Sun Hits Key Milestone With CoolThreads Servers, Solaris 10 By Surpassing One Million CPU Threads Shipped

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: SUNW) today announced that it has shipped over one million CPU "threads," and passed the half-billion dollar revenue mark for its Sun Fire T1000 and T2000 servers. When Sun introduced the chip multithreading (CMT) UltraSPARC(R) T1 processor and systems in late 2005, it demonstrated that its breakthrough multi-core, multi-thread approach could deliver superior performance while also being highly space and energy efficient. Sun's threaded approach starts with the Solaris 10 Operating System (OS), which treats each thread as a virtual CPU, thus enabling brutal efficiency and energy savings.


To demonstrate the potential energy savings and eco-advantages of the Sun Fire T1000 and T2000 servers, Sun is estimating that since the first product was shipped over a half billion pounds of CO2 have been saved from entering the atmosphere. This is equivalent taking over twenty nine thousand cars off the road for a year, or not burning 17.7 million gallons of gasoline. With these potential savings to the environment, it's fitting that Sun's achievement coincides with International Earth Day.

"While Solaris has been able to handle thousands of parallel threads for over a decade, we made the decision a few years ago to focus SPARC development on chip multi-threading. We bet that what will matter to CIOs is data center efficiency - maximizing the amount of work that gets done at the lowest possible operating cost," said John Fowler, executive vice president of Sun's Systems business. "We now calculate that only 15 percent of the T1000 CPU processor cycles go unused, which compares very favorably to the 85 percent wasted cycles from competitive processors. In today's business environment, where electricity is expensive but the need for compute performance is increasing, we're convinced we've taken the best approach for customers, and, we hope, the planet as well."

The UltraSPARC T1 processor, with its 32-threads, is just the first in a roadmap of CMT processors that Sun will introduce over the next two years. Sun plans to ship systems based on its 64-thread "Niagara 2" processor in the second-half of this calendar year. And Sun has successfully completed the tapeout (initial design completion for first fabrication) of its high-end "Rock" processor.

Customers can evaluate the Sun Fire T1000 and T2000 servers for 60 days with no obligation to buy through Sun's 'Try and Buy Program': (www.sun.com/tryandbuy/). The program and these servers have helped Sun reach customers outside its installed base, and have played an important role in helping Sun grow its server market share for four consecutive quarters, according to the most recent IDC Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker. Customers that have purchased the Sun Fire T1000 and T2000 servers include Fotolog, Joyent, City of Henderson, Lokalisten, DigiTar and PlanetOut.

New IBM Supercomputer Thrusts University of Kentucky Into Top Ranks

The University of Kentucky has acquired a new IBM (NYSE: IBM) supercomputer that places the university's research capability among the nation's leaders for public and private university research computing.

The state-of-the-art IBM System Cluster 1350 offers a theoretical peak performance of 16 teraflops of calculation capacity, offering both greater speed and broader access for scientific research in a broad range of academic disciplines. This means the new machine can handle up to 16.3 trillion calculations per second.

"UK has been a national leader in the use of supercomputing for scientific research for at least two decades, and this new machine will permit the university to maintain its leadership," UK President Lee T. Todd Jr. said.

John Connolly, director of the UK Center for Computational Science, said that based on rankings released in November 2006, the new supercomputer would place UK among the top echelon of American universities with research supercomputers. The UK supercomputer also would rank among the world's military, governmental, industrial and academic supercomputers, based on the semi-annual listing prepared by the University of Tennessee and Mannheim University, Germany. The rankings will be updated in June 2007, and many of the agencies it includes may have upgraded their supercomputing capabilities when that listing is issued.

"Since 1987, UK has made clear its commitment to providing its researchers with the tools they need to expand the boundaries of knowledge. This new supercomputer signals the university's continuing commitment," Connolly said. "The speed and flexibility of the IBM Cluster made it a logical choice for our center. It will provide us with the capacity we need to springboard our research."

"IBM is actively engaged with universities throughout the world, working to put the latest technology into the hands of leading researchers, and we are pleased to collaborate with UK on its new supercomputing cluster," said Wendy McGee, director, IBM Cluster Solutions. "UK was looking for a supercomputer that would provide its Center a leap in performance, while still meeting its space and budget requirements. And with its small footprint, leading-edge systems and networking, along with integrated power management tools, the Cluster 1350 does just that."

The new supercomputer, which was unveiled today, replaces an HP supercomputer that had been able to handle 1 trillion calculations per second. The older supercomputer was acquired by UK in 2002, and at that time was considered state-of-the-art.

Research areas that will benefit from the new supercomputer include biochemistry, pharmacy, medicine, mechanical engineering, physics and astronomy, and others.

As part of a network of research supercomputers, UK will also permit researchers from other universities across the country and around the world to use the new supercomputer in their work.

UK acquired the new machine under a two-year lease totaling $2.6 million.

The IBM Cluster 1350 uses eight IBM Power5+ p575 servers along with IBM BladeCenter®, utilizing 340 IBM HS21 compute blades based on 3-gigahertz Intel dual-core processors, for a total of 1,488 compute cores. The cluster also features a System Storage™ DS4800 with 30 terabytes of storage and a 4X Infiniband Network from Voltaire. High performance computing clusters can range from as few as two to thousands of servers woven together to deliver high-speed performance demanded by a broad range of applications. IBM hardware offerings in this space include System x, System p™ and BladeCenter servers and IBM System Storage, as well as the IBM System Cluster 1350, an integrated, factory built and tested cluster with networking from leading vendors.

For more information about IBM, go to: www.ibm.com

In striving to become a Top 20 public research institution, the University of Kentucky is a catalyst for a new Commonwealth -- a Kentucky that is healthier, better educated, and positioned to compete in a global and changing economy. For more information about UK's efforts to become a Top 20 university, please go to http://www.uky.edu/OPBPA/Top20.html

Cisco Announces Agreement to Acquire WebEx

Cisco and WebEx today announced a definitive agreement for Cisco to acquire WebEx. WebEx is a market leader in on-demand collaboration applications, and its network-based solution for delivering business-to-business collaboration extends Cisco's vision for Unified Communications, particularly within the Small to Medium Business (SMB) segment.

Under the terms of the agreement, Cisco will commence a cash tender offer to purchase all of the outstanding shares of WebEx for $57 per share and will assume outstanding share-based awards, for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $3.2 billion, or approximately $2.9 billion net of WebEx's existing cash balance. The transaction will be accounted for in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and the acquisition of WebEx is expected to close in the fourth quarter of Cisco's fiscal year 2007. Cisco anticipates this transaction will be neutral to its non-GAAP FY2008 earnings.

The acquisition has been approved by the board of directors of each company and is subject to various standard closing conditions, including approval under Hart Scott Rodino and similar laws outside the U.S.

"As collaboration in the workplace becomes increasingly important, companies are looking for rich communications tools to help them work more effectively and efficiently," said Charles H. Giancarlo, Chief Development Officer at Cisco. "The combination of Cisco and WebEx will deliver compelling solutions accelerating this next wave of business communications.

Cisco believes the network is a platform for all forms of communications and collaboration, and WebEx's technology and services portfolio complement Cisco's leadership in the Unified Communications and collaboration market, while providing Cisco with a new and unique business model to expand its presence in the fast-growing SMB market," Giancarlo continued.

"Cisco and WebEx share a vision of web collaboration as a key to accelerating business processes and critical to durable competitive advantage," said Subrah S. Iyar, CEO of WebEx. "Cisco's global reach and customer focus will help us extend our core web collaboration applications and continue to broaden the services we offer through the WebEx Connect platform."

WebEx's service portfolio includes technologies and services that allow companies to engage in real-time and asynchronous data conferences over the Internet as well as share web-based documents and workspaces that help improve productivity, performance and efficiency of workers in any size organization. WebEx's subscription-based services strategy has been key to its success, and Cisco plans to preserve this business model going forward.

