Microsoft Email Servers Down

Microsoft says it will double the number of e-mail servers on its Microsoft Network, just part of a plan for server upgrades. According to company executives, the installation should be completed sometime Friday. However, Microsoft Network subscribers will not be able to send or receive email during that period, which may be as late as Sunday The server installation would not affect the service as a whole, the company said. Members would still be able to access the Internet and all MSN programming apart from e-mail during the upgrade, it said.

Firm Reveals More Internet Plans

USA Global Link is moving ahead with its plan to offer discount international long distance telephone service through the Internet. The company says it is spending $500 million in the next 18 months on building a global Internet phone system as the first step. The company says it will finance the work, in part, through an initial public offering later this year. Global Link is the world's largest callback company, arbitraging the differences between calling rates to and from different countries to produce savings for customers, and revenues for itself approaching $1 billion a year.

ADSL Launch Set For 1998

Ameritech says if its market trials are any indication, then its Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) high-speed Internet access will be a huge success. The company says it plans to widely launch the service in the first half of 1998. Ameritech's ADSL service allows users to connect to the Internet at speeds ranging from 1.5 megabits per second to 4.0 over telephone lines. The fastest conventional computer modem on the market today can download information at speeds up to 56 kilobits per second. "Customers love it," chairman and chief executive Richard Notebaert said of the trials. "They won't let us take it out of their homes."

Sizing Up The MS-WebTV Deal

So what exactly is the significance of last week's announcement by Microsoft that it would pay $425 million for WebTV Networks, a company whose system allows users to receive and send e-mail and surf the World Wide Web on their TV sets? The transaction generated a lot of interest throughout Hollywood, says Jamie Fragen, creative exec at Microsoft Multimedia Prods., known as M3P. "I got a flood of calls from people asking how to pitch a show with TV and Internet capabilities," she said. "It means that now the Internet is connected to a format that everybody knows. There are 300 million TV sets versus 40 million PCs, so people are starting to get excited about the capabilities."

Net Insurance Has Underwriter

A U.S. insurance company says it is moving into the business of protecting clients in cyberspace. American International Group said it is introducing an insurance policy to provide protection against many of the risks of doing business over the Internet and internal corporate networks known as intranets. The policy, named InsureSite, is being underwritten by member companies of American International and is available through Atlanta-based insurance broker Hamilton Dorsey Alston Co. The policy was announced at the Risk and Insurance Management Society's annual conference in Atlanta.

Banks Push Online Bill Payment

It's no secret that getting people to pay bills online has been tough. Although they've been around for years, online bill payment offered through banks and software programs such as Quicken and Microsoft Money haven't caught on as quickly as other home-banking applications, for any number of reasons. In many cases, remittances take as long to be delivered as paper checks, or longer. But now supporters of electronic banking are pushing a new program, hoping it will finally push consumers to drop paper for electronic checking.

Asian Electronics Exports May Slow

The global computer demand which helped Asian nations beef up their export numbers in the 1990s may start to slow as fewer new products come onto the market, according to a report by the Asian Development Bank. "In the absence of major new products coming onstream, the industry is unlikely to return to its pre-1996 boom years," the Manila-based bank said in its annual report. During the 1990s, Asia's export boom was highlighted by the growth of high-technology electronics. The bank noted that Singapore makes about 40 percent of the world's disc drives while one-third of personal computer (PC) micro-processors are packaged and tested in Malaysia.

Germany Charges CompuServe Exec

CompuServe Corp says it "vigorously" opposes an accusation filed against the chief of its German operation over the alleged distribution of child pornography through the online service. German prosecutors said earlier they indicted the general manager of CompuServe's Munich-based unit, later identified by the company as Felix Somm, in connection with the distribution of child pornography, which is illegal in Germany. In a statement, CompuServe said the formal accusation against Somm is "entirely groundless," adding that it believes he will ultimately be vindicated.

China's Prices Could Fall

Prices for China-produced personal computers are expected to fall by about 25 percent during the remainder of the year due to improved technology and growing competition, the Business News said this week. The major domestic computer makers have gained market share from foreign companies in the past year by cutting prices and are planning further price reductions, the newspaper said.

Encryption Export Approved

V-ONE Corporation says it has received permission from the Commerce Department to export powerful computer encryption software. But the permission comes with a catch. The Rockville, Maryland-based software firm says it had to include a feature known as key recovery that allows the government to decode any message encrypted with the company's products. Encryption products, increasingly important for online commerce and global communications on the Internet, scramble information and render it unreadable without a password or software "key."

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