Holdings acquired 30% of Tellumat in a R100 million deal.
* Business Connexion enhanced its black empowerment status.
* The resignation of Kelvin Reynolds as country manager of Oracle SA and the appointment of Oracle Ireland MD, Nicky Sheridan, as acting MD of Oracle SA.
* The appointment of Sahara as a 3Com distribution partner.
* According to BMI-TechKnowledge, SA`s IT security spend will reach R3 billion by 2009 and the local business intelligence tools market will reach nearly R900 million by 2009.

* The 30% investment by Nulane Investments in Huawei Technologies` African operations.
* The pull-out by Vodacom from its bid with Telkom SA for Nigeria`s Nitel.

MTN`s drive into Iran continued, with it potentially becoming a 49% shareholder in IranCell.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

* EMC bought Captiva Software, a provider of input management solutions.
* IBM acquired DataPower, a provider of products that help improve security and speed the processing of computer transactions.
* Telindus Group NV rejected the takeover offer from Belgacom SA.
* Borland swallowed up IT governance player, Legadero Software.
* ScanSoft changed its name to Nuance Communications.
* The appointments of Michael Adler as chairman and CEO of VoIP, Dennis Conroy as CEO and president of Computer Horizons, Andrew Eckert as CEO and president of Eclipsys, Varun Nagaraj as CEO of NetContinuum, Eric Rosenfeld as chairman of Computer Horizons, Joe Tucci as chairman of EMC, John Weston as chairman of Isoft, and Mike Zafirovski as president and CEO of Nortel Networks.
* The resignations of Patrick Cryne as chairman of Isoft, William Murphy as CEO and president of Computer Horizons, Bill Owens as president and CEO of Nortel Networks, and Mike Reuttgers as chairman of EMC.
* Analyst upgrades for 3M, Apple, Applied Micro Circuits, ATMI, Axcelis Technologies, CheckFree, Convergys, Cree, Deutsche Telekom, Entegris, Epcos AG, Equifax, Foundry Networks, Global Signal, Google, Intel, Juniper Networks, Lexar Media, Netflix, Network Equipment Technologies, Photon Dynamics, Synplicity, Ultimate Software, Visual Networks, Westell Technologies and Western Digital.
* Positive results announcements from Adaptec, Analog Devices, EFI, i2 Telecom, Logitech, Perficient, SAP and Sony Ericsson.
* Negative result warnings from ARM Holdings, CRC Group, MatrixOne, Open Solutions, PDF Solutions and S1.
* Job loss announcements from AOL, S1 and Unisys.
* IPO filings from NCI, Saifun Semiconductor and Smart Modular Technologies.
* A planned IPO on London`s AIM by Software Radio Technology, a developer of specialist radio mobile phones.
* Computer Associates re-stated its results yet again.

* The possible sale by Tele2 AB of its UK operation.

* According to Gartner, 75% of IT organisations will change their role by 2011 and 10% will be disbanded by the same date.
* According to both Gartner and IDC, the PC market is growing faster than expected and the yearly growth has topped 17%.

* JSE All share index: Down 0.3%
* Nasdaq: Up 0.8%
* Top SA share movements: Alliance Data (-13.7%), Idion (-8.3%), Labat Africa (+10%), Prism (+12.5%), Sekunjalo (+9.1%), Vesta (-16.7%), Xantium (-10.2%) and Zaptronix (-19%).
* Top international share movements: Advanced Power Components (+63.6%), Brillian (+36.3%), Canisp (-29%), Cray (+29.3%), EasyNet Group (+78.2%), Future Internet Technologies (+94.1%), Ikanos Communications (+47.5%), NCDI (+900%), Packeteer (-37.5%) and Tadpole Technology (-28%).

The latest BusinessWeek lists Europe`s Top 100 Growth Companies and from a technology perspective Assystem, an IT services company from France, came in at number one. Other rankings included C1 Group (Germany) at six, iSoft Group (UK) at eight, Intec Telecom Systems (UK) at 13, and freenet.de (Germany) at 19.