The backers of a new open-source CRM (customer relationship management) application called Zurmo are hoping to stand out in a crowded field via the use of gamification, the notion of applying game-like design principles in an effort to make users engage more closely with a product.

SugarCRM is expected to discuss a significant upgrade to its open-source CRM (customer relationship management) software on Monday during the SugarCon event in San Francisco.

The latest from Next Digital, Actian, SugarCRM, and WatchGuard Technologies; news in appointments, partnerships, and achievements

Latest news from Clarity Oss, SugarCRM, 1E, Kerio, IMC, AppSense, Mellamox, and Sapply

Disappointing earnings reports this week from Hewlett-Packard and Dell were offset by more encouraging results from software makers, confirming forecasts for general trends in IT spending this year.

The financial news on SugarCRM, Netapp and SoftLayer

SugarCRM has acquired iExtensions, which makes customer relationship management (CRM) software for IBM Lotus Notes users, in a bid to attract more enterprise customers and compete better against bigger rivals like Salesforce.com and Microsoft.

A new connector for open-source collaboration platform Open-Xchange provides integration with SugarCRM, allowing for contact and calendar information to be synchronized between the two products, Open-Xchange said on Monday.

Software developer Christopher Shockey saw the first signs of trouble in late 2008. A sales rep who had always represented Web application development provider Coghead was now calling on behalf of Coghead's much larger rival Salesforce.com.