-=========================================================================- _ __ _ <>_ __ _ || /\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ || Amiga Update -News and Rumors /__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ ||(A Very Ocassional Newsletter) / \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_ || BACK FOR THE FUTURE || -=========================================================================- AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Amiga Technolgies, GmbH --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 960318 E S C O M M O V E S T O C O R R E C T S H A K Y F I N A N C E S I N F O O N T H E N E W A M I G A A T C E B I T We have the classic good news/bad news situation for you today. Well, good news and potentially bad news, which isn't exactly the same thing. It seems times are tough for the European computer industry, which now of course includes the Amiga's maker. Escom is having some financial problems as are a number of other European companies. It does seem to us that Escom is doing the right things in response, unlike the late unlamented Commodore. This issues begins with a press announcement fromm Amiga Technologies on the subject, and then excerpts some stories found on the net also dealing with the topic. Much of this information came from the Amiga Net Directory, an excellent place for net surfers to keep up with what's happening. It's worth keeping in mind that things aren't just difficult for European computer companies. All you need do is look at Apple's latest woes. Once again, we're pleased to see Escom making the sorts of responses indicitive of (we hope) good business sense. On the good news side, we have information about the new Amiga model being shown right now at CeBIT in Hannover, Germany. New models when times are tough - certainly doesn't sound like the old Commodore, does it? Hope that isn't just wishful thinking. I have a few additional comments about the new computer below. Brad -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- E S C O M I N C R E A S E S S H A R E C A P I T A L Bochum/Heppenheim, 7 March 1996. ESCOM AG today increased its capital with a cash outlay by DM 59,994,000. The nominal amount of the capital increase is DM 30,300,000. The new shares have been taken over by Commerzbank AG for the issue consortium and will be offered to shareholders at the earliest possible date after presentation of the 1995 annual report. the increase in capital is part of an agreement between the company, its associates and bankers by which the company acquires new ressources amounting approximatively DM 100 million. Manfred Schmitt, principal shareholder in ESCOM AG, has simultaneously transferred 16 per cent of the base capital to the BV Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, a subsidiary of the Bayerische Vereinsbank AG, and a further 2.5 per cent of the base capital to Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG in Paderborn and Munich, whose shareholding is hereby increased to 12.5%. In so doing, Manfred Schmitt's share has been cut by nearly 30 per cent. A further major shareholder is Quelle Schickedanz AG & Co in Fürth, whose share at 25 per cent remains unchanged. By this action shareholders and banks have created the right conditions to give ESCOM AG a more solid financial base and an extension of its circle of shareholders enabling it to develop its business successfully. Regards, Gilles Bourdin Gilles Bourdin / Amiga Technologies GmbH Public Relations Email to: gbo@amiga.de URL:http://www.amiga.de/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- E S C O M F A C E S T O U G H C O M P E T I T I O N I N E U R O P E 10-Mar-96 - According to a recent article in Computerworld, things are not so rosy for Germany's Escom AG, parent company of Amiga Technologies and one of Europe's largest PC box suppliers. The problem is related to increased competition from outside Europe for the hearts and minds of European PC buyers, driving profit margins down. In particular, Taiwan's Acer Incorporated is making big strides for a share of the PC market in Europe. Acer chairman Stan Shih said, "This is the year of Europe for Acer." Acer is spending $40 million on a new plant in France and also stepping up its marketing efforts, concentrating on the consumer business. On the other hand, Escom is projecting big losses on its operations--perhaps even triple what was originally announced--in part due to sales coming in nearly a billion marks lower than expected. Escom is also looking for $69 million in loans to make it through these rough times. According to Computerworld, Escom may have overextended itself with the acquisition of British retail chain Rumbelows and has yet to see much income from Amiga Technologies and its new Commodore line of PCs because of component shortages and delays in production. Price wars on PCs have further hampered efforts at breaking even. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- S I E M E N S N O W P A R T O W N E R O F E S C O M Siemens Joins Computer Rivals to Ward Off Non-European Competition 13-Mar-96 - According to Reuters, Germany's Siemens Nixdorf AG announced that they had purchased 10% of Vobis AG which will allow them to increase economies of scale when purchasing parts, supplies and other goods. This came after another announcement that Siemens had also purchased a 12.5% stake in Escom AG, parent company of Amiga Technologies. "Our strategy with Escom and Vobis is on the purchasing side," Siemens chairman Gerhard Schulmeyer told reporters at the company's briefing at the opening of the CeBIT technology trade fair. "The PC business is driven by volumes and logistics. Whoever controls volume will be the winner. We could not control volume alone." He also went on to say that the PC business in Europe is getting tough as competition--much of it from the US and Japan--drives profit margins down. Theo Lievin, chairman of Vobis AG said, "We in Germany want to do something together against the Americans and the Japanese." Both Vobis and Escom have large retail chains in Europe. The Reuters story made no mention of the new alliance's effect on the Amiga or Amiga Technologies. