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HFS Inc, MetLife Insurance and Apple Computer are some of the companies involved in improving their customer service operations. Their information officers, HFS' Doug Patterson, MetLife's Jim Logan and Apple's Niall O'Connor are responsible in effecting a decentralization scheme that works best to their customers' satisfaction. The companies experience the benefit of having either a capable person from within or an outsourced group managing their call centers.

When expert systems technology is nothing but a quaint, dim memory in an ancient programmer's mind, the computing industry will probably still revere the partnership that expert software forged between […]

Networking one day will be as mundane and ubiquitous as telephone service. Setting up an office with linked computers could then be almost as dangerous as choosing a long-distance carrier […]

Byline: Jim Nash PHOTOGRAPH BY Matthew Salacuse Dirt Devils Snowmobiles come out of storage for some warm-weather glory. Don't take the name snowmobile too literally. With a minimum of tinkering, [...]

Sun Microsystems Inc. plans broad, deep discounts--knocking as much as one-third off of some of its workstations and servers, The Business Journal has learned. In an announcement expected today, Sun [...]

Like cars and internal combustion engines, expert-systems technology is becoming an assumed component of custom and commercial software Nobody sells a car by playing up the fact that it uses […]

Listen carefully and you can hear a sigh across the Internet: Steven, the engaging/irritating character who stars in Dell Computer TV ads, isn't being retired, as has been rumored on […]

Leading economic indicators indicate not only that the IT recession has begun to lift, said a panel of IT execs and an economist at the InformationWeek Conference on Tuesday, but […]

Real-time business--the ability to make decisions immediately based on real-time information--simply isn't possible for large companies without integration, according to a panel discussing corporate governance on Monday at the InformationWeek […]

A new survey indicates that CFOs at one in six public companies have felt pressure to cook the books at least once in the last five years. The poll, fielded […]

Most people are unaware that the National Weather Service broadcasts alerts to special radios 24 hours a day. But many of the people who do regularly (OK, maybe obsessively) tune […]

In a development guaranteed to boost antacid sales in Toronto, the company operating Pearson International Airport has apparently begun disconnecting the equipment of wireless carriers on airport property. Lease negotiations […]

Witness technology as fashion show. Like a supermodel, LCD screens are chic in their color, thinness, and clarity (OK, maybe not so much with clarity). Cathode ray tubes are like […]

Want to get away from a convention center and avoid the obvious? This is the first in an occasional series on places to visit within a 30-minute cab ride. This […]

Bulls have horns, lions have manes, and baboons have rainbow noses and really vicious teeth. What are civilized men left with to signal their superior mating status? Until recently, it […]

The common yardsticks used to measure IT's cultural importance-fortunes built, legends created-might be insufficient. Consider this: Almost one in 10 new words in the newly released fourth edition of The […]

The common yardsticks used to measure IT's cultural importance -- fortunes built, legends created, etc. -- might be insufficient. Consider this: Almost one in 10 new words in the newly […]

Ever wonder just what Dennis Miller is talking about on Monday Night Football? Don't despair. A company called Shadowpack is bringing sky-high-brow Miller's obscure references down to earth and delivering […]

Ever find yourself watching "Monday Night Football," wondering what the heck Dennis Miller's talking about? Just what do 17th century Benedictine monks have to do with a quarterback sack, anyway? […]

God forbid David Letterman should have another heart attack. But if he does, maybe Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy could stand in for him. Speaking earlier this week to a […]

NCR's flirtation with customer-relationship management software has evolved into a commitment. The company is buyingmarketing-automation company Ceres IntegratedSolutions for $90 million in stock and cash,and forming a new CRM division. […]

Gandolf Electronics Inc. has spun off a subsidiary to go after the growing market for sophisticated automatic sensors. But industry insiders said the company might be overly optimistic in its [...]

Xerox Corp. will close its south San Jose Engineering Systems division by year-end, laying off or transferring all 450 remaining employees. The two-building facility, which makes large-format computer printers and [...]

Three valley cities and a water district are clipping their red tape in an attempt to retain businesses. Their efforts are led by Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network, the public/private [...]

National Semi, U-B, Kubota make changes What's in a name? asked William Shakespeare, contemplating fragile human relationships. A lot, apparently, as a suite of Silicon Valley companies have spent precious [...]

Frame Technology Corp. last week provided evidence that San Jose's efforts to create an attractive downtown is working. In announcing plans to relocate their headquarters to four floors of one [...]

Software leader will include firm's maps, demographics on its popular spreadsheet Santa Clara-based Strategic Mapping Inc. has won a berth for its software in its high-profile spreadsheet program made by [...]

Apple Computer Inc. has changed its attitude about how it encourages and rewards engineering work. The Cupertin-based computermaker is now emphasizing the development of new features or improvements for existing [...]

Troubled softwaremaker Borland International Inc., or at least one of its product lines, may be bought by database vendor Sybase Inc., sources said. Requesting anonymity, the sources said acquisition discussions [...]

Media Vision Technology Inc. has dodged another bullet. For the moment, the troubled Fremont-based multimedia company has quelled concerns that it has defaulted on a $115 million bond it issued [...]

A $6.75 million suit filed earlier this month alleges that EO Inc. and its parent, AT&T Corp., raided Pensoft Corp. for its employees, products, equipment and files. Pensoft has charged [...]

The Santa Cruz Operation hired a new chief financial officer last week, and began planning a major reorganization of the computer-networking software company. Alok Mohan, SCO's new CFO, said last [...]

In a valley full of companies that have strained to find the right name to raise their corporate image above the clutter, SunDisk Corp. seems to be sabotaging itself. People [...]

Media Vision Inc. executives are denying talk within high-tech circles that the company may file for Chapter 11 protection from creditors as its sudden economic problems deepen. Several sources close [...]

Growing software company master-leases large building still rented by other tenants Oracle Corp. has leased a 262,500-square-foot high-rise building across the street from its Redwood City headquarters. The newly leased [...]

Second phone hookup allows hotel guests to use voice and data lines at the same time For all the talk about technology convergence, you'd have thought this would have happened [...]

Bitter medicine taken several years ago by Consilium Inc. has not yet proved it can heal the industrial softwaremaker. There are positive signs, however, that the company is recovering. Consilium [...]

Almost overnight, the National Association of Broadcasters annual conference has become one of the most important trade shows for Silicon Valley computer companies, as they lay claim to pieces of [...]

Behind Gailen Vick, Christ reveals himself to believers bathed in light. Tormented souls scramble in a dark corner of the framed painting, which hangs in Mr. Vick's office. Without the [...]

ComputerLand Corp. executives this week will rename the company and detail plans to remake it as a super-reseller of desktop computers. Bill Tauscher, chairman and chief executive of Pleasanton-based, $1.1 [...]

Laser companies still trying to shake off a painful recession find themselves facing a new competitor: Uncle Sam Inc. Washington is scrambling to find commercial roles for the war-related laser [...]

Wasn't it at a World's Fair sometime in the 1960s that video telephones were introduced? For 30 years, such devices have been filed away in people's minds, right next to [...]

Australian firm finds cost of manufacturing in Asia to be higher than bargained for Low-cost Asian labor isn't necessarily that cheap. At least, that's what Stallion Technologies Ltd. discovered. The [...]

It's war between Silicon Valley high-tech chief executives and the Financial Accounting Standards Board. Plans are under way to gather top executives and some of their employees for a protest [...]