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Newsbytes - International Computing Industry News 1994 Edition - May 1983 - June 1994 - Wayzata Technologies (5045) (1994).iso
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[***][4/29/86][***]
NO GRASS GROWS UNDER WOZ'S FEET:
The irrepressible Steve Wozniak has quietly invested $3 million in
a new Shoreline Ampitheater in Mountain View, Ca., a facility
now being built and scheduled for a June 29 opening. The music
theater is being primarily financed by Bill Graham Enterprises,
which previously joined Woz for the ill-fated US Festival. Woz
told THE SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER that part of the deal is that he
can use the ampitheater twice a year. "I don't want to do
anything like the US Festival," he said. "I'd rather do
something nice, more along the lines of the free concerts held
in Golden Gate Park during the 1960's." He may also offer the
site for an Apple employee picnic.
Wozniak's new alliance with Bill Graham indicates he's put aside
their previous hostilities. In 1982, Woz called the rock promoter
"an awful person to work with" while Graham returned the fire with
"Wozniak has talent, but he's a wealthy, lucky simpleton."
This news broke Friday, April 25, one day after Wozniak backed
out of a deal to merge his company CL9 with Nolan Bushnell's
Axlon, Inc. While lawyers for the pair are still negotiating,
both Wozniak and Bushnell reportedly spent part of the week
together in Sunnyvale and San Francisco, and have scheduled
more meetings for next week. Wozniak pulled out of the merger
earlier this week after refusing to comply with Bushnell's
condition that he invest $1.5 million in Axlon. "I found
out that all he wanted was my money," said Wozniak, who told
THE SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS that he believes Bushnell's company
is in financial trouble.
CONTACT: TOM ZITO, VP MARKETING, AXLON, 1287 Lawrence Station
Road, Sunnyvale, Ca. 94089 408/745-1110
[***][4/29/86][***]
VICTOR PRESIDENT QUITS IN DISPUTE:
Just as Victor Technologies is preparing a rebirth in the U.S.
market, its president and CEO, Eric Haas, has quit in a dispute
with the company's parent, Datatronics AB of Sweden. Haas,
who became CEO of the Scotts Valley, Ca. company 14 months ago, says
he took the job on the condition that he would be able to buy the
company from Datatronics once it became profitable. Now
it is profitable; Haas put Datatronics to their word; but the
Swedish company, he implies, has suddenly experienced a memory loss.
"It's a disappointment for me that (Victor Chairman) Mats
Gabrielsson thinks highly enough of the company now to keep
it," said a highly miffed Haas.
The official press release quotes Gabrielsson as saying that
Haas "did a tremendous job in turning Victor around."
Meanwhile, Victor has announced the industry's first money-back
guarantee if buyers of its computer products aren't satisfied.
The 30-day "no questions asked" promotion is effective
immediately for the AT-compatible V286 and the VPC II, an
XT compatible.
[***][4/29/86][***]
APPLE'S NEW VENTURE FUND:
Starting May 5, Apple will begin entertaining business plans from
entrepreneurs who wish to get seed money through a "less than $20
million" new Apple Ventures fund. Apple is eyeing new software
and hardware products that emphasize graphics, telecommunications,
artificial intelligence and CD ROM technology, according to Dan
Eilers, GM of Apple's Strategic Investment and Corporate
Development Group. He says he's received 300 inquiries to date.
When all is decided, only 5 firms will be funded in the program's
first year.
Meanwhile, John Sculley, speaking to analysts April 23, said
his company has purchased proprietary software from Cadmus
Computer Systems of Lowell, Ma. which will be used in long-term
development of Macintoshes.
CONTACT: (on former story) Dan Eilers, APPLE COMPUTER, 408-996-1010
[***][4/29/86][***]
MORE APPLE "LEAKS":
A Macintosh code-named "Milwaukee" is under development at Apple,
which hopes to release the machine by the fall, according to
NEWSBYTES sources. The "open" Mac, based on the 68020 chip, is
said to be faster than even the Macintosh 512K Enhanced and is
being rushed into development to meet the fall deadline. That's
also about the same time Apple hopes to release a newer, faster
version of the Apple II.
[***][4/29/86][***]
SOFTWARE INDUSTRY UPDATE:
According to "Softletter", America's top 100 software companies
sold $1,046,025,000 (more than ONE BILLION) in programs last
year with more than 2/3rds of the sales going to the top 10
companies (in order they are Lotus, Microsoft, Ashton-Tate,
DRI, MicroPro, Software Publishing, Borland, Autodesk, Broderbund,
and Satellite Software International. That does tell you something
about who's making money, doesn't it?
CONTACT: Jeffrey Tartar, SOFTLETTER, 1679 Massachusetts Ave.,
Cambridge, MA. 02138 617/868-0157
Meanwhile, InfoCorp reports the largest-selling program in the
business is Lotus 1-2-3, capturing 14% of the February sales
pie while Appleworks is #2 with 7%. Tied for third place are
Microsoft Word, PFS/Write, Word Perfect, Print Shop, dBase III
and Excel.
CONTACT: INFOCORP, 20833 Stevens Creek Blvd., Cupertino, Ca.
95014 408/973-1010
Meanwhile, Bernard Goldstein, a partner in Broadview Associates
of Fort Lee, New Jersey, is keeping tabs on mergers in the software
and service industries. He says the first 3 months of 1986 have
produced 75 mergers and acquisitions compared to 203 in all of
1985.
CONTACT: BROADVIEW ASSOCIATES, Linwood Avenue, Fort Lee, NJ
201/461-7929
[***][4/29/86][***]
BUT THIS MERGER DIDN'T HAPPEN:
The proposed merger of Koala Technologies Corp. and Summagraphics
has gotten nasty indeed. At the January AppleWorld Conference,
press releases were issued about the merger of the two touch-pad
companies, but since then things have soured dramatically.
Summagraphics has decided to withdraw from the merger, claiming
there have been "material adverse changes" in the alliance
which has "diminished the attractiveness of Koala." Koala
isn't chewing eucalyptus meanwhile, having decided to sue the
larger company to go through with the wedding. Koala wants
300,000 shares of Summagraphics, $25 million in cash, and
charges Summagraphics with breach of contract. Further, the
koalas worry that trade secrets have been stolen by its
former benefactor-turned-competitor.
CONTACT: KOALA TECHNOLOGIES, 2065 Junction Ave., San Jose,
Ca. 408/435-8883
Robert Sims, General Counsel, SUMMAGRAPHICS,
Fairfield, Connecticut 203/384-1344
[***][4/29/86][***]
GRID WINS POSTAL CONTRACT:
GRiD Systems of Mountain View, Ca. has won a contract to
supply the US Postal Service with 1,800 portable computers,
a deal worth an estimated $5 million. The postal
auditors who collect information on mail volume, cost and
revenue, will get battery-operated GridCase3 computers.
