AC/DC Server Maker Sashays Into...

RACKABLE Systems Inc. ; WEBMETHODS Inc. WEBM; MICROSOFT Corp. 081466849 MSFT; SYBASE Inc. 131563215 SYBS; XCELLENET Inc. 185063385

This article presents updates on issues concerning information technology in the U.S. as of April 2004. Rackable Systems Inc. is in fourth place on the IDC list of leading Intel server vendors. The company's innovative packaging of the otherwise commodity 1U servers has led to sales that average 98 systems, or about $250,000, per deal. One clever distinction is that Rackable's servers can take direct current without having to step alternating current through power-supply conversion. In a separate news, WebMethods Inc. chief technology officer Graham Glass predicts that Eclipse will overtake Microsoft's Visual Studio .Net as the leading development framework. Glass argues that because of the breadth of corporate and academic contributors to Eclipse, it will have leverage of Visual Studio .Net. Meanwhile, Mark Westover, vice president of corporate development at Sybase Inc. expects his company's recently announced acquisition of XcelleNet Inc. to be complete in mid-May 2004. The deal gives Sybase a chance to leverage its lead in the mobile device database market. In 2003, mobile database revenue grew almost 20 percent for Sybase, while the company's overall revenue shrank by about 20 percent.