March 28, 2005

CUSTOMER WINS Siebel Systems has selected Macrovision's FLEXnet Publisher Update Service Module to manage and deliver software updates throughout its customer base. Siebel customers will use Update Service to distribute software updates to multiple software platforms, including IBM AIX, Linux, Sun Solaris, and Windows. Parature, a provider of on-demand customer support software, announced that Parasol IT, a U.K. provider of Web-based accounting services, will implement Parature's Enterprise Edition to provide multichannel support to its customers. The International Space Station is using a Nuance speech-powered virtual assistant named Clarissa to help astronauts accomplish tasks such as checking out space suits and analyzing drinking water, all by voice. Clarissa was designed using Nuance speech recognition software, and in the future will talk astronauts through procedures related to life support systems, such as medical exams and equipment checkout. IN THE NEWS Acxiom will acquire Digital Impact, a provider of integrated marketing solutions. The agreement is for $3.50 per share in cash and is valued at approximately $140 million, based on fully diluted shares. It is expected that Digital Impact will have approximately $20 million in cash on closing. The boards of directors of both companies unanimously approved the transaction. BorderWare Technologies has joined VOIPSA, the industry's first Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) Security Alliance. VOIPSA is an open group comprising leading VoIP vendors, providers, security researchers, and thought leaders with the purpose of improving the public awareness and best practices for security and privacy of VoIP. BorderWare will chair VOIPSA's Security Requirements committee. ON THE MOVE Hyperion, a global provider of BPM software, has appointed Dean Drougas vice president and CIO. Drougas will direct the company's applications development, database management, network and communication services, and end-user computing. Prior to Hyperion Drougas was CIO and vice president of Silicon Graphics. American Technology Corporation, a provider of proprietary sound reproduction technologies, has appointed Bruce Gray vice president of its business group. Gray will direct marketing and selling of ATC products to companies in the digital signage. Gray's previous experience includes positions with Ethertronics, Novatel Wireless, Uniden Electronics, and U.S. Robotics. NEW PRODUCTS Insightful, a provider of software solutions for analysis of numeric and text data, has launched InFact 3.0, which uses an interactive text-query language to enable users to execute custom searches from Web interfaces. InFact is designed to enable analysts and researchers to track facts and relationships within text documents, according to the company. New features include improved linguistic data representations, scalability, and integration with external dictionary terms, called proprietary ontology. eAgency Systems, a provider of on-demand Web and wireless CRM solutions, has released Nice Office Wireless for Research in Motion (RIM) BlackBerry 7250 Wireless HandheldTM Nice Office SFA/CRM software operating on the BlackBerry 7250. Nice Office Wireless is the third component of the Nice Office Suite, which includes Nice Office Web, Nice Office Enterprise, and Nice Office Dashboard. Users will use Nice Office to connect with email, leads, appointments, customer and sales information, key forms, and corporate data. SHIFT Communications has launched SHIFT LeadSensor, a service for lead origin tracking. The new service is designed to provide marketing executives with data to measure the impact of their marketing campaigns on inbound lead sourcing and closed sales. Related articles: Emerging On-Demand Players Join Traditional Providers to Lead CRM Innovation Siebel Buys edocs for $115 Million