Dennis Callaghan

Ilog inc. this week at sun Microsystems Inc.s JavaOne developer conference will roll out a Java-based configuration tool that allows Web sites to give customers more control over their site experience. JConfigurator, a Java optimization component that can be embedded in sites and Web applications, allows buyers on consumer and business-to-business Web sites to make […]

Net Perceptions Inc.s new president and CEO, Don Peterson, will be expected to re-energize the company that practically invented Web personalization with his entrepreneurial spirit. Peterson, who succeeded co-founder Steven Snyder last week, comes to a very different company than the one started in 1996 by Snyder and his University of Minnesota colleagues, who patented […]

The demand center service announced last week by OnDemand Inc. may help companies avoid the kind of overstock that caused Cisco Systems Inc. to write off $2.2 billion in excess inventory, OnDemand officials said. Demand Center, a part of the Menlo Park, Calif., companys Partner Accelerator PRM (partner relationship management) suite, encourages inventory efficiencies between […]

Hyperion Solutions Corp. announced earlier this month that it will slash 15 percent of its work force, or about 400 jobs. Now customers and analysts are wondering if the other shoe will drop on the companys product lines. The job cuts, along with a hiring freeze, restrictions on corporate travel, and cuts in discretionary spending […]

Peoplesoft Inc. is taking another step to untether users of its enterprise applications from the traditional desktop client with the launch next week of its PeopleSoft 8 CRM suite. The rearchitected customer relationship management applications, like the PeopleSoft 8 back-office applications released last September, are written entirely in HTML, making them accessible from a Web […]

E.piphany Inc. and Onyx Software Corp. are broadening their respective CRM software suites by integrating capabilities gained through recent acquisitions and partnerships. E.piphany took a major step in its evolution from being a provider of only analytical customer relationship management software to becoming a complete operational and analytical CRM vendor with the release last week […]

SPSS Inc. is taking software that it has developed for analysts and repurposing it for a broader audience. SPSS new CustomerCentric Solutions division, which was announced last week, will market the companys analytical CRM (customer relationship management) software in combination with services and middleware. To be sure, SPSS is no stranger to statistical analysis. The […]

Authentication technology being adopted by Visa USA in its 3D Secure payment system will make the checkout process at e-commerce sites more secure for online shoppers and businesses. While this may force consumers shopping at Web sites to sacrifice some convenience, it likely will reduce some of the financial burden that e-tailers shoulder as a […]

If Joe Desmond has his way, newspaper headlines this summer will read that cellular telephones helped save California from an energy catastrophe. Desmond is president and CEO of Infotility Inc., a Pleasanton, Calif., startup thats trying to give businesses, government offices and consumers more control over their power consumption. Infotility uses a hosted alert-and-response service […]

For telecommunications companies, business is about opportunity and competition. Nearly 20 years after telephone industry deregulation, these companies have tremendous opportunities to sell customers a variety of telecommunications products and services—local, long-distance and wireless phone services; Internet access; and phone cards—but there is also no shortage of companies selling the same products and services. To […]