Embarrassing – Intel Corp has found a bug in the beta compiler used in finding results for the old version of the SPEC benchmark, SPECint92, which is being phased out in favour of SPECint95, and as a result overstated results for some processors by about 10%: the beta compiler skewed performance results for 100MHz and higher Pentium processors reported from September 1 on, and for the new Pentium Pro chips.
It looks as if it will be a race between IBM Corp moving to fire the people it no longer needs at Lotus Development Corp and a rush for the exits by Lotus people it does want and need to retain: according to Wendy Goldman Rohm, writing in Computer Business Review, as part of the agreed acquisition deal, departed Lotus chief Jim Manzi negotiated a bonus of 10% of their salary for 1,000 key Lotus employees, payable if they agreed to stay until the end of December; during November, she writes, scores of these employees were calling Manzi for moral support about their decisions to leave the company within weeks.
Apple Computer Inc is expected to use MacWorld Expo this week to unveil its Internet strategy and update the status of Copland: Apple is planning to unveil the Internet browsing software bundle code-named Cyberdog for capturing text and pictures, create short or long documents, then send the contents to other people on the Internet or by electronic mail or floppy disk.
Many views make a market, and SoundView Financial Group analyst Gary Helmig doesn’t buy the arguments that the recovery at IBM Corp is little more than smoke and mirrors: he reiterated his buy rating on the stock, saying he saw no reason for investors to be worried about IBM’s fourth quarter earnings – which will of course be fine if you ignore the usual unusual charges, adding I don’t find any signs that they are not going to make the December or the March quarter, and saying he maintained his fourth quarter estimate of $3.40 a share, compared with the First Call consensus of $3.43; he said mainframes and storage systems and services were strong, which should make up for any potential weakness in personal computer or AS/400 sales as some are expecting.
The recommendation of IBM Corp and a similar good word for Digital Equipment Corp reversed much of the negative sentiment over high-tech stocks by midday on Wall Street.
Deutsche Telekom AG is having a terrible time making its rebalancing of telephone tariffs – local calls have typically been too cheap, long distance far to expensive – stick, and on Friday the Cologne regional court ruled that it had misinformed customers about the rate changes and imposed an injunction preventing it repeating some of its claims, threatening penalties of up to $346,000; Bild Zeitung, described by Reuters as Germany’s populist political barometer, splashed headlines last week such as Telephone Chaos and Down with the phone rates and urged readers to send a protest letter from the paper to boss Ron Sommer.
Strange – thought carriers wanted to encourage take-up of the lines: Pacific Telesis Group Inc and US West Inc are proposing doubling charges for Integrated Services Digital Network lines, the New York Times reported: the two Bells contend that the costs of providing the service are greater than expected and usage higher than expected.
Hutchison Telecommunications UK Ltd’s Orange Personal Communications Network says it added 50,000 new subscribers to its digital network in December, taking its customer base to 380,000; in the three months to December 31, Vodafone Group Plc added only 75,000 new subscribers on its digital network.
Philips Electronics NV is promising to have a Digital Video Disk player on the market by the year-end, at somewhere between $500 and $800.
Sony Corp plans to have a Digital Video Disk player on the market by the end of the year, forecasting sales of 500,000 in the first year, 1m in the second, 2m in the third.
Thomson SA has commissioned Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd to
manufacture its Digital Video Disk players for sale around the world.
Hewlett-Packard Co today cuts prices on its Pavillion line of home computers, knocking $200 off each model as it adds 166MHz and 150MHz Pentium models; the 166MHz Pavillion without monitor will be $3,000, the same as the 133MHz model was.
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd reports $700m of orders to supply monitors to 10 US personal computer makers this year: Samsung plans to supply 1.1m 17 monitors to the US firms, which include Compaq Computer Corp.
Having cancelled all future development of its Am29000 embedded RISC, Advanced Micro Devices Inc now has the ARM, PowerPC, 80960, R-series and Sparc camps chasing its customers – Advanced Micro did ship two million Am29000s in 1995.
