Tech Briefs: April 5-18, 2004

OPENPAGES SECURES $10M FOR SOX SOFTWARE: OpenPages Inc. has locked in $10 million in funding from several private equity investors, which will be used to enhance and market its Sarbanes-Oxley compliance software.Since the release of its SOX Express software last June, OpenPages has secured clients from over 30 Global 5000 companies across a wide range of industries.

“The enterprise compliance software market has developed very quickly, and represents a huge growth opportunity for OpenPages,” said OpenPages president and chief executive Michael Duffy. “This latest round of funding provides us with the capital needed to expand our organization.”

Industry analysts at AMR Research predict corporate spending for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance will top $5.5 billion in 2004.

COUGAR MOUNTAIN OFFERS FIXED ASSETS SOLUTION: Accounting software maker Cougar Mountain Software is expanding its offerings with a new fixed assets accounting solution through a partnership with Comprehensive Microsystems Inc. The System, CMI’s fixed asset software, enables businesses and not-for-profit organizations to track and depreciate fixed assets in accordance with accounting rules and tax laws.The System links the assets’ financial information with Cougar Mountain software, where the businesses and not-for-profit organizations track and report their accounting activity.

Pricing ranges from $395 to $2,395, depending on the number of users per location. There is also an option for up to 25 people to use the product over a wide-area network for $5,995.

EYT AND IN2GR8 MERGE, GET $20M in FUNDING: Top Microsoft Business Solution partner In2Gr8 has merged with EYT under the same name and secured $20 million in financing from Mobius Venture Capital, Madrona Venture Group, Rustic Canyon Partners and Charterhouse Group. The company will be headquartered in Seattle with additional offices in Chantilly, Va.; Superior, Colo.; and Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga, Tenn. In addition, former Corporate Software chief executive Howard Diamond was named chief executive of the combined company.“This investment makes EYT the best capitalized Microsoft service partner for the mid-market,” said Diamond.

COMPANIES EXPECT IT SPENDING BUDGETS TO RISE IN 2004: Information technology buyers expect their budgets for 2004 to grow across the board, with the software segment leading the way, according to a report by Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner Inc., a provider of research and analysis on the global information technology industry.IT spending returned to budgeted levels in January — evidence that U.S. companies are optimistic, according to Gartner. The research firm’s Technology Demand Index for January recorded a score of 100 for current spending — meaning that businesses spent exactly what they had budgeted for the month. IT spending among U.S. enterprises had been under budget since the launch of the TDI in March of 2003. The index is based on interviews with more than 600 IT decision-makers in small, midsized and large public and private companies.

According to the report, corporate IT buyers have shifted from “stall mode to controlled spending.” Gartner also expects the demand for application development/integration and security applications to grow significantly faster than for all other software categories.

NETSUITE UPGRADE IMPROVES CRM, BILLING MANAGEMENT: Hosted accounting and customer relationship management software maker NetSuite Inc. has released its upgraded flagship product to include advanced billing capabilities and CRM features. Highlights of NetSuite 9.5 include advanced billing, ad-hoc reporting, customer data mining and segmentation tools, and an advanced expression builder that allows users to create complex criteria using search expressions across any combination of fields.In addition, the latest version includes patent-pending, “no-click” e-mail integration for systems such as Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes, Yahoo! Mail and America Online, as well as over 250 customer-requested enhancements. NetSuite 9.5 is also available at no extra cost to subscribers.