26th October 1998 Archive

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Compaq under increased threat from direct vendors – now official

Market research companies confirm Pfeiffer's worst fears - he's in for a haircut

IDC issued figures on Friday showing that Compaq is under increasing pressure from direct vendor Dell, but is also being threatened again by HP, quasi-direct vendor IBM, and even Gateway. The latest figures from IDC, show that Pfeiffer's outfit lost four points to opposition in the US. That will lead to fears from Compaq …

Business 26 Oct 1998, 07:48
Intel price cuts boost PII over Celeron

'Strong acceptance' of PII means lower prices, higher volumes - so whither Celeron?

As predicted here last week (Intel, AMD and Cyrix to feature in price cut blizzard) the Intel price cuts implemented today push higher performance Pentium II chips further into the mass market, and indicate a certain de-emphasis on Celeron. Several lower speed chips are no more, and although there is still some price advantage …

Business 26 Oct 1998, 11:12
ST claims sub-$100 chip breakthrough

But will only industrial users benefit?

ST Microelectronics said it has produced an integrated system on a chip which will allow industrial PCs to be built for less than $100. But that begs the question why end users should be denied the benefits of such a system. The announcement will put ST head to head with NatSemi-Cyrix, which has vowed to be a leader in the …

Business 26 Oct 1998, 12:07
Scots to coordinate chip intellectual property right exchange

ARM, Cadence, Moto early partners in system on chip scheme

Scottish Enterprise today said that it had introduced the Virtual Component Exchange (VCX) under the auspices of its Alba Project to specialise in the exchange of semiconductor intellectual property. The Alba Centre is a project set up by Scottish Enterprise to encourage companies and universities in Scotland to train up chip …

Business 26 Oct 1998, 12:40
Memory Corp eases way out of AIM

It's European-bound

Memory Corporation is heading for Europe, planning a listing on the young, still unproven, EASDAQ stock market in Brussels. It is moving from London’s junior exchange, AIM, where it took a thorough drubbing, listing on AIM at 45 pence in 1995, then soaring to a dizzying 553 pence before spiraling downwards to the mid 20s. That …

Business 26 Oct 1998, 13:14
IBM to resell notebook drives to Compaq, Gateway

The biggest smallest drives in the world, claims Big Blue. We ask, are they Aspidestras?

IBM has introduced a fresh family of hard drives and claims it now has the biggest capacity notebook drive in the world. Compaq and Gateway have already committed to using the units, claimed IBM. It is to show the drives at Comdex/Fall at Bally's Hotel. The Travelstar 14GS has a capacity of 14.1GB and is 17mm high. According to …

Business 26 Oct 1998, 13:34
US SEC gets cross about profits. Very cross

US organisation investigating a vulgar practice

The all too common practice amongst IT companies of boosting profits by overstating the value of research acquired in takeovers is exercising the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and it has asked an auditor group to come up with new guidelines. The SEC said the practice is becoming more commonplace as mergers and …

Business 26 Oct 1998, 15:35
It's financials again – but it's a Colt that's pointing at you, here

Telco increases its loss

Colt Telecom Group’s loss grew by a hefty 69 percent to £15.4 million in the third quarter, but still in line with analysts’ expectations of a £13.6 million to £20 million loss. Colt’s shares jumped by 26.5 pence to 671.5 pence on the news and the company said it now operates across seven countries and 11 cities. It intends to …

Business 26 Oct 1998, 15:38
Nokia goes for cultural Chinese mobile revolution

Fights off Motorola in bid to capture virtual Tianamen Square of mobiles

Nokia has today introduced a form of GSM that it claimed will cause a revolution in the world wide arena, as well as in the lucrative Chinese market. GSM -- which stands for Global System for Mobiles -- is a practically worldwide standard everywhere apart from the US. In the US, a few operators have made inroads into the market …

Business 26 Oct 1998, 15:46
Microsoft pushing for smaller than ever CE

Leaner, meaner, slimmer and faster....

A report in The Wall Street Journal has claimed Microsoft is on the verge of creating a smaller, leaner operating system to succeed CE. The report claimed that Microsoft will, tomorrow, introduce a so-called "smart card" system for "smaller devices". Embedded devices are, judging from the report, only one of Microsoft's aims. …

Business 26 Oct 1998, 16:03
The Microsoft Trial continues…

Netscape CEO testimony due to be wrapped up today, and Gates' video evidence should be made public

Judge Jackson expects John Warden, Microsoft's trial lawyer, to wind up his cross-examination of Barksdale today. Warden had said that he needed until Monday at the earliest to finish this, but Judge Jackson -- deliberately misunderstanding Warden, it seemed -- said he was going to hold Warden to his Monday commitment. When …

Business 26 Oct 1998, 16:23
Quakeadelica UK finalist did not use Intel PII/450 box, says AMD

Report in British daily denied by spin doctors

AMD has denied the London finalist in its Quakedelica competition was secretly using a Pentium II/450 rather than the AMD-based box specified. A report in UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph said that a US Quake champion with the unlikely nickname of Thresh had beaten UK contender James Page, who goes by the equally unlikely name …

Business 26 Oct 1998, 16:48
AT&T goes up… and up

Cutting costs -- makes all the difference (are you listening, BT?)

AT&T Corp's third-quarter earnings rose 68 per cent, reflecting the positive effects of a massive cost cutting exercise and fast growing sales. Excluding one-time charges, profits increased to $1.81 billion from $1.08 billion this time last year, on revenues up 4.3 per cent to $13.65 billion from $13.09 billion. The telecomms …

Business 26 Oct 1998, 17:06
Childe Rolande IBM rides from Aix to Gwent, bypassing Java but including Santa Cruz

A rediscovery of Unix has got Big Blue and its ISVs all excited. Will IBM buy SCO?

IBM has rediscovered Unix and it is developing a new version for Intel's IA-64 based on AIX, SCO's Unixware and Sequent's PTX operating system. Maybe the AS/400 division is getting too much attention nowadays, or maybe the AIX division is saying we've got 64-bit too. Maybe IBM does weddings and bar mitzvahs, but when Big Blue …

Business 26 Oct 1998, 17:43