Zabbix 1.7 with better monitoring features

The upcoming version of the distributed monitoring tools Zabbix introduces new surveillance capabilities. The open source solution introduced in version 1.7 Telnet and SSH agentless monitoring. Advanced features allow you to edit maps with drag and drop. Zabbix 1.7, PHP 5.3 and can deal with complex regular expressions and UTF-8.

The software displays the results in clearer images and has an advanced cache module to improve the speed of Zabbix Server and proxy operations significantly. Occur in the current beta version 1.7.4 adds mainly bug fixes and improvements in the operation. Zabbix is an open source monitoring software to monitor the company's performance of servers and the availability of networks and services. Zabbix is implemented in C and PHP, and is placed under the GPL.

Sophos concludes fiscal year 2008/2009, with 27 percent revenue growth

Sophos, a leading provider of IT solutions for Security and Data Protection ', was completed in fiscal year 2008/2009, at 31 March 2009 ended, its strong growth to continue: The revenue from product licenses and services increased over the previous year by 27 percent to 270.9 million U.S. Dollar. In fiscal year 2007/2008 were those at 213.9 million U.S. Dollar. Sophos simultaneously achieved in fiscal year 2008/2009 had a turnover of 215.2 million U.S. Dollar and thereby also an increase of 27 percent over the previous year. The Unlevered free cash flow in fiscal year 2008/2009 amounted to a total of 39.8 million U.S. Dollar.
Steve Munford, CEO at Sophos: 'Despite the difficult economic situation in the last fiscal year, Sophos's revenue and sales by 27 percent. This growth reflects the increasing customer demand for integrated and easy to manage IT security solutions again, as it offers Sophos. The takeover of Utimaco was an important milestone in the past fiscal year and for Sophos in the rapidly growing market for Data Protection further impetus. "
In the past fiscal year, Sophos at 21 Time in a row, its sales increase. Contributed to the positive development especially the expansion of its product portfolio and the expansion of the company and the expansion of business activities in the North American market. Sophos has in the past fiscal year a total of 19,000 new customers win, 3,800 of them in North America. More than half of all new customers switched from competitors Symantec and McAfee to Sophos. Recent studies have revealed that almost one third of all new customers of Sophos with the support of its former suppliers were unhappy, and this is a crucial criterion for this was to work for Sophos to decide.

Tags: News,Anti Virus,Free,Free Download,Virus,Computer Virus

BlackBerry App World: One month later

It has now been just over one month since RIM launched its answer to Apple’s App Store, BlackBerry App World, and we thought it would be a good time to check back in with our thoughts on the offering. Of course it’s way too early to reach any real conclusions as App World is obviously in its infancy, but we can still offer our first impressions of the portal, ping a few developers to see how they’re getting along and most importantly, see what you guys think about App World so far. So hit the jump for our thoughts on RIM’s on-device application portal.

Read the Source

Outlook for Small Cap Software Stocks Discussed in Wall Street Transcript Corporate Software Report

67 WALL STREET, New York--May 5, 2009 The Wall Street Transcript has just published its Corporate Software issue, a report offering a timely review of the sector to serious investors and industry executives. This 41-page feature contains industry commentary through in-depth interviews with 6 analysts. The full issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.

Topics include: Adoption of data services, Emerging markets, Reallocation of resources, Location services, Advertising, Social networking, R&D spending, More pricing pressure, Penetration rates, The business model, International exposure, M&A activities, IT budgets, Stock picks, Stocks to avoid.

Read More

Borland Software Corporation to be Acquired by Micro Focus International plc

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Borland Software Corporation (NASDAQ: BORL - News) (“Borland”), the global leader in Open Application Lifecycle Management (ALM), today announced that Micro Focus International plc (LSE:MCRO.L - News) (“Micro Focus”) and Borland have entered into a definitive agreement (the “Agreement”) under which Micro Focus will acquire all the outstanding shares of Borland in a cash merger transaction.
Pursuant to the terms of the Agreement, Micro Focus will acquire each outstanding share of common stock of Borland for $1.00 per share, representing a premium of 25% over the closing share price of Borland’s common stock on May 5, 2009 of $0.80 and a premium of approximately 67% over the average thirty trading day closing price of $0.60. The aggregate transaction value is approximately $75 million. The boards of directors of both companies have unanimously approved the transaction. The acquisition is expected to be completed in late Q2/early Q3 2009, subject to approval by both Micro Focus and Borland shareholders, US antitrust approvals and other customary closing conditions.

