epages News [Computer Hardware Shops]

HP launches Compaq Business Desktop d240

Mar 26, 2004: New Delhi: Hewlett Packard launched a low-cost version of its existing business desktop series for small and medium businesses. HP Compaq business desktop d240 comes with Windows XP Professionals or XP Home with configuration like Intel Pentium IV, 2.6 Ghz processor with Hyper-threading technology, 256 MB memory, 40 GB hard drive, a press release said here. It starts with a price tag of Rs 47,990. The d240 reinforced our commitment to SMB customers who are looking for value, dependability and HT performance in a desktop PC. The d240 is the lowest-priced HP business desktop with HT technology which enables users to run multiple applications and background computing tasks with minimal loss of performance.

Microsoft launches BizTalk server

Mar 24, 2004: Bangalore: Microsoft Corporation India launched BizTalk server 2004, aimed at businesses with multiple applications for enterprise application integration and business process integration. Cap Gemini Ernst and Young and Tata Consultancy Services said they had set up a centre for excellence for Biztalk based EAI solutions. According to IDC India, the Enterprise Application Integration services market in India is expected to grow at a four year compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 37.4 % from $7.78 million in 2001-02 to $27.71 million by 2005-06. Today, enterprises face significant challenges in managing and automating increasingly disconnected business processes. Bitztalk server enables customers to manage and automate their business processes.

The 'entertainment' PC can play music, record TV channels

Mar 08, 2004: San Francisco: Despite the best marketing efforts of big technology companies, personal computers have never felt much at home in the living room. But a new PC makeover by the likes of Intel and Gateway could soon give the home computer a central role in the way consumers watch TV or listen to music. The device, which Intel calls the Entertainment PC, is designed to connect directly to the television, and will look more like a souped-up DVD player than a personal computer. Entertainment PCs could be on the shelves as early as the second half of this year, starting at $799. Controlled with a remote, the Entertainment PC can flip through and record television channels, play music and movies, and even connect to the Internet to download shows and songs not available from cable or satellite TV operators. Moreover, it can stream video from the living room to a PC elsewhere in the home, or even to a wirelessly connected handheld device.

With the growth of PC sales slowing, Intel and the large computer companies are once again focused on the living room, where several separate devices dominate home entertainment systems. Instead of the DVD player sitting atop the stereo atop the TiVo, the Entertainment PC is designed to replace them all. That’s the idea. It’s not a new concept, and PC brands like Gateway and Compaq have fallen flat on their faces trying to push the same idea in years past. The Entertainment PC represents the core of that initiative. New Intel chips allow surround-sound audio and integrated wireless networking abilities. A version Intel expects to be sold next year, code-named Sandow, includes a high-definition TV tuner, a smaller form factor, and software to aggregate media from multiple PCs in the home. The $999 PC has a TV tuner and a powerful video card, as well as ports and memory card readers to connect game controllers and cameras. It can play DVDs, record television shows onto a hard drive and play MP3 music. The PC can be controlled with a remote, but also comes with a wireless keyboard and mouse.

Samsung joins IBM, Infineon in chip development

Mar 08, 2004: San Francisco: South Korean technology company Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. will join a computer chip development project at an International Business Machines Corp. technology centre in New York, the companies said on Friday. Samsung, which sells computer memory chips and produces semiconductors for use in its own electronics, will join Singapore chipmaker Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd. and German memory maker Infineon Technologies AG in the partnership with IBM. Samsung will also license chip-making technology from IBM, the companies said. No terms were disclosed, but an IBM spokesman said IBM has brought in $500 million since 2001 from foreign chip makers who paid to help fund technology development work at its East Fishkill, New York facility.

