When Compagnie des Machines Bull SA signed up with IBM Corp to collaborate on Unix development and the PowerPC, and to construct its Unix line around RS/6000 processors bought in from IBM, it seemed that the MIPS Technologies Inc RISC on which it had majored was out of the picture, despite the fact that the R-series chips are made by its other major partner, NEC Corp. Not so, it seems: according to Electronic News, in the US, its Zenith Data Systems unit is planning to build and offer a line of personal computers built around VR4400 and VR4200 RISCs from NEC – aimed primarily at the Windows NT market. Zenith plans a full line from servers to portables, but has not yet decided whether to build them itself, or buy them in OEM from NEC or possibly from Acer Inc in Taiwan. Now that NEC has tossed another $65m into the bottomless Bull pot while IBM sat on its hands, Bull is expected to favour NEC in any conflict.
