OzCrunch

Microsoft plans to build a data center in Des Moines, Iowa, taking advantage of state’s tax exemptions for web portal businesses.

Financial software and services firm Fiserv has agreed to sell 51% stake in its insurance business to Stone Point Capital for approximately $205m. Fiserv will retain a 49% stake as well as its management team and employee base in Fiserv Insurance Solutions.

Vendor consolidation continued in the SOA infrastructure provider space with the June 24 announcement that Progress is to acquire Iona. However, this particular instance is unusual in an SOA context in that it has both traditional license and open source elements.

Barracuda Networks has filed a countersuit against Trend Micro in the US District Court of California, in an effort to protect its open source ClamAV antivirus program from Trend’s allegations of infringement.

Ericsson has won a three-year contract from national and international fixed-line services provider Cable & Wireless Jamaica to upgrade and expand its network.

IBM has acquired mainframe clone manufacturer Platform Solutions for an undisclosed sum. As a result of the acquisition both the companies have dropped their respective patent-infringement allegations and claims.

SunGard has expanded its European presence with the acquisition of Ireland-based consulting services provider Delphi Technologies for an undisclosed sum.

Electronics company Toshiba will use HSPA mobile broadband modules from Ericsson in its business laptops. The modules will have up to 7.2Mbps downlink and 2.0Mbps uplink speed, and a GPS receiver.

QinetiQ has won a nine-year $225m sub-contract from Abacus Technology to support information management and communications for Nasa.

Microsoft and Micro Focus International have formed an alliance to enable mainframe applications to run on Windows.