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An interview with chief information officer Ralph Szygenda from General Motors Corp. in the U.S. is presented. When asked whether all its partners are meeting their agreements with the company since it handed out its information technology outsourcing contracts, he asserted that it is going very well and better than he had thought. He discussed how he would handle partners not meeting their goals. He explained how he sponsors new technologies like social networks and blogging with the company.

The article discusses the importance of partnership in the practice of technology and business process in the U.S. According to the author, Third Eye Technologies, a property management company needed the solution provider to change simultaneously the Web sites of its 15 hotels acquired in eight cities. They used TechSelect network to locate a solution provider in the region to help them until it finally tapped the services of Cisco Systems. Third Eye president, Stephen Alexander says that he first and foremost look for relationship before looking for something else.

Discusses the poor financial performances of Internet service providers (ISP) in the United States in the first quarter of 2001. List of the top 12 providers in the country; ISP which have gained favorable sales during the quarter because of their customer base; Role of partnerships and mergers in the survival of ISP in the Internet industry.

The article reports on an announcement by technology firm WhatsApp, Inc. about WhatsApp mobile chat app's use of default end-to-end data encryption to protect the privacy of its users from hackers. Topics include legal dispute between technology firm Apple, Inc. and the Federal Bureau of Investigation over the U.S. government's request to unlock an iPhone, thoughts from senior counsel Greg Nojeim on WhatsApp's announcement, and WhatsApp's partnership with software group Open Whisper Systems.

The article focuses on components of the Cybersecurity National Action Plan (CNAP) of U.S. President Barack Obama. Topics discussed include safety against criminals and terrorists who prefer online attacks; Commission on Enhancing National Security which includes business, and technical thinkers; modernization of Information technology (IT) system with a new federal chief information security officer and partnership with technology companies such as Google, Facebook and Microsoft.

The article discusses the strategic plans of Oracle Corp. in the U.S. According to the author, the company announces its move to become globally competitive through partnerships with Amazon.com Inc and Intel Corp. to position its database technology in the market which serves as a key component in cloud computing. In addition, the author notes that the company also plans to provide cloud-based backup solutions as part of its initiative to become full stream in cloud computing as well as allow its customer to attain full access on different services of both companies. It cites the different perspectives of computer companies and analysts regarding the implications of the move of Oracle.

The article reports on the partnership of Adobe Systems Inc. with Google Inc. and Yahoo! Inc. to make Flash Player technology more searchable in the U.S. Eric Wittman, director of client distribution and business development in Adobe's Platform Business Unit, states that the company is providing optimized Adobe Flash Player technology to the search engine leaders to enhance search engine indexing of the Flash file format. It is stated that the move will provide more relevant automatic search rankings of the millions of rich Internet applications and other dynamic content that run in Adobe Flash Player.

Reports the partnership between Microsoft Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Support of Microsoft on the 64-bit Opteron chip; Impact of the partnership on Intel Corp.; Features of the Opteron chip.

Reports the call of the federal government for a public and private partnership to solve security problems plaguing computer networks in the U.S. Views of the industry to the proposals; Launch an analysis system that would provide advance intelligence on security events; Establishment of the National Infrastructure Simulation and Analysis Center.

Focuses on the partnership between Avis Rent-A-Car system Inc. and MindTree Consulting Ltd. in the United States. Development of the online reservation system of Avis; Consideration of Avis as a technology leader in the car rental business; Plan of Avis to use more personalized web site to grab market share among leisure travelers.

Reports that an alliance of telecommunication carriers, movie studios and manufacturers has been planning to launch a video-on-demand system in the United States. Impact on cable operators and video rental chains; Members of the alliance; Implication of the advent of video-on-demand system. INSET: Flurry of Deals.

Deals with the adoption of micropayment model by content and services providers in the United States. Reason of most credit card companies for not adopting the micropayment model; Purpose of IPin's partnership with British Telecom; Benefits of the clearinghouse services to the providers.

The article reports on the partnership between telecommunications company AT&T and mobile payment solutions specialist Vantiv to help businesses in the implementation of on-the-spot mobile payment products and services. Tablet-based, cloud-connected payment solution Vantiv Mobile Checkout from AT&T allows the processing of payments and accessing of business data by businesses from anywhere, while Vantiv Mobile Accept is a mobile application.

