A One-Stop Portal Shop
SAP AG, a European provider of e-business software, has partnered with portal giant Yahoo! to create a unit to develop portals for the corporate world. The division, SAP Portals, will offer business information, software applications and services from both companies and partner companies. The unit will be based in America and the companies will work together to market it directly to existing customers. The portal will be available via standard Web browsers as well as through wireless devices and is scheduled to launch in the second quarter.
Compaq Picks Covad for Broadband Service
Covad Communications, a broadband services provider that uses DSL technology, has agreed with Compaq Computers to be the Internet and broadband services provider for Compaq's new "Net Solutions for Business" program. The initiative is comprised of a range of products and services aimed at helping small businesses manage themselves on the Internet.
Compaq Access, the Internet and broadband service venture the two companies are working on together, is one of the online tools that will be offered through the program. It will give companies DSL connection, a high-speed "always-on" broadband service.
Cisco Stops Production of Optical Router
Cisco Systems Inc., the world's No. 1 maker of gear that helps to power the Internet, said Wednesday that slow sales of an optical router have prompted it to discontinue making that device found at the core of optical networks. Cisco, based in San Jose, Calif., said it will stop making the 15900 Wavelength Router, a product that came out of its acquisition of Monterey Networks, in August 1999. Specifically, Cisco now plans to re-deploy the engineering talent working on the 15900 Wavelength Router into the so-called
metropolitan optical market, which has been growing faster than the core of optical networks. Cisco's acquisition of Cerent Corp. in August 1999 gave the company products sold into the metropolitan market.
AirFiber Gathers $50 Million to Start Work
AirFiber, a maker of laser-based networking equipment, has secured $50 million in a third-round of financing. AirFiber is one of a handful of companies developing "free space" optical hardware, which transmits information over fibre-optic lasers in the open air. Invisible free-space lasers, which are safe to the human eye, are capable of beaming information through an office windowpane. Without the need to dig up streets to lay fiber-optic wires, carrier customers are expected to save money and reduce the time it
takes to activate service for their business and consumer customers.
3G Phones Lagging in America
The introduction of third-generation (3G) mobile communications systems in the United States is moving painfully slow, according to Tapio Anttila, director of new media sales for Ericsson. Anttila, who heads up Ericsson's 3G efforts in the United States, gave a keynote address on the second day of the IWireless
World conference. He said the new technology offers many opportunities to developers and end users. Mobile communications will lead to a revival, Anttila said, because it adds to productivity. In some countries, including China, mobile communication represents the first telephone for many people, he added. Anttila said Orange, a subsidiary of France Telecom, awarded Ericsson, Nokia and Alcatel, with contracts to deploy 3G radio access networks in the United Kingdom, France and Germany. The contracts are worth a total of 3.5 billion Euros, he said.
SiliconX Being Sold
Arcadia Design Automation, the design services provider and vendor of the Mustang data-path design tool is in the process of purchasing struggling IC design-chain Web portal and services provider SiliconX, EE Times reported this week. Herman Lee, vice president of strategic planning at Arcadia, said the deal is pending Arcadia board-member approval and that "it is not the appropriate time to discus details of the acquisition." When it was launched in Spring 2000 amid the dot-com boom, SiliconX had grand and ambitious ideas of changing the way IC and system designers communicate with each other. It partnered with silicon and tool vendors and with foundries--launching its website as a central online location for the entire IC design and manufacturing supply chain. No fallen upon rough times, though, the company has apparently scaled back its big plans. Owen said in a previous interview that the company has been focusing on design and consulting services.
VerbalTek Introduces Voice Software
VerbalTek Inc., a developer of speech recognition technology for mobile devices, has announced the introduction of a voice-in, data-out platform for Internet access on mobile devices. The new technology lets users browse and search the wireless Web using speech with the output displayed as data on the screen.
The software, VerbalNET 1.1, is being made available to manufacturers of mobile devices running the Windows CE operating system.
Forrester Offers E-Business Forum
Washington, D.C. will be the site of the e-business Forrester Telecom Forum on Winning Networks and Strategies. The event, scheduled for May 20-22, will have a long list of speakers from industry leading companies.
Digitrends to Hold Branding Forum
AOL and MSN are just a few of the sponsors of Digitrends' Brand Leadership Forum. With an understanding that traditional advertisers' acceptance of the Internet will help online advertising grow, Digitrends is producing the event to help key executives at major brand companies expand their ability to use of the Internet for marketing and advertising. To make this an exclusive experience with the focus on one-on-one relationship building, there are only 125 paid attendees slots open. These include traditional and Internet advertising and marketing executives; online publishers, Internet marketing product and
service providers; and traditional and interactive ad agencies as well as new business development executives.
Motorola Launches New Handsets
Motorola announced a new generation of wireless handsets that combine many of the capabilities of a handheld computer, two-way radio, interactive pager and Internet-ready mobile phone in a single device. Users can customize the Java-enabled wireless handsets to meet their individual needs by downloading and running applications. Two new handset models, the Motorola i85s and i50sx, are the first wireless phones in North America to incorporate the Java 2 Micro Edition platform, or J2ME, a software environment created by Sun Microsystems.