CONTACT: GRID SYSTEMS, 2535 Garcia Avenue, Mountain View,
Ca. 94043 415/961-4800
[***][4/29/86][***]
FINANCIAL UPDATES:
This week, several more flowed in. Zenith Electronics, despite
its win of two lucrative government contracts, posted a loss of
$4.4 million for the first quarterof 1986. The company
attributes the loss to its consumer electronics division but
says revenues for computer systems were up 18%.
Fortune Systems reported a profit of $345,000 for the first
quarter, termed "a significant improvement" (understatement)
over its $3 MILLION loss this time last year.
[***][4/29/86][***]
IN BRIEF--
DATA GENERAL, which operates a semiconductor plant in Sunnyvale,
fired 75 of its 325 workers, blaming the layoff on a change
in the plant from production to design.
ATARI says its first mass-merchandiser for the Atari ST will be
TOYS R US, the nation's largest toy retailer. Look for the
STs to show up in the toy stores next month, according to Atari's
Michael Katz. (Try THAT ON for support!)
MICRORIM runs a special promotion through June 30th. Buy one
package of R:base 5000 and get a second one free. For dealers
call 206-885-2000.
HERCULES COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY has announced a $50 end-user rebate
program for the Hercules Graphics and Color cards. The rebate
is effective through August 31.
If you see ACTIVISION products being promoted at your local
software store, it may be due to the company's newest promotion.
Activision is offering cash prizes and a chance at a big
grand prize for stores which promote and demonstrate Activision
products to a "Mystery Shopper" who could pop in at any
time...
OSBORNE COMPUTER inventory is sold off at the former company's
headquarters--42680 Christy Street, Fremont, Ca.--on April 29.
The sale starts at 10 AM. Deja Vu, anyone?
MICROSOFT has decided to stop direct shipment of its software
to South Africa and has terminated its relationship with its
local distributor. Says the press release, "The government's
insistence on their Apartheid policy forces us to take the
final option."
[***][4/29/86][***]
TWO TIMELY PRODUCTS:
MICROPROSE SOFTWARE of Hunt Valley, Md. says its "F-15 Strike
Eagle" game includes LIBYA as one of its seven possible
targets. The firm spent $20,000 on a NEW YORK TIMES ad
last Sunday, asking, "The World in Conflict..What Would You
Do?" The program has since jumped from 15th to 5th place
on BILLBOARD's entertainment software bestseller list.
FAUX SYSTEMS of Sunnyvale has a cheap alternative to a
cellular phone. Called "Celular Phoney", the $9.95 kit
includes a cardboard phone, antenna, and a manual. Says
a company spokesman, "The depressing situation in Silicon
Valley need not deprive executives of an important
status symbol."
[***][4/29/86][***]
INSIDE THE COMPUTONE SHAKE-UP: CHAIRMAN QUITS *EXCLUSIVE*
Jay Rosovsky, chairman of Atlanta's largest surviving computer
store chain, Computone Systems Inc., resigned suddenly on
April 23, a week after reporting a third consecutive quarter of
losses for the firm, which runs the Future Information Systems
chain.
A Computone press release said Bill Robeson, the former chairman
who'd brought the company back in 1969 from the brink of
disaster, only to watch technology take away his insurance-sales
timesharing business in the early 80s, was returned as chairman.
Rosovsky came to Computone in 1983 when he sold his Albany, NY-
based "The Computer Room" chain to Computone for stock. Robeson
and his board met all day Wednesday after Rosovsky was apparently
out-manuevered.
What with Nynex' recent takeover of IBM's Product Centers, last
year's failure of ComputerLand of Atlanta, this year's Chapter 11
filing by Micro Mart Inc., the three quarters of losses, and the
prospect of more trouble, Computone directors must have felt
boxed-in. The new-old chairman, Mr. Robeson, has no experience in
computer retailing. VP Ed Ramos, who like Mr. Rosovsky sold his
computer store chain ("Future Systems", New York, NY) for
Computone stock, remains, but he left town right after the board
meeting and could not be reached for comment. Mr. Robeson also
declined to comment on plans for the company, which could be
sold. The upshot is leadership in the Southeast computer market
has undergone almost a complete turnover in just one year. The
new "dean" of computer chain managers here, John Grambo of
Inacomp, was brought in from California last summer.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "Somebody's going to make money in this
market," said Mr. Grambo.
CONTACT: Ann Mason, COMPUTONE, 1 Dunwoody Pl., Atlanta, GA 30329
(404) 393-3010
[***][4/29/86][***]
SPECTRAFAX CORP. $3,995 COLOR SCANNER
Down in Naples, FL, opposite Miami on the Gulf Coast of Florida,
Robert Lee's 2-year old Spectrafax Corp. thinks it has a winner
in the Spectrafax 200, a $3,995 graphics scanner originally
targeted for the graphic arts industry. Doug Allen of Spectrafax
has seen all this before; he was with Quadram at their start-up 4
years ago. He says it's been a typical fast-jump growth curve
since then, with "people doing two jobs at once," but that artists are
not the people buying the machine, as the marketing people had
expected. "Manufacturers are using it to scan drawings of parts.
People are putting manuals on floppy disks with it. One guy is
selling space on an IBM PC in a hotel lobby to local restaurants.
He scans in their regular ads and displays them," Allen said, his
belief in the users reconfirmed.
Mr. Allen thinks an article in "Infoworld" claiming color
scanners are limited by bad color output was a cheap-shot. It
isn't a problem for him. "I've gotten some beautiful output from
Biflyx thermal transfer printers, and acceptable output from
Quadjet inkjet color printers," he said. The Spectrafax 200 will
be on display at Comdex in the Z-Soft booth, #2728.
CONTACT: Doug Allen, SPECTRAFAX, 2000 Palm St. South, Naples, FL
33962 (813) 775-2737
[***][4/29/86][***]
COLOR, RAM, AND MORE FROM BOCA RESEARCH MEMEK BOARD
The second product from 18-month old Boca Research is called
Memek. It's a combination graphics-RAM board which offers both
color and monochrome and all the RAM you want, plus game, serial,
and parallel ports. And it's made in the USA. The company's first
product, called Top Hat, was a RAM card which brought IBM PC
memory up to the 640K "barrier". (How quaint that seems now.)
CONTACT: Pamela Holly, BOCA RESEARCH, 6401 Congress Avenue, Boca
Raton, FL 33431 (305) 997-6227
[***][4/29/86][***]
BATON ROUGE COMPANY MAKES A LOGICAL CONNECTION
Here's another entry under hot products from who-knows-where.
"The Logical Connection" is an I/O expander which can link up to
270 devices and offers buffering. "It's a board with software in
ROM," says a spokesman. "There are 8 programmable ports, 2
parallel in and 2 parallel out. You can tie in a printer up to
3/4 of a mile away on a single twisted pair out of this box."