The article discusses the partnership between social networking site Facebook and GoSmart Mobile, a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) that runs on the T-Mobile network, making GoSmart the first U.S. carrier to offer free, unlimited data access to Facebook and Facebook Messenger to all of its customers. A brief overview of GoSmart's plan offerings is presented.

The article reports on the partnership of the telecommunications holding company Sprint Corp. with the direct-broadcast satellite service provider Dish Network in December 2013 to develop and deploy fixed Long term Evolution (LTE) wireless service in the U.S. It mentions that the companies plan to test the service in Texas in 2014. It offers information on the views of Sprint senior vice president of corporate and business development Michael Schwartz on such project.

The article focuses on the June 18, 2012 announcement by the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) which states that International Business Machines Corp.'s (IBM) supercomputer Sequoia at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) was ranked No.1 in the Top500 list of the world fastest supercomputers. It states that NNSA has considered Sequoia's role in securing nuclear weapons stockpile in the U.S. It also provides data on the NNSA partnership with IBM and LLNL.

The article focuses on the partnership between web-based daily deal finder LivingSocial and Chase, JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s consumer and commercial banking business, which aims to assist small and midsize businesses using the grant program introduced with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. It states that the partnership offers an up to $3 million grant to help business owners develop and stimulate small businesses in the U.S. Moreover, it offers data on the selection of grant recipients.

The article focuses on the move initiated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Services (DHS) that would allow the agency to develop a critical technology using traditional government procurement processes. It presents the insights of several experts in the industry including Ken Rehbehn, Jack Gold, and Tom Cellucci, on technological innovations implemented following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack in the U.S. Celluci mentions the partnership existing between DHS and private sectors.

The article presents the top five priorities of Vincent Cirel, chief information officer (CIO) of Norwegian Cruise Line, in the U.S. He states that solving problems through innovative ways is always going to be a core competency. He also discusses the significance of maximizing vendor partnerships. He emphasizes the importance of collaborating with the business, as for him, success has manifested as a deep collaboration between himself and his fellow business leaders.

The article presents the top 5 current priorities of information technology (IT) industry leaders and decision makers. They want to stabilize the underlying IT infrastructure. They wish to provide better and easier IT services to citizens by moving to more self-service. They need to be more collaborative across states agencies in the U.S. They also plan to reach out to the locals. They will be sure to follow green IT policies. They want to bring different programs together in order to share information.

The article reports on the plan of Rackspace Hosting Inc. to expand its hosted cloud computing offerings with several acquisitions and partnerships in the U.S. The company announces plans to purchase Slicehost and Jungle Disk and two partnerships that will enable it to offer services for businesses interested in hosting applications in the cloud. It is set to partner with Sonian and Limelight Networks.

The article reports on the partnership agreed by Intel Corp. and Yahoo! Inc. with Hewlett-Packard (HP) Co. in the U.S. It states that the partnership aims to develop the software Cloud Computing Test Beds that will operate through a software as a service (SAAS) model. The companies stress that the integration of SAAS will provide an opportunity for businesses and institutions to utilize the software in building cloud computing infrastructures. It reveals that the three companies will be working on six research and development (R&D) centers to conduct a test on the effectiveness of the software.

The article outlines the collaboration of International Business Machines Corp. and Hewlett-Packard engineers to help enterprises build data centers in the U.S. Such a move will enable companies to handle increasingly powerful technologies without experiencing rise in power consumption. During the technical conference held on June 5, 2008 researchers from the IBM Laboratory and the Fraunhofer Institute in Berlin presented and demonstrated the new system of cooling processors wherein the water will be pipe directly into the chips instead of the more conventional method of using air to remove heat and cool a system. Researchers will also find means of reducing the carbon footprint of data centers by 75% by replacing copper wiring on microprocessors with light pulses.

The article discusses the impact of Microsoft's disregard of Siemens Technologies during the launching of its unified communication (UC) strategy in the U.S. When Microsoft took on Nortel as its UC partner, there is a bitterness on the part of Siemens because it took on another company instead of them. In response to such event, Siemens launched its OpenScape Unified Communications Server and related applications and it is also integrating the server with International Business Machines Corp.'s (IBM) Lotus Sametime and Microsoft's Office Communications Server.

The article reports on the preparation made by Microsoft Corp. and its partners for the largest enterprise launch on February 27, 2008 in the U.S. Company officials hope the introduction of Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008 will kick off a wave of demand for the new products through partner readiness. So important is partners cooperation that Allison Watson, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Group, headed off on a 45-day global tour to review all partner businesses.

