Renee Boucher Ferguson

Nearly a year after Microsoft Corp. formed an RFID Council to look at its options for building out radio-frequency identification software, the company on Thursday plans to announce continued momentum on its RFID strategy, including a Windows-based RFID middleware platform, the RFID-enablement of three out of four of its enterprise resource planning suites, and a […]

Spend management software developer ePlus Inc., of Herndon, Va., on Monday announced that it has been awarded a $37 million settlement in a patent infringement suit against rival Ariba Inc. The settlement, awarded by a Federal Court jury in Alexandria, Va., also awards ePlus the rights to cross-license Aribas software patents—including pending patents—for the next […]

The stack wars involving Oracle Corp., SAP AG, Microsoft Corp. and IBM are heating up as each develops new products to unify applications and provide a more comprehensive software infrastructure. IBM and SAP, for example, are collaborating on a version of IBMs DB2 database that is optimized for SAP, a move designed to provide PeopleSoft […]

IBM announced last week its intent to acquire Equitant to beef up the financial business process outsourcing capabilities of its Business Consulting Services division. Equitant, which manages more than $44 billion in revenues for its customers, provides software that manages the order-to-cash cycle for big companies. The cycle includes the financial processes that contribute to […]

With the discussion around RFID moving past the initial stages of compliance—for a few suppliers, at least—some of the bigger software and hardware vendors are looking for more of a presence in the industry. Siemens Corp., for example, is looking to close two gaps in its radio-frequency identification middleware, software, hardware and services offerings with […]

Despite years of trying to get off the ground with enterprise users, the hosted software business may be getting some traction—particularly among small and midsize businesses. IBMs acquisition of Corio Inc. earlier this month for $182 million is expected to boost the Armonk, N.Y., companys hosted application services business in the SMB space, where Corio […]

After several years of pushing its NetWeaver integration stack and Composite Application Framework, SAP AG is unveiling the next iteration of one of its half-dozen Composite Applications. Global Trade Services 3.0 can help companies that trade commodities globally better comply with trade mandates. GTS 3.0 is based on three precepts: the need for companies to […]

SAP said in its fourth-quarter 2004 earnings call last week that 2005 would be a year of significant investment. Just out of the gate, the companys making strides. SAP AG, of Walldorf, Germany, announced on Tuesday that it had purchased the rights to DCS Quantum, a vehicle dealer management system that will be integrated into […]

IntelliCorp Inc. is looking to provide users with better integration—and a measure of comfort—with their ERP platform and management tools. The company, which makes software tools for SAP AG application life-cycle management and system support, will announce this week certification for its NetProcess tool suite on SAPs R/3 Enterprise, MySAP ERP and MySAP Business Suite […]

Aztec Software Inc., a development company that creates middleware for other software companies to brand as their own, will announce this week a new offering to help companies build or migrate applications to open-source platforms. Dubbed AztecSource, the services package enables users to develop new product lines based on open-source code while simultaneously migrating legacy […]