What I'd give to be a fly on the wall in IBM CEO Sam Palmisano's office right now. Assuming he's the one who ultimately made the decision to play hardball in IBM's talks to acquire Sun Microsystems, he must be wondering how he could possibly have let Sun slip through his fingers and into the clutches of Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. When he got the word that Sun had eloped with Oracle and secured a $7.4 billion dowry, he was probably livid at having been left standing at the altar.<br/>
Diana McKenzie, head of the information technology practice at Chicago law firm Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg, has specialised in IT contract law since 1987. Recently, she spoke with Computerworld US about what customers of IBM and Sun Microsystems need to know about contract law as IBM pursues its reported bid to acquire Sun.
Earlier this month, I was speaking with a top sales executive at a large enterprise software vendor. The executive was champing at the sales bit, eagerly anticipating his company's annual user conference, where he was certain the cash would be flowing.
Each year when Computerworld releases its list of the <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/bp2008">100 Best Places to Work in IT</a>, certain themes emerge that serve as valuable take-aways for any IT organization that's eager to recruit and retain the best employees. Perhaps because it's been top-of-mind with me lately, the theme that jumped out at me this year is the value that top IT shops place on collaboration and interaction.
Pop quiz: What do RedPrairie, FrontRange Solutions, Concur Technologies, Servigistics and Logility have in common?
If you Google the phrase "Microsoft's worst nightmare", the range of hits you get is entertaining for its breadth. Various pundits have proclaimed that the software giant's worst nightmare is everything from Linux, Google and Firefox to software as a service, Cisco's digital home business and the Sony PlayStation.
Last year, I had the opportunity to moderate a roundtable discussion in which a group of CIOs and other senior executives gathered to share their ideas, experiences and priorities as corporate IT leaders. To prepare, I interviewed each participant ahead of time to get a sense of their top concerns so that I could create the agenda.
The landmark technology collaboration agreement between Microsoft and Novell that was announced earlier this month took a controversial twist when Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer later proclaimed that Linux customers have “an undisclosed balance sheet liability” because Linux “uses our intellectual property”. Novell CEO Ron Hovsepian provided his views on the ensuing controversy, along with a behind-the-scenes account of how the agreement was reached, in an interview with Computerworld US Editor in chief Don Tennant.
Is it fair to say that you’ve been frustrated the past couple of years riding shotgun, and not being in the driver’s seat?
Mark Barrenechea, senior vice president of product development at Computer Associates International Inc., spoke with Computerworld Tuesday about a range of issues, including an offshore development strategy that calls for spending a growing percentage of CA's development dollars on developers in China and India.
Computer Associates International Inc. Monday announced that Stephen Richards, who was in charge of CA's global sales team during the period in which contracts were backdated to inflate quarterly earnings, resigned from his post as senior vice president for worldwide sales. Replacing Richards is Greg Corgan, a 24-year IBM Corp. veteran who joined CA last year as senior vice president of North American sales. Corgan spoke with Computerworld yesterday about moving into the high-profile job at a turbulent time in the company's history.
Mark Barrenechea, senior vice president of product development at Computer Associates International Inc., took issue with statements made about CA earlier this week by Steve Mills, senior vice president and group executive in charge of IBM Corp.'s software business, in an interview. Barrenechea spoke with Computerworld Thursday to rebut those comments and shed some light on the situation at CA in the wake of the ouster of CEO Sanjay Kumar.
Mark Barrenechea, senior vice president of product development at Computer Associates International Inc., took issue with statements made about CA earlier this week by Steve Mills, senior vice president and group executive in charge of IBM Corp.'s software business, in an interview. Barrenechea spoke with Computerworld Thursday to rebut those comments and shed some light on the situation at CA in the wake of the ouster of CEO Sanjay Kumar.
FRAMINGHAM (11/13/2003) - David Peterschmidt, the former CEO of Inktomi Corp. who oversaw that company's US$235 million acquisition by Yahoo Inc. a year ago, took over as CEO of network security management start-up Securify Inc. last month. Peterschmidt met with Computerworld Wednesday to discuss his plans for the 5-year-old, Mountain View, Calif.-based company.
Mark Templeton, CEO of application access vendor Citrix Systems, recently worked the crowds at Citrix's iForum user conference in Orlando. In this interview with Computerworld, Templeton discusses a range of topics, including the company's bond with Microsoft and ongoing user concerns about Citrix's complex licensing schemes.