SHORT TAKES
CISCO, CORNING FORM OPTICAL EQUIPMENT ALLIANCE
San Diego, CALIF. — Cisco Systems Inc. said Tuesday it had joined forces with Corning Inc. to use Corning fiber optic components in its Internet networking equipment, merging the strengths of the two industry leaders. Financial analysts said the companies had been talking for some time about the alliance, which the companies said would cut the time and cost of installation for Internet service providers. Cisco is the leading maker of networks that use the Internet Protocol (IP), while Corning invented fiber optic cable, the nervous system of modern communications. The alliance, coupled with a general rebound in tech stocks after being battered for weeks, helped send the shares of both companies higher, analysts said. In addition, ABN AMRO analyst Dave Kang started coverage of Corning with a buy rating and a 12-month price target of $114.
Corning, the leading maker of fiber optic cable and related components, rose $7-1/2, or nearly 13 percent, to close at $66-1/2 on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). More than 11 million shares traded in midday NYSE activity, above its average 8 million. San Jose, Calif.-based Cisco ended $2-3/4 higher at $53-1/8 on the Nasdaq, where it was the third most traded issue. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. “Corning’s expertise in optical fiber and photonic products, coupled with Cisco’s expertise in building IP-based networks is a powerful combination that will enable service providers to deliver rich new services,” said Mike Volpi, chief strategy officer at Cisco Systems. The alliance allows Cisco to learn from Corning’s experience in optical networks, while Corning signs up Cisco as a large customer of its fiber optic products. “As Cisco thinks about getting into the optical networks business, it really needs a fundamental understanding of the technology,” Corning President John Loose said in an interview. “In turn, we are selling them products.”
Both companies had previously indicated they were interested in a closer relationship, analysts said. “This is more a formalization of something that had been coming together,” First Union Securities analyst Stephen Koffler said. He noted that the joint venture, which is nonexclusive, had not necessarily been factored into the companies’ stock prices. Hints of a closer relationship with Cisco came from Corning’s recent acquisition of the Optical Technologies unit of Pirelli, an Italian tire and cable maker which was a supplier to Cisco. “Once the Pirelli transaction is closed, the relationship with Cisco should increase for the optical systems Cisco makes with optical fiber by Corning,” said Lawrence Harris, an analyst with Josephthal & Co. Inc. Harris has a buy recommendation on Corning and a 12-month $135 price target. As part of the deal, Corning will package its fiber optic equipment with Cisco’s gear for networks based on Internet Protocol, which breaks data into packets for transmission.
IBM TEAMS WITH NORTEL, LUCENT AND OTHERS
Armonk, N.Y. — International Business Machines Corp. said on Tuesday it plans to team up with the likes of Nortel Networks Corp. and Lucent Technologies Inc. to offer products and services for the networks of telecommunications firms. Financial terms of the alliance were not disclosed. Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM said the move is aimed at helping telecommunications service providers deliver applications over new and improved networks. The initiative includes French telecommunications company Alcatel, telecommunications equipment makers Lucent Technologies Inc. and Nortel Networks Corp. of Canada, as well as software firms Telcordia Technologies Inc. and Ulticom Inc., IBM said. IBM cited expectations of rapid growth in the communications sector as a key motivation for the alliance. “Together with our business partners we will help telecommunications service providers completely rebuild their e-business infrastructure,” Mike Hill, general manager of IBM Global Telecommunications Industry, said in a statement. Laboratories to support the initiative will be up and running in North America, Europe and Asia by March, IBM said.
IBM said the alliance will focus on the following areas: wireless data; Internet technology for data and voice traffic over the network; data center services including servers, storage and network transport; and building sites dedicated to helping companies offer Internet access, intranets, data services, Internet telephony, and wholesale services. IBM added that it will also offer services aimed at the Internet data center market, including the provision of physical facilities and management services. IBM shares finished up $4-7/16, or about 5 percent, at $97-7/16 on the New York Stock Exchange Monday, despite a decline in the broader market. The stock has a 52-week high of $134-15/16 and a 52-week low of $87.
SYNOPSYS SELECTS SUN TO POWER DESIGNSPHERE ACCESS
Las Vegas, NEV. — Synopsys, Inc. and Sun Microsystems, Inc. announced a joint marketing alliance to advance the opportunity for complex IC design via the Internet. Under the alliance, the two companies will combine their technology and expertise to provide DesignSphere(SM) Access customers with one of the most productive IC design environments available. Sun will be the primary provider of UNIX servers and the exclusive provider of storage components for DesignSphere Access. Customers benefit from the alliance by having continuous access to the latest technology available from both companies to meet their ever-expanding computational requirements and time-to-market demands.
