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22nd October 1998 Archive

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  • Dane-Elec to beef up memory module manufacture

    Will start manufacturing unit in US

    Memory chip company Dane-Elec has re-engineered itself and will expand its module manufacturing operations. At the same time, it announced that it had struck a deal with Hyundai to sub-contract production of modules and another deal with Samsung is likely to follow at the beginning of next year. Dave Lalor, managing director of …

    Business 22 Oct 1998, 08:59

  • Microsoft sought to pollute Java, maybe Sun let it

    Sun's evidence indicates Microsoft cynically attempted to fragment Java, Microsoft's that Sun messed-up and let it

    John Warner, Microsoft lead attorney in the DoJ antitrust case, claimed on Tuesday (see We don't have to be polite) that there was "no code of civility in business". Emails unsealed yesterday in the Sun lawsuit against Microsoft illustrate this amply, and suggest a possible verdict of 'nasty but legal' on Microsoft's conduct. …

    Business 22 Oct 1998, 09:27

  • Intel to stop supplying chips in trays

    All but the largest OEMs will get chips in boxes

    Intel has stopped supplying its processors in trays to all but its largest customers, it confirmed today. It will now supply product in boxes, according to a source at an Intel UK distributor. He said: "The reason is that it is easier to track sales, and remarks and it's also a branding solution. Only the very largest players …

    Business 22 Oct 1998, 09:52

  • Vanguard wins contract to sell Cyrix CPUs in UK

    Will act as rep for CPUs initially

    Vanguard has won a contract to sell Cyrix CPUs to the UK market. The news, which leaked out from customers and distributors, means that Roy Taylor, joint MD of the UK-based firm, will initially sell product to UK distributors Flashpoint and Karma. Taylor founded Blue Micro in the UK, a company which acts as an agent to sell IBM …

    Business 22 Oct 1998, 11:24

  • Supply constraints hit low end monitors

    17in monitors dominate market but flat panel display sales still in the doldrums

    A tightening of supply on 14in and 15in monitors is likely to increase over the next months as 17in screens begin to dominate the market. According to a Romtec report on the third party UK monitor market, 17in screens had a 43 per cent market share in August, while 14in and 15in displays fell to 17 per cent and 25 per cent …

    Business 22 Oct 1998, 11:29

  • Madison and Deerfield to split Intel IA-64 architecture

    The Intel roadmap is fleshing out towards 2003, when 64-bit will be where it's at

    Further details leaking out about the Intel IA-64 roadmap flesh the company's plans out until around 2003, and introduce two more codenames, Madison and Deerfield. According to Gordon Graylish, Intel marketing director EMEA, after McKinley's introduction in 2001, the IA-64 architecture will bifurcate into high-end and low-end …

    Business 22 Oct 1998, 11:29

  • Judge gives DoJ two more days on Microsoft data

    Justice faces a tough job in getting all it wants before the shutters come down

    Judge Jackson decided in a ruling from the bench yesterday morning that the DoJ would have just two more days to get what information it needed from Microsoft -- and it would have to pay Microsoft for the Microsoft personnel used to conduct searches for it. Microsoft had complained at the burden of providing five people from its …

    Business 22 Oct 1998, 11:31

  • Novell buys into NetObjects

    Will bundle Web design tool with Netware

    Novell has taken a stake in Web page design software developer NetObjects. The first fruit of the deal will be the bundling of NetObject's Fusion with the small business edition of Netware, but the companies also spoke cryptically of "additional programmes and opportunities going forward". Fusion has so far been aimed almost …

    Business 22 Oct 1998, 11:33

  • More questions for Barksdale, but judge gets tetchy

    If it keeps going at this rate, it won't keep going at all, suspects Jackson

    It is probable that Netscape CEO Jim Barksdale will undergo another six hours of cross-examination today, after which he will be questioned by the DoJ's David Boies. They have yet to get to the nitty gritty of the June "carve-up" meeting. Judge Jackson has evidently been doing some calculations as to how long the trial will last …

    Business 22 Oct 1998, 11:33

  • Clark memo fails to shake Barksdale in six hour marathon

    Netscape's CEO declines to say what Microsoft's brief wants him to say

    Microsoft continued its cross-examination of Netscape CEO Jim Barksdale yesterday for a further six hours. Microsoft's purpose was to tempt him to say that Netscape was not hurt by Microsoft's tactics, and that Internet Explorer was a better product. Barksdale wasn't playing this game, and gave long, stonewalling answers, …

    Business 22 Oct 1998, 11:34

  • ISS has ANSA to network security

    Security standards body front for technology licensing scheme

    Want to give your product a head start over rival offerings? Then set up an industry standards body around it. That's what network security system vendor Internet Security Systems appears to have done. It launched the Adaptive Network Security Alliance (ANSA) yesterday, roping in some 40-odd networking vendors, including 3Com, …

    Business 22 Oct 1998, 11:36

  • CTX licensed Big Blue patents

    PB sued CTX last week. Waters muddy. Official

    Who's zooming who? Last week, Packard Bell NEC (PBN) filed a suit against CTX International, claiming the company's machines infringe five PBN patents. This week, the waters are muddying rapidly. Chuntex Electronics, CTX's Taiwanese parent, said it licensed the technologies for several years from IBM. The unexpected upshot is …

