17th November 1999 Archive

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Pentium III-800 brought forward to Q1 of next year

Intel acknowledges depth of Coppermine shortages

A report on a US wire said that Intel will bring the launch date of an 800MHz Coppermine Pentium III forward to the first quarter of next year. The Intel roadmap had this processor slated to appear in quarter two, said Pat Gelsinger, a senior VP at Intel, according to PC Week. And Intel has also acknowledged the shortages of …

Business 17 Nov 1999, 08:49
Lynx issues warning over distribution

Talking up a shift toward services

Following a fall in its end-of-year profits, the Lynx Group has also warned of "uncertainties" in its distribution business coming up to the new year. The UK company blamed the poor performance on the millennium bug and difficult market conditions. Pre-tax profits fell to £11m from £13.3 million despite a 17 per cent rise in …

Business 17 Nov 1999, 10:53
E-biz growth creates 1,000 new ICL jobs

Pushes global expansion of e-services offering

ICL is to create 1,000 new Internet jobs in Britain as part of a massive £100 million investment in e-business. It's also creating 2,700 jobs in Europe and a further 700 in the US as part of its global investment. In total, ICL will create 4,400 jobs over the next three years, the company announced today. The move follows a …

Business 17 Nov 1999, 10:54
Intel vs Via. Trumpets sound in battle of Jericho

Analysis How do cross patents save the big boys?

In the next week or so, Via, First International Corporation (FIC), KMS and Everex will have the chance to respond to litigation initiated by Intel. The Intel legal action focuses on allegations that the above companies have infringed on its patents. Via was sued earlier in the year by Intel over what is supposed to be a …

Business 17 Nov 1999, 11:17
Intel confirms OR840 late…

...later this year

The boxed Intel motherboard which supports the i840 workstation/server chipset is delayed, according to information at the company's site. Intel launched the i840 on the 25th of October and its partner Rambus Ink, heralded the OR840 motherboard on its Web site the same day. The two firms made a song and a dance about the i840 …

Business 17 Nov 1999, 12:11
Unmetered access gets Oftel's backing

Give that watchdog a bone

Oftel has jumped off the fence and said it is in favour of unmetered access for heavy users of the Internet in Britain. This is the first time the telecomms watchdog has openly supported unmetered access. A spokesman for Oftel said: "We've never been against it [unmetered access]… this is the first time we've said we're in …

Business 17 Nov 1999, 12:13
AMD intros EasyNow PC platform

Easy peasy PC pleasey

AMD has introduced its EasyNow PC platform, designed to make PCs easier to set up, use and upgrade. The chip vendor's platform design includes an oval shaped PC with a translucent case. Features include Instant On capability to cut boot time, and advanced power management features which the company claims enables the PC to re- …

Business 17 Nov 1999, 12:19
Western Digital's Cadaver blamed on chip firm

ST Microelectronics says it's a fair cop, guv

The withdrawal of over 400,000 Western Digital Caviar (Cadaver) hard drives last month have been blamed on defective chips supplied by ST Microelectronics. According to newswire Bloomberg, ST Microelectronics is now attempting to repair the damage by supplying chips for the hard drive which actually work. However, there is no …

Business 17 Nov 1999, 12:23
AOpen hits US with i820 mobos

All aboard the front side bus

AOpen has released two new motherboard designs on to the US market using the i820 chipset. The components and peripherals company launched the AOpen AX6C and AX6C-L motherboards, supporting 100MHz and 133MHz front side bus, 4X AGP port, RIMM memory and an AOpen expansion port. Both models use Intel's delayed 820 chipset and are …

Business 17 Nov 1999, 12:55
KNS bought by US ASP in £27m deal

FutureLink looking to set up ASP division on Europe

US Application Service Provider (ASP) FutureLink yesterday bought KNS Distribution for £27 million. Newbury-based distributor KNS will be re named FutureLink Europe. FutureLink paid £7.25 million in cash and deferred cash, and £19.75 million in FutureLink stock. The US ASP will add KNS to its recent acquisitions – these include …

Business 17 Nov 1999, 13:00
Egg scrambles user's security

Offers apology to customer who suffered "isolated" credit card scare

Egg is to tighten security measures at the online bank after it admitted breaking its own internal procedures and compromising the financial integrity of one its customers. The security breach -- which allowed personal account details to be included in the subject line of an unencrypted email -- was put down to "human error". " …

Business 17 Nov 1999, 13:16
VirtualNet acquires NECX Exchange for £65m

Electronics professionals get online access to vast inventory

Web-based trading company VirtualNet will acquire the component broker NECX Exchange to build a vast online inventory for engineers and hi-tech purchasers. The deal, split into $10 million cash and $95 million stock, will give 18,000 trading partners access to a three-million product inventory. VerticalNet runs over 50 industry- …

