Eric Lundquist

As you are reading this, I am in Tokyo for a round of meetings with several groups of Japanese high-tech vendors. While Im over in Japan, here is what I expect to be reading about the U.S. technology business. The first guess is easy. Every week, some U.S. vendor is being acquired by another company. […]

Its Opening Day at Fenway Park, and Im in Philadelphia. But at least Im speaking with Justin Shaffer, vice president and chief architect of MLB.com. If I dont get to see the Red Sox play their home opener, at least I can talk about the future of baseball and technology. Shaffer is having a very […]

How much gasoline did your company use last week? What will be the effect of rising gasoline prices on your companys bottom line? By the time your financial analysts have performed an analysis, the price per gallon will have changed. The reason I bring up the changing prices at the pumps isnt because Im wearing […]

QWIP, QYX and VYDEC. Remember them? Of course you dont, but at one time those companies were key in Exxons plans to become a major player in office automation systems. By 1985—and after about $2 billion in lost investments—Exxon figured out that people dont necessarily want to buy information processing where they buy gasoline. Sometimes […]

The most common reaction upon hearing that Mark Hurd has been named HPs new CEO is a shoulder shrug followed by “Who?” In selecting Hurd, HPs board has gone for substance over flash, suit and tie over hip, and someone more at home talking about databases and enterprise infrastructure than about the grand convergence of […]

Your next desktop operating system is taking shape now; your decision regarding which OS to adopt may be your key technology choice for the year. This is not a step back in time nor a failure to see service-oriented architectures, high-function handhelds or even voice-based applications as contenders to win “most important technology” designations. However, […]

The back room of technology is suddenly at the forefront of investor demand. The latest example: SunGard Data Systems. A consortium of private investors on Monday put up $11.3 billion for a company that started life as a diversification effort by Sun Oil in 1983. SunGard is a major player in managing financial transactions of […]

If I were working for a company that I wanted IBM to acquire, Id hire Peter Gyenes right away. His win/loss stats are 2-0 with last weeks $1.1 billion acquisition by IBM of Ascential Software, headed by Gyenes. For record keepers out there, he was the president of Informix when IBM bought the database company […]

While I was in Southern California a few weeks ago, the region was in the midst of the heaviest spell of rain in about 100 years. Last week, I attended CeBIT, and while in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on my way to Hannover, Germany, the city had a tough cold snap and its largest snowfall in about […]

IBM on Monday acquired Ascential Software for $1.1 billion to bolster its tools for integrating enterprise data, which can then be analyzed, categorized and serve as a platform for new business applications. Last week, Microsoft bought Groove Networks, which allows broader dispersion of data in peer-to-peer networks, creating something of a Napster version of the […]

HANNOVER, Germany—Remember those days when you wore a suit and tie and polished shoes to trade shows? Those were the days before casual Fridays influenced—and then took over—the trade show business in the United States. At CeBIT, which started here on Thursday and runs through March 16, that old-style formality is alive and well. I […]

HANNOVER, Germany—The issue of software patents in Europe is headed back to the European Parliament, which is exactly the right place for the debate—and a final decision—to take place, according to the commissioner for Information Society and Media for the European Commission. Speaking at a technology forum hosted by The Economist magazine and taking place […]