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/V164

Text File | 1991-09-30 | 58KB | 1,219 lines

[***][7/22/86][***]
MAC SWEETENS APPLE EARNINGS
The latest quarter has seen Apple Computer earning $32 million
on sales of nearly half a million dollars worth of computers,
peripherals, and software.  Compare this to a loss of $17
million this time last year and you paint a portrait of a firm
with a strong leader and a stronger market position.  Surging
sales of the new beefed-up Macintoshes, some 20,000 per month
according to industry watchers InfoCorp, account for most of the
third quarter results.  Adds John Sculley, Apple CEO in a
press release, "Our Apple II line continues to hold a
leadership position in the education market."  What will Apple
DO with all this money?  Continues Sculley, "Now we intend to
increase investment spending to sustain our revenue growth in
future quarters."

[***][7/22/86][***]
IBM MAC DUE SAYS SCULLEY
John Sculley was featured on a Compuserve online forum July 12
in which he electronically chatted live-time with users.
Despite an initial problem with his modem (he had to drive to
a friend's house to use his computer), Sculley provided a
few confirmations of rumors--the most significant was that
Apple will indeed offer IBM compatibility on a new Macintosh
next year.  In the lively discussion, Sculley also was asked
his favorite color.  "Anything but blue," he replied.

Meanwhile, this week's issue of "California Technology Stock
Letter" says, "Phoenix Technologies, which provides the IBM-
compatible operating system to most of the clones, is writing
the IBM-compatible code for an add-on board for the Macintosh."

[***][7/22/86][***]
APPLE SHAREHOLDERS SUE                          **EXCLUSIVE**
More than 50,000 people who bought Apple Computer stock between
November 12, 1982 and September 23, 1983 will be represented in
a class action lawsuit against the company.  Slated for trial
in U.S. District Court (San Jose) February 16, 1987, the suit
charges Apple and 14 current or former Apple employees
(including John Sculley, Steve Jobs, A. C. Markkula and Del Yochum)
with making false and misleading statements which inflated
the stock price during that period.  Specifically, the suit
concerns the publicity and promotion of the Lisa computer, which
was introduced in January of 1983.  John Grasberger, an attorney
for the plaintiffs, says Steve Jobs hyped Lisa as being "phenomenally
successful the first year."  Further, an April 28 quarterly report
quotes Jobs and Markkula as saying, "We're extremely pleased with
orders to date for our Lisa systems."

These words of encouragement, says Grasberger, were not supported
by facts.  He says Apple officers were aware of hardware and
software problems with Lisa that would result in Lisa's not being
shipped until June of 1983.  They also knew, he says, that Lisa's
high price tag ($10,000) would be bad for sales (if not disastrous,
which it was), and that their enthusiastic remarks were sending Apple
stock soaring to a high of $52/share.  Grasberger says stockholders
are particularly miffed that Steve Jobs sold 500,000 of his shares
during this $52/share high one day after the stockholders report was
released, netting him $25 million.

The suit seeks damages for the stockholders, amounting to the
difference in price between what the stock was worth vs. what
it was selling for "due to the hype about Lisa," he says.

An Apple spokeswoman, meanwhile, had this comment: "Apple and
the defendants have denied the allegations and are defending
themselves and the company vigorously.  We won't back away at
all; the suit is without merit."

CONTACT:  John Grasberger, SPECTHRIE & LERACH (attys), 2000
          Central Savings Tower, 225 Broadway, San Diego, Ca.
          92101  619/231-1058

[***][7/22/86][***]
APPLE'S OLD AGENCY WINS MORE AWARDS
Chiat/Day, creator of the the "1984" and "Lemmings" TV ads for Apple,
but which was dumped from the Apple account in favor of BBDO in
NYC, just won 7 major awards, all for Apple ads, at a competition
at Santa Clara University.  The firm got Best of Show for its
Apple consumer magazine ad entitled, "How to Avoid Paying Your
Bills."  Last year, Chiat/Day also won seven "Murphys," as the
awards are called, for Apple ads.  (Gertrude Murphy, a respected
ad writer in the South Bay until her death in 1977, was the
woman after whom the awards are named.)

[***][7/22/86][***]
MICROSOFT TEAMS UP WITH ATARI
Look for a $99 version of Microsoft Write for the Atari ST by year's
end.  The giant Washington State software firm has finally
committed to porting its best-selling package to Tramiel's
machine, according to Sig Hartmann, director of software development
for Atari.  In an interview with journalist Lisa Raleigh,
Hartmann was asked whether Microsoft would make all its titles
available for the Atari ST.  "We'll see.  We as a company would
like to have Microsoft port over all of its products.  (But)
Microsoft is in the business of making money."

[***][7/22/86][***]
BORLAND'S BIG LONDON BUCKS
Scotts Valley-based Borland International has raked in $25
million and has seen its stock price jump 20% since July 2,
when 25% of the firm went up for sale on the Unlisted
Securities Market in London.  Philippe Kahn, Borland's
CEO, got $4.5 million for shares he sold.  And what of a
listing on the American stock market?  "We've got the
money we want," Kahn was quoted as saying, shedding doubt
on the possibility.

[***][7/22/86][***]
TOYING WITH GOING PUBLIC
Atari founder Nolan Bushnell wants $12 million for Axlon, his
new toy firm that everyone knows and loves for talking Teddy
A.G. Bear.  The entrepreneur hopes to take the firm public
soon, offering 1.2 million shares at $10 each.  Trouble is,
the cash is expected to go to pay off back debts, the biggest
being a $7.7 million loan from Prudential Bach (due Sept 30),
Security Pacific National Bank, and Merrill Lynch Private
Capital.  But Axlon's VP of Finance, John Anderson denies the
public offering is to meet Prudential's deadline.  "We're
coming public because we are severely undercapitalized."

The press hasn't exactly been kind to Axlon's prospective
offering, dredging up the firm's financial record (Axlon
has never made a profit, in fact it lost $1.8 million in its
last quarter and has a negative net worth of $6 million).
Then there's Pizza Time Theater, Bushnell's arcade-and-pizza
enterprise which filed for Chapter 11 protection in 1984.
And what happened to Steve Wozniak?  Why did he back away
from a deal with Bushnell after reading the "fine print"?

What Bushnell does have going for him is $3 million that
giant toymaker Hasbro just pumped into Axlon in a joint
marketing deal for as yet unannounced electronic products,
proving that if there's a lack of confidence in Axlon's spreadsheets,
at least there's no worry about the fertility of the man's
product imagination.

CONTACT:  AXLON, INC.  Sunnyvale, Ca. 408/747-1900

[***][7/22/86][***]
MORE EGGHEADS DUE
The quickly growing Egghead Discount Software chain plans to
open five stores in the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas by
September.  Already operating 24 retail stores in the Pacific
Northwest and California, Egghead, of Redmond, Washington, is
bucking the trend toward dwindling retail fortunes.