J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. and DLA Piper LLP (US) served as advisors to Borland in the transaction. Arma Partners LLP and Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as advisors to Micro Focus.

All parties desiring details regarding the transaction are urged to review the definitive agreement when it is available on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov. In connection with the proposed transaction, Borland will file with the SEC a proxy statement, and Borland plans to file with the SEC other documents regarding the proposed transaction. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS ARE ADVISED TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT AND OTHER FILED DOCUMENTS CAREFULLY WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION. Shareholders will be able to obtain a free-of-charge copy of the proxy statement (when available) and other relevant documents filed with the SEC from the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov. Shareholders will also be able to obtain a free-of-charge copy of the proxy statement and other relevant documents (when available) by directing a request by mail or telephone to Borland, 8310 North Capital of Texas Highway, Building 2 Suite 100, Austin, TX 78731, Attention: Investor Relations, Telephone: (512) 340-1364, or from Borland’s website, http://www.borland.com. Borland and certain of its directors, executive officers and other members of management and employees may, under the rules of the SEC, be deemed to be “participants” in the solicitation of proxies from shareholders of Borland in favor of the proposed merger. Information regarding Borland’s directors and executive officers is contained in Borland’s annual proxy statement filed with the SEC on April 8, 2009. Additional information regarding the interests of such potential participants will be included in the proxy statement and the other relevant documents filed with the SEC (when available).

About Borland

Founded in 1983, Borland (NASDAQ:BORL) is the leading vendor of Open Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) solutions - open to customers' processes, tools and platforms - providing the flexibility to manage, measure and improve the software delivery process. To learn more about maximizing the business value of software, visit http://www.borland.com.

Borland and all other Borland brand and product names are service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of Borland Software Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

About Micro Focus

Micro Focus, a member of the FTSE 250, provides innovative software that allows companies to dramatically improve the business value of their enterprise applications. Micro Focus Enterprise Application Modernization and Management software enables customers’ business applications to respond rapidly to market changes and embrace modern architectures with reduced cost and risk. For additional information please visit www.microfocus.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This document contains certain forward-looking statements about Borland that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, (1) the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstances that could give rise to the termination of the merger agreement; (2) the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against Borland and others following announcement of the transaction or the merger agreement; (3) the inability to complete the merger due to the failure to satisfy conditions to completion of the merger; (4) the risk that the proposed transaction disrupts current plans and operations and the potential difficulties in employee retention as a result of the merger; and (5) other risks that are set forth in the “Risk Factors,” “Legal Proceedings” and “Management Discussion and Analysis of Results of Operations and Financial Condition” sections of Borland’s SEC filings. Many of the factors that will determine the outcome of the merger are beyond Borland’s ability to control or predict. Borland undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements, or to make any other forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise

Sun deal poses challenges for Oracle

Oracle Corp., which announced plans last month to acquire Sun Microsystems for $7.4 billion, should benefit from the merger but will face significant marketing challenges in communicating the combined brand, industry analysts say.
In announcing the deal April 20, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison emphasized the strength of the end-to-end solution that Oracle will now be able to offer its customers as a result of the acquisition.
“Oracle will be the only company that can engineer an integrated system—applications to disk—where all the pieces fit and work together so customers do not have to do it themselves,” he said. “Our customers benefit as their systems integration costs go down while system performance, reliability and security go up.”
Under the terms of the deal, software company Oracle is acquiring the entire Sun portfolio, which includes hardware, software and services.
Most notably in the software category, Oracle will pick up Sun's Java open source software development platform, its Solaris operating system and MySQL, its open source database software. It will also own Sun's hardware business, which comprises servers, storage devices, desktop workstations and peripherals.
“The first big thing is the cachet, or lack of cachet, that Oracle has had in open source,” said Ray Wong, VP-principal analyst at Forrester Research. “They now have the crown jewels of open source with Java and MySQL.”
Another big advantage of the merger, Wong said, is the end-to-end solution Oracle will be able to deliver. “It used to be just application and database software,” he said. “Now they are trying to make the case that they can deliver hardware, software, middleware and database software all in one-stop shopping, which will help their customers reduce costs.”
Wong added: “The challenge is to figure out the perception of Oracle being in the hardware business. What does it mean, and can they successfully convince people to buy the whole stack from them?”
He noted that Oracle has already been successful in managing and marketing other acquisitions. For example, in 2005 it acquired CRM software company Siebel Systems, and last year it bought enterprise software company BEA Systems.
Jean Bozman, VP-research for IDC's enterprise platforms group, said one of the greatest assets Oracle will get is Sun's installed base of customers and the service contracts and upsell opportunities that go along with that.
“They have at least 1.6 million servers [installed worldwide] and also storage and service contracts,” she said, noting that about 40% of Sun's revenue now comes from services. “From a holistic view, they have a large installed base, the opportunity for new offerings and things like upselling.”
For example, Bozman said that although MySQL is a database product, it does not necessarily compete with Oracle database products. “Oracle has always been about cross platforms and running on as many platforms as possible,” she said. “It may be that the MySQL offering, which is widely used, could bring additional business for other Oracle products.”
Bozman said one of the biggest challenges for Oracle will be integrating Sun into its operations and ensuring that it runs a profitable business.
Bozman also noted that because of the downturn, spending on big IT projects is being cut or deferred but, as conditions improve, IT investment should pick up. That will benefit Oracle in the long run.
Other industry experts, however, were not as bullish on the deal.
Jim Gregory, CEO of brand strategy firm CoreBrand, noted that Sun had a brand score of only 16 on a scale from 1 to 100 in CoreBrand's 2008 Brand Power report, while Oracle had a brand score of 30. “In terms of what they are buying, it is not a heavyweight brand,” Gregory said.
“It seems like it made a lot more sense for IBM [Corp.] to make the acquisition. That seemed like a much better fit,” he said, noting that IBM had a brand score of 76.
In April, IBM made a bid to buy Sun for an estimated $7 billion but was outbid by Oracle, according to people familiar with the talks.
Gregory said one of the immediate challenges for Oracle is to communicate its strategy for the acquisition and what it means to its customers.
“What they will need to do is tell a story very quickly,” he said. “Otherwise, Oracle's image might be hurt. They have to communicate clearly why they made this acquisition, why it fits as a company and what they intend to do with it. They have a short window of opportunity.”

Steve Ballmer predictably calls Macs too expensive

Looking to quell notions that Apple is making significant gains in market share, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer recently pointed to February sales data that showed a year-over-year Mac and iPod sales decline of 16 percent.

"Apple gained about one point, but now I think the tide has really turned back the other direction," Ballmer told BusinessWeek at The McGraw-Hill Companies’ 2009 Media Summit. "The economy is helpful. Paying an extra $500 for a computer in this environment—same piece of hardware—paying $500 more to get a logo on it? I think that's a more challenging proposition for the average person than it used to be."

One month of a year-over-year decline does not, however, signal a changing tide. Last February, Apple had a significant spike in sales due to the radically thin MacBook Air, while this February was marked by users waiting for hardware updates that didn't materialize until March. With all the new hardware, it's worth waiting to see March's numbers before making any serious prognostication.

Further, even if the 16 percent decrease were to hold for the entire quarter, Apple would still be looking at selling about 2 million Macs. That should translate to about $7.6 billion in revenue for the quarter, which is in line with the company's guidance to investors.

That still doesn't take into account the fact that Macs are not "the same piece of hardware," despite being architecturally similar. Apple's design, integration, and Mac OS X are differentiating features that consumers consider valuable. That's why Macs command higher average selling prices and Apple continues to make money selling its hardware.

Of course, Ballmer has been wrong before, so it's worth taking his statements with a jumbo-sized grain of salt.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs

Apple CEO Steve Jobs displays a redesigned iPod Nano at Apple's "Let's Rock" media event in San Francisco, California September 9, 2008. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith