Quest Software to be acquired by a private firm in $2 billion deal

Quest Software Inc said it will be acquired by private equity firm Insight Venture Partners in a nearly $2 billion deal.

The $23 per share offer represents a premium of about 19 percent to Quest's Thursday close. Shares of the company were trading at $23.69 on Friday morning, indicating that investors are expecting a higher bid.

The deal includes a "go-shop" period of 60 days to solicit other proposals, Quest said in a statement.

Aliso Viejo, California-based Quest will pay Insight -- a private equity and venture capital firm focused on software and internet -- a break-up fee of $4.2 million during the "go-shop" period if it receives a higher bid.

After the 60-day period, the fee will be $6.3 million.

Quest, which makes software that monitors large amounts of data flowing through corporate networks and the Internet, will continue to be led by current Chief Executive Vinny Smith, who took over last month after Doug Garn stepped down citing poor health.

Copyright © 2012, Reuters

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Apple to add 3600 jobs at new $304M Texas campus

Apple Inc is investing $304 million in a new campus and more than doubling its workforce in the Texas capital, boosted by a $21 million incentive from a state fund designed to attract high-tech companies, Gov. Rick Perry has said.

The investment from the Texas Enterprise Fund comes in exchange for a promise that Apple will add more than 3,600 employees at its new facility in Austin over the next decade, including customer support, sales and accounting staff, Perry said.

"Investments like this further Texas' potential to become the nation's next high-tech hub," the governor said in a statement.

Already the world's most valuable company, Apple's market capitalization topped $500 billion this month and remains above that mark - rarefied air that only a few firms, including rival Microsoft and Exxon Mobil Corp, have ever exceeded.

"Our operations in Austin have grown dramatically over the past decade, from less than 1,000 employees in 2004 to more than 3,500 today," said Steve Dowling, a spokesman for the Cupertino, California, company.

This week, Apple unveiled its new iPad, featuring a sharper screen and faster processing chip, though the added features mean the tablet computer is slightly thicker and heavier than its predecessor, iPad 2.

The enterprise fund is one of two designed to entice technology companies and top researchers to Texas. Perry said the payout to Apple is one of the largest and the company's job pledge one of the most ambitious since the fund was created in 2003. He said the fund has invested more than $443.4 million and signed contracts to generate 62,000 new jobs and more than $15.4 billion in capital investment.

Critics of using state money to attract private enterprise call the fund an example of "crony capitalism," complaining that it funnels taxpayer dollars to politically connected firms with little guarantee of job creation. The governor's office says that companies failing to meet job targets can renegotiate the terms of their deals with the state, but must pay penalties known as "claw backs."

A report in November by the political watchdog group Texans for Public Justice found that companies receiving money from the Texas Enterprise Fund created 22,349 jobs by the end of 2010, or roughly 37 percent of the 59,100 jobs that the governor's office said the participating firms had promised to create as of summer 2010.

Perry's office said it only measures the fund's cumulative results - not year by year or contract by contract, since the terms of individual deals change as they are renegotiated. Under that measure, grant recipients promised to create 23,410 jobs by the end of 2010 and exceeded expectations by delivering 33,400.

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WikiLeaks publishes Stratfor emails linked to Anonymous attack

WikiLeaks on Monday began publishing more than five million confidential emails from US-based intelligence firm Stratfor, the anti-secrecy group said.

The messages, which date from between July 2004 and December 2011, will reveal Stratfor's "web of informers, pay-off structure, payment-laundering techniques and psychological methods," claimed a WikiLeaks press release.

"The material shows how a private intelligence agency works, and how they target individuals for their corporate and government clients," added the press release.

The online organisation claims to have proof of the firm's confidential links to large corporations, such as Bhopal's Dow Chemical Co. and Lockheed Martin and government agencies, including the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines and the US Defense Intelligence Agency.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is currently in Britain fighting extradition to Sweden where he is wanted for questioning on rape and sexual assault allegations, and WikiLeaks has long expressed concern that if he is sent to Sweden, Stockholm would quickly send him on to the United States.

Washington is eager to lay hands on the founder after the organisation's publication of hundreds of thousands of classified US diplomatic files.

WikiLeaks promises that the latest leak will highlight Stratfor's attempts to "subvert" the website and expose the US's attempts to "attack" Assange.

Stratfor, which was founded by George Friedman in 1996, describes itself as "a subscription-based provider of geopolitical analysis."

"Unlike traditional news outlets, Stratfor uses a unique, intelligence-based approach to gathering information via rigorous open-source monitoring and a global network of human sources," according to the Texas-based firm's website.

The company promises subscribers will "gain a thorough understanding of international affairs, including what's happening, why it's happening, and what will happen next."

WikiLeaks predicts that the significance of the emails will only become clear over the next few weeks as its 25 media partners and the public sift through the raft of messages.

Its media partners include Rolling Stone magazine, The Hindu newspaper and Italy's La Repubblica.

The group claims to have found evidence that Stratfor gave a complimentary membership to Pakistan general Hamid Gul, former head of Pakistan's ISI intelligence service, who, according to US diplomatic cables, planned an IED attack against international forces in Afghanistan in 2006.

The group also alleges it has proof that Stratfor monitored and analysed the online activities of activists seeking redress for the 1984 Dow Chemical/Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal, India.

Bradley Manning, the man suspected of turning over a massive cache of classified US documents to the secret-spilling site, on Thursday declined to enter a plea at his arraignment.

Manning, a 24-year-old US Army private, is charged with 22 counts in connection with one of the biggest intelligence breaches in US history.

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Videocon, AEC Partners to invest $21 m in cloud computing start-up Nivio

Videocon and AEC Partners, a US-based private equity firm that specialises in technology investments, will invest $21 million in the seven-year-old Nivio.

The cloud computing company has been valued at $100 million.

Nivio plans to use the money to expand its engineering centre in Palo Alto, California and hire fresh talent. The firm was founded by two friends Sachin Dev Duggal and Saurabh P Dhoot, who is Videocon chairman Venugopal Dhoot's nephew, when they were both engineering students at Imperial College, London.

"We are very proud that Nivio has successfully delivered seven-fold returns to some of the angel investors," said Duggal.

Duggal who took a sabbatical from Deutsche Bank in 2004 raised seed money from two of his bosses who put in $100,000.

"It was inherently a blank cheque," said Duggal whose firm has raised angel investment of $9 million until this present round of funding. The start-up, that has offices in New Delhi and Switzerland, offers customers access to a hosted version of a personal Windows desktop from any device connected to the Internet.

"We are very excited about this space, especially as there is a sea-change happening in this industry from consumer electronics to computing, Nivio saw this vision well" said Venugopal Dhoot, Chairman Videocon.

Nivio offers customers the ability to rent original updated software on a rental basis coupled with free synchronised storage that is given to the user for life.

Dhoot added that they are excited about the future opportunities for globalisation that its investment in Nivio presents to Videocon and the strategic benefit to their existing products and services.

This is the first of its kind investment for the $5-billion durables-to-oil Videocon Group in a start-up company.

The partnership will allow Nivio to access over 1,000 Videocon stores and thousands of resellers in India and provide bundled services.

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Hackers Intercept FBI Call With UK

The FBI has admitted that hackers intercepted a conference call it held with Scotland Yard to discuss an ongoing investigation into Anonymous and LulzSec attacks.

Hackers claiming to be from Anonymous said they were behind the interception on 17 January. A recording of the call posted on YouTube on Friday is bona fide, the FBI confirmed on Friday.

"The information was intended for law enforcement officers only and was illegally obtained," said an FBI spokeswoman. "A criminal investigation is under way to identify and hold accountable those responsible."

Details about the conference call, including the names of participants, were posted in an email on Pastebin on Friday. The email has been acknowledged by the FBI as authentic. It lists addresses for officers from the Met's Police Central eCrime Unit (PCeU), the FBI, the Irish Garda and Europol, as well as cybercrime police agencies from Holland, France, Germany and Sweden.

"We are aware of the video which relates to an FBI conference call involving a PCeU representative," the Metropolitan Police said in a statement. "At this stage no operational risks to the [Metropolitan Police Service] have been identified; however we continue to carry out a full assessment."

During the call, a PCeU representative called 'Stewart' recounts how the international police investigation is progressing. He mentions suspected Anonymous hackers Ryan Cleary and Jake Davis, who are being held in the UK on charges of involvement in distributed denial-of-service attacks. In addition, he reveals that a cyber-team from the US Air Force examined Cleary's hard drive and discusses a hacker known as 'TehWongZ'.

Cleary's solicitor Karen Todner said there may be implications for his case, which will aired next at a plea hearing on 11 May, postponed from 27 January.

"I think it's astonishing that the FBI and the e-Crime unit don't have secure email," Todner told ZDNet UK. "In terms of the implications for the case, I don't know at this stage, but I will be looking at it carefully."

Sophos security expert Graham Cluley suggested the hack could have arisen from the email being forwarded to an officer's compromised personal account, rather than the police email system being breached.

"It's deeply embarrassing that the very hackers that are being investigated are listening into the call as they are being discussed," Cluley said. "They also published an email — clearly, someone's email has been compromised."

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Vandana Suryawanshi, First international teacher for US space programme from India

Vandana Suryawanshi, a middle school teacher from Maharashtra who teaches earth science has been selected as the first international teacher for a prestigious space programme in the United States. She will be part of the 20 member team selected by the Space Foundation which will involve in the active promotion of its space and science education.



Vandana Suryawanshi has more than 20 years of teaching experience and has in-depth knowledge and understanding of the subjects. She is presently an educator with the Vidya Valley School in Maharashtra. She is not only an expert in earth science but also has rich experience teaching biology and general science.

It is to be noted that in the 10 year long history of the Space Foundation, not even a single teacher from a country other than the United States has been selected for this role. This is the first time that an International teacher has been selected for this prestigious fellowship of the Space Foundation.

“The new flight of Teacher Liaisons will serve as advocates for space-themed education across the curriculum and will use Space Foundation-provided training and resources to further integrate space principles into the classroom”, a media release said.

“The highly regarded Space Foundation Teacher Liaison programme has more than 270 active participants, including the 2012 flight. The teachers are selected by a panel comprising representatives from the space industry and military”, it said.

The 2012 Teacher Liaisons will be publicly recognised at the Space Foundation’s 28th National Space Symposium, scheduled for April 16 to 19 in Colorado. In addition to the recognition activities, the 2012 Teacher Liaisons will participate in workshops and education programmes at the 28th National Space Symposium.

The programme will be highly advantageous to the teachers as it offers specialised training and instruction at Space Foundation and NASA workshops with optional graduate-level credit; exclusive science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) professional development experiences with optional continuing education credit. The space foundation has also designed a special space-oriented student programs exclusively for the Teacher Liaisons.

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LCD Giant Viewsonic to unveil New ViewPhone 3 that Accepts Dual SIM Cards

ViewSonic, the LCD Giant has showed their interest in landing US Smartphone Market. The company is ready to enter in U.S. phone market with it’s first Andorid Smartphone ViewPhone 3 which will be unvelied at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES) on January 10. ViewSonic started to sell it’s ViewPad tablets device in 2010 and has a successful sells record which inspire to bring phone as well.

The ViewPhone 3 features a

* 3.5-inch touchscreen,
* 5 megapixel camera,
* 800 MHz Qualcomm processor,
* 512 GB of RAM,
* Android Gingerbread (2.3),
* 3G technology,
* Dual Sim

The dual SIM feature, which is popular in markets outside the U.S., can be used to keep business separate from personal calls. An ad for the model suggests one SIM card for business calls and one for personal to allow for more “personal freedom and privacy.”

Until now, the ViewPhone was only available in Latin America and Asia.

The price ranges from $250-$299.

It is expected that the company will unveil some Icecream Sandwich Devices later this year.

