By Alana Grelyak

Welcome to December! Our last NewsWatch of 2008 contains a plethora of information, because yours truly had the opportunity to have first-hand discussions with many vendors in Orlando last month. We've also included news from outside the world of Orlando, so whether you were there or you weren't, after reading this month's NewsWatch, you should be filled in on everything we think you need to know. Enjoy!

Sprint Nextel's financial future isn't looking any better after all this time. The company reported on November 7 the loss of 1.3 million more customers and a rather large sum of $326 million. The company has now begun offering a voluntary buyout to its employees, who have until December 3 to accept the package and go on their merry ways. Clearly, the company is trying to minimize its workforce in the face of more impending financial troubles. As of publishing, Sprint hasn't yet announced any planned layoffs, but they seem likely to arise after setting a deadline for employees to gracefully bow out. Sprint Nextel's stocks have, probably like their employees' morale, also fallen.

In the wild world of acquisitions, Amdocs has announced its agreement to acquire Changing Worlds Ltd., a privately-held provider of personalization and intelligent portal solutions for mobile service providers. Amdocs is of the opinion that the acquisition will make it easier for customers to navigate the Internet on their phones. Amdocs has plans to expand the technology to mobile, PC, and television. "Personalization is a cornerstone of Amdocs' strategy to offer Customer Experience Systems and ChangingWorlds is a recognized global expert in this area," said Dov Baharav, chief executive officer of Amdocs Management Limited. "ChangingWorlds' dynamic portal offerings surpass the traditional 'one- size-fits- all' approach, and no single vendor can match its range and sophistication of personalization services." The deal cost Amdocs around $60 million, with later considerations to be paid if certain performance metrics are reached. The deal should close on or before December 31, the end of Amdocs' fiscal quarter.

specifications, integrated fault and information assurance correlation, automated response to diagnosed network faults and information assurance problems, among other things. "On the battlefield, communications can mean life or death," said Ritu Chadha, Chief Scientist and TITAN Program Manager, Advanced Technology Solutions, Telcordia. "Self-healing, ad hoc mobile networks are designed to ensure secure, reliable communications even under the most extreme conditions, including nodes constantly on the move or destroyed in battle. By leading the TITAN project, Telcordia is not only helping ensure that U.S. troops can stay connected under any conditions, but also developing next-generation technologies that one day can be used to improve the reliability of consumer and enterprise networks." Telcordia, I salute you.

Congratulations to Tekelec, which was named one of "America's 200 Best Small Companies" by Forbes magazine recently. "The Tekelec