    Business 22 Oct 1998, 11:55

  • Intel, AMD and Cyrix to feature in price cut blizzard

    Snow, snow, thick thick snow buries original Celeron

    A flurry of price cuts from the three major x.86 manufacturers this weekend will mean further reductions in PC prices. On Saturday, Cyrix will announce a range of price cuts to its range of processors, followed by more cuts from Intel on Sunday and AMD on Monday or Tuesday. Intel is keeping tight lipped about the changes it will …

    Business 22 Oct 1998, 12:13

  • Big Blue's new PowerPC chip uses Transmeta technology

    We name the guilty parties...

    A source close to Transmeta said today that IBM's announcement of a multiprocessor chip at the Microprocessor Forum two weeks ago will use technology from the company. As revealed here earlier, Transmeta, which employs operating system wizard Linus Torvalds, is using IBM Microelectronics fabs to create the processors. The so- …

    Business 22 Oct 1998, 14:39

  • Samsung plays waiting DRAM game

    Hyundai and LG will suffer from merger delays

    Fall out in the memory market will create more casualties amongst manufacturers with Samsung set to reap the results as other players fall out of the market. According to a customer source close to the major conglomerate, the continuing battle between Hyundai and LG Semicon, is set to benefit Samsung, as memory manufacturers …

    Business 22 Oct 1998, 15:19

  • The great satan of hardware called Dell, is doing amazingly well. When it started quite small… it was nothing at all… then chose Microsoft DOS as its shell

    Dell ramps up PC volume to 12,000 a day from Limerick

    Dell is now manufacturing 12,000 PCs a day at its manufacturing plant in Limerick. But the PCs are not all intended for the British Isles. A source at its Limerick plant, in western Ireland, said that it was currently supplying the entire Northern European market. The demise of AST, which also had a factory in the Limerick area …

    Business 22 Oct 1998, 15:42

  • Harris bangs Apple's head over Newton

    'We lost money when you cancelled Newton -- so pay up or else', claims vendor

    Apple's decision to nuke its Newton PDA division earlier this year provoked complaints from MessagePad aficionados and the platform's selection of software developers. However, loud though the grumbles were, no one sought recompense through the courts -- or, rather, no one backed up their asseverations with actions. Until now. …

    Business 22 Oct 1998, 15:49

  • IT company calls on EU to regularise VAT when the Euro dawns

    UK's VAT fraud now amounts to £300 million because of inequalities

    VAT fraud in the UK has risen to an all time high, a distributor has told The Register. Alan Stanley, UK general manager of the French company, said yesterday that the UK had now overtaken other European countries for the most fraud. He said that HM Customs & Excise told him £300 million worth of business in the UK was lost …

    Business 22 Oct 1998, 15:57

  • Big Blue makes European channel u-turn look like fast oil tanker

    Tells business partners in Monaco NetFinity Direct arrives

    IBM gave its European channel partners a bitter pill to swallow today when it told them it will sell its high-end NetFinity servers direct. The plan, which was already in place in the US, will now be implemented here in Europe, the partners are being told. The move marks the virtual end of IBM chairman Lou Gerstner's plan to …

    Business 22 Oct 1998, 16:22

  • Microsoft NT 5.0 for Merced could be 32/64-bit hybrid system

    Getting NT on Merced from the off may mean a repeat of the Windows 95 experience

    Microsoft has been having problems getting NT 5.0 out of the door, but once it has, it will have another hill to climb - getting to 64-bit. And it seems the company is planning a repeat of the Windows 95 experience by offering a hybrid 32/64-bit system. In the run-up to 95's launch, Microsoft billed the forthcoming OS as 32-bit …

    Business 22 Oct 1998, 16:48

  • PC Chips snaffles stake in Elitegroup

    Massive savings expected

    The massive PC Chips Group is taking an undisclosed stake in Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) through its Taiwanese manufacturing subsidiary, Hsing Tech Enterprise. ECS in the UK said it had no knowledge of the investment, but reports from Taiwan suggest that loss-making ECS will make huge savings on joint component purchases, …

    Business 22 Oct 1998, 17:16

  • Read-Rite or Red Wrong?

    Losing but improving

    Read-Rite Corp made a fourth quarter loss as expected, but the beleaguered disk-drive manufacturer surprised the markets with a $29.5 million loss, smaller than anticipated. Analysts had forecast the loss at around 68 cents per a share, but the Milpitas, California manufacturer’s loss worked out at 61 cents a share, although …

    Business 22 Oct 1998, 17:22

  • Survey: price, not security bars consumer e-commerce

    Offer lower prices and the world will beat a path to your Web site

    A new survey has confounded the assumption that security, or lack of it, is the biggest barrier to consumer acceptance of e-commerce. Defining the Internet Shopper: Attitudes, Objectives and Behaviour, a survey of some 55,000 online users conducted jointly by Jupiter Communications and NFO Interactive, found that many surfers …

    Business 22 Oct 1998, 17:32