NEW PC RADIO SHOW
There's a second nationally-aired computer-oriented radio show
making its appearance in selected cities.  "PC Talk Radio"
started broadcasting in 11 markets Sunday night, offering a
one-hour call-in program with news and features thrown in
to round out the format.  The cities in which the show airs
(9 PM EST, Sundays) are: Syracuse, Albany, Glens Falls, Ithaca,
all in New York; New Bedford, Ma.; Rockville, MD.; San Antonio,
Texas; Gallup, N.M.; Mobile and Montgomery, Alabama.  The
first nationwide PC radio show, still going strong, is
"Computer Connection."

CONTACT:  Bob Korngold, KLP Productions, 25 Roxbury Rd., Scarsdale,
          NY  10583  914/472-0038

[***][7/22/86][***]
DATABASE WELL BUTTONED
Buttonware of Bellvue, WA reports nobody succeeded in busting into
its online database, despite a cash reward for doing so.  So well
did the data encryption features of PC-FILE III and PC-FILE/R
work to protect a database of historically significant dates,
that hundreds gave up in defeat.  The contestants downloaded the
database using a public password, then had until July 4th to
crack it.  Buttonware is one of the more unique, small software
houses, offering Button-Net, a bulletin board for orders, help,
and product updates.  To see what it looks like call 206-454-2629
8am to 3pm Pacific Time weekdays or 24 hours weekends.

[***][7/22/86][***]
CLUB NEWSLETTER NOTES
Two pretty good users group newsletters arrived at Newsbytes-
Central this week.  If you own an Amiga, you should see the
First Amiga Users Group newsletter--a compilation of helpful
and interesting articles about the latest products and developments
with this technologically superior, but undersold machine.
To get a copy write FAUG at 543 Old Country Road, San
Carlos, Ca. 94070.

Another very comprehensive newsletter comes from NYPC, the
New York Personal Computer, Inc. user's group. This bimonthly
is thick, packed with help columns, product reviews, computer
store reviews and lots more.  Worth reading!  Individual copies
are $3.  Send check to NYPC, c/o Margaret Levine, 605 W.
112th St., Apt. 5e, NY, NY  10025.


[***][7/22/86][***]
IBM MAKES BIG DUMP
In a moves that looks suspiciously like a clearance sale, IBM
has announced massive discounts on a list of game and home
software -- most of it oriented for the ill-fated PCjr. For
instance, "Andrew Tobias Managing Your Money With the IBM PCjr"
has been slashed from $199 to $60. Sierra On-Line's HomeWord
has been axed from $75 to $20. Lotus 1-2-3 for the PCjr is
going for $99. More than a dozen games going for $30 to $45
each have been dropped to $10 each.

CONTACT: IBM PERSONAL COMPUTER SOFTWARE Special, P.O.
         Box 3305, Wallingford, Conn.  800/426-7279.

[***][7/22/86][***]
DATA RACE UPGRADES MODEM
The "asymmetrical" (non-symmetrical?) modem produced by Data
Race Inc. has been enhanced and now offers 212A (1200 baud) and
103 (300 baud) compatibility in both answer and originate
modes. (The previous version ignored 1200 baud and would not
answer at 300 baud.) The new model, called the Data Race AF
(Advanced Function), otherwise retains the features of the
original model -- it's a 4800 baud CCITT V.27 modem in one
direction and a 150 baud modem in the other, using data
compression to boost throughput. The slow channel is used for
the terminal to host direction, and the fast channel for host
to terminal, although this can be reversed if the traffic
requires it. The AF costs $1645.

CONTACT:  Deck Yoes, DATA RACE, 5839 Sebastian, San Antonio,
          Texas 78249  512/692-3909

[***][7/22/86][***]
PHOTOPHONE NOW REMEMBERS
Image Data has added a micro floppy to their Photophone
product, giving it the ability to store about 60 pictures.
Photophone sends digital TV pictures through the phone lines,
taking 7 to 15 seconds for still pictures with a resolution of
up to 296 by 440 lines, with 128 levels of gray. (Freeze-frames
only -- live action is out of the picture. . . Oops, sorry
about the pun.) The basic unit costs $8550, and the 3.5-inch
disk option costs an extra $875.

CONTACT:  Larry Buerk, IMAGE DATA CORP., 7896 Mainland, San
          Antonio, Texas 78250  512/680-2727

[***][7/22/86][***]
DATAPOINT SEES LIGHT, DECIDES TUNNEL HAS ENDED
In a recent interview, Datapoint CEO Ed Gistaro indicated the
new, downsized Datapoint has what it takes to continue
profitability. He was responding to questions about Datapoint's
first profitable quarter since 1984. (The office automation and
LAN vendor made $5.8 million on $55.8 million revenue for the
quarter ending April 26.) Chairman Asher Edelman (whose
takeover of the company in March 1985 sparked rumors that he
would take the company private and liquidate it) says he
expects Datapoint to become a billion dollar company in the
next fews years. Harold E. O'Kelley, former president dumped by
Edelman, under whom Datapoint pioneered the distributed data
processing and local area network markets, is reported to be
returning to Georgia to become a gentleman farmer. Victor D.
Poor, former head or R&D at Datapoint and designer of the 8008
microprocessor chip (who left during O'Kelley's final days) is
now at Image Data in San Antonio.

CONTACT:  Tom Moldenhauer, DATAPOINT CORP., 9725 Datapoint
          Drive, San Antonio, Texas  78284  512/699-7000

[***][7/22/86][***]
DATAPOINT HAS OEM MULTI-USER AT CLONE
Stumbling but unfallen Datapoint Corp. has enhanced its
"Starport" series of PC/AT clones with the Starlift, obviously
part of its Starfleet line, on which Datapoint is betting the
farm. The Starlift is a multi-user MS-DOS system that also
supports Datapoint's programming language, Databus. The
Starlift uses adapter coards to allow 17 users. Each card
includes an 8 megaherz CPU and up to one megabyte of memory. A
17-user system with a 60 megabyte hard disk and 9.68 megabytes
of RAM would cost $1,937 per user. Supposedly, the multiple
CPUs mean performance is not degraded with 17 users. The
degradation of the users themselves is not addressed. The
machine is primarily intended for Datapoint "independent sales
organizations" (OEMs).

CONTACT:  Rose Mary Eash, DATAPOINT CORP., 9725 Datapoint
          Drive, San Antonio, Texas 78212  512/699-7000

[***][7/22/86][***]
PROXIMITY BUYS SOFTWARE PLUS AS HEARTS FLUTTER
Proximity Technology Inc. of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. has
announced it's buying Software Plus Inc., a small firm in Stony
Brook, NY. Proximity is apparently interested in the work done
by the unfortunately named Dr. Salvador Bozzo at Software Plus,
who used Proximity's PF474 VLSI pattern comparison chip to
classify wave shapes into clusters to perform electrocardiagram
analyses. Software Plus was also involved in threat pattern
recognition, message routing, and remote spectral analysis for
the military.

