Microsoft Venturing into Gaming Arena in Asia
Microsoft Corp. and NTT Communications Corp. have announced that the two will work together to create a broadband online gaming service in Japan for use with the Xbox. According to the terms of the partnership, NTT will allow Microsoft to use its asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) broadband network. The two companies hope to launch the service some time in 2002.
Enea Data Buys Polyhedra
Enea Data AB (Stockholm, Sweden) has bought embedded database specialist Polyhedra plc (Cranfield, England) for approximately $4.75 million. Polyhedra's software plays a key role within Ericsson's CDMA infrastructure equipment and Enea aims to use the database as part of a high-availability environment based on its OSE real-time operating system. After the acquisition by Enea, Dave Stoneham, Polyhedra's founder and president, is expected to retire from full-time management duties. Stoneham's successor as president of Polyhedra, Chris Ball, was recruited last year and will take over the running of the database group within Enea.
IBM Rolls Out High-Res Monitor
IBM Corp. is poised to throw its first high-resolution LCD into the general-purpose monitor arena. The move comes as experts continue to debate the promises and pitfalls of high-res displays. IBM next month will release a 20.8-inch, 123-pixel/inch device based on Roentgen LCD technology, which the company
first discussed roughly two years ago. Packing a 2,048 x 1,536-pixel quad-XGA (QXGA) format into a 20.8-inch diagonal screen, the monitor will be available in May at a price point of around $6,000.
Iridium to Re-launch Phone Service
Fresh from its $5 billion bankruptcy and near-destruction in the earth's atmosphere, Iridium plans to re-launch its satellite-based mobile phone service this week. The new owners of the 66-satellite network, Iridium Satellite LLC, announced Wednesday that the system will go live again on Friday, almost exactly a year after commercial service was turned off. Iridium Satellite paid just $25 million to acquire the system (which cost Motorola and other investors more than $5 billion to develop), launched service in late 1998 and slid into bankruptcy court by the following summer, drowning in debt. The new venture insists the key to success will be its new focus on remote work settings such as oilrigs and cargo ships, not the business travelers and consumers the old Iridium tried to lure. Another distinction will be the launch of wireless data
services in June.
Mobile Commerce Conference Slated For Asia
The Mobile Commerce World 2001 conference is scheduled for April 24-27 at the Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Center and promises to be a worthwhile event for those who attend. The event will feature top-tier speakers who are leaders in their industry, the majority of which are in the wireless world. The Conference will be a structured platform for information gathering and business development in a face-to-face environment. Attendees will have the opportunity to be part of an interactive CEO panel discussion with some of the industry's leading mobile commerce solutions providers, vendors and application enablers. Focussing on mobile commerce strategies to drive business forward in the new media economy, the conference will be packed with key presentations and case studies from vertical industries, from around Asia and globally. For more information check out the event’s webiste at: http://www.mobilecommerceworld.com/Mobile_Asia2001.
Sprint PCS Going Color
Sprint PCS Group, the fourth-largest U.S. wireless telecommunications service provider, said it is introducing the first full-color-screen mobile phone in the United States. The new model by Japan's Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd. is a compact mobile phone that folds in half like a clamshell and has a 2-inch full color display. Sprint said the phone comes with one-touch access to Sprint PCS Wireless Web and allows users to download up to 20 digital color photos, which can then be linked to address book entries for "Photo Caller ID" purposes. The phones will be available to Sprint PCS customers next week. Other features include voice-activated dialing, voice screening, an electronic organizer and an external screen that displays Caller ID. The phone is priced at $499.99, and the battery provides 2 hours of digital talk time and 120 hours of digital standby time.
BoldFish Upgrading Mass E-mailing System
Businesses looking to communicate with customers, partners and suppliers more rapidly and more often could be in for some good news. BoldFish Inc., a provider of high-volume outbound e-mail services for business-to-consumer and business-to-business communications, on Monday will announce an upgrade to BoldFish Express Server, enabling companies to send high-volume e-mail faster and more reliably, without extensive IT support. Express Server now provides access to BoldFish Express Network, a hosted service introduced in December that lets companies send up to tens of millions of messages faster without IT support or transferring its customer database to an application server provider.