//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Vol. 3, Issue 06 (c)1996 GKM Journals June 1998 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Last month, Intel Corp. informed the media that it would be
pumping more big bucks into a Chinese operation.
The major computer chip maker announced on May 5 that it planed
to channel $50 million into an information technology research
center in China over the next five years.
Based in Beijing, the research center would specialize in
Internet-related technology mainly pertaining to Chinese
language applications.
A flash memory testing and assembly plant in Shanghai was
opened by Intel four years ago, and was expected to finally
begin its flash memory testing and assembly last month. One
Intel executive revealed that his company has already
invested a total of $198 million in the Chinese enterprises
to date.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
announced in May that it would no longer allow data collected
from its satellite systems to be used when there are
commercial satellite-based services available that can meet the
same need.
NOAA's instruments that relay information back to earth from
their orbiting satellites have been used for purposes ranging
from aiding explorers and mariners to find their way-- to
tracking animals for habitat research. These services may soon
be off limits to civilians and commercial users.
As would be expected, many people are banking on private
companies such as Final Analysis, based in Lanham, Md. and
Orbcom at Dulles, Va. to fill in the void when NOAA pulls
the plug.
NOAA officials noted that when the private sector can
facilitate similar services, non-government environmental
use of their equipment will be allowed only when there is
also a [government] interest or benefit to be achieved in the
application.
Only in rare cases where the probability of loss of life is
notably high, such as exploration in very remote Arctic areas,
would further use of the NOAA system be permitted. Even then,
NOAA may have to determine each request on the merit of the
information being sought and its relevance or value to the government.
In many instances, weather information at sea would be
considered of significant importance for both the government and
the private sector. However, NOAA would rule out sharing data
with a private company whose sole purpose of exploration was to
map out an ocean in search of oil or mineral resources strictly
for its own future profit.
One news story out of Washington last month said that the U.S.
Senate Judiciary Committee is perplexed that Microsoft Corp.
has not allowed PC manufacturers to anonymously speak to its
investigators about OEM (original equipment manufacturer)
licensing deals.
The senators are questioning whether Microsoft gave special
concessions to hardware OEMs or possibly engaged in some form
of coercion to gain their support in favor of the MS Internet
Explorer browser over that of its rival, Netscape Navigator.
A Judiciary Committee staff member asked for a letter from the
software mogul stating that it would be alright for the members
of the committee to speak with Microsoft's licensees without
Microsoft having to know about it. As speculated by the staff
member, it appears that some of the licensees are afraid of
retaliation.
As of the first week in May, the Judiciary Committee had not
received such a letter. But Microsoft officials said they intend
to oblige in the same manner as they complied with a similar
request from the Justice Department's Antitrust Division when
the JD promised complete confidentiality to the trade partners
and OEMs.
Customers may be demanding it, but they are not likely to gain
guaranteed Year 2000 compliance from their service providers
and vendors in the near future.
According to a survey conducted this year, of the 200 inform-
ation technology specialists polled, only 21 percent offer
legally binding guarantees of their Y2000 compliance solutions.
Although the demand for guaranteed Y2000 compliance is high,
the scoop has it that the vendors' lawyers are telling them to
"keep their mouths shut." Some vendors are saying that it
would not be practical to honor such a binding agreement when
within a large client's organization there would be a multitude
of people having access to, and use of the software. One could
not determine whether the solution failed because of tampering
or because another software application became corrupted.
The legal questions about Y2000 compliant solutions continue to
draw attention as compliant-related law suites have already
cropped up. Two of the most noted cases involves the class-
action suites brought against Symantec Corp. and Macola Soft-
ware Inc.
Another set-back for the Y2000 solution vendors came in the form
of a proposed California bill that would have protected the
companies from Y2000 liability, but was killed because its range
of protection was too broad.
New developments in Voice-Over IP technology is predicted to
offer benefits to small and mid-sized businesses who take
advantage of them.
Very soon, small companies will be able to make telephone calls
to contacts anywhere across the globe-- with or without a PC,
according to industry observers. The small businesses and their
ISP (Internet Service Providers) stand to gain from the new
services. The small business will save money on long distance
phone calls, and the ISPs will reap a profit from this
relatively untapped new industry.
