BUSINESS MEMO: LULL IN COLA WARS

After a tumultuous month in which Coca-Cola lost its dynamic and highly successful leader and arch-rival Pepsico spun off its fast-food restaurants, there is something of a lull in the cola wars.

Calm, perhaps, before storm.

Project Storm is a code name for a new Pepsi lemon-lime drink to battle Coke's fast-growing Sprite and veteran soft-drink rival 7-Up, possibly beginning next year as part of Pepsi's promised efforts to step up competition with the Atlanta-based global soft-drink leader.

If that sounds vaguely militaristic, like something out of the Persian Gulf, well, that's why they call it the cola wars.