The news as of the second cup of coffee, and the music is It's A Beautiful Day's Live In Seattle:

 

NetSuite has announced the release of NetSuite OneWorld Software Company Edition. This latest offering, company officials say, gives users "the ability to run and manage integrated end-to-end software business processes spanning global operations."

 

This new edition includes all the capabilities of NetSuite OneWorld -- announced in April 2008 -- which lets companies run global operations in real-time, and includes features such as renewals automation, revenue recognition, complex commission management and multi-tier channel management.

To address accounting and reporting requirements, historically many software companies have purchased multiple applications to run their software business operations. "This fragmented approach typically is costly, can lead to a higher rate of errors in calculating financial results, and can result in less favorable customer experiences, particularly at the time of renewal," NetSuite officials say.

 

NetSuite OneWorld Software Company Edition can "cater to any business model, from subscription billing to traditional software licensing," company officials say.

 

Zach Nelson, CEO of NetSuite, said "we know how a global software company works because we are one, and we have been successfully using our own software to operate our business for the past 10 years."

The product is pitched as delivering "deep and locally or nationally appropriate functionality" -- currency, taxation, language, reporting, revenue recognition, dashboards --  with "real-time subsidiary management and business consolidation capabilities."

 

For the renewal process, the NetSuite product has installed-base tracking capabilities from multiple license types for systems, users, environments and modules, to maintenance agreements, customer support terms, start and end dates, contract statuses and monitoring of end-of-life, upgrades and downgrades.

 

Available now, OneWorld begins at a base price of $4,998 per month, which includes renewals management and multi-tier channel management functionality, along with vertical-specific dashboards and best practices. Commissions functionality (Incentive Compensation) is an add-on module at $299 per month.

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BigMachines, a vendor of on-demand configuration and proposal software, has announced the availability of BigMachines Lean Front-End 8.2.

 

The latest version of BigMachines on-demand software will upgrade existing customers as part of their subscription and support agreements at no additional cost.

 

New features include interface elements such as the ability to scale configuration input fields on-the-fly in arrays, drag and drop quotes into folders, auto-complete fields based on partial data input, expand and collapse groups, auto-fill dates from calendars, resize columns on the fly, among other functions.

 

The product "enhances automated transaction reports that enable customers to proactively track and manage user adoption," company officials say, adding that BigMachines "invested substantial development resources to upgrade its core technology platform."

 

The tool can now be used to not only deliver quotes and orders, but generate and manage sales contracts.

 

"BigMachines gathers customer feedback throughout the year, and especially at our annual BigIdeas customer and industry forum, where customers provide input and vote on our product roadmap for the coming year," said Godard Abel, CEO, BigMachines.

 

BigIdeas 2008, BigMachine's annual customer and industry forum will be held October 5-7, 2008 in Chicago. Industry experts, BigMachines customers, and business partners will attend.

 

BigMachines' reporting capabilities integrate to most CRM and ERP systems, including those from Salesforce.com, Oracle, and SAP.

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Salesforce.com has announced that it is building its first international data center in Singapore, which is expected to go live before the end of year.

 

In addition to the data center infrastructure, Salesforce.com also announced plans to establish a Network Operations Center in Singapore to implement 24x7, follow-the-sun monitoring of the company's data centers in North America and Singapore. To support this, it is investing in additional facilities and headcount at its Asia Pacific headquarters.

 

Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO, Salesforce.com, called said it will be "the first data center outside of the U.S."

 

Salesforce.com's Asia Pacific customer base doubled over the last 12 months, company officials say, adding that customers in the region include AAPT, Acer, Amcor, CGU Insurance, Challenger Financial Services, Datacraft, Flight Centre, Hang Seng Bank, Mizuho Private Wealth Management, Ottagi, Ramco, SPH Search, VSNL and Telecom New Zealand.

 

"The growth that we are experiencing in Asia Pacific, combined with a technically literate and multi-lingual talent pool, make Singapore the perfect location for our first data center outside of the U.S.," added Benioff.

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Opera has announced the availability of Opera Mobile 9.5 on the new HTC Touch Diamond. The customized HTC-specific version enables what Opera officials describe as "easy one-handed viewing and effortless navigation."

 

The HTC-specific version of Opera Mobile 9.5 introduces an intuitive user interface and includes features such as page viewing and panning letting users scan and navigate pages while Opera Zoom lets them "dive into the page and get closer to the content they want." Turning the device sideways automatically rotates the Web page view from a portrait to landscape view.

 

Opera Mobile 9.5 has improved tabbed browsing, as well as productivity tools like the ability to save pages for offline browsing, Web address auto complete and password manager.

 

Other features include landscape mode, the ability to call a phone number directly from Web page, history and bookmarks.

 

The HTC Touch DiamondT will be available to customers across all major European carriers in June. It will be available later this quarter in Asia and the Middle East. The North American and Latin American versions of the Touch Diamond will be available in the second half of 2008.

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Salesforce.com has announced results for its fiscal first quarter ended April 30, 2008, with first quarter revenues "up 52 percent year-over-year, and well above guidance," according to CEO Mark Benioff.

 

Total Q1 revenue was $247.6 million, an increase of 52 percent on a year-over-year basis and an increase of 14 percent on a quarter-over-quarter basis. Subscription and support revenues were $225.3 million, an increase of 53 percent on a year-over-year basis and an increase of 15 percent on a quarter-over-quarter basis.

 

Q1 GAAP diluted earnings per share were approximately $0.08, including approximately $18 million in stock based compensation and approximately $1.3 million in amortization of purchased intangibles related to previously announced acquisitions. 

 

Net paying customers rose approximately 2,600 during the quarter to approximately 43,600. Compared with the year ago quarter, net paying customers have grown by approximately 11,300.

 

Cash from operations for the fiscal first quarter was approximately $84 million, up 128 percent year-over-year, up 4 percent from Q4, and a company record for the 3rd consecutive quarter. Total cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities finished the quarter at approximately $751 million, up about $303 million from the year prior.

 

Revenue for the company's second fiscal quarter is projected to be in the range of approximately $258 million to approximately $259 million. The company is raising the full year revenue guidance it provided on February 27, 2008, with revenue now expected to be approximately $1.060 billion to approximately $1.065 billion.

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