One international telecommunications provider, IDT Corp., now
offers four classes of Internet telephony solutions. One of
them, Net2Phone, is a software product that permits the user to
place long-distance telephone from a PC to any telephone in the
world. When the call is launched from the PC, it is then routed
over the Internet to Net2Phone switches, where the calls are
relayed to their desired destination.
IDT is reportedly engaged in talks with several computer makers
to encourage them to install Internet telephony products in
their new desktop PC systems.
Taking a different approach, Aplio Inc., located in San Bruno,
California has developed a device that is about the size of an
answering machine, which allows long-distance phone calls to
be placed over the Internet without using a computer.
When a user initiates the phone call and tells the receiving
party to press the appropriate keys on his or her Aplio/Phone,
it will automatically configure the phone for the incoming
Internet call. After the Aplio/Phones are configured, then
both parties hang up, both phones ring to notify the users that
the conversation can resume over the Internet.
Through a marketing plan recently launched by Aplio, the company
plans to authorize about 500 resellers in the U.S. by September.
Many leading commercial security organizations have already
submitted specifications to the federal government for a new
Data Encryption Standard (DES) to replace the existing one.
With the deadline only about a month away, numerous vendors are
cramming to get their offerings in on time, and with the stakes
being so high, all the submitting companies are keeping it all
hush in regards to their procedures and technologies.
Since the present DES is over 20 years old, the federal govt.
has flashed the help wanted sign in front of the commercial
security community to come up with a new DES... with the only
stipulation that it be based on both the Advanced Encryption
Standard (AES) architecture designed to protect some current
government data and the Triple DES interim standard.
Currently, DES contains only a 56-bit encryption key length,
and Triple DES a key length of just 112-bits. But government
officials estimate that Triple DES will remain in use for
another few years, or until its successor is determined.
They call it security, but according to one security analyst,
DES is in the public domain and employs a key mode where both
the sending and receiving party use the same key. Knowing that
DES has become outdated-- mainly due to its limited encryption
key length, the U.S. Govt. has placed the National Institute of
Standards & Technology (NIST) at the head of the project.
A recent E-mail document sent to my office reported a Windows 98
beta tester has discovered built-in "smart card" support infused
within Microsoft Corp.'s new operating system.
The beta tester said he found a folder named "scard" on his disk
that much to his surprise, did not contain sound card in-
formation, but instead contained a program which will be used to
interface "smart card" readers with a PC.
Included with the information found in the Read Me file was the
statement that the Beta release provides the necessary files
needed to enable smart card aware application(s) or service
provider(s) to communicate with a smart card through a reader
attached to a PC and its corresponding device driver.
It was also noted in the Read Me file that Microsoft does not
provide the reader hardware or the necessary drivers to
interpret smart card data.
On the global spectrum however, one May 5th news story out of
Washington, D.C. listed Microsoft as one of the major players
in the push to speed up the transition from conventional credit
cards to the smart card technology. It was also reported that
Compaq Computer, IBM, and other leaders in electronics have
agreed to create a common API (Application Program Interface)
for fingerprints and other identification criteria.
The group emerging from the coalition, the BioAPI Consortium,
will manage work done by several companies to create the
common API.
A major wire service revealed last December that the Belgian
bank card company Banksys SA had already implemented its Proton
electronic purse technology, which is used by Brazilian
citizens, Australians, and the U.S. Marine Corps to buy
everything from beer to newspapers, or in the case with the
Marines, the payment cards are also used to sign out weapons.
It was estimated that about 15 million of the electronic purses
are in use around the world.
The mini-card contains a microchip that can store monetary data,
personal information, and the user's identity or social security
details.
Under the trade name of Banksys, which is jointly owned by all
of Belgium's major banks, it was predicted that by the end of
1998 some 40 million Proton cards would be in circulation around
the world.
Your right to scramble your own e-mail messages has been
acknowledged by two courageous U.S. Senators, namely, John
Ashcroft, R-Mo., and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.
The bill, as introduced May 12, would guarantee our right to
scramble electronic messages using virtually unbreakable codes
to maintain privacy. In opposition to the bill are the Clinton
administration in general, The Justice Department, and expressly
the FBI. The Clinton administration stands against the use of
encryption without a means for law enforcement agencies to
unscramble messages for purposes of "crime investigation."
Attorney General Janet Reno has gone on record as saying,
"Without encryption safeguards, all Americans will be
endangered."
