NetFlash: Microsoft, Nortel announce broad unified communications alliance

Microsoft and Nortel announce broad unified communications alliance

Microsoft and Nortel this week announced an ambitious four-year strategic alliance to jointly develop, sell and roll out unified communications and VoIP technology to enterprise customers. Click here for more.

Oracle acquisitions could turn to systems management

Oracle has yet to satiate its hunger for acquisitions and may turn to gobbling up systems and network management companies, an area in which it is currently weak, a company executive said Tuesday. Click here for more.

Wireless telemetry tracks cane toad onslaught in Australia

Wireless packs strapped to 50 of the 4-pound cane toads show the amphibian pests are spreading faster through Australia by traveling along roads and highways, according to reports. Click here for more.

A year after HP user group folded, only memories remain

One year ago on Tuesday, Interex, the independent HP user group – swamped by $4 million of debt – shut its doors and disappeared. Today, Interex exists only as an ongoing bankruptcy case and a memory for its members. Click here for more.

RFID: ‘Right, Fargo Is Dandy’

In today’s Buzzblog: Call me a cynic – go ahead, everyone else does – but the idea of two U.S. senators launching a caucus to “educate” their fellow lawmakers and policy wonks as to the value of RFID technology strikes me as something more than a collegial academic endeavor. Click here for more.

Today on Layer 8, where we note life’s too short to suffer bad coffee:

The coolest USB hub ever; professor claims computers can out-manage managers; Wal-Mart tries to steal MySpace thunder; and a nifty cell phone advance for travelers; all this today and more at your home for not-just-networking news.

For news updated throughout the day, go to Network World’s NetFlash news page.