IBM has announced a microprocessor development that should help speed up the Internet and could ultimately bring closer the era of “ubiquitous computing” via hand-held computers and Internet-linked appliances.
The technology giant has created a microprocessor that combines computation abilities with a vastly increased high-speed memory — up to 32 megabytes — on a single chip. Most of today’s processors must frequently exchange data with separate memory chips, creating a performance bottleneck. The application-specific integrated circuit, or ASIC, will use copper circuitry as small as 0.15 micron (less than 1/600th the width of a human hair), creating a faster chip.
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”This is a leading-edge technology,” said Jess Huffman, an analyst with Cahners In-Stat Group in Scottsdale, Ariz. “They are really ahead of everyone else in the industry.” Initially, IBM expects the chips to be used for faster Internet routers and hubs, switching devices that regulate — and sometimes bog down — network traffic. Ultimately, the chips will form the core of a wide range of digital appliances, said Bijan Davari, IBM fellow and vice president of development for IBM’s microelectronics division.
”This will allow them to put together very sophisticated consumer products,” Huffman said, predicting that the chip will be used in a new generation of graphics accelerators, set-top boxes, and digital TVs, phones and cameras — battery-operated products that require high performance in a low-power package.
While IBM may have a head start in this “system on a chip” effort, Lucent Technologies and NEC are working on similar products, according to Bill McClean, president of IC Insights, also in Scottsdale.
— CHARLES PILLER
GREEN LIGHT AND A RED FACE
Excite, one of the Internet’s most popular portal sites, was forced to admit an embarrassing oversight when it learned that adult advertisements were appearing in Web site searches that were supposed to be child-safe.
The Redwood City, Calif., company quickly amended its ad placement policy so that X-rated ads no longer pop up in “green light” searches on its http://magellan.excite.com/ Web site.
Green Light is an option users can select to block adult material from appearing in lists of search results. But Excite officials admitted they failed to also block adult advertisements. — GREG MILLER
‘TV ONLINE’ LINKS UP WITH THE INTERNET
This is not your mother’s TV Guide.
Instead of providing detailed program listings, the first issue of Santa Monica, Calif.-based TV Online magazine highlights recent developments in the rush to provide interactive programming to consumers. Publisher Phil Swann said the magazine, currently available only by subscription and on a trial basis to Sony Electronics’ WebTV subscribers, will review and recommend TV shows, movies, books and music. It will list Web sites relevant to these reviews at the end of each story.
”It’s like Entertainment Weekly meets Wired. It’s got an entertainment focus, but everything in there has an online connection,” Swann said. The publication has about 275,000 subscribers nationwide.
The monthly magazine, published by Vienna, Va.-based CommTek Communications, is expected to be available on newsstands by the end of the year.
— JENNIFER OLDHAM
PARTNERSHIP TO OFFER LIVE HELP ONLINE
Los Angeles-based PeopleSupport has signed a deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to provide real-time online customer service on its Web site.
The service, which offers Internet users live, instant access to representatives around the clock without having to leave the Web site, hopes to address the growing concerns over the ability of online retailers to provide the customer service that people have come to expect from physical stores. The deal with MGM is the largest of four for PeopleSupport, which was founded three months ago.
MGM plans to expand its product offerings online to include videotapes and DVDs as well as film, television and logo-branded merchandise. By clicking on a PeopleSupport icon on the site, customers will be able to summon a customer service representative to answer questions on a live chat program.
”Having live help online today is like 800 telephone numbers were in the 1970s,” said Lance Rosenzweig, PeopleSupport chairman and president. “It was kind of weird to pay for calls at first, but eventually everyone had it and people came to expect it.”
— JONATHAN GAW
(c) 1999, Los Angeles Times. Distributed by Los Angeles Times Syndicate
