John Blau

The European Union has set up a task force to explore what its 25 member states are doing in the area of combating cyber threats against the region's critical infrastructure. As part of the EU's Critical Information Infrastructure Research Coordination (CI2RCO) project, announced Friday, the task force aims to identify research groups and programs focused on IT security in critical infrastructures, such as telecommunications networks and power grids.

Colt Telecom Group PLC launched on Thursday one of Europe's first Internet telephone services aimed at businesses.

Even if the new database compensation policy is but a tiny move in SAP's efforts to ward off Oracle's growing presence in the market for enterprise application software, it shows how serious the German company is about thumping its U.S. rival wherever it can.

German banks and insurance companies interested in implementing open source Linux in their operations can click to a new portal for information about products, suppliers, applications and more.

Italy's Tiscali SpA has shed another of its European subsidiaries in a continuing effort to raise cash and reduce its debt.

German business software vendor SAP AG is extending its Safe Passage maintenance and migration program to all companies in the U.S. running PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards (JDE) applications, SAP said Monday. The Safe Passage program, launched in January, initially targeted SAP customers who also ran applications from either or both of these software vendors. Around 2,000 SAP customers fit into this target group. More than 6,500 companies currently use PeopleSoft and JDE software products, according to SAP.

If you're planning to attend the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament in Germany next year but oppose the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) smart tag technology, you won't get past the front gate.

If you're planning to attend the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament in Germany next year but oppose the use of RFID (radio frequency identification) smart tag technology, you won't get past the front gate.