CONTACT:  Susan Easton, PROXIMITY TECHNOLOGY INC., 3511 N.E.
          22nd St., Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 33308, 305/566-3511.

[***][7/22/86][***]
HACKED AT HACKERS
In a recent interview with this correspondent, William Tener,
the head of security for TRW's Information Services Division in
Orange, CA, said that about 2,000 of the 5,000 computer
bulletin boards in the nation are hacker boards. "You can tell
when you oook at the menu -- you see credit card numbers and
access codes," he explained. But actually, there are only about
two dozen "good" hackers in operation. "On their boards it's
like seeing an executive summary of what's going on with the
other boards." The content of the other boards is basically
noise, "but it gets better and better as you work your way up
to the top boards." His office monitors bulletin boards, and
has taken action that has led to about a dozen being shut down
by various authorities. He would not say how often TRW's
network gets assaulted, but did note an incident in February in
which 23 hackers were arrested, and all claimed to have
penetrated TRW -- "The DA said they were moving satellites" --
but Tener says none ever penetrated. But meanwhile, the hackers
are getting more and more into credit card fraud, and the days
of adolescent game-playing seem to be fading, Tener added.

CONTACT:  Joe Overton, PR man for TRW INFORMATION SYSTEMS
          GROUP, Information Services Division, One City Blvd.
          West, Orange, CA 92668  231/590-7595.

[***][7/22/86][***]
---------------------------------------------------------------
LAMONT WOOD is a free-lance high-tech writer based in San
Antonio, substituting this week for Dana Blankenhorn. He can be
reached at TCI445.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

NEWSBYTES -- SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA REPORT <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Week of July 22, 1986
By Phil Hopkins


AST TO DISMISS 65 WORKERS
Leading IBM enhancement-board maker AST Research has disclosed
that it will pink-slip 65 employees as part of its corporate
reorganization campaign.  The cost-cutting measure comes only a
month after AST announced that it would diversify into
communications and systems markets and would begin manufacturing
"workstation enhancement" products.

CONTACT:  AST RESEARCH, 2691 Richter Ave., Suite 104, Irvine, CA
          92714   [phone]

[***][7/22/86][***]
MYSTERY EAGLE INVESTOR SETS PLAN
Still guarding his anonymity, the mysterious Eagle investor
willing to pump $500,000 into the bankrupt company now says his
offer is contingent on the cooperation of the firm's largest
creditor.  Eagle owes Bank of America over $4.8 million, and the
firm's shadowy financier says the bank must swap an unspecified
amount of additional cash for a 40 percent ownership interest in
the troubled company or he will take a powder.  According to
Eagle president Gary Kappenman, B of A hasn't approved the swap
yet, but has a month to make up its mind.  Bank officials were
not commenting on the rather unorthodox funding proposal last
week, but Kappenman is worried.  "Without approval very soon
from the bank, we will have to close our doors for good," he
said.

Meanwhile, only one clue to the identity of Eagle's benefactor
has surfaced since his existence was revealed.  Kappenman says
he is "not based in Southern California."  Hmmm.  That narrows
the likely suspects down a bit, doesn't it?

CONTACT:  EAGLE COMPUTER, 7100 Chapman Ave., Garden Grove, CA
          92641   [phone]

[***][7/22/86][***]
HIGH TECH TABLOID NOW HISTORY
"Southland High Tech," a start-up tabloid published by Softek
Communications of El Segundo, bit the dust after just two
biweekly issues.  The controlled-circulation newspaper, which
was edited by former "San Diego Union" managing editor Gerry
Reeves, never achieved either its advertising sales nor its
circulation goals, so Softek owners Matt Steiger and Dave Hill
simply pulled the plug on the printing presses.

CONTACT:  SOFTEK COMMUNICATIONS, P.O. Box 998, El Segundo, CA
          90245   [phone]

[***][7/22/86][***]
BUGS CHECK IN, BUT WON'T CHECK OUT OF NEW LAB
The National Science Foundation has awarded the University of
California at Irvine (UCI) a five-year, $1.3 million grant to
create a software research laboratory.  According to UCI, the
lab will be housed in the new Department of Information and
Computer Science/Engineering Research Complex on campus and will
develop techniques to eliminate software programming errors.
The development and manufacturing procedures designed by the lab
will hopefully be adopted by commercial software manufacturers,
said department chairman John King.

[***][7/22/86][***]
BOOK CHRONICLES COMPUTER USE IN MUSIC BIZ
Some computer books are written by people with extraordinary
credentials.  But how many publishers can brag that one of their
authors writes hit songs titled "Young and Dumb," or "Child
Eaters"?  For that reason alone, Mediac Press may sell a few
copies of "Start Me Up!", a new book about computer use in the
music industry.  The co-authors, Ben Krepack and Rod Firestone
(former leader of the Rubber City Rebels band), discuss music-
industry applications of accounting software, scheduling booking
dates while on the road and even which databases list the
Billboard charts so you can find out if your songs are rising
with a bullet while you're gettin' down in Cincinnati.  The
book's forward is written by legendary performer Joe Walsh and
contains one appendix devoted to computer/music-business jargon.
My favorite listings, occuring next to each other, are "road
manager" (he "heads up the road crew and is usually the
traveling act's primary representative if the personal manager
is not around") and ROM (which "usually contains part of the
operating system").

CONTACT:  MEDIAC PRESS, P.O. Box 3315, Van Nuys, CA 91407
          [phone]

[***][7/22/86][***]
BEACHBITS

>>>  Titan Corp. says it has signed a letter of intent to
     acquire Defense Systems Corp. of San Diego.  Defense
     Systems makes artificial intelligence systems for military
     aircraft.  Terms were not disclosed.

>>>  Of the 50 top amounts paid to So. California corporate
     executives, only one computer-related firm was represented.
     Logicon Inc. of Torrance pays its CEO, John Woodhull, a
     combined salary (with cash and stock) of $1,312,636
     annually.

>>>  Tandon's new micros, the PCX and PCA, use advanced VLSI
     chips to reduce the number of logic chips from the typical
     65 to only four.  This amazing technical accomplishment
     wasn't announced by Tandon, by the way.  We uncovered it in
     a brokerage house's securities analysis.

