Close
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Applications
    • Applications

    States Target Qwest, Microsoft Relationship

    By
    Darryl K. Taft
    -
    April 29, 2002
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      WASHINGTON, D.C.—Lawyers for the states seeking harsher penalties for Microsoft Corp. on Monday tried to paint an executive with Qwest Services Corp. as little more than a mouthpiece for the software giant whose company would be hurt if Microsoft was punished further.

      During a plodding cross-examination in U.S. District Court, John Schmidtlein, an attorney for the nine states and the District of Columbia, challenged Gregg Sutherland, senior vice president of corporate strategy at Qwest Services, on just how much he knows about the concept of “ubiquitous connectivity” and unified messaging and Web services that Sutherland included in earlier testimony.

      Schmidtlein also hit Sutherland on Qwests relationship with Microsoft, indicating that stiff penalties against Microsoft could translate to losses for the floundering carrier.

      Schmidtlein was unable to rely on anything concrete, other than to indicate a close, mutually beneficial relationship between the two companies.

      “Qwest has a very close relationship with Microsoft?” he asked Sutherland, who said Qwest has “a relationship” with Microsoft, but also ones with many other companies in the industry, including IBM and AOL Time Warner.

      However, Sutherland acknowledged that Microsoft in 1998 made a $200 million shareholder investment in Qwest, which he said was “insignificant” in that it amounts to less than 2 percent of Qwests overall value.

      Schmidtlein then presented a Dec. 14, 1998, press release from Qwest, which called the agreement between the two companies “a strategic relationship that redefine the boundaries for e-commerce, web hosting and other mission-critical applications.”

      The document also said Qwest expects the deal to generate $150 million in revenues over the next two years.

      Sutherland said that “this relationship accounts for a very modest amount of income.” He said only one thing remains of that deal, a hosting deal for Microsoft Exchange.

      Schmidtlein then produced more documents, including two Form 8-K documents Qwest—a subsidiary of Qwest Communications International Inc.—filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission describing this deal and a subsequent deal in April 2001, in which Qwest and Microsoft agreed that Qwest would migrate a large number of its ISP customers over to Microsofts MSN service.

      The latter 8-K said, “Microsofts MSN unit would purchase hundreds of thousands of dial ports and Qwest would expect that to generate millions of additional customers.” It also said Quest “expects the transaction to generate between $1.3 billion and $1.5 billion in revenue over the five-year term … more likely the high end of the range.”

      Sutherland shrugged it off, saying, “So far this is not yet a significant part of our company.”

      Then Schmidtlein produced a combination of press releases from both Qwest and Microsoft from July 2001 in which Microsoft named Qwest a “Global Hosting Partner of the Year.”

      Sutherland said that “means we did a good job of hosting that [Exchange] application.”

      Getting to the heart of the matter, Schmidtlein asked Sutherland: “Will the states remedy have any impact on the April 2001 deal between Microsoft and Qwest?”

      Sutherland replied that he was “not aware of any.”

      Schmidtlein also bore in to challenge Sutherland more aggressively on his area of expertise, getting Sutherland to admit that perhaps his most key experience relating to unified messaging and Web services is a Qwest project that began early this month.

      However, U.S District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly admonished Schmidtlein, reminding him—as did Microsoft—that Sutherlands testimony did not say he had direct knowledge of unified messaging services offerings.

      The states are seeking harsher penalties than are included in Redmond, Wash.-based Microsofts settlement with the U.S. Justice Department last year.

      Related stories:

      • Microsoft Defense Enters Third Week
      • Gates Paints Doomsday Scenario
      • Special Report: Microsoft vs. DOJ
      Darryl K. Taft
      Darryl K. Taft covers the development tools and developer-related issues beat from his office in Baltimore. He has more than 10 years of experience in the business and is always looking for the next scoop. Taft is a member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and was named 'one of the most active middleware reporters in the world' by The Middleware Co. He also has his own card in the 'Who's Who in Enterprise Java' deck.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Latest News

      Zeus Kerravala on Networking: Multicloud, 5G, and...

      James Maguire - December 16, 2022 0
      I spoke with Zeus Kerravala, industry analyst at ZK Research, about the rapid changes in enterprise networking, as tech advances and digital transformation prompt...
      Read more
      Applications

      Datadog President Amit Agarwal on Trends in...

      James Maguire - November 11, 2022 0
      I spoke with Amit Agarwal, President of Datadog, about infrastructure observability, from current trends to key challenges to the future of this rapidly growing...
      Read more
      IT Management

      Intuit’s Nhung Ho on AI for the...

      James Maguire - May 13, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nhung Ho, Vice President of AI at Intuit, about adoption of AI in the small and medium-sized business market, and how...
      Read more
      Applications

      Kyndryl’s Nicolas Sekkaki on Handling AI and...

      James Maguire - November 9, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nicolas Sekkaki, Group Practice Leader for Applications, Data and AI at Kyndryl, about how companies can boost both their AI and...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×