Mel Duvall

The past few years have been difficult for software companies, with one big exception: vendors of hosted sales and customer service applications. Companies such as Salesforce.com of San Francisco and UpShot Corp. of Mountain View, Calif., have experienced growth that is downright buoyant. Salesforce.com, for one, doubled revenue in 2002 to $50 million, and the […]

Shareholders nearly deify Warren Buffett for the way he manages his diverse holding company, Berkshire Hathaway of Omaha. Theres little doubt that hes squeaky clean in how he operates. But that doesnt necessarily mean that other companies can or should follow the way the avuncular champion of business ethics conducts his own affairs. His approach: […]

A salty-snack maker in Texas pioneered the use of wireless communications on delivery routes. Among the copycats: Pepsico, Pepsi bottling companies and such Pepsi subsidiaries as Quaker Oats and Tropicana. So how come all these Pepsi units invested in different wireless systems? After all, Pepsi owns Frito-lay, the company that showed the world how to […]

When an IBM subsidiary set out to refurbish computers storing data for clients, no one could have anticipated the drama that would follow when a pocket-sized, 30-gigabyte hard drive—valued at a little more than $100—was reported missing in January. At first, managers of the IBM business believed that the drive contained limited information on clients […]

When an IBM subsidiary set out to refurbish computers storing data for clients, no one could have anticipated the drama that would follow when a pocket-sized, 30-gigabyte hard drive—valued at a little more than $100—was reported missing in January. At first, managers of the IBM business believed that the drive contained limited information on clients […]

You could say Global Sports has an identity crisis. Is it a web hoster, an online retailer, a logistics and package delivery company, or an electronic commerce platform provider? The fact of the matter is, its all four, according to Michael Rubin, the firms energetic founder and CEO. In fact, Global Sports is probably the […]

The computer services industry has been one of the few bright spots in the technology sector in 2001, powered along by long-term contracts and a growing trend toward outsourcing. But the industry itself has changed from a year ago. So-called Internet consultants, which focused on Web site development and business-to-consumer e-commerce projects, were hit hard […]

Companies involved in technology outsourcing are weathering the economic storm better than most – and in some cases, theyre even thriving in the downturn. Corporations such as Electronic Data Systems, IBM and Keane that have large outsourcing and consulting organizations were able to perform much better than the overall technology sector in the last quarter, […]

Revenues fell by more than 50 percent at electronic commerce software maker Ariba in its fiscal fourth quarter, but the company took some comfort in its ability to wrestle expenses under control. The Sunnyvale, Calif. company reported Wednesday that revenues fell to $62.7 million in the quarter ended Sept. 30, from $134.8 million for the […]

These days, its not easy to tell if the glass is half full or half empty in the application service provider industry. Research firm IDC came out with what should have been a cause to pop the champagne corks earlier this month, when it reported that a study of 50 ASP implementations showed an average […]

The software industry is staggering in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks and the sputtering economy, third-quarter earnings reports reveal. With few exceptions, software vendors said companies are delaying or canceling new application deployments, or putting off expansions. They now believe the effects will be felt well into 2002 and, consequently, many have announced […]

Business intelligence software vendors are quickly aligning themselves with major application developers, as it becomes apparent that companies want analytics to be an integral part of any new deployment. Business Objects will announce this week that its software will be embedded in the suite of applications offered by supply chain vendor i2 Technologies. Information Builders […]