Following the close of the transaction, WebEx will become a part of Cisco's Development Organization while maintaining its unique business model. Mr. Iyar will report directly to Mr.Giancarlo.

WebEx was founded in 1995 and held its Initial Public Offering (IPO) in July 2000. The company has close to 2200 employees. For FY2006, which ended December 31, 2006, WebEx reported revenues of $380 million.


About Cisco
Cisco, (NASDAQ: CSCO), is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com

About WebEx
With 2.2 million registered users, WebEx (NASDAQ: WEBX) is the global leader in on-demand applications for collaborative business on the web. These applications enhance high-touch business processes, such as sales and training, with efficient web-touch interactions. As an on-demand provider, WebEx is able to facilitate both internal and external collaboration. WebEx delivers its range of applications over the WebEx MediaTone Network, a global network specifically designed for the secure delivery of on-demand applications. WebEx applications support multipoint videoconferencing, web conferencing and application remote control. WebEx is based in Santa Clara, California and has regional headquarters in Europe, Asia and Australia. Please call toll free 877-509-3239 or visit www.WebEx.com for more information.

IBM Adds POWER Virtualization to SOA Strategy

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced it has taken technology originally developed to help customers shift IT processing resources during periods of peak activity -- such as dealing with unpredictable surges in internet traffic or processing increased levels of stock transactions -- and merged these virtualization capabilities with its service oriented architecture (SOA) offerings. An SOA is a business strategy that more closely aligns the use of information technology with the goals of the company.

Specifically, virtualization capabilities on the IBM System p servers combined with IBM middleware for SOA will allow customers to maximize existing hardware and software resources to centralize administrative tasks, streamline business processes and improve overall system performance, resulting in a more efficient organization.

These new offerings, known as the 'System p Configurations for SOA Entry Points,' use virtualization technology in an SOA, to ensure more balanced, flexible use of resources throughout a company. IBM has identified five SOA entry points -- people, processes, information, connectivity and reuse -- based on its success helping customers achieve business results through SOA. IBM has created five corresponding entry point configurations of hardware, virtualization and software to further simplify and accelerate the creation of an SOA while making the most of a company's existing resources.

IBM's Advanced POWER Virtualization technology for an SOA allows a single server to be divided into multiple partitions which can each run different operating systems such as UNIX and Linux and multiple applications. It also allows processing resources to be instantaneously shifted from one partition to another when they are needed in times of peak demand to provide business flexibility. In addition, the optional High-Availability Cluster Multiprocessing (HACMP™) program can provide fail-over protection in an SOA to provide continuous availability.

"The new System p Configurations for SOA Entry Points combines the best of IBM server and virtualization technology with IBM software to make it easier to deploy new systems in an SOA," said Ross Mauri, general manager, System p, IBM Systems and Technology Group. "This powerful combination will help customers adapt to business changes with a flexible infrastructure, reduce IT costs, increase quality of service and simplify the utilization of system resources."

These new configurations combine selected IBM System p servers with IBM WebSphere, Tivoli and Information Management software. These tested configurations also include a detailed reference architecture for use by customers, business partners or IBM client IT architects. Based on in-depth experience and proven best practices, IBM Global Services or a qualified IBM Business Partner can help customers use these new configurations to help lower the cost and accelerate their entry to SOA.

"IBM's SOA entry points are based on work completed with thousands of customers using SOA to solve business problems," said Tom Rosamilia, general manager, IBM WebSphere Software. "The new System p Configurations for SOA Entry Points combines the best in IBM server and software technology to help customers start with or expand existing service oriented architectures."

The initial five configuration family members are:


System p Configuration for SOA Entry Point - Process
System p Configuration for SOA Entry Point - People
System p Configuration for SOA Entry Point - Information
System p Configuration for SOA Entry Point - Connectivity
System p Configuration for SOA Entry Point - Reuse

Each configuration will include: reference architectures, installation, system setup, configuration guides, certification of the Software stack on System p, common integration patterns at a stack level, best practices for problem prevention at a stack level, role specific stack documentation, answers to common operational questions at a stack level and appropriate customer-use cases. The configurations will initially be available later this spring starting with System p Configurations for SOA Entry Points - Process.

About IBM
For additional information visit www.ibm.com/soa

PIB: Pitney Bowes to Acquire MapInfo

Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI) today announced it has entered into a merger agreement to acquire MapInfo Corporation (NASDAQ: MAPS) for approximately $408 million in cash, net of expected cash on MapInfo’s balance sheet at the time of closing. MapInfo is the leading global provider of location intelligence solutions. In the next seven business days, Pitney Bowes will commence a tender offer at a price of $20.25 per share in cash for the outstanding common shares of MapInfo.

MapInfo’s location intelligence solutions tools and services are utilized by more than 7,000 organizations worldwide in virtually every industry. MapInfo generated $165 million in revenue for its fiscal year 2006. The company, established in 1986, is headquartered in Troy, New York and has approximately 940 employees worldwide with locations in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Continental Europe, Australia and Asia. More information about MapInfo can be found at www.MapInfo.com

This acquisition strengthens Pitney Bowes’ position in the growing location intelligence market and enhances its ability to deliver added value to customers worldwide, according to Michael J. Critelli, Chairman and CEO of Pitney Bowes. “At Pitney Bowes we have long understood the importance of location in connecting the right information with the right recipient. Increasingly businesses and governments alike are using location-based information to enhance their reach, performance and decision-making capabilities. We are excited about the acquisition of MapInfo because it leverages our current expertise in location intelligence to deliver a broader range of advanced solutions for retail, communications, insurance, financial services and the public sector as well as strengthening our customer communication management offering. This transaction extends our global reach, enriches our location intelligence offerings, and builds upon the growing software platform that we established with the acquisition of Group 1 in 2004. We continue to expand our portfolio and leverage our core competencies as one of our strategies for delivering long-term growth.”

According to Mark Cattini, CEO and President of MapInfo, “Today’s announcement is a significant event for the location intelligence industry and is very positive for our customers, employees, partners and shareholders. We are excited to become part of the Pitney Bowes team, and believe this transaction will help take us to the next level. We have created a market leadership position in location intelligence from a product, data, services and industry expertise perspective. The combination of Pitney Bowes and MapInfo will dramatically expand our access to critical resources needed to further increase market awareness and our distribution capabilities around the world. In addition, from a long-term perspective, we believe there is a significant opportunity to cross-sell our respective solutions across our blue-chip base of more than 7,000 customers and the over two million Pitney Bowes customers worldwide. I look forward to working with the Pitney Bowes team and ensuring that this acquisition delivers on the potential that we know is possible.”

The transaction is subject to the completion of customary conditions, and is expected to close in the second calendar quarter of 2007. It is anticipated that MapInfo will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pitney Bowes within its software segment. Pitney Bowes anticipates that within 18 months there will be synergies in the range of $10 - $15 million from elimination of public company expenses, reduction in administrative infrastructure and increased marketing leverage.

Pitney Bowes expects the acquisition to be neutral to earnings per diluted share in 2007. However, after aligning MapInfo’s accounting with the policies used by Pitney Bowes for its software businesses, the acquisition is expected to reduce reported earnings per diluted share by approximately $.04 in 2007. Importantly, this charge will not have an impact on the cash flow contributed by MapInfo in any period, and the acquisition is expected to be accretive to the company’s 2007 cash earnings by approximately $.02 per share after adding back the amortization of intangibles.

MapInfo is a global company and the leading provider of location intelligence solutions, integrating software, data and services to provide greater value from location-based information and drive more insightful decisions for businesses and government organizations around the world. Its solutions are available in multiple languages through a network of strategic partners and distribution channels in 60 countries. MapInfo’s customers span a diverse set of targeted vertical markets where location is a critical decision-making component, including communications, public sector, retail and financial services, including insurance. In the private sector, companies use MapInfo products and services for a variety of purposes including site selection, risk analysis, marketing, customer services, sales territory alignment and routing. In the public sector, government agencies around the world use MapInfo solutions to improve public safety, crime analysis, asset management, emergency preparedness and response. The company’s customer base includes such recognized names as British Telecom, MasterCard, and The Home Depot.

