FOCUS


Communication – Advertising

Havas’s MPG draws offer by rival
At least one company has made advances to French advertising group Havas concerning a 49% stake in its media-buying arm, Media Planning Group. Although Havas has been struggling of late, the proposal was apparently made as a partnership, rather than a buyout. According to one estimate, the stake could be worth around $150 million.
Source; Market, March 2004


Telecommunications – Wireless

DoCoMo offers FET WCDMA guidance
Japan's NTT DoCoMo and Taiwan's Far EasTone (FET) today announced the signing of a consulting agreement under which FET will launch a WCDMA-based commercial service in Taiwan with technical support from DoCoMo. FET intends to introduce its WCDMA service this year and under the consulting agreement, which will be in effect from March 23 through Sept. 22, 2004, FET will conduct a 3G network field test with the technical assistance of DoCoMo. In October, DoCoMo and FET entered into an MoU to collaborate in the fields of WCDMA and i-mode. Earlier this week, DoCoMo announced the creation of a technical partnership with Thailand's AIS.
Source; DoCoMo, March 2004


Law – Technology

EU moves to block Oracle as well
Add one more stumbling block to Oracle's $9.4 billion hostile takeover bid for PeopleSoft. The European Commission has issued a "statement of objections" to the deal, objections Oracle would need to rectify before the EU approves the deal. The specifics of the EU complaint have not been made public, but anti-competitive issues are undoubtedly at the heart of it, much as they are in the U.S. Department of Justice's case against the merger. Oracle has a chance to respond to the complaints in writing and at a hearing before the EU makes its final ruling on May 11. Now facing the prospect of two government rulings against its proposal, many feel Oracle's chance of succeeding is getting very slim.
Source; AP

ALSO: Institutional Shareholder Services is supporting re-election of PeopleSoft's board members at the company's annual meeting on March 25, but also suggests PeopleSoft should drop its touchy refund program. Story


Technology – IT

Storage software market up 18% in Q4
According to recent market analysis the storage software sales increased 18 percent in the fourth quarter of 2003 to $1.78 billion. For the whole of 2003, the market jumped 8 percent to $6.29 billion. But the strong showing in the final quarter suggests the increasingly important role software is playing in a storage industry trying to meet the needs of companies, which are trying to comply with new regulations and still looking to cut costs. EMC topped the market for storage software with a 31.7 percent share, followed by Veritas Software at 21.9 percent and Computer Associates at 9.8 percent.
Source; CNET, March 2004


HIGHLIGHTS


IT – Enterprise

Server sales in Asia grow 6.7 percent in 2003
According to a new report from Gartner, server sales in the Asia-Pacific region rose 6.7 percent to more than $5 billion in 2003.
Source; AFP, March 2004


e-Learning – Cyber teaching

Sketchy grades for Cyber schools
Dozens of online schools offer instruction in 19 states, and more are getting into the act. But many of the current schools aren't measuring up.
By John Gartner
Source; Wired, March 2004