NEC claims to have perfected 13colour thin-film transistor screen NEC Corp says it has the technology for a full-colour 13 thin-film transistor liquid crystal diode screen which has much better viewing characteristics. The screen is intended for use primarily with future large screen engineering workstations, and provides the advantage that the screen can be viewed […]
NEC claims to have perfected 13colour thin-film transistor screen
NEC Corp says it has the technology for a full-colour 13 thin-film transistor liquid crystal diode screen which has much better viewing characteristics. The screen is intended for use primarily with future large screen engineering workstations, and provides the advantage that the screen can be viewed from much wider angles than previous models even though the pixel definition is as fine as 0.201mm. NEC sees the technology used for office automation and for television sets you hang on the wall.
New server uses 90MHz Pentium
NEC has a new server using a 90MHz Pentium chip as part of its efforts to incorporate new functionality into the top-selling PC-9800 series. The SV-98 Model 2 server has the 90MHz Pentium and a PCI bus for its input-output bus. Options includes RAID disk support and support for third-party add-on boards. Another low-cost server, in models SV-98 Model 1N1 and SV-98 Model 1N2, include a pre-installed network system on a network board. The NetWare release supported has been upgraded to 3.12J, and the version of OS/2 has been upgraded to J2.11.
Low-noise microwave amplifiers
NEC is shipping 10 types of low-noise microwave amplifier silicon transistors, of the type that are used in the receiver portion of mobile telephones, wireless local networks and other communications products. The new products have the highest frequency of any comparable silicon transistor product on the market – 15.5GHz – and the five low-power types consume 30% less power than current models. NEC is making 1m a month and they cost 47 cents.
NEC maintains its hegemony in the personal computer market as Dell, Compaq scarcely show
Dataquest Japan has announced its analysis of the 1993 calendar year personal computer market in Japan. NEC Corp still holds the lion’s share of the market at 52.8%, down from 53.4% last year, but despite that even managed to increase the number of computers shipped over last year to 1.3m. Total units shipped last year was 2.464m, up from 2.227m in 1992. However the shares of the other vendors changed dramatically. Apple Computer Inc was in second place in 1993 with shipments of 343,000 units and 13.9% of the market (for 1994 it is aiming for 20%) – an 85% growth over the last year. Dataquest attributes its growth to the success of the Mac interface vis-a-vis Japanese Windows, and the fact that Windows models did not actually ship until late in the year. Fujitsu Ltd, in second place in 1992, was in third place this year with 6.8% of the market, a big slump from 9.8% last year. IBM Japan Ltd was in fourth place with 6.7% of the market, up from 6.1% in 1992. Seiko Epson Co, a shipper of NEC PC-9800-compatibles, gained from the strength of NEC, and posted a market share of 6.4% in 1993. Toshiba Corp’s share fell below 6% and while the growth of manufacturers of personal computers which run the bilingual DOS/V operating system promoted by IBM Japan Ltd such as Dell Computer Corp and Compaq Computer Corp, has been remarkable on a zero to low base, Dataquest perceives that it will take more than a cheap product providing international standards to sell their products in Japan.
First research centre in Europe will be based in Germany but run from London…
NEC Corp has announced the establishment of a research centre in Europe, followed last week by the establishment of a joint venture software company in China. The new centre in Europe, located in Germany in Sankt Augustin, will be situated in the German National Information Processing Centre Technopark in the suburbs of Bonn. The lab, which will be run by London-based NEC Europe will conduct research into next-generation multimedia and communications technologies, including algorithms for parallel processing, numerical processing for technology simulations. An NEC passively parallel computer, the Cenju 3, will be installed onsite. Initially there will be six researchers, rising to 20 at some future date.
…as software centre is created in China
On May 23, NEC also announced the
conclusion of an agreement with the Chinese Academy of Sciences to establish a computer software development company, NEC-CAS Software Laboratories in Peking. NEC will own 90% of the joint venture and the Institute of Software in the Academia Sinica 10%. The company will concentrate on research and development into Unix-based middleware and software engineering tools for the Chinese software market. Initially the company will employ 50 people, growing to 200 in the future, with sales starting at $576,000, growing to $1.9m. NEC’s sales in China are still very small in the computer field, although more numerous in the switching market: its computer base comprises 40 mainframes, 50 office computers and 80 engineering workstations installed.
Multimedia system for ASIC design, part of…
NEC has announced a new multimedia system designed to assist in the design of ASICs and large-scale integrated circuits. NEC claims that the system enables LSI design to be completed 20% faster than with conventional techniques. The system is an extension of NEC’s existing Mermaid system and is called OfficeMermaid; it links NEC’s main semiconductor design centre near Tokyo with other design groups in plants scattered around Japan and overseas; 500 terminals are planned to be on line by 1996 at a total system cost of $9.6m.
…drive into multimedia
NEC recently announced a new organisation within the company, called the C&C Multimedia Business Promotion Division, which aims to promote new products for the multimedia marketplace of the 21st century. The group, headed by Dr Yukio Mizuno, senior executive vice-president, aims to cross traditional workgroup lines; it will work on market research and the development of new products and technologies and more generally the promotion of multimedia-related operational strategy. NEC sees the strategy as emulating its success with the C&C (Computer and Communications) concept; it plans a similar organisation in its North American operations next year. It also added the PC-9821Np, a multimedia notebook with full colour support and sound functions including PCM sound capabilities, and a docking station.
