Newsbytes - Internationa…ews 1983 May to 1994 June/Newsbytes - International Computing Industry News 1994 Edition - May 1983 - June 1994 - Wayzata Technologies (5045) (1994).iso/mac/Text/Mac Text/1986/V155

Text File | 1991-08-09 | 62KB | 1,353 lines

[***][5/20/86][***]
COMMODORE EXODUS:
(Also see NEWSBYTES-WASHINGTON this week.)
Among the 140 who were laid off last week at Commodore's West Chester,
PA and Los Gatos, CA Amiga facilities were some key people--two
vice presidents and the VP of Software Development, Bob Pariso, who
has been described as the man "with the closest ties to the user-
developer community."  Commodore's Nigel Shepherd, GM of North
American operations, blames the dismissals on an impending "sluggish
summer", consolidation of the Los Gatos Amiga staff to West Chester,
and a "streamlining" of operations.  A spokesman for Commodore,
Roger Swarth, who surprisingly refused to give out layoff numbers
despite a "Wall Street Journal" report which detailed them, would
only say, "The quarterly financial reports due on Monday will
explain everything."  The continuing layoffs, which have
gradually been reducing staff since December, are in sharp
contrast to Commodore's ambitious product plans.  Due in June are
enhancements to the Amiga and an updated C64 which comes with
icon-based software similar to the Macintosh, Amiga and ST.

CONTACT:  Roger Swarth, Alan Penchansky, GELTZER & CO. NYC 212-575-1976

[***][5/20/86][***]
WHAT'S UP AT APPLE?
Having just returned from New Zealand, I finally had a chance to
look through "California Technology Stock Letter" accounts of the
analysts meeting John Sculley of Apple attended recently. Seems
Sculley stated that during the next 12 months, Apple will
introduce more new products than they have in their corporate
history.  The products will be aimed at the desktop publishing,
technical publishing, desktop communications, and engineering
workstation markets.  According to other reports, the Apple
chairman said Apple is aggressively hiring people to work on
the high-end Unix workstations.  He also stated that Lotus,
Ashton-Tate and Microsoft continue to develop new Macintosh
applications, despite earlier reports that the biggest developers
had abandoned the machine.  Sculley also confirmed that IIc sales
are poor but the IIe continues to sell most of its units through
the K-12 education market.

[***][5/20/86][***]
INFOCORP'S LATEST SURVEYS:
InfoCorp, a Cupertino, CA-based research firm, says that Apple
got 29%--the largest share--of the market for printers through
retail stores in March, beating out Epson, Hewlett Packard,
IBM and Okidata.  Apple's Laserwriter gleaned 12 percent of
sales while the ImageWriter II got 17 percent.

InfoCorp also reports that Februrary '86 PC sales were
dominated by IBM again--with 31% of retail store income.  Apple
came in second with 22%, Compaq was third with 6%.

CONTACT:  INFOCORP, 408-973-1010

[***][5/20/86][***]
DATAQUEST SCREENS THE SCREENS:
This competing market research firm focused its sights on the
CRT market, concluding that by 1990, two out of every three
monitors sold will be color units vs. one in four in 1984.
Color monitor makers are enjoying growth rates of up to 2 1/2
times that of personal computer manufacturers, according to
Dataquests's Louis Brentano, who adds that color monitor
prices will drop 5-8% annually for the next 3 years.  This
rosy picture, he says, is due to increasing sales of programs
that make use of color graphics.

CONTACT:  Louis Brentano, DATAQUEST, San Jose, CA
          408-971-9003

[***][5/20/86][***]
IN COURT:  INTEL VS. NEC
The trial in which Intel has charged NEC with violating its
copyright on chip "microcode" got underway last week in U.S.
District Court, San Jose.  The expected lengthy trial will
have the two former partners squaring off in a precedent-
setting case; one of the two companies is expected to lose
a majority of the $1 billion annual market for IBM-PC
microprocessors.  Up to 40 expert witnesses are expected
to testify in the trial; Judge William Ingram is said to
have taken a crash course in electronics before the trial
began.  He also just emerged from the next trial...

[***][5/20/86][***]
OUT OF COURT:  TELEVIDEO VS. FORMER EMPLOYEE
Televideo has just won $11 million in a suit against its
former chief financial officer, Fred Heidenthal.  Televideo
sued Heidenthal, claiming he spent $2.2 million of the
company's money on gambling trips after acquiring the cash through
a bogus investment fund.  Judge William Ingram slapped
punitive damages, court costs, attorney fees and interest
onto the $2.2 million Heidenthal reportedly stole, bringing
the total fine to $11 million.  Heidenthal could not be
reached for comment.

[***][5/20/86][***]
LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS:  APPLE DEALERS VS. APPLE
Steven Matthew David, owner of several hugely successful electronics
stores in the SF Bay Area, as well as Computer Connection, Apple's
most successful retail dealer, surrendered to authorities 5/15
on a charge of grand theft.  He and the purchasing agent for
the Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco, are accused of re-
selling, at full price, Apple Computers which were purchased at
a discount by the Catholic schools.  The District Attorney's office
says the Archdiosese and Apple became concerned upon discovering
that of 2,700 IIe computers purchased for the schools, only 450
reached them. Assistant D.A. George Beckwith says David took
more than $100,000 from Apple, selling the 2,250 left-over
computers through Computer Connection and other retail outlets.

The pair are to appear Wednesday before SF Superior Court Judge
Jack Berman.  In a statement read by his attorney John Kekar,
David said, "This is really a business disagreement. Apple
made large profits on the business we created in return for
the fees and discounts we received."

[***][5/20/86][***]
NOT YET IN COURT:
The Laser 128, the Far East Apple II clone still being sold
despite Apple's talk of a lawsuit, just won a favorable review
in INFOWORLD.  The review rates the clone satisfactory in 4
categories and very good in 2 others.  "Highly compatible"
with the Apple II line, the Laser 128, says INFOWORLD, "is
worth considering despite Apple's challenge."  NEWSBYTES has
received a colorful brochure advertising the 128k machine for a base
price of $479.95 (includes 1 drive, DOS, 128K RAM, Demo Disk
and manuals).  Nobody seems worried at Elk Grove Village.

CONTACT:  VIDEO TECHNOLOGY, 2633 Greenleaf, Elk Grove Village,
          Illinois  60007  800-551-5742

[***][5/20/86][***]
IN BRIEF --

MICROPRO INTERNATIONAL (San Rafael, CA) reports that First
Software's bankruptcy will lead to a loss in its third quarter.
First Software owes MicroPro $1.4 million dollars.

DAISY SYSTEMS CORPORATION reports a substantial loss for its
quarter ending March 31.  The CAD company, based in Mountain
View, CA says the loss totals $4.7 million.  Analysts say
the loss is particularly large due to a stacking of write-offs
for this quarter.  "If you're going to take a bath, you might
as well get real wet," says analyst Bruce Johnson of First
Boston.

LIFETREE SOFTWARE (Monterey, CA) says its Volkswriter 3
wordprocessor is now available on 3.5" disks, but owners of
old 5 1/4" copies must pay $50 for an upgrade.  Meanwhile,
Lifetree reports a record fiscal quarter with revenues of $2
million, double that of this time last year.  CONTACT:
Allison Thomas, LIFETREE, 213-969-0797

CALIFORNIA still leads the nation in high-tech employment
according to the American Electronics Association.  Of the
nation's 2.5 million high-tech workers, 600,000 of them
work in California.

