Isec buys out Hostworks
Isec shareholders have approved the company's decision to buy out the remainder of its stake of Web-hosting provider Hostworks and change its listed ASX name to Hostworks Group.
Originally an investment company, Isec owned a major stake in Hostworks before wishing to own it in its entirety and make it the core part of its business. Hostworks is the outsourced Web-hosting provider for sites such as ninemsn and the Australian Cricket Board's baggygreen.com.au, and claims to host more of the country's top 100 Web sites than any other provider.
On announcing the successful merger, Hostworks group MD Marty Gauvin said he expects a quantum leap in sales in coming months with the opening of a Sydney office and an undisclosed "major channel partnership".
Getting the right IDEAS
Australian-born research company IDEAS International has announced it intends to raise $4 million in funding before it launches its $12 million initial public offering (IPO) on the Australian Stock Exchange next month.
The company launched its prospectus earlier this month after receiving IPO approval from the Australian Securities and Investment Commis-sion (ASIC). The additional funding will be offered through 3 million new shares and 1 million existing shares at $1 each - to raise $4 million. This offer is open until the March 12. In addition to the existing 8 million shares announced, the company expects to be worth $12 million.
IDEAS offers market information about price, performance and product data to technology companies such as Compaq, EMC, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Sun Microsystems. Based in Sydney, the company earns over 99 per cent of its revenue from outside Australia.
EbXML almost complete
Bringing the pending technology closer to a final specification, ebXML (e-business XML) standards bodies recently engaged in a series of meetings and working groups.ebXML is a specification for XML-based global infrastructure for e-business transactions, that is being driven by the Organization for the Advance-ment of Structured Information Standards (OASIS).
The working groups at the conference aim to further a number of ebXML pieces, including the Technical Architecture, Registry Information Model and Registry Services specification, all of which currently are out for review.
The goal is to have the final specification ready to be voted on by April 23.
