Oracle Buys Sun
Oracle Corp. and Sun Microsystems have entered into a definitive agreement under which Oracle will acquire Sun common stock for $9.50 per share in cash. The transaction is valued at approximately $7.4 billion, or $5.6 billion net of Sun’s cash and debt.
“The acquisition of Sun transforms the IT industry, combining best-in-class enterprise software and mission-critical computing systems,” said Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. “Oracle will be the only company that can engineer an integrated system, applications to disk, where all the pieces fit and work together so customers do not have to do it themselves. Our customers benefit as their systems integration costs go down while system performance, reliability and security go up.”
There are substantial long-term strategic customer advantages to Oracle owning two key Sun software assets: Java and Solaris. Java is one of the computer industry’s best-known brands and most widely deployed technologies, and it is the most important software Oracle has ever acquired. Oracle Fusion Middleware, Oracle’s fastest growing business, is built on top of Sun’s Java language and software. Oracle can now ensure continued innovation and investment in Java technology for the benefit of customers and the Java community.
The Board of Directors of Sun Microsystems has unanimously approved the transaction. It is anticipated to close this summer, subject to Sun stockholder approval, certain regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.
Hubspan and IBM Team to Deliver New Cloud-Based Integration Platform
Hubspan, Inc., a provider of business integration solutions, and IBM have announced WebSpan, a new Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) integration platform. WebSpan combines the Hubspan on–demand integration platform and IBM WebSphere integration software into a single platform that can help businesses reduce the cost, time and complexity associated with traditional integration and business process automation solutions.
Companies and solution providers worldwide continue to focus on the critical need to connect and integrate data and processes across a growing number of applications and business processes. With WebSpan, these businesses will have a new option to deploy business community networks, extend the reach of existing application and infrastructure investments, and accelerate service oriented architecture (SOA) initiatives.
“Our clients are asking us for cloud-based platforms that offer robust and comprehensive integration capabilities,” said Steve Worrall, vice president of WebSphere BPM, Connectivity, Commerce and GB Sales for IBM. “These companies are increasingly looking for a flexible solution that provides an easy entry point, delivering rapid and quantifiable business value. WebSpan expands our clients’ choices when implementing connectivity and integration solutions.”
WebSpan is a single instance, multi-tenant SaaS integration platform, which enables cost-effective business integration and ease of scalability while optimizing the sharing of resources across partner communities. WebSpan is available with specific solution packages to meet the needs of a wide range of companies and business processes, with an initial set of offerings targeting e-procurement, demand/supply chain, e-payments, logistics and e-commerce integration.
Organizations such as Visa, Inc., who recently launched a strategic alliance with Hubspan, have identified integration as an obstacle to the smooth flow of inter-enterprise information and have embedded integration solutions into their product and services offerings. Visa recently announced its Accounts Payable Automation solution, which incorporates integration capabilities as a standard component of the offering.
“There’s no doubt that process automation and information integration can help to deliver cost savings, but our financial institution clients and corporate customers needed a simplified road map for a more cost-effective implementation,” said Nick Marchetti, head of supply chain management, Visa, Inc. “Visa’s alliance with Hubspan has helped reduce the integration hurdle, enabling greater partner collaboration and leading to automation of time and resource intensive processes such as the accounts payable function.”
Everything Channel Partners with Encover, Inc. to Add Maintenance Contract and Software License Renewal Services to its Portfolio
Everything Channel is partnering with Encover, Inc., a provider of technology and services for selling service contracts and software subscriptions, to expand its Field Sales and Marketing Services capabilities to offer maintenance contract and software license renewals. Everything Channel's Field Sales and Marketing Services drive incremental revenue for channel customers.
Everything Channel currently offers multi-channel marketing and sales services, which are designed to support and complement the sales process and drive marketing programs. Now, through this strategic partnership, Everything Channel and Encover will add maintenance contract and software license renewals to its portfolio of client services. This technology-enabled service will generate new revenues and increases profit margins for clients by uncovering 100 percent of the revenue opportunities available from the installed base of technology vendors and their channel partners.
"We are committed to continuing our mission of channel access to execution with the addition of maintenance contract and software license renewals to our portfolio of channel solutions. As the only company to offer a 'complete technology sales channel solution,' these new services from Encover enable us to deliver services that move our business even closer to our customers. We are looking forward to working closely with Encover," said Dan Dignam, SVP, Everything Channel.
Encover collaborates with enterprises and their channel partners to identify, pursue and close 100 percent of the incremental revenue opportunities from their installed base, including service contracts and subscription renewals, maintenance, cross-selling and up-selling, in the US or internationally. Encover's modular service offerings, available in a variety of options including technology licensing and consulting, combine a unique technology platform with marketing and sales services to deliver actionable insight into customer buying patterns, and convert that intelligence into revenues for clients.