>>>  July, rather than June, seems to be the high wedding season
     in the Southland.  Protocol Computers is marrying
     Telematics International, while Datum Inc. weds Spectrum
     Technology Inc.  Meanwhile, down at the little chapel by
     the beach, Graphic Plastic Products Inc. has said "I do" to
     Ronel Industries.  Not to be called an old maid,
     Communication Machinery Corp. says it eloped with Syros
     Inc.  Most were private ceremonies, with only their
     comptrollers are witnesses...so terms of the pre-nuptial


[***][7/22/86][***]
LOTUS PROFITS UP AGAIN
Nearly everything (with the possible exception of Jazz) that
Lotus Development touches seems to turn to gold. So it should
come as no surprise that the company's profits were way up for
the last quarter. Lotus' $11.5 million dollar profit was 15%
higher than the same period last year and their sales were up
30% to $66.2 million. A Lotus spokesperson attributed the great
numbers to what they term "record sales" of 1-2-3. But they still
won't say how many units were sold.

Meanwhile, a Lotus spokesperson confirmed that the company is
considering removing copy protection. But don't hold your breath
unless you're a federal employee, since any copy protection
removal will ONLY affect copies of Lotus software purchased by
the government. Insiders tell NEWSBYTES that Lotus executives
have been more than a little peeved about loosing major
government contracts because procurement regulations forbid the
purchase of copy-protected software. But Lotus is still adamant
about keeping copy protection on consumer products.

Finally, Lotus president Jim Manzi was named chairman of the
company. He takes on the additional title after founding guru
Mitch Kapor resigned last week. What's Mitch up to? At a farewell
party this past week, Kapor had a couple tongue-in-cheek remarks.
First, he said that he might like to try a night as a stand-up
comedian. Then he added that he might go into deli funding if he
could find someone in Boston who can "make a good pastrami
sandwich." You have to give Kapor credit; can you imagine the
retiring chairman of any other large computer company making
remarks like these?

CONTACT:  Lotus Development, 55 Cambridge Parkway, Cambridge, MA
          02142, 617-577-8500

[***][7/22/86][***]
IBM LOSING TO THE CLONEMAKERS?
IMS America -- an international market research firm based in
Ambler, PA -- says IBM isn't recapturing the the market share
it's lost to the clonemakers. The firm, which publishes the
"National Computer Retail Report," tracks monthly sales of
personal computer products by taking information off the actual
invoices of 400 computer retailers located throughout the nation.
IMS says that last fall was the turning point, when IBM's market
share started sliding and has been ever since. Not surprisingly,
the IMS report shows Compaq as Big Blue's closest competitor,
followed closely by Leading Edge and Epson. The IMS report shows
that other major clonemakers, including AT&T and NCR, have a very
small portion of the market. Companies to watch? IMS says Sanyo
is a new clonemaker with "signifigant volume."

CONTACT:  IMS America Ltd, Computer Markets Division, Butler and
          Maple Ave., Ambler, PA 19002, 215-283-8990.

[***][7/22/86][***]
AT&T DOWN, NYNEX UP
The 26-day strike last month by telephone operators cost AT&T
$140 million in profit. At least that's what Ma Bell claimed when
its just-released quarterly report shows profits off 8.5% over the
same period last year. But the company still had a very decent
bottom line, racking up $422 million in profits on all its
operations including computer system sales. One interesting
tidbit to come from the report is that some 20% of AT&T's net
profit comes from the surcharges on calling card, collect, and
third-party calls. That's no small potatoes, amounting to some
$4.2 BILLION revenue dollars last year.

Meanwhile NYNEX, the Bell operating company that operates New
York Telephone, New England Telephone, and NYNEX Computer
Centers, reported its profits up 18.4% for the quarter. Nynex had
revenues of $2.84 billion, and is confident of an continually-
growing year as it takes over the national chain of former IBM
Product Centers. A Nynex spokesperson added that the company is
now handling some 165 million calls each business day.

[***][7/22/86][***]
MOSAIC UPGRADES TWIN
Cambridge, MA-based Mosaic Software is shipping an upgrade to its
Twin spreadsheet, generally regarded to be the closest 1-2-3
clone. Like its predecessor, version 1.4 retails for $99. Users
of the previous versions can upgrade for $7.50. New features
includes extended printer and graphics support, and the ability
to read and write all versions of 1-2-3 files. Mosaic also claims
that Twin will run all 1-2-3 templates that are on the market.

CONTACT:  Mosaic Software, Inc., 1972 Massachusetts Avenue.,
          Cambridge, MA 02140, 617-491-2434

[***][7/22/86][***]
ENABLE STARTS VOLUME PRICING
Ever since buying Enable from its original developers (who went
into Chapter 11), The Software Group of Ballston Lake, NY has
been more than a little successful at marketing the integrated
software package to a variety of large-scale users. For instance,
the 15,000 Zenith portable computers that the IRS is buying will
all be supplied with Enable, as will the numerous Zenith desktops
supplied to the Air Force. Now The Software Group is going after
corporate users with a volume purchase plan. While us single
users have to pay $695 for Enable, the big boys can get it for
between $250 each (1000 copies) and $350 each (100 copies).

CONTACT:  The Software Group, Northway Ten Executive Park,
          Ballston Lake, NY 12019, 800-634-3470

[***][7/22/86][***]
TECHNICAL WRITING GETS HOT
Even though extensive layoffs are rearing their ugly heads at
computer companies throughout the northeast once again, officials
at placement firms tell NEWSBYTES that there's a hot and growing
market for technical writers -- the people who write those often
cursed-at user manuals. Reports are that jobs are going begging
at many companies. In an effort to keep up with the demand,
Middlesex Community College is expanding its software technical
writing training program from full-time days to part-time
evenings and weekends. The part-time program starts September
23rd, but August 1 is the application deadline. If you're a
budding technical writer in the Boston area, you can get more
information by calling 617-257-8910, extension 277.

[***][7/22/86][***]
BOOKS IN PRINT ON LASERDISK
A database of the 750,000 publications in "Books in Print" is now
available on CD-ROM. Publisher R. R. Bowker includes special
search software using those ubiquitous "pull-down windows" to
make searching easier. Should you have lots of room or a large
personal library, a feature allows you to print any (or all)
entries on 3 by 5 cards. The Books in Print CD-ROM costs $795;
Bowker is offering Hitachi and Sony laserdisk players with PC
interface cards for $680 and $850 respectively.

CONTACT:  R. R. Bowker, 205 East 42nd St., New York, NY 10017,
          212-916-1600

[***][7/22/86][***]
SPELLING? SI
Though many of the major software companies have a strong
presence in other countries, you seldom see any foreign-language
software in the United States. A Trenton, NJ company has
introduced a Spanish-language spelling checker. Escribien from
Ibersoft is available for Wordstar, Multimate, Word Perfect, and
DOS files. It can also conjugate both regular and irregular
verbs, and add the words to its dictionary. Escribien costs
$129.95 and runs on any PC or compatible.

CONTACT:  Ibersoft, Inc., PO Box 3455, Trenton, NJ 08609,
          609-390-1496

[***][7/22/86][***]
NORTHEAST BITS

-- Sources close to Zenith Data Systems (Glenview, IL) say that
the company will introduce a new computer this fall that's based
on the powerful 32-bit 80386 microprocessor. If the rumor is
true, Zenith may be the first in the 386 sweepstakes. It's
particularly easy for Zenith to come out with new systems because
all the circuits in their personal computers are on plug-in
cards.

