News in Brief

New IBM notebook with 48 GB HDD

IBM said it has increased the hard-disk drive for notebooks from 32 to 48

gigabytes, the equivalent of 48,000 paperback novels, 74 music compact discs, or

12 DVD movies. The drive will be sold to notebook makers and can also be used in

game systems, video recorders and set-top boxes, which add computer-like

functions to televisions. It will be available in the second quarter and will be

priced at $479, costing just 9 per cent more than IBM's 32-gigabyte drives. The

high-capacity drive will also appear in IBM's own notebooks. IBM is the market

leader in hard-disk drives for notebook computers and the No. 1 seller of

notebooks. -SVNS

TI invests in wireless fingerprint sensor firm



TEXAS: Texas Instruments said it would invest between $5 million and $20 million
in AuthenTec to help the start-up develop and sell fingerprint-based sensors for

wireless Web access. TI said biometric security measures such as the

fingerprint-based measure will become an increasingly important feature for

wireless Internet devices. "The next generation of mobile Internet

appliances will provide consumers with a wide range of highly personalized

applications and services, requiring rigorous security capabilities," said,

Texas Instruments' worldwide general manager for its open multimedia application

platform (OMAP), Alain Mutricy.



AuthenTec was founded in 1998 and has raised more than $35 million in venture
capital to develop semiconductors that allow fingerprints to be used as security

signatures for PCs, wireless devices and other appliances. - SVNS

Satyam in top-10 list of FEER

HYDERABAD: Satyam Computer Services has been rated as one of the 10 most

well-off companies in India, as per a survey conducted by the Hong-Kong-based

Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER) for 2000-01. The survey which ranked Asian

companies in accordance to the quality of corporate leadership, also asked

executives to evaluate each firm using the same criteria as in the past years

for service and product quality, long term management vision, customer response

and financial soundness. Satyam offers a range of expertise including Software

Development Services, Embedded Systems, Engineering Services (CAD/CAM/CAE),

Systems Integration, ERP Solutions, Enterprise Application Integration and

Customer Relationship Management. — CNS

Fujitsu to launch software firm



SUNNYVALE: Japanese computer and electronics maker Fujitsu Ltd. on Tuesday
announced the launch of a storage management software company that will compete

with industry leaders EMC Corp, International Business Machines Corp and Veritas

Software. Fujitsu Software Technology Corp, also known as Fujitsu Softek, is

based in Sunnyvale, Calif, and is built on technology from Fujitsu subsidiary

Amdahl Corp. The company will begin formal operations from April 1, a company

spokesman said. The new company's products will target areas of storage data

management, including data backup and recovery; storage infrastructure products

that manage data migration and replication; storage resource management;

quality-of-service monitoring and professional consulting. - Reuters

Handspring’s security technology for wireless devices



TORONTO: Certicom Corp said on Tuesday that the popular Handspring palmtop
computers will use its security technology for wireless communications in yet

another step toward becoming the security standard for wireless devices.

Handspring will initially integrate Certicom's SSL plus security product, based

on patented Elliptic Curve Cryptography, into its Blazer Web browsing software

used by Handspring users equipped with a VisorPhone, said Certicom in a

statement. Certicom's security software will enable safe transmission of

sensitive information to financial institutions and allow for secure purchases

using the Handspring device.