Laura Rohde

Following gains on the Asian and U.S. stock exchanges, the leading indexes of the European stock markets were trading higher by late Thursday morning with stocks in technology and telecommunication companies fairing well.

IBM Corp. and German software vendor Paybox.net AG will combine their efforts to offer customers the ability to make secure payments from wireless devices, the companies announced Thursday.

IBM Corp. and German software vendor Paybox.net AG will combine their efforts to offer customers the ability to make secure payments from wireless devices, the companies announced Thursday.

Microsoft Corp. has granted Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) a contract to supply centralized end-user technical support to 61,000 Microsoft employees, vendors and contractors, the companies announced Monday.

IT spending by companies is expected to recover this year from its recent downward slide, with IT executives in North American spending 2.3 per cent more on computer hardware, software and services this year than last, according to a study published by Forrester Research Inc.

IBM Corp. has opened a new plant in East Fishkill, N.Y., to make chips on 300 millimetre-diameter wafers it announced Wednesday.

NEC Corp. will build a supercomputer for the Met Office, the U.K.

While IT spending on hardware is expected to decline in 2002, increased spending on software and services, particularly in the fourth quarter, will bring total worldwide IT spending to US$981 billion for the year, an overall increase of 3.7 per cent over 2001, according to a study released Wednesday by market researcher IDC.