Compaq Computer Corp has reached an uneasy truce with Intel Corp and is even getting its first Pentium Pro boards from the company, but the two are hardly bes’ friends so it is no surprise that, apropos cheap Internet access devices, Compaq chief Eckhard Pfeiffer told the Associated Press at the Consumer Electronics Show that It can’t be in anybody’s interest to lock up this market with x86 architecture: he says that Compaq is investigating the market potential for such devices and You have to open up completely when you look at entirely new opportunities; he couldn’t predict when such lower-cost devices would be available, but he said Compaq would be foolish not to consider the idea – Somehow is seems intuitive you can capture over time hundreds of millions of more users globally with a device that has telephone-like acceptance and ease of use, he told the press corps.
The rapid consolidation of the US defence electronics and aerospace industry highlighted by the combination first of Lockheed Corp with Martin Marietta Corp and now that combination with most of Loral Corp (see front) strongly suggests that in Europe there is little alternative to British Aerospace Plc, Deutsche Aerospace AG, Aerospatiale SA and Selenia SpA and probably GEC Plc at minimum combining to create a comparably powerful defence firm.
Minneapolis-based computer and information services major Ceridian Corp is on a concerted buying spree: it has bought the products, trade marks and other assets of Information Learning Inc, New Rochelle, New York on undisclosed terms; Information Learning does about $2.5m a year providing systems that enable employers to address employee and retiree questions about benefits, payroll and personnel policies and programmes, and will become part of Ceridian’s Usertech business; the company has also reached agreement in principle to acquire EAS Technologies Inc in a share exchange worth about $13m; based somewhere in Indiana, EAS sells automated time and attendance software and did $3.5m last year.
Seagate Technology Inc warns that it is expecting to take a charge against its operating results of $35m to $40m this quarter as a result of its plan to buy a stake in Arcada Software Inc as part of its Conner Peripherals Inc acquisition: Conner has 69% of Arcada; the charge is to write off in-process research and development.
Sony Corp’s Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc says it has now sold more than 800,000 PlayStation games consoles in North America all told: the system was launched in the region on September 9; all told, Sony sold in excess of 2m units in Japan and about 600,000 units in Europe, or 3.3m worldwide; it says it has also sold more than than 4m games titles in North America, or about five titles for each game console it has sold to date.
The Vebacom GmbH telecommunications joint venture of Veba AG and Cable & Wireless Plc says the German government approved its plans to set up a multimedia pilot project called Infocity: the project involves linking 10,000 homes in North Rhine-Westphalia state with fibre optic cable to universities, public institutions and corporations, and the creation of an on-line film library for public broadcaster WDR; participants in the project will be able to try out services such as home shopping, home banking and video-on-demand, while students will be able to attend interactive lectures via the cable network.
Omnitel-Pronto Italia SpA says that it has taken taken 40% of the Italian digital cellular market, with more than 60,000 subscriptions in its first month of marketing: the number includes 10,000 users who took part in the experimental phase before formal launch of the system.
Electronic Data Systems Corp and Checkfree Corp have joined forces to market on-line consumer and business-to-business banking services – the Plano, Texas services giant will integrate its Virtual Branch remote banking services with Checkfree’s electronic payments system and will jointly market the services to US financial institutions to market on to their customers; the combination will result in services that include bill payment, bill presentation and Electronic Data Interchange accessible through personal computer, touch-tone telephone and screen phone; Checkfree claims to handle three-quarters of all electronic bill payments via home computer, and it recently introduced a product that secures transactions over the Internet.
VocalTec Ltd, Northvale, New Jersey just introduced Internet Phone 3.1, a new version of the software for Internet voice communications: the upgrade is free to current Internet Phone users, otherwise it is $100.
Point Richmond, California-based Pixar Animation Studios Inc says it is in talks with Walt Disney Co about releasing a direct-to-video sequel for the blockbuster all-electronically-generated Toy Story movie that has grossed more than $150m at the US box office since Disney released it in November; a direct-to-video movie goes straight into the video stores without receiving a cinema release first.