“Sun is the leading provider of workstations and servers used for IC design,” said Dave Burow, senior vice president, Internet Design and Services Group at Synopsys. “With this cooperative agreement, Synopsys is providing access to the familiar tools and hardware platform design engineers know best via the Internet. This creates a time-to-market advantage as companies can now access the most productive IC design environment without the investment and effort required to procure, install, maintain, and upgrade it themselves.” DesignSphere Access customers now have the ability to continually upgrade to the latest technology from Sun, such as the recently announced UltraSPARC III microprocessor-based Sun Fire 280R server, as soon as the technology reaches production. This helps ensure that users have access to the most efficient compute resources available. DesignSphere Access’ primary compute infrastructure includes Sun’s Netra T1 servers with Sun Enterprise 420R and 4500 servers running the Solaris Operating Environment. Further information about DesignSphere Access can be found at http://www.designsphere.com .
3DLABS ACCELERATOR BOARDS SELECTED BY HITACHI
Sunnyvale, CA – November 13th — 3Dlabs Inc. announced that Hitachi Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan) has selected a wide range of 3Dlabs graphics accelerators exclusively for their entire line of FLORA 400 Series workstations. The extensive 3Dlabs’ family of products enables system OEMs to offer a comprehensive range of outstanding graphics acceleration options for customers that use complex 3D software applications. Hitachi has selected the Oxygen VX1 for their entry-level workstations, the Oxygen GVX1-Pro for the mid-range offering and high-end FLORA workstations will be equipped with the Wildcat 4110. Available exclusively in Japan, these workstations will commence shipment early in December 2000 and are available with either single or dual configurations of Intel Pentium III 1GHz processors. 3Dlabs Wildcat and Oxygen graphic accelerators are fully tested and certified by leading software developers and will enable the Hitachi FLORA 400 Series workstations to deliver trouble-free, high-performance OpenGL acceleration for a wide range of professional CAD and content creation applications, such as 3D Studio MAX, AutoCAD, I-DEAS Master Series, SoftImage 3D, Pro/ENGINEER and SolidWorks
“3Dlabs has long been a proven supplier of high-quality graphics accelerator boards to Hitachi, and we are pleased to further strengthen our relationship by using an entire range of boards developed by this respected graphics company,” said Nobuhiko Hara, Department Manager, Desktop PC Development Department, Internet Systems Platform division at Hitachi. “The performance and quality of the 3Dlabs’ products, combined with the stability of their OpenGL drivers, provides Hitachi with a cutting-edge graphics subsystem that is a key element in differentiating our FLORA 400 series workstations.” “Hitachi is the first tier one workstation manufacturer to select both Oxygen and Wildcat graphics accelerators; enabling them to deliver an unsurpassed range of workstations with high-quality graphics performance, said Raj Singh, vice president and general manger, 3Dlabs. “These continuing design wins at Hitachi illustrate 3Dlabs’ on-going commitment to provide industry-leading workstation-class graphics solutions and we look forward to further strengthening our relationship with this valued OEM customer.” Hitachi, Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is one of the world’s leading global electronics companies, with fiscal 1999 (ended March 31, 2000) consolidated sales of 8,001 billion yen ($75.5 billion). The company manufactures and markets a wide range of products, including computers, semiconductors, consumer products and power and industrial equipment. For more information on Hitachi, Ltd., please visit Hitachi’s Web site at http://www.hitachi.co.jp .
FUJITSU-SIEMENS COMPUTERS SELECTS ADAPTEC
Milpitas, CALIF. — Adaptec, Inc. announced that Fujitsu-Siemens Computers has selected Adaptec’s new 3200S and 2100S high-performance Ultra160 SCSI RAID controllers for use in its entire line of Intel based PRIMERGY servers. The controllers strengthen Fujitsu-Siemens PC servers by offering high-performance storage protection in a complete, world-class RAID solution that has been developed and thoroughly tested by the industry leader. “The word is quickly spreading among leading server OEMs about Adaptec’s new high-performance SCSI RAID products. Fujitsu-Siemens and Adaptec are working closely together in product testing, and the successful result is a growing relationship between the two companies,” said Lee Caswell, vice president and general manager of the Direct Attached Storage Group at Adaptec. “This is the type of relationship that will drive Adaptec’s ‘RAID Everywhere’ initiative, which is designed to accelerate the widespread adoption of RAID technology.”
