EDP Weekly's IT Monitor articles from March 2000

EDP Weekly's IT Monitor archives from March 2000

SILICON GRAPHICS TO SELL CRAY RESEARCH TO TERA COMPUTER CO.(Company Business and Marketing)
March 6, 2000... In a surprise to the computer industry, Silicon Graphics, Inc., (SGI) has agreed to sell super computing company Cray Research to the much smaller Tera Computer Co. in a deal valued at less than $100 million. SGI had paid more than $700...

IBM DESCRIBES ELECTRON ETCHED CHIP MANUFACTURING.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2000... According to IBM Corp., the next generation of chip making will utilize electron beams to etch circuits onto chips thereby shrinking them to near atom size. The new technology will replace the existing lithographic systems that utilize light...

QUALCOMM INC. & MICROSOFT CORP. TO DEVELOP SMART PHONE - PALM TECHNOLOGY.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2000... Microsoft Corp. has announced an alliance with San Diego-based Qualcomm, Inc., to develop smart phones based on the Microsoft Mobile Explorer wireless communications platform and wireless pocket PCs using Qualcomm's CDMA technology. This will...

HARDWARE COMPANIES TO PROVIDE AOL WITH ITS OWN WIRELESS ACCESS DEVICES.(Company Business and Marketing)
March 6, 2000... America Online, Inc. has moved aggressively to expand the availability of its services from PCs to Web-enabled phones which will send and receive AOL e-mail and use its instant messenger chat network and receive AOL content. Motorola, Inc....

PALM INC. SALES TO TOP $1 BILLION THIS FISCAL YEAR.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2000... America Online, Inc., Motorola, Inc., and Nokia Corp. are all investors in Palm, Inc., and are involved in licensing deals for Palm technology. While its public offering last week went through the proverbial roof, Palm's parent, 3Com Corp....

AOL AND WARNER MOVE TO ALLAY CONGRESSIONAL CONCERNS.(Company Business and Marketing)
March 6, 2000... CEOs of America Online, Inc. and Time Warner, Inc. provided assurances to a skeptical panel of U.S. Senators that the recently merged giants would not use their combined powers to stifle competition on the Internet. Referencing a memorandum of...

New Technologies from Intel Will Boost Notebooks.(Product Information)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2000... A recent review of leading notebook sellers, specifically Compaq Computer Corp., Dell Computer Corp., and Hewlett-Packard Co. indicate that each plans design changes based on Intel Corp.'s new 650-mhz mobile Pentium III. The new technologies...

HUMMINGBIRD'S DATA INTEGRATION & REPORTING PRODUCTS TO PROVIDE ACCESS THROUGH PALM DEVICES.(Company Business and Marketing)
March 6, 2000... Hummingbird Communications Ltd., a leading enterprise software solutions company, announced that Hummingbird's data integration and reporting solutions will support the delivery of corporate data to handheld computing devices that utilize the...

"CONCIERGECARD" ID SYSTEM FROM UNISYS & LASERCARD TO HELP CUT PASSENGER PROCESSING TIME.(Company Business and Marketing)
March 6, 2000... Unisys Corp. and LaserCard Systems Corp. (LSC) announced a strategic agreement to offer "ConciergeCard" - a new personal identification system enabling airports and airlines to dramatically improve the travel experience for international and...

FIRST BROADBAND CO. TO JOIN INITIATIVE TO BUILD PROTOCOL FOR SYNCHRONIZATION OF MOBILE DEVICES.(Company Business and Marketing)
March 6, 2000... Excite@Home announced the company's membership in the recently formed SyncML Initiative. SyncML, formed by IBM, Lotus, Motorola, Nokia, Palm Inc. and Starfish Software, develops and promotes a single common data synchronization protocol to make...

Asian Server Market Shatters Revenue Records In 1999, IDC Says.(Industry Trend or Event)
March 6, 2000... According to preliminary results released by IDC, the Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) server market produced record results in 1999, with the market surging past the $4 billion mark for the first time. In fact, overall server revenues increased...

IDC Launches Web Talk 2000: Event Explores Opportunities In A Market That Will Reach $19B By 2004.(Industry Trend or Event)(Brief Article)
March 6, 2000... Web talk, which represents the convergence of telephony, messaging, conferencing, and voice, is creating a lot of noise. Not only will it change the way people use the Internet; it will create red-hot opportunities for all kinds of IT vendors...

Report Highlighted At The IEC 2000 Conference.(Industry Trend or Event)
March 6, 2000... When it comes to saving money, consumers would rather lick their own stamps than pay a bank fee for paying bills online. In 1999, only three million US households were paying their bills online compared with seven million households who view...

