Dramatic chip cuts: Intel Corp. plans to cut prices on its line of Pentium chips from 13 percent to 40 percent, The Wall Street Journal reports. With mounting competition from Advanced Micro Devices and Cyrix Corp., Intel will use the cuts to push its new Pentium II chips and MMX technology into wider distribution for computers in the US$2,000 range. After a round of price cuts in August, the new cuts, beginning 1 November, are more dramatic than expected.
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New Rockwell technology: Rockwell International has announced a new modem technology that it claims will speed up transmissions across standard telephone lines to 20 times the current bar of 56 Kbps. Based on digital subscriber line technology, the new device will be able to receive data at 1 Mpbs and is expected to cost around $200. Rockwell will begin field tests next spring - which will require local phone companies to install equipment and support for the new modems - before offering live services by the end of 1998. Rockwell's announcement was made in light of the International Telecommunications Union meeting, at which standards issues are discussed.