While Samsung is the largest memory chip maker, the licensing agreement focuses on technologies for high-definition televisions, mobile phones and other consumer electronics. Microchip makers have increasingly allied with one another to develop the extraordinarily expensive processes by which chips are built with microscopically small features. Building chip features smaller than 90 nanometers has introduced especially daunting manufacturing problems. The four companies will focus on building chips with features as small as 65 nanometers, or billionths of a meter, and later with features 45 nanometers in size. While IBM builds chips for use in its own computers, most of its chips business involves manufacturing for other companies, including Apple Computer Inc., Nvidia Corp. and Qualcomm Inc. It is also working with Sony Corp. and Toshiba Corp. on a chip for the new Sony PlayStation.

Cisco names Netsol best silver partner in Asia

Feb 26, 2004: Bangalore: Cisco Systems has named Network Solutions Pvt Ltd (Netsol) its best `Silver Partner' in Asia. Netsol received the award last week at Cisco's Global Partner Summit in Hawaii, USA, the company said in a statement. Cisco named Netsol its "Best Support Partner' in India, at its Indian partner summit at Goa recently. In addition, Netsol received awards for "Best Performance in the IP contact centre market', and 'Best Year-on-Year sales growth', the statement said.

India has potential to become IT, telecom hardware hub

Feb 23, 2004: Mumbai: India has the potential to become the hardware manufacturing hub of the world in Information Technology (IT) and telecom, and an increased stress on research and development will help the country in achieving this, according to experts. India has witnessed a tremendous growth in IT and telecom sectors, while hardware manufacturing is lagging behind. The Indian companies also need to brand the products on order to derive the actual benefits. In terms of wireline services, 95% of infrastructure is in place but applications need to grow. The connectivity has reached the nook and corner of the country but applications have to keep pace. Telecomm India 2004 is a business-to-business meet, which would be organised by India-Tech Foundation, from October 25-28 in the city. India-Tech Foundation is an industry body of the telecom sector and public trust firm.

Hewlett-Packard profit rises on sales

Feb 21, 2004: San Francisco: Hewlett-Packard on reported quarterly profit that rose 30% as the computer and printer maker grew revenues twice as fast as rival Dell in desktop and notebook PCs for the second consecutive quarter. The strong results were seen as a further vindication of HP's 2002 acquisition of Compaq, especially given its profit on PCs and corporate servers, two areas that critics had expected would remain areas of competitive weakness in the combined company. HP also offered a forecast for the current quarter that was in line with current Wall Street expectations. Operating profit in HP's enterprise services business, which sells servers and data storage gear and includes software, was $108 million, compared to a year-earlier operating loss of $82 million, HP said. Revenue for that group rose to $3.92 billion from $3.74 billion.

Analysts currently expect HP to post a second-quarter profit of 34 cents per share, on average, within a range of 33 cents to 37 cents. Revenue is pegged at $19.2 billion, on average, within a range of $18.7 billion to $19.9 billion. HP, which competes with International Business Machines Corp., Sun Microsystems Inc. and printer maker Lexmark International Inc., also backed consensus analyst estimates for full fiscal 2004 of $1.43 per share, excluding items. The company's crown jewel, its imaging and printing business, had first-quarter revenue of $5.91 billion, an increase of 6% from a year earlier, but investors may have been looking for even stronger growth. Shares of HP rose 35 cents, or 1.5 %, to close at $23.86 on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock has climbed 3.9 % so far this year, compared with a 7 % rise in the American Stock Exchange Computer Hardware index. In trading after the close, the stock was off slightly, at $23.35.

Firms upbeat on photo printer sales prospects

Feb 21, 2004: Coimbatore: Inkjet printer manufacturers are sizing up the photo printer market. Luring them are the one lakh-plus analogue studios and mini photo labs in tier II and III tourism hot spots. Photo labs are adopting printers to add a digital imaging facet to their operations in restoring photographs and processing snaps. With this, market players like Epson, Hewlett-Packard and Canon are upping photo printer sales forecasts. Vendors say that the photo segment numbers would cross 60,000 this year. This would be a significant jump considering they sold just 10,000 in entire 2002-03, according to IDC (India). Epson and HP claim they are already crossing 2,500 in monthly photo printer sales.

