Thor Olavsrud

AltaVista Co. Friday, in an attempt to reposition itself to better compete with industry leader Yahoo! and attain profitability early next year, cut 25 percent of its workforce. The company said it will de-emphasize its media portal activities in favor of its search engine. The company currently employs about 900 workers. Friday’s layoffs were the […]

Bertelsmann AG, staking that its future on the Internet does not lie in the ISP business, is divesting itself of its stake in America Online and AOL Europe and focusing its attention on content e-commerce and a new Internet-oriented venture capital fund. The company said Wednesday that its stake in mediaWays, operator of Germany’s second-largest […]

Linux hardware specialist VA Linux Systems Inc. made its first foray into storage solutions Tuesday with the introduction of the VA Linux 9205 NAS (network-attached storage) system, an ultradense 2U storage appliance. The 3.5-inch high appliance, starting at less than $29,300 for 180GB of storage, is scalable to 2.1 terabytes in an ultradense 8U form […]

One of the highest-end products on the market, the Simeon Message Service is a tool designed for enterprise environments that need a scalable and robust solution for more than 500 users. But with a price tag of $6,000, Simeon is probably not the best choice for sites under 500 users, where there are numerous Windows […]

In the wake of August’s proposed merger of Phone.com and Software.com, Phone.com Monday reshuffled its management structure to make room for Cisco Systems alum Don Listwin. Listwin, formerly executive vice president at Cisco in charge of the company’s provider and consumer lines of business, will step in as president and chief executive officer of Phone.com […]

Microsoft Corp. has been a busy at the International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) 2000 in Amsterdam Friday. Brushing aside rumors that deployment of its Microsoft TV Technologies would be delayed, the company unveiled a series of Microsoft TV partnerships and programs — including an alliance with set-top box manufacturer Royal Philips Electronics and a deal with […]

Finally…a notebook that won’t conk out on you during those long New York-to-San Francisco flight. Sony Electronics Friday revealed that its new computer, the VAIO PictureBook C1VN notebook, would be the first to market with Transmeta Corp.‘s Crusoe processor. The Crusoe processor’s energy-saving capabilities nearly doubles the computer’s battery life to five-and-a-half hours. Other PC […]

CBS Television and Microsoft WebTV Networks Inc. struck an alliance today to jointly deliver interactive television programming, including comedy and dramatic series, a first in the interactive TV market. The new alliance is particularly newsworthy given the amount of time and money the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant has pumped into its MSNBC alliance with NBC, […]

Instinet Corp., the largest agency broker in the world, will soon open its doors to individual investors for the first time, InternetNews.com has learned. Founded in 1969 and acquired by Reuters Group PLC in 1987, Instinet has — until now — been accessible only to professional trading firms and financial institutions. “Our parent company, Reuters, […]

In a bid to accelerate its growth in the Web-hosting marketplace, WorldCom Corp. Tuesday forged an agreement to buy telecommunications carrier Intermedia Communications Inc. in a deal valued at about $3 billion in cash and stock. WorldCom will also assume Intermedia’s roughly $3 billion debt. Intermedia is a provider of voice and data services and […]

It’s no surprise that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is interested in open access and instant messaging issues in its consideration of the merger of America Online Inc. and Time Warner Inc.. But less public attention has been paid to AOL’s interests in interactive television and both companies’ ties with AT&T Corp. But at the […]

Aiming to cut operating costs by nearly half, drkoop.com Inc.‘s new management team said Wednesday that it would reduce the company’s workforce of full-time and part-time employees by about one third. “We said from the beginning that we were going to run this company like a real business,” said Ed Cespedes, newly appointed president of […]