The article reports on the move of Dell Inc. to expand the operating system (OS) supported by their products in the U.S. According to Dell vice president of solutions Rick Becker states that they are in the process of getting a certification from Ubuntu for all its server lines offerings. In addition, the company has also partnered with Sun Microsystems Inc. wherein it can sell its hardware products in the open Solaris community which will be beneficial to both companies. Becker added that the company is already in the process of selling their other product in the same concept as well as sale preloaded Ubuntu and Linux on its servers.

The article focuses on the rumors involving the computer industry in the U.S. Siemens Communications Inc. is claimed to be bitter about Nortel Networks Corp. getting a prominent role in Microsoft Corp.'s Unified Communications (UC) launch. It is asserted that Siemens Communications Inc.'s OpenScape suite of Internet protocol telephony offerings is based entirely on Microsoft Corp.'s technology and was developed back when the two companies had ingratiated. Siemens Communications Inc. thought that it would have an inside track on an integration partnership with UC.

The article discusses the significance of the channel DNA in business partnerships in the U.S. It is asserted that channel DNA in organizations determines the ease with which an organization develops, engages and empowers partners. Organizations with channel DNA understand the value that partners can bring and need to refine the processes to know how and when to engage which types of partners. Having channel DNA indicates that an organization embraces the concept of partnering and is committed to creating a win-win-win situation. Cisco Systems Inc., Microsoft Corp. and International Business Machine Corp. are among the industries which has a channel gene.

The article discusses the software schism among the channel and software vendors in the U.S. According to the author, one of the reason of this division is the strategic role that application development plays in the profit ability of the most successful information technology (IT) services companies. He suggested that if vendors really wanted to help solve the problem, all they have to do is to create channel programs centered on taking out the mystery of the application development process, they also have to connect the subset for their software developers who introduced them to the rest of their partner community.

The article focuses on the expansion of the relationship of the Sun Microsystems and Microsoft in the U.S. According to the author, both companies agreed to make Sun a Windows Server 2003 OEM that will sell, preinstall and support server software across its entire server hardware line. He added that executive vice president of Sun's Systems Group John Fowler has stated that Windows Server 2003 will be available on Sun x64 systems powered by Intel and Advanced Micro Devices chips and will also provide utilities and value-added software offerings to server systems carrying Windows Server. Moreover, to test and validate the Windows platform on Sun's x64 server and storage products for scale-up enterprise computing, both companies will continue to work together.

The article reports on the partnership of Nortel Networks Corp. and International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) in producing the voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) and multimedia applications running on IBM's System i server in the U.S. It is stated that the Nortel-IBM System Unified Communications solution will change System i servers into Internet protocol (IP) private branch exchanges (PBXes) capable of supporting a mix of IP telephony applications and collaboration applications. The unified communication solution is expected to be launched in October 2007.

The article reports on the partnership of Codegear company and MySQL company in the delivery of software that allows the development of database-driven Web applications in the U.S. The deal includes the integration of MySQL open-source databases and the Delphi integrated development environment (EDI) product line, Delphi for Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP), Delphi 2007 for Win32 and Delphi for .Net of Codegear. The initiative was undertaken due to the increase in the adoption of Delphi and C++ in building database-oriented applications. It is expected that the partnership will help expand Delphi products in the market

The article reports on the integration of graphics technology from ATI Technologies Inc. to the product line of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Inc. in the U.S. On February 28, 2007, chip maker AMD introduces its pair of chip sets which are from the new AMD 690 series, that will integrate the Radeon graphics processors from ATI. It is stated that the start of shipping of the 690G and 690V chip sets to motherboard makers is projected to be in several following weeks since the chip set introduction. Moreover, AMD officials stated that the chip sets will start appearing in personal computers by April 2007.

The article reports on the plan of the International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) to expand its high-performance computing product offerings while gaining traction in the U.S. midmarket. On February 28, 2007, the company announced its new software applications for its Cluster 1350 product line, aiming at midmarket companies including financial institutions, computer-aided engineering firms and life science companies. Moreover, the company's partnership with Microsoft Corp. to create cluster solutions for IBM-based high performance computing clusters was also announced in the same day.