COMPUTERLAND sells its own IBM clone starting in mid-June.
Made by Tri-Gem of Korea, the clones are expected to be among
the lowest-priced IBM compatibles on the market.

APPLE, IBM and COMMODORE are offering springtime incentives to
spur sales.  Apple offers $10-$50 rebates through July 31,
IBM pays interest on the first of up to 30 credit payments on
IBM PCs, and Commodore launches an unspecified price promotion
starting on May 31.

APPLE and REGIS MCKENNA, INC. have set up on-site child-care
centers for their largely young, and in McKenna's case, largely
female employee populations.  A sign of the times, eh?

GENIE, General Electric's online information network, claims
a subscriber base of 12,000 just seven months after initiating
the service.  The question is, will this service, lower-priced
than the Source, continue to gain subscribers at the same
pace?  CONTACT:  Steve Haracznak, GENIE, 301-294-5647

DIGITAL RESEARCH (Monterey, CA) has announced shipment of
200,000 GEM software units, with 65% of the packages going to
large manufacturing firms, banking and financial institutions,
government, and universities.  Over 1,500 GEM programmer's
Toolkits have also been sold.

LUMA TELECOM, makers of the visual telephone "Luma" says
The Sharper Image Corporation, an upscale retail and mail-order
company specializing in high-tech products, will begin selling
the phone in July.  The price will be $1,450.  Alan Thalheimer,
president of Sharper Imager, will get one of the first Luma
phones which he'll use to display gemstones, also part of the
company's mail order offerings, to his dealer network.
CONTACT: LUMA TELECOM, Santa Clara, Ca. 408-970-9555

CORRECTION:  LOGO did not receive $2 1/2-$3 million for
promotional materials from Apple, says Laurie McLean of McLean
PR.  That is what the anticipated revenues are from dealers
paying Logo.  Secondly the contact person at Logo is Katie
Nosbisch, 1380 Piper Dr., Milpitas, CA 95035  408-945-1919.
Thanks for the correction, Laurie.



[***][5/20/86][***]
METRO TRAFFIC OWES SUCCESS TO SOFTWARE  *Exclusive*
With over 200 radio station affiliates in 15 cities, and 40
million listeners each day, Houston-based Metro Traffic Control
has grown in 5 years from a car dealer's hobby into a major media
empire. Metro president David Saperstein, a former Baltimore car
dealer was in Atlanta recently and revealed his secret of
making money with news that can become stale and irrelevant in 15
minutes.

Computers. Specifically, Apple IIs with software Metro engineers
wrote to track and report accidents. "The computer technology has
been the biggest thing," he said. "Instatrack lets us keep track
of accidents, and Teletrack gives us a lovely on-air report for
TV use." Using the system, engineers in a control room enter
accident locations once -- they're time-stamped and reported via
modem to affiliates automatically.  Teletrack creates a local
freeway map on which major accidents appear as the announcer
discusses them on TV.

CONTACT: David Saperstein, METRO TRAFFIC CONTROL, 4828 Loop
         Central Drive, Suite 800, Houston, TX 77081
         [phone]

[***][5/20/86][***]
DATAFLEX MOVING UP IN CLASS     *Exclusive*
Dataflex, the PC-DOS based data management program which ran the
"Restaurants of Atlanta" database at last month's Atlanta Comdex,
is moving up in class. At the National Computer Conference on
June 16 in Las Vegas, Data Access (Miami FL) will roll out
Dataflex for the VAX.

The MicroVAX II market is the immediate target here, but vice
president-marketing Charles Casanave says it will run on the
whole line. While Dataflex is a high-priced micro product,
however, the cost will look like Borland to VAX users. "We will
be pricing it based on the number of users --- it will generally
be closer to micro pricing than the $40-50,000 mainframe
products. At the current pricing of the micro product, people
spend more on ribbons."

He added, "As it stands now it is a transfer of the product, a
port. Our specifications can handle 16 million records, 9 online
key indexes per datafile, and there's no limit except the memory
of the system on records opened." In its micro-based form,
Dataflex currently has 40,000 installations worldwide, including
multi-user micros and LANs. 40% of those users are outside the
US, with translated versions of Dataflex either done or in
process in Swedish, French, German and Japanese,

CONTACT: Charles Casanave, DATA ACCESS, 8525 SW 129th Terrace,
         Miami, FL 33156 [phone]

[***][5/20/86][***]
SAMNA UP ON AT&T PC 6300 PLUS
AT&T Information Systems has published Samna Word and Samna Plus
as "Write Power", for AT&T equipment running under PC-DOS and
Unix (specifically, the PC 6300 Plus). "Write Power I", at $495,
is the Samna Word word processor with facilities for handling
DIF, ASCII, and IBM/DCA file translation. Plus it can use AT&T's
Electronic typewriter as an input or output device.  "Write Power
II", at $700 (and due in July), like Samna+, adds a spreadsheet
and WordBase Manager, an indexer and retrieval system like
ZyIndex. No value was placed on the deal by Samna. Both
companies' names will go on the boxes, Samna as author and AT&T
as publisher.

AT&T computers are for sale at Crazy Bob's Computer Warehouse, a
real warehouse where the boxes have prices which are clearly
marked. (See story below).

CONTACT: David Elliott, SAMNA 2700 NE Expressway, Atlanta, GA
         30345 [phone]

[***][5/20/86][***]
STORE CLOSING TREND CONTINUES IN ATLANTA *OPINION*
Two more retail computer stores here have closed up shop and
moved back into office-warehouses to save money. Microworks, a 3-
year old chain, announced it's closing its Cobb Parkway store to
consolidate at its Norcross headquarters. Friendly Computer also
closed a store to move into office-warehouse space.

Meanwhile, tent sales on overstocks gain increasing popularity.
Future Information Systems (which also closed its store in
suburban Marietta recently) held one last weekend in Norcross,
offering an IBM PC XT with 256K at $1,495,  a Compaq Deskpro
Model 2 at $1,795, and 25-50% off major software packages. The
FIS sale was going up against a literal sales circus by Stereo
Village, which put its old inventory into the Atlanta Civic
Center and charged buyers $1.50 per head to get in. They also
brought in Atlanta Braves and Playboy Playmates to sign
autographs.

Moral: As computer prices drop, they become computer electronics
and sell that way. Those moving out of retail space should take
note.

[***][5/20/86][***]
GOVERNOR LIFTS SPADE FOR NIPPON COLUMBIA
Gov. Joe Frank Harris spent Monday off I-20 in Madison, GA, 50
miles east of the city, as Nippon Columbia Co. Ltd. started work
on its 140,000 square-foot laserdisk plant. The plant will
employ 150-200, cost $30 million, and will be operated by Denon
Digital Industries Inc., Nippon Columbia's US subsidiary. Takami
Shobochi, chairman of Nippon Columbia, predicts laserdisks will
be more popular than traditional LPs by 1988 (and he's probably
right). Gov. Harris' office notes proudly this means Georgia now
has more than 150 Japanese facilities in operation with 7,000
employees.

A Madison developer celebrated the plant announcement last month
by bulldozing a 100-year old home for a fast-food restaurant.
Honest.

CONTACT: John Toon, GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRY AND TRADE,230
         Peachtree St., NW, Atlanta, GA 30301 [phone]

[***][5/20/86][***]
HANDS ACROSS AMERICA GETS HELP FROM COMPAQ, INS
"Hands Across America", in which up to 6 million are expected to
hold hands May 25 to reap $50 million for "USA for Africa" and
and famine relief, is getting computerized help from the
Southeast. Compaq and TeleCompaq computers went out to organizers
in 17 states, and an INS SDLC board connects the LA headquarters
to a donated timesharing system in Marshfield, WI. Compaq also
sent the press a record with last year's hit "We Are The World"
and this year's diddy, "Hands Across America".