Further, with IDC (India) estimating that inkjets are set to grow at about 18% next fiscal, compared to the 26% growth projection this financial year, vendors are pinning hopes on the photo segment. The price drop of 10 to 25% is only expected to push these models into the market. According to IDC, the market for inkjet stands at around 7.17 lakh units now. However, with the metros that already have larger processing labs contributing only 30% to total sales, firms are eyeing ‘upcountry’ markets. While they are ramping up their presence in tourist spots, players are measuring the bundled option too.

Canon India claims 30% market share in 30 months

Feb 16, 2004: New Delhi: Digital Imaging company Canon India claimed that it has increased its market share in the overall printer category to 30 % in the period ended December 2003 from three % in 2001. Significant growth has been witnessed across all business segments in 2003 by Canon India. The inkjet printer, laser printers, all in ones, projectors, consumables and digital laser manufacturers are all posted robust growth. In Gujarat and Rajasthan, Canon attained market leadership, with 40 % share in Q4 of 2003. Overall, Canon registered a growth of 13 % in turnover to Rs 230 crore from Rs 202 crore, registering a growth of 13 %, the release said.

Chip equipment sales seen rising by 40%-60%

Jan 14, 2004: San Francisco: Sales of microchip production equipment will jump by as much as 60% this year as chipmakers again start to expand and upgrade chip factories, industry officials and forecasters said. Total sales of semiconductor-related equipment is expected to grow 40% to $43.5 billion, according to a forecast by VLSI Research, a semiconductor industry research firm. The spike in investment is directly related to a return of higher average prices and increased unit sales of microchips, according to the group's forecast. A similar scenario occurred in 2000, when chip makers bought far more chip-making tools than they needed, worsening the downturn that later struck. Prices for chips plummeted amid oversupply.

Chip sales seen growing 33% this year

Jan 13, 2004: Amsterdam: Global revenue from semiconductor sales could rise by 33% to $189.6 billion in 2004, driven by a 20% increase in output, a research group said. Makers of chip manufacturing equipment stand to benefit, as chip producers would need to invest in new production capacity. Decisions by Microsoft to stop supporting old Windows software programmes would force companies to buy more powerful PCs to run newer versions of Windows, while consumers were upgrading their cellphones and buying new gadgets such as digital music players and DVD recorders. Chip makers have run their factories at around 90% of total capacity in 2003. The demand spike can only be met if they invest aggressively in new production equipment. The revenue rise would be led by higher prices, not big volume increases, as equipment vendors would have problems boosting output after they slimmed down in the downturn.

PCs are all about home entertainment

Jan 06, 2004: Las Vegas: Personal-computer kingpins Microsoft and Intel are angling for a more prominent position in the nation’s living rooms, with designs of enthroning the PC as the new centrepiece of home entertainment. The two giants will detail their latest assault at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where they plan to discuss a series of products that they say will make it easier to use PCs to organise movies, music and television shows, while shuttling that media around the home. The announcements should also serve as a stepping-stone in the two companies’ decade-long quest to embed Microsoft software and Intel microchips directly into televisions. This has seen traditional stereo and DVD players fighting to defend their turf.

What they fear most is the rise of a single PC, rather than gadgets designed by these companies, as the hub for controlling how consumers view photos, channel-surf or listen to music. These companies believe their own devices will be easier and more enjoyable to use than the PC, which they view as a business tool that is prone to suffer from bugs, viruses and crashes. The PC leaders are gaining momentum from the rapid transformation of music, photographs and movies into digital formats. Hardware makers have developed dozens of products to help transfer digital media from PCs to TVs and other devices around the home.

Intel adds cheaper variety to new mobile line

Jan 06, 2004: San Francisco: Intel Corp., which dominates the market for computer processors, said it had introduced a less expensive line of mobile chips to be used in budget-oriented notebook and tablet PCs. The line of processors, dubbed Celeron M, is based on the same circuit design as Intel's flagship mobile chip, the Pentium M, the company said.

