We are of the firm conviction that the differences between the computer industry on the one hand and almost every other industry on the other mean that it is well-nigh impossible for an outsider to come in and run a computer company successfully, and we call into evidence Michael Blumenthal, who ran Bendix Corp successfully but made a complete hash of Burroughs Corp, first by buying Memorex Corp, which any fool versed in computers could tell him was a stupid thing to do, since it was certain to unsettle both companies’ customers, and then buying Sperry Corp, when even an imbecile could have told him that only a lunatic would try to merge two makers of very incompatible mainframes – and Louis Gerstner seems to be beginning to believe his own publicity at IBM Corp: his appointment Robert Stephenson, whose background is in mainframe sales, to run the personal computer business, has got even the sycophants on Wall Street worried; he has no experience in personal computers, as will soon no doubt become evident; who is he and where did he come from? asked David Coursey, editor of PC Letter; why doesn’t IBM raid Compaq Computer Corp for a manager, everyone is now asking.
Even Jerome York concedes that he leaves IBM Corp before his job as chief financial officer is complete: IBM is still $1,500m short of the $8,000m in annual cost reductions that York had promised; delivering on the rest will be the job of Rick Thoman, and one of his first major actions may be overseeing the lay-offs of as many as 10,000 additional employees, one person familiar with the situation told the Dow Jones & Co newswire.
The second Cable & Wireless Plc affiliate has been drawn into AT&T Corp ‘s WorldPartners alliance of global communications companies: following Hong Kong Telecommunications Ltd, AT&T has extended WorldSource Services, seamless speech and data services for multinational businesses, to Israel through Bezeq Israel Telecommunications Ltd, where Cable & Wireless holds 10%.
Boston, Massachusetts-based Teradyne Inc, manufacturer of automatic test equipment and connection systems for the electronics and telecommunications industries, has reached definitive agreement for the acquisition of semiconductor test systems manufacturer Megatest Corp of San Jose: it will pay between 0.8333 and 0.9091 shares per share, valuing Megatest at $245m.
German utilities group RWE AG duly pulled out of the Mannesmann AG-led Communications Network International GmbH but says it is still seeking an international partner for its foray into telecommunications; a spokeswoman for telecommunications subsidiary RWE Telliance said AT&T Corp’s plan to co-operate with Communications Network does not exclude the possibility that Ma Bell would also tie up with RWE, which should be ready to announce a decision in a few weeks, she said.
Motorola Inc’s Embarc Communication Services Inc has signed a 10-year multi-million-dollar alliance with General Electric Co’s CNBC cable television channel to develop and market wireless financial news and information services for consumers and the business community: the services will be distributed directly to a pocket-sized receiver by way of Motorola Embarc’s Wireless Broadcast Network, which has a US-wide network of satellite-linked transmitters, making it accessible in 230 major metropolitan areas throughout the US and in Canada.
A row has blown up between Oracle Corp and AP-DJ World Equities Report over that interview its president, worldwide operations Raymond Lane gave the news line (CI No 2,744): the row is over a part we omitted, where Lane is reported to have said that analysts’ projections for Oracle’s year to May are on the low side and that earnings per share will probably exceed Wall Street estimates of between $1.27 and $1.45 a share; he is quoted as saying it should be quite easy to exceed that; I’d expect we would be closer to $1.60 – words he denies he ever said; the company’s director of investor relations, Catherine Buan, said it is Oracle’s policy not to off
er guidance, forecasts or projections on earnings, so Lane would not have made any forecasts or projections on earnings for the fiscal year; Lane said he may have provided incorrect statistics to a reporter on the range of analysts’ expectations for Oracle’s fiscal 1996 earnings, but he maintained he didn’t say the company’s earnings would exceed those analysts’ projections; AP-DJ World Equities Report is standing by its story.
NTT Data Communications System Corp reports that it has been awrded an order worth a total of $10m from the Chinese government to build an on-line network to link the postal savings system in eight cities.
