28th August 1999 Archive

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HP turns to nVidia for mobo graphics

OK, and....

Hewlett-Packard has chosen nVidia's RIVA TNT 3D graphics processor as the standard motherboard graphics scheme for HP Pavilion 8580C and 8590C multimedia personal computers, the company announced yesterday. "By selecting the RIVA TNT, with its high performance and complete feature set, HP Pavilion customers can now enjoy all of …

Business 28 Aug 1999, 06:16
Thieves ransack Register office

Opinion But why did they ignore the Compaq server?

This article was first published in April 1999 I'm not sure whether the thieves who broke into my office were chancers or technophiles. Ignoring the Compaq server, the top-of-the-range Samsung monitors and the Hewlett Packard Vectras, my friendly neighbourhood burglars made straight for a couple of Fujitsu system units. They …

Business 28 Aug 1999, 07:17
To hell with the Government and its recycled PCs for the poor

Opinion To have and have not

This article was first published in March, 1999 You may remember that a couple of years back, Newt Gingrich, the well-known American Republican, proposed that computer notebooks be doled out to poor people. That way, his theory was, everyone in the US would have a chance to take part in the internet revolution. One critic at …

Business 28 Aug 1999, 07:21
Who says PC industry optimism is sky high?

Opinion Deloitte and Touche findings are misplaced

This article was first published in April 1999 Roldec has been a victim of its own success. The former high-flying Wolverhampton system builder - twice featured in the Sunday Times Top 100 list of fastest growing UK companies - crashed with £2.5 million debts. Not bad for a company turning over less than £12 million a year. An …

Business 28 Aug 1999, 07:24
Simply falls into Global Direct Mail's arms

Analysis Business as usual

This article was first published in February 1999 In 1997, Simply Computers declared its intention of reaching an annual sales target of £130 million by June 1999, an ambitious aim considering the reseller was selling £70 million a year at the time. The east London PC builder also expressed an interest in floating on the stock …

Business 28 Aug 1999, 07:31
Apple dealer cull makes sense

Opinion Unwelcome distraction

This article was first published in February 1999 Apple UK is terminating all reseller contracts at the end of February and dealers are up in arms. Particularly CJ Graphics, the Apple dealership with a £12 million turnover that went bust last month. The London Apple dealer is blaming its chief supplier, Apple, for the "forced …

Business 28 Aug 1999, 07:35
Onsale: Kamikaze pilot or Voodoo economist?

Opinion No more piggy in the middle

This article was first published in January 1999 Everywhere, middlemen are under threat from their suppliers. And not just in the computer industry. Travel agents, for example, are starting to look increasingly threatened, with airlines squeezing commissions by up to half in recent years. Now, Delta Air Lines is imposing a two …

Business 28 Aug 1999, 07:46
Sugar takes Viglen private

Opinion Sweet nothings for Viglen?

This article was first published in December 1998 Following the failure of Viglen Technology shareholders to take executive chairman Alan Sugar's advice, the PC builder looks set to return to the private sphere. Shareholders accounting for 22 per cent of the company accepted the purportedly reluctant takeover bid of Sugar's …

Business 28 Aug 1999, 07:50
Workplace buys Lanbase

Analysis networking resellers merge

This article first appeared in November 1998 Consolidation is picking up speed in the UK network reseller market, with Network Si and Anite Europe both falling to South African-owned companies recently. The latest merger - namely the marriage of Workplace and LanBase Holdings - is an all-British affair. And it's a big one. …

Business 28 Aug 1999, 07:55
South Africans swoop on European reseller scene

Analysis USKO buys Bytes Technology Group

It helps when your business is not for sale. It helps, too, when your prospective buyer is one of the South Africans who seem to be paying top dollar for European channel companies. Latest on the scene is USKO, a Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed company that has marked its arrival in the UK with the £15.5 million acquisition …

Business 28 Aug 1999, 07:59
Computacenter share concern overdone

Opinion What goes down can go up

This article first appeared in October 1998 "The price at which Computacenter shares were floated in May looks more disturbing by the day," thunders Tempus in The Times. Tempus blames investors for chasing up the 670p share issue. And he (she?) acknowledges that five months later the equity markets and IT valuation criteria are …

