26th February 2002 Archive

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BT slashes wholesale DSL costs

Major move by telco

BT has slashed the cost of wholesale DSL and promised to improve the availability of broadband. In an announcement this morning, BT CEO Ben Verwaayen kept his promise to make "substantial" cuts to the cost of wholesale DSL and signalled a shift in strategy for the telco. From April 1 the cost of wholesale DSL will fall from £ …

Telecoms 26 Feb 2002, 10:11
Adobe targets Macromedia users

New versions of GoLive and LiveMotion now shipping

Adobe Systems Inc yesterday said it has started shipping the latest versions of its GoLive and LiveMotion web animation and design applications. Announced earlier this year, the products are targeted more than ever at users of tools from rival Macromedia Inc. LiveMotion 2.0, the latest version of its web graphics design …

Software 26 Feb 2002, 10:18
Itanic crushes Beeb micro in speed bake-off

IDF And how stupid do they think we are?

During his keynote, Intel's Mike Fister boasted about McKinley's great potential to crush rival RISC systems. And he had figures to prove it. Fister unveiled benchmarks that showed Itanic roasting what he described as "one of our leading enterprise contenders", in the form of a BBC Acorn computer. In both I/O and practical web- …

Channel 26 Feb 2002, 10:24
VC firm rumoured stalking Energis

VCs who still have money? Quick people, after them...

When Mike Grabiner stood down as CEO of Energis Plc last May, he said his next job "won't be in telecoms." Nine months later he may have been true to his word by joining venture capitalist Apax Partners, but reports over the weekend claim his new employer is about to launch a bid for the beleaguered carrier. While a …

Business 26 Feb 2002, 10:30
AOL UK and Freeserve welcome BT's DSL slash

Big hugs

AOL UK and Freeserve could be on the verge of launching mass-market broadband services following today’s announcement by BT that it will slash the cost of wholesale DSL. The UK’s leading ISPs have both welcomed BT’s announcement although both are still waiting to know the exact details of the telco’s new strategy. Up until now …

Telecoms 26 Feb 2002, 11:43
UK corporate networks in disarray

Bewildered BOFHs

UK networks are in disarray, with many BOFHs unaware of even basic information, such as how many PCs are connected to their firms' networks. That's the main conclusion of a survey by audit and migration tools firm LANboss Software, which found that as many as one-in-four UK IT managers have no idea how many PCs are attached to …

Data Networking 26 Feb 2002, 12:40
MS exec trial transcripts to be made public

Oh, goodie...

Transcripts and videotapes of Microsoft antitrust depositions will be made available to the public, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly decided yesterday. The Judge's order, made in response to requests from the usual group of suspects in the newspaper industry, covers Steve Ballmer, Jim Allchin, Jim Barksdale (ex-Netscape) and …

Software 26 Feb 2002, 12:42
Atrocity of 9/11 to save tech sector – Cheney

And face-recognition outfit Visionics hears the call

A profitable surveillance state may rise from the ashes of Ground Zero if the Bush Administration has its way. Indeed, high-tech gizmos will play an increasing role in US military ventures and homeland security, Vice President Dick Cheney said Thursday during a speech at the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, California. …

Business 26 Feb 2002, 12:47
Hail Montecito

IDF Another day, another Intel CPU code-name

So the year is 2004 and Intel launches Montecito, its next-next-next generation 64-bit server CPU. That's the code name and that's the plan for the latest processor to appear on the company's roadmap, announced yesterday by Mike Fister, Intel's top server guy, at IDF. The CPU is to be built on a 90nm process and it will mark an …

Channel 26 Feb 2002, 15:09
MPAA's Valenti pushes for copy-control PCs

A set-top box on every desk

Motion Picture Ass. of America (MPAA) President Jack Valenti has made a veiled pitch for copy-control PCs in a letter to the editor published by the Washington Post. While much of the letter is devoted to incoherent ranting about some dastardly cabal of "professors" who are trying to rip the guts out of Hollywood, and …

Personal 26 Feb 2002, 15:11
Amiga hardware makes a comeback

Well OK, on a set top box in Sweden, but still...

