Infrastructure

Encouraged by the transformative impact that telecommunications, particularly cellular networks, have had on developing countries in Africa and elsewhere, the World Bank's private-sector investment arm plans to expand the scope of its investments to include content providers, according to a senior executive.

IBM on Thursday announced that Harvard University is using an IBM Blue Gene supercomputer, which holds the title as the fastest supercomputer in the world, to support research into the human heart and circulatory system.

Open-source company MySQL AB confirmed recent reports that it will offer a database monitoring and advisory service as part of its MySQL Enterprise commercial subscription service later this year.

Microsoft Corp. and Orange SA will link their instant messaging systems later this year, allowing up to 375 million people to chat with each other using their PC or mobile phone, the companies said Wednesday. In reality, take-up will be much more limited.

Even as EMC Corp. expands beyond network storage technology into security, virtualization and content management, it is preparing to cut as many as 1,250 jobs.

Looking to bolster AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) and development of Web 2.0 applications, the OpenAjax Alliance introduced a project that addresses AJAX interoperability issues. The OpenAjax Hub project involves developing a standard set of JavaScript functionality to tackle problems with interoperability arising when multiple AJAX libraries are used within the same Web page.

Smart networks are already here, but much of intelligence lies dormant without powerful management tools, analyst says

As IT infrastructure becomes more complex and supports advanced applications such as VoIP and wireless, technology vendors must help enterprise network executives simplify the management and security of their IT assets, said John Swainson, president and CEO of CA.