Sponsored by Oracle

After its last high-profile cloud-computing launch, the Office 365, Microsoft has announced that Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, its cloud-based CRM offering, will be available worldwide.

SAP said software sales jumped by about a third in the fourth quarter, boosting operating margins and sending its share higher, despite continued uncertainty over U.S. litigation.

UBS Securities upgraded PC giant Hewlett-Packard to buy from neutral, citing improving growth prospects for the majority of HP's segments through 2011.

Advanced Micro Devices said Monday its chief executive Dirk Meyer has resigned with immediate effect and appointed senior vice president and chief financial officer Thomas Seifert as interim CEO.

S&P Equity Research predicts big developments for the Internet segment in 2011, including continuing challenges for Google, changes at Yahoo, and a cloud offering from Apple.

SAP AG must pay Oracle Corp prejudgment interest on a recent $1.3 billion copyright infringement verdict, but not at the formula suggested by Oracle, according to a judge's ruling filed on Tuesday.

Hewlett-Packard Co's former chief executive, Mark Hurd, asked to intervene in a Delaware shareholder lawsuit as he tries to keep private a letter tied to his abrupt departure.

Key patent lawsuits that punctuated the smartphone industry in 2010.

Big players of the U.S. technology sector, who are flush with cash and looking to expand their horizon, returned to the merger and acquisition space this year after recovering from the 2009 recession.

Hoping for some monetary damages, Hopewell Culture & Design have sued Apple and Android makers for the infringement of double-click patent.

Data warehousing company Teradata announced its acquisition of cloud-based integrated marketing software maker Aprimo for $525 million to boost its analytics portfolio to counter Oracle, IBM and Microsoft.

The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: Arena Pharmaceuticals, Finisar, InterMune, AutoNavi Holdings, SGOCO Group, Atmel, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Art Technology Group, and Oracle.

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the departure of Mark Hurd as the chief Executive officer from Hewlett-Packard Co. (NASDAQ:HPQ) as part of its broad inquiry in to various claims, including insider trading by the former executive.

Amazon said several applications of Oracle are now available in its Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, a commercial web service that allows customers to rent computers on which to run their own computer applications.

Wall Street may have underestimated a recovery in corporate spending, judging by stronger-than-expected results and outlooks from business software maker Oracle Corp and technology services firm Accenture Plc .

The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: InterMune, YRC Worldwide, Take-Two Interactive Software, Oracle, China Sunergy, Veeco Instruments, Research In Motion, China MediaExpress Holdings, Powerwave Technologies, and MIPS Technologies.

The companies which are expected to see active trade in Friday are Oracle, Accenture, Research In Motion, MasterCard and Lincoln National.

Unlikely cronies Apple, EMC and Oracle are part of the Microsoft-led consortium CPTN Holdings, which acquired 882 Novell patents as part of Attachmate's $2.2 billion acquisition of Novell.

The top after-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: YRC Worldwide, Take-Two Interactive Software, Oracle, Iconix Brand Group, Rightnow Technologies, Dress Barn, Activision Blizzard, Research In Motion, China MediaExpress Holdings, and OmniVision Technologies.

Stocks rose, likely boosted by a drop in jobless claims and an optimistic forecast by FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX), ahead of post-closing earnings reports from Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) and Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL).

Oracle Corp forecast that its profit in the current quarter will beat Wall Street estimates, suggesting that its strategy of offering a one-stop shop for software and hardware is paying off.

U.S. stocks advanced in early trade on Thursday, following better-than-expected initial jobless claims and housing starts data.

Futures on major U.S. stock indices remained-range bound on Thursday ahead of economic data, including key weekly U.S. jobs data from the government.

The companies which are expected to see active trade in Thursday are Oracle, Accenture, Research In Motion, Danaher, FedEx and General Mills.

Oracle Corp., one of the world's biggest enterprise software makers, is expected to report better-than-expected numbers, when it reports second quarter results today after the market closes.

HP has bagged a five-year $1.4 billion technology infrastructure outsourcing deal with German utility giant E.ON.

Oracle Corp is seeking another $211 million from SAP AG on top of the $1.3 billion jury verdict it won last month after a widely watched copyright infringement trial.

Chronology: Key events that highlight Apple's march this year

Patent collecting company Intellectual Ventures, which was started by former Microsoft CTO Nathan Myhrvold, has filed patent lawsuits against nine companies.