1/19/2006 10:13:59 AM - InfoWorld: Top News
(InfoWorld) - NTT Communications and Telefonica International Wholesale Services have connected their networks in order to offer a more global service to customers. Both companies sell data network access to other operators, corporations, and governments.
Telefonica Wholesale has a presence in Europe, North America, and South America but the relationship with NTT Communications adds the Asia-Pacific region to its portfolio. NTT Communications has a strong position in Asia-Pacific but the agreement with Telefonica adds Latin America to its coverage area. The companies compete with other global wholesalers such as France Télécom and Global Crossing. Global deregulation and competition in telecommunications are driving wholesalers to look for revenues outside of their regions, according to research firm Atlantic-ACM.
Cisco appoints new CMO, head of commercial business
January 19, 6:15 a.m. PDT
Cisco Systems has named a new chief marketing officer who will work on extending the company's branding to a wider customer base. Susan Bostrom, formerly the head of Cisco's Internet Business Solutions Group, will now serve as chief marketing officer. Bostrom is tasked with pushing Cisco's branding, advertising and positioning out to a broader customer base Cisco is targeting. James Richardson, who previously held the position, has been appointed senior vice president of commercial business at Cisco. He'll help shape and execute Cisco's plan for pursuing the small- and medium-size business market. Cisco has recently begun to discuss its intention to sell more consumer products. The recent acquisitions of Scientific-Atlanta, which makes television set-top boxes, and Denmark's Kiss Technology, which makes networked DVD players, have pushed it more firmly into the consumer space.
Buyout of IT services firm ACS falls through
January 18, 6:25 a.m. PDT
IT services outsourcing company Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) said a sale of the company is no longer being considered. ACS had been in discussions with a group of private equity investors that made an unsolicited offer for the company. ACS has also been considering other ways to boost shareholder value, including a recapitalization proposal. But ACS has rejected both ideas, the company said Tuesday. It is still considering ways to shore up value but is no longer considering selling the company. Earlier reports in the Wall Street Journal valued a purchase of ACS at nearly $8 billion and said that Blackstone Group, Texas Pacific Group, Bain Capital, and Silver Lake Partners were among the equity firms involved in the takeover talks. ACS isn't the only IT services company to discuss a sale recently. In early January, the Journal reported that Hewlett-Packard and Blackstone Group were considering a bid for Computer Sciences Corp. That deal hasn't happened and discussions about it haven't been confirmed by the companies.
Free Standards Group opens Linux lab in China
January 17, 8:20 a.m. PDT
The Free Standards Group, a non-profit group that promotes standards for open-source software, last week opened a lab in Beijing to certify that Linux distributions and applications developed in China meet the Linux Standard Base (LSB) standards. The Beijing lab will be jointly run by the Free Software Group and the China ...
