SHORT TAKES

COMPUTER ASSOCIATES APPOINTS SANJAY KUMAR CEO

Islandia, N.Y. — Computer Associates International, Inc. announced that current President and Chief Operating Officer Sanjay Kumar has been named President and Chief Executive Officer, and charged with focusing on CA’s core businesses. Charles B. Wang, CA’s founder and most recently Chief Executive Officer, will continue as Chairman, and devote his energies to new ventures that will unlock tremendous value for shareholders, clients, strategic partners and employees. This announcement accompanies a general corporate realignment, expected to be completed today, that will allow the company to better focus on its core businesses, support stronger growth markets, enhance client service, and boost efficiency and dedication to quality throughout the organization. “This realignment marks the logical transition from the founder phase of CA to the next level of corporate activity, which is more focused on enhancing shareholder value and is a broader implementation of our vision,” said Charles Wang. “We will seek to balance strong revenues from our core businesses with increased value from new ventures that we will launch into the rapidly-evolving technology industry.”

CA will maintain its commitment to being a worldwide leader in eBusiness software. It will also intensify its focus on its three fastest-growing product areas: security and storage management; network, event and performance management; and application development and business intelligence. Within CA’s application development and business intelligence area are Jasmine ii and Neugents, the company’s aggressive new solutions that aim to position CA as prominently in the eBusiness world as it has been in enterprise computing. CA will initially focus on delivering greater shareholder value by spinning off technology that would thrive and flourish on an independent basis while allowing CA’s core business to continue to grow.

As the first step in this strategy, CA today announced the formation of iCan-ASP, Inc. to service the application service provider (ASP) infrastructure marketplace. The ASP marketplace is large and growing rapidly, and iCan-ASP offers new and innovative technologies for providing applications through the Internet, wireless and broadband communications. CA has retained Credit Suisse First Boston and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter to advise on these activities. Nancy Li, Chief Technology Officer of CA, will become iCan-ASP’s CEO. Nancy Li’s management team will include Doug Robinson, CFO; Mike Her, Research and Development; George Fischer, Sales and Marketing; and Ron Nunn, Business Operations. CA plans to ultimately spin off its desktop accounting business ACCPAC, and other businesses over time.

OMG ANNOUNCES TWO NEW SENIOR STAFF MEMBERS

Needham, MASS. — The Object Management Group (OMG), a software consortium responsible for establishing distributed computing specifications, is pleased to announce two new senior staff members. Mr. Fred Waskiewicz joins the OMG as Director of Standards, and Mr. Dana Morris joins the OMG as Senior Director of Marketing. Mr. Waskiewicz joins the OMG staff as Director of Standards, where he will manage all of the OMG’s member-driven specification adoption processes and will take the leadership role as chair of both the Domain and Platform Technology Committees. He joins the OMG with thirty years of experience in computer science. Fred has several years experience in software standards development, and, most notably, is a past chair of the OMG’s Manufacturing Domain Task Force (DTF). He holds an MS in Computer Sciences and Applications from Virginia Tech. “I’m extremely excited to return to the OMG culture as I consider its membership and staff to be among the brightest, most dedicated and savvy in the business,” comments Mr. Waskiewicz. “I’m dedicated to bringing my experiences and lessons learned as an OMG member to my new staff position to assist the membership in the technology adoption process.”

Mr. Morris joins the OMG as the Senior Director of Marketing, where he will be responsible for the overall strategic marketing efforts. Dana has worked in the high tech industry for over twenty years, and many of those years were focused on the software industry. Most recently he was the Director of Marketing Communications for Hitachi Computer Products (America) Inc. Dana obtained his BA in Media Communications/Art from Framingham State College and his Masters Degree in Educational Media & Technology from Boston University. “I’m pleased to be part of an organization with members who are dedicated to improving software technology,” comments Mr. Morris. “I look forward to sharing my years of experience with the OMG and its members to further increase the acceptance of innovative standards developed within the OMG.”

RED HAT NAMES MCDONALD TO BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Research Triangle Park, N.C. — Red Hat, Inc., a leader in open source Internet infrastructure solutions, announced that Gene McDonald, a seasoned executive with broad experience in finance and investment management, has joined its board of directors. McDonald is President of Duke Management Company (DUMAC), the asset management division of Duke University, and executive vice president of Duke University. As part of Red Hat’s board, McDonald will help to develop strategic initiatives for the leader in the open source marketplace. “Gene’s many years of experience in investment and asset management make him an ideal contributor to Red Hat’s future success,” said Matthew Szulik, CEO of Red Hat. “Gene’s unique combination of financial management expertise, coupled with a background in law, will be a strong asset to our board as we move forward with Red Hat’s plans for continued growth and sustained leadership in the open source market.”

“Being so close to Red Hat for several years, I have followed the company’s development from a start-up to the undisputed leader in open source,” said Gene McDonald. “With its focus on providing open source solutions for Internet infrastructure, Red Hat is well-established as the leader of open source products and services. As a member of the board, I look forward to helping to sustain Red Hat’s position in the market and to effectively manage its financial initiatives.” McDonald has held several positions at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina since he joined in 1977 as university counsel and vice president. For six years he served as executive vice president of the university, discharging the responsibilities of chief financial officer and chief non-academic administrative officer. In this capacity, he oversaw the University’s investment assets. Prior to his tenure at Duke, McDonald served as an international business executive in London, a practicing attorney in San Francisco and a faculty member at Georgetown University Law Center.

