March 22, 2005

IN THE NEWS Oracle and Retek have signed a merger agreement for Oracle to acquire the retail software maker at a price of $11.25 for each outstanding Retek share. The purchase is valued at $670 million. The acquisition comes following a bidding war with SAP AG. Retek's annual revenue was $174 million with 200 customers while employing 525 people. Envision Telephony has released a new business-consulting service. The company's business consulting group will provide interactive sessions for solving contact center challenges and is designed to help companies achieve the best return on their technology investment. Envision also will offer onsite analysis to evaluate, improve, or redesign programs. Pivotal Veracity has expanded eDelivery Tracker to 68 countries and more than 200 consumer ISPs and domains worldwide. According to the company the solution allows enterprises to track email inbox placement in the United States, and now Africa, Asia, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America. Informatica, a provider of data integration software, has joined the Enterprise Grid Alliance (EGA), a multivendor consortium dedicated to driving the adoption of grid computing in the enterprise. The EGA membership reinforces the company's commitment to grid computing to help customize existing hardware server assets. CUSTOMER WINS Cognos is standardizing Del Monte Food on Cognos Enterprise Business Intelligence to provide the company with customer trends analysis and reporting to increase profit margins and improve management decision making. Del Monte will use Cognos's Enterprise BI series for data analysis, visualization of key performance metrics, and business and production reporting. UniPress Software, a provider of Web-based service desk-automation software targeting, announced that Capital Title Group, an Arizona-based title-and-escrow professional services firm, has implemented UniPress FootPrints to track and manage information technology service and support requests for more than 1,200 associates across 80 locations. In addition, FootPrints will be used to automate change management processes, optimize existing IT assets, and streamline procurement of new equipment. Marqui, a provider of marketing communications, has implemented Marqui's Software-As-A-Service (SAAS) to an additional 30 organizations throughout North America. These include Arbutus College, Manhattan Research, Cumberland Valley Area Development District, and Audubon Society of Portland. Marqui SAAS is a marketing management system designed to manage email campaigns, newsletters, and Web sites. Pillsbury Winthrop is deploying BranchIt, a provider of on-demand relationship-mining solutions. Pillsbury Winthrop will activate 1,700 BranchIt subscriptions worldwide and will use BranchIt to enhance lead development and recruiting among its sales force. ON THE MOVE Steve Roop is joining Vontu's executive team as vice president of marketing. Roop has more than 15 years' experience in enterprise software marketing at such companies as PeopleSoft and Accenture. At Vontu Roop will be responsible for product management, product marketing, press and analyst relations, and demand generation. NEW PRODUCTS Best Software, provider of SalesLogix CRM Suite, has collaborated with Benefits Technology Group (BTG) and SalesLogix business partner THG Sales Automation to develop and deliver a CRM application tailored specifically for employee benefits brokers. BTG and THG's new Employee Benefits Broker solution for SalesLogix leverages the SalesLogix CRM platform for vertical market customization and includes client management features like marketing, RFP management, and customer service and issue resolution. Gryphon Networks, a provider of real-time compliance and productivity solutions for direct marketing, has revealed its integrated management platform, Integrated Compliance and Contact Management Platform. The platform is designed to help customers achieve regulatory compliance, increase sales productivity, improve marketing effectiveness, and open new markets. Related articles: Dispatch: March 18, 2005 Accounting Irregularities Are Linked to Poor Performance Management Oracle's Oyster The PeopleSoft acquisition alters the software giant's competitive landscape.