Staff Writers

Getting rid of the tangle of wires on the boardroom table is now possible, without buying a new wireless projector.

Acer Australia has announced a DVI-capable Wireless Presentation Gateway which will stream presentations, images and audio from any notebook or PC to any projector.

Suitable for ceiling mounted projectors, or just to get rid of the wires on the boardroom table, the Gateway plugs directly into the DVI or VGA port of the projector and allows you to connect wirelessly to the source device that will transmit all your data.

Based on standard 802.11g wireless LAN technology the unit will work automatically with most notebook computers already in the field.

The device comes with Acer’s e-Presentation software that makes the set up and management of the wireless connection a breeze. e-Presentation manager automatically finds available projectors and allows simple connection and management of projector functions via a virtual remote control.

The unit also features an integrated WAN that allows presenters to easily access the Internet via the Wireless Presentation Gateway. The built in audio jack allows the streaming of audio through the Gateway allowing connection to an external audio system.
The Acer Wireless Presentation Gateway is available for RRP $329.

According to IT Market Insights – Quarterly Data Projectors Market Insight Report, Acer was the leading Australian projector brand in Q3 2005. The range starts from $999.

Acer has pushed Toshiba out of its number three ranking in worldwide notebook sales.

The Q4 2005 marketshares from preliminary Gartner Dataquest results award Acer notebooks with the highest year-on-year growth in the US market, a No. 1 ranking in EMEA and No. 3 in Asia Pacific.
The stunning 66.7 per cent year-on-year growth is a testament to the company’s successful strategy to drive brand name notebook prices to whisper thin margins backed up by the company’s manufacturing prowess.

The move into the number three spot in Asia Pacific was the result of a 117.1 per cent growth result – the highest among the top-ten vendors.

According to the Dataquest figures, Acer’s number four spot for the Total PC market is thanks to a healthy year-on-year growth of 56.2 per cent.

Acer also ranked No. 3 in EMEA and No. 5 in Asia Pacific, with respective year-on-year growths of 48.3% and 62.4%, both growth rates were the highest among the top-five vendors.
Though Dell and HP have a stranglehold on the US market, Acer has preformed admirably there too with a 145.3 increase over the year ago quarter in Total PC sales and 202.6 per cent in the notebook only segment. Notably Acer was the only growing desktop brand among the top-ten vendors.

Q4 2005 Worldwide notebook shipment

Source: Gartner Q4 2005 preliminary data

In these days of high capacity portable external hard drives, Iomega has achieved something of a victory with the announcement that it has shipped its millionth REV removable disk drive.

In the storage business for 25 years now, and having been subject to some ups and downs with the company going from the heady days of the ZIP drive, to a virtual unknown brand, Iomega’s REV Drive platform is winning back the company some sense of dignity.

Since the REV 35 GB disks were released just 22 months ago the company has managed to sell a million units into the market.

The REV family of products were first introduced in April 2004. Designed as a robust, removable storage medium, the hard disk drives technology targets small businesses and content creators looking for an easy, reliable backup and archiving utility drive.

“In less than two years, the REV drive has quickly proved itself to be an ideal backup and archive solution for SMBs that need a storage technology that’s dependable, durable, easier to use and more cost effective than other backup products,” said Scott Dillon, Country Manager, Iomega Australia and New Zealand.

“In a short period of time, REV products are seeing broad-based adoption as a small business storage standard in entrepreneurial offices all around the world.

“When it comes to backing up and protecting critical information on the desktop or on the network, Iomega’s REV drive is better, faster and less expensive than the alternatives and represents the product choice to simplify your life.”

The drives compete at the optical drive level and as a replacement to often-troublesome tape drive technology and are finding their niche against external USB hard drive units which do not offer any form of expansion.

Internal Iomega studies show that approximately one-third of REV customers are using REV drives as a tape replacement product; one-third have switched from optical and external hard drive products to a REV solution to meet their backup and archiving needs; and another third of today’s REV customers are instituting their first backup and archive plan to protect their data.

“Iomega’s REV technology is bringing awareness to the small business world that you need to protect the lifeblood of your business,” said Dillon.  “Not only is the REV drive becoming the product of choice among those who were already backing up and archiving their data, but the ease-of-use, dependability and economics of REV technology are creating converts to the importance of protecting critical files to ensure the data will be available when it’s needed most.”

