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Technology Stocks : COMS & the Ghost of USRX w/ other STUFF -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: David Lawrence who wrote (11273)	1/4/1998 11:52:00 PM
From: Moonray	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22053

Cisco Systems to Ship Gigabit Ethernet Technology in 2nd Qtr San Jose, California, Jan. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Cisco Systems Inc. said it will ship the first versions of its newest switching technology in the second quarter of 1998, entering a market for the sophisticated networking equipment already introduced by several rivals. Cisco expects customers to begin using the so-called gigabit Ethernet technology in computer networks by the second half. The technology allows the transfer of data across small computer networks up to ten times faster than existing technology. Industry analysts have been waiting for Cisco, the world's No. 1 networking company, to provide a timeline for its version of the new technology, which is expected to generate sales of $1 billion by 2000. The company's strategy differs from that of its competitors 3Com Corp. and Bay Networks Inc., who began shipping versions of gigabit Ethernet last month, before a standard was established and ahead of widespread demand for the technology. ''Cisco's strategy is to have the products ready when the customers want them,'' said Noel Lindsay, an analyst at Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, who maintains a ''buy'' rating on the company's stock. Waiting for a Standard Analysts said they don't expect there to be a significant market for gigabit Ethernet until late 1998 or 1999, and Cisco's strategy has been to wait for a technological standard to be adopted. A standard is expected to be ratified in March by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the most widely accepted standards group for networking-equipment makers. Scott Heritage, an analyst at UBS Securities who also maintains a ''buy'' rating on Cisco stock, said that although ''on the surface'' it appears the company is behind its rivals in introducing the new technology, ''very few customers are going to need (gigabit Ethernet) capability by the end of 1998, so Cisco is not really late,'' he said. The company said it will introduce the technology, expected to make up an estimated 5 percent of the networking market by 2000, as part of an overall solution to speed up so-called local area networks, or LANs, which are found mostly on college campuses and in large corporations. ''We don't want to just ship a new box. We want to make sure our (gigabit Ethernet) products work as a system,'' said Jayshree Ullal, vice president of marketing for Cisco's enterprise business unit. Plug-in Modules Ullal said in an interview that the technology will appear first in plug-in modules compatible with two of the company's current product lines, Catalyst 5000-series switches and Cisco 7000-series routers. The modules will process data at speeds of as much as 8 million packets per second, slower than products introduced by rivals. Ullal said that rather than being built for sheer speed, Cisco products will let customers upgrade their networks to gigabit speeds while maintaining the ability to communicate with networks using older communication technologies. ''Cisco's approach makes the most sense,'' analyst Lindsay said. ''You have to support the range of (communication) protocols that are still being used.'' The gigabit Ethernet technology Cisco will use in its new products was developed in-house, Ullal said, but will be combined with so-called layer-3 switching technology Cisco acquired when it bought startup Granite Systems in 1996. That technology is needed to process data moving at gigabit speeds. Ullal said she wouldn't rule out the possibility that San Jose, California-based Cisco might acquire another company developing gigabit Ethernet technology to round out its product lines. ''But right now, as far as our customers are concerned, we feel we are on the money with our own gigabit technology,'' she said. Cisco shares rose 1 3/8 to 57 1/8 in late trading. o~~~ O

To: David Lawrence who wrote (11273)	1/5/1998 9:16:00 AM
From: Moonray	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22053

NASA Prepares for Return to the Moon 07:23 a.m. Jan 05, 1998 Eastern CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - The U.S. space agency made final preparations for the launch of a low-cost, water-seeking robot probe to the moon, its first mission to earth's closest celestial neighbor in 25 years. The Lunar Prospector probe was scheduled to blast off from Cape Canaveral Monday at 8:31 p.m. EST and to arrive in orbit around the moon five days later. Scientists were hoping the year-long mission would answer questions left unanswered by the six Apollo moon-landings and about a dozen robotic missions in the 1960s and 1970s, especially the question of whether there is water on the Earth's only natural satellite. ''You won't see a lunar lake with moon penguins skating around on it,'' Scott Hubbard, Lunar Prospector mission manager, told a prelaunch news conference. ''What you will have here is water ice mixed in within the lunar soil.'' Lunar Prospector does not carry a camera, but its five scientific instruments will probe the moon's surface for minerals, magnetic fields, gravitational anomalies and frozen water. ''I think a lot of people have the idea that perhaps we know all there is to know about the moon, but the reality is we have only just scratched the surface,'' said Michael Drake, director of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona. ''There is a lot that we still have to learn.'' Program scientist Joseph Boyce said finding ice in the pole region would boost any plan to build an Earth outpost on the moon. ''Finding ice in the pole regions is very important if someday we want to have a lunar base,'' he said. For decades, scientists have speculated that water ice could be hidden within the rims of craters at the moon's south pole, permanently shaded from the brilliant sunlight that has baked dry the rest of the lunar surface. Up to a billion tons of water from icy comets could have accumulated at the lunar poles, but scientists are not expecting to find a vast expanse of water. Results from a U.S. Department of Defense experimental spacecraft called Clementine provided evidence that water ice does exist at the moon's south pole, but many scientists remain skeptical. Lunar Prospector's electronic divining rod, which detects the hydrogen atoms in water, could provide a conclusive answer within a month of reaching the moon. ''If there is a cup of water in a cubic yard of lunar soil we will see it,'' Hubbard said. Lunar Prospector is the latest of NASA's new low cost missions, built under NASA's new ''faster, cheaper, better'' philosophy. With a price tag of $63 million, it cost a tiny fraction of the multibillion dollar Apollo program. The small spacecraft will be launched atop a new low-cost rocket built by Lockheed Martin Corp, from a launch pad at Cape Canaveral originally designed to test-fly missiles carrying nuclear warheads. ''We wanted to show that for the cost of a typical Hollywood movie you can explore interplanetary space, I personally feel this is the best $63 million mission money can buy,'' Hubbard said. Copyright 1997 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication and redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. o~~~ O

