Unisys Corp has clearly learned the Intel Corp lesson – when it comes to dealings with the Internet community, discretion is the better part of valour, and on Friday it announced a vertiginous climb-down over the issue of .GIF graphics files that use its patented Lev Zempel Welch compression algorithm: it is not going to try to collect on any past infringements, but it does want a royalty where software developers come out with a new release of software that uses the algorithm; in its agreement with CompuServe, it says that it did not require the on-line services operator to collect from its sublicensees or end-users – that was at CompuServe’s discretion; it does want all the major on-line information companies using the patent to license it, but says that they are not required to sublicense it to developers producing software for their services; and it says it wants to collect on all products that use the algorithm or .GIF that are launched after the end of 1994. – o – IBM Corp chairman Louis Gerstner issued an upbeat New Year message to employees, indicating that the company is almost through with lay-offs, the Wall Street Journal reported and addressing the question of what the company should do with its $11,000m cash pile: options he saw included repaying some of the company’s debt, which has ballooned over the past three years, making acquisitions, and raising the dividend, which he halved shortly after taking over from John Akers, who had not long before issued assurances that the dividend was safe; the paper says potential areas for further job cuts include the Personal Computer Co, the RS/6000 division, and software, particularly OS/2.
Northern Telecom Ltd is to cut 750 positions, 600 at Bramalea, Ontario, 150 at Raleigh, North Carolina. – o – Apple Computer Inc says shipments the newest Mac OS release, System 7.5, are nearing 1m in the first three months, and that shipments of Power Macs have now topped 750,000, up from 600,000 at end-September; it says both numbers exceed targets; it claims that its Newton technology, including licences such as the one to Harris Corp, commands 75% of the Personal Digital Assistant market, and that it will be seeking other licensees as well as Bandai Co Ltd for its Pippin multimedia CD-ROM player stripped-down Mac, while the AppleSoft Interactive TV unit is licensing its television set-top box CPU technology. – o – Burlington, Massachusetts-based Bachman Information Systems Inc warns that it expects worldwide turnover for the second quarter of fiscal 1995 to be 9% lower than the year-ago period, when it did $9.5m; it bemoans the fact that a maturing mainframe business in North America contributed to the loss, but said international business and worldwide revenue show continued growth; it does say that it expects its second quarter operating loss to be significantly less than last year when it made a $3.6m net loss.
Commenting on its figures (page 5), Advanced Micro Devices Inc says In the first quarter of 1995, we expect continued revenue growth based upon fourth quarter bookings which were the strongest in the company’s history and that the company is entering 1995 with its plans to add major additional manufacturing capacity on or ahead of schedule. – o – Craig McCaw offered nearly $237m for a licence to provide new mobile telephone services in New York at the Federal Communications Commission’s continuing airwave auctions; at the end of the latest round, total bids stood at nearly $2,000m for the 99 licences beind offered; McCaw also bid $171.7m for the licence for Los Angeles, nearly 200% over the previous high bid, which was $57.4m for the same licence. – o – LDDS Communications Inc, Jackson, Mississippi has completed acquisition of WilTel Network Services from the Williams Cos for $2,500m in cash, and also completed a $3,410m credit agreement with a group of banks managed by NationsBank Corp to finance the WilTel transaction, to refinance its existing debt and to provide flexibility for working capital and operational needs; the combination gives
LDDS a combined 15,000-mile digital system; the WilTel network is all fibre optic. – o – Minneapolis-based BMC Industries Inc is seeing soaring demand for colour picture tubes for monitors and televisions and is investing $35m to $45m to expand its production capacity for aperture masks for cathode ray tubes of 25 up; the new line will become operational in 1997, will add 7m to 9m aperture masks a year to its capacity.
The DeTeMobil GmbH cellular unit of Deutsche Telekom AG says it had a total of 2.2m mobile phone connections at the end of 1994, 872,000 on its digital D1 net, up 82% on 1993. – o – The Otis Elevator Co is to be the exclusive distributor in Europe of a robot developed for hospitals by Transitions Research Corp of Danbury, Connecticut: the HelpMate robot, already in use at about 30 US hospitals, can be programmed by hospital staff to deliver lab samples and specimens, medication and supplies, meal trays and letters.
Daewoo Telecom Inc’s Leading Edge has retained Wang Laboratories Inc to provide customer support services for its personal computers. – o – AT&T Corp duly launched its $330 telephone add-on that uses the television screen for putting up messages (CI No 2,572), calling it the the AT&T Information Centre; Zenith Electronics Corp, Glenview, Illinois is supplying the set-top box, and Shawmut National Corp’s Shawmut Bank will provide electronic banking and bill-paying services for its customers in the US. – o – Great Neck, New York-based Avnet Inc completed acquisition of Irish electronic components distributor and programming services provider Lyco Ltd, which did $3m last year. – o – Motorola Inc cut the price on its new Lifestyle 14.4Kbps PCMCIA modem by 10.7% to $250; it can be upgraded for use with cellular phones.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based FIserv Inc is buying again and this time the target is Recom Associates Inc, a Florida provider of office automation and communication network integration services to the financial industry; terms were not disclosed but Recom has only about 45 employees; it provides hardware and software installation, maintenance and on-side support for financial institution clients of FIserv and other information technology firms. – o – The Israeli government is to allow two more companies to offer long-distance and international phone service, and Sprint Corp, Kansas City says it will consider bidding.
So, barred from using the name Macintosh for their clones, what are people that license Mac OS from Apple Computer Inc going to call their machines? People presumably have Raincoat and Gaberdine registered already, but the Macintosh is actually named for a variety of apple, and while all Mac devotees that don’t live in France would detest a machine called Golden Delicious, and Apple has already bagged Pippin, there’s always Cox and Russet and Laxton’s Superb, and then there’s Blenheim Orange and Worcester Pearmain – despite appearances, both apples, and while that very best of cookers, the Bramley Seedling, must be as American as apple pie, for our own Mac clone, we reckon we’ll settle for Granny Smith.
