January 12, 2005

IN THE NEWS SBC Communications and Hewlett-Packard announced a strategic alliance to help U.S. businesses streamline the management of complex IT and communications environments. The companies plan to provide enterprises with one approach to manage IT solutions, from PCs and servers to the communications networks that tie them together. The two companies intend to jointly develop, deliver, and market a portfolio of adaptable packaged services that integrate telecom and IT to provide managed solutions for enterprise businesses. The integrated solution is designed to help companies increase productivity and minimize total cost of ownership, particularly when implementing new convergence solutions or branch office operations into corporate networks. Both companies plan to begin jointly marketing each company's services in the first quarter of 2005. Antepo, a provider of secure Enterprise Instant Messaging (EIM), together with Jive Software, a provider of Java-based collaboration applications, announced a strategic partnership to develop a software solution based on Antepo's Open Presence Network System. The solution will integrate the EIM and Presence capabilities of Antepo's Open System with the customer support and knowledge base of Jive's Live Assistant solution. Enterprises will gain access to a platform for real-time communications, collaboration, sales support, and customer service. Salesforce.com announced that as of December 31, 2004, its customer base has grown to approximately 13,300 customers and approximately 214,000 paying subscribers worldwide. This includes approximately 2,000 subscribers, which the company had previously excluded from the subscriber count, pending satisfaction of certain specific technology requirements. NEW PRODUCTS Microsoft and SAP started shipping Portal Development Kit for Microsoft .NET within SAP NetWeaver. The move is part of the two companies' ongoing commitment to enabling enterprises to maximize their business-critical SAP solution investments on the Windows platform. SAP customers will now be able to achieve lower costs and reduce complexity through close integration of SAP NetWeaver and Visual Studio .NET 2003. Related articles: SMBs Are Adopting Right-Size CRM Self-Service Magic