Business 17 Nov 1999, 13:19
Reed sues MS and Expedia over travel database

Bust-up over 1998 contract

Reed Elsevier has revealed that it had filed suit against Microsoft and Expedia in the District Court in New Jersey alleging that Microsoft and Expedia breached a 1998 contract with Cahners Travel Group (part of Cahners Business Information). Under the contract Cahners Travel Group would be the exclusive provider of advertising …

Business 17 Nov 1999, 14:26
Targus freebie alarms channel

Getcher 'ands off my laptop

Notebook case manufacturer Targus is giving its UK channel a free anti-theft alarm with every purchase of its Deluxe cases. The company's distributors and resellers are to get a free DEFCON 1 notebook alarm worth £39.99 to accompany Targus' leather cases, which cost £129. The Targus DEFCON 1 alarm has a motion sensor, activated …

Business 17 Nov 1999, 14:28
Caminogate III: i820 Rambus problem still a mystery

Engineers fail to find root cause of problem

Despite an intensive search to find out why the Camino i820 chipset does not work with three Rambus RIMMs, engineers have still no real idea what the problem is, although Intel claims the problem is not in the chipset. That means that there is no absolute guarantee that the i820 chipset will work with two RIMMs, according to …

Business 17 Nov 1999, 15:40
Tony Blair is impotent

But there's still time...

One of Tony Blair's advisers has told him to embrace new media or risk appearing "impotent and irrelevant" to modern voters. Philip Gould, the government's adviser on public opinion, said that while the world had changed significantly, the UK's political processes remain in the past. Coupled with increasing public scepticism …

Business 17 Nov 1999, 16:18
Anarchists run riot on the Web

This will be the surprise action that brings capitalism to its knees. Oh no it won't…

June's anarchist backlash against City fat cats looks set for a repeat performance at the end of the month. What's more, the organisers (anarchist organisers, whatever will they think of next? - Ed) are using the Internet to promote the next uprising. Scheduled to take place on 30 November, protest group Urban 75 is calling for …

Business 17 Nov 1999, 16:20
US governors face off over Net taxes

Why shouldn't the poor pay more?

The dreaded taxman is going online, and "nothing will be safe," Virginia Governor James Gilmore declared during an electronic commerce policy forum sponsored by the Bureau of National Affairs at which he spoke on Monday. Gilmore, who chairs a commission created by Congress to study online taxation, favours the elimination of …

Business 17 Nov 1999, 17:49
Compaq OEM out of palm-sized market

Insider says it was never really in

Everex Systems Inc, an affiliate of Taiwan's First International Computer (FIC), has dropped out of the market for palm-sized PCs, say US sources. The company's decision is attributed to component supply problems and poor sales. However a source close to the project claims Everex never firmly committed itself to the palm-sized …

Business 17 Nov 1999, 17:53
Gov't snoops doggy dog ISPs

Freedom -- ain't that a George Michael song?

About time too. The government confirmed plans to extend surveillance powers to the Internet, in today's Queen's Speech. Under current legislation, government agencies -- the police and the secret services -- are allowed to tap telephones (they have to ask the home secretary very nicely), but they are barred from intercepting …

Business 17 Nov 1999, 19:09
Future Power preps less iMac-like ePower

Dark grey case and pastel shades will differentiate the two machines, says company

Future Power, developer of the iMac-alike ePower PC and target of legal action from Apple, is already working on a successor product that looks less like the iMac than the current ePower. Last week, Apple won an injunction against Future Power from shipping the ePower in the US until the Mac maker's claims that the machine …

Business 17 Nov 1999, 19:54
PlayStation 2 apes ancient Atari?

They certainly look similar...

Our thanks to Register reader Matt for pointing out the uncanny similarity between Sony's cutting-edge PlayStation 2 and home computer pioneer Atari's never-shipped Falcon 040 from 1993. The Falcon 040 was the follow-up to the Falcon 030, adding a 32-bit bus, Motorola 68040 CPU, and an alternative casing to the ST styling of the …

Business 17 Nov 1999, 19:57
AMD unveils K6-2 Plus, K6-III Plus mobile CPUs

Power-saving silicon similar to Chipzilla's SpeedStep

AMD announced yesterday that it is developing mobile-oriented versions of its popular K6-2 and not-so-popular K6-III processors. Based on its 0.18 micron process, the new chips will feature a built in power-saving mechanism, codenamed Gemini. AMD didn't reveal how many Watts the technology will conserve. Gemini allows users to …

Business 17 Nov 1999, 20:03