Channel Zone News Round-up--Week of April 12

Sun Acquires Kealia, Marks Return of First Employee
SANTA CLARA, CA -- Sun Microsystems completed the acquisition of Kealia, a Palo Alto, Calif. company established to develop advanced computer system design. Kealia was co-founded and led by Andy Bechtolsheim, who was a co-founder of Sun and its vice president of technology from 1982 to 1995. He invented the "Stanford University Network workstation" that eventually became the Sun-1 Workstation and was instrumental in other Sun products, such as the SparcStation 1. Bechtolsheim returns to Sun as senior vice president and chief architect in Sun's Network Systems organization, and will be a member of Sun's executive management team. He was reassigned his "number one" employee badge.

Silicon Graphics Sells Alias Software Business
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA -- Silicon Graphics agreed to sell its Alias graphics software business to Accel-KKR, a technology-focused private equity investment firm. The $57.5 million cash deal is expected to close this quarter. Alias, a developer of 3-D graphics technology, will operate as an independent company; sales its products will continue uninterrupted.

Boingo, Linksys Turn SMB Wi-Fi Networks Into Commercial Hot Spots
SANTA MONICA, CA and IRVINE CA -- Boingo Wireless and Linksys announced a program that makes commercial Wi-Fi hot spot business opportunities available to small businesses, such as coffee shops, restaurants, doctor's offices, gas stations, independent hotels, retail outlets, and office lobbies. The Hot Spot in a Box feature is available on Linksys' Wireless-G VPN Broadband Router. Current Linksys WRV54G customers can update their routers with a firmware update.

Women Entrepreneurs Get Online Tools to Start, Run, Grow Businesses
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC and SEATTLE -- FemPreneur Magazine said Smart Online, a developer of Software-as-Services (SaS) applications for small businesses, is providing business-critical applications to its web site users. Powered by Smart Online, the magazine's online Business Resource Center is providing access to productivity applications designed for small business customers.

Experian Offers Self-Serve List Fulfillment for Marketing Campaigns
COSTA MESA, CA -- Credit-reporting firm Experian launched "iScreen," a Web-based, self-serve, prescreen list fulfillment service that helps small to mid-sized credit grantors, such as credit unions and regional banks, conduct direct marketing campaigns with greater confidence and cost efficiency. With iScreen, credit grantors can purchase a list of pre-approved prospects from Experian for their marketing campaigns. They can also receive counts of creditworthy prospects, enabling them to identify their best audience before they purchase the list.

Secluda Seeks Partners for Blacklist Blocking Solution
MERRIMACK, NH -- Secluda Technologies released the final beta of BlockMaster, a product that ensures wanted e-mails being sent into an organization are received by the intended recipient, overcoming errors or unwanted blocking by realtime black lists or other antispam defenses. BlockMaster is perimeter gateway server software, available on Windows, Linux, Solaris and Mac OS X operating systems, and is compatible with all SMTP based e-mail systems.

Italian ISP Selects Sangoma To Connect Government Offices
TORONTO -- Sangoma Technologies, a provider of WAN and Internet connectivity products, was chosen by Italitan ISP Clio to provide its S5141 PCI Dual Port Cards to connect Italy's public sector government offices with the country's Public Administration's European Union financed private network (RUPAR). Clio provides Internet connectivity, outsourcing, consulting, VoIP, satellite data transfers and distance learning to southern and central Italy.

Epicor, Altec Unite to Provide Document Management Solution
IRVINE, CA and LAGUNA HILLS, CA -- Epicor Software and Altec, a provider of accounting-centric Integrated Document Management (IDM) solutions, announced a strategic alliance. Epicor and its channel partners will resell and distribute Altec's IDM solution doc-link with Epicor Enterprise, an end-to-end suite of industry- specific solutions for the global mid-market enterprise.

Westcon to Distribute Motorola Canopy Wireless Broadband Products
SCHAUMBURG, IL. and TARRYTOWN, NY -- Networking distributor Westcon Group will distribute Motorola's Canopy wireless broadband products and accessories. The Canopy product line offers a secure wireless broadband solution for enterprise, public, and private networks and features a modulation scheme for improving data quality.

NVIDIA Launches GeForce 6 Series Video Cards
SANTA CLARA, CA -- NVIDIA introduced its GeForce 6800 line of graphics processing units (GPUs) for high-performance desktop computers. The GeForce 6 Series is designed to deliver enhanced 3D performance through a superscalar 16-pipe architecture and high- definition video and DVD playback through an on-chip video processing engine.

Frontier's FortiGate Antivirus Firewall is Berry, Berry Good to Driscoll
SUNNYVALE, CA -- Fortinet, a provider of network-based antivirus firewall systems, said its FortiGate antivirus firewalls is connecting the offices of Driscoll Strawberry Associates, a global supplier of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries. Driscoll's is using Fortinet's FortiGate-400 platform in its Watsonville, Calif. headquarters and FortiGate-50 units for its five domestic distribution sites.