Last month, Adaptec’s Ultra160 SCSI RAID controllers were selected by Compaq for inclusion in its AP250 Deskpro and AP550 and AP750 Professional Workstations, Caswell added. The Adaptec 3200S and 2100S SCSI RAID controllers, introduced in August, are built upon Adaptec’s Ultra160 SCSI technology, providing data transfer rates up to 160 MBytes/sec per channel. The 3200S is a two-channel, 64-bit controller that offers maximum performance and expandability for conventional and rack-mount servers. The 2100S controller is a single-channel, 32-bit RAID solution supporting up to 15 SCSI devices for entry-level servers and compute notes. Both controllers offer 32 MBytes of SDRAM cache memory, and the 3200S can expand to 64 MBytes. The controllers also include Adaptec’s new Storage Manager management software utility. “The integration of the new Adaptec RAID Controllers in our PRIMERGY servers supports our strategy to speed to the market the latest Ultra160 SCSI technology for the entire IA-Server line,” said Dieter Herzog, Vice President and General Manager of Fujitsu-Siemens Computers Standard High Volume Server division. “The long-term relationship between Adaptec and Fujitsu-Siemens is expanding from basic SCSI technology to include the SCSI RAID controller arena.”
QUANTUM AND ADIC TEAM UP TO EXTEND STANDARD
Redmond, WASH. — Quantum Corporation’s DLT & Storage Systems Group and Advanced Digital Information Corporation announced that ADIC has completed Quantum’s Early Engagement Program (EEP) and is currently in the process of qualifying Super DLTtape units for use in its entire line of automated tape libraries. As part of the EEP, ADIC and Quantum are working together to certify that the latest Super DLTtape product design meets the full range of ADIC library capacity and performance requirements. “The integration of Super DLTtape technology into the ADIC family of automated tape libraries will provide IT departments around the world with the next generation levels of performance and capacity they need to keep one step ahead of exploding data needs,” said Bill Britts, ADIC executive vice president of sales and marketing. “With Super DLTtape technology and ADIC libraries, we make data storage easier by combining breakthrough technology with industry-leading levels of automation and full backward compatibility.”
ADIC is qualifying Super DLTtape technology for use in the market’s most extensive line of automated tape library products, from compact FastStor autoloaders, FibreReady Scalar mid-range libraries with capacities from 30 to 788 cartridges, all the way up to the world’s largest DLTtape libraries, AML automated storage systems that automate up to 400 drives and 46,656 cartridges. The ADIC family of DLTtape libraries provides back up and near-line solutions for a full range of storage applications, including single-server unattended back up, multi-zone SAN-based consolidated data protection and very large scale data acquisition and digital asset management. “Our collaboration with ADIC in developing Super DLTtape products demonstrates a strength that stands behind our next-generation technology,” said William Boles, vice president, marketing, Quantum DLTtape Group. “ADIC’s Super DLTtape automated solutions provide customers with a range of superior storage systems from today’s conventional network storage applications to the endless possibilities of the dot-com world.” DLTtape continues to set the standard for tape storage with a new family of Super DLTtape products. The multi-range offering provides capacity and transfer rates appropriate for the workgroup, mid-range and enterprise business needs. Super DLTtape technology offers backward-read compatibility with the existing DLTtape product family. Like previous generations of DLTtape drives, Super DLTtape technology supports all major systems and platforms, including UNIX, Linux, Netware, Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Mac OS. As with the current DLTtape product line, Super DLTtape drives are widely supported by all major Independent Software Vendors (ISVs).
ANRITSU AND SAN VALLEY ANNOUNCE SAN/LAN TRANSPORT
Richardson, TEXAS — Anritsu Corporation and SAN Valley Systems announced that they have teamed to provide end-to-end networking solutions for integrating Fibre Channel-based SAN (Storage Area Network) data and enterprise LAN data over high-speed optical MAN/WAN links up to OC-48 (2.5 Gbps) speed. Remote storage connectivity is essential for applications such as content distribution, volume management and disaster recovery, but until now, users had to use dedicated MAN/WAN links for these remote storage services. This new capability provides a single SAN and LAN networking solution that shares one OC-48 optical link, greatly lowering costs by sharing the MAN/WAN link and reducing the amount of networking equipment required.
The SAN Valley SL1000 IP-SAN Gateway extends Fibre Channel SANs over IP infrastructures by transporting Fibre Channel SAN data across a Gigabit Ethernet network. The SL1000’s hardware-based encapsulation technology enables cost-effective, wire-speed performance without the bottlenecks created by software-based architectures. Innovative flow control methodology minimizes jitter and latency for maximum data throughput. The SL1000 manages traffic congestion by using industry-standard QoS (Quality of Service) mechanisms for IP networks. “The SL1000 is designed and engineered to integrate into multiple network configurations, targeted at service providers, enterprises, and next generation carriers who are implementing remote storage applications,” said Rick Walsworth, Vice President of Marketing for SAN Valley Systems. “Anritsu’s MultiFlow 5000 is an ideal complement to the SL1000 for customers who want to use their MAN/WAN links for transporting both SAN and LAN data.” Anritsu’s flagship MultiFlow 5000 switch family incorporates the WAN functions of a router plus wire-speed 10/100 and Gigabit Ethernet LAN switching. It provides wire-speed IP, IPX, and AppleTalk routing with Layer 2/3/4 switching, filtering, and server load balancing. The MultiFlow 5000’s unique ability to transport native Ethernet traffic – including the SL1000’s SAN data – at OC-48 rates and support wide area ATM and T1 connectivity makes it one of the most comprehensive Gigabit network solutions available.