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Rupee slumps to record low of 53.35 per US dollar

The Indian rupee slumped to an all-time low of 53.35 to the dollar on Tuesday as shrinking domestic factory output and worries Europe's debt crisis could dampen global risk appetite triggered a scramble for dollars.

The beleaguered currency has been under pressure due to rising import bill and slowing export growth, which is expected to swell the current account deficit to $54 billion by the end of March.

At 10:45 a.m. (0515 GMT), the partially convertible rupee was at 53.31/32, taking losses to 17.8 per cent from its year-high in late July. It had closed down 1.5 per cent on Monday at 52.84/85.

The outlook for the rupee, Asia's worst performing currency this year, remains bearish.

"There is only one direction for the rupee now and it is not coming back soon because there is demand but no supply," said Ashtosh Raina, head of foreign exchange trading at HDFC Bank.

"This situation will persist until the global debt issues are resolved."

India is vulnerable to portfolio outflows from the stock market after data on Monday showed October industrial output slumped 5.1 per cent, the first drop in more than two years.

On Friday, India slashed its full-year growth forecast amid slowing domestic and global demand and officials warned the government was facing a serious balance of trade problem.

Traders said they were watching the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for any intervention to halt the slide.

"If the RBI does not intervene the unit can slide to 55," Raina said.

Analysts have said India may face its worst financial crisis in decades if it fails to stem the rupee's slide, leaving the central bank with a difficult choice over how to make best use of its limited reserves to maintain the confidence of foreign investors.

The RBI sold $845 million in September for the first time in 10 months, and a further $943 million in October, according to the latest central bank data.

Mohan Shenoy, treasurer at Kotak Mahindra Bank, said the rupee would become fairly valued at 53.75/54.00, which was the real effective exchange rate.

"It could see some support at that level," he said. The one-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoted at 53.33, at par with the onshore spot rate. The one-month onshore forward dollar premium was at 32.50 points from 33.25 on Monday, the three-month was at 75.75 from 75, and the one-year premium was at 214.50 from 216.50.

In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month dollar-rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange, the MCX-SX and the United Stock Exchange were all at 53.47. The total volume was at $1.2 billion.


Courtesy: EconomicTimes

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Germany's SAP to acquire US-based SuccessFactors for $ 3.4 bn

German business software giant SAP AG has agreed to buy SuccessFactors Inc in an all-cash deal worth $ 3.4 billion.

SAP will pay $ 40 a share for acquiring all common stock of US-based SuccessFactors. This represents a premium of 52 per cent over the closing price of SuccessFactors' shares on December 2, the Germany-based firm said yesterday in a statement.

SuccessFactors, a provider of employee management software, has more than 3,500 customers and over 15 million subscribers in 168 countries. SAP is the one of the world's largest business software companies, with more than 54,000 employees in over 50 countries worldwide, including India.

"SAP AG and SuccessFactors, Inc, announced that SAP's subsidiary, SAP America, Inc, has entered into a definitive merger agreement with SuccessFactors... pursuant to which a subsidiary of SAP would offer to acquire all outstanding shares of common stock of SuccessFactors for $ 40 per share in cash, representing an enterprise value of about $ 3.4 billion," it added.

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2012.

The acquisition will add to SAP's capabilities as a provider of cloud applications, platforms and infrastructure. The combination of SAP and SuccessFactors will establish an advanced end-to-end offering of cloud and on-premise solutions for managing all relevant business processes.

"The cloud is a core of SAP's future growth and the combination of SuccessFactors' leadership team and technology with SAP will create a cloud powerhouse. The acquisition will help us address the top priority for CEOs globally -- managing people and talent," SAP Co-CEO Bill McDermott said.

"Together, SAP and SuccessFactors will create tremendous business value for customers, with potent synergies to accelerate our growth in the cloud," he added.

SuccessFactors Founder and CEO Lars Dalgaard said, "This is a revolutionary combination of proven capabilities that will allow SuccessFactors to accelerate our roadmap by 10 years and bring the world's leading application knowledge and intellectual property to our customers through the cloud and the largest applications customer base instantly."

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