April 28, 2005

IN THE NEWS IBM and Cisco Systems have announced plans to provide contact centers with speech-enabled self-service solutions, combining IBM's WebSphere Voice Server product and Cisco's Customer Voice Portal. The products will be designed to allow businesses to extend speech self-service to remote locations across IP and non-IP networks. The tools, which incorporate open standards, including VoiceXML, will combine IBM's integration and application infrastructure software and speech technology with Cisco IP communications. "[What] we're trying to do with working with various vendors and technology like VoIP and emerging standards [is] create converged multichannel approach," says Bruce Morse, IBM vice president of contact center solutions. Witness Systems has announced financial results for the first quarter of 2005. Revenue was a record $41.2 million and the net loss was 36 cents per share. The loss was attributed to the acquisition of Blue Pumpkin Software, which was completed on Jan. 24. In accounting for this acquisition Witness recorded a charge of $9 million for in-process research and development, and substantial increases in merger costs and expenses. Nortel has announced that its U.S. subsidiary, Nortel Networks, will acquire PEC Solutions to provide mission-critical tools for U.S. federal, state, and local government customers. The deal is estimated at $448 million through a cash tender offer for all of the outstanding shares of PEC at $15.50 per share. Nortel expects the acquisition to be completed in June. CUSTOMER WINS MicroStrategy has announced that Cingular Wireless has selected the Microsoft Business Intelligence Platform to enhance its sales and marketing efforts by analyzing billing and churn information. Cingular also is building a dashboard for its executive and marketing management that MicroStrategy says will convey at-a-glance intelligence on marketplace perception of Cingular, helping employees fine-tune their marketing programs and make them more responsive to customer demand. NaviSite has announced that MaestroTec will use NaviSite's Software as a Service tool for its newly deployed solution, Document Management Services, which provides service-based organizations a safe and cost-effective means of sharing files and documents with employees, vendors, clients, and partners across the world. NEW PRODUCTS Intuit has announced the availability of its Spring 2005 release of QuickBase, a Software as a Service solution that allows corporate workgroups to create applications for managing business processes, including sales and customer support, project management, operations, IT, and HR. Qlik Tech has announced the latest version of its flagship BI application, QlikView 7. It supports the 64-bit enterprise, enabling massive scale analysis while broadening the reach of BI to the entire organization, according to the company. ON THE MOVE Zanett has announced the appointment of Leonard G. Goldstein to its board of directors. Goldstein brings more than 20 years of IT experience in various capacities from systems engineer to CIO and Chief Technology Officer with organizations like IBM and Goldman Sachs. Most recently he was at Pequot Capital Management. Related articles: SMBs Are Slow to Adopt SaaS NaviSite Acquires SureBridge to Boost CRM Capabilities