Ceragon buys Norway's Nera Networks

Israeli-based wireless backhaul equipment and network developer Ceragon Networks Ltd. is buying Norwegian company Nera Networks for about $48.5 million. Nera is a manufacturer of microwave radio systems. The company is one of three business units of Eltek ASA, which is selling the company to Ceragon. Nera Networks has a global customer base, including several Tier One operators in Europe, Latin America and Africa.

Following today's closing of the transaction, both companies' assets and core competencies will be combined into a single integrated organization, product family and customer base.

Ceragon, led by CEO Ira Palti, said that the transaction accelerates its strategic plans, as the combination of the two companies achieves immediate scale and reach to enable Ceragon to successfully and fully capitalize on global opportunities. Nera's operations in Latin America and Africa complement Ceragon's position in Europe, Asia and North America.

The acquisition will be funded through a combination of cash on hand and approximately $35 million of bank debt. The transaction is expected to be accretive on a quarterly basis by the end of 2011. Ceragon is targeting a combined operating model for 2012 with gross margins similar to its current level, and operating profit of 10% based on a quarterly combined run rate revenue of about $150 million.

According to previous forecasts supplied by Ceragon, it should report growth of 35% for 2010, to revenue of $250 million. With the contribution of Nera, Ceragon expects quarterly revenue of $150 million, or $600 million for the year. At that level of revenue, Ceragon expects to maintain gross profitability at 35%, and to reach operating profitability of 10%, compared with a current 7.5% on a non-GAAP basis.

This will not be a simple task, given that Nera is a loss-making company. In the first three quarters of 2010, it had revenue of $177 million, and lost $14.5 million.

"Nera is a loss-making company with a low gross profit margin (about 22%), which is part of the reason that the price for it is low," Palti explains. However, according to him, Nera is an easy company to turn around.

"2011 will be a transition year, and towards the end of the year, the acquisition will contribute to profits," Palti says. At any event, he stresses, even before Nera contributes, Ceragon will remain a profitable company.

Ceragon currently employs about 700 people, 200 of them in Israel. They will be joined by Nera's 800 employees.

"There are synergies, and we will have to make decisions about overlapping activities, but that isn’t the name of the game here," Palti says. According to him, the overlap between the two companies is not great. "Therefore," he says, "we will be able to run forward. The acquisition will enable us to grow in market share, to boost our presence in many places in the world, and provide better solutions."

MasterCard, InterSwitch co-brand in Nigeria...Skye Bank takes first bite

MasterCard Worldwide and InterSwitch in Nigeria have started to offer a new co-branded debit card - the Mastercard Verve. Nigeria's electronic transaction switching and payment processing company InterSwitch, launched the Verve chip and PIN card in Nigeria back in 2009. This collaboration between the two parties aims to encourage debit card use in Nigeria whilst creating wider acceptance of the cards home and abroad by utilising the MasterCard brand.

The new debit card will grant users access to over 12,000 point of sale locations, 400 online merchants and at 10,000 ATMs throughout Nigeria. “The co-branded debit card agreement with InterSwitch aims to usher in a new era in convenient and secure payments for Nigerians and through this collaboration, cardholders  will have the ability to use a single  card for domestic and international transacting.” Said Daniel Monehin, MasterCard’s area head, East & West Africa and Indian Ocean Islands.

This new venture is said to be viewed positively by the Central Bank of Nigeria which plans to, as part of the country’s Financial System Strategy 2020, improve the country’s e-payment systems by reducing public reliance on cash. Already Skye Bank Plc has launched into the Nigerian financial market the first naira denominated Master-card Verve which can be used to make payments across multiple channels like the Automated Teller Machines, Point of Sales terminals, internet, telephones, among others.

The bank said in a statement that the naira denominated Master-card Verve is globally accepted as a means of payment at over 24 million merchant locations and over one million ATMs worldwide in more than 220 countries.

With the new partnership, Interswitch indigenous debit card known as Verve Card, will have all its features transferred to the MasterCard to form a single but multiple functions payment card known as MasterCard-Verve.

Speaking, the President of the Middle East and Africa for MasterCard, Michael Miebach said he was “happy with the partnership,” which he said, “would boost cashless transactions in the society and promote electronic payment system in Nigeria and Africa.”

Director of Payment Solutions for InterSwitch, Charles Ifedi said he was “delighted that MasterCard, which serves as a franchisor, processor and advisor to the global payments industry and enables global commerce by providing critical economic link between financial institutions, governments, businesses, merchants and cardholders worldwide has partnered with InterSwitch to co-brand the Verve debit card in Nigeria.”

Dell ditches Adamo laptop

Dell, one of the world’s leading PC vendors, discontinued its Adamo laptop after it failed to keep up with Apple’s ultrathin Macbook Air. The laptop range, Adamo, a Latin word meaning "to fall in love with”, was launched at CES in 2009. At the launch of Adamo, Dell had said, “Style-minded people who place a premium on precision craftsmanship and design can now add Adamo to their list of must-have items for 2009.”

