Short Takes - Corporate Liaisons:

IBM INDIA APPOINTS BENZ INFOTECH AS LINUX PARTNER

IBM India has appointed Benz Infotech as its Linux services and solution partner, whereby the latter would help the information technology major to deliver end-to-end Linux solutions to customers in India.

"The Kochi-based company, Benz Infotech, will also offer services including technical consultancy and support, quality assurance and turnkey solutions to our customers," IBM ASEAN/South Asia business manager (Linux), Sandeep Menon said.

Benz Infotech would also integrate Linux solutions with IBM eServers and storage solutions to reduce time-to-market of products and solutions, he said.

IBM would leverage on Benz Infotech's Linux competency to support other partners in grid computing, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), server and network security solutions among others, he added.

"Benz Infotech has developed certain solutions in Linux space and will provide services and solutions based on the software, while IBM India would offer the infrastructural support," Menon said.

FAKESPACE SYSTEMS AND CHRISTIE EUROPE TEAM UP

Fakespace Systems and Christie announced an agreement that will see a strengthening of their relationship in Europe and the Middle East allowing Christie to offer Fakespace's range of solutions and services.

This new agreement includes cooperative marketing, solution demonstration opportunities and the development of customer support programs. Capitalising on new additions to their respective product lines, the companies are able to select from the industry's largest collection of advanced visualisation systems to each offer complete simulation and visualisation solutions utilising industry leading technologies.

"We are seeing growing demand for delivery of advanced visualisation solutions backed by comprehensive, professional support ... from pre-sale consulting through post-sale support and system management," said Mike Hancock, Vice President, EMEAA (Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia) for Fakespace Systems. "This enhanced collaboration with Christie in Europe and the Middle East forms the backbone of an extensive plan to establish a stronger market presence and expanded capabilities to satisfy customer and partner requirements across a wider region of the global market."

AGERE SYSTEMS TEAMS WITH LAUREL NETWORKS

Agere Systems announced it has provided its PayloadPlus traffic management and network processor semiconductor solution to Laurel Networks, which has integrated Agere's solution into Laurel's award-winning ST200 Service Edge Router. The ST200, which has used Agere's chips since the product's introduction, has been deployed by telecommunications service providers in the United States, Europe and Asia to provide a wide range of switched and routed services.

The flagship product of Laurel Networks, the ST200 Service Edge Router is the only router designed from the ground up with the features required at the edge of a service provider Internet Protocol/Multi-Protocol Layer Switch (MPLS) backbone. The ST200 combines Internet-class routing, complete multi-service support, integrated service management and architecture flexibility to support current and evolving service provider requirements -- all at wire speed.

Earlier this month, the ST200 was honored with the SUPERQuest Award at SUPERCOMM 2003 for the most promising network technology in the Backbone/Edge Networking category. The technology is Laurel's recently introduced Broadband Software Module.

"The unprecedented service flexibility of the ST200 requires a powerful chip solution to enable multiservice support at wire speed," said Steve Vogelsang, Laurel Networks co-founder and vice president of marketing. "When designing the ST200, we looked at a number of network processors, and only the Agere solution met our requirements."

RACKSAVER AND MICROSOFT JOIN FORCES

RackSaver, the premiere provider of high-density individual rack-optimized servers, blade servers and supercomputing clusters today announced a strategic partnership with Microsoft to develop the next generation of high performance computing hardware solutions. RackSaver will be integrating the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 operating system with its next generation of high performance servers, allowing it to utilize the latest technology from Microsoft's HPC group. Partnering together will enable RackSaver and Microsoft to collectively strategize and develop the technology needed to further advance future HPC products.

"RackSaver has maintained its lead in providing quality products and service," said Greg Rankich, HPC Solution Manager, Windows Server Division at Microsoft. "We are extremely pleased to work with a world-class team that continues to challenge and improve their solutions to meet the demands of their customers and their business goals."

"We are delighted to be continuing our relationship with Microsoft," said David Driggers, CEO of RackSaver. "This close collaboration with Microsoft allows us to benefit from their resources and deliver highly dependable next generation servers that will add value to RackSaver's high performance computing solutions."

The RackSaver and Microsoft partnership will be showcased at the ClusterWorld 2003 in San Jose, Calif.

BIO-KEY TEAMS WITH HP

BIO-key International, Inc., a leader in finger-based biometric identification, announced today its CEO, Mike DePasquale, will be on a panel of noted experts discussing homeland security issues. As part of a conference on securing America, DePasquale will discuss finger-based biometrics on a panel entitled New Technologies, Homeland Security Techniques You Can Use. Additionally, BIO- key will exhibit within the HP booth at Excellence in Government 2003, July 30 - July 2, at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel Washington, DC.

