Briefs

SAP Ports to Linux

SAP AG said a promised Linux version of its R/3 applications has started shipping and is in the hands of more than 100 customers. The German vendor added that its data warehousing and online procurement packages are scheduled to get support for the open-source operating system by midyear.

Transaction Partners

Resonate Inc. and Whale Communications have announced a partnership to offer high-performance secure communications between external electronic-business transactions and back-office data.

Whale's e-Gap secure platform shuttles transactions between extranet and supply-chain applications, eliminating a need to open a hole in an organization's firewall. Resonate's technology will provide high availability and scalable performance capabilities.

IBM Inventory Apps

IBM and Swedish software vendor Industri-Matematik International Corp. plan to announce a combined set of inventory replenishment applications aimed at retailers. The software, which is supposed to let users build plans for restocking store shelves based on actual purchases, starts at about $1 million.

HP's Self-Help Desk

Hewlett-Packard Co. unveiled a Web-based technical support service designed to make it easier for end users to troubleshoot and fix many hardware and software problems themselves. The Instant Support Web portal, available in April to HP customers, will help users self-diagnose problems on PCs, printers, mobile computers and workstations.

Short Takes

Informix Corp. has announced it will sell Virage Inc. video indexing products to worldwide broadcast and related markets. ... Exchange Applications Inc. has released eXstatic 2.0 eCampaign Designer, a permission-based e-mail marketing tool for real-time reporting.