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Strategies & Market Trends : Rande Is . . . HOME -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rande Is who wrote (6504)	5/10/1999 12:11:00 AM
From: Bucky Katt	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 57584

China Suspends Contacts With U.S Sunday, May 9, 1999; 11:33 p.m. EDT BEIJING (AP) -- China suspended high-level military contacts with the United States on Monday following the bombing of its embassy in Yugoslavia. The official Xinhua News Agency said consultations with the United States on human rights, arms control, international security and preventing arms proliferation also were being postponed. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao announced the decision to suspend the military and other contacts, Xinhua said. It did not say when they might resume. The decision comes amid large anti-NATO and anti-U.S. protests in Beijing and other Chinese cities following Saturday's bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade that killed three people. China has condemned the bombing and had said that it reserved the right to take further action. search.washingtonpost.com

To: Rande Is who wrote (6504)	5/10/1999 3:21:00 AM
From: Ga Bard	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 57584

As sophisticated as we claim to be, are we about to enter into another Viet Nam? Worse yet are we or have we declared war on the Chinese? Just like when everything else ... When you are on top and leading and it took 1000 At a boys, 1 aw hell and the world will nail your butt. And worse yet this could be nutured by RUssia and Sadam ... Scary situation right now especially with the Chinese doing sabotage or breech the security to our nuclear facilities. :-( GB

To: Rande Is who wrote (6504)	5/10/1999 8:21:00 AM
From: Rande Is	Respond to of 57584