Pitney Bowes is a $5.7 billion global provider of integrated mailstream management solutions headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. The company serves over 2 million businesses of all sizes in more than 130 countries through dealer and direct operations. For more information, please visit www.pb.com

IMPORTANT ADDITIONAL INFORMATION WILL BE FILED WITH THE SEC

The tender offer for the outstanding common stock of MapInfo referred to in this press release has not yet commenced. This press release is neither an offer to purchase nor a solicitation of an offer to sell shares of MapInfo. Stockholders of MapInfo are urged to read the relevant tender offer documents when they become available because they will contain important information that stockholders should consider before making any decision regarding tendering their shares. At the time the Offer is commenced, Pitney Bowes will file tender offer materials with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and MapInfo will file a Solicitation/Recommendation Statement with respect to the Offer. The tender offer materials (including an Offer to Purchase, a related Letter of Transmittal and certain other offer documents) and the Solicitation/Recommendation Statement will contain important information, which should be read carefully before any decision is made with respect to the tender offer. The Offer to Purchase, the related Letter of Transmittal and certain other offer documents, as well as the Solicitation/Recommendation Statement, will be made available to all stockholders of MapInfo at no expense to them. The tender offer materials and the Solicitation/Recommendation Statement will be made available for free at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov/ or from Pitney Bowes.

GE and The Blackstone Group Join to Acquire PHH Corporation for $1.8 billion

GE Capital Solutions, the business-to-business leasing, financing and asset management unit of General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE) and The Blackstone Group, through its affiliates, today agreed to acquire PHH Corporation (NYSE:PHH) in an all-cash transaction for $31.50 per share or approximately $1.8 billion.

Headquartered in Mount Laurel, NJ, PHH Corporation comprises PHH Arval, a North American fleet management services provider, and PHH Mortgage, a retail originator and servicer of residential mortgages in the United States. PHH Corporation will be purchased by GE, which will retain PHH Arval and sell PHH Mortgage to Blackstone immediately after closing.

Based in Sparks, MD, and with approximately $5 billion in assets, PHH Arval provides outsourced vehicle fleet management solutions to corporate clients, including nearly one-third of the Fortune 500 companies. Through consultative expertise, flexible customer service, and award-winning Internet technology, PHH Arval helps clients reduce costs and increase productivity in managing their fleets. PHH Arval has been serving the fleet industry for more than sixty years.

"We believe the integrated financing and services we offer can help customers optimize fleet performance by helping them acquire, manage and sell company vehicles," said Richard Laxer, president and CEO, GE Capital Solutions. “Combining with PHH will enable us to provide our customers with a greater level of service to meet their growing needs and challenges.”

“The fleet management industry is changing rapidly, and issues such as the environment, safety, telematics, global reach and continued cost effectiveness are increasingly important,” said George J. Kilroy, president and CEO of PHH Arval. “PHH Arval and GE together can bring the focus needed for these opportunities to expand the impact of fleet management and create measurable value for our customers.”

“Our businesses share a common commitment to customer service, innovation and using technology to maximize the value of our customers’ fleets. The combination of our businesses will allow us to better serve our customers in achieving their sales, service and delivery performance goals,” added Bob Mitchell, president and CEO of GE Capital Solutions, Fleet Services.

The acquisition is subject to PHH shareholder and regulatory approvals and other closing conditions. It is expected to close in the third quarter of 2007.

Lehman Brothers advised GE and Blackstone on this transaction. JP Morgan also served as an advisor to Blackstone. Legal representation was provided by Weil, Gotshal, & Manges LLP and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP to GE and Blackstone, respectively.

About PHH Corporation

Headquartered in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, PHH Corporation is a leading outsource provider of mortgage and vehicle fleet management services. Its subsidiary, PHH Mortgage, is one of the top ten retail originators of residential mortgages in the United States and its subsidiary, PHH Arval, is a leading fleet management services provider in the United States and Canada. For additional information about the company and its subsidiaries, visit www.phh.com

About The Blackstone Group

The Blackstone Group, a global private investment and advisory firm, was founded in 1985. Blackstone’s Private Equity arm has a long track record investing in the financial services sector and is currently investing an $18 billion private equity fund. In addition to Private Equity, Blackstone’s other core businesses include, Private Real Estate Investing, Corporate Debt Investing, Hedge Funds, Mutual Fund Management, Private Placement, Marketable Alternative Asset Management and Investment Banking Advisory Services. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com

About GE Capital Solutions

GE Capital Solutions, Fleet Services (www.gefleet.com) based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, is a global fleet management company. It is part of GE Capital Solutions and has operations in the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

GE Capital Solutions (www.ge.com/capitalsolutions) provides leasing, lending and capital investment products and services to help business customers grow. It has over $100 billion in assets, serves more than a million clients around the world and is headquartered in Danbury, Connecticut.

GE (NYSE: GE) is Imagination at Work -- a diversified technology, media and financial services company focused on solving some of the world's toughest problems. With products and services ranging from power generation, water processing and security technology to medical imaging, business and consumer financing, media content and advanced materials, GE serves customers in more than 100 countries and more than 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit www.ge.com

SY: Sybase Opens Wireless Development Center In Singapore

Sybase, Inc. (NYSE: SY), a leading provider of enterprise infrastructure and mobile software, today announced the inauguration of the Wireless Development Center in TechnoPark, Singapore. Designed as a research and development hub for Sybase’s industry leading mobile and wireless software solutions, the new Wireless Development Center will focus on developing new technologies in the areas of RFID, embedded software, and mobile middleware for the enterprise. This will include developing Bluetooth and Ultra Wideband Software Development Kits for mobile device manufacturers (OEM and ODMs.)

“This facility marks another significant milestone for research and development in Singapore and for the creation of intellectual property in Asia,” said John Chen, chairman, CEO and president of Sybase, Inc. “Today’s inauguration of the Wireless Development Center demonstrates our continued commitment as the market-leader in wireless solutions to our customers. With this new facility, we are extending our Unwired Enterprise leadership in Asia and worldwide.”

The Wireless Development Center is the third phase of Sybase's research and development investment plan in Singapore. Sybase initiated the first phase, in 1998 with the opening of the Asia Development Center for the development of integrated information management solutions. In 2005, Sybase launched the Wireless Solution Center for partners and developers to test wireless projects in telecommunications, RFID, healthcare and mobile government.

“The EDB is very pleased that Sybase has chosen Singapore for its first Wireless Development Center outside the United States. It will give Singapore a competitive edge in emerging mobile technologies, and adds to Singapore's rapid development as a regional and global R&D center,” said Lim Siong Guan, Chairman of the Singapore Economic Development Board.

Sybase customers in the region include: Acer Incorporated and ShinKong Life Insurance, Bridge Mobile Alliance, China Railway Express, China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (SINOPEC), Ergon Energy / Geomatic Technology, Galileo Southern Cross, Hong Kong Post, Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group, Hyundai Department Stores, Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department, Next Media, Prudential Life Insurance Company of Taiwan Inc., Surbana Technologies.

MSFT: Microsoft to Acquire Tellme Networks

Microsoft Corp. today announced it will acquire Tellme Networks, Inc., a leading provider of voice services for everyday life, including nationwide directory assistance, enterprise customer service and voice-enabled mobile search. Microsoft and Tellme share a vision around the potential of speech as a way to enable access to information, locate other people and enhance business processes, any time and from any device. Combining Tellme’s talented people and expertise in high-volume voice services with Microsoft’s platform, resources and worldwide customer reach will inspire new and innovative solutions.

“Speech is universal, simple and holds incredible promise as a key interface for computing,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer of Microsoft. “Tellme brings to Microsoft the talent, technology and proven experience in speech that will enable us to deliver a new wave of products and revolutionize human-computer interaction.”

