NetSuite has continued to go upmarket but is not neglecting the low-end users. COO Jim McGeever said during a press and anlayst session at this week's Suiteworld conference that "we are somewhat re-invigorating our low-end efforts. McGeever later explained that the company is hiring and training recent college graduates to go after companies with fewer than 50 users.

Three cofounders of the former Lawson Software have agreed to pay $5.8 million to settle SEC charges of insider trading. The SEC accused Richard Lawson, chairman of the former Lawson Software, of tipping off his brother and John Cerullo about the impending purchase of the company by Infor. The two were given advance information about terms and passed on that data to a third party before it closed in April 2011. The three made $2 million in profits on their trades. Cerullo and both Lawsons co-founded the software company.

360 Cloud Solutions has taken over Lohmueller Consulting. Both are NetSuite resellers and Lohmueller was one of the early members of the cloud company's channel. Lohmueller Consulting, which became a NetSuite VAR in September 2002, was NetSuite Partner of the Year for 2004. Rufus Lohmueller, chair of the NetSuite Business Partner Advisor Council, founded his Cary, N.C.-based company in 1986. The deal was announced this week by NetSuite CEO Zach Nelson with neither VAR issuing a press statement.

The Sage Group reported a before tax profit of about $278 million for the first half ended March 31. The compares to a loss of about $13.5 million for the first half of fiscal 2013. And in general everyone on the Sage earnings webcast this week sounded happy. Revenue hit roughly $1.1 billion. That was up 4.9 percent organically, but down 7 percent in historical terms. The company says the drop reflects the disposal products in March and April 2103. That would include SalesLogix, Act and the product now known as Abila MIP.