Nextel and Microsoft Team to Deliver Wireless Access to MSN Portal; Microsoft to Invest $600 Million in Nextel RESTON, Va., and REDMOND, Wash., May 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Nextel Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: NXTL), a leading provider of fully integrated wireless communications, and Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) today announced an agreement that will enable Nextel customers to access a customized set of Internet services offered through a co-branded version of the MSN(TM) portal. With this agreement, Microsoft has committed to invest $600 million in Nextel common stock in support of Nextel's leading position in the development and deployment of these wireless Internet services. This investment is expected to be used by Nextel to advance the deployment of these services, develop additional digital services, expand the Nextel National Network in the United States, and fund system development and expansion in other countries in which Nextel operates. The price of the stock was fixed at $36, and it will be subject to certain transfer and standstill restrictions. The wireless offerings will provide Nextel customers access to the MSN network of Internet services, which will keep them in touch with their information while on the go. When fully operational, as part of the Nextel Online(SM) offering, the co-marketed services are expected to include e-mail, calendar functionality, address book contacts and access to Web-based content. "The combination of Nextel's integrated data network and Internet-ready phones will provide our customers with the ability to access information and applications that are important to them, wherever they are. This is the ultimate last mile, and we are delivering it wirelessly," said Dan Akerson, chairman and CEO of Nextel Communications. "We are very excited about this strategic relationship with Microsoft and look forward to being able to extend the power of its applications and services to customers throughout the Nextel National Network." "Microsoft and Nextel will deliver the next generation of wireless services to enable people everywhere to stay in touch with the information they need, regardless of location," said Bill Gates, chairman and CEO of Microsoft. "The combination of Microsoft(R) platforms, including Windows(R) CE-based devices, with MSN services and Nextel's highly functional network and service infrastructure will enable these powerful new services to be delivered efficiently and effectively to benefit the widest range of customers." Nextel expects that later this year Nextel Online customers will be able to use their Nextel phones to access the new services mentioned above. These services are being designed and deployed so that Nextel customers also will be able to access them in combination with a range of other devices, including personal digital assistants (PDAs), palmtop computers, PCs and Windows CE operating system-based devices. Nextel will also work with Microsoft to help define the requirements for Microsoft's microbrowser technology for wireless devices. Utilizing the MSN portal, Nextel will provide a "Web-computing platform" for its customers via the company's Nextel Online offering. It is planned that Nextel Online will include three fundamental sets of services for Nextel customers. The first set of services will enable Nextel customers to use Nextel Online as an efficient and user-friendly way to interact with Nextel and other members of the Nextel Business Networks(SM). In doing so, customers will be able to utilize Nextel's online customer care capabilities to find out information on Nextel services, phones, coverage and special offerings. Customers will also be able to purchase additional accessories or telephones online and will soon be able to view and pay their bills online. In addition, Nextel customers will be able to take advantage of the Nextel Online Messaging Center to send short message service (SMS) messages to other Nextel users. Nextel recently announced that it is now sending more than 1 million SMS messages a month by virtue of this efficient integrated offering. The second set of services will include a multitude of applications, content and services that Nextel will make available via the co-branded MSN portal. Nextel Online customers will be able to select from these applications and services and personalize them to both their PC and to their Nextel phone. These offerings, available to Nextel phone users and their nonmobile associates, are expected to provide Nextel's customer base of more than 3 million with the most robust set of integrated offerings available from the Internet over a wireless network. E-mail, calendar, address book and Web-based content services will be introduced with the launch of Nextel Online with additional functionality integrated over time. The features associated with these services will include the following: -- E-mail. Customers will be able to use a variety of devices to access their e-mail inbox and to send and receive e-mail. Nextel customers will be able to dial a number or use Nextel Direct Connect(SM) to access a private ID number that appears within the e-mail message. They will also be able to fax e-mail messages or attachments to a local fax machine when they need a printed copy. -- Calendar. This function will enable Nextel customers to manage their personal and group calendar information both online and from their Nextel phone. -- Address book. Customers may view, create, edit and delete contact records, including contact names, company names, telephone numbers, Nextel numbers, postal addresses and e-mail addresses. Customers also will be able to initiate calls at the touch of a button to any number displayed on the telephone screen from the address book. -- Web-based content services. Customers will be able to receive timed and triggered notifications for a variety of services such as stock quotes, weather, news services and sports results. Access to these services will be available through the Nextel National Network and can be utilized with all new Nextel Internet-ready phones and in conjunction with a variety of devices that include PDAs, palmtop computers and laptop computers. The third set of offerings enabled by the co-branded MSN portal will include Web-based applications developed by third parties specifically for business users of the rapidly growing Nextel Business Networks. Today, more than 90 organizations have joined Nextel's Developers Program (http://developer.nextel.com/), and will offer a variety of applications developed specially for individual customer segments. These applications will be accessible from Nextel's Internet-ready phones over the wireless Internet network. In a separate announcement today, Microsoft announced plans to deliver a wireless portal designed to work with handheld devices, cellular phones and interactive pagers via the MSN network of Internet services. Internet users will be able to access most popular services on MSN, including e-mail and address books from the MSN Hotmail(TM) Web-based e-mail service; news, sports and weather from MSNBC; stock updates from the MSN MoneyCentral(TM) personal finance online service; forthcoming calendar features from recently acquired Jump! Networks; and other Web-based content such as door-to-door directions and weather. The wireless portal will be available later this year in conjunction with the next major upgrade to MSN. Nextel Communications Inc., based in Reston, Va., is the leading provider of fully integrated wireless communications and has built the largest guaranteed all-digital wireless network in the United States that covers thousands of communities across the United States. Nextel and Nextel Partners Inc. currently serve 92 of the top 100 U.S markets. The Nextel National Network offers a fully integrated wireless communications tool with digital cellular, text and numeric paging and Nextel Direct Connect, a digital two-way radio feature. In addition, through Nextel International Inc., Nextel has wireless operations and investments in Canada; Mexico; Argentina; Brazil; the Philippines; Peru; Japan; and Shanghai, China. Please visit the company's Web page at nextel.com. Founded in 1975, Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day. This release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements may differ materially from actual future events or results. Readers are referred to the documents filed by Nextel and Microsoft with the SEC, specifically the most recent reports, which identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those assumed or anticipated in the forward-looking statements, including potential fluctuations in demands for products and services and/or in quarterly results, dependence on new product development, rapid technological and market change, financial risk management and future growth risks. Other risk factors include satisfactory negotiation of certain licensing arrangements and satisfactory resolution of software delivery and systems integration deliverables. These cautionary statements should be considered in connection with any subsequent written or oral forward-looking statements issued by Nextel or persons acting on its behalf. Nextel undertakes no obligation to review or confirm analysts' expectations or estimates or to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Nextel, the Nextel logo, Nextel Online, Nextel Business Networks and Nextel Direct Connect are trademarks and/or service marks of Nextel Communications Inc. Microsoft, MSN, Windows, Hotmail and MoneyCentral are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. SOURCE Microsoft Corp.

