SHORT TAKES 

BLATECKY LEAVES SDSC, BECOMES RENCI DEPUTY DIRECTOR

Alan R. Blatecky, an expert in Grid computing, middleware, advanced networking and research program development, will join the interdisciplinary Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI) as Deputy Director, effective May 10, 2004.

The Carolina Renaissance Computing Institute is a new model for interdisciplinary research and technology that draws on the talent and expertise of research, education and commercial activities across the North Carolina Research Triangle. Spanning the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University and Duke University, RENCI”s “Renaissance teams” will explore computing applications to traditional domains such as physics, astronomy and materials science and emerging domains such as biology, life and earth sciences. The Institute is also exploring new applications and opportunities for the arts, humanities, economics and the social sciences.

Blatecky comes from San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) where he was the Executive Director of Research and Programs. He established the internationally recognized NSF Middleware Initiative (NMI) while a Program Officer at NSF. Before this, he spent over ten years as the Vice President of Information Technology at MCNC. He holds four Master’s degrees, including two from Duke University. Blatecky said he looks forward to returning to his roots in North Carolina.

Mr. Blatecky currently serves on several computing and networking boards, including the Steering Group for the Global Grid Forum and the Advisory Board for the Enabling Grids for E-Science in Europe (EGEE).

CA EXECS PLEAD GUILTY

As announced by the government, three former executives of CA — Ira Zar, David Kaplan, and David Rivard — have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct justice and conspiracy to commit securities fraud charges, in connection with an ongoing and previously disclosed joint investigation by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York and the Securities and Exchange Commission of CA’s past accounting practices. Mr. Zar was CA’s Chief Financial Officer, and Mr. Kaplan and Mr. Rivard were senior accounting and financial reporting executives prior to their resignations from the Company in the fall of 2003.

These guilty pleas relate to events that were the subject of a previously announced and continuing independent investigation by CA’s Audit Committee of CA’s accounting practices, primarily in CA’s fiscal year ended March 31, 2000. As previously announced on October 8, 2003, the Audit Committee determined that CA had prematurely recognized revenue in fiscal 2000 on the basis of software license agreements that were signed in a later quarter.

Following this determination, the Company requested the resignations of several senior finance executives, including Messrs. Zar, Kaplan and Rivard. Mr. Kaplan was asked to leave CA because he had declined to be interviewed by the Audit Committee. CA also directed counsel for its Audit Committee, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, and counsel for the Company, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, to jointly disclose to government investigators the extensive evidence supporting the Audit Committee’s findings that directly linked Messrs. Zar, Kaplan and Rivard to the improper “35-day month” practice. The two law firms have made such joint reports to government investigators, beginning in October 2003 and continuing to the present, including reporting that each of Messrs. Zar, Kaplan and Rivard had falsely denied the existence of this practice during interviews with Wachtell Lipton or Sullivan & Cromwell.

The Audit Committee is nearing completion of its investigation and its assessment of whether a restatement of prior period financial statements is required under GAAP, and, if so, the extent of such restatement. The Audit Committee continues to believe that the Company’s New Business Model and financial reporting are unaffected by the accounting practices that were in place prior to the Company’s adoption of the New Business Model in October 2000.

Also as previously reported, CA recently hired Jeff Clarke, a former top executive at Hewlett-Packard Co., as its new Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Clarke will work to continue to strengthen CA’s systems and controls to ensure that these past problems and errors never recur. In addition, the Company has terminated the employment of Steven Woghin, CA’s former General Counsel, effective immediately, and, as previously reported, the Company is actively conducting a search for a new General Counsel in an effort to further strengthen its capabilities in its legal department.

Although the Company is unable to predict the scope or outcome of the continuing government investigation, it is possible that it could result in the institution of administrative, civil injunctive or criminal proceedings, including charges against the Company and other officers of the Company, the imposition of fines and penalties, suspensions or debarments from government contracts, and/or other remedies and sanctions.

CSC’S GUY COPELAND APPOINTED VP OF IT-ISAC

Computer Sciences Corporation announced that Guy Copeland has been appointed vice president of the Information Technology Information Sharing and Analysis Center (IT-ISAC). Copeland was previously secretary of the organization.

Formed in accordance with Presidential Decision Directive 63 (PDD-63), the IT- ISAC is a coalition of leading IT companies that addresses cyber and physical infrastructure vulnerabilities of the Federal government. PDD-63 calls for increased cooperation and partnership between government and industry to guide the development and application of new technology. CSC helped found the IT- ISAC in 2001.

