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October/November 2001 News

  • A gloomy time for Sun
  • Travel slump hits Travelcity
  • Commerce One under pressure
  • They want your body parts

 

A gloomy time for Sun

Sun Microsystems are cutting their staff by 4000 (ca. 9%) as the weak economy begins to bite. Sun are under increased pressure from Intel-based solutions as more customers begin to trust NT & W2K to run their Internet environments.

Travel slump hits Travelcity

Online travel site Travelcity have been hit by the 30% reduction in bookings since last month's terrorist attack. It has laid off 10% of its staff.

Commerce One under pressure

Since the 11th September attack Commerce One have not sold anything. Already under pressure to cope with the changing business model the future looks extremely challenging.

They want your body parts

Careful when peeling those potatoes and carrots. If biometric fingerprinting is used for identification you cannot afford to cut yourself. Its not just your fingers they want, voice, face, hand and eye balls are all under threat. So no fighting down the pub to keep those features untouched and keep those throat lozenges close at hand. As security needs increase this is the area of development. Biometricate is a supplier of this sort of technology.

Shorties

  • Toshiba PDA rivals iPaq. It uses MS Pocket PC 2002 and an Intel 206MHz StrongArm chip.
  • Economic downturn is hitting the PC manufacturers. This can be seen by the plummeting share price of Compaq and Dell. Users are looking seriously at TCO and thinness. So as the companies lay off workers the customers are focussing on the thin client possibilities.
  • BT are moving into the PDA business to offer mobile services. It will be a combined phone/PDA running MS Pocket PC 2002 and will integrate MS's digital telephony API's allowing voice mail.
  • Only 10% of companies adhere to government IT infrastructure Library (ITIL) standards. Is it because they are inappropriate or just too bureaucratic?
  • Compaq recalls 1.4 million faulty laptop power supply units because there is a risk that they could double as a fire ignition system. Obviously very useful in a cold climate but not good in the office.
  • Careful when peeling those potatoes and carrots. If biometric fingerprinting is used for identification you cannot afford to cut yourself. As security needs increase this is the area of development. Biometricate is a supplier of this sort of technology.
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