September 27, 2005

IN THE NEWS Concerto Software and Aspect Communications have completed their merger. The new, privately held company will now operate as Aspect Software. The company anticipates annual revenue in excess of $600 million and will have more than 5,000 customers in more than 50 countries. Concerto acquired Aspect in July for $1 billion, creating the world's largest contact center solutions company. NEW PRODUCTS IBM and SAP will test a new analytics packaged tool designed to make it easier for clients to gather, store, and analyze business information. The solution will integrate the analytics capability of SAP NetWeaver with IBM BladeCenter and TotalStorage systems. Meanwhile, SAP and Siemens are introducing a new solution to increase the security of enterprise software applications. The tool will be delivered through the SAP NetWeaver platform and will help companies comply with regulatory standards. Habeas announced the opening of its free Habeas RepCheck online tool. RepCheck enables volume email senders to conduct a diagnostic examination of their email reputation so they can better understand how ISPs and other email receivers will likely handle their email and what to do to help prevent future delivery issues. Infravio, a provider of SOA technologies, has announced the launch of Infravio X-Registry Platform 5, the newest version of the company's flagship product. Infravio Platform 5 comprises integrated registry, repository, and governance capabilities to enable end-to-end service life cycle governance. Avaya has announced the availability of Avaya Proactive Contact 3.0, which lets contact centers enhance their customer outreach capabilities through the use of predictive dialing technology. Proactive Contact 3.0 will drive outbound services like telesales, customer notifications, service follow-ups, and collection calling. The technology can automatically call customers, detect a live connection, and ensure the right agent is connected to the customer. KANA Software has released the latest version of KANA Response 8.0, the company's email response management application. Enhancements include the addition of an Active Framework that pulls customer information automatically in real time from any data source. In addition, the latest version also includes increased security layers and agent management and monitoring tools. ON THE MOVE John Freeland has joined Salesforce.com as president of worldwide operations. Freeland will be responsible for the Successforce portfolio of services and business alliances. Related articles: Big Blue and Siebel Bolster Their SOA Concerto Gains a New Aspect