Recent Articles
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Multichannel E-Commerce Inefficiency Can No Longer Be Ignored
Few have argued that multichannel marketing isn’t attractive and most probably essential, and fewer still have questioned the maddening inefficiency of such a system. An upcoming report from the Retail Systems Alert Group predicts that those statements are about to collide as multichannel sales start to become quite significant. “Until now, consumers who shopped across…
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RIM Licenses Kodiak’s Push-to-Talk for BlackBerry
Kodiak Networks announced Jan. 4 that it has signed a global licensing agreement with Research In Motion to feature several mobile applications, including push-to-talk, on BlackBerry handsets. Under the agreement, RIM will integrate a Java version of the Kodiak handset client with BlackBerry devices. The companies will also work together on development and marketing efforts.…
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Cisco Buys E-mail Security Specialist IronPort
Cisco Systems announced on Jan. 4 that it has agreed to buy IronPort, a provider of messaging and Web security appliances, for approximately $830 million. The San Jose, Calif.-based networking giant reported that the deal will consist of a cash and stock transaction, and that it is planning to close the merger sometime during the…
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North America IT Supply Chain Growth Slower but Solid in Q4
The IT supply chain in North America showed slower growth in the fourth quarter, at 5.2 percent compared with 7.1 percent the previous year, as customers apparently put off purchases until they could buy systems with Microsoft Vista. That was the assessment of research firm Raymond James & Associates in its “IT Supply Chain Demand…
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Amazon’s New Site Pushes Shipping
Amazon.com shook up the e-commerce world Jan. 3, unveiling a new site that offers free overnight shipping for all purchases. The new site—called Endless.com—is focused on the highly competitive footwear and handbag sector, where sites like Zappos.com have long offered free shipping. But by upgrading the free shipping to overnight, Amazon is trying to shake…
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The New Face of Software Distribution
As software increasingly becomes something delivered as bits over a broadband pipe rather than something that comes on a CD in a box, the entire foundation on which software distribution is built today is about to change. And with that change comes the whole question of just who is a distributor of software and what…
