Scarlet Pruitt

After submitting its Caller ID e-mail authentication specification to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) earlier this week, Microsoft Corp. is now in detailed discussions to merge the specification with another, called Sender Policy Framework, or SPF.

Cisco Systems Inc. is investigating the possible theft of proprietary source code that drives its networking hardware, a company representative confirmed Monday.

Microsoft Corp. is teaming with communications giant MCI Inc. to deliver Web conferencing and collaboration services featuring its Microsoft Office Live Meeting, the companies said Tuesday.

Retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. began testing the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) tagging at seven stores and a regional distribution centre in Texas on Friday, in anticipation of a wider rollout of the technology that the company hopes will eventually replace bar codes.

IBM Corp. has agreed to buy the business continuity services unit of Schlumberger Ltd. in a move to shore up its global services division in Europe and help companies comply with new data protection regulations.

BT Group PLC (BT) is making a plunge into the digital content management market with the launch Tuesday of a media platform to offer businesses and eventually individuals the ability to store, manage, deliver and sell content such as music and video footage.

With the sting of the European Commission's antitrust ruling against Microsoft Corp. still fresh, RealNetworks Inc. head Rob Glaser appeared in London on Wednesday endorsing the Commission's decision as more solid than the U.S. settlement, and predicting that it would aid his company's private suit against the software giant.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has received applications for 10 new sponsored top-level domains (sTLDs), helping to expand the Internet's pool of Web site addresses by catering to narrower online communities.