Salesman Greg Ellison says the phones at their Seal Beach, CA
sales office have been "ringing off the hook" since the first ads
were placed last Monday. The price is $295. And it's made in Baton
Rouge, LA. The same company makes Fastback, a $179 backup
utility...they claim to have punched a hole bigger than a .22
calibre slug right through a diskette produced with Fastback and
recovered all data from it, thanks to its error correction
algorithm.
CONTACT: Greg Ellison, 5TH GENERATION SYSTEMS, 7942 Picardy Ave.,
Baton Rouge, LA 70809 (504) 767-0075
[***][4/29/86][***]
DISK CACHING MOVES PCRG FROM LAPTOP TO DESKTOP
Personal Computer Research Group Inc. of Dallas, the makers of
Write ROM and Lucid (a ROM spreadsheet) have been known as laptop
software specialists since 1983. They've entered the IBM PC
desktop market with Lightning, a software-based accelerator
program. "It's a disk caching system," says salesman Charley
Thompson. "It works like a RAM disk but performs all writes
immediately." It's also priced a la Borland: $49.95 for a copy-
protected version, $89.95 unprotected.
CONTACT: Charles Thompson, PCRG, 11035 Harry Hines Blvd., Suite
206, Dallas, TX 75229 (214) 351-0564.
[***][4/29/86][***]
INNOVATIVE SOFTWARE SELLS STOCK, MAKES MONEY
One more piece of financial news, and it's no bummer. Innovative
Software of Lenaxa, KS, makers of Smart Software, turned a profit
for the quarter ended March 31. $718,963, 35 cents per share, was
netted on revenues of $3.627 million (bringing the 9 months
totals up to $1.889 million, 97 cents per share, net income, on
$9.044 million in sales). It made them so happy they filed an SEC
registration to sell 700,000 new shares, 200,000 from insiders,
through Bear, Stearns & Co. and Stern Brothers & Co.
CONTACT: Paul Bruski, INNOVATIVE SOFTWARE, 9875 Widmer Rd.,
Lenaxa, KA 66215 (913) 492-3800
[***][4/29/86][***]
COMDEX PREVIEW
...QUADRAM...COMSELL...PARTIES
QUADRAM AT COMDEX *EXCLUSIVE*
Quadram will announce a color version of its Datavue 25 laptop
computer at Comdex Monday, NEWSBYTES has learned. Well, actually,
the computer will still have a monochrome screen, but you can get
the box in any color you want. The PC-compatible also features a
3-pound take-away keyboard with its own memory and 8-line screen
called the KeyStyle 80, a 6-pound, $300 portable printer called
the WriteStyle 80, and a lower price than the recently-announced
IBM Convertible. A new division, Datavue Technical Systems, will
handle the manufacturing. General Manager Joe Maroney will also
show off the Datavue 8612, a "computer on a board" which emulates
the IBM PC XT and will sell for $626, quantity 50. It claims to
be 60% faster than a PC AT -- you supply the chassis.
For the techies, there will also be controversy galore as Quadram
reps try to explain why Intel's and AST's over 640K EMS and EEMS
specs aren't compatible (AST says they are, Quadram offers both
standards on its EMS+ board, IBM says getting over the 640K limit
is a "priority" in future enhancements to DOS). Plus there will be
the already-announced enhancements to Quadprinters, QuadNets, and
the rest of the QuadLine. For the financial report readers, ISC
president Leland Strange said the company broke even for the year
-- last year it had a profit of $1.8 million. There will,
however, be no liquor served at any QuadFunctions. (IBM didn't
give in on this until a few years ago, you should QuadKnow.)
CONTACT: Jane Bator, CAM GROUP, 7643 Shackleford Rd., Norcross,
GA 30093 (404) 925-7643
COMSELL DOES COMDEX (Peachtree founder back on show floor)
Ben Dyer was last seen at Comdex with Peachtree Software 5 years
ago. This spring another of his progeny reaches the big floor--
Comsell. The company, which has been trying to sell videodisk-
based selling systems for years, wants to show off its latest
acquisitions, DiskAmerica and Digital Controls' former Video
Group, an educational videodisk programmer. Mr. Dyer returned to
Peachtree as chairman last year when it was acquired by Quad-
parent Intelligent Systems Corp.
CONTACT: Ben Dyer, COMSELL, 500 Tech Parkway, Atlanta, GA 30313
(404) 872-2500
IT AIN'T VEGAS, BUT...(Comdex Atlanta preview)
The Interface Group says it hopes to pull 40,000 into Atlanta
starting Monday April 28 for its fifth Spring Comdex Show. For
the computers, check NEWSBYTES/BULLETINS elsewhere in this issue.
What they won't tell you about (even later) is Barbara Mandrell
Tuesday night at the Fox Theater (the 4,000-seat former Shrine
Temple with lights that dim like sunset in Shrine Arabia), the
Temptations at the Marriott Marquis (a 50-story atrium done in
Vegas Red on the inside -- on the outside it looks like an office
building with a beer belly) or fancy doings at the Mansion (a
converted home featuring haute cuisine), the Omni International
(CNN News' studio move into the atrium later this year), or the
TWO Ritz-Carltons (Atlantans bought the name and did it RIGHT,
service-wise). All free to the press (and proven customers) to
win friends and influence people (which it won't, no sir.) It
ain't Las Vegas, only the second-largest such dealer show on the
Interface Group (Shelly Adelson Grand Prix Walk-a-thon Circuit)
schedule. But the good news is the city's grown big enough to
hold everyone who shows, and the dealers all know where they're
going (some even ride MARTA)...this is the Spring Comdex you
won't read about anywhere else.
If anyone asks, we're all hard at work.
CONTACT: Julie Northcutt, Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau
233 Peachtree St., NE Atlanta, GA 30303 (404) 521-6600.
[***][4/29/86][***]
JURY SAYS CANDLE DIDN'T INFRINGE ON B&B PATENT
Candle Corporation, a Los Angeles firm sued by Boole & Babbage
Inc. for software patent infringement, has been cleared by a
federal court jury. B&B, a Sunnyvale-based manufacturer of
software for IBM computers, had sued Candle in 1982 over a
program that measures computer system performance. A B&B
attorney says the firm intends to appeal the verdict.
[***][4/29/86][***]
MARSHALL INDUSTRIES IN THE (JAPANESE) CHIPS
"If you asked our competitors about us, they'd say we are
turncoats, or carpetbaggers, or un-American," says Gordon
Marshall in the May 5th issue of FORBES. Marshall, by the way,
is chairman of Marshall Industries of El Monte, the nation's
largest distributor of Japanese-made semiconductor products.
Asked by the magazine how he got into such a profitable, albeit
unpopular, business, Marshall claims that companies like
Motorola, National Semiconductor and Intel refused to sell chips
to his firm in quantity. Enter Hitachi, Fujitsu and NEC. "We
were the only game in town for them, and they were the only game
in town for us," says Marshall. Is Marshall's company annoyed
by trade restrictions imposed by the U.S. on Japanese chips (see
NEWSBYTES-WASHINGTON)? Hardly. "Our margins will stay pretty
much the same. The ultimate consumer will just pay more, which
will lead to more offshore production," says Marshall's CFO,
David Zertuche. Gordon Marshall's family fortune, courtesy of
Japan's trade practices, is estimated at $13.4 million.
