Briefly: Verizon Wireless pulls phone from shelves

Verizon Wireless pulls phone from shelves
Verizon Wireless has temporarily stopped selling the popular Motorola v710 camera phone due to a poorly installed camera lens recently discovered on some models, a representative for the carrier said. Representatives from Motorola did not return calls seeking comment.

Verizon Wireless expects to once again sell the phone after searching its inventory for any other flawed handsets. That could take another seven to 10 days, according to the company.
October 25, 2004 

Airgo next-generation Wi-Fi gets global approval
Airgo Networks announced Monday that its multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) wireless networking technology has received regulatory approval from government standards bodies in the United States, Japan, Canada, Australia and the European Union. The approvals mean that products using Airgo technology can be sold in those parts of the world. MIMO has been identified as the technology that the next-generation Wi-Fi standard, 802.11n, will be based on once it is completed about two to three years from now.

Airgo partner Belkin also announced products using MIMO technology and compatible with 802.11a, b, g Wi-Fi standards will be available Monday and globally in the coming weeks. MIMO allows wireless transfer speeds of up to 108 megabits per second.
October 25, 2004 

Dell updates low-end server line
Dell plans to announce two servers for small customers Monday, the PowerEdge SC420 with a starting price less than $500 and the SC1420 with a starting price of $799. The SC420 uses a single Pentium 4 processor and can accommodate 4GB of memory, while the SC1420 accommodates dual Xeon processors and as much as 8GB of memory.

Both servers are available with Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Windows Small Business Server 2003 or Red Hat Linux ES3.0, as well as packages for security, backup and management. Dell also offers installation, setup and training services with the products.
October 22, 2004 

SAS Institute lures former Red Hat CFO
Kevin Thompson, the former chief financial officer of Linux seller Red Hat, has taken that post at SAS Institute, spokeswoman Desiree Adkins said Friday. He left Red Hat in September, after announcing his resignation in July.

Red Hat Chief Executive Matthew Szulik said the company was looking for a CFO with more experience running larger companies. But SAS evidently thought Thompson fit for the job, and it's widely considered the largest privately owned software company. SAS makes software that lets customers mine data, such as customer-purchasing habits, for useful information.
October 22, 2004 

McAfee CFO joins Cray board
Stephen Richards, the chief financial officer of security software maker McAfee, has joined the board of Cray, the supercomputing specialist said Friday. Richards, 50, will be on Cray's audit committee.

Before joining McAfee, Richards was chief online trading officer of E*Trade. He also is on the board of Tradestation group.
October 22, 2004 

Unisys boosts COO to CEO
Unisys on Friday announced elevation of its president and chief operating officer Joseph W. McGrath as its next chief executive officer. The appointment takes effect Jan. 1, the company said. McGrath replaces incumbent chairman and CEO Lawrence A. Weinbach, who will now continue as chairman through January 2006.

McGrath was elected president and COO in April of this year. Prior to that, he was corporate executive vice president and president, enterprise transformation services at Unisys. He joined the company in 1999 as senior vice president of major accounts sales and chief marketing officer.
October 22, 2004 

Memory stick turns fingerprints into passwords
A new memory stick on sale next week turns fingerprints into passwords. Lexar Media's JumpDrive TouchGuard uses a sensor that reads the miniscule ridges on a finger, and unlocks the encrypted data on the USB (universal serial bus) memory stick if there's a match.

"It's going to be in Best Buy stores starting Monday," Christopher Crump, a project manager at Cogent Systems, said Thursday. Cogent wrote the software. Fujitsu makes the finger-scanning chip for the TouchGuard stick, which was demonstrated at a technology conference this week. Sony already sells a similar product called Micro Vault.
October 21, 2004 

IBM gives grants to universities
IBM Research announced on Thursday that it will underwrite 20 research projects with grants under its Shared University Research Program. In all, IBM has provided over $70 million in research funds to universities in the past three years.

The 20 projects will take place at 27 different institutions, including Brown University, the University of California at Berkeley and the University of British Columbia. The projects include developing technology for more accurate mammograms (Oxford University), advanced supply chain practices (Michigan State, Arizona State, Penn State and University College, Dublin) and simulated protein folding (Columbia University). Under the program, IBM provides equipment and other assistance, and enjoys access to the results of the research.
October 21, 2004