"We are making great strides in biometric security; the technologies we have developed for security can be extended to prevent identity theft and fraud, enhance productivity, and make the identification of people much more efficient," said DePasquale. He noted that while security has been the impetus for much of the biometric technology advancements, BIO-key is quick to translate its advancements to a variety of industry applications.

DePasquale was invited to be a member of this panel by Hewlett Packard who is one of the sponsors of this conference. "I'm delighted HP invited BIO-key to be on this panel.

"It is a pleasure being an HP partner and it is rewarding being a development partner in HP's comprehensive security solutions for the public and private sector," said DePasquale.

BIO-key finger-based identification algorithms and software development kits are used in HP solutions by systems integrators and VARs in a variety of industries.

The conference organizers are Atlantic Media, publishers of the Atlantic Monthly, National Journal and Government Executive. Among the other invited speakers is the Honorable Tom Ridge, Secretary of Homeland Defense Agency.

The panel on which DePasquale will preside will present on June 30 at 10:15am. This is the eighth year for this highly acclaimed event that is expected to draw hundreds of executives from government, Fortune 1000, and emerging growth companies. For more information visit http://www.govexec.com/excelgov/index.htm.

PROCKET NETWORKS PARTNERS WITH TECHNICA

Procket Networks, Inc. announced a sales and systems integration partnership with Technica Corporation, an IT systems integrator for military, security and civilian government agencies. With this agreement, Technica will provide systems integration, service and sales support for Procket's PRO/8000 High- Availability Routers.

"Procket Networks has delivered compelling innovations in IP routing, that we believe will deliver significant total cost of ownership and operational expense savings for government and commercial service providers," said Miguel Collado, CEO of Technica Corporation. "Procket's PRO/8000 routers are designed for maximum network uptime, and can scale to support rapidly expanding IP networks and services. Technica believes these issues are crucial as our customers aggressively expand their IP networks."

Procket is delivering routing systems and software that enable significant improvements in customer network economics. The PRO/8000 Series features industry-leading capacities and high-speed densities that, based on current industry pricing, deliver 30 to 65 percent savings over traditional offerings. The PRO/8801 router features 80Gbps of total capacity, and can support up to 40 high speed interfaces in a compact chassis occupying only 1/8 of a telco rack. The PRO/8812 router features an industry-leading 960Gbps of total capacity and 1.2 billion packets per second forwarding rate.

"Technica has an outstanding track record successfully selling and integrating networking systems into the government market," said Randall Kruep, CEO of Procket Networks. "Procket IP routing solutions are ideal for the demanding requirements of government networks, such as high availability, scalability, security and performance. Technica is the ideal partner for Procket to work with to effectively penetrate this growing market.

NETWORK APPLIANCE AND ORACLE EXPAND ALLIANCE

Oracle Corp., a leader in enterprise software, and Network Appliance, Inc., a leading provider of enterprise network storage solutions, announced an expansion of their global strategic alliance. Together Oracle and Network Appliance continue to advance core areas of the alliance including technology validation and integration and support and services. These advancements help enable customers to reduce complexity in deploying and managing integrated solutions and lower their total cost of ownership.

IDC stated in its recent study (sponsored by Network Appliance) Network Appliance and Oracle: Helping Oracle Customers Spend Less and Store More, "The alliance between NetApp and Oracle focuses on helping customers lower cost and reduce complexity. With NetApp storage systems, Oracle users can consolidate their data sets to a common storage platform, leverage software tools that make management easier and less costly, protect their data more easily with faster backup and restore functionality, and share their data more easily within the enterprise." The report also found that running Oracle on NetApp storage not only reduces cost and lowers complexity but at the same time helps provide the high availability and scalability that customer deployments demand.

"The alliance with Oracle continues to focus on driving more business and building competitive advantage for the future of our joint customers," stated Mark Santora, senior vice president of marketing at Network Appliance. "Together, Oracle and Network Appliance continue to provide simplicity and low TCO solutions to our customers as they deploy NetApp unified storage solutions along with Oracle9i Database, Oracle Collaboration Suite and Oracle E-Business Suite."

Dave Dargo, vice president, Systems Platform Division at Oracle continued, "We work together to provide solutions that scale well and address the high availability needs of the enterprise with industry-leading solutions. Today, customers are required to deploy enterprise solutions more cost-effectively, fueling the need for an even tighter alliance between Oracle and Network Appliance."