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28th July 1999 Archive

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  • IBM takes aim at Adaptec with $240m Mylex acquisition

    One-stop OEM storage shop

    Adaptec beware -- IBM is gunning for its RAID controller business and its weapon will be its newest subsidiary, Mylex. IBM is splashing out $240 million on Mylex, a California company with well-regarded RAID technology (but really too small to thrive as an independent among today's storage giants). It will integrate Mylex …

    Business 28 Jul 1999, 08:22

  • Intel flags 2 Aug for new chips, prices

    PC vendors gear up for Q4 consumer selling season

    August 2 is D-Day for the next iteration of Intel CPUs, and a fresh round of Celeron price cuts. The new babies are the 600MHz Pentium III and the 500MHz Celeron, costing $669 and $167 each (but only if you buy 1000 of them). The price cuts are for the 466MHz Celeron which will now cost $114, down from $147, while a 433MHz …

    Business 28 Jul 1999, 08:49

  • Tosh readies MP3 music player

    Rio-style device to drive return to hi-fi market

    Toshiba is set to return to the audio consumer electronics market this year with an MP3-based digital music player, according to reports in Japanese business paper Nihon Keizai. Toshiba pulled out of the hi-fi market back in 1989. But by focusing on the Internet music business, the company's return isn't as radical as it might …

    Business 28 Jul 1999, 10:39

  • Intel sues patent ‘parasite’

    Chipzilla seeks $4.5m in damages, alleges AMD was hit too

    Intel yesterday brought its significant legal weaponry to bear on little known technology company EMI Group North America. Its beef: that EMI's failed attempt to sue Intel for patent infringement was malicious -- and the company needs a good slapping. Chipzilla's suit against EMI, which demands $4.5 million in damages, …

    Business 28 Jul 1999, 10:56

  • Marimba Q2 sees 87 per cent growth

    Loss in line with Wall Street expectations

    Erstwhile push technology pioneer Marimba, now recast as an e-business software provider, yesterday reported its first financial results as a public company. Marimba launched its IPO last February. Marimba posted a loss of $1.5 million on revenues of $6.9 million, an increase of 87 per cent on last year's $3.7 million revenue, …

    Business 28 Jul 1999, 11:11

  • AT&T fights US open cable tide

    But is it winning? Despite appearances, we think not...

    AT&T's terrifying PR apparatus battled tirelessly in the San Francisco Bay area this month, and finally won what many believed was a startling reversal of a local decision to force it to open its network to rival companies. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors appeared to reject its own earlier resolution supporting mandated …

    Business 28 Jul 1999, 11:47

  • Sony Q1 profit down 55 per cent

    Blame it on the Yen, says electronics giant

    The strong Yen and severe price cuts combined to hack 55 per cent off Sony's first quarter profits. For the three months to 30 June, saw net profits fall 55 per cent to Y18.43 billion ($158.8 million). Operating profit fell to Y42.24 billion ($364 million). Sony said its profits would have been down just 17 per cent if the Yen …

    Business 28 Jul 1999, 11:50

  • Web sites liable under law of country where accessed

    New York judge rules that geography can't get in the way of the law

    A supreme court judge in New York may have changed the landscape for Internet companies who base their services in out of the way countries. Justice Charles Edward Ramos has ruled that an Antiguan gambling site is covered by the laws of New York state simply because the service can be accessed from there. According to the …

    Business 28 Jul 1999, 11:54

  • Kewill bolsters US e-commerce presence

    Hits the buy-up trail once again

    Kewill Systems has bought US e-commerce businesses Aristo Research and Aristo Computers for £11.6 million. The deal included £7.9 million cash and the issue of 175,683 shares by UK company Kewill, worth around £3.1 million. In addition, a maximum of £3.5 million in cash may also be payable, depending on Aristo's results over the …

    Business 28 Jul 1999, 11:54

  • FBI wants to snoop on private networks

    Fear of cyber terrorists leads to call to open up systems to scrutiny

    The US government is toying with the idea of introducing sweeping new measures to monitor private networks against the threat of international terrorism. A report in the New York Times claims that the Clinton administration wants the FBI to take control of the monitoring process to protect vital infrastructures such as banking …

    Business 28 Jul 1999, 11:56

  • Insight downplays Action bid

    Action weaker, Insight stronger as shares resume trading

    Insight Enterprises has revised the terms of its proposed acquisition of Action Computer Supplies, following Action’s share suspension earlier this week. Action shareholders will now receive 0.12 of a new Insight share for each Action share, compared to the previous agreement of 0.16, a 25 per cent drop. But in cash terms, …

    Business 28 Jul 1999, 11:57

  • Maritz, one time MS number three, to leave company

    Sliding gently out of the picture, according to top MS spin doctor

    Microsoft's one-time number three executive, Paul Maritz, is the latest of the high command to decide to leave the company, according to a story in today's Wall Street Journal. Spookily, the story doesn't quote Maritz himself, and the quote from VP public relations Mich Mathews simply says he's staying with the company for "the …

    Business 28 Jul 1999, 12:46

  • Mrs Gates pops down to the drugstore (dot.com)

    Mother of Bill's children directs virtual chemist

    Drugstore.com, the Internet chemist, has appointed a series of industry heavyweights to its board, but none quite as heavy as a certain Mrs. Melinda French Gates. Gates will join the company as a director, along with Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, and Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft. Gates was a manager at Microsoft …

