24th September 1998 Archive

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Roundup: yesterday's markets

Stock prices from around the world

Fed chairman Alan Greenspan ignited the world's markets with his suggestion (subject to a vote of the Federal Open Market Committee on Tuesday) that the Fed will cut short-term interest rates next week. The Senate had been about to vote a resolution urging a rate cut, but dropped it on whispers of the Fed's move. It is …

Business 24 Sep 1998, 07:25
Argentine Feds still chase IBMers

A judge has requested extraditions in connection with a fraud case

Argentine Federal Judge Adolfo Bagnasco yesterday formally requested the extradition of two IBM employees to face charges of fraud and bribery. The request was made in connection with a long running Argentine case where it is alleged that $21 million in bribes was paid to secure a contract for IBM Argentina. The two IBM …

Business 24 Sep 1998, 08:43
Ericsson launches ‘world’ phone in US

But customers will still have to wait a while for this pretty little thing

Ericsson yesterday launched the US version of its top-of-the-range GSM phone, the 888, at the PCS 98 show in Orlando, Florida. The US model, the I 888, will be available by the end of the year and will be GSM 900/PCS 1900 dual band, i.e. it will work in the US and with the most common world-wide GSM implementation. The European …

Business 24 Sep 1998, 08:45
Dell to offer ADSL Net access, Compaq plans to trump it

Dell's new service is way behind, says Pfeiffer, who's planning big things in e-commerce

Dell has become the latest PC company to hop into the ISP business, with the launch of Dell ConnectDirect, via agreements with AT&T WorldNet, Excite and SBC Communications. The service will be bundled with US-sold Dell Dimension PCs from this week, and will include an easy sign-on process that allows users to choose ISPs, …

Business 24 Sep 1998, 08:47
Netscape, Lucent team to offer enterprise e-commerce

Remind us - why exactly is it that Microsoft is winning?

Netscape and Lucent have teamed up to sell e-commerce systems to communications service providers and large enterprise customers. The products will be sold under the brand of Lucent ECommerce Solutions, and will consist of a portfolio of consulting services, software and network security products for e-commerce. This is …

Business 24 Sep 1998, 08:49
Roundup: yesterday's markets

Proposed interest rate cut boosts shares

Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan ignited the world's markets with his suggestion (subject to a vote of the Federal Open Market Committee on Tuesday) that the Fed will cut short-term interest rates next week. The Senate had been about to vote a resolution urging a rate cut, but dropped it on whispers of the Fed's move. It …

Business 24 Sep 1998, 09:28
US frees up more visa for IT immigrants

Apply for your 'Get out of Blighty Free' card now

The US IT industry has succeeded in convincing the US government to grant more temporary H-1B visas to overcome the severe shortage of what are nowadays described as engineers. Bill Gates, Andy Grove and others had been prominent in campaigning for the measure. Late yesterday, agreement was reached that the present limit of 65, …

Business 24 Sep 1998, 09:34
Blair's bug buster scheme bogged up

Executives get the dosh that the unemployed don't

Executives are getting cheap computer training with taxpayers' money because everybody has ignored Prime Minister Tony Blair's vision of an army of unemployed trained to kill the Millennium Bug. Blair suggested 20,000 unemployed be trained as programmers to fix the bug across the UK, each getting £1,300 training grants from a £ …

Business 24 Sep 1998, 09:59
Bad taste and bad copy

The column Computing refused to print

Somewhere back I have ancestors from Wales — a place where, as everyone knows, you need half a pint of phlegm in your throat before you can pronounce place names. Sadly I didn't inherit the corollary trait, a sing-song voice — vital not just for getting your larynx around multi-syllabic town names but to entertain while …

Business 24 Sep 1998, 10:19
Nvidia says 3Dfx action a nuisance

Company will vigorously defend patent action

Graphics company Nvidia said that 3Dfx's action on alleged patent infringement is "nuisance litigation". The company said it will vigorously defend itself against the action and had not yet received a formal complaint but only a copy of a 3Dfx press release. Jen-Hsun Hang, CEO and president of Nvidia, said: "In light of recent …

Business 24 Sep 1998, 10:45
Samsung succeeds in producing 1Gb DRAM

Samples with Intel, IBM, Compaq

Samsung has started production of engineering samples of 1Gb SDRAM chips, it has announced. The chips use .18 micron technology and will eventually be fitted to memory modules creating 2Gb DIMMs, said Samsung. Samples are already with Intel, Compaq and IBM. Although it is likely to be some time before full scale production …

Business 24 Sep 1998, 11:10
AOL targets kids, consumers with version 4.0

Pssst. Wanna a copy of AOL 4.0, sonny?

