Microsoft launches skills training blitz; IT news in brief

Microsoft launches skills training effort

Microsoft's new Elevate America project will seek to train up to 2 million people in relevant technologies over the next three years. A new website helps people discover which technical skills are in demand. The vendor will work with states and localities on the training effort and New York, Washington and Florida are the first takers among the states. Microsoft announced the effort on Sunday.

SAP buys technology from Coghead

SAP has acquired the intellectual property rights for Redwood City, Calif.-based Coghead Inc., a Platform as a Service (PaaS) provider, SAP said last week. It will use the PaaS technology internally and has no plans to continue selling it commercially, a spokeswoman told SearchSAP.com. But SAP will bring most of Coghead's engineers aboard, she said. SAP wouldn't say what this means for its foray into the cloud -- an effort stepped up in the fall with the hire of John Wookey, Oracle's former head of applications development.

Two Dell board members to leave

Two Dell directors, Michael Miles and Alan (A.G.) Lafley, will not seek re-election to the board when their terms end in July, Dell said last week. Miles, from Forstmann Little & Co., is retiring after 14 years on the board. Lafley is CEO of Procter & Gamble and is leaving after three years. Dell is looking for replacements.

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