    Business 28 Jul 1999, 13:56

  • Myriad of products launched by Epson

    Printers, scanners, cameras -– you name it, they've probably got it

    Epson yesterday announced 22 new products, including a multi-function printer to match each iMac colour. The hotchpotch of scanners, digital cameras, projectors, inkjet and laser printers shown yesterday will hit the channel between now and November. Its two combination devices can scan and print at the same time –- making them …

    Business 28 Jul 1999, 13:57

  • Portal for the People

    Whitehall Web wizards update online offering

    Internet giants such as Yahoo!, AOL and MSN could be under threat from a new political portal due to be launched at the end of the year. The UK government said it wants to establish its own portal to give people the chance to interact directly with Whitehall. Whether it means that Net users will swap today's consumer-friendly …

    Business 28 Jul 1999, 13:58

  • Dabs fingers Web for sales boost

    First million-selling month chalked up

    Dabs Direct has netted its first £1 million sales from a single month's trading on its Dabs Online Web site. The Bolton-based reseller has 23,000 registered users on the e-commerce site, and claims sales are growing at over 50 per cent per month. Started on 12 February, over half of the company's consumer sales business now …

    Business 28 Jul 1999, 14:45

  • Twelve angry states – or digital ghettoes?

    Net revolution bypasses rural America

    Twelve states in the US have become digital ghettos because not enough cash has been invested in advanced digital networks. A report published by the industry lobbying group iAdvance and supported by US Representatives Bob Goodlatte (R-Va) and Rick Boucher (D-Va) outs a "Disconnected Dozen" list of 12 states it maintains are at …

    Business 28 Jul 1999, 14:46

  • Swanntech swims to market with dual PIII monster

    Designed for CADs

    Berkshire-based Swanntech Systems has launched a dual PIII based CAD workstation. Priced at a chunky £7,699, the system comes with Dual PIII 550 motherboard with 1Gb RAM (capacity 2Gb), 8 x PCI slots, 2 x ISA and 1 x AGP slots, and 2 x Intel PIII 550 processors. It's also supplied with 64Mb RAM AGP graphics card with dual output …

    Business 28 Jul 1999, 15:01

  • Seven months to download a file at Screaming.net

    Bizarre incident revealed in a reader's letter

    The service at troubled ISP Screaming.net is so bad one Warwickshire-based user was told it would take 5554 hours --- 231 days -- to download a 2.1MB file from the Net. In a jaw-dropping letter to the net magazine this Screamer -- who is at his wits' end with the ISP -- told of his anguish with the service. "Since being …

    Business 28 Jul 1999, 15:09

  • We get spam offering spam services

    Have the lunatics finally taken over the asylum?

    There's not much at Vulture Central that makes us speechless, but this takes the biscuit. A company is bombarding inboxes with junk email offering to spam other people. It reads: "Dear Valued Customer: We, Interserve Communications , are pleased to announce that our business has officially commenced. We offer bulk emailing with …

    Business 28 Jul 1999, 15:13

  • 3dfx uncorks latest Voodoo 3 drivers

    Customise your card to your heart's content

    3dfx today released updated drivers -- or, as we call them, bug-fixes -- for its Voodoo 3 line of graphics cards. According to the 3D graphics specialist, the new drivers and associated tweaking utilities will offer gamers better visuals without any performance hit. The drivers' enhancements focus on allowing users to best …

    Business 28 Jul 1999, 15:14

  • AMD brings forward Athlon to 10 August

    Fab volumes look good, and prospects for 1GHz copper version may be improving, too

    AMD will finally take the wraps of the Athlon K7 on Tuesday 10 August, according to reliable but eminently impeachable sources. Benchmark data, however, continues to leak out early. The company had originally been planning the big push for the end of August. As this has now been brought forward by three weeks, the implication is …

    Business 28 Jul 1999, 15:33

  • Datatec buys US Cisco distie

    Them Rands keep on a-flowin'

    Westcon Group has paid $500 million for GE Capital’s connectivity distributor Comstor.net. Washington-based Comstor.net, which mainly distributes Cisco kit, will become a part of RBR Networks – a subsidiary of Westcon's parent group Datatec. The two will create a global sales and marketing division to support Cisco resellers, …

    Business 28 Jul 1999, 17:13

  • DRAM: comeback or false dawn?

    Upward trend in pricing continues – so far

    The DRAM industry has seen a modest uptick in prices since July 1 in the daily 64Mb DRAM (PC10, 8M x 8) spot market. And there's not a product shortage in sight. Market research firm ICIS-LOR attributes the firmer market to an attempt by Taiwanese manufacturers to charge more for their wares. These vendors don't want to lose so …

    Business 28 Jul 1999, 17:14

  • Marconi trawls for radio heads

    Another 400 R&D engineers needed in UK

    Marconi Communications will recruit 400 staff to double the workforce at its Nottingham R&D site. It will hire the engineering staff over the next three to four years for its centre near Beeston, and is looking for 100 graduates by the end of this year. Most of the staff will be hardware engineers, but the company will also be …

    Business 28 Jul 1999, 17:15

  • E*Trade hits UK with cut-throat pricing

    Claims 150,000 Brits will be dealing on-line by 2001

    On-line share dealer E*Trade launched in the UK today amid claims that up to 150,000 Britons will be managing their portfolios on the Web by the end of next year. It marked its debut with an aggressive pricing strategy, promising no commission fee higher than £24.95, and demonstrations of a fast execution system that completes …

    Business 28 Jul 1999, 23:01