16th February 2000 Archive

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Willamette won't launch at 1.5GHz this autumn

Intel Developer Forum Inner secrets of Screaming Sindie II

We were privileged this afternoon to have a round table briefing from Dr Albert Yu, a senior VP at the Intel Corporation, and the man who unleashed a 1.5GHz on the world stage earlier today. We had some of those pesky questions to ask him about the product, and in the process, unearthed some interesting anomalies. Dr Yu refused …

Business 16 Feb 2000, 01:41
Brown to slash Net charges

So what's he got to do with it?

Chancellor Gordon Brown will tonight reveal plans to slash Internet access costs in half by 2002. Well, actually he won't do this tonight, as he's already spilled the beans in an exclusive interview with the FT. And he won't actually reveal any new plans from the sound of it. More accurately, he is to tell Britain where he …

Business 16 Feb 2000, 09:58
Taiwan suppliers confirm DRAM doom and gloom

No pick-up until Q3

Spot prices for 64Mb DRAM chips have slumped below $7 and are not expected to bottom out in the near future, according to Taiwanese DRAM makers. Newswire AsiaBiztech cites US semiconductor sources who "quoted the average price of a standard 64Mb DRAM at $7 on 8 February". Some orders were going for as little as $6.79 on the day …

Business 16 Feb 2000, 10:14
Datrontech launches The Hub

And leaks new government accreditation scheme for SMEs

Datrontech UK yesterday launched a venture called The Hub, aimed at keeping its core market of SME system builders. Outlining the distributor's plans for the next 12-18 months, Datrontech MD James Morgan said the company wanted to get 1000 of its 4000 UK resellers signed up for the programme. It will offer bigger credit limits, …

Business 16 Feb 2000, 10:29
Compel blames Y2K sales slowdown

...even though revenues jumped 12 per cent

Compel yesterday saw interim profits slump by almost 40 per cent, but expects customer spending to pick up in the first half of this year. The reseller blamed a Y2K sales slowdown as pre-tax profits slipped to £3 million for the six months ended 31 December 1999 in line with expectations. This compared to almost £5 million the …

Business 16 Feb 2000, 10:36
SCH buys Info'Products Europe

Massive move by Birmingham's finest

SCH, Britain's second biggest reseller, is taking a huge leap onto the European stage, with the acquisition of Info'products Europe from Burhmann, the Dutch paper group. Info'products has annual sales of 1.6bn euros and operates as eight units in six countries. The company is the biggest reseller in France and the Netherlands, …

Business 16 Feb 2000, 10:44
Solaris, Win2k on your cellphone? Citrix ships the tools

Browser-based program neighbourhood system for MetaFrame

Citrix is to release NFuse, application portal software that allows users access to multiple server-based apps via browsers, as a free download from tomorrow. NFuse, which was developed under the codename of Charlotte, gives appliances of all shapes and sizes the ability to run remote applications on Citrix MetaFrame servers. …

Business 16 Feb 2000, 10:55
Alpha male accuses BT of cross-subsidy

Poison Pill, he quips

The MD of Alpha Telecom has launched a scathing attack on BT and its new discount telecoms operation voicing concerns that the monster telco is cross-subsiding Quip. Andy Middleton demanded "transparency" in dealings between BT and the fledgling operation to ensure a level playing field in the growing cut-price telephony market …

Business 16 Feb 2000, 11:28
Apple unwraps long-awaited iBook, PowerBook upgrades

PowerMac line finally makes it to 500MHz, too.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs this morning announced all the new much-anticipated new kit he'd been expected to unveil back at last month's MacWorld Expo in San Francisco but somehow managed not to. Taking up his now well-established role as public speaker, Jobs used his keynote at MacWorld Expo Tokyo to revamp both of Apple's portable …

Business 16 Feb 2000, 12:00
Dell parachutes top exec for Europe fix

Underperforms US parent

Dell has planted one of its top execs into Europe in an effort to resuscitate ailing European sales. Paul Bell was made European president this week, adding to his existing roles of senior VP and co-manager of the vendor's home and small business group. He replaced John Legere, who resigned, Reuters reports. Bell's appointment …

Business 16 Feb 2000, 12:06
Test lab ‘proves’ both cases in Novell vs. MS directory wars

Utah outfit retained by both companies justifies respective, contradictory claims

Microsoft has made another attempt at beating Novell in the directory game, but has tripped itself up again in the process. This time Microsoft chose a Utah testing house called KeyLabs that Novell had used in the past, and asked it to carry out some tests so that Microsoft could have third party verification. Novell corporate …

Business 16 Feb 2000, 12:27
Microsoft's X-Box PlayStation 2 killer spec. leaks out

Too obvious to be true?