Senators Ashcroft and Leahy describe their bill as a compromise
on the issue-- offering sound reasoning for privacy advocates,
law enforcement, and the computer industry. But the senators
are willing to admit that the Justice Department hasn't agreed
to support the bill.
The legislation would affirm that Americans can sell and use
encryption software without "key recovery," which law enforce-
ment could use to unscramble electronic messages if they suspect
that a crime has occurred.
The proposed senate bill was applauded by Privacy groups, such
as the Washington-based Americans for Computer Privacy. The
measure would also require that whenever key recovery is used
voluntarily, law enforcement must obtain a court order before it
gets the code to unscramble private messages. Ashcroft and
Leahy have written in some provisions to aid law enforcement
such as making it a crime to willfully use encryption to conceal
incriminating information. A new Net center would also be
established under the attorney general, according to provisions
in the bill, which would give aid to federal, state and local
law enforcement agencies to break encryption codes and share
information about encryption technology.
To accommodate our encryption technology industry, which has
been burdened with tight export restrictions, the proposed bill
would help ease those restrictions to allow the U.S. to compete
with the foreign-made software that isn't subject to mandatory
key recovery.
Billed as the world's first digital voice recorder with mini-
card removable media, Olympus America has introduced its
handheld D1000 Digital Voice Recorder.
The unique device is packaged with IBM's "ViaVoice" software
and Intel's Flash Memory Miniature Card, which puts the D1000
into a whole new category of personal voice recorders.
Personal memos, reports, and other types of dictated messages
can go into the Olympus D1000 digital voice recorder where it is
then stored on the Flash Memory Miniature Card.
Once the information is transferred to a PC, IBM's ViaVoice
dictation software converts the recorded voice into text, which
can then be edited and printed.
The D1000 will soon be ready for shipping, and will be packaged
with a cable, carrying case, its customized ViaVoice, and a 2MB
Intel Flash Memory Card plus a PC Adapter Card. Being that the
PC Card Flash memory is removable, the stored information can
be shared with co-workers, family members or friends. An
optional Miniature Card Reader/Writer is also available for
desktop PC users.
The D1000 measures just 4.7" (H) x 1.81" (W) x .091" (D) and
weighs in at only 6.0 oz. with batteries.
Recording time is 16 minutes in [standard] mode with a 2MB card
and 33 minutes with a 4MB card. Using [long] mode, recording
time is 34 minutes with a 2MB card and 72 minutes with a 4MB card.
However, if you are using ViaVoice, the D1000 must be
run in the Standard mode. A 2MB card comes as standard with
the unit, and optional cards up through 8MB will be available
this Summer.
Although Olympus did not post any pricing information on its
Web site, you are given the option to locate a dealer in your
area through an online search engine.
Retail pricing is expected to be in the $300 range.
It's called "globalization," and the term has been leveraged
into our language whether we like it or not.
The PC distribution channel has taken note of the momentum
gained in that direction of late, especially in Europe, and
plans to jump on board the speeding train of globalization
just in time to cash in on the emerging Euro-dollar currency.
PC channel companies see the likely unification of the European
Community's currency as a key factor for expansion of business
within that continent. They anticipate the arrival of a common
currency as a potential means to simplify doing business there,
and make financial management in Europe a little easier.
In a power move, it was reported last month that U.S.-based
Avnet Computer Marketing Group bought one of the larger British
distributors, namely, Bytech Systems Ltd. Without revealing
any details, Ikon Office Solutions Inc. also announced plans
for acquisitions in Europe.
Other U.S. distributors seeking European holdings were listed
as CHS Electronics, Miami, Florida and Ingram Micro Inc., Santa
Ana, California. One business analyst speculated that Ikon's
acquisitions in Europe are just a part of its long-term business
strategy, which is to zero-in on the European copier business,
and then expand from there to become a more augmented
integration and solution provider.
Talks have resumed between IBM Corp. and Netscape Communications
Corp. over the possibility of developing an OS/2 version of
Netscape's next-generation browser.
Both IBM and Netscape acknowledge that this is an important
issue. IBM needs to make sure that the only browser that works
with OS/2 is kept up-to-date, and Netscape essentially wants to
gain some market share against its arch rival, Microsoft.
