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/V167

Text File | 1991-09-23 | 58KB | 1,267 lines

[***][8/12/86][***]
THE LAST LAYOFF AT INTEL?
Analysts are looking at the bright side of a massive new round of
layoffs that have hit chipmaker Intel Corp.  The firm has announced
that 1,320 workers at two of its Caribbean plants will be let go
in its fourth major layoff since January 1985.  After the cuts
are completed, Intel will employ less than 19,000 compared to
more than 25,000 last year.  But analysts suggest that the worst
is over for now.  The moves were in response to a doubling of
Intel's manufacturing capacity and the need for cost-cutting in
light of sagging profits.  "They're apparently a very strong
company," says Mel Phelps of Hambrecht & Quist in San Francisco.

[***][8/12/86][***]
PR GAFF OF THE YEAR?
Was it deliberate or was it a mistake?  Convergent officials are
calling a "mistake" the inclusion of its PR company's Fall
budget in a mailing regarding the date set for its quarterly
analysts meeting.  Needless to say, the 60 securities analysts
who received the mailing were shocked to read intimate details
of the company's plans.  The Fall budget outlined expenditures for
several code-named projects, among them three new computers,
one of which is a 80386-based, and a local area network.  "It was
a mistake," says Convergent President Paul Ely bluntly.  No
word on what has happened to the envelope-stuffing clerk.  Mean-
while the firm has changed the date of the meeting from August
6 to September 23, claiming the PR bungle "played no role" in
the reschedule.

Convergent Technologies, designer of PCs for AT&T, among others,
says it will buy two firms that specialize in software for
accountants and contractors.  They're UCCEL's Digital Systems
division in Pensacola, Fla. and Open Systems Inc. of
Minneapolis.  This is the company's third acquisition this year.
The deal is valued at $29 million.

[***][8/12/86][***]
RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH
When times get tough, the tough get into research.  That's the
finding of "Electronic Business" magazine in its recent survey
of the largest R & D spenders in the United States.  The
survey found that of the top 10, 5 are Silicon Valley firms:
Applied Materials (Santa Clara) spent 18% of its revenues on
research; Daisy Systems (Mountain View) 17.9%; Advanced Micro
Devices (Sunnyvale) 17.6%; Amdahl (Sunnyvale) 15.6%; and Intel
(Santa Clara) 14.3%.

[***][8/12/86][***]
ACTIVITY AT ACTIVISION
The games maker has certainly gotten perky recently.  In its
latest accomplishment, Activision is selling a line of
imported software "hits" from overseas countries.  The
first six hail from England but titles from Japan, Canada,
South America, and Australia are under consideration for
inclusion in Activision's new "Electric Dreams" series.
Among the hits is the video game version of the movie "Rocky
Horror Picture Show" which is a big seller in England.  To
build dealer enthusiasm (and shelf space) Activision recently
sent them free gifts--English rock albums, Japanese toys,
Swiss chocolates, etc.  Perhaps its no surprise that
Activision is suddenly candidate #1 to be the Pier One
Imports of video games--Bill Cleary, its new VP of Marketing,
came from International Solutions, a firm which imported
software titles for the Apple II computer from abroad.

CONTACT: Mark Beaumont, Product Mgr. ACTIVISION, Mountain
         View, Ca. 415/960-0410

[***][8/12/86][***]
ONE UNDER THE APPLE TREE
Think Technologies of Lexington, Massachusetts has the distinction
of being among the few to penetrate the inner sanctum of Apple
Computer--as a supplier of the company's internal needs.  Apple
has signed a site-licensing agreement with the small firm to
use 1,000 units of Think Technologies' Inbox software, a
communications package for the Macintosh.  This is the first
site-licensing pact signed by Apple.

Meanwhile Apple stands to make big bucks soon when Adobe Systems
goes public.  According to "Technologic Computer Letter," Apple
owns 19% interest in the desktop publishing products firm,
having purchased shares at $2.94 each.  The shares should go
up to $10 apiece once the firm is publicly traded.

[***][8/12/86][***]
LEADING EDGE TO BRING BACK COMPUTER CHRONICLES
Successful PC-compatible-maker Leading Edge has agreed to
underwrite most of the new season of "The Computer Chronicles,"
a public television program aired on 150 PBS affiliates
nationwide.  The agreement with Leading Edge guarantees
the popular program will be back for a fourth season; no
dollar figure on the donation was disclosed.  Production
on the new season of Chronicles, featuring co-hosts Stewart
Chiefet and Gary Kildall, commentary by George Morrow,
software reviews by Paul Schindler, and video remotes by
NEWSBYTES editor Wendy Woods, is scheduled to start in the
beginning of September, with the first program reaching the
airwaves by mid-September.

[***][8/12/86][***]
SURVEY OF THE WEEK
Stanford University, in conjunction with the National
Federation of Independent Business, has found, in a poll
of 2,813 small business owners, that nearly half would
select different hardware and software if given the
choice to start from scratch again.  The survey also
found that IBM, Tandy and Apple computers are the most
common in small businesses, word processing programs get
the heaviest workouts at the companies, and that most
people believe PCs are more time-consuming than they
thought.

[***][8/12/86][***]
IN BRIEF --

KEY TRONIC CORP. says talks with Minebea Co. of Tokyo, which had
wanted to buy the Spokane, WA peripheral-maker, are off for
good.  Key Tronic is in the midst of a 10% staff layoff and
consolidation of three plants.

BUSINESSLAND INC. of San Jose is showing the rest of the retail
world that it can buck a trend. The firm reports a healthy income
for the most recent quarter.  The retailer made $4.77 million
compared to $239,000 this time last year.

