Laura Rohde

The European Commission has put Germany and Italy under investigation to determine if the countries have been illegally favouring computers with semiconductors from Intel Corp. to the detriment of rivals like Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD), a Commission spokesperson said on Wednesday.

The European Commission (EC) said on Thursday that it has paused its antitrust investigation into Oracle Corp.'s bid to buy rival Peoplesoft Inc. because it is seeking more information from Oracle.

Officials from Japan's Fair Trade Commission (FTC) raided Intel Corp.'s offices in Tsukuba, Japan, on April 8, according to a company official.

Intel Corp. and French telecommunications equipment manufacturer Alcatel SA are working together on the emerging WiMax wireless technology in an effort to deliver products using WiMax by the second half of 2005, the companies said Thursday.

Yahoo Inc. and British Telecommunications PLC (BT) are extending their partnership to offer consumers in the U.K. the option of making telephone calls over Yahoo's messaging product, the companies announced Thursday.

IBM Corp. cornered an outsourcing contract with Dutch life assurance and pensions business Delta Lloyd Group on Monday. The seven-year deal is worth

The snowboarding, gadget-loving crowd have something to celebrate: The European division of sports gear retailer O'Neill Inc. will sell a snowboarding jacket with an MP3 player and a Bluetooth module, for those all important mountaintop mobile phone calls, integrated into the jacket.

It may not be the proverbial free lunch, but the U.K. subsidiary of mobile telecommunications operator Orange SA is hoping users will view its new "Try" initiative as a tasty free snack that whets their appetites for more. The company on Wednesday began offering month-long free trials to all of its business and consumer customers in an effort to get mobile phone users to test new applications and technologies.