But, Adamo, which was launched as a challenger to the Macbook Air, could not attract customers due to it heavy price tag of $2,000. Poor sales forced the company to drop the price of the laptop from $2,000 to merely $799.

The ultraslim Adamo laptop was rolled out with some very striking features, including an aluminium case, a 13.4-inch, 16:9 HD display, a SIM card slot, a built-in 3G card, an ultra low voltage Intel processor and solid state drive.

Dell’s recently launched its new 7-inch Android tablet, called the Streak 7. The Dell Streak 7 features dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, a WVGA touchscreen and Gorilla glass. The company is also expected to launch a new laptop within the coming six months.

The Dell Adamo, introduced in 2009 was positioned as a Windows alternative to Apple's ultrathin laptop, will be discontinued once Dell sells its remaining inventory. The Adamo is already gone from Dell's website (except for refurbished models), but other retailers such as Amazon are still selling the laptop.

Meanwhile, Apple has refreshed its own MacBook Air line with a much thinner design thanks to specially designed solid state drives, tapering up to 0.68 inches thick. The new Airs are also cheaper, starting at $999 for an 11-inch model.

The door is open for a new wave of MacBook Air rivals with Toshiba's slim solid state drives -- reportedly the same kind that Apple uses -- and at least one PC vendor is already committed to battling the MacBook Air for ultrathin supremacy. At CES, Samsung showed off the 9 Series, a 13.3-inch laptop measuring 0.64 inches thick with a 128 GB solid state drive, 6.5 hours of battery life and Intel's new Sandy Bridge CPU platform. The 9 Series will be available in the spring for $1,599.

Faced with these developments, Dell can either overhaul its own Adamo line or back out of the ultrathin computing game altogether. According to CNet, Dell will introduce an entirely new ultrathin design within six months, but the products will simply be integrated into Dell's existing consumer laptop lines such as XPS and Inspiron. The meaning of "Adamo" was always a mystery anyway.

CoolIT Systems Announces Partnership with MAINGEAR

CoolIT Systems, leaders in advanced liquid cooling technology, announced today their partnership with MAINGEAR, award winning system builders of high performance personal computers. Both CoolIT and MAINGEAR products have earned numerous industry awards, including four 2010 CES Innovations Awards for CoolIT, and PC Magazine Editors’ Choice and Maximum PC Kick-Ass Editors’ Choice award for MAINGEAR. Their partnership will bring the best of electronic cooling technology available to the consumer PC market.

MAINGEAR now utilizes the CoolIT Systems ECO II CPU cooler in their flagship system, the SHIFT, as well as their desktop line of products. “We are very excited about our new partnership with CoolIT Systems one of the leading names in providing PC cooling solutions.” Said Wallace Santos, CEO and co-founder of MAINGEAR, “CoolIT has always been side by side with MAINGEAR in terms of offering innovative and game changing solutions to the PC enthusiast space.”

“The MAINGEAR team has put together industry changing solutions and we at CoolIT are very proud that they have put their faith in our technology” says Barry Fairhurst, VP Sales and Marketing at CoolIT.  “We are very excited with our partnership with MAINGEAR and look forward to supporting some of the most innovative products to hit the marketplace in a long time”.

CoolIT’s 2011 product line features two new CPU coolers with low-profile head units, and an advanced chassis control system for unmatched thermal management potential. The coolers have shown unparalleled success in performance gains and universality with all modern CPU sockets. The products are being offered to the system builder, OEM and industrial markets.

Bank claims N16B against Flexcube for Bungled Implementation

Allied Irish Bank (AIB) has begun court proceedings against Oracle Financial Services Software, claiming nearly EUR84 million (about N16 billion) over a bungled Flexcube implementation.

AIB signed for the Flexcube core banking package from Indian vendor i-flex solutions - now called Oracle Financial Services Software - in 2007 to overhaul and streamline its retail banking operations.

However, a case document filed at London's High Court this week, seen by Irish broadcaster RTE, states that the implementation was beset with technical and management problems. At the end of 2009, just 3,000 customer accounts out of a possible five million had been moved on to the new system.

AIB says that it spent €84 million on procuring and implementing Flexcube. The figure does not include any other losses during the three-year period, which have yet to be calculated.

An Oracle spokesperson confirmed to Information Age today that a suit was filed by AIB at the end of January. "All of the allegations being raised by AIB are being rigorously defended by the company, and the company will also be counter-claiming against AIB for breach of contract and outstanding fees." In March 2010 the roll out of Flexcube was abandoned with AIB forced to stick with its old system.

The bank claims it lost around EUR84 million through the project which it was induced to embark on by misrepresentation from the vendor. It is seeking the EUR84 million damages for misrepresentation and for breach of contract and negligence.

Faulty Chips Haunt Intel…Samsung, Others Refund for Recalled PCs

Intel acknowledged that there was a design error in its upcoming Sandy Bridge platform, particularly the chipset (Intel 6 Series) that connects the processor to the rest of the system. Over time, this flaw may degrade the performance and functionality of SATA-linked devices such as hard disks and optical drives. PCs, mostly desktops, started shipping to customers January 9.

