显示标签为“Apple”的博文。显示所有博文
显示标签为“Apple”的博文。显示所有博文

2011年7月6日星期三

DealBook: Apple and Microsoft Beat Google for Nortel Patents

在 ServiceModel 客户端配置部分中,找不到引用协定“TranslatorService.LanguageService”的默认终结点元素。这可能是因为未找到应用程序的配置文件,或者是因为客户端元素中找不到与此协定匹配的终结点元素。
在 ServiceModel 客户端配置部分中,找不到引用协定“TranslatorService.LanguageService”的默认终结点元素。这可能是因为未找到应用程序的配置文件,或者是因为客户端元素中找不到与此协定匹配的终结点元素。
George Riedel, chief strategy officer of Nortel, after testifying to a House of Commons committee in August 2009.Blair Gable/ReutersGeorge Riedel, chief strategy officer of Nortel, after testifying to a House of Commons committee in August 2009.

8:31 p.m. | Updated

Nortel Networks, the defunct Canadian telecommunications equipment maker, says it has agreed to sell more than 6,000 patent assets to an alliance made up of Apple, Microsoft and other technology giants for $4.5 billion in cash.

The group of companies, which also includes Research in Motion, Sony, Ericsson and EMC, beat out Google and Intel for the patents and patent applications that Nortel had accumulated when it was still one of the largest telecommunications equipment makers in North America.

Nortel, which filed for bankruptcy in 2009, said in a statement late Thursday that it had sold its last remaining patents, covering businesses including wireless and networking technology and semiconductors, in an auction that it called “very robust.”

“The size and dollar value for this transaction is unprecedented, as was the significant interest in the portfolio among major companies around the world,” said George A. Riedel, chief strategy officer of Nortel.

Nortel delayed the auction once last month because of what it called “significant interest,” and started the sale on Monday. Nortel said it hoped to close the transaction in the third quarter.

In April, Google made a stalking-horse bid of $900 million for the patents, some of which are related to the wireless technology known as long-term evolution. Networks based on that technology, considered crucial to the future of telecommunications, are created to carry large amounts of data like streamed video to mobile devices.

The Google offer was interpreted as a defensive move. The search giant was seeking intellectual property rights to shield itself from lawsuits as it moves deeper into the mobile business with its Android software.

Kent Walker, Google’s general counsel, wrote at the time of the bid that it was supposed to “create a disincentive for others to sue Google.”

“The tech world has recently seen an explosion in patent litigation, often involving low-quality software patents,” Mr. Walker wrote.

Now, thousands of crucial patents will be in the hands of rivals like Apple and Microsoft, both of which have shown themselves to be much more aggressive in patent litigation than Google.

On Friday, Mr. Walker said in an e-mail that the auction’s outcome was “disappointing for anyone who believes that open innovation benefits users and promotes creativity and competition.”

The sale announced Thursday will require approval from courts in Canada and the United States, Nortel said. About 2,600 of the patent assets are American. A joint hearing has been scheduled for July 11.

Nortel, based in Mississauga, Ontario, was once a flagship Canadian company but filed for bankruptcy in 2009 after losing nearly $6 billion in 2008.

Since then, it has sold its wireless equipment business for $1.13 billion to the Swedish company Ericsson, which walked away with $340 million worth of patents from the auction on Thursday. More recently, Ericsson bought Telcordia, an American telecom network equipment maker, for $1.15 billion.

In 2009, Nortel sold another unit dealing with enterprise solutions for $475 million to Avaya, a former AT&T unit that is now owned by private equity and which filed for an initial public offering of stock last month.

RIM, Canada’s most prominent technology company since Nortel collapsed, said in a separate statement that it had paid about $770 million for patents at the auction. The sale of patents raised more than the rest of Nortel’s disposals combined.

The company said it did not anticipate that holders of its common shares or preferred stock would benefit from the bankruptcy process. Creditor protection proceedings “will result in the cancellation of these equity interests,” Nortel said.

Nortel was advised by Lazard.

Nortel’s creditors’ committee, which includes the Bank of New York Mellon and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, hired Jefferies as its financial adviser for the auction, which saw the patent assets reap five times the stalking-horse bid.


View the original article here

Bits: Hackers Claim Small Breach on Apple Site

在 ServiceModel 客户端配置部分中,找不到引用协定“TranslatorService.LanguageService”的默认终结点元素。这可能是因为未找到应用程序的配置文件,或者是因为客户端元素中找不到与此协定匹配的终结点元素。
在 ServiceModel 客户端配置部分中,找不到引用协定“TranslatorService.LanguageService”的默认终结点元素。这可能是因为未找到应用程序的配置文件,或者是因为客户端元素中找不到与此协定匹配的终结点元素。

A group of hackers who have attacked a number of Web sites in recent months said Sunday that they had stolen a small number of internal passwords and usernames from an Apple server.

The information was supposedly taken from a server used by Apple for online surveys and did not belong to the public or Apple customers. The data was posted publicly on pastebin, a file-sharing Web site.

Anonymous, the group claiming?responsibility?for the attack, is believed to be working closely with hackers who were involved in Lulz Security, a hacker group?that disbanded last week after attacking a?number of sites over the past two months, including PBS.org, the United States Senate, the?Arizona Department of Public Safety and the Web site of a company?associated?with the Federal?Bureau?of Investigation.

The latest breach, which only contains 27 internal Apple usernames and passwords, is a relatively small amount of data compared to attacks on other companies, but it underscores the potential for other attacks by Anonymous.

Apple could not be reached for comment to confirm whether the information was stolen from the company.

In the Twitter message about the data breach, hackers said Apple could become a larger target but that members were currently busy with other goals. “Apple?could be target, too. But don’t worry, we are busy elsewhere,” the group wrote in the message.

Earlier this month Lulz Security claimed it had breached Apple’s iCloud servers, which are used for the company’s cloud music and photo service that is expected to launch later this year, but the group never posted any of this alleged information online.

This latest breach, and other?recent attacks on?corporate?and government Web sites, is part of a growing movement by hackers called Anti Security, or AntiSec online. The public stated goal of this movement is to expose loopholes and software?vulnerabilities on company and?government?Web sites and servers. Security experts and law?enforcement?see the string of AntiSec-labeled attacks as a?justification?by hackers to wreak?havoc?online.


View the original article here