Briefs: December 6, 2004

INTEL BOOSTS 4Q REVENUE ESTIMATE

The semiconductor manufacturer said it now expects fourth-quarter sales of between $9.3 billion and $9.5 billion, a marked increase from the $8.6 billion to $9.2 billion it had forecast in October.

"A lot of good things are happening," said Intel CFO Andy Bryant during the company's conference call with financial analysts.

Intel's overproduction of inventory earlier this year undermined its revenue and profit, prompting the company to slow its factories and sell off a backlog. Bryant said the unexpectedly brisk pace of sales this quarter has essentially corrected the inventory imbalance. Sales are "on the high end of seasonal" for the fourth quarter and Intel may see a record quarter for sales, he said.

"The channel is on track for another record," Bryant said. "The channel is doing very well."

COREL TAPS NEW CHANNEL CHIEF
Corel named Chad Hoke, a Best Software veteran, as its new channel chief.

The company, which is pitching its WordPerfect Office suite to small businesses and system builders, also plans to ramp up channel sales for the Paint Shop products following its October acquisition of JASC and for its digital photography and image editing software, Hoke said. Those offerings were primarily sold direct.

Hoke, who focused on Act Software and Peachtree Accounting while at Best, is used to competing with giants. "We were up against Intuit on the accounting side and Act competed with Microsoft CRM," he said. That experience might gird him in Corel's battle against Microsoft Office.

SUN SOLAR EDGE PROGRAM EYES WINDOWS WORKSTATION MARKET
Sun Microsystems last week unveiled its Solar Edge Elite Program, designed to prep new and current Sun resellers to take advantage of the interoperability between Sun's Advanced Micro Devices Opteron-based products and Windows, said Bob Lewis, marketing director at Sun.

Lewis said there are approximately 1,500 sales opportunities in the electrical design and mechanical engineering markets where Windows is currently being run on many non-Sun platforms. Sun has set a goal with the Solar Edge Elite Program for qualified partners to sell 40,000 units into these two markets within the next 12 months, Lewis said.

Web services and horizontal database markets are also being targeted with the program, he said. "This is about driving new revenue streams. Driving revenue around Opteron is a top priority for Sun."

Two Sun-certified sales reps and two Solar Edge Elite certified system engineers are required for eligibility in the program. An online test and application form for the program will become available Dec. 15 with an official program launch slated for Jan. 4.

BLUESOCKET OFFERS BUYBACK DEAL FOR REEFEDGE DEVICES
In light of media reports that wireless LAN gateway startup ReefEdge has hit hard times, competing vendor Bluesocket last week unveiled a limited-time buyback program to take advantage of its rival's apparent misfortune.

Bluesocket, which also sells wireless LAN security and management devices, is offering existing ReefEdge customers and channel partners a trade-in credit of up to 50 percent on the value of existing ReefEdge products, said Bob Darabant, vice president of sales at Bluesocket. The valuation of the products will be determined by the age of the gear.

The credit is good toward the purchase of new products from Bluesocket, including its family of wireless gateways as well as the BlueSecure Intrusion Protection System, Darabant said. The trade-in deal lasts until Dec. 31.

NEC UNIFIED SOLUTIONS, LEVEL 3 FORGE IP COMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT PACT
Level 3 Communications will announce this week a pact with NEC Unified Solutions, a value-added distributor of IP communications equipment.

Under the deal, Level 3 Enabled Partners will be able to use NEC Unified as a preferred provider for customer premise products from various IP communications vendors. NEC Unified can also provide Level 3 partners with backup on services such as site surveys; IP assessments, implementation and installation; and monitoring and management.

SONICWALL UNVEILS NEW OS, SECURITY APPLIANCE
Security vendor SonicWall last week unveiled an integrated security appliance for SMB customers, as well as an upgrade to its SonicOS operating system that delivers gateway intrusion-detection and -prevention capabilities to all of its products.

Both products are available to SonicWall channel partners immediately.

The SonicWall Pro 1260 appliance combines deep-packet security and flexible switching into one 24-port device. Pricing begins at $1,295.

The SonicOS 3.0 operating system boasts antivirus capabilities, as well as a stateful inspection firewall, virtual LAN support, dynamic routing, Active Directory user authentication and secure remote management. It is available across all SonicWall TZ 170 and Pro products.

D-LINK INTROS SELF-CONFIGURING ACCESS POINT FOR SMBs
D-Link Systems introduced a new wireless access point for SMBs, the vendor's first to offer clustering and auto-configuration capabilities.

Management features of the new D-Link AirPremier DWL-2210AP make installing and configuring multiple access points easier and less expensive, said Rocky Rosas, technical marketing engineer at D-Link.

Solution providers can cluster up to eight AirPremier DWL-2210APs and manage them from one administrative console, Rosas said. Existing access points without clustering capability must be managed separately—an activity that can be complicated and time-consuming, he said.

The product also includes the ability to auto-configure new access points as they are added to the cluster, Rosas said. "Once you have your initial unit in the network, your second, third [and so on] will detect another clustered unit on the network and download its configuration," he said. "Essentially, your configuration of new units is plug and play. The [new access points] automatically retrieve the address and configuration of the existing unit."

SEC DELAYS IC REPORTING DEADLINE FOR SMALL COMPANIES
Small public companies and their auditors last week received a 45-day reprieve before they must turn in their first reports detailing internal financial controls. Separately, the delay, announced by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, was backed by a similar ruling from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

Firms with a market capitalization of less than $700 million qualify for the delay. The reports are mandated under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, requiring companies to explain annually how they've ensured the health and well-being of their internal financial procedures.