Data Management

San Jose, Calif. -- Verifone Systems said Tuesday that it has secured a deal with French department store chain Galeries Lafayette to handle its payment solutions and services over a five-year contract period.

The agreement includes managed services, software, helpdesk and 3,200 of VeriFone’s VX 820 advanced PIN acceptance devices that support credit, debit and EMV transactions, and include integrated NFC/contactless technology for alternative payments.

Purchase, N.Y. — MasterCard Advisors, a division of MasterCard, and analytics firm Mu Sigma announced a new partnership to develop analytic products toward solving business challenges such as acquiring customers and increasing customer loyalty.

As part of the partnership, MasterCard has acquired an equity stake in Mu Sigma. Additional terms of the deal were not disclosed.

AutoZone has elected Linda A. Goodspeed to its board of directors. Goodspeed is SVPand chief information officer (CIO) of The ServiceMaster Company, a position she has held since 2011.

"Linda's extensive background in information technology and the automotive industry will complement and enhance the collective skills of our Board," said Bill Rhodes, chairman, president and CEO. "We are fortunate to have her as a new board member."

Prior to joining The ServiceMaster Company, Goodspeed was VP information systems for Nissan North America.

Redwood Shores, Calif. -- Oracle Corp. said on Monday it has agreed to buy Acme Packet for $29.25 per share or approximately $1.7 billion, net of Acme Packet’s cash.
 
Acme Packet, which is based in Bedford, Mass., makes networking equipment that allows customers to deliver voice, video and data across Internet networks for tasks such as video conferencing.
 

Tampa, Fla. -- Applied Data Corp. said Wednesday that regional grocery chain Carlie C’s has selected ADC’s – a provider of fresh item management, recipe management, and scales management software – InterScale Scales Management Software system.
 


Redwood Shores, Calif. -- Kohl’s Department Stores has selected Oracle Retail Merchandising, Planning and Supply Chain solutions to seamlessly integrate core retail operations across the company’s 1,146 stores nationwide. The solutions will provide Kohl’s with an integrated, scalable retail suite of applications to streamline merchandising and planning while enabling its multi-channel growth strategy.

Schenectady, N.Y. -- Price Chopper Supermarkets/Golub Corp. announced that Sam Wagar has been promoted to the position of VP technical services, reporting directly to R. Gregory Zeh, Jr., VP Information Systems, CIO.

In his new position, Sam will be responsible for assessing, maintaining and recommending technology products and services to support the delivery of enterprise-wide technical services. He will oversee the corporate help desk, technical maintenance, technical operations, technical services and information integration.

Portland, Ore. -- Survey results released Monday by Infogroup Targeting Solutions and Yesmail Interactive found that almost 70% of companies plan to spend more on data-related marketing initiatives in 2013, with a heavy emphasis on hiring.

More than half of the respondents surveyed said they plan on adding new employees to oversee their data efforts this year, including analysts and executives.

Vista, Calif. -- Consumer electronics recycler E-World Online said Wednesday that it has teamed with Costco Wholesale Corp. on the launch of a national program to make managing merchandise returns more sustainable.

E-World Online’s Retail Return Program will track returned merchandise and find markets for reusable or recyclable products. Costco has implemented, trained and deployed E-World Online’s RRP program in all of its U.S. warehouses, making it the largest such retail return program, according to E-World Online.

The global data management organization known as 1WorldSync named Gary Lo as its new CFO.

Lo spent the past 15 years in finance roles at Johnson & Johnson and other leading companies. At 1WorldSync he will be responsible for global finance, accounting, treasury, internal controls and legal functions.