-- Insiders report that Funk Software (Cambridge, MA) will soon
release a version of its well-known Sideways program for
Appleworks. The current IBM version prints spreadsheets sideways
on a printer, eliminating cutting and pasting. In case you're
wondering, the company name comes from president Paul Funk (617-
497-6339).

-- Alloy Computer Products or Framingham, MA -- after recently
going public -- continues to come out with new products and rack
up new deals. Their latest coup came last week when they signed
up Sears Business Systems Centers to carry their multi-user
expansion cards.

-- Despite last week's statement to the contrary, NY-based Loral
Corporation has withdrawn from its hostile takeover attempt of
Sanders Associates. "White knight" Lockheed is buying New
Hampshire's largest employer for $1.2 billion.

-- Are developers of artificial intelligence immune to the
industry downturn? Evidently not. After more than two years of
ever-increasing earnings, Concord, MA-based Symbolics announced
last week that earnings for the quarter just ended will be down.
Exact figures aren't available yet.

-- Speaking of quarterly results, Chelmsford, MA-based
engineering workstation maker Apollo computer didn't exactly have
a great quarter either. Though they made a profit of $1.04
million, that's down from $7.4 million for the same period last
year. Analysts say that stiff competition from DEC and Sun
Microsystems is the cause.

-- Bedford, MA-based Computervision is getting serious in its
effort to be the number one supplier of computer-aided-design
systems. It'll soon start shipping software that converts files
from older systems to work on current Computervision products.
The "tool kit" won't be cheap, costing $10,000 to $50,000,
depending upon the system it runs on.



[***][7/22/86][***]
LOTUS JAPAN GETS PRESIDENT
Lotus Development Japan has hired the ex-marketing manager of Sony
as president.  The newly appointed president Saburo Kikuchi used
to deal with Lotus' products when he was assigned to the
U.S. branch of Sony.  Mr. Kikuchi resigned Sony on July 15.

Meanwhile, the release of Japanese Lotus 1-2-3 seems a bit
behind the schedule.  The NEC PC-9801 version will be out early
September, while the IBM 5550 version will be available in
October.  Each version costs US$610, which is about a half of
Japanese dBASE III.  It sounds like a good bargain!

CONTACT: Lotus Development Japan, No.10 Toranomon-MF Bldg.,
         3-10-11  Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105
         (03-436-4105)

[***][7/22/86][***]
BRODERBUND INVOLVED IN FAMICON BUSINESS
A program from Broderbund Software (USA) will finally be
available for Nintendo's Family Computer, which is known as
"FamiCon."  According to a published report, a Tokyo-based
software house "IMAGINIA" and Broderbund will jointly port and
sell Broderbund's graphics program "FantaVision."  The ported
program for FamiCon is expected to debut next spring.  More
details will be discussed when Douglas Carlston, president of
Broderbund, visits Japan around the end of this month.

Meanwhile, approximately seven million sets of FamiCon have
been sold so far.  So there's a big potential for "FantaVision."

CONTACT: IMAGINIA, Shinjuku-Daiichi-Seimei Bldg., 2-7-1 Nishi-
         Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
         (03-343-8911)

[***][7/22/86][***]
IBM JAPAN'S SALES INCREASE
IBM Japan has just announced its sales of the first half of 1986.
According to the announcement, the company's sales have grown 16
percent, compared with last year.  IBM Japan, however, didn't
show the actual sales figures this time.  The favorable growth
of IBM Japan is due to the popularity of the "3090," System 38,
and 36, a report says.  President Shiina of IBM Japan told the
press, "IBM's sales are quite satisfactory as far as the Japanese
market is concerned."

CONTACT: IBM Japan, 3-2-12 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106
         (03-586-1111)

[***][7/22/86][***]
TOSHIBA LINKS WITH IBM JAPAN
News broke that Toshiba has agreed with IBM Japan to distribute
IBM's general purpose processors as a VAD in Japan.  To start
with, Toshiba plans to market the 3090-based data-communication
system.  Sources say Toshiba has already begun taking orders
for this system.  This agreement will give IBM Japan a big
advantage, since Toshiba has a nationwide distribution channel.
Meanwhile, other Japanese manufacturers are not happy about this
decision of Toshiba, which deserted a long-cherished "Japanese
ally."  Perhaps, the times have changed...

CONTACT: Toshiba, 1-1-1 Shibaura, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105
         (03-457-4511, PR Dept.)

[***][7/22/86][***]
BRINGING UP PROGRAMMERS
The Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) will
soon start a five-year project to develop a computer system for
educating programmers.  Programming skill can be mastered with
this interactive system, which consists of two courses -- basic
and professional courses.  After going through the professional
course, the students will be able to acquire the skill of system
engineers, says a report.  The system is highly expected to solve
the current problem of lack of software technitians.  MITI says
the course curriculums are already completed.  The total cost of
this project is said to be US$12.5 million.

[***][7/22/86][***]
<<< SUKIYAKI BYTES >>>

KOREAN VERSION OF UNIX SYSTEM V -- AT&T and Korea's GoldStar
Semiconductor Corp. have signed a business agreement concerning
the development of a Korean version of UNIX System V.  GoldStar
will add a Korean language feature to the UNIX program and it
plans to release the product by the end of the year.  The
technical information of the UNIX will be suplied by AT&T
UNIX Pacific in Japan.

JAPANESE PC/RT DEBUTS -- IBM Japan announced (7/15) that it will
market a desktop engineering workstation "6151 system," a
Japanese version of the PC/RT.  This RISC-based powerful work-
station has a 32-bit MPU, and it supports Ethernet.

6MB 3.5" DISK DRIVE -- Nikkei-Sangyo Daily says (7/18) NEC has
developed a 6MB 3.5" disk drive (FDD).   NEC has applied a
so-called "Contemporary Control Theory" for this disk drive. It
will be released at an EXTREMELY LOW-PRICE next spring.

JAPANESE 10BASE III -- A Japanese version of 10BASE III was
released from Simple Products Corp. (Tokyo) on July 10.  It runs
on NEC PC-9801.  The versions for IBM 5550 and Fujitsu 16BETA
will soon be available.

TOSHIBA IN CHINA -- According to a published report, Toshiba will
drastically increase the production rate of its personal computers in
China.  Currently, Toshiba assembles 1,000 to 2,000 systems per
month there.  10,000 systems will be produced every month,
starting early 1987.

FUJI ELECTRIC AND MOS ELECTRONICS -- Fuji Electric (Tokyo) and
MOS Electronics (U.S.A.) will jointly develop and manufacture
a 256Kbit static RAM.  Fuji Electric has currently been supply-
ing a 74Kbit SRAM to MOS Electronics on an OEM basis.


