8th December 1999 Archive

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NT scales C2 security heights – but what about Win2k?

Long term, the NCSC criteria are challenges the company can't rise to

Microsoft announced this week that it has received Orange Book C2 certification for NT 4.0, and FIPS 140-1 validation of the cryptographic services in Windows 95, Windows 98, NT 4 and Windows 2000. Microsoft says that "customers now have formal, third-party verification of the security" of these operating systems. Microsoft also …

Business 8 Dec 1999, 10:25
IBM, Samsung square up for Compaq Alpha contract

And Samsung's getting into the Athlon mobo biz, too

Samsung and IBM Microelectronics have emerged as the front-runners -- nay, the only runners -- in the bid to supply The Big Q with the next version of the Alpha CPU. Alpha is currently at version EV6, as supplied to Compaq by Samsung. The Korean giant reckons it can get EV7 sampling by next July and into volume production by Q3 …

Business 8 Dec 1999, 11:30
Cobalt clinches French educational server appliance deal

Qube adopted by France Telecom for schools programme

Linux server appliance specialist Cobalt Networks has made a major breakthrough into the European educational market, following the adoption of the Cobalt Qube by France Telecom for deployment in schools and other educational organisations. The servers are to be supplied via French systems integrator DNS Telecom as part of …

Business 8 Dec 1999, 11:34
HP claims it will trash competitors on IA-64

But how compatible is its binary compatibility?

IBM, Sun's and Compaq's IA-64 strategies are fundamentally flawed, a senior executive at Hewlett Packard said today. Cliff Loeb, European technology strategy manager at HP, claimed that his firm's approach, on the other hand, was consistent and simple. At the same time, he revealed that HP engineers have developed so-called …

Business 8 Dec 1999, 11:49
IDC names Hyundai top DRAM vendor, over Samsung

Former number one (now number three), Samsung very cross

Samsung bosses have damned a report by market researcher IDC that claims the company will have lost its position as top DRAM manufacturer by the end of the year, falling to number three in the chart. Displacing the Korean giant is Hyundai, fresh from its merger with LG Semicon and chucking out those chips to take 23.5 per cent …

Business 8 Dec 1999, 11:51
Karmas combine into single $1bn business

There can be only one...

Fourteen Karma businesses have come together to create a $1 billion company in a joint MBO. The group of distributors, which includes Karma UK, signed the agreement to become Karma Group last weekend. The company now comprises Karma businesses in the following countries: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, …

Business 8 Dec 1999, 11:57
Tiny trims Web site

We offer online sales, not an 'experience', says Tiny exec

Tiny Computers is spending £3 million to give its Web site, www.tiny.com, fewer features. The site belongs to the UK PC manufacturer's Web arm, Tiny Online, and was yesterday relaunched to reduce the time and effort needed for punters to order online. It was designed by Domino Systems, and Tiny claims to have cut the amount of …

Business 8 Dec 1999, 12:06
BT dodges flak with unmetered move

Misses out on a savaging from MPs

BT admitted yesterday that its announcement concerning the introduction of unmetered dial-up access to the Net was planned to coincide with a meeting of backbench MPs. The Trade and Industry Select Committee was due to grill Oftel over BT's monopoly but a spokeswoman for BT told the Telegraph that the timing of the announcement …

Business 8 Dec 1999, 12:16
08004u resurfaces -– crikey

We kid you not, it's back in action

It's nothing short of a miracle but ISP 08004u has reappeared -- at a different Web site and with different contact details. Gone is the flashy portal content. Instead, the site appears to be offering no nonsense Net access. Attempts to contact the ISP today failed although a notice on its site does say that the phone lines …

Business 8 Dec 1999, 12:19
Michael Dell nets $232m in share sale

Only 1.5 per cent of his holding in company

Michael Dell and his directors were offloading shares by the truckload last month. The founder and chairman of Dell Computer sold a total of 5.7 million shares in November, Bloomberg reported. The 34-year-old sold 2.1 million shares on 17 November at $40.66 each, 1.9 million on 18 November at $40.20, and 1.7 million on 24 …

Business 8 Dec 1999, 12:52
HP, Casio, Philips sued over PDA patent

Khyber thinks it has them in a pass

Ohio company Khyber Communications confirmed today it has taken legal action against major PDA vendors HP, Casio and Philips over an alleged patent infringement. Khyber contends that electronic organisers made by these companies, as well as Everex and Uniden, breach a 1997 patent it holds, issued on 9 December 1997. The patent …

Business 8 Dec 1999, 15:40
Merced-Itanium PCs expected October 2000

Well, Intel did say the second half of next year

Sources close to Intel's plans have said that the first workstation and server systems using its 64-bit Merced Itanium chip are not now expected to hit the streets until October next year. It was hoped that some systems would be on sale by August of next year, but our source said that a more realistic assessment is now October. …

Business 8 Dec 1999, 16:12
Further memory problems dog Caminogate

Memory...is made of this

Once the Intel VC820 boxed mobo becomes available, and that won't be until next week according to channel sources, people prepared to pay the exorbitant price of Rambus RIMMs also need to watch out for a number of factors. Although Intel engineers solved the problem by shutting off one of the sockets with a terminator, there is …

Business 8 Dec 1999, 16:27
Gates on media: ‘I have a stream’

MS to be great enabler, apparently...

At the Streaming Media West meeting in San Jose yesterday Bill Gates gave what is fast becoming his identispeech, but with a few new modules. He said that "PC sales have really surprised all the analysts" - but is that really true? Isn't Gates' message that he wants the home and workplace PC to be dominant, and not other devices …

Business 8 Dec 1999, 16:40
MS scores Ericsson deal over wireless browser, BackOffice

But check the fine print - it's more a move against Nokia than Symbian

Microsoft at last scored a major victory in the wireless market today, with the announcement of a joint venture company with Symbian co-founder Ericsson. Panic at the news sent Psion shares spinning downwards in London, but wiser counsel seems to have prevailed later - the stock started rising again, sensibly, because when you …

Business 8 Dec 1999, 18:58
MS COO defends ‘right to innovate’

MS on Trial And he's very disappointed about the judge...

Microsoft COO Bob Herbold said yesterday in Philadelphia: "We have to have the right to listen to consumers and modify our products and take our chances in the marketplace. That's called the right to innovate, and that's a right that's worth fighting for." Herbold, generally reckoned to be number three in the Microsoft power …

Business 8 Dec 1999, 19:02
Novell takes pirate to task

Community service for bulletin board entrepreneur

A Scotsman is starting 300 hours of community service after being caught selling pirated Novell software online. Over $250,000 of goods were seized at the West Lothian home of John Hadlow by Lothian & Borders Fraud Squad. Hadlow had been illegally copying Novell NetWare onto CDs and then selling them through his bulletin board " …

Business 8 Dec 1999, 21:40