MISSISSAUGA, Ont. — Despite earlier reports from Packard Bell NEC Inc. in the United States, spokespeople at NEC's Canadian division have told CDN that the Packard Bell brand name will remain alive and well in Canada.

"The decision has not been formally announced, but we're looking at continuing to have the Packard Bell brand continue in Canada," said Greg Milkovich, vice-president, sales and marketing at NEC Computer Systems Division (Canada) in Mississauga. "It will still be manufactured by one of the NEC Corp. companies, but not NEC Computers Inc."

Milkovich said the company needs to determine where the PCs will be manufactured, though he confirmed they will not be manufactured in Canada at this point.

Customers will be able to buy a Packard Bell brand PC at retailers such as Radio Shack and Future Shop for the foreseeable future, according to Henry Porsch, vice-president of consumer marketing at NEC Computer Systems Division (Canada).

"As far as relationships with our retailers, the brand will be going forward," he stated.

He said that details regarding the distribution and sale of specific products, especially those under the NEC brand such as the new Z1, are still being worked on as the company reorganizes itself.

Porsch said the discontinuation of the Packard Bell brand was in the United States alone.

Packard Bell NEC (PBNEC) was on track to lose US$150 million this year, according to the company. Employees of NEC's Canadian division have so far been spared the axe that dropped on their U.S. colleagues last month.

The restructuring has reduced PBNEC to "less than 20 per cent of its current base of 2,600 employees," a company press release from the U.S. stated. Catherine Erskine, national marketing communications manager for NEC Computer Systems Division (Canada), said "nothing has changed yet" for NEC's 100 employees in Canada.

As reported in the Nov. 18 edition of CDN, all NEC operations outside of Japan and China will be consolidated under the name NEC Computers International B.V. (NEC-CI). Commercial operations in North America will become NEC Computers Inc. (NECC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of NEC-CI.

All changes are expected to be finalized by Jan. 1, 2000.

— Josh Kern

Merisel program caps off first year

TORONTO — Merisel Canada Inc. recently celebrated the first anniversary of its Business Builder program.

The Etobicoke, Ont.-based company's program, which currently provides bonuses to over 1,600 resellers across Canada, is based not on how much product a reseller moves, but how much a reseller increases the amount of product moved from one year to the next at Merisel.

Essentially, for every $5,000 worth of computer products a reseller moves above and beyond the amount they moved the year before at the distributor, they get 1,000 points. These points can be redeemed for a variety of prizes.

Paul Curwen, Merisel's senior manager of channel marketing, says the program is unique because it's committed to building reseller businesses over the long term. "There are two things that really differentiate this. The first is that this is a long-term program, it's not just a two-month thing," he says, "The second is that it's got a business building focus. We're not here to just give people prizes and forget about it. What we really want to do is help our customers grow, help them improve their business situation."

— Owen Ferguson

AMD rolls out 750 MHz chip for PCs

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — Advanced Micro Devices is pushing the microprocessor market with the earlier-than-expected arrival of its 750 MHz Athlon chip.

The new chip will be the fastest PC processor released to date, and will likely be available to OEMs by the end of the year, according to the company.

AMD's 750 MHz processor steals the performance title from Intel, whose fastest processor clocks in at only 733 MHz. Intel has said it will not release a faster product until next year's 800 MHz Pentium III.

The news also comes at a time when Intel is in the hot seat due to tight supplies of its 733 MHz chip. But AMD has anticipated demand for the chip, and will have no problem living up to its OEM commitments, said Lance Smith, director of AMD's computational products group.

Smith told CDN that although the Althon chip was initially difficult to find, last summer's motherboard shortage is no longer a factor in maintaining volume.

— Tamara Gignac