[***][7/22/86][***]
WHEN MODEM APPROVAL ISN'T
A major row is brewing between a major UK modem retailer and
the British government's appointed body for approval of
modems, the BABT. The Voyager 7 modem currently being
retailed by Modem House of Exeter in the UK is BABT approved
for use as a basic modem. However, according to Modem House
adverts appearing in several UK computer magazines this
month, the unit, when used in conjunction with suitable
software, becomes an all-singing, all-dancing auto-dialling,
auto-answer modem, something it isn't approved for use as.

A spokesman for Oftel, the UK government appointed telecomms
watchdog, told NEWSBYTES UK that "the Voyager is most
definitely not approved as anything other than a basic
modem.  It is not approved for use with an auto-dialler, nor
is it approved for use as auto-answer."  But the interesting
point here is, that without appropriate *software*, the
modem cannot auto-dial or auto-answer, since it has no
*hardware* onboard to make it perform these tasks!  Certain
"other" modem retailers in the UK are blowing whistles and
pointing fingers at Modem House, saying they're infringing
the rules by advertising the Voyager modem as approved for
auto-dial & answer.  Yet, when NEWSBYTES UK took a long hard
look at *their* modem packages, we found them to rely
heavily on software for the same functions.

The mood of the manufacturers in the modem marketplace is
best described by by Barry Krite of Kirk Automation who,
having dipped his toe in the waters of modem retailing, is
pulling out.

Krite is quoted in the latest issue of TELELINK magazine as
saying, "I've worked on street markets... but I've never
come across a market as cut-throat as that of modems."

Moral - people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones -
especially at their own reflections.

[***][7/22/86][***]
QL DOWN, QL UP, QL DOWN, AND UP AGAIN
Having reported the demise, possible reappearance, and
demise again of the Sinclair QL, NEWSBYTES UK eyes reports
that the Sinclair QL is due for a comeback, with rather
skeptical eyes.  This week's "Popular Computing Weekly," always
one for a bit of conjecture (witness previous reports on
this subject from the same magazine) leads the front page
with "Hopes for QL rights sale raised again."  Like, no
doubt, several other QL owners, NEWSBYTES UK was tempted to
buy the magazine to read the story, but discovered the whole
thing comes down to the fact that Amstrad, who bought out
Sinclair earlier this year, were still considering offers
for the rights to the QL.  Still, there's still a good story
or six in the QL yet!

Contact: Popular Computing Weekly, Sunshine Publications,
         12-13 Little Newport Street, London WC2H 7PP.
         Tel: [phone].      Telex 296275.

[***][7/22/86][***]
PCS, PCS AND MORE PCS
Last week saw the annual PC User show held at Olympia in
London.  The annual three-day jamboree attracted its fair
share of Big Blue (and clone) worshippers, but it's
interesting to see how the market has changed in the last
year.  OUT go the multi-speed PC clones costing the same as
IBM's somewhat long in the tooth original.  IN come the
ultra-cheap pure PC XT and, interestingly, AT clones.

Cheapest amongst the cheap award goes to many of the little
vendors who will sell you a PC clone, with monitor, disc
drive and 640K RAM for a shade over the 500 pound ($750)
mark.  ATs are also entering the bargain basement too - one
firm, Citadel products, showed us the shape of things to
come with a PC AT clone, complete with hard disc storage, at
a mere 1,295 pounds ($1,950).

Commodore's presence at the show was extremely strong, which
surprised NEWSBYTES UK, bearing in mind the PC-oriented
nature of the show itself, plus recent no-shows or lower
than low profiles reported by shows attended by other
NEWSBYTES bureau chiefs.  Perhaps the first UK appearance of
the now-famous Amiga Sidecar had something to do with it.
Either way, the sight of Microsoft's flight simulator,
running concurrently in windows with other Amiga software,
soon had the impromptu audience ooh-ing and aah-ing in
appreciation.  Too bad the Commodore rep. blew his company's
chance of UK credibility when we asked him about UK price
and availability: "Uh, I have no prices or availability on
the Sidecar... but it is wonderful, isn't it?"

Two new Amiga communications packages were demonstrated to
NEWSBYTES UK by Rod Eva of Y2 Computing, famous for their
earlier viewdata and scrolling packages for the C64.  Called
Ruby-View and Ruby-Term, the two packages retail as the
Ruby-Comm suite at 150 pounds ($225), with modem bundled
packages lowering the software unit price somewhat.
Ruby-View, the viewdata  package for the Amiga, has to be
seen to be believed.  It offers full viewdata terminal
editor and emulation on a scale close to the original design
concepts of Viewdata itself.  Ruby-Term, the ASCII scrolling
terminal, also harnesses the power of the Amiga to provide
bells and whistles not often seen on a terminal package,
although curiously enough, the terminal doesn't offer DEC or
VT52/100 emulation - facilities which are normally found on
top-end computer terminal emulation packages.  Does Y2 know
something about the Amiga's UK price that we don't?

Making its first UK appearance at the show was the Hayes
Transet 1000, the intelligent printer and modem buffer that
offers a host of facilities within its 295 pounds ($450)
price tag.  Standing between a computer, modem, and printer,
the Transet allows each unit to continue with tasks, whilst
it house-keeps data destined for another unit.  By skillful
use of its 128K RAM, it can act as a printer buffer, or
private mailbox, even when disconnected from its host
computer - It's a bit pricey for a printer buffer though!

Several people who attended the show commented to NEWSBYTES
UK that, whilst many products were displayed by many
vendors, there was nothing really *innovative* on display -
is this a sign of the times perhaps?

Contact:  EMAP International Exhibitions, Abbots Court,
          34 Farringdon Lane, London EC1R 3AU.
          Tel: [phone].     Telex: 24878 EMAPEX.

          Citadel Products Ltd., 50 High Street, Edgeware,
          Middlesex, HA8 7EP.
          Tel: [phone].

          Commodore Products - Harvard Marketing Services,
          Harvard House, Summerhouse Lane, Harmondsworth,
          West Drayton, Middlesex, UB7 OAW.
          Tel: [phone].     Fax: [phone].

          Y2 Products - Rod Eva, Technical Director,
          Y2 Computing, Tarmay House, 146-150 St. Albans Rd,
          Watford, Herts, WD2 4AE.
          Tel: [phone].

          Hayes Products - Georgie Gibbs/Diana Vernon,
          The Grayling Company, Number One Deans Yard,
          Westminster, London SW1P 3NR.
          Tel: [phone].
 ==

[***][7/22/86][***]
MITI EXPECTS CHIP ACCORD
Japan's leading trade official told reporters last week that the
U.S. and Japan will be able to settle their differences over
high-tech trade. Michio Watanabe, Minister of International Trade
and Industry, said he expects agreement in the final round of
trade talks, scheduled for later this month in Washington. "I am
firmly convinced that the results will be beneficial to both
countries," he said. During the first round of negotiations,
which ended earlier this month, the U.S. offered to drop
investigations of Japanese dumping of EPROMs and RAMs in exchange
for greater U.S. access to the Japanese chip market.

