March 29, 2001

Post Office signs Computacenter for sole supplier agreement
"The Post Office has signed a single source supply contract with Computacenter for all IT hardware and shrink-wrapped software from PDA to server level. It’s a very important strategic contract, because it underpins the ability of Post Office Business Systems to deliver its services to the user communities in our 19 business divisions, comments Jim Reed, Director of IT Procurement for the Post Office."
Find out more about the deal by reading the full article.

SAP to acquire Toptier
"SAP AG, and TopTier Software, Inc., a leading provider of enterprise information portal software and related integration products, today announced that the two companies have signed a definitive agreement for SAP to acquire TopTier. Under the terms of the agreement, SAP will acquire all of the outstanding shares of TopTier for approximately $400 million in cash."
What was SAP hoping to get out of the deal? Read the full story to find out.

Tiscali: acquisitive Italians prepare to strike again
"Tiscali is rumoured to be about to bid for LineOne and Planet Interkom," begins our report on the Italian ISP. "Purchasing the BT-owned ISPs would certainly boost the firm’s presence in Europe’s two largest Internet markets. However, Tiscali will still have to spend huge amounts of money on building its own IP network as broadband access becomes the norm. Tiscali looks much better placed than most independent ISPs, but it’s still behind the telcos."
Check out our story to see what else we made of the deal.

BT discussing improvements to Concert
Remember Concert, BT and AT&T’s joint venture? The global end-to-end telecommunications provider didn’t do very well and was eventually disbanded later in 2001 after losing plenty of money. But before the inevitable end arrived BT was talking to AT&T in the hope of finding ways to improve its performance. Read our article to find out what was said.

European Internet: powerline access isn’t buzzing
"Delivering Internet access through electricity wires is certainly an interesting technology, but it’s unlikely to do very well for now. The lack of regulations has deterred major companies such as Siemens from investing in powerline. Given Deutsche Telekom’s aggressive push towards ADSL access, it will be some time before powerline is a viable competitor," as CBR put it. What’s the full story? Read on to find out.