Renee Boucher Ferguson

Business Objects is in a precarious position. While its overall revenues are up, its software license earnings are down for its second quarter of 2006 while the company waits for key initiatives to pay off, including a build-out of its services sector, customer migration to its new XI platform and mid-market penetration with new on-demand […]

As co-chairs of EPCglobals Electronic Product Code Information Services Working Group, IBM and T3Ci announced July 26 the completion of interoperability testing of a new RFID software standard. The standard is designed to enable the exchange and query of RFID data—a capability that does not exist today. IBM, based in Armonk, N.Y., which develops a […]

As it transitions to an on-demand model from an enterprise one, spend management software developer Ariba is suffering in the earnings department. Yet it fared better than the same year-ago quarter. The companys total revenues for the third quarter 2006 were $73.6 million, compared to $77.7 million for the same year-ago quarter. Software license revenue […]

There is a lot of miscommunication regarding the security and privacy of the U.S. governments new RFID-based e-passports, according to ABI Research Analyst Sarah Shah. ABI Research released a report July 25 that suggests that the Department of Homeland Security, which will issue the e-passports in conjunction with the State Department starting in August, should […]

3M, the makers of Scotch Tape and Post-It Notes, announced July 25 its inked a three-year deal with the U.S. Army to develop and install an RFID-based system to track medical records. The Army, which has forked over $3.76 million dollars to 3M, plans to track a portion of the files at its Fort Hood […]

Alien Technology, a manufacturer of RFID tags, readers and hardware, is looking to raise in the neighborhood of $88.1 million with an IPO scheduled for July 27, according to Nasdaqs July 24 Web site listing. Alien Technology, based in Morgan Hill, Calif., initially filed for an IPO (initial public offering) with the Securities and Exchange […]

A little perspective. Thats what SAP executives tried to provide shareholders and analysts during its July 20 second-quarter and half-year 2006 earnings call. SAP, the worlds largest business applications developer, announced June 13 that it would miss analysts expectations for software revenue growth for the second quarter. The company, headquartered in Walldorf, Germany, said July […]

While SAP AG isnt expected to make any earthshaking announcements at its upcoming July 20 second quarter earnings call—the cat is already out of the bag that SAP will miss analyst expectations for earnings—the company will look to dispel any notions that Oracle is gaining market share. It may also disclose acquisition plans, according to […]

At its worldwide partner Conference in Boston July 11-13, Microsoft made what CEO Steve Ballmer referred to as the single most inevitable announcement in the history of Microsoft: Dynamics CRM Live, Microsofts answer to software as a service in the business applications world. Dynamics CRM Live, due in the second quarter of next year, is […]

First there was VeriChip, the company that developed a human-implantable RFID chip the size of a grain of rice. And now theres Hewlett-Packard, with new “stick almost anywhere” chip technology thats even smaller than a grain of rice and carries a whole lot more data than any RFID chip. HP announced July 17 that its […]

Two U.S. senators, Byron Dorgan, a Democrat from North Dakota, and John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, launched the U.S. Senate RFID Caucus in mid-July to educate colleagues about the potential uses and benefits of RFID. The first official meeting, held July 13 in Washington, D.C., included the co-chairing senators and a group of panelists […]

Boston—Software as a service has taken on a new meaning for small business owners that touch, in any way, the payments industry. Thanks to the combined forces of a software infrastructure from IP Commerce, the IP Payments Framework, and a consortium of payment processors, data aggregators and small business lenders—including the likes of Chase Bank […]