Stories by InfoWorld staff

Briefs

PeopleSoft to unveil 'pure Internet' ERP

E-Business Shorts

To strengthen the technical support that it offers its customers, Houston-based Compaq Computer Corp. will offer the Compaq Knowledge Center (CKC) as a downloadable option in early July for selected Deskpro, Prosignia, Armada, and IPAQ products. The Internet-based service will use Austin, Texas-based Motive Communications' customer care software, which is installed on computers or available through a clickable icon. CKC is a self-service program that helps users diagnose and solve their own technical problems, officials said. If the issue cannot be resolved using self-help, CKC electronically connects the user to Compaq support technicians, who are given a history of the user-CKC interaction. An enhanced version of CKC will be available on Presario computers that will ship later in the fall.

The Bug Report

Novell Inc. has released an update for eDirectory running on NetWare 5.0. It includes an updated DSREPAIR .NLM 7.26, which fixes this error when running post-NetWare 5 Schema updates: Error-611. The update, DS8D.EXE, is at support.novell.com/cgi-bin/search/tidfinder.cgi?2956841.

Briefs

Online grocery vendor Webvan Group Inc., in Foster City, California, this week announced a deal to acquire rival HomeGrocer.com, in Kirkland, Washington, in a stock transaction valued at approximately US$1.2 billion. The combined company will operate under the Webvan name, and is expected to extend Webvan's market reach to 13 metropolitan areas in the United States by year-end, according to the two companies. Those areas include Atlanta; Baltimore; Bergen County, New Jersey; Chicago; Dallas; Los Angeles; Orange County, California; Portland, Oregon; Sacramento, California; San Diego; San Francisco; Seattle; and Washington.

Briefs

Digital signatures bill signed into law

The Bug Report

Microsoft Corp.: If you have a site with multiple Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 SP3 computers, then LDAP searches for the Home-MDB or the Home-Mail Transfer Agent attributes may not work. When doing a paged LDAP search, everything goes smoothly when the number of objects is below the LDAP server limit (default is 100). However, if the number of objects is more than that, the search does not turn up anything. Microsoft is testing a fix that will be in a future service pack. If you cannot wait, ask Microsoft Technical Support for Dsamain.exe 5.5.2651.56 and Srsmain.exe 5.5.2651.56.

E-Business Shorts

E-commerce solution provider Clarus Corp. this week bought Redeo Technologies. Clarus will incorporate Redeo's Web-based payment settlement into its own software, eProcurement and eMarket. As part of the acquisition, Clarus gains large global customers, including Nortel and Abbott Labs.

Leading the Way: Resources on the Web

Numerous resources on the Web can help jump-start your leadership skills. Whether you're a seasoned veteran or a neophyte with big dreams, these sites can point you in the right direction.

JOB TITLES: IS/IT Business Analyst

This evolving title represents the key convergence of business skills with technology know-how that continues to be vital in an Internet economy. Salaries and job satisfaction are high.

Briefs: IBM Partners on Mobile E-Commerce

IBM Corp. has formed a partnership with eight Internet professional services companies as part of its attempt to establish its mobile and middleware software as a platform for delivering mobile e-commerce solutions. The eight Web companies, called the Pervasive Computing Alliance, include Agency.com Inc., Answerthink, Luminant Worldwide Corp., Organic Inc., R/GA, Rare Medium Inc., Razorfish Inc., and US Interactive Inc. Under the agreement, IBM will invest in support programs designed to meet the specific needs of each of the eight partners. For their part, the eight companies will build a percentage of their wireless Web solutions centered around IBM's middleware, such as MQSeries and CICS. IBM also will offer its WebSphere Everyplace Suite server-based software to the eight companies before other customers. The partners will receive software training and will participate in joint marketing and development programs.

Show Briefs: Amber to Debut Aggregation Router

Amber Networks will unveil its Aggregation Service Router (ASR) 2000, designed to route service feeds such as frame relay, IP, and ATM onto IP/ Optical network backbones. Targeted at carriers as a part of Amber's Optical Internet solution, ASR 2000 lets service providers move their offerings over optical networks and avoid network-edge bottlenecks without breaking links to legacy systems.

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