Briefs: July 12, 2004

QUARTERLY OUTLOOK GLOOMY

Veritas Software's stock price dropped by more than a third last Tuesday after the company warned of an earnings shortfall, with anticipated revenue of $485 million to $495 million, less than its previous estimate of $490 million to $505 million. CEO Gary Bloom blamed the trouble on flagging sales to U.S. businesses that use the company's software to help manage and store data.

Meanwhile, Computer Associates International lowered its revenue outlook for the period. The vendor expects revenue for the quarter to total $830 million to $850 million, compared with previous guidance of $865 million to $885 million. CA attributed the lower outlook to weak services business performance and diminished subscription revenue.

PeopleSoft on Wednesday also reduced its second-quarter revenue and earnings forecast, saying it expects overall revenue to fall between $655 million and $665 million, with license revenue expected to total $129 million to $133 million. The company had expected $150 million to $170 million in license revenue.

INTRODUCES EXPRESS MESSAGING FOR SMBs
Next week, IBM Software is expected to unveil a new e-mail and scheduling package tailored for small to midsize businesses.

The new package, IBM Lotus Domino Messaging Express, will compete with Microsoft Exchange Server. The software will run on Windows, Linux and OS/400 server operating systems and support light browser clients as well as the Outlook and Notes clients.

Pricing for the software is expected to start at $48 per user as a competitive upgrade from rival e-mail packages or $96 per user for new users.

IBM Software is making an aggressive push into companies with up to 1,000 employees by tailoring versions of its middleware for those environments. The company already offers Lotus Express, DB2 Express and WebSphere Express. IBM is now fielding, by its own count, 60 Express offerings.

MBS PARTNERS EYT, EPARTNERS MAKE PLANS TO MERGE
Microsoft Business Solutions partners EYT and ePartners announced last week that they will be merging.

Financial terms were not disclosed, but the merged entity, which will retain the ePartners name, will have about 425 employees, revenue in excess of $75 million and 25 offices throughout North America, said Dan Duffy, CEO of Dallas-based ePartners.

Duffy will continue in the CEO slot at the combined company. EYT Chairman Howard Diamond will be executive chairman and chairman of the board, focusing on business development, mergers and acquisitions, and strategy.

The new combined company will be based in Seattle, and will have strong vertical expertise in public housing, community hospitals and professional services and know-how in Great Plains, Solomon, Axapta and Microsoft CRM as well as business analytics.

U.N. TO JOIN ANTISPAM FIGHT
The United Nations is aiming to bring the epidemic of junk e-mail under control within two years by standardizing legislation to make it easier to prosecute offenders.

The United Nations' International Telecommunications Union said it will put forward examples of antispam legislation countries can adopt to make cross-border cooperation easier. Many countries currently do not have antispamming laws in place, making prosecution difficult, especially as spammers increasingly operate across international borders.

INTEL RELEASES NOCONA UPDATE TO XEON PROCESSOR PLATFORM
Intel recently released the long-awaited update to its Xeon platform, formerly code-named Nocona. The platform is accompanied by Intel's Extended Memory 64 technology, which allows software developers to write code that runs on both 64-bit processors and 32-bit chips such as Xeon.

The platform runs at speeds of up to 3.6GHz, and provides an instruction set to provide compatibility between 32-bit and 64-bit environments.

Intel has priced its new 3.6GHz Xeon processor, with the instruction set technology, at $851 in 1,000-unit groups.

IANYWHERE TO SHIP SECURITY MANAGER FOR SMARTPHONES
IAnywhere Solutions' XcelleNet Afaria Security Manager for Windows Mobile-based Smartphones is expected to begin shipping Monday, priced at $29 per client.

Shari Freeman, product manager for the recently acquired XcelleNet division of iAnywhere, said the new software is a centrally managed, policy-based security solution. The software allows user authentication through enforced passwords when the device is turned on, data encryption on the device and on removable storage cards, device and data lockdown, as well as a data wipe in the event of loss or theft of the mobile device.

Kirk Wolfe, president of Enterprise Mobility, a Cincinnati-based solution provider, said remote management is a significant issue when it comes to mobile devices. He said as customers express more interest in smartphones for field employees, this type of centrally manageable tool is critical.

"When you have 400 people out there in the field and their only device is a PDA or smartphone, you have to have the ability to keep track of what software versions are on the device, the last time they connected, memory status, all those sorts of things," Wolfe said.

NEW D-LINK, LINKSYS ANTENNAS EXTEND RANGE OF SMALLER WIRELESS NETWORKS
D-Link and Linksys last week both began shipping new wireless antennas designed to expand the range of SMB and SOHO wireless networks.

D-Link's 2.4GHz Omni-Directional (ANT24-0400) and 2.4GHz Directional antennas (DWL-M60AT) work with D-Link 802.11b/g wireless networking products and are priced at $29.99 and $39.99, respectively. The ANT24-0400 can provide 360 degrees of increased wireless signal range and reduce dead spots in wireless coverage. The DWL-M60AT is designed to provide extended wireless signal range in a concentrated direction.

Linksys began shipping a new line of 802.11b/g wireless networking antennas that work with Linksys Wireless-B and Wireless-G products, and include a pair of Linksys TNC connector antennas, a single SMA connector antenna and antenna stands for wall and ceiling mounting.

The estimated street prices are $59.99 for the TNC connector pair, $59.99 for the SMA connector, $29.99 for the TNC antenna stand and $29.99 for the SMA antenna stand. The new antennas can be attached to existing routers, access points, network adapters and bridges.

FORMER INGRAM MICRO CEO JOINS VENDOR EVAULT
Chip Lacy, the legendary distribution visionary who built Ingram Micro into an industry powerhouse, has been named chairman of privately held online data backup storage vendor EVault.

EVault sells online data backup and recovery software and services through the channel.