SAP revenue falls

In today's podcast: SAP results; Jive 4; and IBM sells sales team to Dassault Systemes.

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SAP's revenue fell in the third quarter, but earnings rose -- although neither figure was as high as analysts had hoped. Revenue totalled two and half billion euros, down 9 percent, while net income rose 12 percent to 435 million euros. SAP expects the decline in revenue from software and software-related services to accelerate. The company's plan to reduce staff numbers to save money is going well. It now has around 700 staff fewer than its original target.

Jive has given its enterprise social-networking software what it calls its biggest overhaul yet, giving users the ability to collaborate on Microsoft Office files and to use the product from mobile devices, including an application built specifically for the iPhone. Jive will release Social Business Software 4 on Tuesday, complete with a new "connector" that allows users to jointly author, view, annotate and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint files.

IBM has agreed to sell a sales and support unit that handles Dassault Systemes Product Lifecycle Management software to that company for about 600 million dollars. Seven hundred IBM employees will move to Dassault Systemes, and the French company will also inherit the support contracts for 1,000 PLM. The move will simplify support processes for some customers, Dassault Systemes said. The company is known mainly for its CATIA software, used for computer-aided design, manufacturing and engineering.

Wikipedia's plan to vet anonymous edits for certain high-profile entries in the online encyclopedia should be in place by December for the English-language version, according to Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales. The system, called "flagged revisions," will only allow anonymous users to make changes to certain pages if their changes are approved by an editor. The system is already in place for the German version of Wikipedia.

Former AMD CEO Hector Ruiz allegedly shared confidential information with a Wall Street trader connected to an insider-trading scandal, according to a news report on Tuesday. A criminal case filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleges that an AMD executive shared confidential information about the company's reorganization in 2008 with a Wall Street executive. The AMD executive wasn't named in the court filing, but the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that it was Ruiz

And those are the top stories from the IDG Global IT News Update, brought to you by the IDG News Service. I'm Peter Sayer in Paris. Join us again later for more news from the world of technology.