Managed Services & Outsourcing

Tapping a familiar theme of late, BEA Systems Inc. and Compuware Corp. on Thursday will forge an alliance intended to make it easier to develop Java applications.

Remember all the pundits yakking about how convergence would usher in a new era of computing and communications for the new millennium? Guess what? The pundits were right.

Version 2.6.0 of the Linux kernel is ready for business. Readers of the linux-kernel mailing list learned that testing of the open-source operating system's new core ended late Wednesday, when Linus Torvalds sent an e-mail beginning with the cryptic phrase "The beaver is out of detox."

Microsoft Corp. will gradually phase out its Windows 2000 Server family, the company said Wednesday. Effective April 1, 2006, the products will no longer be available.

NTT DoCoMo Inc. and three other companies that together owned almost 59 per cent of America Online Inc.'s Japanese unit have sold their stakes to the U.S. Internet service provider, they said Wednesday. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.

Sun Microsystems Inc. on Tuesday underlined its commitment to driving cost and complexity out of corporate IT shops with a hard focus on technology-based solutions through its professional services group.

VeriSign Inc. is buying Guardent Inc., a managed security service provider (MSSP), for US$140 million in stock and cash, it announced Wednesday.

Microsoft Corp. is creating a new central engineering division that will work on the core of the Windows OS the company said Monday.