Web-based communication

Etelos announced it has become an authorized reseller of the Google Apps suite of online communication and collaboration tools. Google Apps will be distributed via multiple SaaS marketplaces that are based on the Etelos Platform Suite. Etelos is a developer and operator of private labeled marketplaces for Web-based business applications. The Etelos Platform Suite is the foundation for moving apps from a proprietary model to SaaS and it enables syndication partners to offer their applications through multiple private labeled SaaS marketplaces. Google Apps, as part of the Etelos Syndication program, will be made available to a variety of businesses in the manufacturing, service and financial industries.

Cisco is out with an integrated set of product offerings dubbed the Cisco Virtual Office. This is turnkey telecommuting for companies with a bit of money in the bank: Earth2Tech got ballpark estimates of a couple of hundred thousand dollars to spin up an installation. For that price, you get secure routers, IP phones, and software designed to enforce corporate security policies across the widely-distributed enterprise - right into telecommuters’ homes.

Net telephone service Skype Technologies is set to make its first appearance in a U.S. retail store. The Luxembourg-based Net telephony company, founded by the people behind the Kazaa peer-to-peer service, is expected to announce on Monday that it has struck a partnership with consumer electronics chain RadioShack. ***

Network software provider Novell released a third test version of an incremental upgrade to its NetWare operating system, hoping to capitalize on continued delays in the delivery of Microsoft's Windows 2000. Novell executives said the upgrade--called NetWare 5.1--is intended to spur interest among the company's sprawling installed base of server systems through extensive support for Web-based technologies that could make it easier for third-party developers to build applications. The company said it intended to release a final version of NetWare 5.1 in the first quarter of next year. Executives said approximately 12 percent of customers have upgraded to the company's current NetWare 5.0 version, which has been on the market one year. Novell originally disclosed plans for the upgrade, previously code-named Cobra, in May of this year. ***

Avicenna Systems became the latest Internet start-up to target an the health care field today with a new Web site designed to provide medical professionals with the latest health information over the Net. Avicenna follows another start-up formed earlier this year by Netscape Communications founder Jim Clark called Healtheon. That company seeks to deliver services by the fall that will allow consumers to enroll in health plans and obtain benefit information over the Web without the usually cumbersome paperwork. The first customer to sign up for Avicenna's services is Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, which is also Healtheon's maiden client. ***