[***][4/29/86][***]
SILICON SYSTEMS REBOUNDS, CUBIC CORP. DROPS THE BALL
Silicon Systems of Tustin has announced a $105,000 profit for
its second quarter, ended March 29. That's compared to the
company's first-quarter results, which showed a $2.4-million
loss. During the second three months of its fiscal year,
Silicon Systems shipped the highest unit volume of semiconductor
chips in the firm's history. "We will stay keenly focused on
productivity and on the profitability that can be achieved by
that focus," said president Carmelo Santoro.
Meanwhile, San Diego-based Cubic Corp. says earnings were down
in its second quarter, but hasn't released the hard numbers to
the media yet. The electronics and technology development firm
said the decline was due to cost overruns in two contracts in
its simulation systems division. "It's just a temporary
setback," said president Walter Zable.
[***][4/29/86][***]
THE COMPUTER SHOW GOES LIVE IN L.A.
On Tuesday at 6:59 p.m., KSCI-TV Channel 18 was broadcasting
Spanish-language programming. At 8:01 p.m., the small Westside
UHF channel was offering an Asian travel documentary, in Korean.
Between those programs, The Computer Show found a new home at
the station. Unfortunately, what most viewers heard discussed
probably sounded like Greek. The computer-related television
program, which features big-name computer industry guests, a
live call-in segment, and news reports from NEWSBYTES, was a
jargon-lover's delight. Guests, including Bill Gates of
Microsoft and Tim Bajarian of Creative Strategies, opined about
"bit-mapped graphics" and "laser engines," despite host Victoria
Smith and correspondent Kevin Strehlo's attempts to legislate
English as the show's official language. After the broadcast,
KSCI broke out the plastic champagne flutes to toast the
station's latest acquisition, but one elderly KSCI management
employee nearly missed the first round of drinks...he had dozed
off during Gates' demonstration of Microsoft Word 3. Ah, show
business! The Computer Show can also be seen, live, Tuesdays on
Channel 48 in San Diego, soon on Channel 26 in the San Francisco
area and, edited to a half-hour, on the Financial News Network
cable channels Saturdays at 9:30 a.m. Pacific time.
CONTACT: The Computer Show, P.O. Box 210051, San Jose, CA 95151
(408) 923-3917
[***][4/29/86][***]
MICROSOFT ARMING LASERS? *** E X C L U S I V E ***
Huddling with Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft, after last
week's edition of The Computer Show, selected industry insiders
and NEWSBYTES-LOS ANGELES heard "the chairman" say: "No, forget
floppy disks. All you need is RAM and CD-ROM. That's it.
Everything else will be obsolete." Gates, who excitedly rocked
back and forth on his heels and fingered a glass of champagne as
he spoke, went on to say that Microsoft is also developing
desktop publishing products and is taking that market very
seriously. From Microsoft's mouth to IBM's ear? We'll see, but
don't junk that box of diskettes and your trusty X-acto knife
just yet.
[***][4/29/86][***]
AFI BEAMS DOWN RODDENBERRY
"Tools of the Trade: Computers in the Entertainment Industry" is
the title of a lecture series sponsored by the American Film
Institute (AFI) that gets underway on Thursday. The keynote
speaker will be Gene Roddenberry, the creator of "Star Trek."
The three-day conference is being held at the AFI campus in
Hollywood (natch), and will feature producer/director Sean
Cunningham, Roddenberry and cinematographer David Samuelson,
among others, discoursing on the uses of high-tech equipment in
their industry. The price is $80 for AFI members, and $100 for
non-members. But, thrown into that $100 charge is a
"complimentary" one-year Institute membership, so AFI will be
able to live long and prosper.
CONTACT: AFI, Public Service Programs, 2021 N. Western Ave.,
Los Angeles, CA 90027 (213) 856-7690
[***][4/29/86][***]
BANKS GIVE PNEUMATIC TUBES THE SHAFT
One seldom-chronicled casualty of the computer industry is the
drive-through window at local banks. According to the LOS
ANGELES BUSINESS JOURNAL, drive-through lanes are practically
extinct, forced out of their niche by Automated Teller Machines
(ATMs). "A drive-through window is becoming a bit of an
antique, I think," said Margaret Merritt of Lloyds Bank in Los
Angeles. As those pneumatic tube systems join the ranks of the
Ectopistes migratorius and paper-tape storage, the LABJ recalled
when Great American First Savings Bank opened its first drive-
through lane; A carload of reporters watched as the bank's PR
director reached for the plastic vacuum tube cannister, only to
find it stolen. "I'll still show you how it works," he
exclaimed, pulling his car keys out of the ignition and tossing
them into the tube opening. The system sucked up the keyring,
promptly broke down, and the reporters, along with the red-faced
public relations man, were stuck in Great American's underground
parking garage until repairmen arrived. And they say we have
all the fun covering the computer industry?
[***][4/29/86][***]
BEACHBITS
>>> Microcomputer Memories of Chatsworth has filed for Chapter
11 protection under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The once
high-flying hard disk-drive manufacturer has been on the
ropes for months.
>>> Rexon Inc. of Culver City has withdrawn its plan to offer
$1.25-million-worth of common stock. Managers said the
initial offering price was too low.
>>> Charlton Associates of Irvine has been bought by Xidex
Corp. of Santa Clara. The terms were not announced.
>>> Computer Peripherals Inc. of Newbury Park has opened a
65,000-square-foot plant in Singapore. The new facility
will produce IBM-compatible enhancement boards.
>>> Quotron Systems, the target of recent takeover action by
Citicorp, had a profitable first quarter. The firm posted
net income of $6.09 million on revenues of $55.4 million, a
14-percent increase.
>>> Local high-tech specialists Simon/McGarry Public Relations
is the third-largest PR firm in the Los Angeles area,
according to the LOS ANGELES BUSINESS JOURNAL. On top of
the heap is the Rogers & Cowan organization. Simon/McGarry
represents clients like Hewlett-Packard, Fujitsu, Hitachi
and Citizen America. Rogers & Cowen reps Ford Motor
Company, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, Paul Newman and Joan
Collins. Any arguments about that ranking?
[***][4/29/86][***]
NYNEX BUYS IBM PRODUCT CENTERS:
Two years after the breakup of the Bell Systems, the "Baby Bells"
are becoming more and more aggressive as they branch out into new
businesses far afield from providing telephone service. This week
Nynex, the New York City-based Northeast Bell operating company,
suddenly became the third-largest computer retailer in the U.S.
(after Businessland and Sears Roebuck Computer Centers). They did
this by buying out all 81 IBM Products Centers in 33 states.
