Shared Spaces Briefing, Aug 3

Today's highlights: Sybase Acquired Extended Systems; Patent Infringing NTP vs. RIM Update; Speech in Exchange; ProjectForum and CourseForum 4.5; Avistar and Office 2003; Gartner on PDA Shipments;

• Sybase signed a definitive agreement to acquire Extended Systems, a provider of mobile software solutions, for $71.3 million. Sybase will integrate Extended Systems into its iAnywhere subsidiary. Extended Systems brings 2500 enterprise customers to Sybase, with an particularly strong presence and footprint in Europe. Extended Systems


• The US Courts of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington ordered a re-consideration of parts of the RIM vs. NTP patent infringement case, and set aside the lower court judge's order to halt US sales of the BlackBerry device. It overturned the lower court's findings about infringing NTP's "method" patents, but reaffirmed infringement of the "system" patents. Bloomberg, Reuters


• Microsoft announced that a future version of Exchange Server will include technologies from Microsoft Speech Server, to enable voice control over a unified messaging mailbox hosted out of Exchange. Redmond


• CourseForum released Version 4.5.0 of its collaborative project workspace and collaborative learning workspace offerings. New features: new per-page RSS change notification, enhanced user interface, and licensing analysis tools. Available immediately. CourseForum


• Avistar Communications integrated its video conferencing service with Microsoft Office 2003, enabling presence-based desktop video calling from Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Presence is enabled through Microsoft SmartTags. BusinessWire


• Gartner released its 2Q2005 PDA shipment figures, noting a total shipment count of 3.6 million units. Research In Motion shipped 840,000 BlackBerries, and Palm came in second with 642,000 devices. With respect to operating systems, Microsoft leads with a 46% share. BusinessWire

This Briefing was written by Michael Sampson, of Shared Spaces Research & Consulting Ltd. Email or IM Michael to discuss any of these items further.