Martyn Williams

NTT Communications Corp. has used its IP (Internet Protocol) backbone for high-definition transmission of a live sporting event from the U.S. to Japan for the first time, it said Wednesday.

In his annual State of the Union address Tuesday night, U.S. President George W. Bush proposed a multibillion dollar initiative to encourage research and development in the U.S. and strengthen education in math and the sciences. He also defended the government's controversial wire-tapping efforts.n

Oracle Corp. announced Tuesday that it has completed its acquisition of Siebel Systems Inc. after Siebel stockholders voted in favour of the acquisition at a meeting earlier in the day. The deal strengthens Oracle's position in the CRM (customer relationship applications) market as it battles its main business applications rival, Germany's SAP AG.

Tokyo Stock Exchange Inc., operator of one the world's largest stock markets, is likely to face further scrutiny over the state of its IT systems after it was forced to halt trading 20 minutes earlier than normal because its computer system was close to capacity.

IBM Corp., Sony Corp. and Toshiba Corp. will extend their joint work on the development of manufacturing technologies for advanced semiconductors, they said Thursday. The work will also cover fundamental research related to new chips, including materials research.

Fujitsu Ltd. is planning to construct a new semiconductor manufacturing plant in Japan to produce a range of integrated circuits, the company said Wednesday. The factory, which represents an investment of

Microsoft Corp. plans to create a network of 90 software development centres around the world to support programmers, it said last month. The initiative is designed partly to foster the creation of local software industries.

Japanese printer makers Seiko Epson Corp. and Canon Inc. hope the increasing popularity of digital TV broadcasting and home networks will earn their printers a new place in your home: the living room.