Nynex, which also operates New England Telephone and New York
Telephone, will combine the IBM Product Centers with their 21
Northeast Datago Business Centers to form Nynex Business Centers,
a wholly company-owned chain with 102 stores.
Terms of the sales weren't announced, but industry analysts
estimate that Nynex paid between $150 million and $200 million
for the IBM Product Centers. Though an IBM spokesperson gave the
usual PR hype about how the sale proved how effective IBM's
marketing is, insiders say that IBM wasn't doing very well with their
Product Centers because of list-price selling and the inability
for potential customers to compare other brands.
The sale sent shock waves through the hard-pressed computer
retail industry, especially the decreasing number of privately-
owned stores. NEWSBYTES spoke with several computer store owners,
all of whom declined to be identified. There was general
agreement that Nynex's move is the death knell for "Mom and Pop"
computer stores. And there was anger too. "How can I compete with
the telephone company?" said one owner. He added an opinion that
Nynex could easily be able to lose substantial amounts of money
on the stores, because they "can always take funds from their
government-regulated telephone business." There was also a
general prognosis that Nynex will be offering substantial
discounts off the retail prices of the 12 brands of computer
equipment they carry. For Nynex's part, a company spokesperson
had no comments on specific plans.
[***][4/29/86][***]
AT&T CUTS PRICES:
First IBM cut prices, followed closely by Compaq and ITT. Now,
AT&T Information Systems has joined the crowd and cut prices on
their personal computers. And their cuts were substantial. In
summary:
-- The Model 6300 with a 10-megabyte hard disks was reduced to
$3220 from $4420, a 27% decrease.
-- The 6300 with 20-megabyte hard disk was cut 37%, going from
$35420 to $3420.
-- The 6300 Plus with 20-megabyte hard disk had the smallest
price cut (14%), going from $6320 to $5420.
Do the prices cuts have anything to do with IBM's cuts? "No
comment."
AT&T also introduced several new peripherals for the 6300 series:
-- A 60-megabyte tape cartridge backup unit (price to be
announced).
-- A 2-megabyte RAM expansion board (price also to be announced).
-- The AT&T 477 printer. Retailing for $1695, it's a high-speed
dot-matrix unit with a wide carriage and both draft and near-
letter-quality modes.
-- Twelve new applications programs that run on the 6300 series
under Unix.
-- AT&T also entered the "desktop publishing" field with the PC
Image Director, a $2885 system that includes a page scanner,
high-resolution monitor and graphics board, and special software.
CONTACT: AT&T Information Systems, 100 Southgate Plaza,
Morristown, NJ 07960, 201-898-3278
[***][4/29/86][***]
LOTUS SHOWS HAL:
At a meeting of the Boston Computer Society last Tuesday night,
Lotus representatives, as rumored, showed a raptly-attentive
audience a preview of HAL -- Lotus' "natural language" interface
to 1-2-3. The product, which Lotus says will work with both
releases of 1-2-3, adds a line with a "Request?" prompt
underneath the 1-2-3 menu. Users can then type in a plain English
requests such as "graph this spreadsheet" or "sort by territory".
The program highlights words it doesn't understand, and "learns"
as it goes along.
Comments from attendees were favorable, especially regarding
HAL's extremely-fast response. There were still many questions
left unanswered though. Lotus wouldn't say how much HAL will
cost, or when it'll be shipped, though a Lotus product manager
said to not expect it before fall. He also added that the name
may change by the time it's shipped. Finally, Lotus said that
because HAL is intimately linked to the proprietary internal
structure of 1-2-3, it will NOT work with any of the numerous 1-
2-3 clones now flooding the market.
CONTACT: Lotus Development, 55 Cambridge Parkway, Cambridge, MA
02142, 617-577-8500
[***][4/29/86][***]
THE FINANCIAL SCOREBOARD:
It was a week of many financial announcements about how good (or
bad) the last quarter was for Northeast-based companies. Here's
the summary:
-- DEC continued their suddenly-meteoric rise. Though revenues
rose a small amount from 1.7 billion to 1.9 billion, DEC's
earnings increased a whopping 86% from $91.6 million to $170.3
million. And DEC's stock continues to rise. It's doubled since
last summer and has increased over 14 points in the last week.
-- Wang Laboratories saw substantial increases as well. Revenues
for the quarter rose about 25% to $685.3 million; and earnings
rose about the same percentage to $21.4 million. But analysts
aren't happy; Wang's order rate for the next quarter is down.
-- Data General's revenues and earning both fell. Revenues for
the quarter were $318.8 million, compared to $320.2 a year ago.
The company lost $1.8 million in earnings as compared to last
year's gain of $9.1 million. DG president Edson de Castro said
there's a continuing downturn in the industry and commented that
"we must remain cautious."
-- Prime Computer saw its earnings fall 23% to $9.25 million, as
compared with $11.95 last year. Revenues, however, were up --
from $175.81 million to $196.82 million.
-- Both revenues and earning were down at Compugraphic. Revenues
fell to $86.93 million from $107.46 millions; earnings were down
to $1.22 million compared to $5.47 million.
-- At engineering workstation maker Apollo Computer, revenues
($82.02 million) were nearly identical to a year ago; but
earnings fell nearly 93% to $539,000 from $8.85 million a year
ago.
-- Stamford, CT-based Xerox Corporation saw its earnings fall
21% from $127.3 million to $101.8 million. Revenues were up 5%
to 2.13 billion.
[***][4/29/86][***]
COMPUTER CONSOLES GETS INTO COMPUTERS:
Computer Consoles Incorporated (CCI), which has executive offices
near Boston and everything else in Rochester, NY -- introduced a
new line of minicomputers this week at Boston's newly-opened
waterfront World Trade Center. The company, best known for its
computerized telephone directory assistance systems, is
aggressively going after the minicomputer market under the helm
of its president John Cunningham, who until last fall was
president of Wang Laboratories. CCI's Power 6 line of computers
is priced from $105,000 to $290,000; and Cunningham is confident
that because CCI is a relatively small company ($112 million
sales last year), it can compete much more quickly and
effectively than huge companies like DEC and Wang. Cunningham
says CCI only need to sell about $35 million worth of the new
systems this year to break even, and says he can do it "in a few
weeks." Time will tell.
CONTACT: Computer Consoles Inc., 97 Humbolt St., Rochester, NY
14609, 716-482-5000
[***][4/29/86][***]
NCR UNVEILS MULTIPROCESSOR SYSTEM:
Speaking of larger computer systems, multiprocessor systems seem
to be the order of the day. This week in New York, NCR introduced
the 9800 series of minicomputers, which link several 32-bit
processor chips together using a high-speed bus. In a rather
unique setup, users of the system can get more power simply by
adding additional processors to the bus. NCR is confident that
the multiprocessor technology will keep them going "well into the
'90s," though industry analysts say the company will have a tough
time shoehorning its way into IBM's entrenched user base. Prices
for the 9800, which will be shipped late this year, range between
$41,220 and $340,580.
