Gillian Law

Small businesses in the U.K. are being offered a one-stop-shop for software and broadband through a new joint offering from BT Group PLC and Microsoft Corp., the companies said Thursday.

Siebel Systems Inc. and IBM Corp. plan to offer their joint service, Siebel customer relationship management (CRM) OnDemand, in Europe from mid-May, and in Asian within two months, they announced at the Siebel User Week in Cannes, on April 21.

MCI has formally emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and is beginning to distribute securities and cash to its creditors, it said on Tuesday.

Unit shipments of PCs in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region rose almost 17 per cent to 14.9 million in the first quarter of 2004, but the dollar value of resulting sales remained flat and related revenue even decreased in local currency terms, according to preliminary figures for the quarter, Gartner Inc. said Thursday.

As the European Union (EU) pushes member states to implement laws to control spam, it seems that many businesses in the U.K., where the laws have been put in place, don't see it as a big problem.

Computer Associates International Inc. (CA) named former Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) global operations head Jeff Clarke as its executive vice-president and chief financial officer (CFO) on Thursday.

The European Commission fined Microsoft Corp. a record

Microsoft Corp. will appeal the fine and sanctions imposed upon it by the European Commission on Wednesday, a process that could keep the battle rumbling until 2009, Brad Smith, the company's senior vice president and general counsel, said in a conference call shortly after the Commission's decision was announced.