French firm Dassault Systemes SA has agreed to buy product life-cycle management software developer MatrixOne Inc. for US$408 million in cash. The companies have not decided whether to create a single brand for their three product lines -- Enovia, SmarTeam and Matrix10 -- or to retain the existing brands. Product plans will be disclosed after the close of the deal, which is expected in June.

Federal IT worker pleads guilty to hack

A former IT systems auditor at the U.S. Department of Education faces a five-year prison sentence on a computer hacking charge for secretly monitoring his supervisor's e-mail and computer use. Kenneth Kwak pleaded guilty to unauthorized access to a protected computer in furtherance of a criminal or tortious act, the U.S. Department of Justice said. Kwak was a systems auditor in the agency's Office of the Inspector General.

BEA buys BPM app maker for $87.5M

BEA Systems Inc. last week said it has acquired Fuego Inc., a developer of business process management software, for $87.5 million. The Fuego portfolio of products will be folded into BEA's AquaLogic line and will be the foundation of BEA's AquaLogic Business Service Inter-action product family.