Corporate development experts hold the power in merger and acquisition deals in 2009, with the potential to bargain down formerly high-priced startups. The 451 Group concludes that bolt-on buys will reign in 2009 as opposed to market-changing buys, such as HP for EDS or Cisco for WebEx. Who do you see getting snapped up in 2009? Twitter, or something less flashy? - Many folks are speculating about what merger and acquisition activity will be like in 2009. Corporate buyers are holding the key cards, according to new research from The 451 Group, which polled 75 respondents from public and private concerns. Corporate development executives said they plan t...

Salesforce.com's SAAS CRM apps went down Jan. 6 in a nearly 40-minute outage that spurred a tweeting rage on Twitter. Salesforce.com, which hosts CRM and other enterprise apps over the Internet for thousands of companies, says the problem thwarted over 177 million transactions in Europe, Asia and North America. Outages are common among cloud computing service providers, and Salesforce.com is joining Google in that unfortunate arena. - Salesforce.com's reliable reputation as a software-as-a-service provider was tested Jan. 6 after thousands of business users were left without access to their enterprise applications for roughly 38 minutes, according to numerous reports on Twitter. Salesforce.com, which hosts CRM and other en...

The 451 Group says mergers and acquisitions declined 40 percent in 2008 from 2007, thanks to the limping U.S. economy. The research company, which looked at high-tech deals in enterprise applications, search engines, Web services, cloud computing, and the mobile and wireless sectors, said to expect more of the same in 2009. Valuation deals will be lower and hostile bids will be higher in a world where the cash-strong will survive. - If you've noticed an acquisition drought among high-tech companies this year, you're spot on. The financial crisis forged in the putrid real estate market and the woeful Wall Street credit crunch has bled over into the high-tech industry in the last several months, handicapping some companies...

At the end of each year, eWEEK Labs analysts look back on the products they have reviewed and pick the ones that stand out for their innovation and ability to meet the ever-changing and increasingly challenging needs of the enterprise. - At the end of each year, eWEEK Labs analysts look back on the products they have reviewed and pick the ones that stand out for their innovation and ability to meet the ever-changing and increasingly challenging needs of the enterprise. Combined, the products on this years list form the foundation of...

eWEEK Labs picks the biggest tech missteps of the year. - ...

In this IT Link podcast hosted by Mike Vizard, Clarizen CEO Avinoam Nowogrodski explains why project management software delivered as a service is not only less costly, it's a whole lot more flexible. - Audio Podcast Content....

Business Objects, the SAP-owned market leader in business intelligence enterprise applications, has added new content creation tools and a Salesforce.com accelerator for customers delving into cloud computing. Business Objects sees an opportunity to serve as a gateway between on-premises and SAAS, which could extend the company's lead over Oracle's Hyperion and IBM's Cognos groups. - Update: Business Objects spent 18 years leading the market for business intelligence software, applications that help knowledge workers and executives gain greater understanding of the market behavior and business context of their users. Now part of SAP in the wake of a $6.8 billion buy, the BI ...

The need to increase employee productivity and lower mobile communications' costs are major factors driving enterprises to reevaluate their mobile unified communications strategy. This is especially important given the current economic climate. Knowledge Center contributor Gregory Ireland explains how choosing the right mobile unified communications solution can increase productivity in your organization. - By leveraging mobile unified communications (mobile UC) to mobilize workers desk phones, enterprises can ensure that their employees are continuously reachable, regardless of their location. This means they are more available for customers and colleagues, and they can answer questions or provid...

Deciding on a business e-mail solution is an important decision. There are plenty of business e-mail solutions out there, all with their own advantages and disadvantages. Knowledge Center contributor Kirk Averett offers advice on how your company can get the most from its business e-mail solution while saving money at the same time. - In todays business, e-mail is the most important communication tool you have. Todays employees literally work out of their inbox. The key to success is finding the right e-mail solution for your business needs. All businesses are different, so there isnt just one packaged solution that everyon...

Salesforce.com and Google return to the integration grist mill. This time the SAAS enterprise applications vendor and search engine giant are enabling programmers to move data between the Salesforce.com Force.com and Google App Engine cloud computing platforms. The scheme may not be a big moneymaker, but it's the latest step along the path to greater interoperability in Web services, bolstering an ecosystem designed to leave Microsoft's on-premises world in the dust. - Salesforce.com and Google have created a bridge between their companies' cloud computing application development platforms that will let programmers pull data from either platform and use it to create richer, more useful applications. The two companies plan to introduce Force.com for Google Ap...

Mobile Resource Management solutions enable enterprises to optimize mobile work-force operations through mobile GPS tracking and navigation, job dispatching, and wireless time sheets and forms. Knowledge Center contributor Sal Dhanani explains how Mobile Resource Management enterprise applications can help your enterprise increase profits, work-force productivity and customer satisfaction levels. - In today's economy, it is crucial that businesses of all shapes and sizes do everything they can to keep employees productive and happy, as well as maintain a steady revenue stream. It's no secret that the struggling stock market and rising oil prices are driving the economy into a whirlwind. Beca...

Need an exit strategy? Mergers and acquisitions experts from Google, Microsoft, Sun, IBM and Symantec offer advice for startups and other high-tech businesses looking for an exit strategy during this recession. The tough economic climate is rough on erstwhile search engines, as well as providers of enterprise applications, messaging and collaboration software and Web services. The lesson? Don't get on the big vendors' bad side with repeated offers. - During a recession, it's common for industry watchers to wonder what will happen to startups looking to get off the ground. MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe told Reuters companies are knocking on the leading social network's door to get bought. Startups worth between $200 million and $300 million six...

Panorma caters to its NovaView business intelligence software customers that use spreadsheets in Google Docs with SharedViews. The tool lets users share current reports inside and outside the firewall through Google's Docs spreadsheets. An enterprise application, NovaView rebuilds the report and pushes it into the cloud to give users fresh data. - Panorama Software, which makes business intelligence software delivered via the Internet, has added a feature that lets users share current reports inside and outside the firewall through Google's Docs spreadsheets application. Panorama Dec. 2 said it has added a SharedViews tool to its NovaVie...

A huge portion of IT resources is being wasted on the support and maintenance of outdated legacy applications. A modern, streamlined application environment can help an enterprise save money and remain competitive. Knowledge Center contributor Tim Pacileo offers CIOs five tips to effectively plan and implement a successful application modernization initiative. - CIOs of large organizations recognize the benefits of modernizing applications and moving away from legacy systems. But starting the process and justifying the investment needed in an application modernization initiative can be daunting. And too often, the potential gains of a streamlined envir...

The emergence of Microsoft Windows Azure and its Online Services pose a real challenge to Google in enterprise applications, according to one analyst. Another expert argues that Google's native Web position makes it the stronger candidate to pursue business with SAAS and Web services. What cloud computing camp are you in? - The announcement alone of Microsoft's Windows Azure platform a month ago was enough to shift the mindshare in cloud computing from the Googleplex in Mountain View to the behemoth in Redmond, Wash. That much is clear in talking to some software analysts after Microsoft Chief Software Architect ...