[***][7/22/86][***]
ARISTOTLE INDUSTRIES MOVES TO WASHINGTON
Aristotle Industries, purveyor of political campaign software
that runs on a PC, has moved to Washington. Their new office is
just a skip and a jump from the Capitol. "We moved in order to be
closer to our customers," John Aristotle Phillips, president of
the firm, told NEWSBYTES. "Our company is growing very quickly
and I found myself spending a lot of time in Washington." The
company's previous home was Norwalk, Conn., where Phillips twice
ran for Congress and lost.

Phillips is the fellow who, as a young Princeton student a decade
ago, correctly puzzled out the design of a atomic bomb from publicly-
available information, creating quite a stir in the process. Four
years ago, he created "Campaign Manager," a data management
program for political campaigns that is now the leading product
in that market niche. Phillips says he has sold about 2,000
copies of the program, but has now branched out into a wide
variety of campaign-related services. Among other things, he
keeps an enormous volume of data on registered voters, campaign
contributors, and the like on tape for downloading to diskettes
for campaigns. Unlike many in the political field, Aristotle
sells its wares to Republicans and Democrats alike.

CONTACT: Aristotle Industries, 205 Pennsylvania Ave. S.E.,
         Washington D.C., 20003. 202-543-8345.

[***][7/22/86][***]
ADVANCED COMPUTER PRODUCTS ADDS KAYPRO
Advanced Computer Products, a hot Washington retailer which has
had good luck selling the Leading Edge Model D, has added the
Kaypro PC to its line of IBM clones and is now an authorized
Kaypro dealer. The company also sells IBMs and AT&T computers.
ACC is selling the Kaypro with two disk drives, 768K of RAM,
monochrome monitor, AT-style keyboard, serial and parallel
ports, and an internal clock, for $1395. The price includes a
hefty software package and carries a one-year warranty. Sam
Zarafshar, owner of the Arlington, Va., store, said he decided to
stock the Kaypro after Spring Comdex in Atlanta. "Even though we
have a line of IBM compatibles," he said, "I was searching for
another strong IBM compatible to carry in the store." The company
has also started carrying the KISS laser printer by QMS Inc.

CONTACT: Advanced Computer Products, 1722 Wilson Blvd., Arlington
         VA. 22209, 703-276-7800.

[***][7/22/86][***]
VIRGINIA FIRM ACQUIRES KENTUCKY DATA SERVICES COMPANY
ERC International, a computer services firm in Vienna, Va., has
acquired Appalachian Computer Services of London, Ky. The merger
will involve two shares of ERC stock for each share of ACS. ACS
will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary. The combined 1985
revenues of the two firms come to $88 million, with net earnings
of $4.2 million. For the first quarter of 1986, the two firms
would have taken in $29 million, with profits of $1.2 million.
ACS, with a staff of 1,200, specializes in data conversion,
optical scanning, microfilm, fulfillment processing, and a wide
range of data processing services. ERC sells software and
services geared to the defense, energy, environment, and
logistics and facilities management markets.

CONTACT: ERC International, 2070 Chain Bridge Road, Suite 400,
         Vienna Va., 22180. 703-827-0720.

[***][7/22/86][***]
DATAFLEX POSTS RECORD EARNINGS
Dataflex Corp., an Edison, N.J., personal computer retailer, ran
up records sales for the first quarter of $2.8 million, compared
to $2 million for the first quarter of 1985. That worked out to
$128,889 net before taxes, or seven cents per share, compared to
last year's earnings of $35,371, or three cents per share. "Our
confidence level is very high that the current fiscal year ending
March 31, 1987 will exceed or original forecast of $600,000 in
pre-tax earnings," said Dataflex President Jeffrey Lamm.

CONTACT: Dataflex Corp. 777 New Durham Road, Edison N.J., 08817.
         201-321-1100.

[***][7/22/86][***]
SENATE COMPUTER CENTER ON THE REBOUND
Two veterans of computerizing the state of Alaska will take on
the job of trying to revitalize the stodgy, out-of-date Senate,
where communications arteries are clogged by mainframe-itis and
dumb terminal syndrome. A. Victor Ferreros is the new director of
the computer and James Scott is his deputy. The two had worked
together in Alaska, where Ferreros headed information systems for
the governor, while Scott directed information systems for the
city of Anchorage and worked for Setpoint Alaska, the state's
largest data processing firm. Ferreros told "Government Computer
News" he wants to move the Senate away from its ideology of
central control to a user-oriented environment. "You will find
users  will probably control more and more of their own destiny,"
he said. "You will find that a lot of the work load is becoming
increasingly distributed and that users can actually keep parts
of their data on their devices...and actually use the large
computer only for large tasks."

[***][7/22/86][***]
HUGHES DEFENDS HIS BILL
Rep. William Hughes (D-N.J.) has come to the aid of his computer
fraud bill, which passed the House last month, following an
attack by "Washington Post" computer columnist T.R. Reid. Reid
complained that the Hughes bill is unneeded, stifles creativity
in young computer hackers, and that unauthorized access to
computer systems can be dealt with by the computer industry
itself. The New Jersey legislator disagrees. He wrote in an op ed
piece in the Post that "there is substantial evidence that
computer fraud and abuse are massive, leading to verifiable
losses of between $145 million and $730 million annually. Hughes
said he finds nothing stifling in encouraging "kids to learn
computers and also tell them not to use them to steal or damage
other people property."

[***][7/22/86][***]
ENTRE GETS A NEW CHIEF
Bert Helfinstein, 52, is the new president and chief executive
officer of Entre Computer Centers, a Vienna, Va., chain of
computer retail outlets. The company was founded in 1981 and has
250 stores in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia. Helfinstein
has been at Entre since 1984. Before that, he worked at Source
Telecomputing Corp. and was president of CGI Systems, a
subsidiary of a French software company. Helfinstein replaces
Steven Heller as CEO. Heller was the entrepreneur who founded the
chain. Helfinstein says he plans to introduce policies that will
reduce the amount of profit that Entre takes from its
franchisees, and also work to boost foreign sales. Entre has
reported that its earnings dropped to $1.53 million for the
first quarter of 1986, versus $2.45 million for the first quarter
last year.

CONTACT: Entre Computer Centers, Vienna, Va., 703-556-0800

[***][7/22/86][***]
COMPUTER INDEX COOLS AS WASHINGTON SWELTERS
While the Washington summer is scorching, the Computer Business
Index is still running cool. The index for the week of July 14
was 225, in the same range as most previous weeks. Look for a
major increase as the summer ends and retailers start increasing
their advertising budgets in anticipation of the resumption of
school and the return to the normal bustle in the Nation's
Capital. The week saw nearly 12 pages of computer retail ads in
"Washington Business" and more than 18 and a half pages of non-
computer ads.


