Microsoft Corp yesterday made available three patches for vulnerabilities in its software, but said, in a break from the norm, that they are all considered to be relatively low-risk. Problems with Outlook 2002, MSN Messenger 6.0 and 6.1, and Windows Media Services 4.1, a component of Windows Server 2000, were discovered, and while each one has mitigating factors that make them non-critical, users are still advised to patch to minimize the risk of compromise.
In other news, IBM is to buy product information management ISV Trigo Tecnologies Inc to expand WebSphere’s supply chain capabilities in vertical sectors.
Privately held Trigo’s middleware integrates and manages product information such as pricing, which is then synchronized across the enterprise and between company partners.
Trigo already uses WebSphere’s adaptors, connectors and portal, as well as the DB2 database.
However, ownership by IBM will see WebSphere’s own product management updated more quickly to suit vertical sectors, than was possible through partnering – Trigo has been an IBM partner for two years. IBM is looking at vertical and industry-specific standards and packages for WebSphere with Trigo.
Also of interest to IBM, is the fact Trigo’s software works with Radio Frequency Identity (RFID), pushing WebSphere further into wireless e-commerce.
Trigo estimates customers will save $10m in business costs per $1bn in sales through use of its middleware. Terms of the acquisition were not revealed, but IBM expects the deal to close during the early part of the next quarter.
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And finally, India-based Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is poised to rollout a software package aimed at the nascent bioinformatics and life sciences market.
According to comments from the Hyderabad-based firm, it is readying a new Bio-Suite offering for biological research. The product will bundle tools and pre-defined algorithms for analyzing genetic data, such as human genome sequencing.
TCS says the suite will be aimed primarily at drug research and discovery applications.
TCS, a division of the $10.4bn Indian business conglomerate Tata Group Pvt, is part of a growing band of software companies eyeing life sciences as a future growth engine.
With terabytes of data generated from genome, drug and agricultural research peaking at all time highs; biotech and pharmaceuticals are increasingly turning to computer technology for analysis.
This article is based on material originally published by ComputerWire