Business 28 Aug 1999, 08:07
Intel's ill-thought leasing scheme

Update Recycling headaches down the line

This article first appeared in November 1998 It takes just a few simple questions to establish that Intel knows less about leasing than I do about designing microprocessors. Intel's decision to plunge into the leasing market for its SME resellers could be construed as ambitious. Luckily, Intel has signed up Dana Commercial …

Business 28 Aug 1999, 08:11
Hurrah for grey trading

Opinion Isn't this how the single market is supposed to work?

This article first appeared in September 1998 Multinational vendors are uncommonly fond of restrictive distribution practices. By dictating who can sell what to whom, vendors can exploit price differentials in different markets and maximise their profits. Although restrictive distribution is supposed to be banned by the European …

Business 28 Aug 1999, 08:17
How much is a Cisco distribution franchise worth?

...£30m minimum

This article was first published in September 1998. How much is a Cisco distribution franchise worth? At least £30 million, according a surprising source, The News of the World - the UK's best selling newspaper, but not one noted for its business or technology coverage. It reveals that RBR Networks founders Rory Sweet and Ben …

Business 28 Aug 1999, 08:22
Low DRAM prices are good for the industry

Our turn to do the squeezing

This article was first published in September 1998 A fool is always busy - except in the computer industry, where resellers who charge too little for their products and services soon go bust. The process takes a little longer for vendors, but go bust they do. Siemens Nixdorf's decision to shut down its DRAM manufacturing plant …

Business 28 Aug 1999, 08:26
So are PC retailers responsible for ‘Rip-off’ Britain?

Opinion We don't think so

This article was first published in July 1998 Another day, another whinge from Fujitsu, this time about the burden of taxation placed on our downtrodden schools, whenever they buy PCs. The vendor has filed a series of representations with UK consumer affairs minister Nigel Griffiths, claiming that schools in other EU countries …

Business 28 Aug 1999, 08:31
Outlook for European PC merchants ‘generally grim’

Analysis The squeeze merchants

This article was first published in June 1998 So you thought times were tough? Not according to IDC, which says buoyant PC sales in Western Europe are prompting major PC vendors to redouble sales efforts in the territory. PC shipments in Western Europe will grow 14 per cent in 1998, but sales will rise only four per cent. This …

Business 28 Aug 1999, 08:49
Computacenter and its masterful IPO tactics

Update Of course, the shares cost too much

This article first appeared June 1998

Business 28 Aug 1999, 08:52
Azlan and those Fraud Squad investigations

Unwelcome distraction

This article was first published in April 1998 'What experience and history teach is this: people and government never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it.'Hegel, The Philosophy of History. I knew that philosophy degree would come in handy one day. According to Henry Ford, history is bunk. …

Business 28 Aug 1999, 08:57
What AST didn't want you to know

Auto destruction

This article was first published in February 1998 Three weeks ago, I learned that AST was about to scrap its desktop and server product lines in Europe. The stricken vendor also planned to fire up to 60 per cent of staff at its European headquarters, I heard. Not having much use for scoops these days (I'm a columnist, don't you …

Business 28 Aug 1999, 09:03
So how low can PC prices go?

Running faster to stand still

This article was first published in July 1999 PC vendors everywhere are running faster to keep standing still. Last week Compaq announced its intention to squeeze the prices of its mainly Taiwanese component suppliers by 15 per cent. The world’s biggest PC maker also aims to sell 25 per cent of its hardware online by the end of …

Business 28 Aug 1999, 09:13
Big is beautiful for Computacenter

Balls of steel

This article was first published in July 1999 Big is beautiful when it comes to the channel. Which means that Computacenter is the Catherine Zeta Jones of computer resellers. If it wants an account badly enough, Computacenter will go cheap - a couple of months back, it underbid an incumbent reseller to win a humungous Microsoft …

Business 28 Aug 1999, 09:17