Celeron M chips, however, lack some of the Pentium M's features and will initially cost around 35% less than Pentium M, chips running at the same speed, Intel said. Hewlett-Packard Co. and tablet PC maker Motion Computing are already selling products based on the Celeron M on their Web sites. Intel made a massive push into portable computing last year with the launch of its Centrino brand, which combines power-efficient processors with wireless communications capability. Intel backed the brand with a $300 million marketing budget. In the current quarter, Intel is scheduled to introduce a more powerful Pentium M processor and a more advanced chip for communication with high-speed, wireless networks.

PC makers bet big on consumer electronics

Jan 05, 2004: New York/Los Angeles: Computer makers are placing big bets on consumer electronics in Las Vegas this week, banking on new products to boost sales and make inroads in what is already a highly competitive sector. Dell and Hewlett-Packard, the world’s two largest PC makers, have invested millions of dollars in their burgeoning gadget businesses, with designs on market share held by rivals like Sony and Samsung. They are hoping the gamble will pay off big at the giant Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where they will display their widest offering yet of products targeting that market — televisions, music players and handheld devices. For the computer makers, which have built up supply and distribution networks with Asian partners, moving into high-end consumer electronics offers the promise of higher margins and faster growth, say analysts.

The battle will also be fought at the storefront. Dell, for example, which has built its business by selling directly to customers over the phone and internet, will be going up against bricks-and-mortar giants Best Buy and Wal-Mart Stores, which often lure shoppers with good deals, such as cheaper priced PCs and DVD players. Price has increasingly become an issue, as financial analysts following consumer electronics retailers keep a watchful eye on difficult growth comparisons and greater strength of discount chains in the market. Among the products that have already won Innovations Awards from the Consumer Electronics Association and will be showcased, are an oven that accepts commands from a cell phone and a satellite TV receiver that records high-definition programming.

ICICI Info product revenue to grow 40% by year end

Jan 05, 2004: Chennai: The $54-million IT solutions provider, ICICI Infotech is fast becoming a product company with the revenue contribution from its product business expected to grow aggressively in the next couple of years. The aggressive growth plans of ICICI Infotech for its product business is driven by the success of its ERP product in the MENA market (Middle East North Africa). According to a recent IDC report, ICICI Infotech was rated amongst the top five ERP players in various parts of the MENA region. Particularly in the UAE, the second largest market in the MENA region was ranked third largest ERP player behind Oracle and JD Edwards. Now ICICI Infotech is looking to replicate its success in the MENA region at other markets. In a step towards it, the company has come out with an upgraded version of its ERP product. The Orion10 upgrade includes functionally enriched capabilities for verticalised industries like pharma, chemical, auto, retail, distribution, cement and engineering.

The enhanced Orion10 functionalities will facilitate shorter transaction time, faster ROI and seamless interaction and collaboration with every constituent of the enterprise - customers, business partners, employees and vendors. For its banking solution, the company recently won a $1 million worth of contract to license and implement banking software applications at Finansa Plc, listed in the Bangkok Stock Exchange and specialising in the fund management and corporate finance. The insurance product `premia’ is being implemented at Oriental Insurance.

Dell offers consumers zero-interest financing

Jan 03, 2004: New York: Dell Inc. said that it will offer consumers zero-interest financing on everything from digital music players to television sets as the No. 1 personal computer maker tries to steal share in the consumer electronics market. Dell, based in Round Rock, Texas, has offered 0% financing to business customers in the past as it faced stiff competition and a downturn in demand for technology. While that downturn has eased, corporations have been slow to return to their old buying habits, making consumers and their steady spending habits an attractive target. Dell, as well as its competitors Hewlett-Packard Co. and Gateway Inc., has launched a slew of products aimed at consumers. It now sells Dell-branded printers, handheld computers and LCD televisions in addition to computers and data storage machines. The zero-% financing offer is for purchases of $500 or more and starts on Jan. 3 and runs through Jan. 30. It applies to 12 months of financing, the company said. In addition to consumer electronics, the offer includes Dell's personal computers.

