Dennis Callaghan

Ask Jeeves Inc. made a move to extend its enterprise natural language search technology with the acquisition Monday of privately-held enterprise integration and interface software company Octopus Software Inc. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The new technology brought to the table by Octopus will allow Ask Jeeves to more easily connect its JeevesOne […]

The beta version of Microsoft Corp.s Commerce Server 2002 e-commerce site-building software reveals a distinctive turn toward making the software an enterprise-class application suite. In fact, this version of Commerce Server, which was announced today, is divided into Standard and Enterprise editions for the first time. The Enterprise Edition has increased performance and scalability to […]

While many called it the worst holiday shopping season for retailers in a decade, online retailers made steady, if not better-than-expected, gains. Brick-and-mortar retailers continued to assert themselves on the Web even as they often used their sites to drive in-store sales as well. Jupiter Media Metrix Inc., of New York, in its Holiday 2001 […]

Seeking a tighter focus on enterprise customers while trimming expenses and unprofitable business, Northern Light Technology LLC this week will eliminate its free Web search service. The Cambridge, Mass., company follows in the steps of other dot-coms that have stopped providing something for nothing on the Web in the face of declining advertising sales. “Everybody […]

In the first major customer relationship management industry consolidation deal of 2002, PeopleSoft Inc. announced plans last Friday to buy privately held marketing automation software developer Annuncio Software Inc. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, though the deal will give PeopleSoft Annuncios intellectual property and certain other assets. Annuncio is best known for so-called […]

Siebel systems Inc. plans to add Web services and JCA support to its CRM software suite, an initiative that will help customer relationship management extend beyond the enterprise and link more directly with channel partners. The next iteration of Siebel 7, expected to be available this summer, will support SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol)- and […]

Former SAS Institute Inc. President and COO Andre Boisvert was appointed chairman of the board of directors of Sagent Technology Inc. Friday. Boisvert joined the Sagent board last May, three months after stepping down at SAS, which is both a competitor and a partner of Sagents. He replaces company co-founder Ken Gardner, who is leaving […]

Davox Corp. announced Thursday that it has entered into a definitive agreement to buy fellow contact center software vendor Cellit Inc. for $10.2 million in cash and more than half a million shares of common stock. Not stopping there, Davox, of Westford, Mass., also said that it was changing its name to Concerto Software Inc., […]

Seeking to tighten its focus on enterprise customers while trimming expenses and unprofitable business, Northern Light Technology LLC announced this week plans to eliminate its free search service by Jan. 16. The Cambridge, Mass., company maintains an online business library of more than 70 million pages of content from more than 7,100 sources and an […]

PeopleSoft Inc. plans to add sales configuration technology it is acquiring from bankrupt e-commerce software vendor Calico Commerce Inc. to its CRM application suite by the third quarter. PeopleSofts customer relationship management technology supports rules-based configuration, but the Calico technology will allow it to handle more-complex transactions where customers have a number of options, according […]

New software and services are in the pipeline that promise to help e-mail administrators get a better handle on their systems traffic management, security and remote access. DYS Analytics Inc. will release Version 4.0 of its Email Control software for Lotus Domino at IBMs Lotusphere show later this month. The upgrade, which is used to […]

IBMs Lotus Software division announced on Monday at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco that the forthcoming version of Lotus Notes, code-named Rnext, will support Apple Corp.s next-generation operating system, Mac OS X, also known as Mac OS 10. Mac OS X support will be available with the next beta of Rnext, scheduled for release […]