Anticipation Boosts Apple Stock

Apple's stock is continuing its month-long climb on speculation that the growing involvement of co-founder Steve Jobs could help to turn the ailing company around. Jobs, who is serving as a full-time adviser while Apple looks for a new chairman and chief executive, will deliver the keynote speech tomorrow at the Macworld trade show in Boston. Some industry watchers have speculated Jobs will announce the appointments of new, more computer-savvy members to the company's board of directors. A French newspaper reports billionaire Larry Ellison will be among them. Ellison has long had an interest in buying Apple with his personal fortune.

Intel, SAP in Joint Venture

Chip giant Intel and German management software firm SAP AG are expected today to announce a joint venture to develop electronic commerce software. SAP, which is based in Frankfurt, Germany, manufacturers a business management software package called R/3, its flagship software product. It allows large corporations to control manufacturing, purchasing, personnel and financial data. Analysts say the venture is expected to address the market for direct business-to-business communications over the Internet with software for Intel-based personal computers running Windows NT.

Car-Guiding Chips Growing Niche

Market researcher Dataquest predicts sales of computer chips for in-car navigation systems will skyrocket to $1.7 billion by 2001, as the tracking systems become standard equipment in cars. The study says the navigation systems, which use signals from global positioning satellites to pinpoint a car's location, will grow to 11.3 million units by 2001 from 1. 1 million in 1996. The biggest region for navigation semiconductors is Japan, with a market that is expected to be $318 million in 1997.

MCI Teams With Progressive

MCI has formed a new alliance that takes it deeper into Internet technology. The long distance company says it is teaming up with Progressive Networks to form an Internet alliance that the companies say will greatly enhance the Internet's ability to deliver audio and video. The entertainment industry publication Variety reports the companies are targeting the new RealNetwork" service at broadcasters, cablers and others who want to use the Internet to expand their reach.

Microsoft Announcement Due

Microsoft plans to make an announcement with VXtreme today, amid reports the software giant is planning to buy the Internet startup. Officials of the two companies confirm that VXtreme will be part of a Microsoft announcement but decline to comment on industry reports of an imminent purchase that have circulated on the Internet and in trade newspapers. VXtreme makes software to allow streaming," or continuous delivery of audio and video over the Internet.

Sun Strikes Deal With NCR

Sun Microsystems and NCR have agreed to link the next generation of Sun's Solaris operating system with NCR's most powerful computer models. The deal will make NCR's WorldMark 4300 server model a reference platform for Sun's new Solaris system. Analysts say that will help Sun optimize its version of Unix on Intel's next-generation microprocessors, due out in 1999.

Creative Dismisses Venture

Creative Technology says, while it doesn't want to minimize competition, it does not consider the software launched recently by Venture Manufacturing as a serious threat. Company chairman Sim Wong Hoo said Creative is normally "a paranoid company," but told reporters the new NovaStation software from Venture is not among Creative's main threats. Creative's share price plunged last week on news of Venture's NovaStation, multimedia software that upgrades all 16-bit compatible soundcards and allows 128 instruments to be played simultaneously.

Oracle Goes Shopping

Oracle has acquired a new company. The software maker says it has signed a definitive agreement to buy Treasury Services, which provides profitability and risk analysis for large financial institutions. Terms were $120 million cash. The acquisition will impact earnings. Oracle said it will account for the deal as a purchase transaction and expects a one-time charge in the first quarter of fiscal 1998 for the write-off of in-process research and development expenses.

TI Ups 56K Chipset Shipments

Texas Instruments says it has shipped more than 13 million high-speed modem chipsets used in 56K-class modems. The chipsets are found in both PC modems and at Internet service provider installations which use 3Com's U.S. Robotics-brand platforms. The chipsets are based on TI's digital signal processing chips, which are specialized chips that add and multiply tens of millions of complex formulas per second -- about 10-50 times faster than the traditional microprocessor.

More U.S. Chips For Japan

U.S. computer chip makers have apparently increased their share of the Japanese market. The office of the U. S. Trade Representative says foreign share of the Japanese semiconductor market was a record 32.6 percent in the first quarter, with the U.S. accounting for a major part of the increase. U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky says its evidence that market forces are working.

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