Japan’s Ministry of Posts & Telecommunications plans to draw up a new five-year programme to speed development of Japan’s telecommunications network, which presently focusses on fibre optic technology: the programme will include development of wireless and satellite communications, which will supplement the optical fibre network that Japan is currently building – Japan earlier adopted a programme to complete construction of a nationwide optical system by 2010, but there has been criticism that the plan lacks provision for radio systems.
Radius Inc, Sunnyvale is to cut prices for its NuBus-based digital video Mac offerings by as much as 38%: the Radius Telecast falls to $6,400 from $10,000, its VideoVision Studio to $3,000 from $4,850, and its VideoVision Studio to Telecast upgrade to $4,300 from $6,000.
The new TPC5-Cable Network between the US and Japan via Hawaii and Guam is now in service: the system is owned by AT&T Corp, MCI Communications Corp, British Telecommunications Plc, Kokusai Denshin Denwa Co Ltd and 55 other major carriers.
NeXT Computer Inc’s hardware business is long gone, so it is changing its name to NeXT Software Inc.
Minneapolis-based Ceridian Corp says it has bought the products, the Information Learnings Systems trade mark and other assets of Information Learning Inc, which provides expert systems enabling employers to address employee and retiree questions about benefits, payroll and personnel policies and programmes; terms were not given.
Thomson-CSF SA agreed in principle to take a 25% stake in Italian electronic warfare specialist Elettronica SpA by buying shares in Elettronica’s forthcoming issue; it will take its stake to 32% in 1997, and on to 49% within three years.
Maxtor Corp has established a $100m bridge financing facility with controlling shareholder Hyundai Electronics America Inc: this will provide additional working capital financing for up to 90 days and is secured by the accounts receivable.
Not perhaps enough warnings yet to call a general slowdown, but they are mounting up, and shares of FTP Software Inc plummeted on Thursday after the company warned that its fourth-quarter results will be disappointing: the shares were massacred, plunging $11.875 to $13.375 in active trading after the Andover, Massachusetts company said that its earnings for the fourth quarter will be less than last year’s profits of $8.4m or 29 cents a share, even though it said that its sales were hurt by the temporary shutdown of the US government, which caused the deferral of several contracts.
Alexandria, Virginia-based networking boards and products maker Microdyne Corp warns that it expects earnings for the fiscal first quarter to December 31 to be below the year-earlier $0.14 a share and significantly below analysts’ forecasts – analysts had expected the company to earn $0.30 to $0.31 a share for the quarter, but Microdyne said stocking shortages, uneven distribution levels and greater sales of low-margin products all conspired to affect its results.
And Ottawa-based Corel Corp said its CorelDraw 6 graphics software had slower market penetration than expected and the delay, together with the launch costs, will have a material adverse affect on its fourth quarter results: it confirmed that CorelDraw 7 is scheduled for release this autumn to coincide with its annual world design contest gala; slow market penetration of CorelDraw 6 is a result of the delayed market absorption of Microsoft Corp’s Windows95, Coral says.
France Telecom has filed an arbitration notice against the Republic of Poland and state-owned operator Telekomunikacja Polska, seeking $500m after failing to obtain a mobile communications licence there: France Telecom and Ameritech Corp each hold a a 24.5% stake in Polish cellular operator PTK Centrtel and Telekomunikacja holds the remaining 51%; Ameritech is already seeking $500m damages against the Polish government, alleging it broke a promise to award a licence (CI No 2,820); France Telecom said that the Polish government has broken clear commitments taken in 1991 and said the arbitration notification is in line with the rules of arbitration as defined by the UN Commission for International Trade Law; the relevant authority for arbitration would be the International Court of Justice in The Hague, the Netherlands, the company said.
L M Ericsson Telefon AB won its first order for DAMPS system telephone technology from Digitial Cellular Communication of Ukraine to provide telephone systems to the Donetsk region: Ericsson said that the system supplies a combination of fixed and mobile phone links.