CONTACT: Jeff Stives, COMPAQ, 20556 FM 149, Houston, TX 77070
         713) 370-0670 and Steve Oliver, INS, PO Box 91395,
         Mobile, AL 36691 [phone]

[***][5/20/86][***]
TENNESSEE BANK GOES WITH FUJITSU ATMs
Another American market, Automated Teller Machines (ATM), is now
under Japanese seige as Fujitsu has started making inroads.
National Bank of Commerce announced a $1 million deal to buy
Fujitsu's color ATMs for its branches in Kroger supermarkets. NBC
will open 131 Kroger banks overall.

CONTACT: Jane Mann, NATIONAL BANK OF COMMERCE, [phone]

[***][5/20/86][***]
WHERE ARE THEY NOW DEPT: TIM FARRIS OF QUADRAM
When Quadram co-founder Tim Farris left a few years ago, the joke
was he'd "buy all he wanted at K-Mart" and retire to a life of
leisure at 39. Joke's on them. He's enjoying the sun, all right,
but his Boca Research Inc. has cooked up a full-scale challenge
to Quadram's strength--add-on boards. Farris told "MIS Week" he
spent a year designing custom gate-arrays before doing products.
He considers the experience a secret weapon, saying arrays
require less space on the board, use less power and cost less
(although they take a long time to design). Farris said Boca,
with 20 employees, will stay private and stay focused on graphics
and memory products.

As to why so many start-ups showing up in Boca lately, Farris
credited the weather and support companies in designing,
fabrication, and electrical engineering. They're the same things
he saw in Norcross, near Atlanta four years ago; suburban
Gwinnett County is now the fastest-growing county in the nation.

CONTACT: Tim Farris, BOCA RESEARCH. 6401 Congress Ave., Boca
         Rotan, 33431 [phone]

[***][5/20/86][***]
MICROBILT JOINS RUSH TO INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERINGS
It's shaping up as the best year since 1983 for high-tech initial
public offerings. MicroBilt Corp., which makes computer and data
communications systems, (and was #22 in the "Atlanta
Journal/Constution" Fast Tech 50 list recently) says it has filed
for a public offering of 1 million shares, 800,000 newly
authorized and 200,000 from insiders. The offering is led by J.C.
Bradford & Co. of Nashville.

CONTACT: P.E. Sadler, MICROBILT, 2030 Powers Ferry Road, Atlanta,
         GA 30339 [phone]

[***][5/20/86][***]
PECAN BITS...INS...COMPAQ...DCA...ISC...AMERICAN SOFTWARE

INS has gotten big enough to send out press releases on new
hires. Two of its newcomers are from Mobile, but one, bug-buster
Christopher Allen, is moving in from Irvine, CA.
CONTACT: Steve Oliver, INS, [phone]

COMPAQ is taking on the clones in Asia. The Houston-made machines
will now be available from Olympia Thai Ltd. in Bangkok,
Thailand, and Datronics Philippines Inc. in Manila, The
Philippines.
CONTACT: Jeff Stives, COMPAQ, [phone]

DCA will announce successors to its current communications
processors June 3 at the International Communications Association
show in Atlanta. The leader of its pack currently is the DCA 375.
CONTACT: Mindy Littman, DCA, [phone]


On Friday, May 16, QUADRAM laid off 20 assembly workers and
fired 4 product managers as part of a "re-organization"
and "continued softness in the current demand for plug-in
accessory boards for personal computers."

INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS reported a profit of $1.2 million on sales
of $35.1 million for the quarter ended March 31. Its Intecolor Corp.
subsidiary also announced development of a $1,995 high-speed
graphics video terminal for industrial process control.
CONTACT: Jane Bator, CAM GROUP, [phone]

AMERICAN SOFTWARE rolled out Amsoft Forecast-pc, a PC-based
feature of its mainframe Demand Forecasting System. It downloads
data from the mainframe and lets the PC forecast and graph the
results.
CONTACT: John Bloodworth, AMERICAN SOFTWARE [phone]

[***][5/20/86][***]
AND FINALLY.....
In this week's "Infoworld" column, on the Spring Comdex show,
John Dvorak calls Atlanta "a great convention town". Thus we are
sad to report that the "Cheetah III", a strip joint mentioned
prominently as the site where he researched that conclusion, is
being closed down.

Trammell Crow has bought the site and is expected to put his
high-tech Atlanta Infomart there.



[***][5/20/86][***]
NCGA BRINGS HIGH-TECH TO HIGH-CONCEPT
One of the easiest things to market in Hollywood is the
"high-concept" movie.  That's when a film has such a dynamic
plot that it practically sells itself.  Last week's National
Computer Graphics Association show in Anaheim brought the visual
geniuses of Tinsel Town together with the whizzes of Silicon
Valley.  The result was a high-tech, high-concept trade show for
the CAD/CAM and computer animation set.  "People want images and
they want them quickly," said Robert Abel of Abel & Associates,
who took a "best of show" award for his computer-generated
commercials.  "Computer graphics take what's going on in
people's heads and give it a visible form."  Show organizers
claimed that animation only accounts for one percent of total
1985 sales of computer graphics applications, but those
brilliant moving images were certainly the stars of the show.

Popular stops included the booth from Pixar, which was recently
spun-off from George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic.  Steve
Jobs is a majority stockholder, and the firm sees the lucrative
scientific market as its sales destiny.  Also popular was the
Evans & Sutherland display, which featured specialized medical
simulation hardware and software.

Present also were major aerospace firms like Lockheed and
McDonnell Douglas.  Both were showing CAD/CAM software products
in suites in the Anaheim Hilton, just steps away from the
Anaheim Convention Center's main display floor.  Many companies
were showcasing CAD software packages that could run on
IBM-compatibles, and some rivaled the quality of larger
dedicated graphics computer systems.

[***][5/20/86][***]
ASHTON-TATE MEETS HEARD ON THE STREET
The influential Heard on the Street column in Friday's editions
of "The Wall St. Journal" targets three well-known microcomputer
software firms as portfolio builders.  Ashton-Tate, Lotus
Development and Microsoft are all touted as having considerable
growth potential, with Ashton-Tate being recommended "very
aggressively" by one analyst.  The newspaper cites Ashton-Tate's
acquisition of Multimate, pending introductions of an
easy-to-use database and a product for the Macintosh as keys to
the firm's success.

CONTACT:  Ashton-Tate Inc., 20101 Hamilton, Torrance, CA 90502
          [phone]

[***][5/20/86][***]
EPSON LOWERS EQUITY PRICES
Epson America has cut prices by 14 percent on some of the firm's
low-cost Equity computers.  The price of the Equity I hard disk
system fell from $2,195 to $1,895.  The Equity II model was
dropped from $2,895 to $2,495, and the hard disk Equity III was
lowered from $4,195 to $3,895.  "We're being very aggressive and
changing our emphasis," said Epson marketing vice president Andy
Leonard.  "We're showing printers and computers together for the
first time.  A lot of people like the idea that they can get a
complete system under the same name."

