eWEEK EDITORS

Dell Computer Corp. confirmed today that it has acquired privately-held Plural, Inc., a Web application development and services company. Details about agreement and financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. New York-based Plural employs about 200 people in five U.S. offices. A Dell spokesman said the acquisition was a continuation of the computer makers […]

Seeking to address customers demand for easier and faster setup of enterprise systems, Sun Microsystems Inc. said this week that it has greatly expanded its ability to deliver “ready-to-deploy” hardware. Through its new offering, called Customer Ready Systems, Sun will install software, and pre-configure and integrate hardware—including third-party systems and software—in its own factories so […]

After a long break between releases, Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday issued the Windows 2000 SP3 Release Candidate, marked build 3.140. The long awaited update weighs in at 17MB and 30MB for Professional and Server versions of the operating system, respectively. This third service pack for Windows 2000 began beta testing late last year, and was […]

Storage tape behemoth Quantum Corp. will pay smaller rival Imation Corp. a minimum of $5 million and will give Imation a second chance at making its products Quantum-compatible, as part of a lawsuit settled Wednesday, officials from both companies said. Imation, of Oakdale, Minn., sued Quantum last fall in Federal District Court in St. Paul, […]

Intel Corp. today is boasting about new performance estimates for its 1GHz Itanium 2 processor, due out this summer, that show its second-generation 64-bit chip is up to two times faster than its predecessor and–based on its own calculations–more than a match for the next iteration of the 1GHz UltraSparc III. Scheduled to arrive a […]

Microsoft Corp.s E-Business Web Services team is prepping an e-business server suite code-named Jupiter. Microsoft is working to bundle together a bunch of its existing enterprise-application-integration (EAI) and business-to-business (B2B) products into the Jupiter suite, sources said. The next-generation versions of the companys BizTalk app-integration server and SharePoint Portal Server will be the centerpieces, they […]

Reader response to Lisa Vaas article “IT Workers Skills Tested.” Dear eWEEK: Got one question: Did IT get paid that well to deserve constant stress in improving themselves? I am not dumb, and I am reading tech books after hours. But the amount of IT information is enormous. The basic concept may not be difficult […]

Sun Microsystems Inc.s Chief Operating Officer and President Ed Zander last week oversaw the release of the Solaris 9 operating system—his last major product launch before he leaves the company in July. Zander took time out at Suns Menlo Park, Calif., offices to share his thoughts with eWEEK Senior Editor Peter Galli about his reasons […]

Reader response to Jeff Moads Last Word column “Why IT Pros Cant Get Jobs.” Dear eWEEK: I see another factor, similar to the dot-com boom and bust, at work here. Just as many dot-commers managed to convince investors and themselves that they were actually viable businesses when, in reality, they were anything but, many so-called […]

In a cost-saving move, Intel Corp. has dropped plans to produce silicon products for Infiniband, a new high-speed interconnect, marking a setback for proponents seeking to spur adoption of the technology in data centers. Intel has been one of the most prominent advocates of Infiniband, a new I/O architecture designed to boost server-to-server connections, as […]

Hewlett-Packard Co. on Tuesday introduced a new high-density AlphaServer, its first release from the product line since it was acquired in the buyout of Compaq Computer Corp. early this month. The new DS20L is the first server to pack two 64-bit Alpha processors into a slim 1U (1.75-inch) rack-mounted chassis, the most popular selling form […]

Intel Corp. dramatically slashed the prices of its Pentium 4 microprocessors over the weekend, complementing the cuts with discounts in its mobile and server lineups. Historically Intel saves its deepest discounts for May and August, to stimulate demand during the slow summer months and as an incentive to spur back-to-school sales. As of press time, […]