BULL AND PENGUIN PROVIDE LINUX SOLUTIONS
San Francisco, CA — Bull S.A., an international IT Group, and Penguin Computing Inc., a leading provider of reliable Linux systems for Internet serving, announced that the two companies have signed a Memorandum of Understanding outlining their intent to pursue cooperative efforts in the provision and support of Linux solutions worldwide. This cooperation will strengthen the Linux business strategy of both companies and will constitute an important element in the execution of Bull’s overall secure e-business strategy. Bull also participated in a recently completed round of private equity financing for Penguin Computing in support of the company’s international expansion.
Initially, cooperative efforts will focus on Bull’s service, support and provision of Penguin Computing solutions in Europe. Bull and Penguin Computing also plan to collaborate on manufacturing and logistics of Linux-based solutions. Bull presently offers a complete range of services for Linux users, including consulting, application and technology integration, support of applications and infrastructures and dedicated Linux phone support. Linux users benefit from a high level of expertise and experience that is unique in Europe concerning development, integration and service activities in the domain of open systems. “Bull launched its Linux business two years ago because our European customers were increasingly regarding Linux as a key component of their overall IT strategy,” said Gerard Roucairol, vice president of research and development at Bull. “Our partnership with Penguin Computing provides Bull with a reliable and proven Linux infrastructure solution to bundle with Bull’s existing support and Linux development expertise. Together, Penguin Computing and Bull deliver a compelling Linux solution for these customers.” “European Internet businesses are choosing Open Source software hands down to handle their Internet infrastructure needs,” said Sam Ockman, CEO of Penguin Computing. “Penguin Computing wanted to reach the European market for reliable Internet serving because the overall quality and reliability of the complete Linux solution is what’s important to European customers. Bull is an ideal European partner for Penguin Computing because Bull has the organizational strengths and expertise necessary to provide the ongoing Linux support and training that these growing companies require.”
QUANTUM/ATL IN PACT WITH BROCADE
Irvine, CALIF. — ATL, a unit of Quantum’s DLT and Storage Systems group and a leading supplier of intelligent DLTtape automation products for networked computers, announced an OEM relationship with Brocade communications systems, Inc., the leading provider of storage area networking infrastructure, to deliver, market and support Brocade fibre channel fabric switches as the storage networking foundation for ATL’s open storage area network solutions. ATL will deliver fully tested and certified network storage solutions and provide 24 by 7 service and support to atl customers for the Silkworm family of Brocade fabric switches through the company’s worldwide service organization and parts depots. Brocade fibre channel fabric switches provide a leading networking foundation for storage area networks. Using Brocade fibre channel switches, ATL’s global 1000 customers can connect servers with storage systems through a SAN, creating a highly reliable and scalable environment for storage applications. These solutions provide an open, high-performance networked storage environment for multi-vendor systems that feature components from major OEM and storage providers. By working together with Brocade, ATL will be able to support every element of a customer’s SAN, from deployment to service, throughout the entire life cycle of the solution.
“Leading up to this agreement, ATL and Brocade have worked in concert to define both real-world business benefits and technological advantages afforded by this relationship,” said Kevin Daly, president and CEO of ATL. “We are confident that offering Brocade’s award-winning fabric switches, which are preferred by many of our Global 1000 customers, alongside our industry-leading tape automation products, provides users with the highest levels of interoperability, availability, managerial advantages and data protection in their storage area networks.” “We are pleased that ATL has selected Brocade as the networking infrastructure for its storage solution offerings,” said Jack Cuthbert, Brocade vice president of Worldwide Sales, Marketing, and Support Services. “Customer demand for scalable, reliable storage area networks continues to increase worldwide. Our relationship with ATL underscores our commitment to alliances with top-tier technology providers.” Quantum|ATL is a worldwide market leader in the design, manufacture and service of automated tape libraries used to manage, store and transfer data in enterprise networked computing environments. The company’s DLTtape library systems are sold worldwide through direct sales, OEMs and an extensive network of authorized resellers and distributors. Headquartered in Irvine, the company operates one of the world’s largest manufacturing facilities for DLTtape automation technology and complies with ISO 9001 quality system standards. Sales and service are provided throughout major cities in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia. For additional information, visit the company’s website at http://www.atlp.com .
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