The former Norsk Data A/S affiliate Dolphin Server Technology A/S has been rescued from the jaws of bankruptcy by state-owned Norwegian telecommunications group, TBK Telematik, for an undisclosed sum, today’s edition of our sister paper Unigram.X reports. Striking another nail in the coffin of Motorola Inc’s 88000 RISC – and of 88open, the architecture’s seemingly doomed supporters club – Oslo, Norway-based Dolphin says it will leave the manufacturing business and won’t develop any more 88110 based servers, although it will continue to support existing customers. Its most recent machine is the $500,000 Dolphin 340. Dolphin will instead start buying in products OEM, noting that new parent TBK has a strong relationship with Hewlett-Packard Co. As a wholly-owned subsidiary of TBK, Dolphin will provide consultancy services, in particular to the multimedia market, where it sees evidence of telecommunications and computer technology coming together. Indeed, the growing convergence of these two markets forms the basis of TBK’s takeover: TBK lacked computer expertise, while potential Dolphin customers were put off by the latter’s small size and vulnerability. Up to 10 lose their jobs as a result of the buyout. Five more have gone to Dolphin Interconnect Solutions, spun out from Dolphin Server in 1992, and five others have gone to start a company in Brazil, where they will install and support a Dolphin system at Banco de Bradesco of Brazil. In fact, Dolphin generated about 50% of its $10.3m turnover in Brazil last year. It is left with 34 staff.
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