Briefs: August 29, 2005

TECH DATA POSTS $59M LOSS IN 2Q

Second-quarter revenue totaled $4.83 billion, a 5.5 percent gain from $4.58 billion a year earlier. Sales in the Americas were $2.3 billion, a 13.2 percent increase, while EMEA sales fell 0.9 percent to $2.5 billion.

The results included a $19.3 million restructuring charge and a $56 million charge to increase the deferred tax assets valuation allowances, according to Steve Raymund, chairman and CEO. Without those costs, Tech Data would have earned $16.1 million, or 27 cents per share, in the quarter. Financial analysts had forecast earnings of 25 cents per share before the special charges.

For the current quarter, which ends Oct. 31, Tech Data projects earnings of $25 million to $28 million, or 43 cents to 49 cents per share, on sales of $4.85 billion to $5 billion.

3COM LAUNCHES NEW MODULE FOR VCX VOIP PLATFORM
3Com this week is launching its IP Telecommuting module for its VCX VoIP platform. The module, based on technology OEMed from Ingate Systems, uses Session Initiation Protocol to extend communications applications to remote workers. Using the module, home-based workers or mobile employees can tap into VoIP calling features and applications using a broadband connection and an IP phone or softphone. The software module carries a list price of $80 per user in a 100-user configuration and is scheduled for general availability in October.

IBM QUEUES UP WORKPLACE DESIGNER, NOTES/DOMINO 7
IBM Software is now offering its toolset for building Workplace component applications and plans to ship Notes/Domino 7 in the next few weeks, according to the company.

Workplace Designer 2.5 is the first iteration of the Eclipse-based tool for building J2EE-centric applications for IBM&s Java-centric Workplace world. IBM shipped Workplace Collaboration Services 2.5 and Workplace Services Express 2.5 earlier this summer.

While the primary languages are JavaScript and XML, Workplace Designer also includes an array of wizards and other tools aimed at developers from the traditionally proprietary Notes/Domino world. Workplace Designer will add full support for AJAX controls next year, according to IBM. AJAX, or Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, is a toolset for building fast-response interactive Web applications.

Workplace Designer acts as a kind of bridge between the Java-based Workplace world and the Domino realm by letting Domino developers preserve their investment in Domino scripting tools. IBM will also continue to offer Domino Designer for Domino-centric developers and a host of other tools for server programming.

Suggested retail price for Workplace Designer is $649.

HP TO BUY BACK $4B IN STOCK
Hewlett-Packard has authorized $4 billion in stock repurchases and hopes to boost shareholder earnings by reducing the number of outstanding shares.

HP&s board of directors authorized the repurchases of outstanding shares of common stock last Thursday. HP plans to offset dilution from the issuance of shares as an employee benefit and to repurchase stock to return cash to shareholders.

In the past 10 months, HP has repurchased $2.1 billion of its shares under a $3 billion repurchase program approved in September 2004. Earnings per share rise as the number of outstanding shares decreases.

ORACLE, SUN TEAM UP FOR DATABASES, STORAGE
Sun Microsystems and Oracle have teamed up to provide a host of database and storage products running on Sun Fire x64 servers and giving users the choice of using either Solaris 10 or Linux operating systems.

The Infrastructure Database Pack solutions incorporate Oracle Database 10g with Sun StorEdge 3310 arrays, the companies said last Wednesday. The Sun Fire x64 servers are powered by AMD Opteron processors.

Noting that Sun and Oracle have worked together for more than 20 years, the companies said that the configurations are offered by many of their resellers.

“While the industry has traditionally thought of our long-standing relationship as only the marriage of big iron with leading database technology, the reality is we&re continuing to increase our joint presence in the growing x64 server market,” said Sun&s Stephen Borcich, vice president of partner marketing, in a statement.

CRM MARKET UP 10 PERCENT, HOSTED SOLUTIONS DRIVE SALES
The CRM market posted double-digit revenue growth last year for the first time in five years, an increase that was primarily driven by the popularity of hosted software for managing customer data, a research firm said last Tuesday.

The overall CRM market grew by 10 percent to $10.9 billion, with revenue from hosted CRM soaring by 105 percent, according to AMR Research.

RightNow Technologies and Salesforce.com are the two leaders in the hosted market, posting 97 percent and 83 percent growth rates, respectively, AMR Research said. The latter company rose from No. 22 to No. 12 in terms of total revenue.

The market, however, is still dominated by traditional software vendors selling licenses, the research firm said.

SAP AG ousted Siebel Systems from the No. 1 spot, growing its CRM revenue by 30 percent to $1.7 billion, under CEO Henning Kagermann. Siebel revenue dropped 1 percent last year to $1.3 billion. This year, SAP is expected to post a 4 percent growth rate, while Siebel is expected to be flat. PeopleSoft, which has been acquired by Oracle, was the No. 3 vendor in the space with a 7 percent revenue increase to some $472 million.

SCANSOURCE CREATES RFID SOLUTIONS GROUP FOR PARTNERS
ScanSource has created a group to help RFID solution providers assist other solution providers on opportunities.

The RFID Solutions Group is recruiting RFID-focused members that can help other solution providers that are not certified to sell vendors& RFID-certified products.

Group members can be tapped to provide middleware or edgeware software solutions, site surveys, software, hardware as well as installation services, said Paul Constantine, vice president of solutions and services at ScanSource.

ScanSource&s RFID Solutions Group now includes Enterprise Information Systems, Miles Technologies, IDentiTrak Technologies and System Concepts.