News Briefs

Computerworld - BEA Finally Joins Eclipse Foundation
BEA Systems Inc. said it will join the Eclipse Foundation for open-source development tools and base its integrated development environment around the Eclipse standard. BEA's membership represents a turnabout for the company, which had long been a holdout. BEA cited in its decision IBM's divestiture of Eclipse and its market victory over the rival NetBeans open-source tools initiative led by Sun Microsystems Inc.
Sonoma Demand Outstrips Supply
Intel Corp. has been unable to keep up with demand for Sonoma, the notebook technology it introduced in January, a spokeswoman confirmed. "As a result of strong demand, we are somewhat lean on Sonoma component inventory," she said. Sonoma, the latest update to Intel's Centrino package, includes the Pentium M processor, the AIviso chip set and the Intel Pro/Wireless chip for 802.11 Wi-Fi.
Microsoft Buys Axapta Tool Kit
Microsoft Corp. has purchased from one of its partners a tool kit intended to simplify deployment of its Axapta software for managing finances, supply chains, employees and other business resources. Microsoft bought the ERP Complete tool kit from En'tegrate Software LLC. Terms of the sale weren't disclosed.
Hitachi Cuts Price Tag for Microdrive
Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Inc. has started shipping a new version of its 1-in. Microdrive hard disk drive, which can hold 50% more data than its current highest-capacity model. The 6GB version of the drive costs $299, compared with the $499 price of past Microdrive products. The company is also lowering the price of its 4GB Microdrive to $199.

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