The Register reports that “

[s]mall computer outfits could see VAT rates slashed to as low as five per cent under new proposals put forward by the European Commission yesterday.  The EC, which is the executive arm of the European Union, said it wants to relax value added tax and state aid rules in a move to help small businesses (SMBs) cut through administrative red tape and promote economic growth.”

PC Pro reveals that “[d]ozens of new undersea internet cables are set to be laid over the next couple of years, providing a huge boost to worldwide capacity.  The huge boom in internet video has led to Domesday scenarios of the internet running out of capacity.  Yet, most of the bandwidth bottlenecks are found in the ‘last mile’ of connections to the home, and not the undersea cables that underpin the worldwide internet infrastructure. Indeed, many experts believe that there is abundant amounts of ‘dark fibre’ that remains unused in oceans across the world.  Nevertheless, the Financial Times reports that major telcos are pushing ahead with projects that will see dozens of new cables laid before the end of the decade.”

The International Herald Tribune writes that “[t]he International Monetary Fund’s international working group of sovereign wealth funds will gather this week to discuss voluntary guidelines aimed at easing Western fears.  […]  Several funds have participated in big investments in banks like Citigroup and UBS, which were reeling from the credit crisis.  Goldman Sachs estimates that U.S. and European banks may need more than $200 billion more in investments. Analysts say banks have already written off $400 billion in bad investments.  But some people have become concerned about the funds’ growing clout, and this could spur protectionism, chilling the climate for foreign investment in the West even as the global economy slows, analysts say.”

ZDNet.com has a good summary of an article in this month’s Harvard Business Review which concludes that “[c]orporate information technology has led to more winner take all markets and a super competitive business environment where players often flame out as quickly as they showed up.”

According to CNetNews.com, “VMware announced on Tuesday the abrupt departure of founder and CEO Diane Greene, replacing her with former Microsoft executive Paul Maritz.  The virtualization software also warned that full-year revenue will be "modestly below the previous guidance of 50 percent growth over 2007." The company did not update its guidance for the just-ended quarter, saying it will report results as scheduled on July 22.  VMware shares plummeted on the news, changing hands recently at $39.50, down $13.69 or more than 25 percent.  The company’s revenue warning is the second recent financial hiccup for VMware, which also reported disappointing earnings in January.”