To: David Lawrence who wrote (11273)	1/5/1998 12:55:00 PM
From: Scrapps	Respond to of 22053

DMTF Makes CIM v2.0 Specification Available for Industry Review CIM Technology Development Committee Meets Milestone in Evolution of CIM Standard PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 5, 1998--The Desktop Management Task Force (DMTF) announced today that it has released its Common Information Model (CIM) v2.0 specification for industry review. The release of CIM v2.0 specification and its accompanying schema, which is available on the DMTF web site www.dmtf.org/work/cim.html, is an important milestone for standards progress in the systems and network management industry. The purpose of the object-based CIM is to provide a common way to describe and share management information enterprise-wide. The CIM specification is the language and methodology for describing management data. The CIM schema includes models for Systems, Applications, Networks (LAN) and Devices. The CIM schema will enable applications from different developers on different platforms to describe management data in a standard format so that it can be shared among a variety of management applications. The CIM specification and schema complement existing management protocols such as SNMP and DMI (Desktop Management Interface). The CIM v2.0 specification and schema is expected to be formally adopted by the DMTF in February 1998. The DMTF's CIM Technical Development Committee (TDC) developed the CIM specification and schema and includes Computer Associates, Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Microsoft, Novell, Sun Microsystems and Tivoli Systems. The CIM specification has already undergone external review by The Open Group, with the intent to jointly publish the CIM specification with the DMTF as part of the Open Group's IT DialTone initiative. ''We feel that CIM can be one of the major pieces of glue in the future of Open Management. We fully endorse CIM and will push on all of our suppliers to adopt it,'' said Karl Schopmeyer, Credit Lyonnais, Co-Chair, The Open Group Distributed Systems Management Program Group. ''As a customer, we are committed to buying products in the management arena, not developing local solutions.'' The DMTF intends to extend the CIM schema to cover additional areas such as Wide Area Networks, Directory Enabled Networks, Service Management, Software Licensing, and Software Monitoring. Work will also start in Q1 1998 to define application programming interfaces (API) and transport encodings, further extending the scope of CIM. ''The release of the CIM specification and schema represents a unique moment in the history of management systems,'' said Raymond C. Williams, Tivoli Systems, and Chairman of the CIM TDC. ''For the first time, industry leaders have agreed upon a common way of describing management information, thus providing real value for customers.'' About the DMTF The Desktop Management Task Force (DMTF) is the industry consortium chartered with development, support and maintenance of management standards for PC systems and products, including DMI, the most-widely used management standard today. Founded in 1992 by a group of PC industry leaders, the DMTF brings together more than 110 key technology and support-industry providers to create the tools and infrastructure for enabling a more cost-effective, less crisis-driven approach to PC management. The DMTF is led by a Board that includes Compaq Computer Corp. [NYSE:CPQ - news], Dell Computer Corp. [Nasdaq:DELL - news], Digital Equipment Corp. [NYSE:DEC - news], Hewlett-Packard Company [NYSE:HWP - news], IBM Corp., Intel Corp. [Nasdaq:INTC - news], Microsoft Corp. [Nasdaq:MSFT - news], NEC Computer Systems, a division of Packard Bell NEC Corp., Novell Inc. [Nasdaq:NOVL - news], SCO, SunSoft Inc., and Symantec Corp [Nasdaq:SYMC - news]. Companies interested in joining the DMTF or obtaining more information about the DMTF, DMI technology and the activities of the DMTF Working Committees may call 503/225-0725 or view the DMTF Web site at www.dmtf.org .