It looks as if Groupe Bull SA may be the European partner for the IBM Corp-Apple Computer Inc-Motorola Inc collaboration on the PowerPC monolithic RISC: Bull says it is looking for an open systems partner and is dissatisfied with its present supplier of RISCs, MIPS Computer Systems Inc. According to Dow Jones, Bull says it is looking for a partner to help share the heavy costs of developing its new line of open-system products, and is in serious discussions with a number of potential suitors, all members of the Open Software Foundation. Digital Equipment Corp and Hewlett-Packard Co also qualify and would each be able to offer a leading edge RISC processor, but French industry sources have IBM as favourite to win the heart of Groupe Bull.
