Martyn Williams

Sony Corp. and NEC Corp. have concluded a basic agreement to merge their optical-disc drive businesses into a new company, they said. The two companies hope to launch the new venture on April 1, 2006, which is the first day of the new financial year in Japan. Sony will hold a 55 per cent stake in the as-yet-unnamed company and NEC will hold the remaining 45 per cent stake, according to the terms of a memorandum of understanding signed by the companies.

Five of the biggest names in technology have funded a new venture called the Open Invention Network that will acquire patents and offer them royalty free to promote the Linux open-source operating system.

Senior executives at the Tokyo Stock Exchange will get between 10 per cent and 50 per cent of their pay cut for up to six months following a systems failure that shut down stock and convertible bond trading on the bourse for several hours on Nov. 1, the exchange said in a statement.

Accton Technology Corp., a Taiwanese electronics maker, will work with Skype Technologies SA on a range of Skype-compatible products, the two companies said last week. Accton said the Skype products will enable customers to use the VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) software without the need for a personal computer.

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has won a contract to supply a high-speed wireless broadband network based on the WiBro standard to TVA Sistema de Televisao SA in Brazil, the South Korean company said Wednesday.

Microsoft Corp. is acquiring a Swiss software company that specializes in voice-over-IP applications with a view to adding such a function to its Office products, it said Thursday.

Stock and bond trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange was scrapped Tuesday morning as a result of a system glitch. Problems came to light before the market's opening at 9 a.m. local time (midnight GMT) and caused the start of trading to be delayed until 1:30 p.m. local time.