Stories about: Giga Information Group

Microsoft last week announced the first upgrade of the CRM applications it released early this year. It said the upgrade includes improved setup tools and a simpler and more flexible user interface.

Transform that stale and sluggish Web site into one that’s fresh, fast and reliable.

When bf goodrich spun off its performance materials division in February 2001, it created a $US1 billion specialty chemical company that found itself supporting multiple server platforms better-suited for a $5 billion corporation. First on the new company’s to-do list was to revamp its server hardware.

Faced with a continuing decline in revenue, CRM software vendor Siebel Systems Inc. last week tried to soothe users by announcing a planned upgrade of its applications and further moves to simplify the process of integrating its products with other systems.

As Oracle Corp. continues its takeover attempt for PeopleSoft Inc., internal e-mail messages reveal the competition between the two companies to win customers and Oracle's efforts to woo industry-watchers into supporting its unsolicited bid.

When you have got gambling operations on half a dozen riverboats, it’s important that everyone plays by the same rules. Argosy Gaming with a fleet of six such riverboat casinos, had decided that bringing all customer data together would enhance management’s view of operations and potentially help strengthen customer relationships. To accomplish those goals, though, the company needed to access disparate databases and put in place an extract, transform and load (ETL) system to help populate and maintain a central data warehouse.

This fall, IBM will ship its first cluster server based on Advanced Micro Devices' 64-bit Opteron microprocessor, according to IBM officials at the ClusterWorld Conference & Expo in San Jose on Tuesday.

Web services could have that touch of magic that puts something where you want it, when you want it and make its presence felt in a host of programming tools. Bob Violino looks at the market.

The SCO Group Inc.'s claim that the Linux kernel contains large blocks of illegal code isn't stalling corporate adoption of the open-source operating system. But the case is clearly getting the attention of many IT managers, and some said the uncertainty it's creating could have an impact on future Linux implementation plans.

Analysts are balking at The SCO Group's offer to view its proof that there is illegal Unix code in Linux, with one calling the move a publicity stunt. Meanwhile, Linux creator Linus Torvalds last Friday said that he has no plans to look at the code and that the battle between SCO, IBM Corp. and Novell Inc. is on par with a rancorous episode of the Jerry Springer Show.

Imagine that you have to find the fraudulent calls in a 100,000-page phone bill. Or that an invoice for employee health insurance offers little more than a guess as to who is covered in a given month. Or that four out of 10 checks you receive require human assistance to figure out what the customer bought. That's reality for many business-to-business transactions today, and that's why there's so much interest in electronic invoice presentment and payment (EIPP) systems.