According to one IBM source, the company is anticipating an
agreement to take place on the next-generation browser by the
end of this year.
Soon, Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC) will have as many as four
manufacturers to depend on to build its Alpha series processor
chips.
Talks are under way with IBM Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices
Inc. (AMD) in hopes that DEC's fabrication facilities will be
doubled from the existing two-- Intel Corp. and Samsung
Electronics. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approved the
deal with Intel about two months ago, and the fabrication
partnership with Samsung looks to be a done deal.
But as added insurance to keep up with market demand, DEC has
turned to IBM and AMD with the blessing of the FTC, who has
taken the position that DEC really needs alternate sources to
maintain production of the [only] alternative to the Intel
architecture.
Also included in the talks between DEC and AMD is the conjecture
that there may be a place where AMD's new 32-bit K7 chip would
coexist in systems with the 64-bit Alpha chip from DEC.
Users of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 4.0 have been plagued by
a hostile Java applet that paints their desktop white.
Microsoft officials claim that the recently discovered intrusion
is a nuisance, but it poses no security or privacy risks. But
one industry source stated that it may only be the first of
many bogus applets, which attack Microsoft ActiveX controls.
The Java applet in question is only 1-Kbyte in size, and affects
IE 4.0 while running Active Desktop. When it paints the PC
screen with all white pixels, the user must reboot before work
can be continued. According to one analyst, if a user runs
into the code while on a Web site, any open files could be lost
if they were not saved. It was also recommended that the old
[CNTRL]+[ALT]+[DEL] method of reboot be executed to reset
Internet Explorer properly before continuing with work tasks.
At about 6 p.m. EDT Tuesday, May 20, an errant space
satellite caused a loss of communications to millions of
pagers and other communications.
The Galaxy 4 satellite went out of control Tuesday when its
onboard control system and a backup switch failed. Engineers
were able to send commands to the craft but were unable to
restore its proper orientation with Earth.
Behind-the-scenes television transmissions in the U.S.
and the Caribbean were also interrupted, but it was not
immediately clear how long the outage would last. One
option being considered to remedy the situation would be
to position a backup satellite that is already in orbit
into Galaxy 4's path. One industry official noted that
this could take several days or more.
The outage affected doctors, police departments, and
millions of others who have become dependent on pager
technology to carry on their daily tasks. It was estimated
that 80 to 90 percent of the 40 million to 45 million U.S.
pager users went without service.
Although the voice-mail function on pagers was still
operating, the pagers would not beep to notify a subscriber of
the incoming message. Pager users had to call in to their
service to check on messages. The only customers not affected
were those whose connections were linked through ground-based
radio transmitters.
Television network feeds to their local affiliates were
briefly lost, and National Public Radio said it was unable
to transmit any programming content to its affiliates.
[Could this be a prelude to the chaos predicted by a
recent guest on the Art Bell radio show? According to the
call-in guest astronomer, there is a gigantic meteor
shower headed our way, which should reach our outer
atmosphere this November. According to his predictions,
from 90 to 100 percent of all orbiting satellites could be
lost.]
The U.S. Senate approved a bill last month that will increase
the number of temporary visas issued to foreign workers from
last year's 65,000 to 95,000.
The news slant on the story says that high-tech executives
and corporations have been lobbying Congress to adopt the
measure as a way to abate the shortage of skilled workers
in the United States. [I doubt that everyone will buy that
story.]
Supposedly, the bill (Senate Bill 1723) does provide some
protection for U.S. workers, but other than increasing
penalties on companies that "abuse" the system [whatever
that means] and offering to provide "job training" for
displaced U.S. workers, it does not do much for the moral
of the American worker.
The U.S. Department of Justice and the attorneys general
from 20 states filed antitrust lawsuits against Microsoft
Corp. on May 18.
The precedent-setting law suits call for Microsoft Corp.
to change the design and "look" of its Windows operating
system software. Government lawyers maintain that Microsoft
has kept an unfair stranglehold over not just the computer
industry, but the future of our high-tech-dominated economy.
Microsoft has been seated in its dominant position in the
PC operating system industry for quite some time, and it has
attained more than 90 percent of the market. This is a lot of
leveraging power for any one company to hold... at least, this
seems to be the opinion of the government.
