3rd September 1998 Archive

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Internet domain tax to be used for proper means

Judge confirms its legality

The Internet domain tax is once again being used for its intended purpose -- building a higher-speed network. Federal Judge Thomas Hogan had ruled in April that the tax was unconstitutional because the National Science Foundation had no authority to impose it, but he has now confirmed its legality after Congress retroactively …

Business 3 Sep 1998, 09:29
Ballmer suggests NT 5.0 delayed

Top half of next year, he says

Windows NT 5.0 may be further delayed. Microsoft president Steve Ballmer, speaking after the Seybold conference in San Francisco yesterday, seemed to be preparing the ground when he said: "We're still a little bit away, longer than we'd like, from shipping NT5." He told the conference that Microsoft expected to ship NT5 "the top …

Business 3 Sep 1998, 09:37
Seybold delegates just say no to Adobe-Quark merger

No energy in movement to synergy

It's a thumbs down by users to a merger between Adobe and Quark, to according several hundred attendees at a user session at the Seybold 98 publishing conference in San Francisco yesterday. No Adobe or Quark representatives were present, on legal advice, while Quark is trying to acquire Adobe. There was more sentiment for Adobe …

Business 3 Sep 1998, 09:40
IBM couple with C&W in widely leaked deal

Meanwhile fast fibre optic cable in place

IBM is to manage Cable & Wireless Communications' computers in an outsourcing deal worth $3 billion over ten years and finally agreed yesterday after five months of negotiation. The deal was comprehensively leaked last month. The agreement is said to be the largest ever between a telco (C&W in number two in the UK) and an IT …

Business 3 Sep 1998, 09:42
Microsoft licence policy crumbles under fire

Microsoft staff break own Terminal Server licence agreement shock horror

Microsoft has no plans to change its thin client licensing policies - but under heavy fire from users at this week's Citrix Thinergy conference in Orlando, Florida, the company conceded that this and other licensing issues were under review. Many observers felt the current policy was unsustainable, and that Microsoft would …

Business 3 Sep 1998, 10:46
Novell snuggling up to Citrix for enterprise pitch?

Synergy at Thinergy

The late arrival of Novell as a sponsor for Citrix's first Thinergy thin client-server computing conference this week surely means that Eric Schmidt and his company are planning a rapprochement with the Florida company. Speaking to The Register last night Citrix chairman Ed Iacobucci claimed only a passing acquaintance with …

Business 3 Sep 1998, 10:50
Citrix to intro high spec network management tools

Highly granular, too

Citrix's drive to evolve itself into a far broader-based networking company will be reinforced via two new systems currently under development, and demonstrated at Thinergy this week. The products currently codenamed Ascot and Gemini are both aimed at easing network administration problems, and will both beef-up Citrix's own …

Business 3 Sep 1998, 11:09
Add on memory modules get price hike

Server demand the possible cause

Two Japanese companies have taken a unilateral decision to raise the price of add on memory modules for PCs from the beginning of this month. Melco and IO Data Devices raised the price of their 64Mb and 128Mb modules by around 20 per cent, suggesting that demand for servers which use the parts is great. Roy Taylor, joint …

Business 3 Sep 1998, 11:29
Cyrix wins Casio as customer

Low powered version to be used in A5 mini-notebook

Chip company NatSemi-Cyrix has won Casio as a customer for a new version of its Media GX processor. The company said that Casio will use its MMX enhanced low voltage Media GX processor in a range of A5 mini notebooks, which will become available in Japan towards the end of this year. The chip, which includes MMX instructions, …

Business 3 Sep 1998, 11:52
LG Semicon and Hyundai to merge

Top five chaebols split businesses

The big five South Korean conglomerates (chaebols) have struck a deal in which they will swap businesses, including semiconductor manufacture. Hyundai and LG Semicon have struck a last minute deal to create a single chip firm but have not yet resolved their differences over who has the majority ownership. (See story, yesterday …

Business 3 Sep 1998, 12:17
Compaq first off block with mobile PII/300

Company will keep elements of Digital ultra thin notebooks

Compaq is set to be first off the block with a range of Armada machines to be launched the same day as Intel introduces its PII/300MHz mobile on September 9. Channel sources said that on that day Compaq will introduce the Armada 6500, based on Digital's Ultra 2000, the 3500, which will use the PII/300MHz mobile chip and the …

