Stories by: Jeff Jedras

Technology vendors have often been on the cutting-edge of technology innovation, but the same can't always be said of their design. Manufacturers have more often been concerned about what's inside the box, devoting less time and resources to the look and feel of the box itself.

Customer-relationship management vendor Maximizer says most of its mobile CRM users favour the BlackBerry platform, and the ever-changing dynamics of mobility require more frequent platform refreshes, leading to the recently released Maximizer 10.5 Freedom for BlackBerry.

Long known for its close relationship with another German company, BI vendor SAP, businesses process modeling (BPM) vendor IDS Scheer further widened the breadth of its ARIS process modeling suite Wednesday through an announcement with Microsoft.

Hoping to further bridge the gap between the business world and the world of IT, business process management (BPM) vendor IDS Scheer used its Processworld Europe conference Tuesday to announce a further integration of its ARIS modeling suite with BMC Software's IT service management tools.

IBM's new focus and push around the enterprise data center with come with a new Business Partner program that's still being developed and will be launched later in the year, but Big Blue says partners shouldn't wait to develop the required skill sets within their organizations.

According to IBM chairman and CEO Sam Palmisano the client PC era is over, dead and buried, and not just because the vendor sold its Thinkpad business to Lenovo. Cloud computing is the future, and to underline the point Google CEO and chairman Eric Schmidt shared the keynote stage at Big Blue's partner leadership forum in the US last week.

The economic slowdown in the US has led Gartner to revise its 2008 worldwide PC shipments forecast downward slightly but the analyst firm is still predicting a strong year, particularly in the mobility space.

NetSuite furthered its verticalization strategy recently with the release of two new editions of its on-demand ERP platform specifically geared towards e-commerce vendors.

The currently niche digital home integrator market could get a boost as networking vendors empower service providers to bring internet protocol television (IPTV) into homes across the nation.

The increasing availability, and visibility, of consumer technology is catching the eye of many small businesses looking to cut corners on their IT budgets, but one reseller says it's making life difficult for the channel and an analyst warns SMBs are exposing themselves to substantial security risks.