Microsoft's entry into the games console-cum-internet appliance market, codenamed X-Box, has made another appearance in the rumour channel, this time courtesy of a leak to UK games publishing trade title MCV. Like most X-Box scuttlebutt, the various elements of the leaked spec. are tantalisingly plausible -- bloody obvious, if …

Business 16 Feb 2000, 12:54
Mac PC emulator to bundle Red Hat Linux

But why emulate when you can have the real thing?

Emulation software developer Connectix is to ship a version of its Mac-based Virtual PC application with Red Hat Linux as the emulator's bundled x86 operating systems. Connectix actually said it was planning to offer Virtual PC, now at version 3.0, with Linux back at the start of January, at MacWorld Expo. At that time, it hadn' …

Business 16 Feb 2000, 13:15
How do you get your customers to buy online?

Easy... don't answer the phones

Irish airline Ryanair has come up with a novel way of turning itself into an e-commerce business -- it's stopped picking up the phones. After starting its online booking system rynair.com just one month ago, the no-frills airline boasts the site is already responsible for about 23 per cent of its traffic (does it mean bookings …

Business 16 Feb 2000, 13:31
No tears at ISPA Internet Awards

The usual suspects

The rising stars of the British Internet industry gathered at a gala awards ceremony in London last night to celebrate the achievements of the last year. E-commerce minister Patricia Hewitt spoke of the progress the country was making and of the "major strides that the Net industry had made in only a few years". Despite her …

Business 16 Feb 2000, 13:45
T-Online moves in on Club Internet

Germans and French join forces to conquer Web

T-Online, the German monster ISP, is today joining forces with a smaller French counterpart, Club Internet. Deutsche Telekom is merging its ISP subsidiary with magazine publisher Lagardere's Club Internet, to deliver a combined subscriber base of nearly 4.6 million. The stock-swap deal entails T-Online buying Club Internet. In …

Business 16 Feb 2000, 13:57
Six Dramurai forgive Rambus: Seven Dramurai on cards

Intel Developer Forum All about Willamette, Foster, Timna et al

Senior Intel executives are, rather doggedly, in our humble opinion, sticking to the line that when Willamette launches this autumn, for the desktop at least, Rambus will be the way to go. They are also saying, by the way, that if Willamette makes it to the server level (which it will), it will use DDR (double data rate) memory …

Business 16 Feb 2000, 15:21
Intel disses 1394 for own technology – again

Last year it was USB 2.0 - now it's Serial ATA

Intel's dislike on the IEEE 1394 (aka FireWire) continued unabated at this week's Intel Developer Forum (IDF), despite an agreement with Sony to work on a wireless version of the technology. Bashing 1394 has become a traditional occupation at IDF, particularly from Pat Gelsinger, general manager of Intel's desktop group, who …

Business 16 Feb 2000, 16:08
Intel mycelium: the spores bud

Intel Developer Forum Not a niche but a very cunning plan

John Miner and Mark Christiansen, senior VPs of Intel's burgeoning network division, have outlined their plans to provide Internet infrastructure by providing services and products intended to keep firms up and running. Intel today introduced a branding scheme called eightseconds, aimed at keeping online businesses going. …

Business 16 Feb 2000, 16:25
Otellini: Watch out for the killer apps

Intel Developer Forum Basis of US economy is Intel. Next the world

Paul Otellini, senior VP of Intel's server architecture group, this morning demonstrated the depth of the cunning plan Internetzilla is developing to secure its place in the coming revolution. Otellini claimed that a new class of killer applications was emerging, based on XML, which he said formed the basis of the Third …

Business 16 Feb 2000, 16:50
Sony slaps patent suit on PlayStation emulator developer

Connectix jubilation premature

Top marks to Sony lawyers for one thing at least: these guys really know how to spot an opportunity and mine it. Last week, the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal reversed a judgement made by the San Francisco District Court which banned the sale of emulator developer Connectix's Virtual Game Station (VGS) PlayStation-on-a-Mac …

Business 16 Feb 2000, 16:54
Govt censors pro-Livingstone Net posts

...and IR35 and anti-fox hunting etc., etc.