This article reports on a decline in the total value of global commercial outsourcing contracts in the United States. The analysts observe that contrary to the expectation and hype the IT outsourcing is not growing, in stead it is declining. According to TPI Corp., a sourcing advisory company, the total value of global commercial outsourcing contracts declined by about 4 percent to $75 billion from $78 billion in 2004. These figures are based on TPI's year-end market observations in its TPI Index, a quarterly report on the state of the global outsourcing industry. Decline in the value of mega-deals is considered a big reason behind this drop. According to Peter Allen, TPI partner and managing director there are three main factors behind this decline. First, contracts are being crafted more narrowly. Second, customers are leaving capital equipment purchases out of their outsourcing deals, which decreases contract values. Third, more work is being done offshore in lower-cost country. It was also noted by TPI that 2005 was a big year for contract restructuring.

The article reports that the computer software developer SAP America Inc. has merged its North American and Latin American business units to increase sales and market share. This decision was taken by SAP on seeing the fourth quarter results that have shown increased software revenues for the company. It was recently announced by the company that it had combined the two businesses to create one new unit called SAP Americas. The new group will be led by Bill McDermott, CEO of SAP America. The United States, Canada, Central and South America and the Caribbean will be included in SAP Americas. The company officials stated that SAP has more than 5,000 customers in the Americas. Apart from focusing more on geographic regions, SAP is also increasing its presence in the mid-market with a boatload of new partner offerings.

The article focuses on the consolidations in the storage industry in the U.S. The merger of Symantec Corp. and Veritas Corp. was the highest transaction in 2005 amounting a total of 13.5 billion U.S. dollars. On the other hand, the NetApp company purchase of security appliance vendor Decru Inc. did not require large amounts of integration works. Furthermore, In the merger NetApp company and Decru Inc., IT managers can implement a storage solution that provides encryption and long-term data retention.

This article reports that Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo! Inc. last week have finally teamed up to allow users of their consumer instant messaging (IM) networks to exchange messages. But some observers say the deal is of little consequence without the participation of America Online Inc. (AOL) and could also lead to greater security problems. The agreement comes as Microsoft and Yahoo face new competition in the IM space from Google Inc. and Skype Technologies SA and from market leader AOL. Although the deal is a step toward IM interoperability, without AOL and others in the game, users still face many of the same pains in using IM as a business tool. Microsoft, of Redmond, Washington, and Yahoo, of Sunnyvale, California, would not say whether they plan to work with the other public IM providers, but, for the near future, it appears they will just concentrate on IM interoperability between their services. Microsoft and Yahoo said that security will be a major focus going forward. They plan to implement a server-to-server interoperability model based on the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and SIP Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions standards.

The article reports that integration software provider WebMethods Inc. has teamed up with Neon Systems Inc. to bring together the WebMethods Fabric business process integration suite with Neon's Shadow RTE mainframe integration suite, released last week. As a result of the partnership, enterprises will have the ability to leverage their mainframe data as Web services in a services-based framework, giving them the ability to model and deploy business processes that span both mainframe and distributed environments, officials said. Neon, of Sugar Land, Texas, is taking the enterprise service bus approach to mainframe integration with Shadow RTE. Based on Neon's Shadow code base, along with technology acquired from ClientSoft Inc. and InnerAccess Technologies Inc. last year, Shadow RTE lets users access and deploy legacy data as Web services in a service-based architecture and as events in an event-based architecture. Users can also use SQL for direct access to legacy data. The partnership with Web-Methods, of Fairfax, Virginia, enables Neon to offer transactional support for mainframe environments, along with data and event-level integration.

The article reports that a joint research project by Datamonitor Inc., a market analysis company, and Everest Group, an outsourcing advisory company, found that the average size of IT and business process outsourcing deals in the second quarter of this year was about half the size of contracts in the same quarter last year. In the second quarter of last year, the average deal size of contracts was $106 million; in the second quarter of this year, the average size was $56 million. The average deal size has declined for four consecutive quarters, according to the companies. The report found 447 deals worth more than $1 million in the second quarter of this year, compared with 416 million in the same quarter last year. Offshoring is a major factor, said the researchers, because deals signed by offshore companies tend to be smaller than those inked by domestic integrators. Often, the offshore companies make their presence felt in partnership with U.S. providers. For Accenture, for example, having a component of the work done in India allows it to keep its costs low enough to make money on the smaller deals.

