Also: Trend Micro bug affects thousands; IBM to end support for OS/2-related products in 2006; Layoffs may come this week at HP; VeriSign acquires iDefense
Silicon Valley stalwart Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers last week announced that former Secretary of State Colin Powell has joined the venture capital firm as a strategic limited partner. Powell, whose experience in the business world includes a stint on AOL’s board of directors, is particularly interested in helping companies in the areas of communications, security, energy independence and healthcare, according to a Kleiner Perkins statement. The 68-year-old retired four-star general will work for the firm in a part-time capacity. Kleiner Perkins is more than 30 years old and has funded technology companies, including AOL, Amazon, Netscape, Google, Compaq and Sun.
Anti-virus software vendor Trend Micro last week said a bug in its software that affected thousands of customers has cost the company $8 million. The issue also has forced the company to lower its revenue and profit forecasts for the April-to-June quarter. The affair leading to the profit warning began on April 23 when the company released a faulty software-update file that sucked up the processing power of PCs that had downloaded it. The file affected mainly PCs using Windows XP with Service Pack 2 and Trend Micro’s OfficeScan PC-cillin Internet Security 2005 VirusBuster software, the company said. The company quickly set up a call center to field inquiries, and issued updates that when uploaded automatically fixed the problem.
While death notices for IBM’s OS/2 operating system have been floated before, IBM apparently has made it more permanent this time. The company last week said it will discontinue OS/2 products by Dec. 23 and withdraw standard support for OS/2-related products as of Dec. 31, 2006. IBM is recommending its remaining OS/2 customers, which reportedly number about 80, move on to Linux. Introduced in 1987, OS/2 struggled against Microsoft Windows, and a dearth of applications eventually made it a non-entity in the corporate world.
HP might cut thousands of jobs this week in the first large-scale restructuring by new CEO Mark Hurd, according to published reports. Hurd, who took the helm at HP in March following the removal of Carly Fiorina, has said he would take steps to reduce costs at the company. HP plans to announce the restructuring Tuesday, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, which cited an unnamed source familiar with the plans. The Journal was unable to provide details of the restructuring and said the timing of the announcement might change. HP did not comment. Some Wall Street analysts expect 5,000 to 25,000 employees to be laid off, according to the report. The company’s enterprise computing business, which has not done as well as some of its rivals, appears particularly susceptible to job cuts, the paper said.
Looking to flesh out its line of managed security services products, VeriSign has snapped up network security researcher iDefense. The $40 million cash acquisition was completed last week. IDefense, in Reston, Va., provides early-warning assessment of Internet security threats to a select group of government and very large enterprise clients. VeriSign hopes to be able to market the iDefense research products to a wider audience, while at the same time use data from its security monitoring operations to bolster the iDefense research. The 45-person research company will retain the iDefense name. VeriSign, in Mountain View, Calif., has no plans to move the iDefense team from its present location. VeriSign’s managed security services business provides managed firewalls, intrusion-detection and vulnerability alerting under the VeriSign Managed Security Services brand.
