News in brief...

PC sales growth estimated at 20% in 2000

PC sales are continuing their boom as unit shipments are expected to rise 20 per
cent this year, according to market research firm International Data
Corporation. The fastest growth this first quarter is being recorded in the
Asia/Pacific region and Japan where unit shipments are up 32 per cent so far
this year. In the United States, first-quarter growth should reach 20 per cent
as the supply of chips and memory increases. Western Europe's growth was
forecast at 10.9 per cent.

"With Y2K fears largely over and the introduction of Microsoft's Windows
2000, businesses will start picking up the pace of upgrades," said John
Brown, research director of IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. "IDC
expects the commercial market to show more robust growth this year than last,
starting with a pick up in demand this quarter."

Comdex group to become independent firm

Ziff-Davis, the world's largest publishers of computer-trade magazines announced
plans to spin off its ZD Events trade-show business as it prepares to merge with
its Internet unit, ZDNet. Earlier, ZD sold its magazine business to the Willis
Stein & Partners LP investment company. That deal is expected to close this
month.

ZD Events is best known for the Comdex trade shows. Other successful shows
include the NetworkWorld+Interop shows in Las Vegas and Atlanta. Ziff-Davis
initially planned to sell ZD Events. But no bidders came forward, prompting ZD
to decide to spin off the unit which eventually may go public. ZD Events has
about 500 employees and about $250 million in annual revenue.

Fredric Rosen, the former president and chief executive of Ticketmaster will
be chairman and chief executive of the new holding company for ZD Events. Rosen
left Ticketmaster after the company was bought by USA Networks in 1998. Jason
Chudnofsky will continue as president and chief executive of ZD Events and will
become president and chief operating officer of the holding company.

IBM extends reach of Palm with remote management

In Australia’s Victoria province, VicRoads, the state’s road agency has been
dispensing Palm handheld computer, equipped with a prototype IBM management
software package, to road crews through out the state. The software, among other
things, allows the agency to transmit daily job lists. This week, IBM officially
launched the "Tivoli Device Manager for the Palm Computing platform."
The software, which adds about $30 to the cost of a Palm, allows a central
administrator to manage a network of Palm computer users and keep them connected
to desktop office computers and other company databases.

IBM's Tivoli Systems said the new management software product widens the
reach of companies that want to keep track of goods, services and employees and
cut costs through use of the handheld computers. "Palm is becoming a
universal platform," said Israel Gat, vice president and general manager of
Tivoli's "Pervasive Management" unit. "What we are really doing
is managing the Pilot economy," he said, referring to the audience of
millions of Palm users who collectively constitute a mini-economy of connected
computer users.