CONTACT: NCR Corporation, 1700 South Patterson Blvd., Dayton, OH
45479, 513-445-5000
[***][4/29/86][***]
JAVELIN OFFERS TRIAL VERSION:
Still trying to gain market share from cross-town arch-rival
Lotus Development, Cambridge, MA-based Javelin Software is
offering a trial version of their unique spreadsheet-like
product. Available for $19.95, the trial version of Javelin
contains all the features of the full package and lets you build
a limited-size financial model. Three disks and a user's guide
are included, and Javelin is actually encouraging purchasers to
copy and distribute both the disks and manual.
CONTACT: Javelin Software, One Kendall Square - Bldg 200,
Cambridge, MA 02139, 1-800-JAVELIN
[***][4/29/86][***]
NEC TO MAKE HARD DRIVES IN U.S.:
In a move the company says will insulate it from delivery
problems from Japan, NEC Information Systems will start
manufacturing its high-capacity hard-disk drives at a new
facility in Massachusetts. The company has started construction
on a new plant next to corporate headquarters in Boxborough, MA.
The plant will manufacture 8 and 9-inch hard drives for
minicomputers with capacities ranging from 168 to 800 megabytes.
Last year, NEC sold some 180,000 of the Japanese-manufactured
drives in the U.S.
CONTACT: NEC Information Systems, 1414 Massachusetts Avenue,
Boxborough, MA 01719, 617-264-8000
[***][4/29/86][***]
DEBUT OF JAPANESE 1-2-3:
Lotus Development Japan has just completed "1-2-3 Version IIJ",
a Japanese version of Lotus 1-2-3. A published report says that
the IIJ has an improved graphic-data processing and powerful
database features, compared with its original 1-2-3. It's need-
less to say that the IIJ supports kanji. Lotus Japan plans to
exhibit this program at the Business Show(Tokyo) in May. The ship-
ment of the program is expected to occur slightly after this
show. Meanwhile, Lotus Japan is said to be developing
original software for the Japanese market in the near future.
We'll see.
CONTACT: Lotus Development Japan, Tokyo, 03-436-4105
[***][4/29/86][***]
INTERFACE AND COMDEX IN JAPAN:
INTERFACE IN JAPAN, the first telecom show sponsored by Inter-
face Group Japan, will be held at Harumi exhibition site in
Tokyo between 12/11 and 12/13.
Meanwhile, a surprising ad for COMDEX IN JAPAN '87 (3/3-3/5)
appeared in the last week's major Japanese industrial daily,
occupying an entire page. This year's show was just over in
March, and the Interface Group has already been talking about
next year! The ad says "65 companies have already registered as
exhibitors for next year's COMDEX IN JAPAN." The Interface Group,
the sponsor of the show, has apparently been worrying about the
longevity of the show. Right. There are already 65 firms to
participate next year, but the questions are how many
companies will actually exhibit and whether major manufacturers
will participate. Let's hope that we will have a better show
next year, and cross our fingers to see Steven Jobs in Tokyo!
CONTACT: Interface Group Japan, Kashiwabara Bldg., 1-3-3
Kyobashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104, Japan
(Phone: 03-271-0246)
[***][4/29/86][***]
TOKYO TRADE SHOWS:
There are two major computer shows to be held in Tokyo this May.
One is Business Show, which will be held at International Trade
Center between 5/21 and 5/24. The main exhibits are telecommu-
nication network systems, various database and wordprocessors
etc. Also, "AI booths", sponsored by ICOT (the Institute for
New Generation Computer Technology), seem to be attractive. The
total number of exhibitors is 260, and the expected number of
visitors is 400,000.
The other major show is called "Microcomputer Show", which will
be held at Ryutsu Center between 5/20 and 5/24. Personal
computer hardware and software from various concerns are
expected to be widely exhibited at this show.
CONTACT: Business Show, Tokyo office, 03-403-1331
Microcomputer Show, Tokyo office, 03-433-4547
[***][4/29/86][***]
ANOTHER NEWCOMER IN INTERN'L TELECOM BUSINESS:
"The Daily Industrial News" says(4/21) that Cable & Wireless
(C & W, U.K.) and C.Itoh Trading (Tokyo) will jointly
establish an international telecommunication company in Japan.
C & W is a telecom giant in the U.K., and has a large share
in Southeast Asia including China and Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, as we've already reported in the last week's
NEWSBYTES-JAPAN, Japan's three major trading firms will also
create a telecom company in cooperation with electronic
manufacturers. Those three trading firms recently gained a
strong partner, Matsushita Electronics. However, the race has
just started. The success lies in how soon they start the actual
business. It is expected to take at least a couple of years
for both of the firms to start the service.
CONTACT: C. Itoh, Tokyo, 03-497-7291 (PR. Dept.)
Mitsui Bussan, Tokyo, 03-285-7563 (PR. Dept.)
[***][4/29/86][***]
ZILOG MARKETS HITACHI'S 8-BIT MPU:
Zilog (U.S.A.) has signed a second source agreement with Hitachi
concerning Hitachi's 8-bit MPU "HD64180", which is compatible
with Z80. HD64180 has two DMA and asynchronous communication
channels respectively. It can access a 512K memory with a built-
in MMU. Zilog will star marketing HD64180 as "Z64180" in a
couple of months. According to Hitachi's spokesman, Zilog has
also been planning to second source for "HD64180Z", an upper
version of HD64180 in 1987. Meanwhile, Zilog has been a second
source for NEC's V-series MPUs.
CONTACT: Hitachi, Tokyo, 03-258-2057
Zilog Japan, Tokyo, 03-587-0528
[***][4/29/86][***]
<<< SUKIYAKI BYTES >>>
256K DRAM OUTPUT RECOVERS -- NEC and Hitachi have started a
full-swing production of their 256K DRAM. Total output in
April is expected to be 10 million sets for NEC and 8 million
sets for Hitachi. Moreover, Hitachi plans 9 million output in
May. Other major manufacturers, such as Fujitsu, Toshiba and
Mitsubishi are also expected to engage in full-swing operation
of 256K DRAM before long.
SOFTWARE FOR SIGMA PROJECT -- UNIVAC Japan said it will release
a software package "TSX1100" for supporting the development of
application programs for large scale computers. UNIVAC Japan
eyes to sell this package for MITI's SIGMA project, which has
currently been underway to raise software productivity by
exchanging ideas and programs through a nationwide computer
network in Japan.
(MITI -- the Ministry of International Trade and Industry)
PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT TOOL WITH V30 -- NEC has developed "MD-116
series", a supporting tool system for developing application
programs for 4-bit to 16-bit micros. This system consists of
NEC's 16FD10 micro with V30 MPU, and two 8" 1M FDDs. Also the
system supports CONCURRENT CP/M ver.3.1. It will be released
at US$13,900 in May. NEC plans to develop the similar system
with a 32-bit V60 MPU in September, a report says.
