Information Age: News, analysis & insight for IT & business leaders

Middleware vendor BEA turned down database giant Oracle’s offer to buy the company for $6.7 billion. BEA said it was holding out for a $8.23 billion deal and would explore other opportunities. High profile BEA shareholder Carl Icann said he would sue the board unless it allowed shareholders to vote on the offer. Subsequently Oracle withdrew its offer – although given the lack of other suitors so far, this is likely a sign of Oracle playing hard ball.

Software titan Microsoft bought a 1.6% stake in Facebook for $240 million, thereby valuing the popular social networking site – which is yet to make a profit – at $15 billion. The deal sees Microsoft cement its position as exclusive advertising server on Facebook. The inflated price reflects Microsoft’s need to strengthen its position in online advertising, after losing out to Google in previous deals.

Television broadcaster BSkyB began court proceedings against IT services provider EDS over the failure of its customer relationship management system. The broadcaster is claiming $709 million in damages for breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation and deceit. BSkyB’s QC said in court that EDS made a “deliberate, cynical and dishonest” pitch for the $48 million contract signed in 2000. EDS refutes the allegations.

Networking giant Cisco agreed to acquire WiMax equipment manufacturer Navini Networks for $330 million. Navini Networks makes a range of WiMax related technologies, including modems, base stations, adaptive antenna arrays and management software, all sold under the “Smart WiMax” brand. This was a surprising move considering Cisco’s previous stance. Cisco’s CTO Charles Giancarlo told its user conference in 2005: “We do not believe there is a good business model [for WiMax]”.

Albert Fert and Peter Grunberg were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for their work on the electromagnetic phenomenon that has underpins today’s drive towards ever-smaller hard disk drives. During the 1980s, Fert and Grunberg worked independently on giant magnetoresistance, which allows very weak changes in magnetism to generate larger changes in electrical resistance – a principle now used to cram higher volumes of data on to smaller drives.

Telecoms company BT said it hopes a £250 million scheme to build wind farms will deliver a quarter of the electricity it uses by 2016. BT estimates that it is responsible for 0.7% of the UK’s electricity consumption and has commitments to reducing its carbon footprint. The company estimates that wind farms built on its existing sites could generate up 150MW of power by 2016.

Troubled telecoms equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent is to lay off 4,000 more jobs, bringing the total number that have lost jobs since the controversial merger to 16,500. The company also announced the departure of CFO Jean-Pascal Beaufret, however many market watchers blame CEO Patricia Russo for the company’s problems. Alcatel-Lucent has seen more than E12 billion wiped off its market value since January.