IBM signs 10-yr service deal with Target

Jan 02, 2004: New York: International Business Machines Corp. said it has signed a 10-year contract with retailer Target Corp. to manage its mainframe computers. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Armonk, New York-based IBM said the agreement is based on a flexible pricing model in which Target will pay only for the services it uses. IBM previously had a five-year services contract with Minneapolis-based Target that expires on March 31, 2004. IBM has been pushing such ‘on-demand’ computing for more than a year. Under these offerings, IBM aims to make computing cheaper and more flexible as well as enable businesses to access information and react to it more quickly. Increased demand for computing power and computer services could be due to seasonal business activity, such as higher sales around the holidays or the need to do inventory management, IBM said. IBM shares were down 41 cents at $92.22 and Target shares fell 26 cents to $38.12, both on the New York Stock Exchange.

Competition, innovation to take Wi-fi to new highs in '04

Jan 02, 2004: New Delhi: Attractive price points and new technology will increase the acceptability of Wifi or public wireless LAN around the world and make it a commercial proposition, according to European research agency Ovum. "Wifi is growing. 2003 has been a watershed year as public wireless local area network has moved towards becoming a commercial proposition for business and consumer users", it said. Blue chip vendors like Cisco and Intel are beginning to impose order on this fragmented, chaotic market with high-profile initiatives, it said while adding Intel's Centrino Mobile technology (embedded WiFi) campaign has propelled WLAN into the public consciousness.

Cisco now looks set to dominate both enterprise and residential Wifi equipment with its CCX compatibility programme and its March 2003 acquisition of leading home vendor Linksys. After three years of unopposed hype, 2003 saw the first dissenting voices surrounding the public Wifi business case with questions being raised about the prospects of earning hard return on investment (ROI) from deploying hotspot networks, rounding particularly on the poor scalability of current Wifi technology and high recurring costs for backhaul, Ovum said. "2004 promises arrival of two key technology developments to the basic 802.11x standards", the agency said.

PCS Ind to set up manufacturing unit in Goa

Dec 31, 2003: Mumbai: Computer hardware major PCS Industries Ltd is planning to set up a manufacturing plant in Goa for production of personal computers (PC) and servers, which is expected to go on stream by March end or early April. The unit would manufacture 800 to 1,000 PCs and 2,000 to 4,000 servers per month and cater to the domestic market, especially to that in Goa. The plant is also slated to provide jobs to around 25 to 100 computer diploma and degree holders. PCS Industries would cash in on the Cyberage scheme of the Goan government and expects to garner around 10% of the total allotment under the scheme. Goan government, under the Cyberage scheme was planning to offer free computers to 10,000 students in this academic year. The expenses were to be met by the State's exchequer. However, the company sources declined to divulge the location and investments for the plant, stating it was too early to comment.

Meanwhile, sources close to the deal said that PCS Industries would set up its manufacturing base at Mapusa, near Goa. PCS Industries had earlier explored the possibility of setting up the facility at Pondicherry, Noida and Silvassa. The strategic location of Goa, which would help in supplying of finished goods to the Indian market, apart from availability of infrastructure, logistics and manpower were the reasons for finalising the state, they added. PCS Industries has a manufacturing unit at Jabalali, Dubai, which caters to the international market.

Agilent to focus on R&D in India

Dec 31, 2003: Bangalore: Agilent Technologies, the $6.1-billion technology equipment vendor, plans to undertake more research and development work at its development centre in Gurgaon. The centre has over 1,200 employees. The India centre also undertakes some BPO work from Agilent locations worldwide. “Agilent Technologies India (ATI) is doing some support operations for Agilent entities. At present, we are focused on optimising the leverage that ATI provides to Agilent worldwide. Agilent sees double-digit growth for its products and solutions in the communications, electronics, as well as life sciences and chemical analysis sectors in India. The electronics test and measurement market is dominated by firms such as Agilent and Tektronix. Agilent has also set up four new business groups.

 
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