SUPER 32-BIT CAD SYSTEM -- Toshiba has developed and started
marketing a CAD system with a 32-bit MPU. The processing speed
of "Micro Super Drafting System (SDS)" is said to be as powerful
as super-minicomputers. The price is US$66,667, which is about
a half of current minicomputer CAD system.
POCKET TV WAR -- Matsushita Electronics will release an LCD
pocket colr TV at US$332 in July. The company has also been
thinking of exporting this gadget to the U.S. later. Currently,
pocket TVs are produced by SEIKO-EPSON, SONY, CASIO and Citizen.
So, its sales competition is expected to get hotter.
DDJ ON TELESTAR -- The Tokyo-based telecom network "TeleStar"
has linked with M&T Publishing Inc.(CA) to provide online
information in Japan. With this agreement, lots of information
on M&T's Dr. Dobb's Journal can be read on TeleStar every month.
CONTACT: TeleStar Inc., Tokyo, 03-320-1884
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"We're quite surprised at such a decision, since we have
not sold our 64K DRAMs at less than fair prices on the
U.S. market."
-- says Hitachi's spokesman, referring to the ITC's
ruling (4/24) on the 64K DRAM dumping issue.
==
[***][4/29/86][***]
COMMERCE RULES JAPAN DUMPS CHIPS
Last week's Commerce Department ruling that Japan is dumping 64K
RAMs in the U.S. is expected to be the first of a trio of anti-
dumping actions. Industry sources say they are confident Commerce
will uphold its earlier preliminary decisions and find that Japan
is dumping 256K RAMs and erasable, programmable read-only
memories (EPROMs). The Commerce decision triggers a requirement
that importers post a bond on the Japanese chips equal to the
dumping margin. If the International Trade Commission then
decides that the imports are hurting U.S. industry, the result
will be a formal duty on the imports.
Japanese trade officials had hoped to avoid the U.S. government
actions by mounting a series of negotiations. It appeared that
the U.S. and Japan would agree on high-tech trade prior to a
meeting earlier this week between the two heads of state. But the
chip talks flopped and Commerce went ahead with its action on the
64K chips. According to Commerce, 1985 imports of 64K RAM chips
from Japan were worth $125.6 million.
The U.S. semiconductor industry contends that the Japanese chips
propelled the domestic makers into a major tailspin last year.
Prices for the basic 64K chips fell as much as 80 percent. But
independent economists argue that the prices fell because of
worldwide overcapacity, not necessarily because Japan has been
dumping.
CONTACT: William Scouton, International Trade Administration,
Washington, D.C., 202-377-2253.
[***][4/29/86][***]
TRADE HARDLINER QUITS COMMERCE
Clyde Prestowitz, a key figure in pushing the Reagan
administration to take a tough stance with Japan on semiconductor
trade, has quit as counsellor to the Commerce Department.
Prestowitz joined the agency in 1981. Another trade hard liner,
Lionel Olmer, who was undersecretary for international trade,
quit last year. Prestowitz and Olmer played important roles in
getting Japan to open its telecommunications market to U.S.
equipment. But Prestowitz told "The Wall Street Journal" that he
has felt increasingly isolated and his views a minority in
government councils. "The United States isn't serious about
trade," Prestowitz said. "For the U.S., trade and the economy are
secondary, even tertiary to geopolitics and national security.
But Japan has a trade policy and a trade strategy."
[***][4/29/86][***]
IRS RAIDER PLEADS GUILTY
A Maryland man who used his home computer to tamper with an
Internal Revenue Service computer has pleaded guilty to two
counts of computer fraud. William Van Nest thus becomes the first
person convicted under a District of Columbia law against
computer crime. Van Nest faces a potential penalty of a year in
jail and a $100,000 fine for each count. According to court
officials, Van Nest tampered with a ZILOG computer that keeps
track of IRS consultant services. Van Nest once worked for a firm
bidding on a contract to supply the IRS with software, where he
picked up the information needed to access the IRS machine,
including a system password (it was "Zeus") that allowed him to
erase some files.
[***][4/29/86][***]
CONGRESS MOVES ON COMPUTER CRIME
Real criminals, out to steal computer information for profit and
not fun, have become a major problem, according to Rep. William
Hughes (D-N.J.). Hughes is the author of a computer crime bill
now moving in the House of Representatives. "Computer crime is
probably one of the fastest growing areas of crime," Hughes told
a House subcommittee last week. Hughes' bill would make it a federal
felony to cause damage in excess of $1,000 to a computer program
or database. The offense could be punished by five years in jail
and a $250,000 fine. It would apply to computers used by the
federal government or its contractors, or to bank and savings and
loan association computers. The Reagan Administration is backing
both the Hughes bill and a similar measure in the Senate,
sponsored by Sen. Paul Trible (R-Va.).
CONTACT: Rep. William Hughes, 341 Cannon House Office Building,
U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C., 20515,
202-225-6572.
[***][4/29/86][***]
MARTIN MARIETTA AND ALPHA INDUSTRIES FORM JOINT CHIP VENTURE
Martin Marietta Corp. of Bethesda, Md., and Alpha Industries of
Woburn, Mass., are forming an joint venture to develop gallium
arsenide integrated circuits for millimeter-wave radar
applications. The goal is a cheap analog device that can be used
in a wide variety of space and defense systems, according to the
companies. Gallium arsenide can operate a much higher frequencies
that conventional silicon. Current technology can produce gallium
arsenide chips that are five times faster than silicon chips. The
companies say the upper limits of the material are speeds ten
times that of conventional chips. Millimeter-wave radar uses
higher frequencies than conventional radar. That allows guidance
systems to pinpoint objects with high accuracy.
Alpha Industries is a major manufacturer of microwave and
millimeter-wave semiconductor devices, components, and subsystems
for the defense electronics, commercial telecommunications, and
avionics markets. Martin Marietta designs, builds, and integrates
systems and products in space, defense, electronic,
communications, information management, energy and materials. The
company is one of the largest non-federal employers in the
Washington suburbs.
CONTACT: Martin Marietta Corp., Bethesda, Md., 301-897-6000.
[***][4/29/86][***]
BUSINESS INDEX REBOUNDS
The Washington Computer Business Index has rebounded to a healthy
248, after falling for two straight weeks. The index, based on
pages of retail computer ads in "Washington Business," was at 271
three weeks ago. The issue of April 21 saw 12.9 pages of computer
ads, versus nine the week before. Non-computer ads for the latest
issue slid to 19, compared to 20.5 pages the week before.
[***][4/29/86][***]
PRODUCT OF THE MONTH
The National Association of College Stores Trade Fair in
Orlando, Fla., last week saw a new product for the college sports
fan--a button that plays the fight song for Dear Old State. It's a
takeoff on the musical greeting card. The button includes a tiny
battery, a music microprocessor, and an itsy speaker.