IDC Survey Finds Handhelds Are Making Their Way To The Mainstream.(Industry Trend or Event)
March 6, 2000... Not long ago, handheld devices were found solely in the hands of affluent men working in the technology profession. However, a new survey by IDC reveals use of these devices is beginning to trickle beyond those boundaries. IDC found users in...

QUALCOMM & MICROSOFT CORP. ALLIANCE TO ENABLE NEW WIRELESS DEVICES & DATA SERVICES.(Company Business and Marketing)
March 6, 2000... QUALCOMM Inc., a leader of code division multiple access (CDMA) digital wireless technology, and Microsoft Corp., the leader in software for personal and business computing, announced the intent to form a strategic alliance to jointly define...

INTEL TO OFFER NO CHARGE HOME PC PROGRAMS FOR EMPLOYEES WORLDWIDE.(Company Business and Marketing)
March 13, 2000... Intel Corp. announced a new benefit program to offer computers, Internet access and services at no charge to all Intel employees worldwide. The new Intel Home PC Program will help employees and their families participate fully in the...

IBM TAKES EQUITY POSITION IN TWO B-TO-B INTERNET MARKETERS.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
March 13, 2000... In what was internally described as a strategic alliance, but more closely resembles strong equity participation, IBM invested $600 million in the alliance will facilitate B-to-B use of the Internet as a means of connecting vendors and...

RIVALS, CYBEX COMPUTER PRODUCTS CORP. & APEX INC. AGREE TO MERGER.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
March 13, 2000... In transaction valued at approximately $1 billion, rival hardware (switches and other equipment for computer networks) companies Cybex Computer Products Corp. and Apex, Inc. have agreed to merge. The merger will combine independent research and...

EDS CONEXT EXPANDS B2B STRATEGICALLY MANAGED PROCUREMENT SOLUTION INTO EUROPE.(Company Business and Marketing)
March 13, 2000... EDS CoNext, a leader in strategically managed B2B netmarkets, and Ariba Inc. (Nasdaq: ARBA), the leading provider of B2B eCommerce solutions, announced the expansion of the EDS CoNext procurement service offering into Europe through B2B...

RVSI GETS $1.3M ORDER FOR SEMICONDUCTOR ASSEMBLY EQUIPMENT.(Product Information)
March 13, 2000... Robotic Vision Systems Inc. (RVSI) (Nasdaq: ROBV) announced it has received a $1.3 million order for its Vanguard Automation division for chip assembly equipment systems from a European subcontract chip manufacturer. The order is for RVSI...

IDC Expects Competition Within The CRM Services Market To Heat Up.(Industry Trend or Event)
March 13, 2000... The customer relationship management (CRM) services competitive landscape is about to get much more crowded. IDC continues to see a variety of vendors from diverse backgrounds setting up stakes in this land of opportunity - and opportunity that...

IDC Confirms Apple Still Tops In Education.(Industry Trend or Event)(Brief Article)
March 13, 2000... Leading market research firm International Data Corp. (IDC) reconfirmed Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) number one position in sales to the US education market. IDC's Q4CY '99 Education Market Report shows Apple leading in overall US education sales...

H-P & DATATEC PARTNER FOR DEPLOYMENT, DESIGN, & MAINTENANCE OPPORTUNITIES WORLDWIDE.(Company Business and Marketing)
March 13, 2000... Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HWP) and Datatec Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: DATC), and its subsidiary, eDeploy.com, have entered into an agreement to partner on network projects throughout North America. The total value of the relationship is estimated at...

SUN INTRODUCES iFORCE INITIATIVE TO DRIVE COMPANIES TO THE NEXT LEVEL IN THE DOT-COM MARKETPLACE.(Company Business and Marketing)
March 13, 2000... Sun Microsystems Inc. announced the iForce initiative, a far-reaching program designed to provide customers with the relationships and expertise they need to get their businesses dot-commed quickly. The iForce initiative brings together under...

STANDARD BANK OF SOUTH AFRICA CHOOSES UNISYS E-@CTION PAYMENT SOLUTIONS.(Company Business and Marketing)
March 13, 2000... Unisys Corp. announced that The Standard Bank of South Africa Ltd., one of South Africa's largest banks, signed a $7.5 million contract for the Unisys e-@ction Payment Solutions portfolio, which includes item and image capture, archiving and...

ATI's RAGE 128 PRO GRAPHICS CHIP OFFERED WITH GATEWAY PROFESSIONAL WORKSTATION.(Product Announcement)
March 13, 2000... ATI Technologies Inc. (TSE:ATY, NASDAQ:ATYT) announced that its ATI RAGE 128 PRO graphics chip is now available with the top of the line Gateway workstation computers, the E5400 series. ATI's RAGE 128 PRO provides industry-leading 2D, 3D...

B2B WEB SITE TO SAVE BILLIONS FOR EDUCATION MARKET.
March 13, 2000... SHOP2gether.com, the online B2B power source for collective purchasing solutions, announced that it will launch an online initiative to serve the purchasing needs of the US education market. This online initiative is expected to save public and...

UNISYS SOFTCAR+ STREAMLINES REMITCO'S WORKFLOW.(Product Information)
March 13, 2000... Unisys Corp. announced that its new SoftCAR+ Courtesy Amount and Legal Amount Recognition software has achieved a 93 percent read rate on US personal checks processed at REMITCO, a leading high-volume remittance processing company. ...

PHILIPS SEMICONDUCTOR ANNOUNCES SEEMOS TECHNOLOGY FOR VIDEO CAMERAS SMALLER THAN A SUGAR CUBE.
March 13, 2000... Philips Semiconductors, an affiliate of Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG) announces that it has developed a way of making a new generation of tiny video cameras with high picture quality. By adapting its standard chip manufacturing...

DIALOGIC TEAMS WITH COMPAQ & HALL-MARK TO DELIVER COMPUTER TELEPHONY SERVERS.
March 13, 2000... Hall-Mark will integrate Dialogic CT Media server software and telephony hardware with Compaq ProLiant servers and distribute the CT servers with application software to resellers. This allows resellers and ISVs to avoid having to perform the...

LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES ANNOUNCES NEXT-GENERATION TRANSPONDER MODULES IN ULTRA-COMPACT PACKAGE.(Company Business and Marketing)
March 13, 2000... Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) Microelectronics Group announced next-generation transponder modules that combine optical components and integrated circuits (ICs) in an ultra-compact package, enabling manufacturers of high-speed optical...

PRINCETON SOFTECH HELPS PIONEER, CROSS-PLATFORM UNIVERSAL DATA SYNCHRONIZATION STANDARD.
March 13, 2000... Princeton Softech, a subsidiary of Computer Horizons Corp. (Nasdaq:CHRZ), and a leader in enterprise data synchronization technology, has joined, at IBM's invitation, the consortium of leading vendors developing SyncML, an industry-wide mobile...

INDUSTRY WEB SITE OPERATOR TO ACQUIRE SOFTWARE MAKER.
March 13, 2000... The Web site operator VerticalNet Inc. agreed to acquire the privately held Internet software company Tradeum Inc. for $475 million in stock. Tradeum makes software used to develop online catalogs and Web sites that match business buyers and...

NEW REPORT HIGHLIGHTS WORLD'S TOP TECHNOLOGY MARKETS.(Industry Trend or Event)
March 20, 2000... High Tech New Comprises 26% Of All US Manufactured Exports The US high-tech industry exported a record $181 billion in manufactured products in 1999 (26 percent of all U S goods exports), selling at least $1 million in leading-edge tech...

IBM ANNOUNCES MAJOR ADVANCE IN COMPUTER MEMORY.(Company Business and Marketing)
March 20, 2000... A group of IBM scientists have announced through an article published in the technical Journal "Science" that they have accomplished a technological breakthrough that will result in disk drives capable of holding more than 1 trillion bytes, a...

IDC SAYS THE US COLOR INKJET MARKET GREW 21% OVER 4Q98 IN 4Q99.(Industry Trend or Event)
March 20, 2000... Following on the heels of a healthy third quarter, most inkjet printer vendors had a productive quarter in 4Q99. Inkjets ended the year at a record high 19.3 million units, according to IDC. The US color inkjet market did very well, growing 21...

INTERESTING FINDINGS FROM AEA CYBERNATION 2.0 STUDY.(Industry Trend or Event)
March 20, 2000... The American Electronics Association is the nation's largest high-tech trade group, representing almost 3,000 US-based technology companies. Membership spans the industry product and service spectrum, from semiconductors and software to...

LYNX ANNOUNCES A NEW LOW PRICE FOR BLUECAT LINUX 1.0.(Product Information)(Brief Article)
March 20, 2000... Lynx Real-Time Systems Inc., announced a new low price for the BlueCat Linux 1.0 Development Kit. The kit for Intel Pentium and x86 Architecture, licensed for a single development system, will sell for $299. We believe that our aggressive...

