News in Brief

Hitachi invests in Photobit

In about three years you will be able to take pictures with your cell phone.

That will be the ultimate outcome of a $25 million investment by a group of

companies headed by Hitachi in Photobit of Pasadena near Los Angeles. The firm’s

other big investor is Intel. Photobit makes "CMOS-based" image sensor

ICs that convert light to digital images for the digital cameras and other

handheld devices. Intel is one of Photobit’s biggest customers as it uses the

ICs in its PC video cameras. "Hitachi, which supplies semiconductor chips

to handset manufacturers, is important for us because of mobile markets,"

said Photobit CEO Sabrina Kemeny. The company has received $47 million in

start-up capital - SVNS

Red Hat buys consulting firm



Linux industry leader Red Hat said it had agreed to buy the
network-consulting firm Planning Technologies for $47 million in stock. Red Hat’s

stock has dipped 94 per cent in the past year and is now trading around $6.50

per share. Red Hat said it would continue to use its stock to acquire companies

that fit into its product and marketing strategy. The clientele of the

Atlanta-based Planning Technologies, which assists companies in building and

managing computer networks, include Home Depot, Delta Air Lines, AT&T and

some government agencies - SVNS

Gemplus, IBM to work on smart cards



LONDON: The world's largest smart-card maker, Gemplus of France, will join

US-based International Business Machines Corp to market smart cards to a wider

client base, the firms said in a statement on Wednesday. The alliance comes at a

time when smart cards are expected to become more versatile and will have many

functions on a single chip that may be hidden inside a mobile phone. The IBM

alliance will help Gemplus in expanding from being just a smart card maker into

a network management service provider and eventually take over entire smart card

management from customers such as banks or telecom companies - Reuters

Webel, Cisco to set up training schools



KOLKATA: West Bengal Electronic Industries Development corporation (Webel)
has tied up with networking giant, Cisco to impart training and knowledge on the

networking segment to student community. The necessary leverage to upgrade and

add to the existing level of professionals would be through setting up of

advanced networking labs and classrooms across the state. For Webel, this is one

of the many tie-ups with giants like IBM and Cisco in the field of education and

comprehensive training across the state - CNS

Chartered to report Q1 loss



Taiwan’s custom chipmaker Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing has
announced that it will report a first-quarter loss due to slowing demand for

ICs, particularly in the United States. "The weakness has had an impact on

all major end-market segments and geographies," said Chartered's chief

financial officer Chia Song Hwee. Despite an expected sales decline of 35 per

cent from the $318.7 million in the fourth quarter of last year, Hwee expected

the sales in the second half to improve later this year. Chartered said only

about 60 percent of its factories are currently being utilized. - SVNS

IBM, IITL, MKI pact on ASP service



KOLKATA: IBM India, IndusInd Information Technology Limited (IITL), and
Midas-Kapiti International (MKI) on Wednesday announced the launch of an

Application Service Provider (ASP) initiative to address the needs of

co-operative banks and other smaller banks in India. Under this partnership,

banks will be able to take advantage of MKI’s ‘Equation’, a universal

banking system that runs on the IBM eServer-iSeries platform on a shared basis.

The ASP service will also include value-added applications and services that are

built around the IBM/Lotus/Domino software suite and will enable banks to

utilize current-generation messaging and workflow facilities as part of their

daily operations. - CNS

Intel cuts stake in Evans & Sutherland



WASHINGTON: Intel Corp. sold more than 900,000 common shares of Evans &

Sutherland Computer Corp. earlier this month, dropping its stake to less than 5

per cent, a regulatory filing on Tuesday said. Intel sold 903,666 shares on Feb.

5 for $7.38 a piece, the computer chipmaker said in a Securities and Exchange

Commission filing. The sale lowered Intel's position to 3.73 per cent, or

378,462 shares, from a previous 11.3 per cent, or 1,282,128 shares. Evans &

Sutherland is a Utah-based company that produces hardware and software for 3-D

images. - Reuters