[***][4/29/86][***]
POWERBYTES
$$$ McDonnell Douglas has begun delivering the first military
standard microprocessors to operate with a 20 megahertz clock
frequency over the entire range of temperatures specified in the
standard. The MDC281 chip set operates in a temperature range
from -55 degrees Celsius to 125 degrees Celsius, according to the
St. Louis-based company.
$$$ BDM Corp. of McLean, Va., has won a $3.4 million cost-plus-
fixed-fee contract for program design, planning, technical
support and analysis services for the Defense Department's
Strategic Computer Program. The work is expected to be completed
by March 1987. BDM was the only bidder for the job.
$$$ SofTech Corp., Waltham, Mass., has won a $4 million cost-
plus-fixed-fee contract for design of a distributed data
management system for the Army. The work should be completed by
June 1989. SofTech was one of four bidders.
[***][4/29/86][***]
NORTEL 1ST-QUARTER LOSSES:
Leading telecommunications hardware maker Northern Telecom
(Mississauga, Ontario) has followed 1985's 35% revenue
increase with a loss of $10-million (US) for the first
quarter of 1986, executives announced at a recent meeting.
President David Vice described 1985 as a "watershed" year,
when NorTel had a profit of $377-million (CDN) on revenue
of $5.8-billion, and grimly hopes the current loss is
temporary. The slowdown is blamed on a reduced order
backlog, and flat growth in the fourth quarter of last
year; it is likely the loss trend will continue at least
into the middle of 1986. Mr. Vice and NorTel officials
have seen fewer sales--by some 4%--of their innovative DMS
(digital multiplex switches) in the U.S., and increased
competition from American giant AT&T of NY.
Software problems had also plagued NorTel, but these have been
solved, according to spokesperson M. Fitzgerald. He adds
that revenue and profit for the full year 1986 will not
likely exceed 5 per cent. Cost reductions for the company
have meant layoffs in Atlanta, GA, Dallas, TX, and Aylmer,
Quebec, but Mr. Fitzgerald said "employee layoffs are
behind us for the rest of the year." NorTel sees new
products currently under development by researchers at Bell
Northern Research Laboratories (Ottawa, Ontario) leading
the company back to a healthy profit situation, as well as
more aggressive marketing strategies offshore.
CONTACT: Northern Telecom, 800/362-7950
[***][4/29/86][***]
ROGERS CABLE ENTERS INFORMATION FRAY:
Rogers Communications Inc., through its cable television
division, will soon allow subscribers in Toronto, Brampton,
and Mississauga access to over 30 sources of information
such as stock quotes, general and business news, weather,
sports and entertainment information delivered to personal
computers via existing cable networks. The ambitious
project was announced last week by Rogers' Canadian vice-
president, William Rogers. Information originates at such
sources as the Associated and Canadian Press services, Tass
from the Soviet Union, and Standard & Poors; it reaches
Rogers via satellite from X*PRESS Information Services, in
Boulder, CO. The new service is not seen as a databse,
which people access for archival information, but an up-to-
the-minute, constantly updated "stream of current
information," according to X*PRESS's Jack Klinge.
There will be a $59.95 installation fee and a flat monthly
fee of $24.95 for the service; in co-operation with Computer
Innovations Distribution Inc. (Mississauga, Ontario), a
discount will be offered to personal computer buyers
investing in hardware and the new information service. The
X*PRESS service is compatible with IBM pc's and clones,
Apple //e and //c computers, and the Commodore 64/128
models. Rogers' spokespeople acknowledge that the service
will not be for everyone, but ought to be of particular
value for the financial community. X*PRESS has added
listings of the Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and Alberta
stock exchanges for the Canadian market. Business users
will effectively have an instant clipping service, says Mr.
Rogers, and since the start-up costs are relatively small
for the company, the service won't "be yanked off in a year
if we don't get subscribers." He added, "our objectives in
the Toronto area are not in the hundreds of thousands, but
certainly in the thousands."
[***][4/29/86][***]
ELECTRONIC LIBRARY SYSTEM PLANNED:
Federal Communications Minister Marcel Masse said last week
that $20-million (CDN) over four years will be devoted to
an electronic communications system for the nation's
libraries. The system is under development by the National
Library in Ottawa. M. Masse hailed the project as a "step
forward for libraries and archives across the country."
[***][4/29/86][***]
LANPAR SETS UP R&D UNIT; PROFITS UP:
Lanpar Technologies Inc., Markham, Ontario has set up
partnership units under the umbrella Northern Technologies
Research Limited Partnership (NTRLP) to conduct research
into new products. Lanpar makes and distributes
microcomputer terminals. 2,440 partnership units, at
$1,056.40 (CDN) each, have been sold, and Lanpar will be
the general partner in NTRLP. Units were sold, on a
private placement basis, to 22 investors. After the
original investment has been returned, says Lanpar, NTRLP
will be split, with 75% going to Lanpar and the rest
divided among the holders. Lanpar has placed with NTRLP
$900,000 in grants that it was awarded by the National
Research Council for the development of new terminal
products.
Lanpar's profit for the year ended January 31, 1986 was
$730,000 compared with last year's $135,000. Share profit
was 16 cents, compared to 3 cents. Revenue was also up
slightly, $40.2-million versus $36.8-million. Profit for
the year is after inventory provisions and write-offs of
more than $500,000.
[***][4/29/86][***]
INDUSTRY APPOINTMENTS:
Dan Ripchensky has been appointed National Sales Manager of
Toshiba Canada Limited's Information Systems Division, in
Willowdale, Ontario. Mr. Ripchensky's promotion was
announced last week by Tod R. Rehm, General Manager. Mr.
Ripchensky has over 12 years' experience in office
automation and, with Toshiba, will be responsible for sales
throughout Canada. The Information Systems Division of
Toshiba Canada markets a line of personal computers, three-
in-one dot-matrix printers, and related peripherals. The
company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Toshiba Corporation
of Japan.
SED Systems Product Division Director J.W. Brock announces
the appointment of Peter D. Marshall as National Sales
Manager. Mr. Marshall has 18 years of experience in the
sales and marketing of high-tech communications and
computer merchandise; he will be responsible for marketing
SED's internationally-recognised satcom product line, which
includes satellite tv receivers, and SKYSWITCH (tm), a new
two-way data/voice private network system for satellite
communications. SED Systems is one of Canada's senior
engineering firms in the field of satellite communications.
Government regulations allowing permanent licenses for
private satellite communications networks have greatly
increased the market for SKYSWITCH (tm).
[***][4/29/86][***]
CAE NETS CHINESE CONTRACT:
CAE Electronics Ltd., a unit of CAE Industries Ltd. of
Toronto, Ontario has received a $2.8-million (CDN) contract
for a data acquisition and supervisory control system to
control a 1,759-megawatt hydroelectric power plant in the
city of Yi Chang, in the province of Huebei, China.
Installation will be complete by the end of 1987.