Wires: News and Products for July 30, 2004

In the news... Amdocs Limited announced that its board of directors has authorized the repurchase of up to $100 million of its outstanding ordinary shares. This initiative enables the company to purchase its ordinary shares in open market or privately negotiated transactions at times and prices considered appropriate by the company. IBM and Pegasystems announced that they have formed a global alliance to deliver payments exceptions and compliance management solutions to top-tier banks and card issuers and acquirers. Under the terms of the agreement, IBM's infrastructure will be integrated with Pegasystems' BPM applications for exceptions and dispute management. eGain Communications has announced a global partnership with Wipro Technologies. Wipro will offer system integration services around eGain's product suite, eGain Service 6, which is available as an in-house or an on-demand hosted solution. New products... Initiate Systems made available its Initiate Identity Hub 5.2 a software, the latest version of its customer data integration solution. The software features additional platforms to support UNIX/DB2 and Linux/Oracle; expanded Web services functionality; a searching software developer kit for Java or C++ integration; new Web-based reporting for ad hoc data analysis and data profiling; new reports for Initiate Auditor customers; and increased internationalization support. Interactive Intelligence released the newest version of its Customer Interaction Center software, version 2.3. Enhancements include simplified installation, self-monitoring and diagnostic capabilities, upgraded speech recognition and Web collaboration, additional PBX/IP PBX functionality, and Interaction Tracker, an optional application that maintains a database of people and their associated interactions. QAS introduced the QuickAddress Batch Version 4, a component of its total address management solution, available as a standalone product or as a set of APIs. The latest version verifies, corrects, and standardizes address records with enhanced delivery point validation from the United States Postal Service (USPS). The software compares each address against the USPS data file of valid addresses, verifying its accuracy according to USPS Coding Accuracy Support System specifications. Experlogix, a developer of sales configurator solutions, announced direct integration to Microsoft CRM, at the company's Worldwide Partner Conference in Toronto, Ontario. The Experlogix Configurator will be combined with Microsoft CRM to provide straightforward guided selling, including the preparation of complex engineered quotes, calculated shipping charges, and assistance with advanced kitting. Experlogix also introduced QuickQuote, a product designed to accelerate quote creation within Microsoft CRM; and Proposal Publisher, which provides custom printouts of quotes and orders. Qualistics has made available its new Call Center Service Optimizer. The solution provides automated IVR customer feedback surveys to rate the performance of a customer's call center representative on a continuous basis. John Potenza, president and CEO of Qualistics, says: "With the Call Center Service Optimizer, you will know in real time which customers are dissatisfied, why they are dissatisfied, and which representative was involved in each reported transaction." The solution is available as both a Web-hosted or a licensed software platform.