News briefs: Microsoft, AOL said to be in talks

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• Microsoft is considering taking a stake in Time Warner's America Online unit, a move that could have significant repercussions in the competitive market of consumer Internet content and services, according to reports published last week. Microsoft and Time Warner are discussing such a deal, reports say, although the stage of the negotiations and the nature of a subsequent partnership are being characterized in conflicting ways by different media outlets. The New York Post describes the discussions as "advanced" and involving plans to combine AOL and Microsoft's MSN Internet unit. The Wall Street Journal called the talks "preliminary" and said they are part of a broader discussion about areas in which the companies can collaborate. Areas of collaboration being considered include AOL switching from using Google's search engine to using MSN's, according to the Journal.
• Cisco is revamping its skills certification program, dubbed Cisco Career Certifications, by adding training and exam tracks to the Cisco Qualified Specialist security certifications. Starting today, the program will have a new course lineup and exam to cover Cisco's growing number of security products, including intrusion-prevention systems sensors, the Cisco Security Agent, VPN Concentrator and the Adaptive Security Appliance. The new courses and exams will still be provided by Cisco's training partners, including Thompson Prometric and Pearson Vue. For more on this topic, read this week's Security Research Center notes.
• Businesses that want the Enterprise Edition of Microsoft's forthcoming Windows Vista operating system will have to sign up for its Software Assurance licensing program, the company announced last week. Software Assurance, introduced in 2001, encourages customers to pay an annual fee to use Microsoft's software rather than buying licenses. The annual fee includes upgrades plus other support services. The program met with considerable resistance after some analysts said customers would pay more under Software Assurance than under the previous licensing plan. Microsoft says the updates "extend the value" of Software Assurance beyond a typical maintenance offering, which includes only support and upgrades, to something that includes access to support, new product versions and other resources.
• Sprint Nextel last week announced that it expects telecom restoration efforts in the Gulf region to cost between $150 million and $200 million through the rest of the year. The company says the estimate includes capital and operating expenses associated with the restoration of network infrastructure, retail stores and billing relief for customers that were affected by Hurricane Katrina. BellSouth announced last week that telecom restoration following the devastating hurricane could cost the local telco $600 million. Sprint Nextel has a command center in Baton Rouge, La., that it calls Sprint City where 300 field technicians, engineers and support staff are working to restore wireless and traditional telecom services in the Gulf Region. The service provider says more than 90% and 70% of its wireless network in Mississippi and Louisiana, respectively, now are operational.
• Nortel last week said it will partner with Intel and Airspan Networks to offer mobile and fixed WiMAX wireless products. Nortel said working with these two companies is expected to complement work already under way in Nortel's joint venture with LG Electronics of Korea. LG and Nortel are creating a jointly owned company, tentatively called LG-Nortel, that will combine LG's telecom infrastructure business and Nortel's distribution and service businesses in South Korea. The two have already won a contract from a Korean service provider for equipment to support a mobile broadband service based on High-Speed Downlink Packet Access. LG-Nortel is also working on IEEE 802.16e-based WiMAX and Wireless Broadband products. Nortel said its WiMAX products will be designed to let wireless and wireline carriers, cable providers, media companies and other ISPs deliver broadband connectivity to consumer and corporate users by using existing networks and last-mile wireless links.

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