Time Warner Inc has become the third equity partner in Interactive Digital Solutions Inc, the company formed as a joint venture by Silicon Graphics Inc and AT&T Corp’s AT&T Network Systems to provide fully-integrated multimedia software environments for interactive services: Time Warner will become a 10% shareholder and will bring its programming and entertainment expertise to the party; the amount paid has not been disclosed, but part is in kind – Time Warner is tossing in intellectual property rights to some of the software used in the Full Service Network which is being tried out in Florida; Interactive Digital Solutions plans to incorporate the Full Service Network operating system software and applications, such as its video-on-demand and Carousel navigator into its integrated multimedia products.
Microsoft Corp has launched a Game Software Developers Kit for Windows95 to win over all those developers that gave up on Windows 3.1 and wrote their games for MS-DOS: it named 19 games companies, including Activision Inc, Mindscape Inc, Spectrum Holobyte Inc, Viacom Inc’s New Media unit, and Acclaim Entertainment Inc as writing games for Windows95; the kit contains tools, sample code, documentation and a new game subsystem designed specifically to make possible high performance and more engaging games play under Windows, Microsoft says.
Microsoft Corp also announced Microsoft Plus! for Windows95, which bizarrely is designed to enhance the look and performance of the operating system, which already has a new user interface: it will enter beta testing in early May and is expected to ship when Windows95 does; Microsoft Plus! is designed to work in background to keep the computer running at peak performance, and includes Desktop Themes that incorporate sounds, fonts, colour schemes, wallpaper, screen savers, photo-realistic icons and animated cursors; Microsoft is also including an Internet Jumpstart Kit to give one-button Internet access.
Hewlett-Packard Co cut prices on its entire range of HP OmniBook notebook computers by up to 15% and claims it is now the price leader among major notebook vendors: entry-level prices for the HP OmniBook 4000 series of colour notebooks now start at $2,470 for an 80486DX2/50 model with 260Mb disk and built-in sound; OmniBook 600 prices now start at $2,420 for models with the same processor and 170Mb hard disk.
Unisys Corp today unveils the iAPX-86-based parallel processor it developed with the help of Intel Corp: the machine runs a parallised Unix and is called the Open Parallel Unisys Server or Opus; according to Dow Jones & Co, Intel will market the machines OEM to other computer companies, with the operating system being licensed by Unisys; the news wire says the Opus machines start at about $685,000 for an eight-processor system, which makes it sound as if they are rather pricy given that IBM Corp charges about $400,000 for an eight-processor SP2; Unisys plans to sell them as part of a consulting service that will help customers use them.
Cray Research Inc, which saw a gut-wrenching plunge in its first quarter figures (page seven), says it expects total turnover will decline about 10% in 1995, with breakeven results before to restructuring and one-time charges: ss we indicated last quarter, the first half of 1995 in particular will be difficult as we go through several transitions, including delivering higher unit volumes at lower average selling prices and managing two major product transitions, Larry Betterley, chief financial officer, said; while the majority of the needed restructuring activity is covered in the first quarter charges, we will continue to evaluate our needs throughout the year, making additional charges likely, he said; the company blames the big plunge in first quarter sales on the transition to the new top-end Triton T90 machine; the first quarter order value was $110m, up from $59m a year ago, but the backlog at the end of the quarter was only $282m, up from $271m a year ago
Arlington, Virginia-based
CACI International Inc, a major US Federal government contractor, says that it continues to pursue non-dilutive acquisitions, and is in discussions with interested candidate firms.
A new legal probe into Alcatel Alsthom SA’s Alcatel Cable unit is about to start, according to Liberation, which said that police were about to launch additional inquiries into alleged overbilling of the state-owned Electricite de France.
Those looking for a raise will be disappointed (and the company employs a large number of people that haven’t seen a pay rise in a very long time): IBM Corp is maintaining its quarterly dividend at 25 cents.
The Comdex family of trade shows has not exactly been a runaway success when staged in Europe, but new owner Softbank Ltd is trying again, and plans to stage Comdex/UK at the Earls Court 2 exhibition centre in London, which provides up to 180,000 square feet of space if exhibitors can be found to take it all: the show is planned to take place from April 23 to 26 1996.
Looks as if the privatisation process has thrown the company off course – first quarter sales at Compagnie des Machines Bull SA were down by 10.5% according to La Tribune Desfosses: Bull made no immediate comment other than saying there had been no official statement on the first quarter results but the paper quoted a Bull staff member as saying that in the first quarter of 1994 there had been some exceptional revenues related to the sale of licences while Bull’s Zenith Data Systems unit had a big order from the US Army; the paper said that Bull France had a 21% drop in sales while BullOverseas and Bull North America Pacific also showed declines; at Zenith Data Systems sales were down by 25% but Bull Europe posted a gain, the paper said.
Emeryville, California-based Planet Optigon Inc plans to merge with Outland Inc to create The Total Entertainment Network: the new company will be funded by Kleiner Perkins, Caulfield & Byers, and the on-line service will be aimed at progressive techno-savvy young adults, and will feature multiplayer versions of hit games, virtual environments, information and communication services; it is due for launch in the fourth quarter.
Mitsubishi Electric Corp is to integrate Oracle Corp’s Oracle New Media end-to-end interactive multimedia software into its television set-top boxes: Mitsubishi also intends to enter Oracle’s Set-Top Certification Programme and is the fifth set-top box maker to agree to adopt Oracle’s multimedia software.
Thomson-CSF SA has reached agreement in principle to take a 24.9% shareholding in Spanish supplier of integrated information and control systems for civilian and military applications, Indra SA: it is to pay around $24m for the investment.
Amazing the words you can get accepted as trade marks in the US: IBM Corp’s collection includes GEARBOX, (but not, presumably, gearbox), Illuminated Books and Manuscripts (so you’ll have to make do with Illuminated Books & Manuscripts), Magic Paper, PAL, Poet, Storyboard, 24 Hour City Hall (Ross Perot is not going to like IBM claiming that one) Streamer, WindSurfer, Quiet, and of course THINK, as in Quiet! Can’t you see I’m trying to THINK.
