James Liu, the president of Syscom Computer Engineering, a Taiwan-based systems firm, notes that Japan's large software industry has stuck mainly to its domestic market.
By placing its credit-card business and systems firm under the holding company, Mizuho would get handy income to help fill holes made by its banking operations.
Myron Orfield, president of Ameregis, a research and geographic information systems firm in Minneapolis that has analyzed tax data for numerous metropolitan areas, says that revenue sharing is a far superior alternative to a commuter tax.
Burnes isn't complaining, however, since he just sold that communications systems firm, Aptis, to Northern Telecom for $290 million.
Peng T. Ong was the founder and CEO of content-management systems firm Interwoven, which went public on NASDAQ in 1999.
That track record includes taking financial responsibility for Electronic Data Systems, one of the largest IT services firms in the world, and a stint as vice president of automotive safety systems firm, TRW Automotive Holdings.
In another example, Mike Franco, chief executive of California-based smart building systems firm, RiptideIO, says his company implemented a $20m [£12m; 14m euros] energy management system for US drugstore chain, Walgreens.
They sent shares in the Dutch global positioning systems firm down 17.2%, an 11.68 euro ($16.90) drop, to 56.10 euros ($81.15), during afternoon trading in Amsterdam, suggesting they were keen on the acquisition.
