Oracle Corp has formed the Object Definition Alliance to create a common standard for software used to run multimedia programming on a variety of communications networks: multimedia developers now have to create multiple versions of their software to satisfy the numerous networks, hardware and operating systems that are emerging in various industries, but the proposed common standard would enable interactive software developers to create programming that could be used on multiple networks including the World Wide Web, on-line networks, Integrated Services Digital Network and broadband cable networks; the alliance plans to use building blocks of programming code to manage services such as billing, credit, security, user ID, parental control and other such services; members of the group include Apple Computer Inc , Compaq Computer Corp, Time Warner Inc’s Home Box Office, Kaleida Labs Inc, Taligent Inc, MasterCard International, MCI Communications Corp, NeXT Computer Inc, the Object Management Group, PriceCostco Inc, Sun Microsystems Inc, VeriFone Inc, Visa Interactive, Wells Fargo & Co and Xerox Corp.
Reporting plunging second quarter earnings per share of just two cents (page seven), Saber Software Corp said it will take immediate cost-reduction measures the better to align expenses to revenue, but it did not give any other details.
Computer 2000 AG, the computer distributor majority-owned by British Telecommunications Plc’s German partner Viag AG, says sales in the first nine months of its fiscal to September 30 rose 30.1% to the equivalent of $2,672m; it said earnings were in line with expectations, despite the continued strength of the mark, and that it still expected full-year sales of some $3,450m and a profit advance.
However Computer 2000 AG’s purchase of 51% of AmeriQuest Technologies Inc for $50m is very much in doubt: after agreed sales and earnings goals were not reached, new negotiations have begun, the firm said.
Microsoft Corp is saying there will be one more release of Windows after Windows95 before the desktop operating system is merged with Windows NT; it also said the Windows95 version of Money will be offered free between August 24 and October 31 – download it from the the Microsoft Network or its World Wide Web page – or pay a $10 handling fee to get the code on floppy disk.
Koninklijke PTT Nederland NV yesterday announced that it had taken a 50% stake in Telecential Ltd, which offers cable television in the Midlands and Thames Valley regions of central England; the Dutch phone company did not disclose any financial details of the purchase, but it bought the stake from Telus Corp; the Canadian will keep the other half of Telecential, which is the eighth largest cable television company in the UK with a network already hooked up to 288,000 homes and the potential to reach a total of 626,000; it offers local telephony as well as cable television.
Phoenix, Arizona-based Internet access provider Network99 Inc, which Apex Global Information Services Inc has a letter of intent to acquire (CI No 2,712) has signed up Cable & Wireless Inc, US arm of the UK company, to expand Net99 services to 110 cities nationally and 15 cities internationally via Frame Relay; Net99 will now be offering frame relay services as a one-stop-shop, and the new services will not only include the port and line charges, but the hardware on both ends of the circuit, installed by Cable & Wireless at the user site.
The Taiwanese government has approved a plan for an unnamed Asian manufacturer to develop P6 and P7 processors to counter Intel Corp’s dominance, US PC Week reports: United Microelectronics Ltd, which is being sued by Intel for 80486 patent infringement, is a likely candidate to fabricate the processors, which the government says it wants to be available by mid-1997.
Banyan Systems Inc, Westborough, Massachusetts says that problems involving product sales will continue to hurt its earnings results for the rest of the year: it says its second quart
er (figures, page seven) was hit by lower than expected sales of Vines and Enterprise Networking System products, longer sales cycles due to extended operating system and hardware evaluations and a new sales chief; We remain concerned about the factors that affected our second-quarter results and expect these to continue to impact our results for the balance of 1995, the company said.
Northern Telecom Ltd has won another Personal Communications Services contract with a $200m multi-year deal with Western Wireless Inc: the PCS 1900 system is compatible with Groupe Speciale Mobile standards.
Gives a whole new meaning to the term Flying Bishops for those Bishops without Portfolio that zoom into Church of England parishes whenever they are asked to perform priestly functions for people with a conscientious objection to being blessed or whatever by a woman priest, (a term that many believe is like talking about a female bull or a male heifer): the Church of England and the Church of Scotland are among the first religious organisations in the UK to open for business on the Internet, Church Net, which will provide a home for all churches and Christian organisations in Britain, enabling ecclesia to post everything from sermons to personal chatter electronically.
Getting a bit tedious, this (we haven’t actually recorded all the extensions), but Computer Associates International Inc has had to extend its offer to buy Legent Corp yet again, this time until July 28, and the extension is because the Justice Department still hasn’t made up its mind whether to make a formal challenge to aspects of the deal, perhaps ordering divestments.
British Telecommunications Plc yesterday bowed to an order from the UK Office of Telecommunications that it publish the tariffs it charges for satellite links and to make sure that its operations that use those services are charged the same as its rivals: the company said that while it would comply, its system of charging for satellite uplinking was complex, as the service was often offered to companies on a bespoke basis; it offers uplink services to third parties, and also has its own division to provide satellite links directly to users in the broadcasting sector.
IBM Corp’s new SCSI differential adaptor for RS/6000 uses the 40MHz Am186EM microcontroller to help deliver up to twice the performance of its previous SCSI-2 adaptor, Advanced Micro Devices reports.
Correction: Oracle Corp’s partner for Internet browser software was misidentified in a front page headline in CI No 2,709; the company was correctly identified as Spyglass Inc in the body of the story.
Computer Associates International Inc has a – no doubt undeserved – reputation for being disputatious, but US PC Week is regaling a tale that adds fuel to the fire: seems that at the company’s CA World event in New Orleans, IBM Corp upset its hosts so much with some advertising that the company wanted to throw IBM out of the show, and some of the Computer Associates actually started dismantling the IBM stand before peace was restored – it is said by a calming chat between Lou Gerstner and Charlie Wang.