AOL is about to mail a million CD-ROMs a week containing version 4.0 of its software. It will not be AOL's most expensive campaign, however, as in the 1995 and 1996 marketing campaigns, as Abishek Gami, William Blair & Co's Internet analyst, estimates that 100 million disks were despatched. So far, some five million AOL users …

Business 24 Sep 1998, 11:45
Samsung makes plastic LCD breakthrough

Manufacturing process will be much cheaper

Asian wires said that Samsung has managed to develop plastic, rather than glass panels for LCD displays. This is a manufacturing breakthrough, an analyst said. The units will be both lighter and cheaper than the current displays and will be aimed at the growing notebook market where lightness is at a premium. Bob Raikes, chief …

Business 24 Sep 1998, 11:50
California Microwave buys Adaptive Broadband for $11 million

Spin off of Olivetti & Oracle labs sold

California Microwave has bought former Olivetti unit Adaptive Broadband for $11 million in cash. A further $7 million will be paid provided Adaptive reaches its targets. Adaptive was part of the Olivetti and Oracle Research lab before it was spun off as a separate outfit. The unit specialised in delivering wireless Internet …

Business 24 Sep 1998, 12:05
Memory Corp soars on buy note

Limited Competition

Shares in Memory Corp have soared by more than a third in two days, following a buy recommendation from BancBoston Robertson Stephens. Memory Corp's share jumped from 15p to 21.5p on the buy note, But BancBoston analyst Andrew Griffin reckons there is plenty of upside to come. He has set a six-month target of 50p. According to …

Business 24 Sep 1998, 12:20
TriGem deal with Wal-Mart merely a dream

But TriGem has some very cheap PCs indeed

South Korean computer company TriGem has now denied that it has struck a half billion dollar deal with major US retailer Wal-Mart. The Korea Herald, which originally broke the story, said today that reports TriGem had sold 1.3 million PCs to the retailer were untrue. According to the newspaper, TriGem has said it has not even …

Business 24 Sep 1998, 13:23
Documentum momentum

Document domination strategy proceeds apace

Documentum is pressing ahead with its efforts to control documents and provide knowledge management for enterprises. Its latest developments include an application for the investment and banking sector, and for utilities. A recent deal with Sybase has resulted in Sybase's Adaptive Server Enterprise being used with Documentum's …

Business 24 Sep 1998, 13:33
IBM's outsourcing of ThinkPads to Acer could hang on Siemens deal

i-ThinkPads to be manufactured in Germany

IBM is to manufacture a range of PCs aimed at the retail market through an agreement it has with Acer. Sam Dusi, segment product manager of the IBM ThinkPad range, said the units will be produced by Acer in Germany. But that begs the question as to whether the ThinkPad I's, which will cost around $1,599, depend on Siemens and …

Business 24 Sep 1998, 13:33
Cisco boss attempts to nix Ciena takeover rumours

Ciena doesn't measure up, says CEO

Cisco CEO John Chambers moved to crush continuing speculation that his company has targetted optical telecoms equipment manufacturer Ciena for acquisition. Chambers said Ciena had a number of "serious shortfalls" which left the company wanting as a potential purchase. He cited common vision, long-term strategic importance, short …

Business 24 Sep 1998, 14:34
US cellular outfits forge alliance

But aimed at whom?

An alliance of sorts has been forged between the two rival cellular standard in the US, but it's not as yet entirely clear against whom it is being directed. The deal was announced yesterday between the North American GSM alliance, which represents US GSM companies running PCS 1900 services, and the Universal Wireless …

Business 24 Sep 1998, 15:19
Fujitsu sees 32-way commodity servers by 2000

Interconnect technology allows use of standard parts and OS

Fujitsu claims a memory latency (ie. response time) of four times that of local memory, compared with 16-plus times for a comparable Data General or Sequent system. Synfinity at the moment can be used to allow customers to buy a four-way system which can be upgraded to eight by simply adding another four-way box and a Synfinity …

Business 24 Sep 1998, 15:21
iMac appeals to women – semi official

Apple wants aggressive ramp in Japan, Asia

The Times of India reported today that most people buying iMacs in Asia were female. The newspaper said that over half the people buying iMacs in Japan were women, quoting Graham Long, Apple's VP in charge of South East Asia. He was surprised, the paper said. According to the English-language newspaper, Long said that sales of …

Business 24 Sep 1998, 15:59
Daily DRAM figures start arriving

Courtesy of Dane-Elec

Every day, from now until the year 2000, Dane-Elec is supplying The Register with UK figures. After a couple of days, we shall graph it so our dear readers can see what life is like in the UK memory market. Prices in pounds sterling. 23/09/98 24/09/98 £ £ 1 x 32 EDO 3.50 4.10 2 x 32 EDO 5.50 6.20 4 …

Business 24 Sep 1998, 17:19