IT Vendors Need To Think Small.(Industry Trend or Event)
March 20, 2000... Small businesses should become a big target for IT vendors trying to profit from US Web spending. According to IDC, US companies with fewer than 100 employees will devote more IT dollars to the Web than any other segment except the government...

CISCO ACCELERATES ACQUISITIONS.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
March 20, 2000... Cisco Systems, Inc., will continue its rapid acquisition efforts and will more than likely acquire 20 to 25 more companies within FY 2000. This pronouncement by Larry Carter, Cisco's CFO, followed its recent acquisition of Pirelli SpA's...

IBM INTRODUCES NEW NETVISTA BRAND OF PERSONAL COMPUTING DEVICES.(Product Announcement)
March 20, 2000... IBM(a) announced a new brand of personal computing devices - next-stage PCs, Internet access devices and thin clients. The highly-styled NetVista(a) line is the company's most dramatic and significant roll out of desktop technology since its...

INTEL ANTITRUST SUIT DISMISSED.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
March 20, 2000... A federal district court judge in Birmingham, AL, Judge Edwin Nelson, dismissed the federal antitrust suit against Intel Corp. which was filed by Intergraph Corp., as not being "viable". The decision followed a recent appellate court decision...

Palm Users Now Able To E-Mail Spreadsheet Attachments With Automatic Conversion.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
March 20, 2000... Cutting Edge Software Inc. and Actual Software unveils a seamless conduit that will allow users of Palm handheld computers to automatically convert spreadsheets to the appropriate Excel or Quicksheet format when sending or receiving them as...

INTEL TO BUY DANISH CHIP MAKER GIGA AS.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
March 20, 2000... In its most recent acquisition in the fast growing market for high speed communications chips, Intel Corp. has agreed at a cost of $1.25 billion to acquire Danish chip maker Giga AS. Giga designs and sells semiconductors that route vast...

IMATION MATCHPRINT INKJET SYSTEM NOW AVAILABLE FOR THE CANON BJC-8500 PRINTER.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
March 20, 2000... Imation Corp. (NYSE: IMN) announced that the Imation Matchprint Inkjet System will be available as an upgrade for the Canon BJC-8500 printer beginning in June, enabling graphic design and prepress users to dramatically improve their output...

MICROSOFT SETTLEMENT NEAR?(Industry Trend or Event)
March 27, 2000... Operating through the mediation efforts of Richard Posner, an appellate court judge, Microsoft Corp. and the Department of Justice are continuing settlement discussions in recent weeks. Individuals familiar with the mediation efforts suggest...

IBM Makes Major Bet On Linux.(Company Business and Marketing)
March 27, 2000... Late last fall in an effort to develop major initiatives to help revive the growth of IBM's big server computers - main frames, minicomputers and AIX UNIX machines - IBM undertook a study designed to help IBM compete against two key rivals,...

3Com To Sell Low-Growth Units.(Company Operations)
March 27, 2000... 3Com Corp. has announced that it will dispose of its lowest growth units in a series of divestitures in an effort to make the company smaller and more focused on its most profitable operations. The reorganization will include the sale of its PC...

PALM SIGNS 50,000 DEVELOPERS.(Company Business and Marketing)
March 27, 2000... Palm Inc. (Nasdaq: PALM) announced that more than 50,000 developers are registered to create third-party solutions for the Palm OS platform - a significant milestone in the handheld computing market. From Internet stock trading and package...

Microsoft and Telmex Announce Latin Web Portal.(Company Business and Marketing)
March 27, 2000... Microsoft has announced an alliance with Tel,fonos de Mexico designed to dominate the Latin America Internet by creating a portal site that draws upon the experience and reach of both companies. The site (tlmsn.com), has more than 6 million...

PSINet To Purchase Metamor Worldwide.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
March 27, 2000... PSINet, Inc., of Herndon, VA, has announced that it will purchase Metamor Worldwide, Inc., for $1.9 billion in stock. The mammoth Internet service provider would assimilate Metamor's 70 offices and nearly 5,000 employees, which would then...

Nortel to Acquire CoreTek.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
March 27, 2000... Nortel Networks Corp. has agreed to acquire start-up CoreTek, Inc., for $1.43 billion in stock. The acquisition will enable Nortel to enter the business of manufacturing optical-network components and enable it to compete with the advance laser...

NETVENDOR & IBM COMPREHENSIVE B2B E-COMMERCE SOLUTION.(include Close & Associates in alliance)(Company Business and Marketing)
March 27, 2000... NetVendor, a leading provider of multi-channel e-business solutions (e-Channels) for manufacturers and distributors, and IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced that they have expanded their alliance relationship to include infrastructure consulting firm...