LUCENT EXECUTIVE RESIGNS AMID RESTRUCTURING

New York, N.Y. — Lucent Technologies Inc. said on Tuesday that Patricia Russo, executive vice president and chief executive of the service provider networks group, resigned as part of the company’s restructuring plan to jumpstart slack profits. The Murray Hill, N.J.-based company, which recently lowered its revenue and profit growth outlook for the rest of the year, is combining its service provider networks and corporate groups as part of a larger strategy that also includes spinoffs and restructurings to focus on high growth markets.

“As Lucent changes the structure of its business and the role of CEO of the service provider business goes away, I have decided that the time is right for me to pursue other opportunities outside of Lucent after assisting in a transition process,” Russo, who was one of Lucent’s highest ranking female executives, said in a statement. Lucent Chairman and Chief Executive Richard McGinn said he is opening a search for a chief operating officer, to help in the effort of focusing operations on mobile Internet networks and high-speed Internet access. Last week, Lucent said that optical group president Harry Bosco would step down as part of a move to restructure that unit following manufacturing and product introduction problems that hurt profits in recent months.

AUSPEX APPOINTS EMC EXECUTIVE AS PRESIDENT

Santa Clara, CA — Auspex Systems, Inc., a technology leader in Network Attached Storage server solutions, appointed EMC Corporation executive Michael S. Worhach as its president and elected Richard E. Chapman, senior vice president at Vencor, Inc., to its board of directors. Worhach, with over 25 years of computer system industry experience, moves to Auspex from division vice president at Data General, Westborough, Mass., a division of EMC, one of Auspex Systems’ key competitors. Chapman, as chief information officer with healthcare services provider Vencor, Louisville, KY, has achieved national recognition in the information systems field.

“Mike and Rick are powerful additions to our turnaround team and will help us accelerate away from our competition,” said Gary Sbona, Auspex chairman of the board. “We have passed through a challenging technology transition which our rivals have yet to begin. We have clear direction and are gaining momentum enabling us to attract executives of this caliber. This is one of a series of announcements we will be making over the next few weeks about major top level additions to our turnaround team.” “Joining Auspex is exciting,” said Worhach. “The company pioneered Network Attached Storage (NAS) and they know it better than anyone. NAS sector growth is exceptional and it’s a great opportunity working with an experienced, aggressive turnaround team. The Auspex product line is solid and enterprise ready. My top priority is to immediately establish a talented sales and marketing team that will leverage our opportunities in this explosive marketplace.”

MANDRAKESOFT APPOINTS HENRI POOLE AS CEO

San Francisco, CA — MandrakeSoft S.A., the company behind the Linux operating system “Linux-Mandrake”, announced the appointment of Internet industry pioneer Henri Poole as its new Chief Executive Officer. Poole also joins the board of directors of the company. Prior to joining MandrakeSoft, Mr. Poole, 36, co-founded and held the position of Chairman and CEO of Vivid Studios, one of the world’s premier Internet professional services firms. Mr. Poole states, “I am excited to join a company whose spirit, youth and commitment to open-source values has made it the fastest growing Linux distributor in the world. MandrakeSoft has brought Linux to a much larger audience and challenged the market leader by making the operating system more user-friendly. We all benefit, especially our users, from healthy competition.”

“Henri’s experience in providing highly-technical solutions to fast-growing clients is very valuable to MandrakeSoft,” says Jacques Le Marois, founder and former CEO of MandrakeSoft. “His knowledge of the Internet culture will be indispensable as we grow our international community of developers and service offerings.” Mr. Le Marois will retain the position of chairman and continue his active involvement in the open-source community. MandrakeSoft publishes the Linux-Mandrake operating system, based on open-source development (which provides free access to source code published in accordance with a General Public License, or GPL). Several hundred developers throughout the world contribute to the constant improvement of the product directly over the Internet. This international developer community has given Linux-Mandrake a product that is available in over 40 languages.

MICROSOFT CREATES .NET GROUP & SHUFFLES EXECUTIVES

Seattle, WASH. — Microsoft Corp. is creating an internal division to focus on the company’s new strategy to bring its software to the Internet, putting the unit on par with such cash-cows as Windows and Office. Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, on Wednesday named group vice president Bob Muglia as the head of the new .NET Services Group, which will include resources from the Windows, Office and Microsoft Network groups. Muglia, who ran Microsoft’s Office and productivity software division, will report to Rick Belluzzo, the former Silicon Graphics CEO who now heads Microsoft’s Internet and personal device efforts.

“Our goals and focus are very much the same,” said Muglia, who used to report directly to Ballmer. “I suggested that I just report to Rick to make things simpler, and I think it’ll work.” The Microsoft.NET initiative, unveiled this year, aims to bring Microsoft’s most popular software, including elements of the Windows operating system, onto the Internet, freeing it from the hard drives of traditional personal computers. That, company executives say, will allow people to have access to their personal data, games and Web sites from any computer or mobile device, such as cell phones and handhelds. The Microsoft Network, the group of Web sites and services which Belluzzo heads, is seen as a kind of testbed for new .NET products. Muglia’s new group will be responsible for building different kinds of user interfaces with graphics and voice recognition, as well as underlying technologies that the company’s other divisions and corporate partners will use to build .NET services.

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