[***][5/20/86][***]
IS THE OPERATOR REAL, OR IS IT INFOBOT?
With employee costs continually on the rise, banks have been
turning to artificial intelligence as a way to keep costs down
while still serving their clients.  One of the latest
innovations, displayed at the American Banking Association show
in New Orleans, comes from Syntellect Inc. of Irvine.  Their
Infobot telephone product can act as a customer service
telephone operator by answering nearly all routine questions
itself, and only refers the really tough ones to a human.
"Infobot can perform many commercial banking functions, such as
cash management of corporate accounts," said Syntellect vice
president Harwood Shepard, Jr.  Infobot functions include
answering a telephone call, accepting instructions and data
provided by the caller, and providing a verbal response to the
caller's inquiry or request.  The product runs on IBM 3270
computers and costs under $11,000.

CONTACT:  Syntellect Inc., 2222 Martin St., Suite 140, Irvine,
          CA 92715   [phone]

[***][5/20/86][***]
CHIP WITS ON ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY BULLETIN BOARDS
The "Los Angeles Times" recently ran a directory of electronic
bulletin boards serving the Hollywood entertainment industry.
The four most popular were the Call-Sheet, Compu-Cast, the L.A.
Communications System, and Videoman boards.  Two, Call-Sheet and
Compu-Cast, are dedicated to matching actors with directors and
producers.  Videoman is basically a movie review service with
all the other expected BBS features.  But our favorite is the
L.A. Communications System, serving Hollywood's script writers.
First-time users are greeted by the usual series of
"authorization" questions like name, city, age, etc.  Then the
system loosens up, asking more unexpected questions.  The first
one to catch us by surprise was:  WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON -- (1)
JOAN or (2) JOHNNY.

CONTACT:  Call-Sheet  [phone]
          Compu-Cast  [phone]
          L.A. Communications System  [phone]
          Videoman  [phone]

[***][5/20/86][***]
BEACHBITS

>>> Los Angeles County has selected Systemhouse Inc. of
    Arlington, VA, to develop and implement a new $1.3 million
    criminal warrant computer system.  The system is expected to
    handle 600,000 warrants and restraining orders a year, and
    over 2.5 million inquiries per month.  The County database
    contains about 5 million records.

>>> San Diego-based Fujitsu Systems of America has signed a
    contract to supply ATM machines to the National Bank of
    Commerce in Tennesee.  The award is worth about $1 million.

>>> Applied Circuit Technology of Anaheim pink-slipped 48
    employees, a 40 percent staff reduction, last week.  The
    company reported it fired the group "to bring operating
    expenses in line with markets."

>>> Data Control Corp. of Van Nuys has introduced a
    PC-accessible database of all civil actions filed in the
    L.A. County Superior courts since January of 1976.  Included
    are torts, divorces, probates and certain child custody
    cases.  The service is called "Litibase" and contains over
    10 million records.  The database is updated monthly.

>>> Ashton-Tate settled a $150,000 lawsuit by paying $100,000
    cash along with a $150,000 merchandise credit to National
    Technical Systems.  We're still trying to find out what the
    suit was all about.

>>> Calpak of Carson has penned a $5 million agreement to supply
    Sysmatics International with high-speed CPUs for the
    Japanese market.



[***][5/27/86][***]
SPINNAKER ACQUIRES HAYDEN SOFTWARE:
In a move aimed at creating a "bigger more diversified software
firm," Cambridge, MA-based Spinnaker Software Corporation has
purchased Hayden Software of Lowell, MA. No price was announced.
Spinnaker specializes in educational software for the home, while
Hayden is best known for its Sargon III chess-playing game and a
series of Scholastic Aptitude Test tutoring programs. The dozen
employees of Hayden, which had sales of about $7 million last
year, will move to Spinnaker's offices. Spinnaker has about 50
employees and annual sales of about $13 million. The sale will
make Spinnaker the third-largest computer game company, after
Activision (which recently acquired Infocom) and Broderbund.

CONTACT:  Spinnaker Software, 1 Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA
          02139, 617-494-1200

[***][5/27/86][***]
JAVELIN GOES TO SITE LICENSING:
Cambridge, MA-based Javelin Software, which is still trying to
make its unique spreadsheet-like financial program a strong
competitor to cross-town rival Lotus, announced a site licensing
plan this week. Javelin, which retails for $695 in single
quantities, will offer big discounts for quantities of 50, 100,
250, and 500 units. For example, 50 packages will cost $20,000,
500 packages $125,000. A Javelin spokesperson says they're also
willing to negotiate a unlimited-use site licenses, which they'll
do on a case-by-case basis.

CONTACT:  Javelin Software, One Kendall Square - Bldg. 200,
          Cambridge, MA 02139, 1-800-JAVELIN

[***][5/27/86][***]
ALLOY GOES PUBLIC:
After a long drought, computer companies are starting to go
public again. Microsoft went the route recently, and there are
continued rumors that Borland will be next. The latest to go
public is Framingham, MA-based Alloy Computer Products. The maker
of hard disks, backup systems, and processor boards has grown
exponentially in the past year, racking up sales of some $32
million. Earlier this year, Alloy inked a long-term contract with
AT&T. 1.15 million shares of Alloy common stock will go on sale
in June on the NASDAQ over-the-counter market. The opening price
is expected to be between $12 and $15 per share.

CONTACT:  Alloy Computer Products, Inc., 100 Pennsylvania Ave.,
          Framingham, MA 01701, 617-875-6100

[***][5/27/86][***]
WANG EXPANDS SUB-LICENSING PROGRAM:
When Borland put the Random House Concise Lexicon and Thesaurus
into Turbo Lightning, you'd think they licensed it from Random
House. Right? Wrong! They sub-licensed it from Wang Laboratories.
Wang's Electronic Publishing Division, though little-known, has
licensed and developed a wide range of writing aids including
spelling and style checkers, synonym finders, and specialized
dictionaries for law and medicine. Wang has recently started
aggressively marketing sub-licenses for the aids to software
companies. Besides Borland, Wang's current customers include
Reference Software, Peachtree Software, and Sensible Software.

CONTACT:  Wang Laboratories, Electronic Publishing Division,
          One Industrial Ave., Lowell, MA 01851, 617-459-5000

[***][5/27/86][***]
MORE PC CLONES:
And the clones just keep on a comin'....... Evidently, personal
computers really are becoming commodities, with "plug in and go"
the order of the day.

-- A new rock-bottom-price PC comes from Bi-Tech Enterprises of
Bohemia, NY. It's called (are you sitting down?) the "Long Island
PC" and for $1495 you get a single 360K floppy, a 10-meg hard
disk, 640K of RAM, serial and parallel ports, and a monochrome
display. For 180 bucks more, they'll put in an 8088-2 chip that
runs at 8 MHz.

CONTACT:  Bi-Tech Enterprises, 10 Carlough Road, Bohemia, NY
          11716, 516-567-8155

-- Canon USA has also jumped into the clone wars with two medium-
priced models. The A-200II basic model costs $1995 and comes with
two 360K drives, a monochrome monitor, 256K of RAM, and the usual
ports. With a 20-meg fast hard disk, it costs $3595.

CONTACT:  Canon USA, One Canon Plaza, Lake Success, NY 11042,
          516-488-6700

[***][5/27/86][***]
CONTROL DATA SELLS CENTRONICS STAKE:
Minneapolis-based Control Data Corporation has sold its 27% share
of Hudson, NH-based printer-maker Centronics. CDC, which reported
a half-billion dollar loss last year, will use the $25 million
proceeds of the sale to pay off debts. The 4.4 million shares of
Centronics were sold to a variety of individuals and small
corporations. A CDC spokesperson said the sale will have no
affect on sales of the high-speed band printers that Centronics
supplies to CDC.

