Jeff Burt

Intel may be in position to launch a hostile takeover of chip maker Altera after June 1, continuing its pursuit of a deal that went off the rails earlier this month when the two sides couldn’t agree on a price. According to unnamed sources talking with Reuters, Intel signed a standstill agreement with Altera earlier […]

Polycom officials want to enable organizations that are spending millions of dollars on unified communications technologies to better evaluate how their employees are using their collaboration tools. The company is unveiling RealAccess, a cloud-based services delivery platform that collects personalized and near-real-time data and makes it available to IT departments via a cloud-based portal. Through […]

Nokia’s planned $16.6 billion acquisition of rival Alcatel-Lucent is getting pushback from a major Alcatel-Lucent shareholder that is complaining the price is too low. Investment firm Odey Asset Management, Alcatel-Lucent’s second-largest shareholder, reportedly told clients in a letter that Nokia’s offer significantly undervalues the France-based networking vendor. “The deal has been dressed up as a […]

Verizon is embracing software-defined networking, becoming the latest telecommunications vendor to say that it will adopt network virtualization to transform its architecture. Verizon officials said April 28 that it is working with a number of top networking technology companies—Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco Systems, Ericsson, Juniper Networks and Nokia Networks—to create a new network infrastructure that will help […]

Extreme Networks is enhancing its software-defined networking controller to make it easier for enterprises to use Microsoft’s Skype for Business, the unified communications platform formerly known as Lync. At the Interop 2015 show this week, Extreme officials announced the integration of its OpenDaylight-based software-defined networking (SDN) controller with Skype for Business, a move that essentially […]

A worldwide PC market that already is under pressure will see vendors increase the prices of their systems this year by as much as 10 percent to offset the impact of a strong dollar on profits, and businesses will respond by holding on to their older systems, according to Gartner analysts. In a report April […]

Cisco Systems is growing the security features in its ACI network virtualization by integrating intrusion prevention technology the company acquired when it bought Sourcefire in 2013 for $2.7 billion. Cisco officials on April 29 at the Interop 2015 show in Las Vegas announced that the FirePower threat protection software will be integrated with the vendor’s […]

Now that private equity firm Thoma Bravo has completed the $3.5 billion deal for Riverbed Technology, the application performance technology vendor becomes a private company. And that’s a good thing, according to Riverbed Chairman and CEO Jerry Kennelly. “With this acquisition now complete, our team can begin to move forward with the strategic initiatives that […]

Quick Heal Technologies, a 22-year-old security software company that officials say has almost 10 million customers in more than 100 countries, is now making a push into the North American market. The vendor earlier this year established its U.S. headquarters in Boston, and on April 28 officially announced its intentions to become a player in […]

Dell is taking aim at the lucrative but shrinking Unix system space with a new four-socket server that is targeting compute-intensive enterprise applications, including in-memory databases, customer relationship management and enterprise resource planning. The vendor’s 4U PowerEdge R930, which delivers 22 percent better performance than its predecessor when running an ERP application, will be powered […]

Dell will broaden its wireless networking capabilities by reselling Aerohive Networks’ cloud-based WiFi products, including 802.11ac wireless access points and cloud management platform. Aerohive announced the reseller agreement April 27, saying that its wireless networking portfolio dovetails with Dell’s efforts in developing cloud-managed IT offerings. As business becomes increasingly mobile, data center IT providers like […]

Blue Jeans Network is offering an app for the Apple Watch that will make it easier for device wearers to plan and remember online meetings. Blue Jeans, which offers cloud-based video conferencing technology, already has the Blue Jeans App for iPhone, through which users can schedule, initiate and participate in video conferences on their Apple […]