Tellme is a leader in voice services for the phone, including its popular mobile search services on 1-800-555-TELL. Founded in 1999, the privately held company answers millions of calls every day for information such as finding local businesses, driving directions, sports scores, stock quotes, weather, news, movie show times and more. Businesses use Tellme’s voice services and platform to provide customers with voice-access services ranging from banking to package tracking. These services are built on Tellme’s voice platform that analyzes caller requests to continually improve the system’s accuracy and overall caller experience.

Potential areas of development resulting from the deal will range from hosted voice-enabled customer service solutions that complement Microsoft’s existing unified communications offerings to voice user interfaces in existing Microsoft products to search services on mobile phones that integrate with Live Search for mobile offerings. In addition, developers and partners will be able to build new speech-based solutions on top of a scalable, standards-based voice-enabled applications platform.

“We’ve made great strides in speech technologies, but have only scratched the surface of what is possible,” said Jeff Raikes, president of the Microsoft Business Division. “The acquisition of Tellme will bolster Microsoft’s existing speech capabilities, bringing both immediate and longer-term value to our customers and partners.”

“Tellme was founded with the idea that anyone should be able to simply say what they want and get it from any device, starting with the phone,” said Mike McCue, co-founder and CEO of Tellme. “Now, with Microsoft, we’ll be able to extend that vision to millions of businesses and consumers around the world.”

This acquisition will mark an important step forward in Microsoft’s strategy for delivering software plus services that put people at the center of technology solutions in the office, at home and on the go. For more than a decade, Microsoft has enabled speech, handwriting and touch as forms of natural user input, making computing and digital devices easier to use. Combining Tellme’s technologies with Microsoft’s existing and future products and services will help improve the way people use voice to find, use and share information:

• Unified communications. Tellme’s voice-enabled services and solutions for enterprise customers complement Microsoft’s unified communications voice services portfolio. This will allow customers and industry partners to build highly scalable voice solutions that leverage rich identity, presence, messaging and application integration.

• Speech platform. Tellme’s robust voice-enabled platform helps open new doors for Microsoft’s hundreds of thousands of developers and partners to build innovative speech solutions based on open standards.

• Mobile services and search. Tellme’s speech expertise and work in mobile search, combined with Microsoft’s innovative local and mobile search offerings, will help take the mobile search usability experience to the next level.

• Software plus services. In the long term, Tellme technology will enhance Microsoft’s many voice-enabled applications, including the Windows Vista™ operating system, the Microsoft Office system, and mobile applications such as Windows Mobile® and Windows® Automotive.


Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced. The deal is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2007. Tellme, which has more than 320 employees, will continue to operate from its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters as part of the Microsoft Business Division. Following the closing of the acquisition, the Tellme business is expected to be maintained, and members of the Tellme executive team and staff are expected to join Microsoft.

At 9:30 a.m. PDT today, Microsoft and Tellme will hold a teleconference to discuss the acquisition. To participate, U.S. residents can dial (888) 790-3163, and those outside the United States can dial +1 (212) 547-0237. Passcode is 4386031. The call will be available for playback beginning at 11:30 a.m. PDT today through 11:59 p.m. PDT March 23. To access the playback, U.S. residents can dial (866) 376-2435, and those outside the United States can dial +1 (203) 369-0299. Passcode is 93469.

About Tellme

Through innovation and design, Tellme improves how people and businesses use the phone. By combining Internet data and a voice interface, Tellme radically simplifies how people use the phone to get the information they need every day. Today the company powers billions of calls to hundreds of phone services used by more than 40 million people every month. Some of the applications running on Tellme’s platform include business search on 411, information search on 1-800-555-TELL as well as customer service and ordering for companies like Merrill Lynch, E*TRADE and American Airlines. Headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., Tellme’s goal is to let anyone say what they want and get it, from any phone.

CSCO: BendBroadband Upgrades Data Storage to Improve Customer Service and Reduce Costs

BendBroadband, a privately owned, nationally recognized cable operator, has deployed a storage area network (SAN) based on Cisco® technology to improve customer service, reduce operating costs, and improve application performance. To address the performance, reliability, and scalability requirements of its growing business, the company upgraded its network-attached storage to a SAN based on Cisco storage network fabric switches.

Serving the fast-growing area of Bend, Oregon, BendBroadband was expanding beyond the limits of its old storage system. After researching the switch choices available, the cable operator selected Cisco MDS fabric switches because of reliability, support, compatibility with a wide range of storage devices, and a belief that Cisco is emerging as the market leader in storage networking technology. The new Cisco-based SAN has enabled the company to keep up with fast-paced growth, allowed them to expand their service offerings to business customers, and provided the capability for disaster recovery.

"Since we turned these switches on the performance has been astounding," said Bob McWhorter, network operations center manager at BendBroadband. "Our service times are less than a millisecond on disks located across the street."

As long-time users of command-line interfaces, BendBroadband's IT staff was also pleased with the ease-of-use of the Cisco switches. "The graphical user interface is really incredible," said Wade Holmes, network operations center (NOC) engineer for BendBroadband. "It's self-documenting. It doesn't let you make errors. You don't even have to install any software because it loads right off the switch. We were extremely impressed."

BendBroadband is also installing a Cisco MDS fabric switch in its auxiliary Network Operations Center located at a separate facility, to provide full data redundancy for the primary NOC and the capability for rapid disaster recovery. This ability helps to give BendBroadband's business and residential customers the confidence that the company can handle their current and future needs with complete assurance.

"With Cisco MDS fabric switches, small to midsize organizations can deploy cost-effective, high performance SANs that provide enterprise-class features such as non-disruptive firmware upgrades for high availability, extensive diagnostics for quick troubleshooting, and advanced management capabilities through Cisco Fabric Manager," said Rajeev Bhardwaj, director of product management, Data Center Business Unit at Cisco.

For further information about Cisco storage networking products and solutions, go to: www.cisco.com/go/storagenetworking

Dell and Alienware Bring World's First Terabyte Hard Drive Computer to Consumers

Starting today, DellTM and Alienware® customers purchasing select XPSTM , AuroraTM and Area 51® gaming desktop computers can super-size their storage space by adding the world’s first consumer one terabyte (TB) hard drive from Hitachi Global Storage Technologies.

The extra hard drive capacity provides enough space to store an incredible amount of data – a million photos, 16 days of DVD quality video or even a million minutes of music.

“Digital content use is exploding in the consumer market – with this 1TB hard drive, a lifetime of memories, music and other information can be made, stored and shared with others,” said Neil Hand, vice president, worldwide consumer marketing consumer product group. “This type of capability used to be available only to the largest corporations. With the spectacular advancement in hard drives and the engineering in our systems, we’re now able to bring it to consumers.”

To encourage digital media enthusiasts to effectively archive files for the future, Dell is also introducing its first ever “Video Time Capsule” that will allow contributors to share their digital videos for generations to come. Dell invites its own and Alienware’s customers to participate by submitting videos messages to loved ones for posterity at www.studiodell.com.

StudioDell is a community website that allows general consumers and business customers to see tips and trends in technology, as well as submit their own videos showcasing how they are using technology in innovative ways. All video content submitted to StudioDell for the remainder of 2007 will be copied on a 1TB Hitachi Deskstar® 7K1000 hard drive and will be stored for 50 years on the Dell campus in Round Rock, TX.

Dell XPS system details and pricing are available at www.dell.com/XPS. Alienware system details and pricing are available at www.alienware.com/desktops.


About Alienware

Alienware offers unique and award-winning technology products that incorporate state–of–the–art components, innovative engineering and design, and unprecedented customer service. Alienware has been recognized by INC 500, won the Shoppers’ Choice Award as the Best Performance Desktop by Computer Shopper’s reader survey, had its Alienware Area-51 ranked among “The 25 Greatest PCs of All Time” by PC World and also received PC Magazine’s Reader’s Choice Award in its 18th Annual Reader Survey. Alienware systems are available direct within the United States, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. For more information, please visit www.alienware.com or call 1-800-ALIENWARE (254-3692).

