Blogging Roller

I really enjoyed Sam Ruby's talk on SOAP at the Triangle JUG meeting tonight. Sam has a special skill for breaking things down to fundamental, easy-to-understand, thought-units, and then putting them back together and showing how the pieces fit together to do interesting things. Using this approach, Sam showed the audience that SOAP does not have to be complex and can be understood using the same view-source approach that we all used to learn HTML. He also took some shots at SOAP's dim-witted half-brother (those were not Sam's words) XML-RPC, but that flew right past the crowd because, frankly, outside of the meta-blogging clique, XML-RPC is just the fork that fizzled.

I'll be honest with you: I don't remember why I used the title "Only 5 Java-based databases?" Too much hefeweizen, maybe? I did not mean to spark controversy, but I like the results. Eric follows up by listing 7 more Java-based databases: QED, tinySQL, Daffodil DB, JDataStore, XL2, JDBM, and Jsdbm.

There were a number of positive stories in the Raleigh News and Observer over the last couple of days. Here are the ones that caught my eye:

SAS software revenue up 18.6%

Cary-based SAS hired several hundred new employees last year and retrained its sales staff to sell software packages aimed at specific business problems. Davis differentiates the new sales strategy by calling it "solutions sales" vs. "tools sales." [...] Currently, SAS is in the position to buy other software companies and is looking at several opportunities, Davis said. "There are a lot of good players that have been creamed by the market."

Wireless technology company Inphonics aquires Avesair of Cary.

InPhonic, which acquired Cary-based GadgetSpace in December 2001, has effectively swallowed four Triangle wireless start-ups. GadgetSpace merged with Ericsson spin-off BrightPod weeks before its acquisition by InPhonic. Avesair, for which InPhonic paid a so-far undisclosed amount of stock, merged with Morrisville wireless start-up WindWire last year. [...] "InPhonic is one of the few companies I know who is able to cobble [together] all these companies and not just buy empty desks," said Roger Entner, a wireless technology analyst for The Yankee Group research firm. "They actually use the intellectual property and keep the people."

Computer chip maker Infineon adds 400 new jobs.

North Carolina won the expansion after promising the company $9.5 million in economic incentives, making it the first beneficiary of a grant program enacted by the legislature last year. [...] Under terms of its deal with the state, the company has to meet a series of benchmarks to reap the rewards of the grant. For example, it must add 110 jobs by the end of this year and must sustain new positions for 11 years. [...] As part of the pact, Infineon also promised to invest at least $8 million during two years in the Cary office.