UXC, an Australian-based company that carries enterprise and midmarket financial applications, has picked up the NetSuite line. It's really notable that UXC, formerly known as Eclipse Computing, moved into the new product on the heels of having a client win a Dynamics Customer Excellence award, the heels being about a week old. And specifically, its customer Weightwatchers International won the award for Cloud Transformation.

License sales for Epicor Software's ERP operations fell by 26.3 percent for the first quarter ended December 31, compared to results a year ago. Although that was overcome by a 31-percent increase in services revenue for the same period, this segment was hurt by a weak European economy, CEO Pervez Qureshi said in a conference call late last week. Qureshi also noted that in general, "Uncertainly around election, and the financial cliff and concern about European debt confidence began to erode confidence" during the quarter.

It was always been notable that my 22-year old daughter liked a lot of old music. Not just Led Zeppelin, the Hollies and the Beatles, but Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong. And I attributed this to the Apple iPod – consumers can buy songs they like and not be forced to shell out for an album stuffed with music they do not want. So why should the same not be true of applications. Isn’t this what we are seeing with software?

Sage has done more to simplify its product line in the last two years than it has in the previous 20. The company is selling seven products that it considers non-core. Those in the United States are SalesLogix, Act, and Sage NonProfit Solutions, the old MIP. The deal was for about $145 million, most of it cash.  European products in the mix are C&I, ATL, Automotive and Aytos. This carries forward plans announced last year by chief executive Guy Berruyer to deal with his company's multitudinous product mix.