Electronic Business articles from March 2002

Electronic Business archives from March 2002

Enron's message to CEOs. (Editor's Note).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Shortly after I moved to Hong Kong in 1990 an old Asia hand advised me never to bet on the local horses nor the colony's stock market, since "they're both rigged." As it turned out, Hong Kong's market soared during much of the next decade,...

Letters.
March 1, 2002... ESCORTED OUT Your Editor's Note in the January 2002 issue of ELECTRONIC BUSINESS ["Layoffs have become a nasty business," page 6] addressed the layoff procedure (the "escort") that must have been taken out of our HR department's playbook....

End of the road for RDRAM? (The Chip Advisor).
March 1, 2002... Some companies get no respect. Rambus Inc. is the Rodney Dangerfield of the DRAM industry. No matter what the news, someone will find a way to paint it as a problem for Rambus. Recent announcements by Rambus and Samsung Semiconductor Inc....

Is it legal to send junk e-mail? (On the Law).
March 1, 2002... The battle over unsolicited e-mail began in 1996 when Cyber Promotions sued America OnLine Inc. and boldly asked that AOL be enjoined from blocking Cyber's ads to AOL subscribers. Cyber claimed that AOL was violating Cyber's First Amendment...

Generating the ideal processor. (Commentary).
March 1, 2002... The system-on-chip (SoC) era is here and the industry is learning to take advantage of the cost, power and bandwidth advantages of deep-submicron silicon. However, these advantages also bring a new set of challenges. How do we exploit millions...

Inflation remains under control. (Analysis).
March 1, 2002... There's at least one arguably bright side to the recession: Interest rates are lower than they've been in more than three decades. But the Federal Reserve Board's increasingly accommodative monetary policy wouldn't be possible if not for the...

Economic watch.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Please see our Web site, http://www.eb-mag.com, for additional economic data, analysis and forecasts throughout the month: March 8--Semiconductor sales. Analysis and forecasts on data from the latest Semiconductor Industry Association...

Why tech companies fear dividends: Shareholder payouts seen as a prelude to slower growth. (Finance).
March 1, 2002... When Santa Clara, GA-based Intel Corp. started paying a cash dividend to shareholders in 1992, it wasn't out of generosity or because it had nothing better to do with the money. The idea, says spokesman Chuck Mulloy, was to "broaden the...

Avoiding the 'F' word: Lack of fraud finding was key in CSFB case. (Finance).
March 1, 2002... Credit Suisse First Boston Corp.'s woes over alleged abuses in IPO stock distribution didn't end when it announced its $100-million settlement with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission. Now it must deal with hundreds of class-action...

A hint of better times. (Business Barometer).
March 1, 2002... Our survey of purchasing managers shows some small signs of improvement for business conditions. More than 40% of those polled stated they have experienced an increase in order bids. In addition, most believe that lead times are becoming longer...

Patent rule pending: Supreme court decision could impact 1.2 million patents. (Business Trends).
March 1, 2002... The U.S. Supreme Court soon will decide whether to uphold a circuit court ruling that could fundamentally redefine intellectual property (IP) rights by limiting the scope of infringement claims in certain cases. If the circuit court is...

Kid's stuff.
March 1, 2002... Around Christmas, you probably saw a lot of Dell Computer Corp.'s "pitch-teen" trying to convince parents that it's the printer and other free add-ons that make a Dell PC so appealing to his peer group. More likely, it's the Internet...

DVD sales soar, while prices plunge: Manufacturers add new features, trying to stop price erosion. (Business Trends).
March 1, 2002... Consumers' love affair with DVDS continued unabated in 2001, and shows few signs of slowing. But consumer electronics makers are scrambling to add new features to the high-resolution videodisc players to keep rapidly falling prices from eroding...

One step forward on export control: Industry hopes reforms will come in 2002. (BusinessTrends).
March 1, 2002... High-tech lobbyists continue to push for reform in export controls this year, encouraged by a bill that passed the U.S. Senate last fall. Control of high-tech exports has been regulated under a continuing executive order since 1994, when...

PVR popularity on the rise: Consumers drawn to commercial-free TV. (Business Trends).
March 1, 2002... If TV commercials drive you absolutely nuts, you're in the majority, researchers say. And chances are you postpone bathroom breaks rather than miss a second of your favorite program or playoff game. Devices that allow users to actually...

The next best thing to being there: More companies adopt web-conferencing tools. (Business Trends: Management).
March 1, 2002... Immediately after Sept. 11, some observers speculated that corporate America would turn to virtual conferencing tools to reduce travel and workers' risks. They apparently were right. Motivated by travel costs, fear of more terrorist attacks and...

Stepping out of the shadows: Gone is the green-eye-shade obscurity. Today's technology CEOs are in the public limelight, working hand-in-hand with CEOs. (Finance Fundamentals).
March 1, 2002... Meet Larry Carter today and you'd never know he began his career as an accountant. In fact, you'd probably even think he was a CEO or COO, busy as he is with sales calls, technology decisions, corporate strategy, press interviews and more. But...

Surviving the one-two punch: Advice for protecting your business from unfathomable disaster and a slower economy. (Finance Fundamentals).
March 1, 2002... On Sept. 11, 2001, the information technology group at Arrow Electronics Inc. was off site, taking the company's distribution network down to simulate a disaster. Two hours after they began, there was no need to simulate anything. Arrow's...

Aim low, win big: Silicon storage technology found a comfortable niche selling low-capacity flash memory chips. But to grow, it must move up-market. (Profile).
March 1, 2002... Bing Yeh, founder and CEO of Sunnyvale, CA-based Silicon Storage Technology Inc. (SST), has a knack for defying the semiconductor industry's conventional wisdom, and for spotting opportunities others have missed. In an industry where most...

Flash: A fractured fairy tale; The clock struck midnight in 2001, but flash memory is poised to complete its Cinderella story--albeit, with a slight twist. (Storage Technology).
March 1, 2002... AS THE MILLENNIUM TURNED, flash memory made a royal splash as a key component in hot-ticker items such as cell phones and digital cameras. Then, last year, severe market and pricing fluctuations combined with the suddenly sluggish economy cut...

One size never fits all: SoCs find limited success in some market niches. (SOC Update).(system-on-a-chip)
March 1, 2002... Every few years, a confluence of manufacturing advances, new product ideas and market drivers compels IC companies to cram more functions onto the next generation of silicon slivers. Then, the buzzword "system-on-a-chip" proliferates in...

Getting in sync with the new venture economy. (Venture Pulse).(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2002... Venture capital firms began funding new deals in the past two quarters, and while this news is heartening, the real lessons are more complex. The National Venture Capital Association reported that investments rose in Q4 2001, for the first time...