Government attorneys cited internal memos between company
executives that indicate that Microsoft used its position
of power to promote its other products such as the IE 4.0
Web browsing technology, which is bundled with the Windows
95 operating system. The govt. attorneys affirmed that
such practices tend to destroy new competitors.
In spite of the law suits, the government did not seek to
delay the June 25 delivery of Windows 98, but demanded
instead that changes be made in the software.
In a news briefing, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates
countered that the government suits attempt to set
precedents that could be applied to all forms of the
company's Windows operating system.
Out of the heritage of Ma Bell, there appears to be a new
dynasty in the making.
Pending approval by the Federal Communications Commission,
the contract to purchase "Baby Bell" Ameritech for $62
billion by telecommunications giant, SBC Communications, a
powerful network covering nearly every region of the U.S. would
be created.
All the news media were running headline articles of the
pending merger, which would overshadow the recent mega-
deal formed when WorldCom engineered its $37 billion takeover
of MCI Communications. The combined SBC/Ameritech company
would have command of 57 million phone lines, which works
out to about one third of the nations total.
If the deal meets the approval of the FCC and the corporate
shareholders, only four of the seven Baby Bells created in
the 1984 breakup of AT&T would remain.
Formerly called Southwestern Bell, SBC bought out Pacific
Telesis Group about one year ago for $16.5 billion, and
still has its sights set on the completion of a $5 billion
takeover of Southern New England Telecommunications of
Connecticut.
One selling point of Windows 98 being touted by Microsoft is
its ability to update system components through the Internet...
AUTOMATICALLY! This feature may be welcomed by some users, but
many resellers see a potential problem for their corporate
customers.
Having untested changes automatically introduced into a network
of workstations could produce a chaos of conflicts. Many of
those enterprise systems had to be painstakingly fine tuned to
keep them stable, and the sudden introduction of an update
could throw a monkey wrench into the works. System bandwidth
and directory structure also may not permit the abrupt changes
that would result from downloaded fixes and updates.
Now that its attention has been called on the matter, Microsoft
will offer the "Windows 98 Image Preparation Tool" to address
the situation. This new utility will work in conjunction with
the System Policy Editor, which allows resellers and service
professionals to control Windows features.
The System Policy Editor is not all that new. It has been a
part of the Windows operating system since the release of
Windows 3.11. In Windows 98, however, it will permit the auto-
matic download feature to be turned off. But the bad part about
that is that the System Policy Editor can only be switched off
AFTER W98 has been installed or when the user FIRST logs on to
the network. The reseller still has to install and configure
the applications.
But for the user and the reseller, there some highly favorable
improvements in W98 over W95. Windows 98 offers full-native
support for the USB (Universal Serial Bus) and IEEE-1394
standards. Some of the old familiar utilities such as Defrag,
Backup, and ScanDisk have been either enhanced or rewritten
completely, according to industry sources.
The Windows 98 FAT (File Allocation Table)32 overcomes the 2.1-
Gigabyte barrier for hard disk partition sizes. Existing FAT-
16 directories can be migrated up to FAT32 via another new
utility. Also on the plus side, W98 allows a broader range of
control over desktop configuration through custom toolbars,
ActiveX controls, and imbedded Java applets.
An Explorer-based desktop display may, however, have to be
replaced with a more traditional-looking desktop if Microsoft
is forced by the Justice Department to ship Windows 98 minus
its Internet Explorer browser application.
The purchase of IBM Corp.'s Charlotte, North Carolina facilities
by Solectron Corp. last month is another indication of the
company's aggressive acquisition policy.
Solectron agreed to buy IBM's Electronic Card Assembly and Test
Operations last month, and as part of the settlement, Solectron
also gained access to 51 IBM disclosures and 115 of its patents.
Also stipulated in the agreement was that Solectron will provide
PC-board assembly services to IBM for the next three years.
Last December, Milpetas-based Solectron proudly made known that
it had acquired the manufacturing assets of NCR Corp., which is
based in Dayton, Ohio. The price paid for that takeover was
estimated at $100 million.
There could be legal problems ahead in deciding whether or not
the Regional Bell operating companies (RBOCs) can bypass a
federal law, and provide long-distance services via a third
party carrier.
In the center of the controversy is Quest Communications
International Inc. The Denver-based long-distance carrier is
constructing a fiber-optic network, and has partnered with two
RBOCs within the past month-- namely US West Communications
Group and Ameritech Corp. The agreement between the three
companies allows Quest to sell local and long-distance service
packages.
