Paula Musich

BMC Ups IT Service Management Ante

BMC Software will compete even more closely with Hewlett Packards growing software unit on Oct. 8 when it launches its BMC Service Automation initiative. On the heels of HPs Opsware acquisition, BMC will announce a small acquisition of its own: automated network configuration management provider Emprisa Networks as a part of its initiative. The privately […]

Avistar Launches Hosted Desktop Videoconferencing

Avistar Communications will attempt to broaden the reach of desktop videoconferencing on Oct. 4 when it launches a new hosted desktop videoconferencing service. The new Avistar Hosted Video Services offering differs from existing Web-based videoconferencing services in that it is offered as a turnkey service. “You get everything you need to communicate—a Webcam, headset, software […]

3Com Preps VOIP Switches for SMBs

3Com on Oct. 1 will trail competitors into the small and midsize business IP telephony market with a series of new VOIP offerings intended to provide a wider range of options for price-sensitive customers. Following the spring rollout of new IP telephony systems aimed at SMBs by Cisco Systems, Nortel Networks and Microsoft partners, 3Com […]

Skype Co-founder Zennstrom Bows Out

Niklas Zennstrom, one of the driving forces behind the growth of peer-to-peer file sharing on the Internet, has stepped down as CEO of Skype, according to parent company eBay. The early departure of Skype co-founder Zennstrom three years after its acquisition by eBay was attributed to the entrepreneurs desire to focus on Joost, a startup […]

AT&T Wireless Messaging Goes Down

AT&T Wireless on Sept. 28 experienced a nationwide outage of its messaging service, affecting customers for about 3 hours. According to officials of San Antonio-based AT&T, the outage started in the early afternoon ET and ended late in the afternoon. It did not, as far as AT&T could ascertain, affect voice calling. “It only impacted […]

Bain Capital to Acquire 3Com for $2.2B

Beleaguered 3Com announced on Sept. 28 that it has struck a deal to be taken private by Bain Capital and former Chinese partner Huawei Technologies for some $2.2 billion. Eight days after it announced a net loss of $18.7 million for its first fiscal quarter of 2008 on revenues of $319.4 million, the Marlboro, Mass. […]

Cisco Gives Branches Greater Integration

Cisco Systems is looking to bring greater consistency and faster performance to branch office networks, as well as lower the cost of adding more services, with a series of new products and enhancements. Cisco, as part of its empowered branch launch Sept. 26, pulled together as many as nine new offerings that emphasize better integration […]

Providers Ogle Google Wireless Possibilities

The way the Federal Communications Commission is conducting its upcoming auction of portions of the 700MHz radio spectrum is not unlike the Wild West: Its wide open and anything could happen. With talk of Google entering the bidding, wireless network equipment providers are salivating at the prospect of a potential nationwide buildout of a brand-new […]

Juniper Broadens Metro Ethernet Switch Line

Juniper Networks on Sept. 25 fleshed out its Ethernet switch and router line for carrier Metro Ethernet networks when it added a pair of new, smaller chassis switches and new software features. Juniper sought to build momentum with its tardy MX-Series Ethernet edge aggregation product line, first launched in October, by giving service providers greater […]

Oblicore Makes SLAs More Meaningful to Managers

Service level management vendor Oblicore on Sept. 20 advanced its business-oriented brand of service level agreement management with the latest release of its Oblicore Guarantee software. With Guarantee 5.0, the fast-growing Oblicore sought to bring a greater level of personalization to each type of user working with the tool through enhancements in its executive dashboard. […]