EDS extends Opsware contract
10495
Opsware, a data-center automation software company, and EDS renew a contract worth $50 million.
299306
Updated OS includes software applications designed for business users.
430762
NEW YORK, October 8  - Oracle Corporation (ORCL.NAS) has extended its $7.7 billion tender offer for PeopleSoft (PSFT) until the midnight of October 22 this year, leaving the terms of its hostile takeover proposal unchanged at $21 per
81668
The National Health Service (NHS) has extended a software licensing deal with Microsoft for nine years - three times longer than its current agreement.
276282
Microsoft announced a major support upgrade, clearer road maps, and a new financing option for its Dynamics range of business applications on Wednesday.On the support side, Microsoft will offer five years of extended support beyond the five-year mainstream support period for its CRM (customer relationship management), ERP (enterprise resource planning), and retail management products.&quot;Ten years in this industry is quite a long time,&quot; said Kirill Tatarinov, a vice president in Microsoft&#39;s division that deals with business applications, who introduced the program during a keynote speech at Convergence 2007.The plan, called Business Ready Customer Care, means customers won&#39;t necessarily be forced to upgrade. The price of the support will vary according to what software the customer has.&quot;We don&#39;t want customers to upgrade on our timeline,&quot; said Barb Edson, senior marketing director for Microsoft&#39;s Dynamics products.Tatarinov said customers who still don&#39;t want to move to a new version of a Dynamics product can also buy custom support for older versions, which will extend support beyond 10 years.&quot;Should you choose to stay for whatever business or technical reason, we will support you,&quot; Tatarinov said.Microsoft has also extended its premier support service to Dynamics. The service includes 24-hour technical support and can accommodate on-site visits. Microsoft&#39;s Dynamics line includes the ERP programs AX, GP, NAV, and SL; its CRM application, and its Retail Management Solution products.In another announcement, Tatarinov said the company will release a new version of its Dynamics products every two years, with a feature or service pack every year or so. He also said Microsoft will publish documents that give a clear road map of its forthcoming products up to 18 months in advance.&quot;We are committing to effectively give you a statement of direction for every product we will be delivering,&quot; Tatarinov said.Microsoft hasn&#39;t hit the original deadlines it set for at least two software products in its Dynamics line. The company said on Tuesday that&#160;Dynamics NAV 6.0, one of its ERP applications for mid-size companies, won&#39;t be released until the middle of next year. Also,&#160;Dynamics CRM 4.0, code-named Titan, is now due by the end of the year but was originally scheduled for release in June or July.Tatarinov laid out Microsoft&#39;s roadmap for several Dynamics products. AX 5.0, which will include 500 new features such as VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) and instant messaging, will be released between April and June next year.Two other ERP products, SL 8.0 and GP 11, will be built on Microsoft&#39;s next release of its Office suite, called Office 14, Tatarinov said. Those products will ship within 90 days of Office 14, which is scheduled for release in 2009, he said. Roadmaps should be published soon for both of those products.NAV 6.0 and Entrepreneur 2008, an ERP application for small businesses, will come out in the second half of next year. Entrepreneur will be expanded globally for 2009, Tatarinov said.The newest version of C5, an ERP product used mostly in Denmark, will come out by the end of year.On the financing side, Microsoft is adding a new financing plan that lets customers make fixed, regular payments for software under its Total Solution Financing program. That program is now in 14 countries and will be expanded to others, Tatarinov said.Leasing terms range from 24 to 60 months, which should allow business more flexible money management, starting as low as &#8364;50 ($71) per month, Microsoft said.&#160;
16561
Outsourcing vendor Electronic Data Systems has renewed an agreement for IT services from automation and utility software company Opsware that could be worth $145 million over eight years.
508165
BT Group has extended an existing human resources outsourcing deal with Accenture with a new 10-year contract valued at Â£306 million ($576 million), the companies announced Wednesday. The deal will begin in August and will cover BT's HR functions in 38 countries for all of its 97,000 employees and 180,000 BT pensioners. The previous five-year outsourcing contract only covered employees in the U.K. Accenture will provide services such as customer contact, recruitment, pension administration, payroll, and benefits administration. The business process outsourcing (BPO) contract with London-based BT also has a consulting, or what companies like IBM are increasingly calling "transformation," element to it. As part of its consulting role, Accenture will create a "transition program" with BT before the August roll-out of the contract.
532071
NEW YORK, October 12  - PeopleSoft Inc (PSFT.NAS) has extended a money-back guarantee programme for its customers, aimed at protecting the customers&#39; interests in the event of the company&#39;s takeover by Oracle Corporation (ORCL).
359485
Syniverse Technologies in Tampa signed a purchase agreement to acquire EDS Interoperator Services North America for approximately $57 million payable in cash.
715976
It's been a busy Monday for Hewlett-Packard as the company announced not one, but two proposed purchases. Somewhat overshadowed by theÂ $1.6 billion HP is forking overÂ toÂ acquire datacenter automation specialist Opsware,Â is the $241 million the vendor is offering for Neoware.
581264
U.K. telecommunications carrier BT Group plans to extend its enterprise services offering in the U.S. with the acquisition of International Network Services.
453962
TechWeb - The software will ship this summer. It had been scheduled for February, along with major upgrades of Windows Server and SQL Server.
728939
Company extends partnership with open-source Java software company in effort to compete with IBM.
502551
Business software maker  Oracle  Corp. ORCL.O said on Thursday it is extending again its  hostile tender offer for all of the common stock of PeopleSoft  Inc. PSFT.O, to Sept. 10.
343775
Opsware Inc. (NASDAQ:OPSW), the leading provider of Data Center  Automation software, today announced that it will report results for its  fourth quarter and full fiscal year ended January 31, 2007 before the  open of the market on Tuesday, March 6, 2007.
515576
Software giant allows users more time to prepare for XP's security fix.
450890
HP plans to combine the Opsware software with its own enterprise IT management software.