Meanwhile, Centronics has started shipping a seven-color dot-
matrix printer for personal computer users. The eight-pin
Printstation 260 retails for $1495 and prints 200 cps in draft
mode; 40 cps in letter quality. Like the TI 855, it uses plug-in
font modules for letter quality.

CONTACTS: Centronics Data Computer Corp., 1 Wall Street, Hudson,
          NH 03051, 603-883-0111

          Control Data Corp., 8100 34th Avenue S., Minneapolis,
          MN, 612-853-8100

[***][5/27/86][***]
KURZWEIL VOICEWRITER A STEP CLOSER:
A voice-operated word processor became a step closer last week
when entrepreneur/inventor Ray Kurzweil's Applied Intelligence
subsidiary received $7 million in third round financing for
Kurzweil's Voicewriter, which is expected to be formally
introduced by late this year. The Voicewriter, which will have a
vocabulary of about 5000 words, reportedly will work with any
word processing system. According to a company spokesperson, a
working prototype of the Voicewriter has already been
demonstrated to the company's board of directors and a group of
investors. Prior to the current $7 million cash infusion, the
company had raised $15 million in venture capital, with major
amounts coming from Wang and Xerox. The Voicewriter, which will
be "trained" to recognize a particular speaker's voice, is
expected to retail for about $30,000.

CONTACT:  Kurzweil Computer Products, Inc., 185 Albany Street,
          Cambridge, MA 02139, 617-864-4700

[***][5/27/86][***]
DO-IT-YOURSELF SOFTSTRIP:
Cauzin Systems, in an effort to increase acceptance of its
"Softstrip" bar-code-like method of distributing software, has
introduced a low-cost way to generate your own Softstrips. Up
until now, software had to be sent to the company's Waterbury, CT
headquarters in order to be turned into Softstrips. Now with the
$19.95 Stripper software, any Epson FX printer or compatible can
generate the strips. You'll still need the $200 optical scanner
to read strips into your computer.

CONTACT:  Cauzin Systems, Inc., 835 South Main St., Waterbury, CT
          06706, 203-573-0150

[***][5/27/86][***]
DEC INTRODUCES NEW DATABASE:
Here's a new term to add to your list of computer jargon -- a
"spatial" database. DEC introduced the Spatial/II last week,
which runs on all VAX systems. And in case you're not familiar
with what exactly a spatial database is, it's designed for
keeping track of information by geographical location, and is
used by government agencies, utilities, and petroleum exploration
companies. Prices start at $9090.

DEC also introduced a software product that's designed to
simplify the job of letting VAXes and IBM mainframes talk with
one another. VIDA lets applications access and process data in a
single step, and costs between $3500 and $35,000 depending on the
system on which it will run.

CONTACT:  Digital Equipment Corporation, The Mill, Maynard, MA
          01754, 617-897-5111

[***][5/27/86][***]
SANDERS CHALKS UP A LOSS:
New Hampshire-based Mega defense/high-technology contractor
Sanders Associates has reported its first loss in 12 years,
chalking up $7 million in red ink for the last quarter. The
Nashua-based company, with 8700 workers, is New Hampshire's
largest employer. A spokesperson blamed "cost growth problems" in
government contracts for the loss. Sanders is putting the
finishing touches on a cost reduction program that could result
in some additional layoffs. Sanders laid off 225 engineering
personnel last fall.

CONTACT:  Sanders Associates, Inc., 95 Canal Street, Nashua, NH
          03060, 603-885-4321

[***][5/27/86][***]
ALSYS ADA COMPILER VALIDATED:
Speaking of defense work, all you budding Star Wars programmers
can start doing your work on the IBM PC AT and certain
compatibles. The Defense Department has validated (approved) the
first Ada language compiler for a personal computer--the one from
Waltham, MA-based Alsys. The Alsys Ada compiler is validated for
the IBM PC AT; Zenith Z-200; Compaq Deskpro 286; Sperry PC/IT;
Tandy 3000 HD; Hewlett-Packard Vectra; and the French-made
Groupil G40. The Alsys Ada package includes a required 4-meg
memory expansion board and costs $2995.

CONTACT:  Alsys, Inc., 1432 Main St., Waltham, MA 02154
          617-890-0030




[***][5/20/86][***]
JAPANESE DISK DRIVES FOR PC CONVERTIBLE:
According to the industry sources, Toshiba and Alps Electronics
have respectively agreed with IBM (U.S.A.) to produce 3.5" disk
drives for the laptop PC "Convertible".   The details have not
been disclosed yet.  The annual output for the two firms is
expected to become 500,000 to 600,000, if the sales of the
Convertible go well in the future.  Toshiba has already built its
new factory in Shizuoka in order to beef up the company's disk
drive output.

Meanwhile, Mitsubishi is also said to have received a produc-
tion order for 3.5" disk drives from IBM in the U.S.  This report,
however, has not been confirmed yet.

CONTACT: Toshiba, Tokyo, 03-457-4511
         Alps Electronics, Tokyo, 03-726-1211

[***][5/20/86][***]
JAPANESE MAC PLUS DEBUT:
Industry sources say that Apple Japan has successfully
developed a Japanese version of Macintosh Plus.  The concept of
this newly developed product is said to be totally different
from "DynaMac", which consists of a 512K Mac with the kanji ROM
and the Japanese software.  Apple Japan has apparently touched up
Mac's hardware dubbed "Inside Macintosh", in order to power up
the Japanese language feature of Macintosh.  The details of
this product will be officially announced early this week.
We'll see.

CONTACT: Apple Japan, Tokyo$ 03-582-9181

[***][5/20/86][***]
4MB DRAM IN KOREA:
Thirteen Korean semiconductor manufacturers including SamSung
and GoldStar have started developing a 4MB DRAM with the assist-
ance of the Korean government.  Those manufacturers are seeking
to initiate the mass production of 4MB DRAM in three years.
Total investment for R & D is expected to be around US$80
million, and the part of it will be subsidized by the government.
It will be a wise idea for the Korean government to back up
private firms in order to keep up with the rapid progress of
semiconductor technology.  The analysts say Korean manufacturers
will present a major challenge to the Japanese counterparts in
the future.

CONTACT: SamSung Japan, Tokyo, 03-581-7511

[***][5/20/86][***]
PICTORIAL DATA PROCESSING CAMERA:
SEIKO-EPSON has developed a low-cost and efficient pictorial data
processing camera "GT-20" for NEC's PC-9801.  It looks similar to
"MicronEyes", but it is different in that it gets pictorial data
by rotating a RGB filter using a stepping motor.  The data
processing speed of this camera is only 1/60 second!  The quality
of the screen image is said to be excellent -- it is almost the same
as a photograph.  GT-20 will be released at US$587 on May 20.  You
can see this product at the Business Show in Harumi, Tokyo, starting
on May 21.

CONTACT: SEIKO-EPSON, Nagano (Japan), 0266-52-3131
         Attn: Mr. Kawanishi or Mr. Moriya

[***][5/20/86][***]
NEW BUSINESS ON JAPANESE WORD PROCESSORS:
Riding on a budding fad of low-cost portable Japanese word
processors, new businesses have sprung up recently.  One of such
businesses is the intensive seminar package for mastering
Japanese word processors while staying at a hotel.  Everything, from
boarding, meals, the text books and the seminar fees, is included
in this course.  And the most attractive part is that a portable
word processor will be given to the participants after the
seminar.  The fee is quite reasonable.  Nikko-Narita Hotel, for
instance, offers a two-day seminar package for US$234.  Wanna
join with them?