Copeland will be responsible for managing specific IT-ISAC operations and activities, developing a closer relationship with the Department of Homeland Security and assisting the organization’s newly appointed president, Phil Lacombe of General Dynamics, in leading IT-ISAC endeavors.

Copeland joined CSC in 1988 and has held increasingly progressive management positions during his career with the company. Currently, he is vice president of Information Infrastructure Advisory Programs for CSC’s Federal Sector business unit and represents CSC Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Van B. Honeycutt on the President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee. Copeland also co-chairs the Information Technology Association of America’s Early Warning Task Force, an industry-led coalition of security experts assembled to improve the nation’s responses to cyber vulnerabilities, threats and attacks.

Copeland has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of California at Berkeley.

SILICON IMAGE APPOINTS PAISLEY TO BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Silicon Image, Inc., a leader in multi-gigabit semiconductor solutions for the secure transmission and storage of rich digital media, announced the appointment of Christopher Paisley to the company’s board of directors. Following 15 years as senior vice president of finance and chief financial officer at 3Com Corporation, Mr. Paisley has served as the dean’s executive professor of accounting and finance for the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University since 2001. In addition to serving on the Silicon Image board of directors, Paisley also serves on the boards of Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. and Riverstone Networks.

Prior to his tenure at 3Com, Paisley spent three years as CFO at Ridge Computers and five years at Hewlett Packard in a variety of financial positions. Paisley holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of California, Los Angeles.

FORMER SUN EXEC JOINS START-UP

Cassatt Corporation, an enterprise infrastructure software start-up headed by BEA co-founder and former CEO Bill Coleman, named Richard Green executive vice president of Product Development. Green, who will lead global development efforts at Cassatt, joins the company from Sun Microsystems, Inc. where he served most recently as vice president of Sun Developer Platforms and Java Software.

Green has been involved in the software industry for more than 20 years. He held a number of key positions during his 14-year career at Sun, including vice president of Java and XML software and vice president of the Solaris Products Group. Green has led product development strategy, business model creation and R&D at Sun. He also has extensive experience managing international teams­he started Sun India, and was responsible for Sun’s engineering operations in the Czech Republic, Ireland, Israel and Russia.

“I have known Rich since our days together at Sun and I have followed his many successes,” said Coleman. “He brings a wealth of world-class expertise in software development for the enterprise that is crucial to helping our customers get the most value out of their technology infrastructure investment. We’re excited to have him as part of our team.”

“Cassatt represents a fantastic opportunity for me to tackle a vital and unaddressed challenge facing the future of enterprise architecture,” said Green. “I’m also delighted to be working again with Bill and the strong executive team he has assembled.”

In addition, Cassatt’s executive vice president Steve Oberlin has been promoted to Chief Scientist. Oberlin, chief architect of the original CRAY T3D and T3E systems, massively parallel processing systems that are widely recognized as the most efficient highly-scalable production computers ever built, will focus on core technologies that assist customers and strategic partners with scale-out grid computing initiatives.

WWW INVENTOR RECEIVES TECHNOLOGY PRIZE

The MIT Scientist credited with inventing the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, has been awarded the first Millennium Technology Prize.

The award, a euro1 million cash prize, equivalent to $1.2 million, is among the largest of its kind, and was awarded for the first time. It was established in 2002 and backed by the Finnish government.

The prize committee on Thursday said Berners-Lee’s contribution strongly embodied the spirit of the award, given “for an innovation that directly promotes people’s quality of life, is based on humane values, and encourages sustainable economic development.”

Pekka Tarjanne, chairman of the prize committee, underlined the importance of Berner-Lee’s decision to never strive to commercialize or patent his contributions to the Internet technologies he has developed.

Berners-Lee is recognized as the creator of the World Wide Web while working for the CERN Laboratory in the early 1990s, the European center for nuclear research near Geneva, Switzerland. His graphical point-and-click browser, “WorldWideWeb,” was the first client that featured the core ideas included in today’s Web browsers, Internet Explorer, Netscape, Opera, and Mozilla among them.

The prize is administered by the Finnish Technology Award Foundation, an independent fund supported by the Finnish government and a number of Finnish companies and organizations. Future prizes will be awarded every two years. The eight-member international awards committee is headed by Pekka Tarjanne, a professor at the Finnish Academy of Technology.

This year, 74 nominations were received for the award. Universities, research institutes, and national scientific academies are eligible to nominate prize winners.

Berners-Lee, who is originally from Britain, was knighted in December last year. He continues to work at the standard-setting World Wide Web Consortium at MIT.

An award ceremony will be given in Helsinki on June 15.