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SAP to offer lower-priced support after complaints
SAP said Thursday that it would once again offer customers a choice of application support tiers, in a stunning reversal of a decision that had rankled many customers worldwide. In 2008, SAP announced that customers would be transitioned to a fuller-featured but pricier Enterprise Support service. But Thursday, the company said a lower-priced Standard Support option would now also be offered. SAP also said that a planned incremental price increase for existing Enterprise Support contracts would not occur this year. Current Enterprise Support customers will have the option of moving down to Standard Support once their existing contracts expire, and vice versa.
Intel reports $2.3B profit in Q4
Intel on Thursday reported US$2.3 billion in profit for the fourth quarter of 2009, in a strong financial showing driven by an increase in spending on PC and server chips. Net income rose 875 percent compared to the $234 million the company reported in the same quarter last year. Looking ahead, Intel expects revenue for the first quarter of 2010 to be $9.7 billion, plus or minus $400 million.
Sign indicates tech sector recovery
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) plans to hire more than 3,000 people this year as it expands chip production capacity and develops advanced new manufacturing technologies, the company said Thursday. The world’s largest contract chip maker said it “is most eager for” chip production engineers and researchers. The company’s recruitment drive begins Friday. TSMC is considered a technology industry bellwether for its size and the range of devices for which it makes chips. Its new hiring plan indicates the global technology industry continues to recover from the global recession, which caused widespread layoffs in 2009.
Microsoft exec quits company
Microsoft Windows executive Bill Veghte is leaving the company not long after one of his peers was chosen to run the Windows division. Veghte, who serves as senior vice president of Windows, has been with Microsoft for 19 years. He’ll leave the company at the end of the month, according to a note that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer sent to employees. Ballmer said that after holding a variety of roles at Microsoft, Veghte has decided he wants to lead a company “in a more end-to-end fashion.”