IBM Launches Next Generation of Business Intelligence With Dynamic Warehousing

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today unveiled a comprehensive strategy to enable dynamic warehousing, a new generation of business intelligence capabilities that enable organizations to gain real-time insight and value from their business information. Today's announcement marks an important milestone in IBM's industry-leading pursuit of the global Information on Demand growth opportunity, which is helping customers transform their businesses by using information as a strategic asset.

With today's announcement, IBM, the world's second largest software company, is delivering capabilities that extend beyond traditional business intelligence and data warehousing techniques to allow global businesses and organizations of all sizes to streamline business processes, transform customer service, increase employee productivity, reduce business risks and generate new revenue opportunities.

IBM's new Dynamic Warehousing strategy enables customers to use advanced analytics as part of a real-time business process and to unlock knowledge buried in both structured and unstructured information (free form text, e-mail, audio files, Web pages, etc.). This approach will also provide instant access to reliable and trusted business information in the context of activities being performed, whether it is supporting a customer, processing a claim or handling a transaction.

IBM is providing a set of integrated offerings for Dynamic Warehousing that use a combination of technologies from internal R&D and strategic Information on Demand acquisitions, including search and text analytics, information integration, process management, enterprise data modeling, master data management and industry-specific business models.

"Customers of all sizes in all industries are looking for new ways to maximize their information in order to gain a competitive advantage," said Karen Parrish, vice president of Business Intelligence Solutions for IBM, who unveiled the initiative today at the Gartner Business Intelligence Summit in Chicago. "Dynamic Warehousing provides a new approach to companies who want the ability to rapidly analyze and act upon the hidden benefits of their business information."

Traditional data warehousing efforts were focused on query and reporting to understand what happened. The second wave focused on technologies such as online analytical processing (OLAP) and data mining for historical analysis to understand why and recommend future action -- strategic and tactical planning. IBM's new approach is about making available and analyzing information on demand to help customers optimize each transaction, such as in the call center, in the field, when helping customers, or when taking orders.

For example Dynamic Warehousing is helping law enforcement agencies identify related incidents upon receiving an emergency call and deliver a list of potential suspects in real-time to detectives before they arrive at the crime scene. Likewise, insurance companies can identify potentially fraudulent claims prior to approval and payment. While retailers can rapidly leverage buying patterns and changes in consumer behavior to identify the most effective cross sell and up sell opportunities at the point of sale.

IBM customers such as Omnium are already discovering the benefits of Dynamic Warehousing. Omnium is an accounts receivable management and cost containment company that contracts with Medical Insurance firms to analyze monthly receipts of data for potential client overpayments.

IBM DB2 Warehouse increases our efficiency to mine data and develop predictive models which can produce exceptionally quick results for tracking mis-paid and overpaid insurance claims, said Duffy Boyle, CIO of Omnium Worldwide. "Our clients require rapid evaluation and response so the new IBM solution is ideal for our needs."

New Offerings Enable Dynamic Warehousing from SMBs to the Enterprise

The foundation of IBM's dynamic warehousing initiative is a new, enhanced version of the DB2 Warehouse -- based on the DB2 9 "Viper" data server -- which includes a unique set of features and capabilities that support growing customer demand for analytics and Information on Demand.

DB2 Warehouse provides data movement and transformation capabilities to reduce the complexity and lower the costs typically associated with loading data into the warehouse and preparing that data so that it can be leveraged more effectively. It also offers performance optimization capabilities that enable the warehouse to address broad enterprise warehousing requirements, such as advanced data partitioning and workload management to ensure that the most critical applications are serviced accordingly. Additionally, DB2 Warehouse takes advantage of Viper's deep compression technology to increase performance and efficiency, while reducing storage costs.

A new and enhanced set of DB2 Warehouse offerings is being introduced to address the growing demand for real-time information insight in all organizations. This end-to-end approach is aimed at making warehousing solutions easier to deploy, while ensuring that customers can maintain the flexibility required by challenging business conditions and IT infrastructure demands, without sacrificing system performance. The new IBM warehousing lineup includes Starter, Intermediate and Advanced Editions of DB2 Warehouse, in addition to the existing Base and Enterprise Editions.

Introducing the IBM Balanced Warehouse

IBM is also introducing the IBM Balanced Warehouse, the next evolution of the Balanced Configuration Unit (BCU), to provide complete warehousing solutions with pre-configured software, hardware and storage, enabling faster implementation times with lower risk. IBM is now providing three classes of IBM Balanced Warehouse offerings, making it the first vendor to provide solutions optimized to meet the entire spectrum of warehousing requirements -- from large enterprises to small- and medium-sized businesses to departmental data marts. These include the C-Class for application solutions, the D-Class for growth solutions, and the E-Class for enterprise solutions. The C-Class provides out-of-the-box solutions bundled with popular third-party reporting tools, such as the new IBM Balanced Warehouse C1000, which includes affordable hardware and storage that has been pre-configured with DB2 Warehouse Starter Edition and Crystal Reports Server from Business Objects for simplified creation and delivery of business reports.

"Mid-sized companies want to tap into the power of their data to stand out in their markets," said Todd Rowe, vice president and general manager of mid-market business at Business Objects. "Both IBM and Business Objects are focused on meeting the needs of these important customers. The combination of DB2 Warehouse for data integration and Crystal Reports Server for report creation, management, and delivery makes IBM Balanced Warehouse C1000 a powerful solution for mid-sized companies that want to use their data to help drive business growth. Further, Business Objects Crystal Decisions, our new mid-market business intelligence platform, is an excellent compliment to IBM Balanced Warehouse C3000 -- which is well suited for mid-sized companies that have more demanding data warehousing requirements and need the deeper insights and dashboards afforded by more traditional business intelligence tools."

The DB2 Warehouse Starter and Intermediate Editions, along with the C-Class Balanced Warehouses, are targeted at the SMB market and will be made available through IBM business partners. More than 30 business partners have already signed up to make these simplified channel offerings available to smaller to mid-size organizations seeking to take advantage of affordable warehousing solutions.

Also newly available is the IBM Balanced Warehouse D-Class, providing an integrated growth solution designed to reduce the complexity, cost and risk of creating, implementing and maintaining large departmental data marts and mid-size data warehouses on Linux.

To provide a rich interface for extracting additional business insights from unstructured information, IBM has combined a set of search, content analytics and visualization capabilities into the new OmniFind Analytics Edition. OmniFind Analytics Edition extracts meaningful information, identifies valuable patterns, trends and issues that can be used for important business initiatives such as improving customer care, delivering quality insight reporting and enhancing research and intelligence. By dynamically consolidating and analyzing data from unstructured and structured information sources, valuable insight can be delivered from all information, regardless of its source or format. OmniFind Analytics Edition is based on more than a decade of experience in text analytics from IBM Research and client engagements by IBM Global Business Services.

In response to a growing demand for more operational intelligence from the several thousand companies using the mainframe for their warehousing needs, IBM also introduced several enhancements for the recently announced DB2 9 Viper for z/OS. The new capabilities include SQL enhancements for real-time query and reporting and new graphical analytics and reporting tools for use on System z.

In addition, IBM is offering a new set of services and new and enhanced industry data models to help organizations get started with dynamic warehousing more quickly and leverage best practices. This includes a new Health Plan data model for claims, medical management and provider and network care; an enhanced Insurance data model with added focus on compliance and risk management; strategic planning and design from IBM Global Business Services; and implementation assistance from IBM Global Technology Services.

For more information on IBM's dynamic warehousing initiative and offerings visit: www.ibm.com/software/data

Cisco Announces Agreement to Acquire NeoPath Networks

Cisco Systems® today announced a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held NeoPath Networks, the leading provider of high performance and highly scalable file storage management solutions.

NeoPath's patented SMART virtualization technology and its File DirectorTM family of products simplify the management of network attached storage (NAS) and other file servers.

