PGP is no more. No, the feds haven't outlawed encryption - but Pretty Good Privacy Inc., the company built on top of the public key crypto software of the same name, has been sold to the virus detection company soon to be formerly known as McAfee.
Network Associates Inc., the name which McAfee will adopt on Tuesday, announced today that it has a signed a definitive agreement to acquire the privately-held PGP.
Pretty Good Privacy was originally freeware, but the company has been targeting corporate customers, and in October it released its first suite of products intended for the business market.
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Bonn blesses CompuServe buyout: German antitrust officials today announced that they have approved America Online's takeover of CompuServe, clearing one of the final regulatory hurdles for the deal.
US officials signed off last week on the September transaction in which WorldCom acquired CompuServe, then swapped the service's consumer online business and cash in exchange for AOL's data network division. Britain may also review the deal.
CompuServe has 850,000 European customers, a third of them in Germany. AOL will run the German service in partnership with media conglomerate Bertelsmann AG. (1.Dec.97)
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Nokia wins China pact: The Finnish mobile communications giant announced that it has won a US$70 million contract to expand a GSM system in the Chinese capital. Under the pact with the Beijing Telecommunications Administration, Nokia will supply a wide range of mobile-switching and base-station equipment.
The company, which has worked on developing the Beijing GSM system since its inception in 1994, has become a major power in China's mobile phone markets. Deals announced in 1996 and 1997 total about $1 billion. (1.Dec.97)