Mercury Communications Ltd is expanding its business services in Northern Ireland and says it will invest ú5m this year, taking total investment in the province to ú45m.
Ionica Ltd, Cambridge, which launches its radio-based local phone service in March, says it now expects much greater demand for its services than it forecast, is going to need more money, and is exploring the raising of private equity in the UK and elsewhere, and it plans to tape the US junk bond market in May, the Guardian reports.
The Buffalo Grove, Illinois-based Zenith Data Systems unit of Compagnie des Machines Bull SA cut US prices by 9% to 19% on some of its desktop computers as it added its 150MHz and 166MHz Pentium models.
International Data Corp expects the hard disk industry to grow nearly 30% this year, with an estimated 115.5m shipments; that would be flat with the 29.8% growth in 1995.
Pick Systems Inc, Irvine, California has renamed its Pick database D3 to reflect its multidimensional nature: D3 7.0 is due next month – and a Windows NT version in August.
Mortice Kern Systems Inc, Waterloo, Ontario, has appointed former Intersolv Inc product marketing director Tobi Moriarty director of marketing: she will head the worldwide corporate and product marketing of Mortice software development tools.
AT&T Corp is looking for a buyer for its Richmond Works printed circuit board plant in Richmond, Virginia, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports, saying AT&T has promised to ask the new owner to retain most of the near 2,000 employees there.
The US Federal Bankruptcy Court in Atlanta, Georgia is in the middle of confirmation hearings for Norcross, Georgia-based Hayes Microcomputer Products Inc’s reorganisation plan, although it will be some time before any decision is reached, due to factors such as the speed of testimonies, and the US government shutdown: Hayes representatives have been on the stand, but no decision will be reached before the Court has also heard the alternative plans put forward by US Robotics Inc and Diamond Multimedia Systems Inc; the next hearing has been set for Thursday January 11.
Ray Kelly, the man who handled the colossal WalMart account for AT&T Global Information Solutions and one of its highest paid employees, has left the company to head up Hewlett-Packard Co’s new retail sales and marketing organisation: his former colleagues are upset that such talent is going to virulent opposition like Hewlett-Packard, where Kelly will work out of Arkansas, where he was stationed with AT&T Global and is seeking curricula vitae to build a team of retail-experienced marketing folk.
Unisys Corp, Blue Bell, Pennsylvania will appoint a senior vice-president, Edward Blechschmidt, as its chief financial officer, effective January 20 to replace George Robson who’s gone off to take a similar position with H&R Block Inc, the US tax preparation concern which also runs the CompuServe on-line service; Unisys is still expected to reveal a restructuring later this month to bring it closer to its goal of becoming a computer services provider; the Wall Street Journal reminds us that it will take a $400m fourth quarter charge which will result in a loss for the year.
Oracle Corp achieved its 11,456 tpmC on one of the as-yet the unannounced 350MHz Alpha 21164-based TurboLasers expected by the summer, specifically an eight-way Digital Equipment Corp AlphaServer 8400 with 8Gb of memory, running Digital Unix, Oracle7 7.3, and Tuxedo.
Meantime Sybase Inc has achieved the highest performance on a currently shipping Unix box – 11,014 tpmC ($222 per tpmC) on a 10-way 300MHz Digital Equipment Corp TurboLaser with 6Gb RAM: that bests Oracle Corp’s 9,414 tpmC performance on the same system (albeit an eight-way 300MHz system with 8Gb RAM) by 17%, and beats it by 32% on price ($316 per tpmC); Sybase has not seen a 350MHz machine as yet.
Alcatel NV has won a contract to supply Synchronous Digital Hierarchy equipment to the Europe’s Unisource BV partners, covering supplies, engineering, installation and commissioning, with deliveries set to begin this year; the value of the deal was not disclosed.
