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7th December 1998 Archive

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  • Intel’s Katmai no humble pigeon pie

    Roadmaps a’go-go

    Intel will today brief journalists on the progress of its Katmai MMX processors but not us because we daren’t sign non disclosure agreements (NDAs). The chip giant is now expected to roll out the first of its Katmai babies in February and will move to .18 micron technology through the whole of 1999. But not before it introduces …

    Business 7 Dec 1998, 07:45

  • A year ago: Intel plans NC standard

    Great Stan gives slender clientele a push

    A couple of years ago Intel and Oracle allied with the intention of accelerating development of Internet video, the general idea as expressed at the time by Andy Grove being that information was information, so if you were going to be looking for it via the Internet you'd be looking for video as well as words. The two companies …

    Business 7 Dec 1998, 07:49

  • Katmai pricing will mean PII dominoes fall

    333MHz PII will enter semiconductor gulag

    Intel will release its 450MHz and 500MHz Slot One Katmai chips at the end of February next year and is pricing them at $528 and $760 respectively. But those prices are set to drop to $445 and $675 respectively on the 11 April 1999. The processors, which use a 100MHz bus and come with 512K of L2 cache, include additional MMX …

    Business 7 Dec 1998, 10:35

  • Intel builds chip to beat the Bomb

    So now the company will survive nuclear holocaust - but can it survive the FTC?

    Intel is to announce the first nuclear holocaust proof chip tomorrow, according to US reports. The breakthrough, reported in today's issue of Defence Week, could ensure the Great Satan's final triumph over its rivals - albeit at some considerable cost in collateral damage to chip customers. The new chip has reportedly been …

    Business 7 Dec 1998, 10:53

  • Grid teams with Sprint for Brazil phone bid

    National Grid's plans for 'Energis 2' are heading for Rio...

    The UK National Grid's plans to repeat its success with Energis look set to kick off in Brazil, with a joint venture with US giant Sprint. Energis, National Grid's telecoms arm, has been successfully floated off, but the outfit plans to repeat the formula on a larger scale, internationally. Brazil and Sprint look a promising …

    Business 7 Dec 1998, 11:19

  • IBM PC martyrs meet untimely end

    Chinese smugglers of kit put to death

    A story in this morning's Wall Street Journal said that two men were shot dead for smuggling IBM kit into mainland China. According to the newspaper, the men were summarily executed yesterday for smuggling nearly $7 million worth of kit into the country. The WSJ claimed that companies like Big Blue and Motorola "have long sold …

    Business 7 Dec 1998, 11:21

  • Compel paid £18 million to acquire Info'Products UK

    Headline price £1 - has Compel overpaid?

    Info'Products is paying Compel £18 million to take IP UK off its hands. The headline price is just £1 -- an indication of Info'Products' disastrous UK performance in the last few years, following the removal of IP UK founder Gerry Redman, Compel puts it only a little more diplomatically in its shareholder circular: "The …

    Business 7 Dec 1998, 11:25

  • Coming soon – Bill Gates, the movie

    No, a real movie. You know, with actors and stuff...

    Where have we heard this before? Bill Gates hasn't read it and doesn't know anything about it, and Microsoft spokespeople dismiss it as "pretty shallow and ultimately forgettable". No you're right, the Redmond spinmeisters haven't used those precise words about the DoJ's case, yet. This time they were talking to the Daily …

    Business 7 Dec 1998, 11:39

  • IBM, AMD acquisition rumours take wing – again

    Frantic share movements on Wall Street

    Rumours that IBM and AMD are in negotiations over a merger have re-surfaced again following frantic share movements on Wall Street. For some weeks, investors have questioned whether IBM should split its shares which closed on Wall Street last Friday at $164 1/4, up three quarters on the day. Meanwhile, AMD's share price rose by …

    Business 7 Dec 1998, 11:45

  • Java guru beats-off Microsoft attorney with ease

    Gosling's cross-examination seems to have been a whitewash for Microsoft

    Sun's Dr James Gosling proved to be a highly credible witness last week, and outclassed Tom Burt, the Microsoft associate general counsel who cross-examined him. Burt didn't cross-examine Gosling on his written testimony, but engaged in a debate with the inventor of Java -- and lost. Only once did Burt question Gosling on his …

    Business 7 Dec 1998, 11:59

  • Cyrix takes axe to high-end MII prices

    Battle to replace Intel after it dropped low end parts

    Cyrix has slashed prices on its two high-end MII processors today as a battle-royal begins between it, AMD and Intel. Prices on its MII-333MHz part drops to $80/1000 from $90/1000, and on its MII-300MHz processor to $59/1000 from $67/1000. Its other two processors, the MII-233 and the MII-266 remain stable at $48 and $55 …

    Business 7 Dec 1998, 12:13

  • Quantum spreads distribution wings wider…

    Takes peek at Summit. Does over-distribution loom?