NEW COMPAQ NOTEBOOK 100 REDEFINES AFFORDABILITY AT $1,099.(Compaq Notebook 100)(Product Announcement)
March 27, 2000... Compaq Computer Corp. (NYSE: CPQ) announced the Compaq Notebook 100, a new notebook PC designed specifically for budget-conscious customers who demand robust performance in a portable computer. Delivery on Compaq's strategy of providing...

IDC Forecasts Worldwide Appliance Server Market Will Surge Past $11B In 2004.(Industry Trend or Event)
March 27, 2000... Targeting right appliance to right markets is the key to success in a fast-growing appliance server market. For server vendors, appliance servers are too hot not to touch. IDC estimates this quickly emerging market will develop into a $11...

North American Storage Utility Market To Reach $8B By 2003.(Industry Trend or Event)
March 27, 2000... Driven by the demand for storage capacity and the explosive e-business market, the North American storage utility market is forecast to grow from nearly $10 million in 1999 to $8 billion in 2003, according to Dataquest Inc., a unit of Gartner...

`Three E Strategy' Paves The Way For Brick-And-Mortar Companies.(Industry Trend or Event)
March 27, 2000... New dot.com businesses are bursting forth across all industry sectors. They are creating a new commercial world that is changing the basis of competition and posing major threats to established enterprises. Now, a new report from GartnerGroup,...

Worldwide Printer Shipments Surpass 71 Million Units In 1999.(Industry Trend or Event)
March 27, 2000... Worldwide printer shipments reached 71.6 million units in 1999, an increase to 19 percent over 1998 shipments of 60.3 million units, according to Dataquest Inc., a unit of Gartner Group Inc. (NYSE: IT and ITB). The United States and Western...

MICROSOFT & TI ANNOUNCE COLLABORATION ON WINS CE.(Company Business and Marketing)
March 27, 2000... Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Texas Instruments Inc. (TI) (NYSE: TXN) announced that they will collaborate to enable Microsoft Windows CE-based application and embedded system development utilizing the real-time functionality and...

Intel Corp. to Acquire Basis Communications Corp.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
March 27, 2000... The Intel Corp. has announced its agreement to acquire Basis Communications Corp., a privately held semiconductor designer for $450 million in cash and assumed options. BCC of Fremont, CA markets semiconductors and products used in directing...

CISCO SYSTEMS INTRODUCES WIRELESS LAN SOLUTION FOR SMALL-TO-MEDIUM BUSINESSES & CORPORATE ENTERPRISES.(Cisco Aironet 340 Series)(Product Announcement)
March 27, 2000... Cisco Systems Inc. has introduced the Cisco Aironet 340 Series of 11 megabits per second (Mbps) Wireless Local Area Networking (WLAN) products that provides business-class wireless local area networking systems for organizations ranging in size...

COMPAQ AND MICROSOFT FURTHER STRATEGIC ALLIANCE.(Company Business and Marketing)
March 27, 2000... Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Compaq Computer Corp. (NYSE: CPG) announced they are expanding their longstanding collaborative relationship by combining their services to better meet the needs of consumers in the Internet era. Under the...

Toshiba To Focus On Computers.(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
March 27, 2000... Toshiba Corp. has announced that it will focus its corporate resources on what it describes as high-growth computer and communications businesses and will reduce its allocation of resources to home appliances and other older businesses. This...

SAVVIS & LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES TEAM TO PROVIDE ADVANCED FINANCIAL XCHANGE SERVICES PLATFORM.(Company Business and Marketing)
March 27, 2000... Strengthening its position as manager of the world's largest financial services extranet, SAVVIS Communications Corp. announced the roll out of its next-generation Financial Xchange services platform. This platform, which connects 4,500...

XACCT ADDS SUPPORT FOR INDUSTRY-LEADING NETWORK PROBES.(Product Announcement)
March 27, 2000... XACCT Technologies Inc., a leading provider of intelligent business infrastructure solutions for IP networks, introduced support for a wide range of open industry standards-based network elements. XACCT has added RMON2 data collection...

REVOLUTIONARY NEW COMPUTER CHIP TECHNOLOGY.(Molecular Electronics)(Company Business and Marketing)(Brief Article)
March 27, 2000... In November 1999, an article appeared in Science magazine describing the development of a single molecule switch chip, a basic component of any future chip manufacturing system using chemical processes known as self-assembly. The article...