Imation has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Memorex for more than US$330.

The boom in CD and DVD media consumption has made companies big business with Memorex’s latest full year results showing US$30 million income off revenues of US$430 million.

Memorex launched the audiocassette in 1971 the company’s consumer business was acquired by Tandy in 1982 and then again by Hanny Holdings in 1993. In 1996 the Company launched recordable CDs into the mass consumer market. The company’s current portfolio includes recordable CDs and DVDs, which constitute more than two thirds of the Company’s 2005 revenue; branded accessories at about 15 percent; USB flash drives at about 10 percent; with magnetic and optical drives at about five percent.

The Company has been the North American market share leader in retail sales for the past six years in the CD category and four years in the DVD category.

After completion of integration, Imation expects Memorex to add approximately US$32 – US$36 million in operating income to its bottom line.

Imation is the world’s leading provider of removable data storage media particularly tape cartridges, but also recordable optical discs, USB flash and removable hard drives.

“This acquisition is a major strategic milestone for Imation, as we implement our profitable growth strategy. It is also a win-win for both companies’ customers and shareholders,” said Bruce Henderson, Imation Chairman and CEO.

“We are gaining a powerful consumer brand and global market share leader in recordable CDs and DVDs as well as an experienced management team under the leadership of Mike Golacinski. Added to our technology expertise, strong B2B brand, global footprint, broad product portfolio and industry experience, we are creating a new global powerhouse in the data storage industry,” he said.

Michael Golacinski, President and CEO of Memorex will head up Imation’s consumer business, maintaining the Memorex headquarters in California.

“I am excited about the opportunity to join Imation and extend the Memorex brand — which has built customer loyalty for over 40 years as a leader in high quality recordable media — as well as to strengthen the Imation brand in the consumer sector. Now with the focus and resources of a global data storage leader behind us, we can extend our reach into new regions — particularly in Europe — enhance and expand the product portfolio and grow both brands,” said Golacinski.

http://www.imation.com and http://www.Memorex.com

Resellers benefited form a boom in notebook sales in 2005. However, while unit numbers were up, vendors had to work hard to maintain market positions and revenues.

The final 2005 figures from IDC Australia indicate that the Australia Notebook PC market for Q4 2005 saw a 5 per cent sequential lift in the PC market. That correlated to a 37 per cent increase over the year before as Australian consumers went mad over notebooks.

However, while the notebook PC market shot over the million units for the year the final quarter was actually down on IDC’s forecast with both the consumer and corporate markets slower than expected.

IDC has also revealed figures that suggest the widescreen form factor has overtaken it’s traditional 4:3 rival with just “a hair over 50 per cent of all notebooks shipped in Q4 2005” in the widescreen format.

This switch to widescreen is particularly prevalent in the consumer market where 74 per cent of units shipped sporting widescreen displays.

It’s not all about consumer choice though, IDC confirms that the ability of LCD glass manufacturers to cut more widescreens from the ‘motherglass’ is helping to drive cost advantages into the market.

IDC also says that the Consumer and SME Markets are becoming blurred as ‘leakage’ of consumer notebooks into the SOHO and SME markets increases and greying the lines between consumer and commercial devices.

IDC has found that on average 6-7 per cent of dedicated consumer notebooks sold through the retail channel are bought by SMEs.

Barring any major shifts in the exchange rate the sub $1,000 has just about reached its market capacity. The top four notebook vendors, Toshiba, HP, Dell and Acer now all have offerings in this space and virtually all possible Tier 3 retail channels are shipping devices, says IDC.

Michael Sager, IDC Hardware Research Manager, noted that “Toshiba climbed back to the top of the notebook PC market in the fourth quarter, growing its shipments by 16.5 per cent from last quarter. HP fell to second position with 19 per cent share after leading the market for two consecutive quarters.

Dell ascended to third position, posting 35 per cent growth from the same period in 2004. Finishing in fourth position was Acer who has fallen, since gaining the top position in Q2.”

“Rounding out the top 5 was Lenovo who was still largely constricted to the commercial market in the fourth quarter. Apple had a very successful performance in this quarter to grab almost 5 per cent of the notebook market. The seemingly non-stop advertising campaign from Asus seems to be paying off with the vendor climbing to the seventh position in Q4,” noted Sager.

Top 7 Notebook PC Vendor Market Share: Overall Share: