Further to the PowerPC RISC development programme (CI No 2,008), IBM Corp, Apple Computer Inc and Motorola Inc are months ahead of schedule in producing the first fruits of their PowerPC alliance, Associated Press reports: the newswire quotes industry executives saying that the trip plans to announce by the end of the month that they have produced a working sample of the chip, which they had not expected to be ready until early next year; the trio found they could speed up the development of the 601 chip by combining work already under way at IBM with Motorola chip technology, and early next year, IBM, Apple and Motorola will announce the PowerOpen Association to rally support for the chip, which has so far won the backing only of Compagnie des Machines Bull SA and Thomson-CSF SA.
