================================
+   MICRO-UPDATE  #24   1987   +
+        by John Brent         +
================================

<<<<<<<<<<<< RUMOURS >>>>>>>>>>>

(1)....The     U.S.     National
Security     Agency      awarded
contracts worth  $190,000,000.00
for 50,000  FSVS  (Future  Voice
Secure      System)      STU-III
telephones. The  phones  provide
digital  voice   encryption   so
anyone  else  listening  on  the
line hears 'mumbo jumbo' instead
of your conversation!

(1)....3M Canada of London, Ont.
now    offers    VDL     (Vision
Development Language) with a  PC
(or  compatible)  Vision  System
which includes cameras, monitors
and computers. The system adds a
68020 or 68030  coprocessor,  an
image digitizer/framestore board
and the VDL to allow the  PC  to
be  used   to   do   inspection,
process   control   or   quality
checking.

(1)....Infotron Canada sells the
NX4600   high-capacity   network
exchange that supports up to  96
high speed links per node or  as
many as 4000 local channels. The
exchange allows up to 64  NX4600
nodes to interconnect  within  a
single integrated network.

(1)....Air     Canada      spent
$10,000,000.00  to  purchase   a
Honeywell Bull DPS-90  mainframe
computer  system   to   maintain
records       on        aircraft
serviceability  and  parts  from
over 1000 terminals worldwide.

(1)....ORACLE  (On-line  Records
Access    Computer    for    Law
Enforcement)   is   coming    to
St.Catharines area. Running on 2
DEC  VAX  8250  computers,   the
software  will  interface   with
CPIC      (Canadian       Police
Information Centre) and by  1988
provide computer aided  dispatch
and direct voice-entry!

(1)....Union  Gas  has  retained
Utility   Graphics   Consultants
(UGC) of Mississauga  to  locate
an   automated    mapping    and
facilities  management   system.
It'll have to cope with  500,000
customers in a 12,500sq.mi. area
and over 10,000mi. of pipeline!

(1)....dBase III Plus topped the
national best  seller  list  for
software   again   this   month.
Second  place  went   to   1-2-3
(again), third to  WORD  (again)
and  fourth  to   WORD   PERFECT
(again).

(1)....Terence Ram, former owner
of  a  Toronto  software  retail
store was sentenced to 5  months
in prison  for  selling  illegal
copies  of  software.  This   is
believed to be  the  first  jail
term  accompanying  a   software
piracy conviction in Canada.

(1)....IBM    and    NEC    have
announced 4Mb  RAM  chips.  They
can store  about  400  pages  of
double spaced  typewritten  text
in each one!  Volume  production
is  expected  by  1991.  In  the
design stage now,  both  at  IBM
and in Japan, are the  16Mb  RAM
devices!

<<<<<<<<<  HARDWARE  >>>>>>>>>>

(1)....KODAK is now  advertising
their  new  3.3,  6.6  and  12Mb
flexible media disk drives using
Verbatim media. Not bad  storage
for a 'floppy', eh?

(1)....Tandon's   new   PORTABLE
30Mb 3.5in.  hard  disk  (called
Personal Data Pac)  attaches  to
your PC by  shielded  cable.  It
weighs   2.5lb   and    measures
7"X4.75" by 2.5in.  Tandon  says
you can drop, shake or  jolt  it
without harming the mechanism or
the media!

(1)....Prime   Computer's    new
supermini, the 6350 runs at 11.8
Million Instructions Per  Second
(MIPS)! Its main memory capacity
is 64Mb and it can support up to
64 disk  drives  with  770Mb  of
storage     on      EACH!      A
dual-processor   version,    the
6550, is said  to  run  at  21.8
MIPS!

(1)....Zykor    Technology    of
Toronto will sell you their  ANO
386 PC for under $4000.00! It is
said to be 4 times  faster  than
the  IBM  PC/AT  but  completely
hardware      and       software
compatible. Check it out at  ANO
Automation in Markham.

(1).... Image Management Systems
Inc. of Calgary has  the  Office
Archiver 2000 for your  WANG  VS
system.   The   system    allows
storage    of    up    to    1Gb
(1,000,000,000 bytes) of data on
a  single  optical   disk.   The
device is a Write Once Read Many
(WORM) drive that uses removable
platters (like your CD records).

<<<<<<<<<  SOFTWARE  >>>>>>>>>>

(1)....PARYS is a  new  software
family from  BELL  CANADA  (yep,
the    'phone    people     sell
software!).     It     is     an
expert-system based product that
automates    a     number     of
administrative tasks,  including
assessing               employee
qualifications and  performance.
Operating   systems    supported
include MS-DOS,  concurrent  DOS
and   most    UNIX.    Computers
(minimum 512K  RAM,  10Mb  disk)
supported   include    PC/XT/AT,
Apricot and Wang.

(1)....HARVARD      PRESENTATION
GRAPHICS  is  now  available  in
French from Software  Publishing
Corp. (Toronto) for $579.00.

--------------------------------

<<<<<<<<  REFERENCES  >>>>>>>>>

(1) Data Product News
        June 1987