Qwest Expands Web Hosting Facilities in California, Ohio
DENVER -- Qwest Communications is expanding its Sunnyvale, Calif., CyberCenter and reopening its Columbus, Ohio, CyberCenter for business customers seeking Web hosting services and related wide-area networking solutions. Web hosting is a key component of Qwest's iQ Networking solution. Space in the Columbus facility is available now; the Sunnyvale space will be available by June.

Aladdin Ships StuffIt Deluxe 8.5 for Windows
WATSONVILLE, CA -- Aladdin Systems released StuffIt Deluxe 8.5 for Windows, offering improved compression speed, automatic backup and data access, automatic updates, and an enhanced user interface. The $39.99 compression and encryption product adds support for CAB and yEnc compressed files, in addition to all popular and obscure compression and archival formats. Users can automate backups with a new scheduler.

Heartland Service Center Keeps Ink Flowing For Canadian Printer Manufacturer
WAUCONDA, IL -- Syscan, a St-Laurent, Quebec, marketer of ruggedized mobile printers used by police officers, utility technicians, field sales and service personnel, route drivers, and others, chose Heartland Computers to provide service support in the U.S. Heartland, a reseller and sales/service agent for handheld computers, scanners, and printers, offers back-office support technology and is already a service provider for Norand, Telxon, Intermec, Zebra, and Unitech.

Tuesday, April 13

Sigma Provides Triple Play Service Diagnostics
Toronto -- Sigma Systems, a provider of broadband operational support systems, introduced the Sigma Advanced Diagnostic Manager, a service diagnostic product that empowers call centers to meet the challenges of supporting increasingly complex services, including video, high-speed data and VoIP. It combines a script-driven interface with automated diagnostic tests, analysis, and transition rules to guide service diagnostic interaction with subscribers and resolve service problems across services. It integrates with existing customer care, trouble ticketing, network management, and test systems to leverage existing investments.

GE Access, GE Commercial Finance Offer Resellers Leasing Program
WESTMINSTER, CO and DANBURY, CT -- Distributor GE Access, in collaboration with GE Commercial Finance, will offer rebate to resellers on non-government, end-user lease transactions. Rebates are automatically included in the funding amount and are available for qualifying non-Sun purchases. Resellers will receive a rebate of two percent on deals priced $50,000 or less, and one percent on deals of more than $50,000. The program ends Dec. 31.

California Amplifier Completes Merger With Vytek
OXNARD, CA -- California Amplifier, a producer of products that enable the delivery of video, data and voice content via wire-line or RF transmission media, completed its merger with Vytek, a provider of solutions that enables wireless and wireline access to information and media content. The deal was valued at $92 million. California Amplifier's existing satellite business unit and the legacy products portion of the existing wireless access business unit will join to form the new Products Division. The Vytek business will operate as the Solutions Division.

Monday, April 12

Network Associates Introduces Distributed Netasyst SMBs
SANTA CLARA, CA -- Network Associates announced the Netasyst D/DX network analyzer, an addition to the Netasyst network analyzer product line from the Sniffer Technologies division. It is designed to provide small and mid-size businesses (SMBs) with a flexible network performance solution for monitoring, troubleshooting, and securing Ethernet networks from a single, remote console. It will be available through channel partners and direct sales in June. The Netasyst D software is priced from $1,995 and the Netasyst DX with Expert Analysis software from $4,995.

ProLine Scratch Protection Formula Protects CDs, DVDs
DENVER -- ProLine announced a disc coating that increases scratch resistance. Disc Guard 2's compound of emulsifiable resins leaves oxygen-activated molecules on the disc surface and creates a clear layer that forms a physical shield of protection. Application requires two drops; repeated use increases durability. Each $16.95 kit includes a disc-gripping applicator base, two application and buffing cloths, and two-fluid-ounce bottle of the formula, enough for 200 discs.

AOL, FaceTime Announce Certified AIM Partner Agreement
DULLES, VA and FOSTER CITY, CA -- America Online established FaceTime Communications as an AIM Certified Partner to provide solutions that help secure and manage instant messaging. FaceTime's IM Director is an enterprise-class application that gives system administrators the ability to manage user policies and control IM use across multiple instant messaging networks. IM Auditor addresses the regulatory compliance needs of financial services firms, healthcare organizations, power companies and other businesses that must adhere to stringent government regulations.

Toshiba Unveils 512Mb Low-Latency DRAM
TOKYO and IRVINE, CA -- Toshiba America Electronic Components and its parent Toshiba Corp. announced a series of 512 megabit Network Fast Cycle RAM (FCRAM) with a minimum random cycle time of 22.5 nanoseconds (ns). The devices support high performance network applications, including switches and routers in network systems. They incorporate enhanced DRAM technology to achieve a large memory capacity and random access time rivaling the speed of SRAM.