John Blau

Telephony has not been a big theme traditionally at the CeBIT trade show — until now. Interest is surging as voice evolves into one...

Phishing, keystroke logging and other types of scams are increasingly worrying users of online banking services in Europe while scaring others away, according to a report issued Tuesday from Forrester Research Inc.

IBM Corp. and Siemens AG are becoming familiar faces in the corridors of the German Defense Ministry in Berlin after having submitted their third bid on a mammoth IT modernization project for the country's armed forces.

German business software vendor SAP AG has begun shipping the latest version of its flagship ERP (enterprise resource planning) software, my SAP ERP Edition 2004, one month ahead of schedule, it announced Thursday. SAP executives will be meeting customers in 100 cities around the world to discuss its new ERP product and NetWeaver application and integration platform, the company said during a news conference at the Cebit trade show in Hanover, Germany.

SAP AG is waiting for retail software maker Retek Inc. to respond to its acquisition offer before commenting on a counter bid from arch rival Oracle Corp., SAP's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) said Thursday. "We cannot comment on this development until we have heard from Retek," said SAP CEO Henning Kagermann at a news conference at the Cebit trade show. "When we hear from Retek, then we can talk again."

Profit at Germany's Deutsche Telekom AG rose for the fourth straight quarter on gains from assets sales and increased revenue from its mobile and Internet operations, but Europe's largest telecommunications service provider warned of huge technology changes that could affect its core telephone business moving ahead.

German business software vendor SAP AG is realigning the responsibilities of its management team in a move to simplify its command structure, the company said Tuesday. The reorganization at the top of SAP comes as the company positions itself against rival Oracle Corp., which recently acquired PeopleSoft Inc., in a race to deliver next-generation business management software.

T-Systems International GmbH, the IT services subsidiary of German telco Deutsche Telekom AG, is rolling out a hosted CRM (customer relationship management) service based on technology from Siebel Systems Inc. The hosted Siebel CRM OnDemand service is targeted at small and medium-size companies, initially in the German-speaking countries of Europe, in addition to the Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Russia and Slovakia, according to T-Systems spokesman Paul Baur.