October 21, 2005

IN THE NEWS SAP has reported a 20 percent growth in software revenues for the third quarter of 2005. Software revenue was euro 590 million for the quarter, while total revenue was euro 2.01 billion, an increase of 13 percent compared to the same quarter last year. Software revenue in the United States increased 34 percent to euro 263 million. Operating income for the third quarter of 2005 was euro 517 million, an increase of 12 percent. "While we continue to move forward in delivering on our Enterprise Services Architecture road map, we also decided to accelerate investments. In addition to rolling out mySAP Business Suite and all of SAP's industry solutions on SAP NetWeaver, we also service-enabled the mySAP Business Suite and industry solutions with more than 500 enterprises services," CEO Henning Kagerman said in a written statement. "We have a clear and defined roadmap for the future of our software investments and we are investing wisely--spending on more efficient organic growth and on smart, fill-in acquisitions." BEA Systems has closed its acquisition of Plumtree Software, a provider of enterprise portal solutions. By combining both product lines, BEA will provide a comprehensive solution that joins its SOA technology with Plumtree's portal technology. BEA Systems acquisition of Plumtree was valued at approximately $204 million. Acxiom has announced its financial results for Q2 2006. Revenue for the quarter was $330.5 million, income from operations was $18.8 million, and diluted earnings per share were $0.08. The company experienced an 11 percent year-over-year revenue improvement. "We will continue to realize benefits from our operational initiatives, including ongoing expense management and an intense focus on performance metrics," said Lee Hodges, company operations leader, in a written statement. "We expect those initiatives to contribute more than $15 million in the third quarter and each subsequent quarter going forward." NEW PRODUCTS Experian launched Business Market Analyzer, an online application that helps marketing executives better analyze B2B customers, perform market analysis, and identify best prospects. By combining existing customer records with the information from the National Business Database, marketers can generate reports on company-specific locations like local branches or regional offices to analyze their existing customer base, according to the company. They can build customized prospect lists by selecting geographic and demographic criteria. It also helps analyze the characteristics of a company's current customers and match them with similar characteristics of companies within the database. ON THE MOVE Voxify announced that Don Nanneman has joined the company as vice president of marketing. Nanneman assumes control of the company's marketing strategy, partner program, and commercial efforts. CosmoCom has appointed Mike Goode managing director of United Kingdom and Ireland. Goode will lead sales and channel development efforts for the region. Rimini Street, a third-party alternative maintenance and support provider for Siebel, has announced the appointment of Thomas Shay to the position of CTO. Previously with Sun Microsystems, Shay will oversee the development of Rimini Street's remote support tools and technology infrastructure. Related articles: Plumtree Opens New Suite Doors A B2B Fraud Prevention Tool SAP's New Hosted Model