Business 3 Sep 1998, 14:41
IBM Micro denies it will stop making CPUs

Jobs could go if stories true

IBM Microelectronics has formally denied it is to exit the processor market after first NatSemi-Cyrix and then AMD disclosed details of their future plans. A representative of the Geneva-based company in Europe said: "There has been no agreement made to sever the relationship between Cyrix and IBM. Nothing has happened." That …

Business 3 Sep 1998, 14:56
3Com has 56K patent in its pocket

Brett Townshend connection comes good

The battle over who owns 56Kbps modem technology took a further turn yesterday when Stanford University associate professor Brent Townshend was granted a patent for his pulse code modulation (PCM) technology. Townshend and his corporate sponsor, 3Com, which last year bought the exclusive rights to Townshend's patents, both claim …

Business 3 Sep 1998, 15:05
VESA flat-packs monitor standard

Compaq and HP are committed

The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) has approved a proposal, submitted by Compaq and Hewlett-Packard, to begin work on the DFP interface. The immediate aim of the project is to make DFP proposal and P&D standard fully compatible standards, and in the long term, to shift the industry to the P&D standard. The DFP …

Business 3 Sep 1998, 15:08
French language discovers email

But when will they eat snail mail?

It's official-'email' is now a legitimate word in French, following its inclusion in the latest edition of the Robert dictionary, France's equivalent to the language-defining Oxford English Dictionary. 'Surfer' too is now acceptable to French speakers describing Web users. Well known for their disapproval of the inclusion of …

Business 3 Sep 1998, 15:22
SCH Technologies touts storage management consultancy

It's a storage thing, you wouldn't understand

SCH Technologies, the US provider of storage management software solutions and services, today announced the launch of a new storage-specific consultancy unit, the Trilliant Group. SCH says the launch is in response to growing customer demand for outside help in finding the staff with the level of expertise needed to properly …

Business 3 Sep 1998, 15:26
Quake founder fakes death

It was the morbid picture wot done it

John Romero, co-developer of ultra-violent shoot-'em-ups Doom and Quake, was the subject of widespread panic among the PC gaming community when news leaked out that he had been shot dead. The co-founder of games developer Ion Storm was pictured on a pathologist's slab, apparently the victim of a bullet wound to the head. Two Ion …

Business 3 Sep 1998, 15:31
STMicroelectronics tipped to buy Siemens fab

Great Stan of Spin Mandelson could be involved

Sources at chip distributors said today that the likely candidate to buy the state of the art fabrication plant that Siemens said it would close in early August is STMicroelectronics. The French company, formerly called SGS Thomson, has the funds and the will to snap the company up, one source close to the discussions said. But …

Business 3 Sep 1998, 15:33
4Front posts improved Q2 profits

Growth prospects are "strong"

4Front Technologies has posted its results for the quarter ending July 31, showing a 46 per cent increase in revenue on the same period last year. Net income in Q2 was $1.235 million on total revenue of $27.42 million. In the comparable period last year, net income was $677,000 on revenue of $18.8 million. Anil Doshi, chairman …

Business 3 Sep 1998, 15:38
Creative proposes Value for SoundBlaster Live!

But Europe will have to wait

Creative Labs has launched a lower-cost version of its new Sound Blaster Live! audio card. The "Value" version of the card will start shipping next week in the States at an RRP of $99.99, the company said. A Spokesman for Creative Labs said that a Pan-European release is planned for some time before Christmas, but that no dates …

Business 3 Sep 1998, 15:45
Eicon name removed from Holocaust slave labour suit

Mistaken identity quickly rectified

A subsidiary of Eicon Technology was wrongly named in a Holocaust slave labour lawsuit, but the company has now been removed from the list of defendants. The complaint, filed against the company last Sunday in the US District Court, Eastern District of New York, accused it of the use of slave labour during World War II. The …

Business 3 Sep 1998, 16:03
Big Blue offers "try and buy" for thin clients

Wants customers to sample software

IBM today said it was offering a "try and buy" scheme for Network Stations, with the offer aimed at the reseller market. The company said that it will offer Network Station Manager Software (Release 3.0 for NT) which will include MetafFrame Systems, WinCenter for MetaFrame, SmartSuite from Lotus. Resllers will be offered the …

Business 3 Sep 1998, 16:28
In-Stat gives Intel No.1 position on Lan/motherboard solutions

News will dismay 3Com

A market research company has said that Intel is the number one provider of Lan on motherboard solutions. The In-Stat groups quarterly report on the NIC market said that Intel had a 44 per cent market share in the second quarter of this year, with its nearest competitor lagging behind it with a 12 per cent market share. …

Business 3 Sep 1998, 16:42