CONTACT: Hotel Nikko-Narita, Narita (Japan), 0476-32-0032

[***][5/20/86][***]
DEVELOPING A STANDARD CAI COMPUTER:
A published report says that the Ministry of Education and
the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) will
establish a Development Center for creating a powerful computer
for elementary and high school students in Japan.  Most of the
major Japanese personal computer manufacturers such as NEC,
Fujitsu and IBM Japan, will reportedly participate in this
project. Those manufacturers will create the standard features
of both hardware and software of this educational micro by the
end of 1987.

MITI estimates those CAI computers have a US$5.29-billion market
in Japan.  Total 2.2 million micros are expected to be installed
at Japanese schools, starting around 1990.  Wow!

[***][5/20/86][***]
<<< SUKIYAKI BYTES >>>

THE SECOND HEYDAY FOR SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY -- According to the
Japanese branch office of WSTS (World Semiconductor Trade
Statistics), another peak for the world semiconductor demand
will come this year.  WSTS estimates the demand will reach
US$26 billion, which is the same level as in 1984.  Among others,
the demand in the Japanese market is expected to grow 25 percent
compared with last year, and thus Japan will become the largest
market for chips in the world.

JAPANESE SMALLTALK-80 -- Sharp announced (5/13) that it has
developed a Japanese version of SmallTalk-80, and will install it
in the company's engineering workstation "IX-5".  With the aid of
Sharp's Japanese word processor, the programs can be composed in
Japanese language.

JAPANESE 1-2-3 ANNOUNCED -- Lotus Development Japan has announced
that it will release "Lotus 1-2-3 release 2J" in September. This
program has a powerful Japanese language feature, and it runs on
NEC PC-9801 and IBM 5550.  The price is US$576.

UNIVAC JAPAN INVOLVES IN AI BUSINESS -- Univac Japan released
an AI workstation "KS-301" and the expert-system development tool
"KEE" on May 13.  The system uses Common LISP.

NEW PC-9801 DEBUT -- NEC has added a new version "PC-9801UV2" in
the company's PC-9801 family.  PC-9801UV2 has two 3.5" 1MB disk
drives and some advanced features.  It costs US$1,870, which is
almost same price as its former model PC-9801U2".  As a result,
analysts says that PC-9801U2 is DEAD.

SEIKO-EPSON LINKS WITH JECO -- SEIKO-EPSON (Nagano, Japan) has
signed a business agreement with a Japanese watch maker "JECO",
concerning the production of various OA equipment.  Their first
product will be a thermal printer.  JECO is a noted manufacturer
of automobile clocks, especially for Toyota.  SEIKO-EPSON has
apparently eyed JECO's technology to produce high-quality and
low-cost products.

SATELLITE-JAPAN CHANGES ITS GOAL -- Satellite-Japan, which was
formerly created as a satellite-based telecom business company,
has shifted its business to VCR service to provide "video
theater", etc. for large firms.  Satellite-Japan, established by
SONY, Nissho-Iwai Trading, and Marubeni, couldn't get the okay from
the Japanese Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, since
there're already two firms preparing  for the satellite-based
telecom business in Japan.



[***][5/20/86][***]
COMMUNICATING WITH THE REAL WORLD:
This week saw the Communications '86 exhibition being held
at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.  NEWSBYTES
UK attended what was one of the UK's most important
exhibition in the communications world.  Whilst there were
more modems on show that we've had hot dinners here at
NEWSBYTES UK's HQ, there were only a few really innovative
and bright new products, so here's the lowdown on them:

[***][5/20/86][***]
PHOTOPHONE STRIKES 'EM DEAD:
A low key press demonstration (with the lure of champagne)
attracted several journalists from the online world.  And
what attracted us (apart from the champagne, which I never
got a sniff of - grrr)?  The Photophone, that's what.
Photophone is a 9,600 baud self-contained unit produced by
the Image Data Corporation of San Antonio, Texas, and
distributed in the UK by Allan Firth Associates. Photophone
allows high speed transfer of hi-resolution monochrome
pictures down a standard (noisy) telephone line.  Three
picture resolution modes are supported - fast (196 by 292
pixels, 128 greys), normal (296 by 440 pixels, 128 greys),
and document (592 by 440 pixels, 16 greys).  Typical
transmission times are 7 seconds (fast), 12 seconds (normal)
and 10 seconds (document) per frame.

Photophone is good - darned good - and *really works* over a
phone line.  If phone noise is really bad, then fallback
speeds of 7,200 and 4,800 baud are employed to cope.  We saw
transmission of 7,200 baud called into service, when the
phone was off the hook and someone was speaking nearby -
that's good.  Here at NEWSBYTES UK we use a mere 1,200 baud
and if we just leave the phone off the hook, the line noise
gets impossible!

Okay, so where's the catch?  Allan Firth himself was coy
about the price - 7,000 pounds, including hi-res camera
($10,500) - and was practical on sales expectations.  "We
expect sales approaching 200 in the UK," he told NEWSBYTES.
Even with the price so high, we agree with him - it will
sell.

Contact: Allan Firth Associates,
         Corporate House,
         185 Fleet Road,
         Fleet, Hampshire, GU13 8BL,
         Tel: Fleet (02514) 28011.

         Image Data Corporation,
         7986 Mainland Drive,
         San Antonio, Texas, 78250,
         Tel: [phone].

[***][5/20/86][***]
TOSHIBA PORTABLE DEBUT:
Just in case you get fed up peering at that LCD screen on
your portable like we do, consider the recently introduced
Toshiba T2100 laptop.  Inside its 13 pound (5.9 kilo) case
there's a 8086-2 cpu running at 7.16Mhz or 4.77Mhz
(switchable), as well as 256K RAM (expandable to 640K) and a
single (optional double) 3.5 inch minifloppy drive.  Like
the recently unveiled Data General One/2, the T2100 has a
bright orange gas plasma display which is really *readable*.
Unfortunately, gas plasma brings its power problems, which
means the machine only runs off AC power (115 or 230/240v),
but that's not too bad.  Price?  A wallet stretching 2,300
pounds ($3,450), but for that you get kingsize power in a
laptop box.

Contact: Toshiba UK, International House,
         Windmill Road, Sunbury on Thames,
         Middlesex, TW16 7HR,
         Tel: [phone]

[***][5/20/86][***]
THE MERCURY ALTERNATIVE:
Just like the average US phone customer found a few years
ago, there really is life outside of a single telecoms
authority.  Yup, just like Ma Bell, British Telecom are
starting to discover that thar's competition in them thar
hills!  The competition at the show came in the form of
Mercury, a division of Cable and Wireless, who are offering
most that BT are doing, but at cheaper rates.  How much
cheaper?  For big phone and data switching (Telenet-style)
users, savings of up to 20 per cent can be had - now.  Home
and small business users will have to wait until the Autumn
until an MCI/Sprint-style phone service will debut,
but overall the phone rates look really juicy.  7 pounds 50
pence ($11) a year, plus a special phone (30 pounds/$45)
will get you online via Mercury for long distance savings.
With a basic unit charge of 3 pence, as opposed to 5 pence
from BT, Mercury look like they could take off!

