Briefs: July 10, 2006

AMD EXPECTS LOWER 2Q REVENUE
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AMD previously said its earnings would be flat or slightly down from the first quarter but up about 65 percent from the prior year.

AMD said that during the quarter it had "record" sales of single-, dual- and multi-socket server CPUs and workstations, but sales of entry-level and mainstream mobile and desktop processors were down.

AMD, led by Chairman, President and CEO Hector Ruiz, has steadily gained market share from Intel over the past year, particularly in the server space. By end of the first quarter, AMD had grabbed one-quarter of the overall x86 market share, according to Gartner. Intel, however, has been fighting back, particularly through aggressive price cuts this year and accelerated release schedules of new processor technology.

EU READY TO DEBATE ANTITRUST SANCTIONS AGAINST MICROSOFT
The European Commission confirmed last Friday it would debate antitrust sanctions against U.S. software giant Microsoft at a regular meeting on Wednesday.

"The Commission on Wednesday should be discussing the Microsoft issue and if we have to apply sanctions for [Microsoft] not having respected decisions from March 2004," said the EU's executive spokesman, Jonathan Todd.

The Commission found in 2004 that Microsoft had used a quasi-monopoly in its Windows operating system for PCs to compete unfairly against other firms, including makers of so-called workgroup servers.

The Commission ordered Microsoft to make available interconnection information so that competitors could easily connect to Windows PCs.

Microsoft was supposed to deliver that information by the end of June 2004, but was late, and its product failed to meet acceptable Commission standards. Microsoft was told to provide documentation for rivals, explain what price it intended to charge and why that price was justified. Otherwise it could face fines of up to 2 million euros ($2.6 million) a day.

HP LOOKS TO MERGE HUNDREDS OF BUILDINGS IN COST-CUTTING PLAN
Hewlett-Packard plans to merge several hundred properties into fewer main sites as part of a cost-cutting plan announced a year ago.

The company has not decided which facilities to close, and has not yet said how much money it may save from the four-year effort. It will use some of the savings to add new features to its main offices and give them a "consistent look and feel," according to the company.

HP last month said it would merge various functions including supply chain, logistics and order fulfillment with its PC, printer and server computer businesses.

President and CEO Mark Hurd, who took over in 2005 after the board ousted former CEO Carly Fiorina, is cutting more than 15,000 jobs, or about 10 percent of staff, to reduce costs by at least $1.9 billion annually to better compete with rivals including Dell, the world's No. 1 PC maker, and Lenovo Group.

Lenovo became the No. 3 vendor after buying IBM's PC business last year.

HP last Thursday said it plans to redesign some of its main offices and will add more up-to-date technology including Internet-based telephones, wireless networks and improved computer access in coffee, cafeteria and lounge areas.

The company said it would consolidate some properties into core sites in key locations worldwide, relinquish floor space in some leased buildings and close certain sites or floors in buildings it owns.

The changes follow HP's recent announcement to merge its 85 information technology data centers into six centers in three locations.

MICROSOFT, PARTNERS SET TO BRIDGE OFFICE-ODF FORMAT GAP
Microsoft has created an Open XML Translator project through which partners will help it build interoperability between Microsoft Office Open XML formats and OpenDocument Format (ODF).

Key partners in this effort are Clever Age, Aztecsoft and Dialogika, Microsoft said in a statement.

The "technical bridge" tools will be free downloads. A prototype of a translator for the upcoming Word 2007 product is now available at SourceForge, the company said in a statement.

Microsoft has been under fire in Europe and in Massachusetts over what critics say is intransigence on the file format issue.

They say Microsoft wants to lock customers into a proprietary world that shuts out competitive applications. Office 2007 is now due broadly early next year.

It planned to add a "save to PDF" feature in Office 2007 but pulled it after objections from Adobe Systems. The state of Massachusetts mandated that future productivity software be able to work with PDF and ODF file formats, which helped force Microsoft's hand, although even that state's implementation plans remain up in the air.

APPLE READIES $899 iMAC AIMED AT EDUCATION MARKET
Apple on Monday rolled out an $899 configuration of its iMac, focused on the education market, the company said.

The 17-inch iMac is built with a 1.83GHz Core Duo processor from Intel, with a series of multimedia functions. The systems also are integrated with Apple's AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi connectivity.

Apple said the new iMacs would replace the CRT-based eMacs.

The lower-priced iMac comes to market in the middle of a growing price war among PC makers Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Lenovo, and ahead of the back-to-school selling season that traditionally targets the education market.

Apple said the new iMacs would be bundled with its iLife '06 suite, which includes iPhoto, iMovie and iWeb software, and will run with OS X version 10.4.6.

KEN LAY, FORMER ENRON CHAIR, COMPAQ BOARD MEMBER, DIES
Ken Lay, the Enron chairman who led the company to fame then ruin, died of an apparent heart attack.

Lay was awaiting sentence on his conviction for fraud and conspiracy in the matter of Enron's collapse.

A family spokesman confirmed to the media that the 64-year-old businessman had passed away while vacationing in Aspen, Colo.

Besides his well-documented reign at the now-bankrupt Enron, Lay also served on the board of Compaq Computer from 1987 until early this decade.

He quit that board just before Hewlett-Packard completed its buyout of Compaq. That deal was officially completed in May of 2002 after a bitter proxy battle.

During his career, Lay also was a director for Eli Lilly, Questia, i2 Technologies, EOTT Energy and Azurix.