Calling into severe question the commitment to make the PowerPC-based personal computers mass market products, the Power Personal Systems Division finally disappeared off the IBM Corp map last week. Development and marketing of the Power Series and RS/6000 clients is being transferred to Irving Wladwasky-Berger’s RISC System/6000 division. Former Power Personal general manager of hardware development and RISC workstation business segment, Bill Colton, becomes general manager of the RS/6000 Austin systems development lab. Randy Groves, Robert Swann, Ronald Marter, Ion Ratiu and their units report to Colton. RS/6000 vice-president worldwide marketing, Jeff Mason, assumes responsibility for both the Power Series and RS/6000 client marketing groups. Development and marketing of the Personal Communications Assistant software, speech and human-centered computing move over to the IBM Software Group. The Kirkland, Washington-based technical support centre transfers to the IBM Personal Computer Co, which will assume technical support for Windows NT and Windows95 on the Power Series. AIX presumably goes to Austin. Kirkland’s manager of development, Roy Clauson, now reports to Nicholas King, vice-president for emerging technologies at the IBM Personal Computer Co’s product and brand management unit. Power Personal Systems Division general manager Tony Santelli plus marketing chief Bob Roblin, Lineene Krasnow, Gary Griffiths and James Ebetino, are supposedly managing the transition while they find other roles inside IBM.
