eWEEK EDITORS

IBM Not So Blue It hasnt been a stellar year for IBM, but CEO Lou Gerstner says it could have been a lot worse had it not been for a strong performance by the companys services division. IBM recorded $88.4 billion in revenue in 2000 — and $8.1 billion after-tax profit — a minor improvement […]

AT&T today will take the covers off a new cer-tification program that emphasizes business solutions and partnering rather than selling specific products or services. While companies like IBM and Microsoft have taken similar steps in recent months, they have been talking about pushing in this direction for the better part of a year. In contrast, […]

The sins of enterprise resource management software companies are being visited upon the customer relationship management business, which has overpromised and undersold its abilities, according to market research firm Gartner Group. Up to 60 percent of projects to install customer relationship management systems fail, Gartner says. This startling assessment seems to run contrary to vendors […]

Growth can be messy, as Next Model Management (NMM) learned during its drive to become the second-largest modeling agency in the world. Fortunately, the beauty broker found a makeover artist in network integrator RDA Enterprises. NMM has grown from “a few girls in 1989” to more than 200 models of both sexes today. The agency […]

Microsoft wants you. All of you. The company synonymous with personal computing software will soon try to convince millions of users that it should be the designated gatekeeper for all their online data. Last week, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates introduced a key piece of his .Net platform, a “user-centric” set of technologies codenamed HailStorm, that […]

When Gus Otto calls videoconferencing a lifesaver, he speaks from personal experience. The senior systems analyst at Caterpillar figures he might not be here today or, at the very least, might not be walking if surgeons had not used videoconferencing and a high-tech robot to remove bone chips from his back after a deadly accident. […]

Qualcomm, maker of the Eudora e-mail program, announced it will add seamless privacy capabilities to the worlds most popular retail e-mail client. The addition of Secure Sockets Layer technology means users will be able to send e-mail that will stay private until it reaches their Internet service provider. After that, the e-mail goes decrypted over […]

IPO Discontent It may be spring, but the cold, hard winter of IPO discontent continues unabated. Last week, Lucent Technologies optical components spin-off Agere Systems delayed its IPO and slashed its price range. Seven smaller deals, worth about $860 million, were also withdrawn. So far this year, 64 offerings, worth an estimated $7 billion, have […]

New Leader Betsy J. Bernard has been named president and CEO of AT&Ts consumer services unit. Bernard will take over the telecom giants huge — though shrinking — consumer long-distance operation as AT&T prepares to divide into three separate companies. She previously led Qwest Communications Internationals consumer and small-business unit. Who Will Be First? Verizon […]

Every day, the news gets gloomier. It started last year with the carriers. Then came layoffs from the telecom equipment manufacturers like Lucent Technologies Inc., which had to secure an onerous $6.5 billion loan to help it restructure. Now its the suppliers to the suppliers that are suffering, like Vitesse Semiconductor and LSI Logic, which […]