Larry Barrett

IBM today reinforced its commitment to what most see as the future of enterprise computing with its acquisition of Cast Iron Systems, a privately held cloud-computing software and services company that aims to simplify life for companies eager to blend their on-premise and on-demand application suites. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but by […]

Cloud computing, corporate upgrade cycles and general optimism about the overall economy will drive increased sales, profits and employment in the software industry this year, according to a survey released this week by venture capital firm Sand Hill Group. The survey, which queried more than 100 CEOs and CIOs at a variety of enterprise software […]

Interest among enterprise IT buyers in virtualization solutions remains high, as sector leader VMware (NYSE: VMW) delivered better-than-expected first-quarter sales and earnings and raised estimates for its full fiscal year. VMware pleasantly surprised analysts and shareholders Tuesday when it returned a profit of $133 million, or $0.32 a share, on sales of $634 million. Revenue […]

SAP announced it will acquire TechniData AG, a longtime partner and developer of environmental, health and product safety applications, a move designed to help differentiate it from competitors such as IBM and Oracle in the fast-growing industry. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed but SAP (NYSE: SAP) officials said they expect the acquisition […]

Oracle has unveiled Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder and Oracle WebLogic Suite Virtualization Option this week, a pair of new applications designed to simplify the deployment and management of Java applications in virtualized environments. The new apps represent Oracle’s (NASDAQ: ORCL) first virtualization releases since its blockbuster $7.4 billion acquisition of Sun Microsystems and gives developers […]

Oracle has said it will shell out $685 million to acquire Phase Forward, an on-demand provider of drug data management and health science software. The all-cash transaction, which values Phase Forward (NASDAQ: PFWD) at about 30 percent above its closing price Thursday, is just the latest salvo in Oracle’s (NASDAQ: ORCL) decade-long blood war with […]

IBM announced the release of Tax Collections Optimizer, an application that promises to make life much easier for tax-collection agencies like the IRS as they try to track down and collect unpaid taxes. The software, developed by IBM’s (NYSE: IBM) research and global business service units, simplifies the tax-collecting process by running data analytics that […]

Oracle unveiled Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) 11.1.2, a suite of new applications integrated with its Fusion middleware platform to help large enterprise customers improve their strategic, financial and operational management processes. Incorporating business intelligence (BI) and EPM functionality from its prior multibillion-dollar acquisitionsof Hyperion and Siebel Systems, Oracle ERP 11.1.2 promises much deeper integration with […]

Software developer CA will eliminate 1,000 jobs, shutter some of its facilities and deliver full-year earnings at the bottom of its previous guidance, according to its latest filingwith the Securities and Exchange Commission. CA (NASDAQ: CA), which recently named William McCracken to replace John Swainson as its CEO, posted solid sales and earnings in its […]

IBM is launching something it calls the IBM Global Entrepreneur initiative this week, a program that’s essentially a quid pro quo arrangement by which software startups get free access to its software and technologists and Big Blue gets first crack at infusing the next generation of applications with its core WebSphere middleware platform. IBM (NYSE: […]