The Battle Road Tech Index™ climbed 0.6 percent for the week ended January 8, 2010, closing at 1690. For the week, 16 of the 25 Index components increased in value. Year-to-date, the index is up 0.6 percent, having started at a value of 1600.

The following companies were notable movers for the week:

SAP (NYSE: SAP, $49.54) shares climbed 5.8 percent this week with employment numbers expected to improve. The company has experienced a steep falloff in license sales as its heavily weighted manufacturing customer base struggled in the cyclical downturn. Now running with a leaner organization after significant cost cutting measures, earnings will likely grow quickly if license revenue swings upward.

Shares of Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM, $26.48) rose 4.5 percent this week as recession fears faded. The company offers content delivery services over its extensive network, allowing content providers such as websites, media companies, and cloud-based software companies to enhance the speed and reliability of their products. A spending recovery will benefit Akamai’s customers and likely result in additional business for Akamai. Further, Netflix’s (NASDAQ: NFLX, $53.50) recent agreement with Warner Brothers to expand its library of premium content that can be streamed to Netflix subscribers from its website, is bullish for the CDN industry. Consumers embrace the convenience of watching TV episodes and movies on-demand over the web and with more premium content being made accessible through this avenue, the additional volume of video to be delivered will be shouldered by CDN companies like Akamai.

Shares of Dell (NASDAQ: DELL, $14.85) rose 3.5 percent for the week. On Wednesday, the company announced that it had begun an agreement with AT&T (NYSE: T, $27.10) to sell its new line of smart phones in the US. Dell has established smart phone arrangements with China Mobile, Claro in Brazil, and now AT&T in the US. While the smart phone market is a competitive one, driven by frequent innovation and tight price dynamics, Dell has the opportunity to take share since it has not yet penetrated the market significantly. Dell’s newly acquired services business, Perot Systems, also won a US army contract during the week, extending the business relationship with the Army and providing evidence that the Dell-Perot integration has not jeopardized Perot’s longstanding clients.

Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ, $31.75) fell 4.6 percent this week. Verizon fell earlier in the week after management reminded investors about the troubles facing the economy as well as the telecom industry at an investor conference. Verizon also guided 2009 EPS below consensus of $2.39 to $2.41.