5. IBM rallies support for 'new Amazon': IBM is planning to launch the Global Applications Marketplace later this year, giving small and midsized businesses a one-stop shop to check out and buy apps from independent software vendors worldwide. Local IBM channel partners will install and manage the applications under the marketplace, which IBM likens to (what else?!) Amazon.com. Companies that have small IT staffs or none at all are expected to particularly benefit from the marketplace.

6. 7 dirty secrets of the security industry: Now, this is why we go to trade shows. Joshua Corman, principal security strategist for IBM/ISS, held forth at Interop this week in Las Vegas with the "seven dirty secrets of the security industry," saying in a discussion that "it's best to have a healthy level of skepticism about what security vendors are trying to tell you." IBM/ISS is, by the way, a security vendor, so he presumably knows the inside scoop. For instance, vendors insist that the network perimeter must be protected, but half of all breaches occur because of lost laptops, thumb drives or other removable data, and most data that is lost doesn't have anything to do with the firewall working or not working. "If you still believe in perimeters, you may as well believe in Santa Claus," he said. Even though we know Corman is now on Santa's Naughty List, the point is well taken.

7. Travel group warns: Corporate data at risk from laptop searches at border: In what is turning into an ongoing story, the latest concern regarding the recent federal court ruling that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials don't need reasonable cause or suspicion to seize or search laptops comes from a travel group warning that corporate data could be at risk. The Association of Corporate Travel Executives is telling its members to limit how much proprietary business data they have on laptops and other electronic devices. Some concerned privacy and travel organizations are urging Congress to get involved, at least to push the Department of Homeland Security to disclose its practices related to such searches, which can include border officials downloading personal data from seized electronics devices.

8. BEA employees hold 'wake' for company: Oracle closed the $8.5 billion deal to acquire BEA systems, prompting BEA employees, who would prefer to remain anonymous, to gather for a "wake" complete with a makeshift casket in one corner. Some of the employees might wind up laid off as the merger takes hold, but even so the gathering was generally cheerful, with various attendees saying that it made sense for Oracle to buy BEA. No hard feelings. "I'm excited about the prospect of the combined entity moving forward," one of them said. Besides which, BEA did right by its workers during the process of the deal being finalized -- "I think BEA did the best it could in putting together plans to take care of employees," said one. "To the best of my knowledge, I won't be offered a position. I'm not on the list," said another. "I don't bear Oracle any malice. I am sad that the passing of BEA because it was just really a great place to work."