John S. McCright

Oracle Corp. and Microsoft Corp. may not be the best of friends, but the two companies did come together this week to announce that Oracle is becoming a Premier-level member of Microsofts Visual Studio Industry Partner program. The move should make it easier for mutual customers of the software giants to build and deploy Windows […]

IQNavigator Inc. is upgrading its namesake spend management software to give companies more control over the services they purchase from outside contractors and consultants. Version 6.2, which the Denver-based company will roll out next month, goes beyond tracking the time spent by a professional-service provider, such as an accountant, by adding capabilities for tracking services […]

Quality has been job 1 for top automakers for more than a decade, as Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and DaimlerChrysler AG try to reduce outlays for warranties and improve customer satisfaction. Now those OEMs are making quality just as important for the component makers that supply auto parts. Much of this effort is […]

NEW YORK—Corporate IT managers have their work cut out for them trying to get their data-storage practices in line with myriad corporate regulations. Three IT professionals at financial services companies told a packed crowd at the Storage Decisions Conference here this week how they are perplexed and overwhelmed by the spate of new regulations that […]

NEW YORK—Avamar Technologies Inc. looks to improve the efficiency of IT systems with the release of Version 2.0 of its Axion disk-based data backup and restore hardware/software package. Axion relies on two key attributes to make data backup fast: disk drives rather than standard tape, and a content-addressed storage technology that allows it to create […]

SAP AG and Aras Corp. are each rolling out new or enhanced software designed to automate processes in the business-to-business supply chain that previously have been done manually. SAP this week will unveil MySAP SRM 2004. The update features several enhancements in its Supply Strategy Development module, including capabilities for portfolio analysis, category analysis and […]

A new vendor consortium hopes to move grid computing beyond the world of science and into the world of business. The Enterprise Grid Alliance, which was formally launched last week, will provide reference models, security recommendations and specifications targeted to enable enterprises to operate computing grids that run within an enterprise. “We are primarily concerned […]

A new e-marketplace looks to make it easier for SAP customers to research and buy third-party components and add-ons for SAPs R/3 and MySAP Business Suite enterprise applications. Supply chain software provider Catalysts International will introduce the ComponentsNow.com e-marketplace at the Americas SAP Users Group conference in Atlanta this week. In addition to selling software, […]

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has sanctioned Big Four accounting firm Ernst & Young LLP, saying it had an improper business relationship with enterprise software maker PeopleSoft Inc. The commission on Friday issued a decision that bars E&Y from accepting new audit clients for six months, requires the firm to hire an independent advisor […]

The European Commission has taken a little heat off of Oracle Corp., saying this week that it is suspending its investigation into the antitrust implications of Oracles proposed acquisition of PeopleSoft Inc. The commission, which has the power to block the proposed $9.4 billion deal from going through in Europe, is halting its investigation while […]

Forty years after introducing its first mainframe server, IBM continues to polish the venerable computing platform with new systems and enhancements. Big Blue this week rolled out a new midsize mainframe, the zSeries 890, that promises all of the scalability, flexibility and security that the mainframe has always offered. But the new box, which is […]

Intel looks to walk the fine line between faster performance and lower power consumption with four new mobile processors it rolled out this morning. The Low Voltage Pentium M, for instance, runs at a blazing 1.3 GHz but consumes only 12 watts of power. The other new chips are the Ultra Low Voltage Pentium M, […]