This article presents several developments related to the computer industry in the past week. One of the development was related to Trapeze Networks that announced a technology integration partnership with Enterasys Networks. Under the terms of the partnership, some of Enterasys security software will be incorporated into Trapeze's WLAN Mobility System switches. The companies will also enable Enterasys access points to communicate with Trapeze's switches. Another development was in Microsoft Corp., that announced windows OneCare, an automated service that will deliver anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall features. OneCare will be a comprehensive desktop security service for which Windows users will pay an annual fee. Microsoft plans to release a beta version of the new service to employees this week and will conduct a public test of the software later this year, the company said in a statement.

The article discusses outsourcing and the Sarbanes-Oxley act in the United States. There has always been liability associated with outsourcing because key functions are being performed by another party, but with the Sarbanes-Oxley act the stakes have been raised significantly. The liability for the consulting firm is huge. In crafting deals, it is important to emphasize that the enterprise client remains in control of the business processes, even though an outsourcer is performing the work. But that doesn't mean the service provider can never be on the hook. A service provider could be liable for non-compliance should it breach the process so as to expose the enterprise to a claim of securities fraud. To the extent that indemnification is included in contracts, it should come with a cap on liability. Each contract will be different; there are no easy answers. It's a complicating factor that requires a great deal of attention. The act forces the partner and the customer to have an ongoing dialogue about the business.

The wireless middleware developer Extended Systems Inc. (ESI) is expanding its enterprise strategy with added services, support and security for its remote access server solutions. ESI is forming partnerships with carriers, systems integrators and security companies to improve its OneBridge Mobile Server software. "Our corporate emphasis is shifting to support the enterprise," said Charles Jepson, president and CEO of ESI, in Boise, Idaho. In the next few months, ESI plans to switch its support coverage from a model of 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. to a full-time, "follow-the-sun" model, Jepson said. On the carrier side, ESI partners with companies outside the United States, but within the next three months, the company will establish a partnership with Sprint PCS Group, he said. ESI is also making a point to team with systems integrators that have more service experience than it does. ESI has two major project proposals pending with Cap Gemini Ernst & Young Group, Jepson said. Last week, the company announced a formal agreement with Hewlett-Packard Co. to market and support mail and messaging, field service automation, and sales force automation server software along with Hewlett-Packard Co. 's client hardware.

Armonk, New York-based International Business Machines Corp. has launched IBM Application Hosting in partnership with Onyx Software Corp. IBM Application Hosting is a hosted CRM offering based on Onyx's Onyx Enterprise CRM suite and managed by IBM Global Services.IBM Application Hosting for Onyx is implemented within 30days and accessed through a Web browser, using a multitenantedapproach similar to hosted CRM services from Salesforce.com,UpShot Corp., Salesnet Inc. and NetLedger Inc. IBM also launched its service IBM Services Anywhere Select which enables medium-size business customers to have IBM manage the components of their infrastructure, including storage, application support and security, saving internal IT resources for other projects. Separately, San Francisco, California-based Salesforce.com announced in March 2003 that it supports deeper, bidirectional integration between its service and the Outlook mail client. Previously, Salesforce.com users could only sync their Outlook calendar and task lists with the Salesforce.com service.

Reports the partnership of Hewlett-Packard (HP) Co. with BEA Systems Inc. to bundle BEA's WebLogic Application Server with HP-UX operating system in the U.S. Terms of partnership deal; Features of WebLogic and HP-UX systems; Advantages of the partnership.

Reports the partnership of Flarion Technologies Inc. with U.S. government contractor. Promotion of the idea of wireless homeland security network; Usability of Flarion's Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing technology; Concern of the government about the vulnerability of wireless networks in general.

Reports the partnership of Microsoft Corp. and Softricity Inc. in the U.S. Management of Windows applications in web services; Compatibility of SoftGrid application with Microsoft.Net platform; Delivery of Softricity to remote systems.

Reports the partnership of Intership Corp. and Silicon Wave Inc. in the U.S. Simultaneous operation of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi wireless protocols. Use of Blue802 technology of time-slicing technique; Process of choosing a choosing a company to develop the mini-PCI cards in volume. INSET: Air pair.

Reports developments related to the computer industry in the U.S. as of April 2002. Plan of Symbian Ltd. to its expand smart-phone operating system business; Partnership between Covisint LLC with Requisite Technology Inc.; Terms of the partnership contract.

Reports the purpose of the business partnership between the Hitachi Data Systems and the Computer Network Technology Corp. in the U.S. Improvement of storage-over-IP security; Expansion of computer network access; View of the customers on the business partnership.