"Enterprise customers are asking Cisco how they can make better use of their existing IT infrastructure, and NeoPath is part of the answer," said Jayshree Ullal, Senior Vice President, Datacenter Switching and Security Technology Group (DSSTG). "NeoPath's technology will enhance Cisco's Services Oriented Network Architecture (SONA) direction and vision by establishing tighter linkages between file based data and network accelerated services."

The acquisition is subject to various standard closing conditions, including applicable regulatory approvals, and is expected to close in the third quarter of Cisco's fiscal year 2007, ending April 28, 2007. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

NeoPath was founded in 2002 and has 55 employees based primarily in Santa Clara, Calif.

Upon close of the transaction, the NeoPath team and products will be integrated into DSSTG reporting up into Ullal.

Viacom Files Federal Copyright Infringement Complaint Against YouTube And Google

Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B) today announced that it has sued YouTube and Google in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for massive intentional copyright infringement of Viacom’s entertainment properties. The suit seeks more than $1 billion in damages, as well as an injunction prohibiting Google and YouTube from further copyright infringement. The complaint contends that almost 160,000 unauthorized clips of Viacom’s programming have been available on YouTube and that these clips had been viewed more than 1.5 billion times.

In connection with the filing, Viacom released the following statement:

“YouTube is a significant, for-profit organization that has built a lucrative business out of exploiting the devotion of fans to others’ creative works in order to enrich itself and its corporate parent Google. Their business model, which is based on building traffic and selling advertising off of unlicensed content, is clearly illegal and is in obvious conflict with copyright laws. In fact, YouTube’s strategy has been to avoid taking proactive steps to curtail the infringement on its site, thus generating significant traffic and revenues for itself while shifting the entire burden – and high cost – of monitoring YouTube onto the victims of its infringement.

This behavior stands in stark contrast to the actions of other significant distributors, who have recognized the fair value of entertainment content and have concluded agreements to make content legally available to their customers around the world.

There is no question that YouTube and Google are continuing to take the fruit of our efforts without permission and destroying enormous value in the process. This is value that rightfully belongs to the writers, directors and talent who create it and companies like Viacom that have invested to make possible this innovation and creativity.

After a great deal of unproductive negotiation, and remedial efforts by ourselves and other copyright holders, YouTube continues in its unlawful business model. Therefore, we must turn to the courts to prevent Google and YouTube from continuing to steal value from artists and to obtain compensation for the significant damage they have caused.”


About Viacom


Viacom is a leading global entertainment content company, with prominent and respected brands. Engaging its audiences through television, motion pictures and digital platforms, Viacom seeks to reach its audiences however they consume content. Viacom’s leading brands include the multiplatform properties of MTV Networks, including MTV: Music Television, VH1, CMT: Country Music Television, Logo, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, COMEDY CENTRAL, Spike TV, TV Land, and more than 130 networks around the world, as well as digital assets such as MTV.com, comedycentral.com, VSPOT, TurboNick, Neopets, Xfire and iFilm; BET Networks; Paramount Pictures; DreamWorks; and Famous Music. More information about Viacom and its businesses is available at www.viacom.com

INTC: Intel Introduces Solid State Drive Product Line Based On Nand Flash Memory

Intel Corporation announced today its entry into solid state drives with the Intel® Z-U130 Value Solid-State Drive. Based on NAND flash memory with industry standard USB interfaces, the Intel Z-U130 Value Solid State Drive offers cost-effective, high-performance storage for a wide variety of computing and embedded platforms. With advantages over hard disk drive (HDD) or removable universal serial bus (USB) storage devices, Intel's Solid State Drives deliver faster boot times, embedded code storage, rapid data access and low-power storage alternatives for value PCs, routers, servers, gaming and industrial applications.

"Solid state drive technology offers many benefits over traditional hard disk drives including improved performance and reliability," said Randy Wilhelm, vice president and general manager of Intel's NAND Products Group. "The Intel solid state drive technology provides robust performance, while offering Intel's industry leading quality, validation and reliability for a wide variety of embedded applications."

The Intel Z-U130 Value Solid State Drive is the company's first solution in the Intel Value Solid State Drive family that will offer different industry standard interfaces and densities. The product comes in 1 Gigabyte (GB), 2GB, 4GB and 8GB densities. With fast reads of 28 megabytes (MB) per second and write speeds of 20 MB per second, this higher performing solid state drive is a faster storage alternative that speeds through common PC or embedded application operations such as locating boot code, operating systems and commonly accessed libraries.

The drives will also be used in a variety of Intel-based computing platforms, such as servers, emerging market notebooks and low-cost, fully featured PCs. In addition, it will be used in Intel embedded solutions for routers and point of sale terminals.

Intel's Z-U130 Value Solid State Drive will be distinguished from other solid state product offerings by its extensive validation, including more than 1,000 hours of accelerated reliability testing, and is expected to meet an average mean time between failure (MTBF) specification of five million hours. The product can be easily integrated into original design manufacturers' designs because of its USB 2.0 and 1.1 compliant interfaces, 2x5 USB connector and standard single-level cell NAND in thin small outline package (TSOP) devices. The company is also considering next-generation products that could incorporate cost-effective multi-level cell (MLC) technology.

INTC: Intel Marks Energy-Efficient Milestone With 50-Watt, High-Performing Quad-Core Server Processors

Further expanding its quad-core processor family line-up, Intel Corporation today announced two energy-efficient 50-watt server processors that represent a 35- to nearly 60-percent decrease in power from Intel's existing 80- and 120-watt quad-core server products.

As companies increasingly focus on reducing electricity bills and cooling costs associated with their computing needs, these new processors, requiring just 12.5 watts of power for each of the four cores or processing engines, deliver similar performance yet set a new standard in energy efficiency.

Intel has introduced 11 server, workstation and desktop PC quad-core processors since November.

Servers based on the new low-power, quad-core processors are designed for dense Internet datacenters, blade servers and industries such as financial services where the scale and density of servers are highly sensitive to power, real estate and cooling costs. The potential for cost savings by replacing aging infrastructure with Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® processors and deploying virtualization technology can be as much as $6,000 per year over the lifetime of each server based on Intel's own evaluations.**

In addition, these new processors represent a nearly ten-fold improvement in power consumption per core in just 1½ years.*** The company attributes this collective success to the merits of its breakthrough Intel® Core™ microarchitecture and aggressive design execution.

"Intel has really responded to the industry's call to deliver unprecedented breakthroughs for data center energy efficiency," said Kirk Skaugen, vice president of Intel's Digital Enterprise Group and general manager of the Server Platform Group. "IT managers can get outstanding quad-core Intel Xeon server performance today and at no premium to dual-core products. We are thrilled to drive further records in lower power consumption and we won't stop here. Our engineers and architects are passionate about delivering even more power-saving innovations down the road."

Intel is introducing two low-voltage processors: the Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor L5320 and L5310. The new 50-watt quad-core processors operate at 1.86 GHz and 1.60 GHz, respectively, feature a unique 8 megabytes (MB) of on die cache for faster memory data communication and run on dedicated 1066 MHz front side buses. In 1,000 unit quantities the L5320 is priced at $519 and the L5310 at $455.

These processors can be coupled with Intel's existing "Bensley" server platform and have been designed to be "drop-in" compatible with the existing Dual-Core and Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor families.

Servers based on these new processors are expected to be available worldwide over the next few months from Acer, Dell, Digital Henge, Fujitsu Siemens, HP, HCL, IBM, Rackable Systems, Samsung, Verari, Wipro and other companies.



* Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

**Study: IT@Intel, Dec 2006. Can be found at www.intel.com/it/pdf/consolidate-using-quadcore.pdf

***Compared to 64bit Intel® Xeon® Processors at 110W TDP (110W per core)

SEC Charges Four Former Senior Executives of Nortel Networks Corporation in Wide-Ranging Financial Fraud Scheme

The Securities and Exchange Commission today filed civil fraud charges in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against four former senior executives of Nortel Networks Corporation for repeatedly engaging in accounting fraud to bridge gaps between Nortel's true performance, its internal targets and Wall Street expectations. Nortel is a Canadian manufacturer of telecommunications equipment.