The Government has stirred up a hornet's nest over accusations of censorship on its new Web site. The Number 10 Web site was earlier this week accused of letting offensive remarks slip through the net and onto its public discussion forums. Today, the site is littered with cries of censorship, with people protesting that messages …

Business 16 Feb 2000, 17:26
ATI buys Nintendo's graphics chip partner

ArtX acquired for $400m

ATI, the market leader in the 3D graphics acceleration market, has bought chip developer ArtX for $400 million, to be funded by a mixed of stock and options. ArtX emerged out of Nintendo's partnership with SGI to develop the graphics sub-system for the N64 console. SGI's interest in the deal -- it soon decided it would rather be …

Business 16 Feb 2000, 17:29
Brown Net cuts story is false

He won't cut charges -- but will he e-tax .com companies?

Chancellor Gordon Brown is not about to "cut internet costs", as reported today by the FT, The Register can confirm. Nor will he announce plans to "halve the cost of Internet access by the end of 2002", not unless what has already been agreed and is in the public domain can be "announced". The FT may have led with the large …

Business 16 Feb 2000, 17:30
Windows, the next generation – Ballmer opens up on NGWS

All the major assets in the servers, and browser-based apps everywhere. It's not just great artists who steal...

Steve Ballmer has been trying to rally Visual Basic enthusiasts in San Francisco, and in doing so he's opened up a little more on the project Bill Gates allegedly went off to supervise - Next Generation Windows Services (NGWS). As Ballmer tells it, NGWS a strange cocktail. It seems that it will consist of Windows 2000 ("the …

Business 16 Feb 2000, 18:18
Itanium: the beat goes on

Intel Developer Forum Vapour phase, up in our brain

Steve Smith, who heads up the Itanium-Merced programme for Intel, was in expansive mood about the future of the platform when we talked to him last night. But he's not yet ready to give us a prototype Merced so we can use it as a paperweight, even the dummy one we photographed two IDF's back. Nor was he prepared to talk about …

Business 16 Feb 2000, 19:02
Risc vendors have Rubicon to cross

Intel Developer Forum Some have crossed it, Sun, other's ain't yet

Paul Otellini, general manager of Intel's architecture group, was in classical mood when he hosted a question and answer session in the desert today. Otellini said that companies, such as IBM and HP, had crossed the Rubicon by wholeheartedly adopting Itanium as their future, despite having Riscy platforms. Readers with a …

Business 16 Feb 2000, 19:20
Funny things happened on the way to the forum

IDF Bootnotes You've gotta laff, init?

There's a big exhibition area over at the convention centre and Hyundai America has a jolly big stand near the front. On one side of the bothy there's them thar RIMMs and on the other side there's them thar DIMMs. So we asked some chap whether he thought Hyundai would sell more DIMMs than RIMMs this year. He looked thoughtfully …

Business 16 Feb 2000, 19:38
Micron DDR samples out and about

Intel Developer Forum But where's Intel's PC-133 solution?

Chip manufacturer Micron was demonstrating two working systems of DDR (double data rate) memory using the Samurai chipset at its stand in the exhibition section of the Intel Developer Forum. All during the week, senior Intel personnel have told us that Willamette, when it launches, will be positioned as a Rambus solution, while …

Business 16 Feb 2000, 23:38
Willamette chip cores run at 3GHz

Intel Developer Forum This chip is full of surprises

Intel said today that there are two arithmetical logical units (ALUs) within its up-and-coming microprocessor codenamed Willamette that each run at 3GHz. The rest of the microprocessor runs at 1.5GHz, Intel representatives said. Yesterday, Intel demonstrated a Willamette processor which was apparently air cooled and which …

Business 16 Feb 2000, 23:47