The professional services firm is unloading its Cambridge Information Network business, a Web site and service targeting information technology executives, to focus on the expansion of its Internet service offerings, the company said in a statement released late yesterday. In addition to dealing with IT executives on projects, Cambridge said it has begun to serve a wider mix of people, including chief executive officers, chief operating officers and board members.
In recent months, Cambridge has experienced rocky times--dealing with a plummeting stock price, a mass exodus of key executives including founder Jim Sims, and an ongoing failure to meet Wall Street's expectations. Like its competitors EDS and Computer Sciences, Cambridge has been busy shifting its focus to Internet-related projects in order to better compete with more nimble Internet services firms, such as Scient, Viant, Zefer and Proxicom. A handful of the new services firms that have been cropping up and nabbing investors' attention are also led by former Cambridge executives.
In addition to the proposed sale of its unit, Cambridge said it has entered into an agreement with EarthWeb to buy sponsorships and services from its Web sites over the next three years for $1 million a year.
New York-based EarthWeb targets the IT industry with services such as access to technical information, buying and selling products and services online, and professional recruitment via a network of Web sites that includes Earthweb.com, Dice.com, ITKnowledge.com and Datamation.com.