Three brief items

1. What is the "ethernet"?

A couple of entries ago, I described MRV Communications as a "networking/ethernet company." What does that mean? Networking is the broader term. All computer operating systems nowadays are "networking," i.e. they all support internet protocol at a minimum. "Ethernet" is a more specific term, referring to a particular local-area network (LAN) architecture.

2. General Growth Properties

GGP, the mall operator and a Delaware chartered corporation, remains in bankruptcy court, where it has been since its filing in April, in the Manhattan bankruptcy court.

The case is shaking up ideas about special purpose entities and what is or isn't bankruptcy remote. Walter Kurtz writes that "structurers are quickly moving away from Delaware" as a result of developments in this litigation, and that the Caymans will be their new charterer of choice.

3. Dell offers $3.9 billion for Perot Systems.

Analysts who cover Dell have long said that it was too tightly focused on hardware and should diversify into the software side of the industry. This it now appears intent on doing, by purchasing a company founded by a former independent presidential candidate.

Perot, I'm told, is a juicy target because it has contracts with hospital groups, and any reform of the healthcare system that does come out of this or ensuing Congresses will almost surely include a push to digitize healthcare, which of course means work for Perot. I'll try not to wax conspiratorial here, or even to mutter about crony capitalism.