Oracle NCI unit chief Baker resigns
February 17, 1998 01:03 PM
REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., Feb 17 (Reuters) - The chairman of Oracle Corp's Network Computer Inc operation, Jerry Baker, resigned from the company, a company spokesman said Tuesday.
The decision was "mutual" between Baker and NCI's board of directors, the spokesman said, adding that Baker's replacement will be David Roux, an Oracle executive vice president in charge of mergers and acquisitions and corporate development.
The spokesman declined to comment further about why Baker, a 14-year veteran of database software vendor Oracle, decided to leave.
Baker, an executive with deep technical knowledge, started NCI for Oracle two years ago. The mission of the unit was to develop a cheap, easy-to-use "network computer" -- a stripped-down computer that drew its computing power from corporate or public computer networks.
Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison also had appointed NCI to come up with technology to undermine the popularity of the personal computer and the power of Microsoft Corp, its biggest rival.
So far, NCI has had mixed results.
The company has succeeded in lining up support from Microsoft rivals such as International Business Machines Corp, Sun Microsystems Inc and Netscape Communications Corp. It has also, almost single-handedly, raised demand for a cheap alternative to the personal computer.
But NCI has been slow to actually build and widely sell network computers. The company has said RCA Electronics and NEC Corp have begun to sell consumer and corporate network computers.
It also faces increasing competition from Microsoft's WebTV unit, a direct rival that makes $200 devices that let consumers tap the resources of the Internet through their television.
An NCI spokesman said NCI brought in Roux because he has more experience in finance and product marketing. Before joining Oracle, Roux was a senior manager at Central Point Software and Lotus Development Corp.
Roux will become chairman and chief executive of NCI. He also will retain his role as Oracle executive vice president.
(--Kourosh Karimkhany in Palo Alto, 650 846 5401)) REUTERS |