The endeavor by Quest has prompted two leading long-distance
companies, AT&T Corp. and MCI Communications Corp., to file
suit to stop the new long-distance service. The suit names
Quest and US West, and maintains that the service is in
violation of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which states
that the regulated RBOCs are not permitted to sell long-distance
services unless they can prove that their local markets are
open to competition.
Last month, Western Digital Corp. began shipping its latest
version of the Caviar hard drive line, but with one new twist--
magnitoresistive (MR) head technology.
Available in three versions, the new drives are produced in
capacity ranges of 2.5-Gigabytes to 8.4-Gbytes, and have an
average seek time of 9.5 microseconds. They can transfer data
at 33.3-Mbytes per second. Rotation speed for the Caviar drives
is 5,400 rpm.
The drives are manufactured at Western Digital's facilities in
Singapore, and are shipped with EZ-Drive version 9.06W overlay
software that permits high-capacity hard drives to be formatted
on older systems where the BIOS (basic input/output system)
greatly limited drive partition size.
To make the Year 2000 transition a little less financially
painful for some businesses, a Baltimore-based company known
for its ACC-PAC for Windows and SQL Accounting Solutions, is
making available a free software application that tests computer
systems for Y2000 compliance.
The free software from SystemLink will also generate a report
that companies can use to walk step-by-step through the Y2000
compliance process.
More information is available at their Web site at:
www.systemlinkink.com
A Redwood City, Calif. company has launched a Web site designed
to aid software developers create animated scripts that add
animated interactivity and transaction capabilities to Internet
sites and corporate intranets.
NetObjects Inc. has posted its site called ScriptBuilder.com,
which offers a variety of resources for developers to download
as samples so they can see just what a particular script will
do. There are also online tutorials and a forum for posting
questions to the ScriptBuilder site.
Named the DiamondMax 2880, the new 11.5-Gbyte Ultra DMA/IDE hard
drive from Maxtor Corp. rivals the speed of SCSI-2 drives.
Note: DMA stands for Direct Memory Access
IDE: (Integrated Drive Electronics)
SCSI: (Small Computer System Interface)
Applying the new standard to a 3.5" architecture, Maxtor has
positioned the 2880 into the 33-Mbytes/second category for data
transfer rate, and depending on the drive's applications and
interface used, it is claimed to achieve a seek time of less
than 9.0-ms. The 2880 uses a rotation speed of 5,400 rpm and
"on-the-fly" error correction to attain high data transfer
rates while correcting multiple-error bursts.
The suggested price for the 11.5-Gbyte drive is $479.
There is a flexible operating system known as Linux, and
although it is used worldwide, it seems to be a well kept
secret.
Linux has experienced a rapidly growing grassroots following
since its source code was posted on the Internet for free in
1991. Now that it has been updated and rediscovered, many VARs
(value-added resellers) are taking a second look.
The Linux operating system, for the most part, is distributed
for free or at least generally at a very low cost, and according
to trade sources, is a mirror image of the venerable Unix O/S.
It runs all key Unix tools, and is claimed to have an install
base of about 3 million users. One observer said that Linux is
run on more systems than either the Macintosh or IBM's OS/2
operating systems.
Linuxs' development traces back to a student at Helsinki
University of Technology named Linus Torvalds. After he posted
it on a school FTP server, other student experimenters took a
liking to the code, whereby Linux was proliferated into a
community of users. Resellers getting acquainted with the
operating system say they like it because it is more easily
customized than the alternative operating systems.
There are now a multitude of commercial applications that are
compliant with Linux. Corel Corp. is using Linux in one of
its new hardware items, which may be marketed as a Network
Computer, while Red Hat Software Research plans to ship an
estimated 400,000 copies of a Linux-based product this year.
Other companies developing Linux-based products are: ApplixWare,
Flagship, StarOffice, Faircom, AcctOnit, C/Books, Netscape,
and WordPerfect.
As the fervor within the microprocessor industry has demanded
increasingly faster chips, but smaller wafer sizes, several
chip vendors are partnering with IBM Corp. to help them meet
the new challenges.
