Now that Apple Computer Inc has taken the wraps off its PowerPC-based Macintoshes, other companies that have identified the new RISC chip family as a possible means of differentiating their personal computer offerings are eager to reveal their interest, and at this week’s Hannover Fair, three German manufacturers and a Taiwanese consortium are all expected to preview products. Biggest name among the three Germans identified by Computerwoche is Vobis Microcomputer AG, which says it will start shipping a PowerPC-based system running Windows NT at a price likely to be a little lower than an equivalent Pentium machine. Peacock AG – formerly Peacock Computer GmbH, a Paderborn company that started out in 1983 as an importer and distributor, plans to offer a high-performance CTM9664 around mid-year, but there is no word on what operating system will be offered. And Aquarius Systems International GmbH, the company formed by Commodore International Ltd’s former German chief Winfried Hoffman, plans to make the PowerPC the basis of its new architecture. Its parent company is now Aquarius Robotron Systems GmbH, which took over a VEB Kombinat Robotron plant in Smmerda, Thuringia in the former East Germany, which makes personal computers and supplies Tandon Computer Ltd in Europe. It also makes monitors, under licence from Korea Data Systems. Aquarius is backed by Taiwanese money, and from Taiwan, Reuter reports that that Taiwan New PC consortium of Taiwanese personal computer and software companies formed in November (CI No 2,304) will unveil prototype motherboards based on the PowerPC 601 microprocessor at CeBIT. The group, rallied by the state-funded Industrial Technology Research Institute and backed with $3.8m of funding, brings together 24 companies, including Tatung Co, Mitac International Corp, Datatech Enterprises Co Ltd and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp, developing PowerPC support chips. Ships are seen in September.