To coincide with the week that Mercury took their first
steps into the real world of user to user communications,
British Telecom's chairman Sir George Jefferson issued a
public statement welcoming them aboard the gravy train,
sorry, telecommunications bandwagon, saying, "BT wishes
Mercury to become a credible competitor and is not in the
business of responding by protecting market share at all
costs."  Not letting the grass grow under his feet, he
continued by saying, "We shall not stand idly by in a
competitive situation which, left untouched, would erode our
major position."

Contact: Mercury Communications Ltd.,
         Ninety Long Acre,
         London WC2E 9NP,
         Tel: [phone].

[***][5/20/86][***]
NETWORKS 86 COMES ONLINE FROM ONLINE:
Just as Communications '86 fades into a happy memory, along
comes another communications-oriented exhibition.  This time
around it's Networks '86, due to be held at the Wembley
Conference Centre June 10th to 12th.  The exhibition is
squarely pitched at the business marketplace, but there's a
lot of data switching gear, including modems, on show.
Running in parallel with the show is the Networks '86
conference.  Whilst the show is free, the conference isn't
and, at 495 pounds ($750) for three days, I guess there
won't be too many readers of NEWSBYTES UK who'll be taking
up the offer!

Contact: Networks '86 Conference,
         Online International Ltd.,
         Pinner Green House,
         Pinner, Middlesex, HA5 2AE,
         Tel [phone].

[***][5/20/86][***]
SIR CLIVE'S QL RESCUED YET AGAIN?
Hardly stale the news of recent weeks that Sinclair's
68000-based QL computer was to be reborn (See NEWSBYTES UK
6th May edition), then *another* firm has announced the
same!  CST, a firm noted for its upgrades for the QL, has
announced Thor--basically a QL in a box with discs, more
memory and a nice new keyboard in IBM PC AT style.  Thor
comprises the basic QL motherboard, 640K RAM, single 3.5
inch minifloppy and an enhanced QDOS operating system.  No
price has been fixed yet, but "Practical Computing Weekly"
this week reckoned on it being around the 600 pound mark.
But will it sell?

[***][5/20/86][***]
COMMODORE FIRES 140
Commodore International Ltd. has laid off 140 more workers, 120 at
the company's West Chester, Pa., headquarters and 20 at a Los
Gatos, Calif., subsidiary. Commodore is desperately trying to cut
operating costs, so the company can hold on until the Amiga
begins to make a dent in the marketplace. A shortage of good
software has held up Amiga sales as Commodore has struggled to
stay afloat. Commodore reported $237 million in 1985 losses.
Since then the company has pared its workforce by about 40
percent.

CONTACT: Commodore International, 1200 Wilson Drive., West
         Chester, Pa., 19380. 215-431-9100.

[***][5/20/86][***]
REAGAN TO BRAZIL: BUY U.S. COMPUTERS, OR ELSE
The White House has begun moves to retaliate against Brazil for
refusing to import U.S. computers and computer products. The
Economic Policy Council, a Cabinet committee chaired by
Treasury Secretary James Baker, is drafting a directive that
would curb U.S. imports of Brazilian products while Brazil
continues to ban U.S. computer gear. The draft is supposed to be
ready for the president's review by June 25.

In 1984, in an attempt to bolster the nascent Brazilian computer
industry, the country adopted a law banning computer imports.
Administration officials figure the U.S. has lost as much as $1.5
billion in sales to Brazil, an attractive market because the
country is industrializing rapidly.

[***][5/20/86][***]
BELL COMPANIES GET FCC RELIEF
The Federal Communications Commission last week ruled last week
that AT&T and the former Bell operating companies can offer
services such as electronic mail or computerized home security
systems. As part of a long-running FCC inquiry dubbed "Computer
3," the five-member FCC unanimously overturned a 1980 ruling that
held that the Bell companies would have to offer such services
through separate subsidiaries.

The FCC vote isn't the final word on the matter, however. Federal
Judge Harold Greene, who presided over the breakup of the Bell
system, must agree with the FCC before the decision can go into
effect. Greene is expected to greet the FCC action somewhat
skeptically. He is likely to want to be sure that regular
telephone ratepayers aren't subsidizing the enhanced information
services. "Despite the giant step we made here today," said FCC
Chairman Mark Fowler, "we have a huge roadblock," a reference to
Greene.

[***][5/20/86][***]
HOUSE PANEL HITS ELECTRONIC EAVESDROPPING
A House judiciary subcommittee last week unanimously approved the
"Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986," which is
designed to make it illegal to eavesdrop on electronic
communications, such as this one. The bill would also extend
Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and
seizure to such communications, preventing government agencies
from randomly riffling through your electronic mailboxes.

An unusual coalition that includes the Justice Department,
computer and communications industries, and the American Civil
Liberties Union, supported the bill. Having won approval from the
civil liberties subcommittee, the bill goes to the full House
Judiciary Committee for review. It is expected to be approved.
The House sponsor is Rep. Robert Kastenmeier (D-Wis.), chairman
of the civil liberties subcommittee. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.)
is the Senate sponsor and a member of the Senate Judiciary
Committee.

CONTACT: Kastenmeier, 2232 Rayburn House Office Building, 202-
         225-2906. Leahy, 433 Russell Senate Office Building,
         202-224-4242.

[***][5/20/86][***]
FBI INVESTIGATES HOUSE COMPUTER BREAK-INS
The Federal Bureau of Investigations is looking into two cases of
apparent computer vandalism in the House of Representatives. A
modem raider managed in March to break into the office system of
Silicon Valley's Rep. Ed Zschau (R-Calif.). According to Jim
LeMunyon, Zschau's administrative assistant, the system's modem
was set to receive calls during the day. Staffers heard the tone
that indicates someone has logged on remotely. Soon, the multi-
user system crashed. When it came back up, the entire office
database was missing. LeMunyon told "Newsbytes" that the episode
offers testimony to the importance of backing up data. Because
the office backs up its data faithfully, only about 200 letters
were finally lost. Without backups, LeMunyon said, "we would have
been out of luck." About the same time, Rep. John McCain's (R-
Ariz.) office mysteriously lost one of about 25 user areas in
their system, and recovered it the next day. McCain staffers are
reluctant to term their data loss a break-in, but the FBI is also
investigating the incident. Both Zschau and McCain are running for
Republican Senatorial nominations in their home states.

CONTACT: Zschau, 429 Cannon House Office Building, 202-225-5411.
         McCain, 1123 Longworth House Office Building, 202-225-2635.

[***][5/20/86][***]
IRS RULING HITS TAX SOFTWARE
An Internal Revenue Service ruling issued last December and
clarified in a release last week could hurt companies that sell
programs designed to do income taxes. IRS said that a tax program
that offers "substantive tax instructions rather than just
mechanical assistance" is considered a "return preparer" and
subject to a host of IRS regulations. For example, if the program
understates income due to negligence, the IRS could hit the
software company with a $100 fine for every understated return.

Ken Wasch of the Software Publishers Association told the
"Washington Post" that the IRS ruling "makes software companies
more liable than a host of other tax-preparer manuals and we don't
think that is a positive development." Companies developing
programs that advise taxpayers about options such as tax shelters
and deferred income should be particularly careful of the IRS
ruling. But even programs that simply perform calculations might
qualify as return preparers, warns an IRS spokesman.

CONTACT: IRS, Regulations Review Staff, 1111 Constitution Avenue
         NW, Washington, D.C., 202-566-9053.