Named in the Commission's complaint are Frank A. Dunn, Douglas C. Beatty, Michael J. Gollogly and MaryAnne E. Pahapill. The complaint alleges that these individuals engaged in this misconduct while serving as top corporate executives of Nortel between September 2000 and January 2004. During that time, Dunn served as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Executive Officer; Beatty as Controller and Chief Financial Officer; Gollogly as Controller; and Pahapill as Assistant Controller and Vice President of Corporate Reporting.

"The fraudulent conduct at issue here was egregious and long-running. Each of the defendants betrayed Nortel's investors and their misconduct gave rise to billions of dollars in shareholder losses," said Linda Thomsen, Director of the Commission's Division of Enforcement. "The action we take today sends a strong message that officers of U.S.-filing foreign corporations will be held to the same standards of accountability that are required of all participants in the U.S. financial markets."

Christopher Conte, an Associate Director of the Commission's Division of Enforcement, stated, "The defendants charged today all disregarded accounting principles and disclosure requirements designed to provide investors with a clear and accurate picture of a company's performance. Investors were misled for extended periods of time about the health and stability of Nortel's operations. Further, these defendants all received significant compensation, in some cases in the millions of dollars, while they were manipulating Nortel's financial results. In some cases, these individuals received such compensation only because they manipulated Nortel's financial results."

According to the Commission's complaint, from late 2000 through January 2001, Dunn, Beatty and Pahapill altered Nortel's revenue recognition policies to accelerate revenue as needed to meet forecasts and, from at least July 2002 through June 2003, Dunn, Beatty and Gollogly improperly established, maintained and released reserves to meet earnings targets, fabricate profits and pay performance-related bonuses.

The complaint specifically alleges the following.

In late 2000, Beatty and Pahapill implemented changes to Nortel's revenue recognition policies that violated US GAAP, specifically to pull forward revenue to meet publicly announced revenue targets. However, because their efforts pulled in more revenue than needed to meet those targets, Dunn, Beatty and Pahapill selectively reversed certain revenue entries during the 2000 year-end closing process. These actions improperly boosted Nortel's fourth quarter and fiscal 2000 revenue by over $1 billion, while at the same time allowing the Company to meet, but not exceed, market expectations.

In November 2002, Dunn, Beatty and Gollogly learned that Nortel was carrying over $300 million in excess reserves. Dunn, Beatty and Gollogly did not release these excess reserves into income as required under US GAAP. Instead, they concealed their existence and maintained them for later use. Further, in early January 2003, Beatty, Dunn and Gollogly directed the establishment of yet another $151 million in unnecessary reserves during the 2002 year-end closing process to avoid posting a profit and paying bonuses earlier than Dunn had predicted publicly. These reserve manipulations erased Nortel's pro forma profit for the fourth quarter of 2002 and caused it to report a loss instead.

In the first and second quarters of 2003, Dunn, Beatty and Gollogly directed the release of at least $490 million of excess reserves specifically to boost earnings, fabricate profits and pay bonuses. These efforts turned Nortel's first quarter 2003 loss into a reported profit under US GAAP, which allowed Dunn to claim that he had brought Nortel to profitability a quarter ahead of schedule. In the second quarter of 2003, their efforts largely erased Nortel's quarterly loss and generated a pro forma profit. In both quarters, Nortel posted sufficient earnings to pay tens of millions of dollars in so-called "return to profitability" bonuses, largely to a select group of senior managers.

During the second half of 2003, Dunn and Beatty repeatedly misled investors as to why Nortel was conducting a purportedly "comprehensive review" of its assets and liabilities, which resulted in Nortel's restatement of approximately $948 million in liabilities in November 2003. Dunn and Beatty falsely represented to the public that the restatement was caused solely by internal control mistakes. In reality, Nortel's first restatement was necessitated by the intentional improper handling of reserves which occurred throughout Nortel for several years, and the first restatement effort was sharply limited to avoid uncovering Dunn, Beatty and Gollogly's earnings management activities.


The complaint charges Dunn, Beatty, Gollogly and Pahapill with violating and/or aiding and abetting violations of the antifraud, reporting, books and records, internal controls and lying to auditors provisions of the federal securities laws. Dunn and Beatty are separately charged with violations of the officer certification provisions instituted by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The Commission seeks a permanent injunction, civil monetary penalties, officer and director bars, and disgorgement with prejudgment interest against all four defendants.

The Commission acknowledges the assistance of the Ontario Securities Commission, which conducted its own separate, parallel investigation.

The Commission's investigation is continuing.

HPQ: HP Delivers Industry’s First PCs to Meet ENERGY STAR 4.0 Hardware Requirements

HP today announced the industry’s first business PCs configurable to meet the hardware standards of ENERGY STAR® 4.0 – the new, stringent energy-efficiency specification from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

HP’s new energy-efficient business desktop PCs use less power, which is better for the environment and helps customers reduce energy costs.

HP is also the first major PC manufacturer to offer “80 percent efficient” power supplies, a key component of the ENERGY STAR 4.0 regulations that go into effect on July 20, 2007.

HP lab tests have found that configuring PCs with the optional 80 percent efficient power supplies along with the other ENERGY STAR 4.0 hardware requirements can reduce total system power consumption as much as 52 percent, translating into an average annual cost savings ranging from $6 to $58 per PC.(1)

“As a leader in energy efficiency, PG&E supports new technology designed to reduce the energy needed to operate computers,” stated Roland Risser, director, Customer Energy Efficiency, PG&E, the largest investor-owned gas and electric utility in the State of California. “We look forward to working with HP to accelerate the use of computers with 80 percent efficient power supplies and help consumers take advantage of new energy savings opportunities.”

The HP Compaq dc5700, dc5750 and dc7700 desktop PCs are designed to meet business customers’ growing requirements for more efficient power management and cooling. Customers using PCs configured to meet the ENERGY STAR 4.0 requirements can benefit from increased system reliability, reduced system maintenance costs, as well as decreased air conditioning costs -- all due to less heat generation, which can also greatly extend the life of the system. These technologies also make it easier for federal agencies to comply with Executive Order 13123, which requires them to strive to meet ENERGY STAR criteria to increase energy performance and environmental quality.

“Our expanding family of energy-efficient desktop PCs not only help business customers meet upcoming regulatory requirements, but also reduce the impact on the environment by meeting the EPA’s most stringent ENERGY STAR requirements yet,” said Jeri Callaway, senior vice president and general manager, Personal Systems Group -- Americas, HP. “HP is taking an industry leadership role in the delivery of energy-efficient desktops as we focus on delivering specialized product design tailored to meet the needs of businesses today.”

Select HP Compaq dc5700 and dc7700 business desktop PCs meeting the ENERGY STAR 4.0 hardware specifications are available now and feature Intel® Core 2TM Duo processors, Microsoft Windows® XP Pro, 80 GB hard drives, 1 GB of memory and DVD/CD-RW combo drives, starting at $899 and $959, respectively.(2)

ENERGY STAR 4.0 configurations are also available for the HP Compaq dc5750 business desktop with AMD AthlonTM processors, Microsoft Windows XP Pro, 80 GB hard drives, 512 MB of memory and DVD/CD-RW combo drives, starting at $609.(2)

Building on a legacy of environmental features for business PCs

The new ENERGY STAR 4.0 desktop configurations advance HP’s ongoing effort to adopt new power-efficient technologies and to provide its business customers with environmentally responsible desk-based PCs.

The company works diligently with industry and government groups to promote energy-saving programs and consistent global standards; in fact, HP was the first PC manufacturer to sponsor the 80PLUS program, a utility-funded incentive program to integrate energy-efficient power supplies into PCs and servers.

HP today also has nearly 50 Silver or Bronze-level products registered with the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT), a procurement tool that helps public and private sector institutional purchasers evaluate, compare and select PCs and monitors based on their environmental attributes. U.S. federal agencies are now mandated to buy EPEAT registered products.

