10th April 2002 Archive

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Nortel misses revenue forecast

Wallets stay shut

Networking equipment maker Nortel Networks Corp announced yesterday that its first-quarter sales will be less than it had originally expected, but said that it would meet its bottom-line guidance. Toronto, Canada-based Nortel said that sales for the quarter would be $2.9bn, 6% lower than previously given guidance, and 53% …

Business 10 Apr 2002, 07:18
RIM lowers aim for current Q

Over the air testing

Research in Motion Inc yesterday reported slightly better than expected results for the fourth quarter but lowered its guidance for the coming quarters. The Waterloo, Ontario-based wireless firm turned in sales of $66.1m for the quarter ending March 2, a drop of 26.6% on the year. Operating losses were $16.6m compared to a …

Business 10 Apr 2002, 07:18
Sun announces ‘StarKitty’

Half a StarCat

Sun Microsystems Inc rolled out its expected "StarKitty" Sun Fire 12000 younger brother of its high-end "StarCat" Sun Fire 15000 server yesterday in San Francisco without the usual stage show and fanfare that we are used to from the Unix server vendors, Timothy Prickett Morgan writes. It's a sign of the times and good …

Hardware 10 Apr 2002, 07:20
Microsoft continues Office subs quest

Net leak

The prospect of a subscription model for Microsoft Corp's Office has been raised again following the leak of an official company presentation to internet web sites that outlined pricing options and new online services for a future version of the suite. Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft is apparently touting three pricing …

Software 10 Apr 2002, 07:20
Bunch of Fives from IT-Minds

Linux Administration Handbook, compo winners

5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 - Countdown this week's latest offers from www.it-minds.com Our starter for five is Evi Nemeth's long-awaited Linux Administration Handbook. This is the first Linux administration guide for practitioners working in production/enterprise environments. It covers all critical system administration tasks from …

Site News 10 Apr 2002, 08:33
Tricord is waste of space – shareholder suit

Wind it up call

Tricord Systems, the niche supplier of cluster server appliances, has been slapped with a very embarrassing lawsuit, which among other things, reckons the company is a waste of space. Preferred investor Rose Glen International LLC accuses the US company of breaching "certain representations made to Rose Glen when it invested in …

Business 10 Apr 2002, 08:36
Intel talks about talks with Intergraph

They're talking

Intergraph yesterday told the world that it was talking to Intel about talks to resolve their patent/royalty dispute. The two were ordered to talk to each other by the court. And they began this mediation on April 3. The outcome is "an agreement by both parties to continue direct discussions in search of settlement …

Channel 10 Apr 2002, 09:43
DVD+RW drives in shock ‘no upgrade’ situation

Er, we announced the impossible, apparently...

Owners of DVD+RW drives who thought they'd be able to upgrade them to use cheaper write-once DVD+R media via a firmware upgrade are out of luck, and the DVD+RW Alliance would appear to have egg on its face. Manufacturers themselves don't seem to have specifically promised this upgrade, but it appears they did kind of hope it …

Personal 10 Apr 2002, 11:20
Virgin Mobile creates 200 Wilts jobs

Hello - is it me you're looking for?

Virgin Mobile is creating 200 new jobs at its Wiltshire HQ in Trowbridge. The new positions are in Virgin's customer support centre and will take staff numbers at the company to almost 1,500 employees. Virgin Mobile reports that business is booming and expects soon to report strong sales figures for the first three months of …

Mobile 10 Apr 2002, 11:21
Computer failure poleaxes UK air traffic

'Creaky' air traffic control systems

A computer failure at a key air traffic control centre caused massive flight disruption in the UK this morning, causing widespread groundings and cancellations. Air traffic controllers at a centre in West Drayton, near Heathrow had to turn to pen and paper between 0605 and 0640 this morning because of the fault, whose exact …

Business 10 Apr 2002, 11:27
BT to intro public 802.11 WLANs in UK

400 hotspots by 2003

Another day - another business strategy from BT. This time it's BT's new approach to mobile communications, which the telco claims could be worth as much £500 million in the next five years. The headline-grabbing part of this latest review is the creation of the UK's first public access Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN). …

Mobile 10 Apr 2002, 11:31
Xbox sales starting to flag in the US?

Pessimistic research notes, we got 'em...

Reports of disappointing sales levels for Microsoft's Xbox in Europe and Japan have been compounded by an apparent easing off of demand in the US. Analysts yesterday said that production of the machines at Flextronics had slowed, and that Microsoft could well fail to meet its target of shipping 4.5-6 million units worldwide by …

Personal 10 Apr 2002, 12:14
Tesco.com rings up profit

E-shopping still a nightmare says Grocer

Tesco.com - the online grocery division of the giant supermarket chain - is now profitable. Announcing its prelims for the year to February 23 Tesco said it achieved sales of £356 million, up more than 50 per cent on last year. In the UK Tesco's home shopping business covers 95 per cent of the population and handles 85,000 …

Music and Media 10 Apr 2002, 13:56
Cost, mistrust hold back security outsourcing

You've gotta have faith

Fears about costs and reluctance to trust a third party are holding back firms from outsourcing security. That's among the main conclusions of a survey of 100 IT managers by the McAfee security division of Network Associates, which revealed widespread confusion about the financial pros and cons of letting third parties handle …

Security 10 Apr 2002, 14:47
European Commission raps Check Point's knuckles

Anti-competitive behaviour in firewall market

The European Commission has closed an investigation into Check Point Software after the Israeli firm promised not to engage in exclusionary supply practices with its distributors. Last June, Finnish security firm Stonesoft lodged a complaint to the Commission alleging Check Point abused its dominant position in the firewall …

Security 10 Apr 2002, 15:18
MS mounts massive Xbox kebab wrap ad push

Leaves nasty taste in the mouth

Next time you have a kebab - make sure you check the wrapper. Today's offering from the kebab shop downstairs (small doner, extra chilli sauce and lashings of pickled chillies) came wrapped in paper advertising a certain games console. It read: "Dead or Alive 3. It can be hard to adjust to reality. Xbox. Play more. Play Dead …

Bootnotes 10 Apr 2002, 16:03
Pay per play Tetris to save Telewest, NTL

Exclusive licensing deal for ancient game. Which isn't freeware at all. Oh no...

Mind-numbing block-dropping game, Tetris, is to hit UK digital TV subscribers from the summer. YooMedia plc - formerly e-district.net - has signed a deal with The Tetris Company to market the pay-per-play interactive game to customers of cablecos Telewest and NTL. Apparently, the "addictive nature and simple controls make …

Music and Media 10 Apr 2002, 16:20