[***][5/20/86][***]
IVERSON EARNINGS UP A TAD
Iverson Technology Corp. and its International Technology Corp.
subsidiary reported first quarter earnings of $438,000 or 18
cents per share. For the first quarter of 1985, earnings were
$423,000, or 24 cents per share, with 700,000 fewer shares
outstanding. Revenues for the quarter were $4.5 million, compared
with $3.8 million for the first quarter last year. George
Blincoe, vice president of finance for the McLean, Va., firm,
said the earnings increase is a result of the company's hot line
of Tempest microcomputers. Blincoe said that $2.9 million in 1986
revenue came from the low electronic signal computers favored ;in
the Pentagon, more than double the 1985 sales of Tempest gear.

[***][5/20/86][***]
COMPUTER INDEX SLIDES DOWNWARD
The Washington Computer Business Index dropped to 212 last week,
compared to 256 for the week before. The May 12 issue of
"Washington Business" contained 11 pages of computer ads, versus
18 pages on non-computer display ads. The index hasn't been
showing any significant changes in recent weeks, after a soft
spell earlier in the spring.

[***][5/20/86][***]
POWERBYTES

 $$$ The Army has awarded Harris Corp. of Melbourne, Fla., a $4.6
million modification to a fixed price contract for parts for an
anti-jam modem. The original contract was awarded in March.

 $$$ The Air Force Weapons Lab has awarded Computer Sciences
Corp. an $18.3 million contract for "Star Wars" support services.
CSC will head a team of companies studying the effects of nuclear
and space radiation on microelectronics. CSC's Albuquerque, N.M.,
office will perform the work.

 $$$ Software Mart + Hardware, a Virginia retailer, has opened a
new store in downtown Washington, a Farragut Square. CONTACT:
Brady Preheim, 202-775-8188.

 $$$ Advanced Computer Concepts, an Arlington, Va., retailer,
plans a new store in Tyson's Corner, a Fairfax County, Va.,
shopping area.  CONTACT: ACC, 703-276-7800.

[***][5/20/86][***]
BIG BLUES--CLONEMAKERS NARROW MARKETING GAP:
Marketing figures for 1985 suggest that suppliers of
workalike "clones" of the virtually industry standard IBM
PC line of microcomputers are exceeding sales of the real
thing.  Of 244,000 units shipped in Canada last year, IBM
compatibles had 34 per cent of the market, while Big Blue
accounted for 25 percent.  Further, of the compatibles, 7
per cent of the sales were of a generic "no-name" type
which only emerged in the marketplace in mid-1985.

Computech Systems, on downtown Toronto, Ontario's Queen
Street sells such machines in a marketplace where price is
always the bottom line and brand loyalty is non-existent.
"Our customers can't afford IBM," says Computech's Alfred
Chan, simply.  Offsetting the major price breaks afforded
to buyers by these offshore-made machines are constant
problems of inferior hardware quality, and poor service
accessibility, answer some official distributors.  "The
buyer is being fooled," says Peter Baines, distributor of a
more up-scale IBM compatible.  "[The bargain brands]
cheapen everybody's position in the market."  In order to
combat the price-undercutting, some distributors have begun
talks exploring the merits of making "private-label"
hardware available in a middle price range, in order to
maintain a customer base, but "there is no formal plan at
the moment."

[***][5/20/86][***]
JAPAN CONNECTION FOR UTLAS LIBRARY SYSTEM:
Utlas International Inc., subsidiary of International
Thomson Organisation Ltd. (Toronto, Ontario), is moving
into the Far Eastern market with a library language
database in Japanese to be launched in Tokyo in
August, says President Arthur Parker.  The company
currently develops bibliographic databases and computer
software to automate library catalogues used by 2,000
libraries to keep track of new acquisitions.  With the
addition of search capability in the Japanese kanji
character set, "[the system] will become a trilingual
database," says senior consultant Jack Cain.  Japanese
libraries will be able to access the Utlas database, retrieve
information and enter cataloguing data entirely in kanji,
using Japanese-made microcomputers.  The software allows
users to type words phonetically, so that any entries made
by Japanese libraries can also be retrieved in either
English or French.

CONTACT: Utlas International Ltd, 3rd Floor, Toronto,
         Ontario, M5S 2V1,              416/923-0890

[***][5/20/86][***]
DATAPAC/IBM LINKUP TESTED:
Bell Canada and the Manitoba Telephone System have begun
tests of a device linking IBM's SNA communications protocol
to Datapac, Telecom Canada's packet-switching network.  The
service option, if tests are successful, will be introduced
by Telecom Canada's 10 Canadian communications companies as
SDLC-Pac in September.

CONTACT: Telecom Canada, 800/265-4468
         IBM Canada Ltd., 350 Steeles Avenue East, Markham,
         Ontario, L3R 2Z1, 416/474-2111

[***][5/20/86][***]
REAL-TIME CONFERENCING FOR DEC VAX:
Logibec, a Montreal, Quebec-based communications company,
introduced their "ConfraLine" simultaneous conferencing
system at the recent DEXPO (DEC Expo) in Dallas, TX.  In
contrast to "non-interactive" conferencing systems like
"Participate," on The Source, ConfraLine is a real-time
interactive conferencing system that allows up to 32 users
to engage in simultaneous online dialogue.  Subscribers of
Mile High Media's "Unison" system are currently using
Confraline under its original name of "SpeakEasy"--Logibec
had to change the name in order to avoid conflict with a
like-named product still being marketed.  Confraline
is currently available for DEC VAX systems.

CONTACT: Logibec, Edifice du Port de Montreal, Cite du Havre
         (Aile 2), H3C 3R5, 514/866-3891.

[***][5/20/86][***]
NAMES IN THE NEWS--TWO NEW BYTE-BOFFINS:
Amdahl Limited President David B. McGlaughlin announced
last week the appointment of Edward C. Fudge as
Vice-President, Market.  Mr. Fudge will be responsible for
sales and marketing activities nationwide, having joined
Amdahl two years ago as Western Region Sales Manager in
Calgary, Alberta; prior to coming to Amdahl, Mr. Fudge
spent a number of years with a "large computer
manufacturer," in the areas of technical management and
senior marketing.  Amdahl makes and supports large-scale
computer systems, storage products, communications systems,
software programs, and education services.  (And no matter
=how= much I want to, I will =not= say "Here come the
Fudge...")

And The Watcom Group Inc. (Waterloo, Ontario)  have
announced the appointment of Douglas B. Buchanan as
Executive Vice-President, Marketing.  Mr. Buchanan was most
recently Manager, Strategic Management Services, with a
major international consulting and accounting firm; his new
responsibilities will encompass all marketing activities
for the Watcom Group.  Watcom is a privately-owned family
of computer-related companies, whose activities include:
software development and marketing; text publication; and
educational seminars.  The company's software is in wide
use on both microcomputers and mainframes in educational
institutions and businesses in North America and
internationally, with licences worldwide totalling more
than 250,000.

[***][5/20/86][***]
CAE PROFITS DECLINE SLIGHTLY:
CAE Industries Ltd., Toronto, Ontario has announced a
profit decline for the year ended March 31, 1986.  Total
profit ws $23.1-million (CDN), down from 1985's
$30.8-million; share profit also declined from 86 cents to
64.  Revente for the period was up slightly--$332.9-million
vs. $327-million.  An extraordinary gain of $1.3-million
as a result of a favourable court judgement against the
Government Of Canada brought final profit to
$24.4-million, or 68 cents per share.  Last year, an
extraordinary loss decreased final profit for the maker of
aircraft flight simulators and supervisory control systems,
which hopes that long-term auto parts supply contracts and
other backlog orders will bring improved fiscal results for
the coming year.