You make a grown man cry… having used the custom installation of Microsoft Corp Windows 95 on a networked personal computer, the operating system will tell you it is happy that Novell Inc’s NetBIOS network protocol is there and running, but a closer look will reveal that NetBIOS has been rendered redundant in the revamped AUTOEXEC.BAT, with Windows 95 leaving a calling card so you know what to blame: this prevents IBM Corp’s Notes and a host of other applications needing NetBIOS from working.
Canon Inc claims to have the world’s first solar-powered camera, a fully automatic 35mm model called the Autoboy SE, which weighs 9 oz and has solar cells mounted on the front of the camera body; a built-in battery, which does not need to be replaced, stores solar energy and enables the camera to be used in all light conditions; fully charged, the camera has enough power to expose from six to eight rolls of film, Canon said; the solar panel automatically opens when the temperature rises above 27oPt to prevent heat from the panel damaging the film; out next month in Japan, it sells for $395.
Despite the all-MVS environment, the Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Group’s Midland Bank Plc has gone to Unisys Corp for facilities management for its data centres in Bootle, Lancashire and Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Unisys reckons it’s the first time a UK bank has handed over maintenance and support of its data centre to a third party; the deal is worth ú10m over three years; the bank’s kit comes from IBM Corp and Amdahl Corp and Unisys will be working with Digital Equipment Corp and Storage Technology Corp as service partners.
Atlanta supplier of electronic commerce software Harbinger Corp has bought the Netherlands-based AS/400 Electronic Data Interchange products development organisation of System Software Associates Inc, Chicago provider of enterprise resource planning systems: Harbinger will add the AS/400 product to its existing MVS, Unix, and Windows offerings, and in return, System Software will market and support Harbinger’s complete line of Electronic Commerce products and services; it also takes an equity stake in Harbinger while its chairman and chief executive, Roger Covey, joins Harbinger’s board of directors.
Cambridge-based Electronic Share Information Ltd and Birmingham discount share dealer ShareLink Ltd have sent the London Stock Exchange into a spin with their system to offer real-time share price information over the World Wide Web from today: the company said it is prepared to go to court to overturn the exchange’s amendment to its contract which would prevent the company from using share information on the Web: Electronic Share had signed an agreement on June 14 with the Exchange to use just such information, but the latter got cold feet and said that only overnight prices could be used; ESI is unperturbed and confident that the ruling can be overturned within the 30-day period allotted; in addition to going ahead with the launch today, it is also planning an application to the UK Securities & Investments Board to become what it calls the world’s first cyberspace stock exchange by adding dealing too; it is at http://www.esi.co.uk.
In a move that could help accelerate growth of electronic commerce, Dun & Bradstreet Corp’s Nielsen Media Research and Internet Profiles Corp have teamed to offer a range of measurement and evaluatio
n services for the Internet, to seal the deal, Nielson Media takes a minority stake in Internet Profiles.
Telecommunications majors have been invited to bid for a stake in Indonesian cellular phone operator PT Telkomsel, and about 10 major telecommunications firms are believed to be bidding, including Australia’s Telstra Corp which has confirmed that it’s submitting a bid: PT Telkomsel is 51% owned by state telephone company PT Telkom and 49% by its satellite communications stablemate PT Indosat; the size of the stake on offer has not been decided, but industry sources say it presents a major opportunity for foreign operators and point to the recent acquisition by Deutsche Telekom AG unit DeTeMobil of a 25% stake in rival cellular operator PT Satelindo for $586m; AT&T Corp, US West Inc, British Telecommunications Plc, Vodafone Group Plc and Cable & Wireless Plc, Koninklijke PTT Nederland NV and France Telecom are all expected to submit bids, which must be in by the month-end.
Singapore Telecom Ltd was due to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Directorate General Telecommunications of Taiwan yesterday, for joint development of a commercial satellite system worth about $200m, with both parties holding equal shares in the project: launch of the satellite is targetted for 1997 and it is expected to be ready for service by 1998; Singapore Telecom said the geostationary satellite will support video broadcasting, VSAT, telephony and data services and will expand capacity and meet demand for satellite services.
