11th September 1998 Archive

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Intel-3Com deal rumoured

But a merger would seem injudicious

The Wall Street rumour mill came up with a possible Intel-3Com merger yesterday on the somewhat flimsy grounds that Intel staff have been visiting 3Com HQ a lot recently. Between them Intel and 3Com have 70 per cent of the network interface card market, but although that could be seen as a justification for merger (aka Intel …

Business 11 Sep 1998, 07:52
First Globalstar satellites go pop

Launch failure hits schedule, shares

Motorola satellites go haywire at a slow drip rate, but Globalstar goes a lot further - the first 12 in its network vanished in a ball of fire this week as a Ukrainian Zenit 2 blew up five minutes after lift-off. The explosion cost $160 million and whacked 40 per cent of Globalstar's stock. Loral Space & Communications, …

Business 11 Sep 1998, 07:54
Gates scores BackOffice deal with phone company

Deployment to include NT Terminal Server systems

Bill Gates' swing through Europe this week has won its first concrete result - a potentially lucrative BackOffice-to-Windows CE deal with Italian mobile phone consortium Wind. Wind is effectively a green-field site, having only recently won Italy's third mobile phone licence; it's a consortium of state-owned energy company ENEL …

Business 11 Sep 1998, 07:56
Clinton could force Web to its knees

Starr report to cause certain congestion

The publication of the 445-page Starr "referral" into the alleged obstruction of justice, perjury, and power abuse by President Clinton may cause the Net to grind to a halt today between 14h00 and 16h00 East Coast time (19h00 to 21h00 London). The Web is increasingly being seen as the first port of call for avid news readers -- …

Business 11 Sep 1998, 09:26
Our Larry's Q1 an Oracular good one

Ellison's software company storms in

Larry Ellison, confounding critics who though he had NC-itis and was neglecting the main business, was able to announce a record first quarter for Oracle last night. Revenue increased 28 per cent, and net income 30 per cent compared with the year-earlier quarter, excluding one-time charges for the acquisition of Treasury …

Business 11 Sep 1998, 09:34
Intel layoffs and efficiencies mean brighter Q3

Gross margins will rise to 52 per cent

Intel has predicted a bright third quarter, particularly in the US and Europe, because of what it described as stronger than anticipated demand. It has managed to cut its costs by laying off staff and improving its manufacturing process. That will mean its revenue for the third quarter will exceed its expectations. When it …

Business 11 Sep 1998, 10:04
Microsoft, Infoseek deal bit of a puzzler

WebTV deal behind the scenes

At first it's a little puzzling as to why Microsoft has done a deal with Infoseek to provide search and directory services for WebTV, which gives Internet access to television viewers who have the necessary additional box. Infoseek will pay Microsoft $26 million for a two-year deal (it's that way round because of the revenue …

Business 11 Sep 1998, 10:12
Any portal in a storm?

First browser war gives way to first portal war

The browser wars went away, but have been replaced by portal wars. Nobody really yet knows if portals will prove to be enduring, or whether surfers will be sufficiently loyal to keep advertisers spending. E*Trade, one of the more popular Internet share trading sites in the US, finally launched its portal yesterday, and made more …

Business 11 Sep 1998, 10:13
NatSemi reports big loss for Q1 '99

Halla still cautious about market turning

As expected, National Semiconductor reported a big loss for its first quarter of its 1999 financial year. Turnover dropped by eight per cent compared to Q4 of 1998 and it showed a net loss of $104.8 million on turnover of $469.6 million. That compares unfavourably with a profit in the equivalent quarter last year of $62 million …

Business 11 Sep 1998, 10:33
Adobe Mac support questioned

And its Q3 results were flat too

Adobe has vigorously denied it is canning support for the MacOS after posting disappointing Q3 results. The allegation appeared in yesterday's San Jose Mercury, which quoted an unnamed Adobe engineer as saying "not going to support Macintosh". Adobe says this is untrue. Adobe's fortunes have long been pegged to Apple's, and the …

Business 11 Sep 1998, 11:00
DRAM glut turns Toshiba profits into loss

News will send shock waves round DRAM world

Toshiba is the latest of the Japanese giants to show acute signs of discomfort from the slump in DRAM prices. The company today sharply revised its forecast for the current financial year and has now said it will make a loss of five billion yen, compared to an earlier forecast profit of $10 billion yen. In a statement, the …

Business 11 Sep 1998, 11:17
Warnock promised threat was no warning – here it is

Special to The Register

John Warnock, Adobe's chairman, delivered on the warning of lower profits for its third quarter ended 28 August. Net income was just $152,000 on revenue of $223 million, with earnings per share of $0.01. Restructuring costs associated with a 12 per cent reduction of staff were $37 million. Excluding non-recurring costs, the …

Business 11 Sep 1998, 13:21
Corel – Cowpland faces Office situation

Special to The Register

Opinion is divided as to whether Corel will emerge from six successive quarters of losses. The third quarter's results, to be released in a couple of weeks, are also expected to show a loss, although CEO Mike Cowpland says that expectations will be exceeded -- and that the fourth quarter will be profitable. The cause of the …

Business 11 Sep 1998, 13:27
Minks back with a vengeance – US to blame

intro

Down in Cardiff, which we are told is in Wales, there is a group of boffins telling us all kinds of interesting things. So far this week we have had GPS to within half a centimetre, despite the fact it is non-year 2000 compliant but today's report took the biscuit. Boffin MacDonald, who claims to be from Oxford University, told …

Business 11 Sep 1998, 13:39
Anixter retires from European reselling business

South African buyer...and it's not Datatec

Anixter International, the US networking and cabling distributor, is selling off its European network integration unit… because it says the $80 million t/o business is too small. The company is selling ACI (Anixter Communications and Integrations) to South African Persetel Q DataHoldings, for an undisclosed sum. The two …

Business 11 Sep 1998, 21:08