[***][7/22/86][***]
MEDICAL IMAGING, WORKSTATION BOARDS HOLD STARTUP'S HOPES
Armed with C$2.5 million just raised in its first public share
offering, ISG Technologies of Toronto, is setting out to sell its
workstation technology both to the medical profession and to
other workstation manufacturers.  ISG has developed hardware that
not only displays three-dimensional objects but allows complete
views of them to be rotated in real time.  The company is hoping
to sell a set of four circuit boards to other workstation
vendors, allowing them to incorporate the technology in their
systems.

ISG is also marketing complete workstations, primarily for
medical applications.  A Toronto medical researcher, Dr. John
Stevens, has developed software that allows the ISG system to
reconstruct three-dimensional views of nerve cells and other
human tissue from a series of X-ray photographs.  This software,
which Dr. Stevens describes as a "Lotus 1-2-3 for practicing
surgeons and physicians," will be bundled with the ISG
workstation for a total price of US$40,000.  The board sets are
available now; the workstations with medical software will be on
the market this fall.  ISG was listed on the Toronto stock
exchange June 19.

CONTACT: ISG TECHNOLOGIES INC., 145 Cityview Drive, Toronto,
         Ont., [phone]

[***][7/22/86][***]
PICKED UP ON THE REBOUND?
The French giveth, and the French taketh away, not necessarily in
that order.  Northern Telecom Ltd., which lost out on a hoped-for
purchase of ITT Corp.'s telecommunications operations when ITT
chose a joint venture with France's Compagnie Generale
d'Electricite (NEWSBYTES CANADA, July 8), is now reported to be
interested in buying a piece of another firm from the French
government.  The Toronto telecommunications equipment
manufacturer held meetings last week with Alain Madelin, France's
industry minister, to talk about Compagnie Generale de
Construction Telephonique (CGCT).  The French government plans to
sell CGCT's public telephone business, and is talking to a number
of firms, including Northern Telecom, that are interested.

[***][7/22/86][***]
NO SURPRISES IN THE TOP 100
Evans Research Corp., one of the major Canadian computer-
industry-watchers, has released its list of the top 100 companies
in the Canadian computer industry for 1985.  Two Canadian-owned
firms are in the top 10. Crowntek Inc., which operates a small
retail chain and a large service bureau and owns several software
houses including Computer Corp. of America, placed eighth.  AES
Data Inc., a Montreal-based vendor of office automation
equipment, is in the number 10 spot.  The top three are IBM
Canada Ltd., Digital Equipment of Canada Ltd. and Control Data
Canada.  That will presumably change next year when the combined
Canadian operations of Sperry Corp. and Burroughs Corp. will
displace Control Data from the number three position.  Judging
from 1985 revenues, Digital, which has been bumped to number
three worldwide by that merger, will hold on to second place in
Canada.

Another merger, this one involving the takeover of
Computerland's Canadian operations by Computer Innovations
Distribution Inc., should move those companies from 12th and 14th
respectively into the top 10.

Evans also reported that the revenues of the 100 companies
it surveyed grew approximately 9.97 percent in 1985.  That
compares with a survey by International Data Corp. (Canada) Ltd.
(NEWSBYTES CANADA, June 24) that found growth of 6.4 per cent
among 38 companies surveyed.

CONTACT: EVANS RESEARCH CORP., 1 Eva Rd., Suite 309, Toronto,
         Ont. M9C 4Z5, [phone]

[***][7/22/86][***]
DOCUMENT EXCHANGE FOR PC
Word processing documents can be converted from one format to
another without losing formatting commands using Keyword Softpak,
a new software package for IBM Personal Computers and
compatibles.  The program comes from Keyword Office Technologies
of Calgary, Alberta.  It supports a number of document conversion
formats as well as word processing software for the MS-DOS
operating system, the vendor says, and works with local-area
networks.  Any given version of the program, however, supports
conversion between only two formats -- if you have three word
processors you need additional versions of Softpak. Keyword
Softpak costs US$449 and needs 512K bytes of memory to run.
Keyword Office Technologies' other products are hardware and
software document conversion utilities.

CONTACT: Laura Martin, KEYWORD OFFICE TECHNOLOGIES, 2816 - 11 St.
         N.E., Calgary, Alta.  T2E 7S7,  [phone]

[***][7/22/86][***]
MANUFACTURER LOSES MONEY, GETS GOVERNMENT GRANT
Develcon Electronics Ltd., a data communications manufacturer
based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, has reported a loss of C$1.76
million in the third quarter, compared with a C$43,000 profit in
the same period last year.  Sales dropped from C$6.8 million to
C$3.8 million.  Also last week, Develcon announced that the
provincial government of Saskatchewan will provide a grant of
C$2.1 million to help the company upgrade its Develnet network to
handle as many as 15,000 subscribers.

CONTACT: DEVELCON ELECTRONICS LTD., 856 51st St. E., Saskatoon,
         Sask. S7K 5C7, [phone]

[***][7/22/86][***]
COMPUTER QUOTES STOCK PRICES
The Toronto Dominion Bank has started quoting stock prices to its
brokerage customers by computer.  The service allows anyone who
has a brokerage account with the bank to call a toll-free
telephone number and, using a push-button telephone, request
information on a particular stock by punching in its trading
symbol.  A speech synthesis unit attached to a bank computer
provides the quote.  The service is free to bank clients.  The
bank hopes to encourage more trading by its clients, and expects
the major users will be customers in rural areas who can't get
newspapers easily.

CONTACT: TORONTO DOMINION BANK, Toronto Dominion Centre, Toronto,
         [phone]

[***][7/22/86][***]
BITS, EH?
- Orcatech Inc. of Ottawa, developer of graphics workstations, is
a partner in a new company that will take over Documented
Circuits Inc. of Kingston, Ont.  The new company, Orca Circuits
Ltd., will provide circuit layout and design and consulting
services.

- Another round of musical desks at Northern Telecom Ltd. of
Toronto.  Terry Nickerson becomes president of subsidiary
Northern Telecom Electronics, replacing John MacDonald, who moves
to Northern Telecom Canada to replace Gedas Sakus, who recently
became president of Bell-Northern Research (NEWSBYTES CANADA,
July 15).

- Dy-4 Systems Inc., Ottawa, will supply C$4 million worth of
computer equipment for an upgrade of New York's air traffic
control system.  The manufacturer of distributed processing,
communications and peripheral control equipment is a
subcontractor to Sperry Corp. on the project, which affects five
airports in the New York area.

- The Canadian Standards Association has set up a computerized
database containing information on more than 30,000 products
certified by the national standards body.  The database is
available through QL Systems Ltd., Kingston, Ont.