In addition, the HP Compaq dc5750 business PC introduced late last year was the first global technology provider to offer customers a processor option that consumed less power, with the help of AMD 35-watt processors and its Cool ‘n’ Quiet® technology, which reduces processor heat and results in an overall cooler PC and a quieter work environment.

The company was also the first major PC manufacturer to ship an S3 power management-ready system, which saves energy by automatically switching the PC into a standby, low-power mode after a period of inactivity. Enabled by default on all HP business desktop PCs, S3 power management conserves up to 294 kWh per desktop PC annually. According to HP testing, that yearly savings of energy is enough to power a 75-watt light bulb burning continuously over that same year.

Business customers can also choose from a wide variety of low-power remote client solutions from HP, including the blade PC-based Consolidated Client Infrastructure as well as thin clients, which can deliver as much as 80 percent power savings over traditional desktops with similar capabilities.(3)

Additional information on the broad range of energy-efficient HP products is available at www.hp.com/go/energy.


1) Savings calculations based on PCMark 05 benchmark testing results. Internal testing; customer results will vary. Variables include customer determined percentage of sleep state, idle state, productivity state and peak usage state. Also, manufacturing variability will affect the savings a customer may see. HP advises customers to test a system with an 80 percent efficient power supply in their environment to determine potential savings.

(2) Estimated U.S. street prices. Actual prices may vary.

(3) Power savings based on HP lab tests comparing an HP thin client, with an idle power consumption average of 14.5W, to a typical desktop with an idle power consumption of 75W. HP advises customers to test thin clients in their environment to determine potential savings over traditional desktop PCs.

HPQ: Trane Employs HP and PolyVista for Warranty Chain Management Early Warning Solution

HP and PolyVista today announced that they have completed the implementation of a warranty chain management solution for Trane, a leading global provider of indoor comfort systems and comprehensive facility solutions for commercial, institutional and residential buildings.

The solution, which was up and running in eight weeks, helps Trane quickly identify product quality and warranty-related issues through automated early detection and root cause analysis.

After correcting any current issue detected by the solution, manufacturing teams at Trane can pass the information on to the design or engineering teams to help avoid problems in future products, as well as to vendors and suppliers to help improve long-term product reliability. Through this process, the solution offers reduced warranty costs, improved product development, sourcing and manufacturing processes, and better customer satisfaction.

“HP and PolyVista’s warranty and quality analytics solution worked immediately, allowing us to effectively mine our warranty and production data,” said Jerry Brinks, senior quality engineer and Six Sigma Black Belt, Trane. “This helps us to identify potential product defects and warranty management challenges, trends and anomalies for faster identification and resolution of product quality and warranty-related problems before we start hearing about it from anywhere else.”

The PolyVista and HP solution frees Trane’s business users from dependence on IT or statisticians to analyze warranty and quality data – the solution provides both technical and non-technical Trane employees with a means to analyze disparate data sources using high-end analytics and text mining.

“With PolyVista, HP is enabling Trane’s business users to discover new and valuable business insights hidden in their data to transform the customer warranty and quality management processes from reactive to proactive,” said Brian Walker, director, Americas Automotive Industries, HP.

Throughout Trane’s solution investigation and vendor selection process, HP and PolyVista worked to provide the company’s key business users with an analytic environment that automatically uncovered anomalies, correlations and relationships hidden in their data.

“It is the ability to uncover unknown issues and problems that is critical to reducing production costs and warranty spend and delivering high-quality products to customers,” said Bob Potts, vice president of sales, PolyVista. “Our experience in working with HP consulting and helping other manufacturers enabled us to deliver significant value to Trane very quickly.”

About PolyVista

Founded in 1995, PolyVista is a Houston-based company that delivers software to enable business users to move beyond reporting to discover new and valuable business insights hidden in their data. PolyVista’s Discovery software fills the gap between reporting and high-end analytics. PolyVista’s Discovery can interface with any existing database. It is the only product that successfully and seamlessly integrates OLAP (On-Line Analytical Processing), Discovery (data mining), text mining, and 2/3D visualization into a single, easy-to-use application for the non-technical business user. More information about PolyVista can be found at www.polyvista.com

IBM Expands Global Service Delivery Capabilities

IBM (NYSE:IBM), extending its global service delivery capabilities, has opened additional centers in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and Chengdu, China.


The new centers, which expand IBM’s global network of service delivery centers to more than 30 countries, will focus on development, operation and maintenance of application systems for clients based in Europe, Africa, the U.S and the Asia Pacific region.

The global delivery center located at the National University of Ho Chi Minh City IT Park, Thu Duc District, is IBM’s first such center in Vietnam. The center will offer services in the areas of electronic commerce, supply chain management, distribution and e-governance to clients in the industrial, distribution, finance and insurance, public, communication and small and medium business sectors in Belgium, France and Africa.

The global delivery center in the Chengdu High-Tech Zone is IBM’s fourth such center in China and will support clients in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, the U.S. and Europe. The center also will run as a regional operations center for the IBM Global Procurement Center, supporting IBM’s globally integrated supply chain.

Mr. Erik Bush, executive vice president, of Application Services, IBM Global Delivery, said: “IBM’s delivery capabilities across countries such as China and Vietnam are a key part of our strategy to operate as a globally integrated enterprise. Such a strategy allows IBM and its clients to leverage skills wherever they exist in the world. Where there is a concentration of the right skills in a given country, IBM develops people and resources and brings in global best practices to enable us to meet the needs of not just our domestic business in that country, but also our global business.”

IBM’s Global Delivery Centers in China and Vietnam are an integral part of IBM's global delivery network of centers that runs across Argentina, Australia, Belarus, Brazil, Canada, China, Chile, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Egypt, Hungary, India, Ireland, Japan, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, South Africa, Scotland, Spain, Slovakia, Taiwan, Trinidad, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela and Vietnam.

DJ: Dow Jones Reports February 2007 Advertising Revenue

Dow Jones & Company (NYSE: DJ) today reported February advertising revenue and volume for its leading print publications.

Advertising revenue at The Wall Street Journal decreased 10.0% in February on a 6.6% decrease in advertising volume, due to declines in the technology, financial, general and classified advertising categories. Technology advertising volume decreased 12.2% as decreases in communications and personal computers advertising were partially offset by increases in software and office products advertising. Financial advertising volume decreased 9.8% primarily due to a decrease in retail advertising partially offset by an increase in wholesale advertising. General advertising volume decreased 5.4% as decreases in auto, pharmaceutical, corporate, aviation and other general business advertising were partially offset by increases in travel, luxury goods and other consumer advertising. Classified advertising volume decreased 3.8% due to a decrease in real estate advertising partially offset by an increase in other classified advertising.

At Barron’s, total advertising revenue increased 0.5% in February on a 0.6% decrease in advertising pages due to an increase in financial advertising partially offset by decreases in general and technology advertising.

International advertising revenue increased 16.6% in February due to increases in general, financial and classified advertising partially offset by a decrease in technology advertising at The Wall Street Journal Asia and The Wall Street Journal Europe.

Local Media Group advertising revenue, on a same property basis, decreased 2.4% in February on an 8.4% decline in volume. Decreases in non-daily (down 16.8%), classified (down 4.5%) and display (down 0.9%) advertising revenue were partially offset by increases in pure* online (up 49.7%) and preprint (up 1.6%) advertising revenue.

* Pure online advertising revenue represents advertising that is not part of a print and online bundled offer. In January 2007, pure online advertising revenue was up 90.0%


Dow Jones & Company (NYSE: DJ; dowjones.com) is a leading provider of global business news and information services. Its Consumer Media Group publishes The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, MarketWatch and the Far Eastern Economic Review. Its Enterprise Media Group includes Dow Jones Newswires, Factiva, Dow Jones Licensing Services, Dow Jones Indexes and Dow Jones Financial Information Services. Its Local Media Group operates community-based information franchises. Dow Jones provides news content to CNBC and radio stations in the U.S.