Articles by ECT News Business

Cisco Systems today reported its fourth quarter and fiscal year results for the periods ended July 31, 2004. Net sales for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2004 were US$5.9 billion, compared with $4.7 billion for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2003, an increase of 26 percent, and compared with $5.6 billion for the third quarter of fiscal 2004, an increase of 5.4 percent...

The Federal Reserve increased interest rates by another quarter point and expressed optimism that the economic recovery remains on track, providing a spark for a late-day rally on Wall Street. In a widely anticipated move, the Fed boosted the benchmark federal funds rate to 1.5 percent, the second increase in about two months.

A company driven out of business by Hollywood and the video game industry over its DVD-copying software has reached a settlement with the motion picture industry In the settlement, suburban St. Louis-based 321 Studios and its owners agreed to stop selling DVD copying software worldwide, said Matthew Grossman, a spokesperson for the Motion Picture A...

Mobile broadband networking products developer PacketHop today announced it has joined with wireless networks provider Nortel Networks to provide mobile communications technology targeting the homeland security market Under the agreement, the companies will initially target the US$11 billion homeland security market to facilitate the installation o...

Nanosys yesterday announced that Peter S. Garcia has joined the company as chief financial officer The action comes less than a week after the company pulled its plans for a $100 million initial public stock offering due to what the company called "the volatility of the public capital markets."

Technology Solutions Company (TSC), a consulting company delivering business benefits through the application of information technology, and ZAMBA Solutions, a customer relationship management (CRM) services company, today announced that they have reached a deal for TSC to acquire ZAMBA Under the terms of the agreement, which was approved by both c...

HP has confirmed that it is planning to acquire UK services firm Synstar in a deal believed to be valued at around US$160 million HP says Merrill Lynch has made an offer on its behalf to acquire the entire issued and to-be-issued capital of Synstar....

Loudeye today announced a multiyear agreement with the multimedia business group of Nokia to develop a wireless digital music platform for mobile operators and their subscribers worldwide. This agreement includes a multimillion dollar commitment to Loudeye for development fees and defines a global collaboration framework between the companies.

Cablevision Systems today reported financial results for the second quarter 2004. According to a company statement, consolidated second-quarter revenues increased 25 percent to US$1.2 billion compared to the prior year period, based on continued growth at the company's Telecommunications Services and other divisions Cablevision's operating income t...

Internet automotive marketing services company Autobytel today announced that it has signed an agreement to provide a national online customer referral program for the Asbury Automotive Group, the fourth-largest auto retailer in the nation The agreement, which encompasses all 139 of Asbury's franchises, provides for online customer referrals for ne...

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona has chosen Resolution EBS's Centrifuge business rules management platform as part of a plan to automate and streamline its current business practices Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona "is always looking for ways to increase customer satisfaction and reduce administrative costs," Christopher L. Matthieu, director of...

Weaker-than-expected job numbers for July led to a stunning sell-off on Wall Street as all major stock averages sank to their lowest levels of the year The Labor Department said 32,000 new jobs were added in July, 90 percent fewer than the forecast of 243,000 jobs. The new figures raised concerns that the poor jobs figures for June might have been ...

Crude oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) in New York were down at the close of the market today from record highs set overnight -- but observers expressed doubt that oil prices have peaked Light, sweet crude oil futures set for September delivery eased down to $43.95 a barrel on the Nymex.

Bankrupt Adelphia Communications today announced its preliminary timetable for to auction off the company, with completion of the sale expected by the end of the year The fifth-largest cable television operator said the auction process will start shortly after Labor Day. It is currently anticipated that preliminary indications of interest will be d...

Entellium Asia, the Asian arm of the second generation hosted CRM provider, yesterday announced the set-up of its regional operations in Singapore The company originally started operations in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, in May 2000, but closed its sales operation in Asia in 2002 and shifted its corporate headquarters to Seattle, Washington, in 2003....

IBM announced that it will not use its patents against Linux, and it encouraged other software companies to make the same vow As the owner of 60 patents on which the Linux core might infringe, IBM could wreak havoc on Linux if it chose to do so. The new promise, delivered at LinuxWorld, emphasizes the company's commitment to open source.

Telstra gained a head start on Australian rival entrants to the third generation mobile phone market with a US$450 million deal to share Hutchison Telecommunications' third generation infrastructure The agreement ends speculation about whether Australia's biggest telco would build its own infrastructure or negotiate a deal with the owner of Austral...

StayinFront, a global provider of enterprise-wide customer relationship management (CRM) applications, decision support tools and e-business systems, today announced that Endo Pharmaceuticals, a fully integrated pharmaceutical company with market leadership in pain management, will expand use of the StayinFront Visual Elk CRM system for its new hospital-sales force...

Industry observers have taken positions on rumors that Sun Microsystems might buy Novell. "I don't find the speculation credible," analyst Dan Kusnetzky, vice president of operating systems at International Data Corporation, said. Kusnetzky said such a merger would face problems from potential regulatory issues, possible corporate culture clash and a lack of synergy between the two product lines...

Russia's Justice Ministry said Thursday that it had revoked permission granted by bailiffs for the beleaguered oil giant Yukos to use previously frozen funds to pay for day-to-day operations. The reports came just a day after Yukos said it had received permission from the ministry's bailiffs service to use its bank accounts for operational costs, ...