Two weeks in perspective

The last two weeks witnessed exciting moves for some local IT executives as well as Infraco news from government. Internationally, the European Commission charged Intel with anti-trust violations.

* Very good Q3 numbers from Datacraft Asia, a unit of Dimension Data, with revenue and earnings both up over 30%.
* A positive trading update from Dialogue Group.
* A negative trading update from Beget Holdings.
* TelePassport will list on the AltX in early August under the name Huge Group, and not via the reverse takeover of Cenmag.
* Faritec acquired Software Futures from the curators of the now defunct Fidentia group for R12.2 million.
* Datatec's subsidiary, Westcon, purchased 50% of the shares of Turkey's Netex, a networking and security products distributor, for $2.9 million.
* Dialogue Group invested R41 million (51%) in Continuity SA.
* QPR Software established a South African subsidiary, headed by John Kirton. Finland-based QPR Software is a performance and process management software vendor.
* Government announced that Infraco, the new bulk wired broadband provider, will remain a fully government-owned business.
* Stafford Masie was appointed GM of the new local Google operation, and Brian Townsend was appointed MD of Foster-Melliar.
* Stafford Masie resigned as country manager of Novell SA, and Conn Wood resigned from his position as MD of Foster-Melliar.

* The Rwandan government bought back its telecommunications company, Terracom Communications, from entrepreneur Greg Wyler.
* The Nepad Broadband Infrastructure Network announced it will lay its own East African undersea cable.
* Celtel, owned by Kuwait's MTC, is relocating its Africa office to Nairobi from the Netherlands. Celtel, Africa's third largest cellular provider, has operations in 14 African countries, including Kenya, Nigeria and the DRC.

* The European Commission charged Intel with anti-trust violations.
* Dell acquired ASAP Software, a software solutions and licensing services provider and a subsidiary of Corporate Express, for $340 million. The deal strengthens Dell's existing software business by integrating ASAP's complementary expertise in managing software licensing, purchasing, renewals and compliance. This is only Dell's fourth takeover, but is the second within the last six weeks.
* Time Warner's AOL unit bought Tacoda, a marketing firm that specialises in tracking Web user habits to deliver targeted online ads.
* HP purchased Opsware, a systems management software developer, for $1.6 billion. This deal significantly enhances HP current systems management offerings and will provide users with a comprehensive solution.
* HP acquired Neoware, a thin-client computing specialist, for $214 million. This deal will give HP a similar market share to that of Wyse, at about 32%, and will boost HP's Linux software, client virtualisation and customisation capabilities.
* KPN, the Dutch telecommunications company, bought Getronics for $1.05 billion. Getronics is one of Europe's largest IT services organisations, with annual revenue in excess of $3.5 billion in 2006. The deal is an exact replica, but significantly larger, of the Telkom SA/BCX proposal that was recently vetoed by the Competition Tribunal; a decision that still doesn't make any sense, and highlights the naivety of that ruling.
* Microsoft purchased AdECN, a software start-up that runs a network linking buyers and sellers of Internet ad space.
* Nokia bought Twango, a media-sharing software vendor, a move that will allow the former to exploit the growth of social networks on mobile devices.
* Patni Computer Services, one of India's major outsourcing companies, acquired Taratec Development, a life sciences consulting company. The latter provides regulatory compliance, project management and systems implementation services to customers, including 18 of the top 20 global pharmaceutical companies.
* TomTom International NV bought Tele Atlas, a digital mapping company. TomTom is one of the top three worldwide GPS device vendors, the other two being Garmin and Mio Technologies of Taiwan, part of the Mitac group.
* Verizon Wireless, a JV between Verizon Communications and Vodafone, acquired Rural Cellular for $757 million, in a deal that will boost the former's customer base by 700 000 subscribers.
* Excellent quarterly results from AT&T, Garmin and Millicom Cellular International.
* Very good quarterly figures from Amazon.com, Apple, Nokia (earnings up more than 100%), Satyam Computer Services, TomTom International NV and Western Digital.
* Good quarterly numbers from Business Objects, Capgemini, Capita Group (UK), EMC, Infineon Technologies (also back in the black), Lenovo (earnings up more than tenfold), McAfee, Patni Computer Systems (also well back in the black), Pitney Bowes (also back in the black), Qualcomm, Ricoh, Sony, Telefonica and Toshiba (earnings up over five times).
* Satisfactory quarterly results from Arrow Electronics, Atos Origin (but earnings significantly up), BT Group, CA, Canon, CDW, EDS, France Telecom, NCR, Plantronics, Sun Microsystems (also well back in the black), TDK, Verizon Communications and Xerox.
* Mediocre quarterly results from Epicor, Gartner, Groupe Bull, Kodak (but back in the black), Lexmark, NEC (but back in the black), NTT, Pioneer, Sanyo, Sybase, Symantec, TSMC (the world's largest contract chipmaker) and Zebra Technologies.
* Mixed quarterly figures from Avaya (revenue down but earnings up).
* Very poor quarterly figures from Compuware.
* Quarterly losses from Alcatel-Lucent, Andrew, Ariba, Fujitsu, Hitachi, NEC Electronics, Nortel Networks, Quantum, Sify (India), Texas Instruments, Unisys (revenue also down) and VeriSign.
* The appointment of Phillipe Germond as CEO of Atos Origin.
* The resignation of Bernard Bourigeaud as CEO of Atos Origin.
* A planned IPO in Hong Kong from Alibaba, China's largest e-commerce company that swallowed Yahoo China some months ago, although the latter still holds a 40% stake. The deal is expected to raise over $1 billion and will be used for expanding its international presence.

The [KPN/Getronics] deal is an exact replica of the Telkom SA/BCX proposal that was recently vetoed by the Competition Tribunal.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

* The possible purchase of Groupe Bull by HP. The former has been struggling for many years and has been bailed out several times by the French government.
* Acer's possible acquisition of Packard Bell, a move that would secure Acer's place as the de facto number three in the PC market.
* The possible buy-out of Tellabs by Nokia Siemens Networks.

* According to Taipei's Market Intelligence Centre, global portable navigation devices shipments will reach 26 million units in 2007, up 43% from 2006.

* JSE All share index: Down 7.1%
* Nasdaq: Down 6.6%
* Top SA share movements: Begat Holdings (-33.3%), Cape Empowerment Trust (-10%), FoneWorx (-9.6%), GijimaAst (-14.4%), Sekunjalo (-15.7%), Spescom (+14.4%) and Vestor (-14%)

Fortune magazine has just released its latest Global 500 rankings. From a technology perspective, Verizon Communications, at number 39, is the top ranked telecommunications company (replacing NTT), with HP at number 41, the top IT company (replacing IBM). A new entrant on the list is Asustek Computer of Taiwan at 427, while America Telecom, BellSouth (acquired by AT&T), CSC, Eastman Kodak and Qwest Communications have dropped off the list.