Siebel Buys eDocs To Extend CRM App
Siebel Systems Inc. last week agreed to acquire eDocs Inc. for $115 million in cash. Siebel said the move will extend its suite of CRM applications. EDocs makes e-billing and customer self-service applications to cut call center and billing costs. The deal is expected to close next year.
HP, Intel Terminate Their Itanium Pact
Hewlett-Packard Co. and Intel Corp. ended a 10-year pact to co-develop the Itanium chip for servers. Intel will continue work on the chips, and microprocessing development by HP will effectively end. HP's Itanium team will join Intel. HP also pledged to continue using the chips in its servers and to spend $3 billion over three years on Itanium-related product development.
New Standard Could Drive RFID
EPCglobal Inc. last week said its board has ratified the second generation of its Electronic Product Code (EPC) specification. The nonprofit industry group said the standard, supported by dozens of major companies, such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., The Gillette Co. and Albertson's Inc., will drive commercial radio frequency identification and EPC use worldwide.
Two Sentenced in Hacking Case
Two 21-year-old Michigan men were sentenced -- one to nine years and one to 26 months in federal prison -- for conspiring to hack into the IT systems of national home center chain Lowe's Companies Inc. and stealing customer credit card information. A third defendant still awaits sentencing. Officials say the trio compromised a Lowe's store wireless network to gain access to the credit card data.