Microsoft Withdraws Yahoo Bid, Won't Go Hostile
by Alex Woodie

Microsoft formally withdrew its bid to acquire Yahoo on Saturday, ending a tense three-month drama on a surprisingly low-key note. Microsoft raised its bid to $33 per share during negotiations between the companies last week, or an increase of about $5 billion. But that wasn't enough for Yahoo's management, which held out for $37 per share, according to Microsoft. And while Microsoft had threatened a hostile takeover, in the end, the company says it didn't seem 'sensible' anymore. READ MORE >

GDCM Seeks to 'Defrag' the Data Center for Higher Efficiency
by Alex Woodie

Earth Week has come and gone, hopefully leaving behind a desire to consume less and generally be more 'green.' For operators of large data centers, cutting electricity consumption can not only gain you environmental kudos, but it can also save millions of dollars a year. That's the goal of a little-known software company called GDCM, which is currently ramping up North American sales of nlyte, a Windows application that enables users to model their use of electricity, cooling, network capacity, and space, and predict when they will run out. READ MORE >

Hey ASA: Microsoft Delivers New Automated Service Agent
by Alex Woodie

Interested in deflecting your customer support calls to a computerized assistant that lives in an online chat window 24/7, thereby reducing the number of customer interactions for your service representatives and boosting your call center's profitability? Then you might be in the market for a service like Microsoft's Automated Service Agent. This week, Microsoft announced it has made significant improvements with ASA that should provide companies even greater automation in handling customers and their problems. READ MORE >

The X Factor: Everybody Wants Citrix Systems?
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

With the economy bumping along, sometimes up and sometimes down, depending on the metrics you want to use, and big IT suppliers looking for rich, new markets to mine, every time someone gets bored and the news gets a little slow, out comes another merger and acquisition rumor. In recent weeks, the chatter out on there on the Internet and at the water coolers of IT suppliers looking for a deal and Wall Street banks looking for some good news (and visa versa) is that Citrix Systems, which itself just last year spent a fortune to acquire server and desktop hypervisor expert XenSource, is possibly in play. READ MORE >