Networking buyout/other rumors by Mr. Katt
'Loose lips sink chips,' bellows the ever-blabby Intel
www8.zdnet.com
By Spencer F. Katt
04.13.98
It's a semiannual ritual: Intel
plans a major processor
announcement, the press covers
it in advance ad nauseam, then
right before the official rollout the chip giant beats up on a
few loose-lipped licensees that have the gall to discuss what
everyone knows already anyway. Such was the case on the
eve of Intel's release this week of its new 350/400MHz
Pentium IIs--one of the worst-kept secrets on the planet.
Micron, one of the objects of Intel's misguided wrath, is
using the new chips as a launch pad to go after small to
midsize business customers, although it's not going alone. His
Hirsuteness hears the direct marketer from Nampa, Idaho, is
lining up third-party service providers to support business
customers through a soon-to-be-expanded Web site and is
working on deals with ISVs to bundle small-biz software
with its systems. On the product road map, the Tabby was
told, are Micron's first technical workstations, now that Intel
has cranked up the Pentium to workstation-class speeds; a
notebook with a lithium-polymer battery, due this summer;
and a Windows CE device, although the spudheads are still
figuring out how to approach the sub-$1,000 portable
market.
Silicon Valley tipsters are wondering if Cisco is really going
to have Gigabit Ethernet products anytime soon. Long
lambasted for being behind the big-bandwidth curve, Cisco
is using a media access controller from Intel that doesn't
support Gigabit speeds, according to one Furball fan who's
using the very same MAC in testing equipment. Without a
new rev of the MAC, ports will "drag along" at about 400M
bps max, the tattler said.
Cisco rival 3Com, meanwhile, is getting ready to announce a
partnership with a major telecommunications provider. With
3Com adding wireless capabilities to its Total Control
access concentrator, some tipsters think Nokia could be the
chosen one, but others say Nortel and Lucent also are in the
running.
Nortel and Lucent could also be vying for a bigger prize:
Bay Networks. That was one of the acquisition rumors
running rampant among networking pundits last week.
Another: Alcatel buying Xylan. And does Cabletron have the
legs to make yet another purchase? Tipsters, intrigued by the
company's reported snapping up of NetVantage last week,
say IP telephony is the next target.
NetDynamics, which calls itself the Switzerland of the Java
standards battle, wants to bring Sun and Microsoft together
at its users conference next month for a formal debate over
Java. An insider let the Puss in on a little secret: Sun has
accepted the invitation, but so far Microsoft remains
noncommittal. NetDynamics figures it can't lose, since it's
pledging support for Microsoft's Java Virtual Machine while
simultaneously backing Sun's Java Foundation Classes and
Enterprise JavaBeans.
Goings and comings at Digital: Layoffs have already begun in
preparation for the merger with Compaq, with contractors
the first to fall on their swords, reports one of those newly
unemployed workers. At the same time, Compaq human
resources personnel, including head HR honcho Hans
Gutsch, have been seen milling around Digital's facilities on
fact-finding missions. Here's a fact: The first cut's not the
deepest.
Have a tip? Contact Rumor Central by phone at (781) 393-3700 or
via e-mail at spencer_katt@zd.com. |