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- N E W A M I G A M O D E L P R O T O T Y P E A T C E B I T The good news from Amiga Technologies is they are in fact demonstrating a new Amiga model at CeBit. A prototype only at this point, the new machine is codenamed "Wallker" after its styling. The computer is black or dark grey and looks like a cross between a 1930's cathedral radio and a walker from "Star Wars". It's actually quite stylish and like nothing I've seen before, except maybe the old Commodore B-128-80. Interestingly, that computer was also a German design, with styling by Porsche of all companies. We don't know who came up with the styling for the newAmiga. Information on the Walker is a bit hard to come by at this point. Below is a very sketchy specification list from the Internet. It's followed by an edited (by me) section of an IRQ conference discussing the machine. The conference included an AT employee who was participating from the CeBit show, using the handle VascoAT. I do have a JPEG of the new machine and can make it available to persons interested in seeing it. Contact me by e-mail if you'd like a copy of the picture. Brad A1200 Walker: 68030/40 Mhz 5 mb RAM PC-Diskdrive (Maybe! Amiga-emulation) External Keyboard (A4000 keyboard) EPP Parallel port MIDI Expansion slot for further upgrade to: PCI Zorro III/IV and more.. Nick ("handle"): VascoAT Name: ~Amiga_CeB@slip139-92-41-120.ut.nl.ibm.net (AMIGA Technologies CeBit 96 Promotion Team) **** Logging Started : Fri Mar 15 12:40:05 MET 1996 Yes here: What do you wanna know? (live from CeBIT) Prototype: EPP, Fifo-Serial, Super-IO, Kick 3.2, 68030/40 MHz,... Its an own processor-slot (new) to keep PCI, Zorro, PowerPC as an optional expansion. I forgot the new 24-bit printer driver! Yesterday the prototyp was opened and I got pictures from inside. The design of the new prototyp is {like} an vacuum-cleaner. vasco: has it an EC or a real 030 ? EC cause its much cheaper to get the PLCC than the PGA version Vasco: Just write info, the suspense is killing me! =) The Price: about 1500 DM It's gray! OS 3.2: Bugfixes known from Rom 3.1, 24bit printer..., Super-IO-Support, It looks as a vakuum-cleaner; I like it Vasco: SuperIO? Explain. Super-IO meens all the new IO-Features (FIFO, EPP) VascoAT: It has detachable keyboard right? Yes it has a detachable keyboard AT's TCP/IP: as255r2 {rework of the Commodore networking stack. Brad} Sorry no info about the price of 3.2 new harddrive interface is EIDE 11 amigas here and even more at VillageTronic I wasn't allowed to leave this area and thus hadn't the possibility to see VT And I also have to present the surfer; it's not easy We try to sell the new AMIGA for about 1500 DM DM= german marks (1.45 DM ~ 1$) Yes, 43.xx1 Kick > vasco: tell us more about the FIFO and EPP stuff 5 MB Ram, Simm sockets on board VascoAT: 5mb ? 1+4 or ?! 2+3 ?! 5 MB= 1MB + 4MB {1 MB chip RAM, 4 MB Fast RAM (hmmm?) Brad} vasco: 1MB chip ram? I hope you didn't mean that :/ Vasco: why only 1 mb ? I don't get that.. WHY ?! 1 MB Chip, there is an empty socket for Chipmem But this may change: the A1k2 was designed for 1 MB Chip and... If you have Fastmem, you don't need much chip. Try it! Yes the new Amiga is great, if you could see the design ... But I think nothing for the people who have already an A4000. Wait for PowerPC, it comes !!! We need Fastmem for the speed. There are 6 sockets, 1 used by chip, 1 used by fast We didnt include JPEG as datatype yes, 4 empty sockets {for RAM SIMMs. Brad} 32 MB work Everything that I told is what I see and what I got from the devoloper. But remember: It's a prototyp * csd points out to NiteFlite that Vasco is at CeBIT, working for AT. That's pretty official in my book. august '97 {availability date. Brad} VascoAT: You mean '96 I hope... Vasco: Is there any card slots? (and what type they are, if exists) It's an 68030 running at 40 MHz Yes it comes with an external keyboard There is no name for the new prototyp: The Projekt is called "Walker" and he looks as a walker The CPU-socket will come up for this feature {Question asked about Power PC for current Amigas. Next answer may have been for that question, but it wasn't clear. Brad} beginning 97 VascO: So the PPC boards will be available before the new amiga? We work on PPC thus are not all at the CeBIT :-) did vasco say anything before I joined? EEP ? We *belive* he meant EPP which is: The Enhanced Parallel Port protocol was originally developed by Intel, Xircom and Zenith Data Systems, as ameans to provide a high performance parallel port link that would still be compatible with the standard parallel port. This protocol capability was implemented by Intel in the 386SL chipset (82360 I/O chip). This was prior to the establishment of the IEEE 1284 committee and the associated standards work. -=========================================================================- _ __ _ <>_ __ _ || Brad Webb - available at: /\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ || webb@malamute.med.ge.com /__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ || bandr@globaldialog.com / \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_ || Portal -- XJumpdisk -=========================================================================-