ClickSoftware Reports 13 Percent Revenue Growth and 18 Percent Operating Margin for the First Quarter
ClickSoftware Technologies Ltd., a provider of mobile workforce management and service optimization solutions, has released the results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2009.
For the first quarter, total revenues were $13.0 million, with net income of $2.6 million, or $0.09 per share. This compares with revenues of $11.5 million and net income of $0.3 million, or $0.01 per share, for the same period last year, and revenues of $14.1 million and net income of $5.0 million, or $0.17 per share, for the fourth quarter of 2008.
Software license revenues for the first quarter of 2009 were $4.3 million, while service and maintenance revenues were $8.7 million. This compares to software license revenues of $4.0 million and service and maintenance revenues of $7.5 million for the same period last year, and $5.6 million and $8.5 million, respectively, in the fourth quarter of 2008.
"We are satisfied with the financial results of the first quarter which typically is a slow quarter for us and for the software industry in general. Specifically pleasing is the record $21 million booking of new business which came with a nice mix of deal size and geographic spread. The reseller agreement with SAP is also producing results, some of which are already reflected in this quarter's revenues," said Dr. Moshe BenBassat, ClickSoftware's chairman and CEO. "Moreover, strong operating income, representing 18 percent of revenues, indicates a continuous improvement in our efficiencies and cost control. During the second quarter we acquired the workforce management business of Manchitra which now forms the basis of ClickSoftware India, and will further enhance our delivery capabilities in India and worldwide. While the economic recession is impacting some of our target markets, we continue to see demand for our products from industries and territories which are less influenced by the economic conditions, and where our products generate immediate return on investment. The backlog we generated this quarter will provide some needed cushion should the economy impact us to a greater extent in the future", he added.
NetSuite Announces First Quarter 2009 Results
NetSuite, Inc., a vendor of on-demand, integrated business management software suites, has released operating results for its first quarter ended March 31, 2009.
Total revenue for the first quarter of 2009 was $41.6 million, a 22 percent increase over the first quarter of 2008. Revenue from the Americas for the first quarter of 2009 was $33.6 million, while revenue from international regions was $8.0 million.
On a GAAP basis, net loss for the first quarter of 2009 was $3.7 million, or $(0.06) per share, as compared to $2.0 million, or $(0.03) per share, in the first quarter of 2008.
Non-GAAP net income for the first quarter of 2009 was $1.0 million, or $0.02 per share, as compared to a non-GAAP net loss of $420,000, or $(0.01) per share, for the first quarter of 2008.
"We delivered results that not only met our goals, but also indicate that NetSuite continues to take market share and execute on our strategic initiatives of moving up market and extending the NetSuite platform," said Zach Nelson, CEO of NetSuite. "In particular, our growth of non-GAAP profitability from the prior quarter was impressive."
Neptuny to Support VMware vSphere
Neptuny, a provider in IT optimization and capacity planning, has announced that Neptuny Caplan will support VMware vSphere by the end of 2009.
VMware vSphere, recently launched as "the industry's first cloud operating system" has been designed to enable customers to transform their IT infrastructures into a federation of private and on-demand to external clouds. The final promise of vSphere (and other similar initiatives) is making IT services more easily accessible, flexible and reliable, thus providing more control over service levels, without increasing infrastructure complexity and costs.
Neptuny recently joined VMware’s Technology Alliance Partner program and Caplan, its flagship product providing Capacity Planning for large data centers and networks, fully supports virtualized environments based on VMware technology. In particular, Caplan supports consolidation and virtualization initiatives on ESX servers by first identifying the best candidates and targets and then suggesting optimal placements together with suggestions on how to assign appropriate resource shares.
Microsoft Open Government Data Initiative to Help Foster Transparency and Collaboration
As part of Microsoft Corp.'s efforts aimed at helping government organizations meet goals of transparency, citizen participation and agency collaboration, the company has unveiled its Open Government Data Initiative (OGDI), and will be releasing a collection of software assets that allow government agencies and developers to publish and interact with their data in Windows Azure, the company's cloud computing platform.
As data becomes both increasingly necessary and readily available in response to demands for transparency, collaboration and participation, methods need to be developed to allow for interaction with that data. To help public sector entities meet these demands, Microsoft's OGDI provides an Internet-standards-based approach to house existing public government data in Microsoft's cloud computing platform, called Windows Azure. The approach makes the data accessible in a programmatic manner that uses open, industry-standard protocols and application programming interfaces (APIs).
"OGDI-based solutions not only provide easy access to government data, but also demonstrate how cloud computing can significantly reduce the cost, complexity and time to market for solutions that consume the data," said Daniel Kasun, senior director of the US Public Sector Developer Evangelism Group at Microsoft. "Developers will be able to focus solely on solving the business needs of government agencies, resulting in a breadth of new solutions in a very short amount of time."
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SharePoint TechCon East 2009