Sumner Lemon

The fuss over China's plans to implement a national standard for wireless LANs (WLANs) came to a quiet end Wednesday during bilateral trade talks between U.S. and Chinese officials in Washington, D.C. But the outcome of the talks was far from being a complete victory for the U.S. side, which had raised several areas of concern.

Amidst controversy over Chinese efforts to impose a local standard for wireless networks, Craig Barrett, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Intel Corp., stressed the importance of international standards during a speech to Chinese government officials and business executives, the company said.

Lucent Technologies Inc. fired four executives at its Chinese operations, including the president and chief operating officer (COO), for violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the company said in a filing Tuesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

European users haven't exactly warmed to the idea of wood-cased computer peripherals, according to a Swedish vendor of the distinctive-looking products.

Chinese end users won't be able to take advantage of a feature in Intel Corp.'s upcoming Grantsdale and Alderwood chipsets that allows PCs to function as access points for a wireless network unless the dispute over China's wireless LAN (WLAN) standard is resolved, a company executive said Saturday.

Chinese contract chip maker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) hopes to bring a swift end to allegations of trade-secret misappropriation by arguing that U.S. courts do not have jurisdiction over several charges contained in a lawsuit brought against it by rival chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC).

Three senior U.S. government officials this week weighed in on the controversy surrounding China's implementation of a national standard for wireless LANs (WLANs ) with a letter to senior Chinese officials that described the move as a barrier against international trade, a U.S. trade group said Thursday.

As corporate America becomes increasingly comfortable with offshore development, it's sending substantially more sophisticated IT work overseas. Companies such as Google Inc. are turning to foreign workers not for their willingness to work for lower wages but for their technological prowess.