The problem doesn't affect the processor itself, but the system as a whole, since the faulty chipset resides on the motherboard. This means that Intel will draw up a plan to compensate its partners, namely OEMs and retailers, and these partners in turn will determine how returns and replacements will be handled.

"It will be a case by case decided by the OEM/ODM, based on their configs," according to an Intel spokesperson. Samsung Electronics, South Korea's largest electronics maker, has already issued a statement to Bloomberg, saying "six models sold in the local market and one model in the U.S. can be returned for refunds or exchanges."

According to James Chung, a Samsung spokesperson, "about 2,000 to 3,000 units of those models probably have been sold since sales began last month"

Other companies are taking a more intimate approach. "Velocity Micro is working with Intel and our customers to identify the best course of action to satisfy each customer," said Randy Copeland, CEO of Velocity Micro. "We will be contacting customers individually to discuss the appropriate course of action by providing our complete analysis of the Cougar Point SATA errata, the impact on the customer's specific unit, and to provide a menu of choices for customers to decide which action they wish to take."

As for major online retailers, NewEgg has already removed Sandy Bridge-based motherboards and complete systems from its Web site. It even removed Sandy Bridge processors, even though they weren't affected by this design error. The company has yet to issue a statement about how it will address affected products that have already shipped. Its return policy, however, is listed on the site: "Refunds are subject to a 15 percent restocking fee."

PC juggernauts, HP and Dell, have begun taking pre-orders on Sandy Bridge desktops, with preliminary ship dates as early as February 15.

"Dell and Intel are in communication regarding the design issue in the recently released Intel 6 Series (Sandy Bridge) support chip, code-name Cougar Point," Dell said in a statement. "This affects four currently-available Dell products, the XPS 8300, the Vostro 460, the Alienware M17x R.3 and the Alienware Aurora R.3, as well as several other planned products including XPS 17 with 3D. We're committed to addressing this with customers who have already purchased one of the four products and will provide further details on this as it becomes available."

HP did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Rumor has it that Intel will make an official announcement soon about how the recalls will be handled from its end. And all the motherboard, desktop, and laptop suppliers will follow up with their own announcements soon after.

Toshiba launches new range of laptops

These laptops have been designed for tech savvies using and feature one of the most advanced and latest PC technologies. The Personal Computer Division of Toshiba India Private Ltd, has launched its new range of laptops that offer new age technology at the World of Laptop Innovations Exhibition held from January 26, 2011 through January 30, 2011 in Mumbai.

The Exhibition takes various visitors including enthusiastic technoholics through a journey of advanced technology and innovations. These laptops have been designed for tech savvies using and feature one of the most advanced and latest PC technologies.

Qosmio X500, Netbook NB520, Satellite A660 and Protégé R700 are 4 new range of laptops that are being displayed at the technology experience zones created by Toshiba India at the Exhibition. Qosmio X500 offers excellent gaming and graphic experience along with stunning display while Netbook NB520 integrating Harman/kardon® speakers provides rich sound of music that allows users sound quality and technology. Protégé R 700 offers stylish and trendy designs. These laptops are designed for a wider range of users including gamers, music lovers, and fashionistas.

Qosmio X500 is one of the new range of laptops that offers a roomy 18.4" FHD LCD display along with Intel® Core™ i7 processor (quad core).

This gaming laptop is designed for enthusiastic game lovers and provides excellent graphic experience along with impressive 8GB memory support. The laptop is available in fashionable gaming design along with illuminated keyboard and multimedia feather-touch buttons.

Netbook NB520 is designed for music lovers and is World’s First Netbook with harman/kardon® speakers along with stylish and trendy designs. The laptop provides best sound with Dolby Advanced Audio and Sleep and Music feature that allows users to use laptop speakers with their digital devices (MP3 players / cell phones) even when their laptop is switched off. This netbook is available in 5 trendy colors.

Protégé R700, a trendy and chic laptop, weighs only 1.39 kgs and provides airflow cooling along with easy guard technology which is backed by 3 years warranty that Toshiba India offers. This product is the Indian version of the world’s lightest 13.3-inch full performance laptop with inbuilt ODD. The Protégé R700 is designed keeping in mind the highly mobile professional lifestyle of mid and senior level managers who are seeking a thin, light and yet high performance laptop for easy portability.

Toshiba India also unveiled a new set of innovative laptop called Satellite A660 3D that provides leading innovation supported by quality and technology along with distinct and credible positioning. The Toshiba Satellite A660 laptop provides complete entertainment, excitement and home theatre experience that converts 2D video into 3D for enhanced movie watching experience. “The Satellite A660 laptop comes with the Clear Super View HD 3D display (120Hz) and wireless active shutter glasses offering out 3D world experience with NVIDIA® 3D VISION™ technology.

Speaking on the launch of new range of laptops in India, Tengguo Wu, Director, Toshiba India, said, “All our products stand to showcase Toshiba India’s enormous technical prowess and our commitment to influence the lives of people through our business activities. We are proud to launch our latest and finest range of laptops in the Indian market that will take the Indian technology market to another level.”