According to some observers, copper-- instead of aluminum is
the way to go where micro-circuit technology is concerned. Less
power is consumed, chip sizes are diminished, and performance
is increased when copper circuits are etched into the silicon
wafer as opposed to aluminum.
Most all of the remaining Socket 7 technology processor vendors
have contracted with IBM for volume production under the newer
copper technology. Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Cyrix Corp.,
and Centaur Technology have already signed agreements with IBM,
and Digital Equipment Corp. is reportedly completing such an
agreement.
[It should be noted that "Socket 7" technology is an older, but
well established CPU architecture, which is still competing
with the newer Intel Slot 1/Pentium II technology.]
IBM unveiled its new manufacturing process last fall, which
calls for copper circuitry rather than aluminum. According to
IBM officials, they have overcome the problems that were
encountered with copper construction in the past, which made it
difficult to apply during semiconductor assembly procedures.
Microprocessor technology advancements, which have driven the
computing power of today's laptops up to the level of an average
desktop PC also have put an immense load on the battery.
Most computer professionals and notebook PC manufacturers have
seen this coming as screen sizes have increased and more
power-hungry components have been added. The introduction of
the Intel Pentium II architecture into a laptop PC two months
ago caused some of the power consumption and heat dissipation
problems to reappear that were thought to have been under
control.
While mobile processor designs have advanced, they have set
battery life back about two generations, according to one
observer. Now the notebook PC makers have mixed opinions as
to which battery technology to move to. Most of them have
given up on zinc-air batteries, and many have turned to the
lithium polymer technology because of its 10 percent gain in
overall power.
Hewlett-Packard Co., however, has selected the prismatic
lithium-ion battery to power its OmniBook Sojorn notebook. HP
engineers were able to design the battery to be very thin--
thin enough so that it fits under the keyboard. But the higher
cost of the battery is its major shortcoming.
The IBM Personal Systems Group is staying with the long-established
and traditional lithium-ion battery for its line
of laptops. The company had to resort to some intense power
management features, however, to attain a 4-hr. maximum battery
life in its Pentium II-powered ThinkPad 600 unit.
Which ever of today's battery technology is employed, when it
comes to high-end mobile computers, they are being pushed to
their limits.
A strategic partnership was formed in May between NBC and
the premier Internet consulting firm, USWeb Corp.
USWeb will assume the task of expanding production capabilities
for NBC's interactive properties and services. As one of the
world's largest Internet consulting companies, USWeb will
provide NBC with access to its team of 1,000 professionals
spanning four countries.
As part of the deal, USWeb will offer Internet production,
technical services, and development expertise through USWeb
Studio, the company's creative and Internet design group. NBC
will maintain control over its own interactive productions,
however.
The NBC / USWeb team will continue to produce Internet shows
like "Homicide: Second Shift" and "The Tonight Show With Jay
Leno"., expected to be featured during NBC.com's Summer fare.
As IBM Corp. introduced its two new multimedia processor chips
last month, the company made known to the other PC chip makers
that it plans to stake its claim in the sub-$1,000 and sub-
$1,200 system markets.
A 300-MHz (PR300) and 333-MHz (PR333) offering of its 6x86MX
processor line will target the low-cost PC arena, where the
biggest growth is taking place, according to one market research
team.
IBM developed the chips under a licensing agreement with Cyrix
Corp., which is now a subsidiary of National Semicondutor Corp.
Although they are partners, IBM and Cyrix will be competing
with one another to see who gains the 3-to4 percent of the
estimated market share that is ripe for the picking.
Most analysts will concede that Intel has control over about
80 percent of the PC chip market, but 4 percent of the millions
of dollars of the remaining business is still nothing to be
taken lightly. Systems manufacturers and PC resellers will
welcome the low prices of the new 6x86 chips, which are tagged
at $217 for the PR300 and $299 for the PR333 when purchased in
lots of 1,000.
The 64-bit Merced chip, originally scheduled for volume
production at the end of 1999, will now be delayed until
mid-2000.
Industry sources noted that the delay of the 64-bit Merced
processor comes at a time when the Federal Trade Commission
is continuing its investigation into alleged anti-
competitive practices by Intel.
The delay of Merced may have some negative long term
effects on the computer industry in light of the fact that
Microsoft Corp. had planned to deliver its 64-bit version
of Windows NT to coincide with the release of Intel's new
processor chip.
