IBM goes shopping

The international ICT market was quiet last week, with the two acquisitions by IBM being the highlight.

At home, Business Connexion remains in the spotlight following its withdrawal of its de-listing deal regarding the company's 'A' shares, and the due diligence that is allegedly being undertaken on the company by Orange.

* Good year-end figures from Metrofil,e with revenue up 12.4% and profit up over 40%.
* A negative trading update from Dialogue Group.
* Investec made a further investment in Vox Telecom, as part of the latter's de-listing process, which now sees the former stake growing to slightly more than 15%.
* Amazon.com has opened a new customer service and development centre in Cape Town.
* Business Connexion is to discontinue its scheme of arrangement for its 'A' shares.
* ConvergeNet Holdings is being sued for R37 million regarding its last-minute 'pull-out' from the rescue of Choice Technologies.
* Andrew Springate was appointed chairman of ARC Telecoms.

* Mediocre half-year numbers from Maroc Telecom, with revenue and profit both slightly down.
* The US authorities are investigating whether Oracle's deals in Africa violated any anti-bribery laws.

Microsoft is being sued for allegedly tracking the location of its mobile customers.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

* Autodesk acquired certain technology assets of German-based Numenus, a developer and provider of 2D and 3D model-based design, engineering and documentation software and services.
* Cisco bought Versly, a start-up that develops collaboration tools that integrate with Microsoft Office applications.
* IBM purchased Algorithmics, a Canadian risk analysis group, for $387 million.
* IBM acquired i@, a UK-based security analytics software firm.
* Tibco Software bought Nimbus Partners, a maker of software used to improve business performance.
* Xerox's subsidiary, Global Imaging Systems, purchased Bennett's Business Systems, an independent distribution of Canon and HP copiers, printers and multifunction systems.
* Sina (China) made a $66.4 million (9%) investment in Tudou, an online video company that underwent an IPO on Nasdaq earlier this year.
* Hitachi, Sony and Toshiba are merging their display businesses in order to be more competitive in small and medium-sized panels, a sector that's expected to grow.
* The US Justice Department is suing to block AT&T's proposed acquisition of T-Mobile.
* Microsoft is being sued for allegedly tracking the location of its mobile customers even after users requested that the tracking software used be turned off.
* Satisfactory half-year figures from Computacenter (UK) and Vivendi.
* Mediocre quarterly results from Quanta Computer and SAIC.
* Mixed quarterly figures from Hon Hai Precision Industries, with revenue up but profit down.
* Mixed half-year numbers from ZTE, with revenue up but profit down.
* Quarterly losses from Ciena and Mitel Networks.
* A half-year loss from Foxconn International Holdings.
* The appointments of Eric Kip as CEO of Blyk, a mobile advertisement firm; and Olaf Swantee as CEO of UK-based Everything Everywhere.
* The resignations of Pekka Ala-Pietila, company founder and CEO of Blyk; and Richard Moat, deputy CEO and CFO of Everything Everywhere.
* Zynga's planned IPO has been delayed to at least October.

* International:
* The outcome of Vodafone's talks with Wind Hellas, Greece's third largest mobile telecommunications company.
* Further developments from HP regarding its PC and WebOS units.
* The possible acquisition of AOL, with the company either going private or being bought out by a private equity company.
* Africa:
* A possible acquisition by Telkom SA in Africa.
* The merging of the Tower businesses of Safaricom and Telkom Kenya.
* South Africa:
* The outcome of the alleged due diligence currently being done by Orange (France Telecom) on Business Connexion.

* The worldwide social media market is set to surpass the $1 billion mark by the end of next year, according to Gartner.
* The EMEA server market grew 12.5% in 2Q11 to reach $3.4 billion, according to IDC.
* The worldwide external disk storage systems factory revenue grew 12.2% in 2Q11 to just over $5.6 billion, according to IDC.

* JSE All share index: Up 3.7%
* Nasdaq: Down 2%
* Top SA share movements: Ansys (+16%), CompuClearing (-16%), ConvergeNet Holdings (-11.1%), Dialogue Group (+36.7%), Huge (+12%), Ifca Technologies (-12.5%), Net 1 UEPS Technologies (-10%), SecureData (+14%), TCS (-50%) and Zaptronix (+33.3%)

A recent edition of Fortune magazine highlighted 11 'hot start-ups' that were ready for possible IPOs. They included, from a technology perspective, the following:
* Ambarella, a company founded in 2004 that makes video-image-processing chips for cameras, and chips that help provide sharp images on HD TV;
* Jawbone, a company founded in 1999 that provides noise-cancelling technology for headsets; and
* nLight, a company founded in 2000 that manufactured semiconductor laser diodes designed to improve the performance of fibre-optic telecommunications networks, and which is now focused on several other applications.