Ing C Olivetti & Co SpA has finally come out of the closet, confirming itself as the biggest investor in PowerPC start-up Power Computing Corp, although it may not be the newcomer’s largest shareholder for long. Power Computing is looking for an undefined amount of second-round venture capital for promotion and inventory. Its chairman is former NetFrame Systems Inc chief Enzo Torresi, a close Olivetti ally who denied the role when it was first reported. As anticipated, Power Computing unveiled its first PowerPC Reference Platform-compliant boxes at the Motorola Inc and IBM Microelectronics booths at Comdex last week. The machines are apparently designed around an IBM board using IBM’s North and South Dakota chip set, not something it has designed from scratch. It plans to sell systems to only OEM customers, another difference between it and Menlo Park, California-based FirePower Systems Inc, the other PowerPC start-up, this one backed by Canon Inc, which also made its debut at Comdex. FirePower designed its own boards, its ASICs and Hardware Abstraction Layer and is looking to sell the designs and boards OEM as well as completed systems. Like FirePower, however, Power Computing identifies its machines as essentially NT boxes, although they will run other PowerPC Reference Platform-compliant operating systems. NT and AIX are said to be up and running now. Power Computing is calling its box the PowerDesk, a name we seem to have heard of in connection with IBM Corp’s own aborted launch, aiming at the high-volume market. The PowerDesk 610 series uses both the 601 and 604 chips though it thinks the 601 is the volume chip in 1994-1995. The systems come with from 16Mb to 196Mb. Positioning its line against low-end Pentium and high-end 80486 machines, Power Computing says OEM customers should be able to deliver boxes at between $3,000 and $5,000 depending on how fully configured they are. The company believes it will be the first company to deliver 100MHz PowerPCs. The PowerDesk will also be available in 66MHz and 80MHz 601s, upgradable to 604s. It expects to go to a contract manufacturer with production beginning in February. It says it can produce custom configurations. Olivetti could accept delivery of PowerDesks next year but it remains to be seen how the Italian plays its cards and what impact PowerPC will have on its faltering alliance with Digital Equipment Corp on the Alpha.