To: Rande Is who wrote (6504)	5/10/1999 8:29:00 AM
From: Rande Is	Respond to of 57584

Lucent Technologies Announces World's First Single-Chip Internet Telephone Solution LAS VEGAS, May 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) Microelectronics Group, the world's leader in communications semiconductors, today announced the first single-chip solution for Internet telephones. By integrating multiple system-level functions on a single chip, Lucent has the capability to design a solution that reduces the electronics costs of currently available Internet telephones by approximately 30 percent. Lucent's solution is also capable of decreasing the number of semiconductor chips typically required for Internet telephones from five to only one. Such significant cost and chip reduction should help accelerate market acceptance of this rapidly emerging technology. Lucent is announcing its Phone-On-A-Chip* capability this week at the Networld + Interop trade show here in Las Vegas (Booth #1476). "The Internet telephone market has been limited so far by prices that now hover in the $250 range per phone," said Greg Sheppard, an analyst with Data-quest/GartnerGroup based in San Jose, Calif. "Lucent's highly integrated system-on-a-chip solution addresses the key market stimulant of cost reduction that will help lower Internet telephone prices below the $150 range." Lucent has available today all the building blocks with which customers can design a customizable single-chip product. To meet immediate time-to-market needs, Lucent plans to initially offer a two-chip solution by this year's fourth quarter priced at less than $30 in quantities of 100,000. Lucent's fourth quarter two-chip product delivery plans mean that the company will have transitioned from initial product conceptualization to product availability in less than 12 months led by Bell Labs, the company's research and development arm. Internet telephones converge voice and data on a single Ethernet wall outlet jack, thereby reducing existing cabling costs. Today's business offices typically require two connections, one carrying voice and the other data, on two wall jacks. Internet telephone systems are initially expected to be used by medium- and small-size businesses, including the small office/home office market. Such early users are likely to include those interested in setting up cost-effective new office systems that integrate voice and data on a single network. Internet telephone sets, which this chip enables, are targeted to work with Internet Protocol (IP)-enabled Private Branch Exchange (PBXs) switches and voice-enabled local area network routers. The market for Internet telephone sets is expected to average annual growth of more than 250 percent for the next three years and amount to 8.8 million units sold by the year 2002. Lucent's solution incorporates Bell Labs technology that enables higher quality voice telephony over local area packet networks by giving priority to real-time voice traffic. The solution also draws upon Bell Labs extensive digital signal processor (DSP) resources and system-on-a-chip leadership. System-on-a-chip technology combines multiple functions on one chip, thereby reducing system costs and increasing design efficiency and performance. "Packing more functions on a single semiconductor chip has been pivotal to decreasing costs and growing the market for cellular phones," said John Dickson, president of Lucent Technologies Microelectronics Group. "Now, we are applying our system-on-a-chip expertise to help ignite the Internet telephone market." More than half of the revenues of Lucent Technologies Microelectronics Group were derived from system-on-a-chip technology last year. The planned architecture for Lucent's solution involves the integration of 13 electronic functions onto a single chip. The functions include a digital signal processor (DSP1627) core; a microprocessor (ARM940T) core; a telephone handset analog-to-digital converter (codec); a speakerphone codec; a speaker amplifier; a microphone amplifier; an Ethernet Media Access Controller (MAC); two Ethernet 10/100 megabit per second transceiver interface drivers (PHYs) and a repeater for using a single Ethernet wall jack for both the Internet telephone and personal computer (PC); a Universal Serial Bus interface, which enables a single connection between PCs and peripheral devices such as modems; an Infrared Data Communications Interface; a telephone keypad controller; and liquid crystal display drivers. Taking advantage of Lucent's integrated offering, Internet telephone manufacturers can spend less time debugging chip interfaces, which is typically necessary using silicon parts from multiple manufacturers. For more information on the single-chip, Internet phone design, customers may call the Microelectronics Group Customer Response Center, 800-372-2447, Dept. R94 (in Canada, 800-553-2448), Dept. R94; fax number 610-712-4106 (especially for callers outside of North America) or write to Lucent Technologies, Room 30L-15BA, 555 Union Boulevard, Allentown, Pa. 18103. For more information about the two-chip offering (Part Number T8301 for the DSP-based chip; and T8302 for the microprocessor-based chip), customers may use the same contact information. Lucent Technologies designs, builds and delivers a wide range of public and private networks, communications systems and software, data networking systems, business telephone systems and microelectronics components. Bell Labs is the research and development arm for the company. For more information on Lucent Technologies, headquartered in Murray Hill, N.J., USA, visit its web site at lucent.com . Lucent's Microelectronics Group designs and manufactures integrated circuits and optoelectronics components for the computer and communications industries. More information about Lucent's Microelectronics Group can be found at lucent.com . Phone-On-A-Chip is a trademark of Lucent Technologies. The Dataquest market forecast is based on document PCSW-WW-MS-9802. * ARM is a registered trademark of ARM Limited. SOURCE Lucent Technologies