After a couple of years in what even its friends would surely accept as deep obscurity, Amiga is back. OK, on a set-top box. In Sweden. But hey, it's a Nokia set-top box, running Linux. Amiga the machine, people far too old to be in this business may recall, was a seriously attractive 68000 box that Commodore began screwing up …

Data Networking 26 Feb 2002, 15:29
BTopenworld tight-lipped about its DSL plans

Eclipse passes on cuts

BTopenworld – the mass market ISP of BT – is expected to announce later this week whether it will pass on broadband price cuts to its punters. A spokesman for the ISP said it was looking at today’s announcement by BT Wholesale to slash the cost of wholesale DSL and hoped to comment later in the week. The ISP is also expected …

Telecoms 26 Feb 2002, 15:33
Pipex cuts DSL price to under £25 a month

Affinity says BT’s price cut not enough

Pipex has moved swiftly to cut the cost of its DSL service to less than £25 a month in the wake of today’s news from BT. From April 1 Pipex will charge £23.44 (inc VAT) for its single-user Xstreme Solo customers. The price cuts will apply to existing and new customers, it said. Earlier this month Pipex cut the cost of its …

Telecoms 26 Feb 2002, 15:35
BT wants to ‘make Britain click’

Patented RSI too then?

Ben Verwaayen said that today’s announcement to slash the cost of wholesale DSL was about "making Britain click". Speaking to analysts this morning the BT chief exec said that today’s decision to cut the wholesale cost of DSL to less than £15 a month was "within the regulatory framework of the UK and financially sound for BT …

Telecoms 26 Feb 2002, 15:38
MS kicks off home broadband wireless beta test

Including hardware - but whose?

Microsoft seems to be poised to give away an unspecified number of home wireless networking kits as part of a beta test program kicking off in late March. Naturally though, there are a couple of catches. According to BetaNews, which has seen a copy of the email inviting applicants for the beta test, the Microsoft Home …

Software 26 Feb 2002, 16:29
Elsa files for bankruptcy

Cavalry does not arrive

Elsa, the veteran graphics card maker, has started bankruptcy protection proceedings in its German homeland. The company said that it had received a letter of intent from an "industrial investor" but was unable to complete negotiations because it had ran out of money. The investment or sale of the company had been subject to …

Personal 26 Feb 2002, 18:05
McData's legal go-slow on Brocade carries advantages, risks

Silkworm, silkworm

McData Corp looks set to prolong the pain it is inflicting on its rival Brocade Communications Systems Inc, by moving at less than full speed with the damaging patent infringement lawsuit it launched last week. Tim Stammers writes. Despite declaring that it wants to see Brocade disable the disputed technology in its …

Hardware 26 Feb 2002, 18:25
ICANN reforms – Public out, Government in

A bit controversial, this one

The Internet Corp for Assigned Names and Numbers yesterday unveiled a "sweeping proposal for radical reform" of the organization, in which the current public free-for-all policy-making structure is replaced by one that has a heavy emphasis on international government involvement, Kevin Murphy writes. The proposal, made by …

Music and Media 26 Feb 2002, 18:25
Security suppliers compared to dodgy car mechanics

Wide boys and clueless vendors contribute to 30% security overspend

Many anxious users are being duped by unscrupulous or clueless suppliers into buying security products they don't need. That's the view of security consultancy MIS Corporate Defence, which reckons almost 30 per cent of current security spend in Europe is misplaced or wasted on ad-hoc purchases. The average security breach …

Security 26 Feb 2002, 18:42
ATI bests Nvidia in notebook graphics – McComas

InQuest head-to-head

ATI remains the leader in the battle for notebook graphics accelerator performance, edging arch-rival Nvidia, according to preliminary tests perfomed by InQuest, the semiconductor analyst firm. It was so nearly a draw, but at the last gasp, Bert McComas and colleague Richard Lee, plumped for ATI after "taking into consideration …

Channel 26 Feb 2002, 18:59