    Storage firm Quantum said it had appointed Summit, part of the Datrontech group, as a distributor for its products. Summit joins Arrow, Ideal Hardware, C2000, Ingram and RK Distribution in the UK. John Barnes, regional director of Quantum northern Europe, said that while the company is still big in desktops, at the high end it …

    Business 7 Dec 1998, 12:21

  • Digital River and Netsales branch out into UK

    Usual ESD stuff

    Warwickshire-based retailer Software Warehouse announced its deal with a US company to sell software over the Internet has so far proved a major success. The electronic software distribution (ESD) agreement, with Digital River -- which boasts the world's largest online database of software and other digital products -- has …

    Business 7 Dec 1998, 15:13

  • Survey: Net more important than TV, VCRs, hi-fi

    Online service's has online survey

    The Internet is fast becoming such an integral part of people's lives they are finding it increasingly difficult to manage without it, according to the 1998 Cyberstudy, conducted by researchers Roper Starch and America Online. Of the 1001 Americans questioned, nearly half of those with laptops said they take them on holiday and …

    Business 7 Dec 1998, 15:19

  • Sun modifies JDK licence to ban benchmarks

    'Don't publish comparison tests -- or else,' says licence

    Sun's licence agreement for the recently released Java Development Kit 1.2 contains a curious amendment from previous licences -- anyone who uses the kit is effectively forbidden from saying publicly how good it is. The licence agreement contains a clause which says: "You may not publish or provide the results of any benchmark …

    Business 7 Dec 1998, 15:50

  • Microsoft releases update for 98 Y2K problems

    And there's quite a substantial list of these 'minor' issues

    Microsoft has today released a Year 2000 update for Windows 98, correcting a surprisingly substantial list of problems in a product just a few months old. Windows 98 is however just one of a long list of "minor" Year 2000 compliancy issues Microsoft has to tackle over the next 12 months. Sources in the channel claim Microsoft …

    Business 7 Dec 1998, 16:22

  • ARM cosies up to OEMs

    SoC it to me, baby

    ARM has unwrapped a channel accreditation programme, designed to cosy up to System on a Chip (SoC) designers. The vendor says an enlarged ARM design community is necessary to handle growing demand for ARM “design engagements”. Under the ATAP or ARM Technology Access Program, design houses can try-out for ARM Approved Design …

    Business 7 Dec 1998, 16:32

  • Europe's largest independent chip foundry founders

    Newport Wafer fab calls in receivers after banks call in parent's debt

    Newport Wafer Fab Ltd (NWL) has become the latest UK-based chip plant to be threatened with closure by the intense competition in the semiconductor market. NWL went into administrative receivership last week -- administrator Price Waterhouse will run the company while it seeks a buyer. The chip maker, the largest independent …

    Business 7 Dec 1998, 16:47

  • Exclusive: Free Internet access set to become the norm

    Death knell tolls for subscription services, apparently

    Paying for Internet access in the UK is to become a thing of the past following the announcement that Callnet is to offer companies the chance to offer free access to their customers. The London-based company is in the final stages of negotiations with a number of major blue chip companies and an announcement is due later this …

    Business 7 Dec 1998, 17:18

  • Dixon shares soar on FreeServe bubble

    Internet valuations soar to absurd new heights

    Now we know the City is mad. UK consumer internet customers are worth more than £1,300 each –- according to the latest valuation of Dixons Stores Group. It is set to return to the FTSE 100 index of the UK’s biggest companies on the back of its extraordinary success with new ISP service FreeServe. Shares soared £690 million on …

    Business 7 Dec 1998, 17:22

  • Phone giants and MS square-off in Bluetooth standards war

    Redmond disapproves of Bluetooth SIG, and the Vikings don't care, apparently...

    The Beast of Redmond breathed fire in the direction of the Bluetooth SIG today - or did it? According to "sources" referred to by our good friends at InfoWorld, Bluetooth is running into trouble in trying to recruit Microsoft, which is just about the only significant non-member, and existing members are getting restive about the …

    Business 7 Dec 1998, 20:27