If You Need An Operator, Dont Phone Lehman

Spencer got a tip the old-fashioned way last week: from a person cowering in a phone booth. According to the tipster, Lehman Bros. is not pleased with the IP telephony system the company installed last summer. “Disastrous” was how the caller described it, as she pumped coins into the phone. For example, on several occasions, the company found itself without phone service for as long as 30 minutes.

“They should have had the folks from Cisco set it up for them,” said the Katt crony, as the operator requested more cash. “Cisco claims they have 34,000 employees on IP phones now, and theyve already replaced 100 of their PBXes with their own IP communications technology.”

The chief of security for El Gatos posse was checking out the CSI show—the Computer Security Institute conference, that is—at the Chicago Hilton last week when he noticed that BMC was giving away shirts that read “Certified by SAP” on the front. Unfortunately for the software maker, a buzz started among attendees that the T-shirt was false advertising and that BMC may not have met SAPs rigid standards. “Any attendees who doubt BMCs claim should simply check out SAPs Web site—the company is clearly listed as a partner,” said the friend of the Furball.

Employees at San Francisco-based portal vendor Epicentric probably arent thrilled with software maker Vignettes acquisition of the company. A friend of the Furball said folks at Epicentric are not only worried about keeping their jobs but also may be reeling from an internal memo detailing the effects of the acquisition, which include the cancellation of employee stock options. Vignette acquired Epicentric for $32 million in cash and stock last month.

Spencer also heard recently from his poetry-loving pals at Habeas that its unique spam-fighting service has been integrated into the latest release of Sunbelt Softwares iHateSpam mail-filtering software.

Habeas service works by trademarking and copyrighting a unique set of lines, known as the warrant mark, which, along with a haiku poem, is embedded in the headers of outgoing e-mail. Spammers who improperly use the Habeas warrant mark can be prosecuted under international trademark and copyright law.

“Sounds like a win-win for Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express users who already implement the iHateSpam filter,” cackled the Kitty.