To: Rande Is who wrote (6504)	5/10/1999 8:55:00 AM
From: Rande Is	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 57584

ANYONE CARE TO SPECULATE ON WHO WILL BENEFIT?. . . . .NEWS: Intel Plans Venture Fund For New Chips NEW YORK (Reuters) - Intel Corp. (Nasdaq:INTC - news) is expected to announce Monday a new $300 million venture capital fund to foster companies that design key building blocks for the next generation of Intel microprocessors. US Bancorp Piper Jaffray analyst Ashok Kumar said Sunday he expected Intel, the world's No. 1 computer chip maker, to contribute $100 million in seed capital to the new fund while the remaining $200 million would come from outside investors. The $200 million will be supplied by a mix of Fortune 500 customers and technology suppliers like Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HWP - news), a key ally in the development of Intel's upcoming generation of microprocessors called IA-64, Kumar said. Intel spokesman Tom Waldrop confirmed the Santa Clara, Calif.-company planned to make an announcement Monday related to its so-called ''64-bit'' microprocessor chips that was not directly related to the products themselves. He declined to comment further ahead of the announcement. Intel has long been an active venture financier of technology companies, with stakes in more than 200 firms and a venture portfolio worth $2.5 billion. ''What is unique about this fund is that while Intel will be the lead investor with about $100 million of capital, the residual $200 million plus will be provided by a mix of IT (information technology) providers and users -- Fortune 500 companies,'' Kumar said. Intel's microprocessors form the brain of most personal computers. Upcoming Intel chips are being designed not just to control PCs but also to run larger, mainframe-class computers that can handle millions of customer transactions at once. The new chips will revolutionize the cost of computers sold to large businesses by introducing Intel's high-volume economics on chips used to run this wider range of computers. While dominant in the mass PC market, Intel holds only a small percent of this high-level business, where rivals Sun Microsystems Inc. (Nasdaq:SUNW - news), H-P, IBM Corp. and Compaq Computer Corp. (NYSE:CPQ - news) dominate with chips of their own.