Ever wonder about how CTRL-ALT-DEL came to be? In this short video clip, CTRL-ALT-DEL inventor David Bradley (yeah, there was an inventor — after all, someone had to code it), explains how this sequence came to be. Bill Gates was not entirely amused, as you’ll also see in the clip.

Silicon.com has this case study about how Britain’s Labour Party upgraded its communications infrastructure in the run up to this year’s general election. During the run up to the election, 250 Labour Party staffers who were out campaigning around the country were able to remotely access email and files from headquarters.

IBM and Avaya announced an agreement to integrate Avaya audio based communication within IBM’s enterprise email, Web conferencing and instant messaging offerings. This will enable click-to-call capabilities in email and instant messaging products and integrated audio capabilities in Web conferences.

Computer Business Review reports that IBM and Hyperion have signed a new agreement to jointly build new business performance management solutions for key verticals including banking, insurance, and federal government. The alliance will bring together Hyperion’s suite of financial analytic applications and business intelligence tools with IBM’s Business Consulting Services organization

IBM today announced that it has been positioned as the number one vendor based on software revenue in 2004, according to IDC’s Worldwide Application Deployment Software 2004, Vendor Shares by Operating Environment. The application deployment software market analyzed by IDC includes application server and integration server software platforms, web server software, transaction server and message oriented middleware, and all of the associated application deployment adapters.

CertifiedMail and EasyLink announce that they are partnering to deliver secure fax services. The system offers direct integration with email clients such as Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes and GroupWise.

eWeek’s Spencer Katt rants about a number of topics, including OS/2 and asks asked if IBM has the same fate in mind for the Lotus brand that it has finally brought upon OS/2.

IBM introduced the z9 line of mainframe computer that is twice as powerful as its predecessor. The new IBM mainframe is also designed to make it easier for companies to increase the security of customer information stored in their computers and to manage data security.

Suppliers of management software are jumping on regulatory compliance concerns by delivering tools that do everything from sound alerts when systems drift out of whack to automatically remediate problems and generate reports that can be used in audits.

Barracuda Networks announced the immediate deployment of firmware version 3.3 for the entire Barracuda Spam Firewall line. This firmware provides several advanced features including new plug-ins for Microsoft Outlook and Lotus Notes that increase Bayesian analysis accuracy.