SAMSUNG SEMICONDUCTOR of Korea is said by "Computer Retail News"
to be ready to release a variety of new products--mostly PC
XT clones--into "some of the largest computer store chains"
this month. The publication says the clones will be lower in
price than those from Leading Edge Products and Tandon Corp.

[***][8/12/86][***]
AND FINALLY
Apple Computer, according to "The San Jose Mercury News" is
planning to hold its next sales meeting in Florida.  So what?
So it's WHERE in Florida that THIS meeting will be held.
Try "Rat's Mouth" (Boca Raton), home for most of IBM's
Entry Systems Division, home of the IBM PC!  An unusual
choice, no?




[***][8/12/86][***]
DEBATE RAGES OVER CONTROL OF HOUSTON COURT RECORDS *Exclusive*
A quiet debate is raging in Houston, TX over whether a public
agency or private enterprise should control access to online
court records.

In one corner, Harris County, TX district clerk Ray Hardy has
begun a project to allow 4 local law firms online access to civil
case records, at 4 cents per screen. (Harris County includes over
90% of the sprawling city of Houston.) If the test succeeds, the
2,000 telephone calls and 300 walk-up inquiries the clerk gets
per day could be handled for less than they are now. In the other
corner is Information America Inc., Atlanta, GA, which already
offers access to legal records throughout Texas, at least those
coming from the Comptroller and Secretary of State's office in
Austin.  Information America also offers local records in the
counties around its Atlanta headquarters, and plans to offer
local records in Texas, too.

The dilemma for Harris County (Houston) is this. Should they
spend scarce tax dollars serving a legitimate need for local
lawyers, or give control of that access to a profit-seeking
enterprise? Assuming access is privatized, should the franchise
be exclusive, and how much should be charged private vendors and
the public? This drama will be replayed in jurisdictions near you
throughout the next 10 years.

CONTACT: Buck Goldstein, INFORMATION AMERICA, 1372 Peachtree St.,
         NE Suite 312, Atlanta, GA 30309 [phone]

[***][8/12/86][***]
NEWSPAPERS COY TO APPLE MAC FOR DESKTOP PUBLISHING *Exclusive*
Recent visits to two Atlanta weekly newspapers confirm that
desktop publishing tools have a long way to go before gaining
wide acceptance in the newspaper industry. Both papers, "Creative
Loafing" and "Southline," still use expensive typesetters and
have decided against tools like PageMaker for now.

"Southline" publisher Todd Evans says his shop has 4 Macs. "I
wouldn't know what to do without them," he says. Writers do
stories on them, and classifieds are organized in a database on
them. All final copy, however, is then hand-carried on disk to a
Mac which interfaces with a $30,000 Mergenthaler typesetting
machine. The Mergenthaler produces strips of copy which are glued
down on flats the old-fashioned way. Mr.  Evans says the 300 dot-
per-inch quality of today's laser printers just isn't good
enough for the 40,000 circulation newspaper. "We had one
advertiser, a computer store, design their own ad and we pasted
down their output, which came from a laser printer. It just
wasn't sharp enough."

(Apple, Ricoh, Canon, Xerox -- take note.)

CONTACT: Todd Evans, SOUTHLINE, 761 Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta, GA
         30308 [phone]

[***][8/12/86][***]
TANDY VS. IBM -- REPORT FROM THE FRONT       *Exclusive*
Local Tandy reps held a reception for their customers at a swank
hotel in the Atlanta suburbs last Thursday night to show off the
new Tandy 1000. Salesmen invited their biggest corporate
prospects to drinks, nibbles, and hands-on demonstrations of
the Shack's latest IBM PC AT compatibles for the XT market. (A
salesperson confided that FCC certification for the new Tandy
1000 would not be complete until August 9, however.)

The hotel chosen for the soiree is just minutes from IBM's
National Marketing Division headquarters, and Tandy has made hay
with anti-beard edicts and other strategies geared to copying Big
Blue. Too bad when this reporter's Model 100 went down recently
they didn't copy the important stuff about IBM. They had the
Model 100 two weeks, during which I had to use pen and paper, it
cost me $185 to get it back, and it didn't work when it did come
back.

(Forget the sincere ties, guys. You want to compete with IBM,
give me service. At least offer a loaner. Betcha IBM would.)

[***][8/12/86][***]
SOFTWARE LINK PUTS SNA CONTROLLER ON A DISK
The Software Link Inc., Atlanta, has put SNA cluster emulation on
a PC in a deal with International Sequance Corp., Westlake
Village CA. TSL's MultiLink Advanced, retailing for $595,
supports multiple users and multitasking. ISC's Clustercomm, a
plug-in board, handles the communications with SNA for $545.
Together, the companies say, the combination replaces a 3274
communications controller.

The Atlanta company also began shipping a new version of
MultiLink Advanced, version 4.0, increasing the maximum number of
users allowed on it from 9 to 17, with users able to run
applications requiring as much as 600K of memory.

CONTACT: Pam Alexander, THE SOFTWARE LINK, 8601 Dunwoody Pl. NE,
         Suite 632, Atlanta, GA 30338 [phone]

[***][8/12/86][***]
Pecan Bits

QUADRAM, Norcross, GA, announced that Digital Research, Inc. will
co-host its QuadEMS+ seminars to be held in 12 cities through
September. (See last week's Newsbytes SE story "Nerds Night Out"
for details.)

DATAVUE, Norcross, GA announced a deal with Digital Research to
bundle coupons for GEM applications with the Datavue 25 IBM-
compatible portable.  With the coupons, applications which sell
for $149-249 will cost just $69-99.

THE FLAGSHIP GROUP, Dallas, TX, acquired MC Software Inc., Davis,
CA. Flagship wants to put together a complete line of vertical
market software to be sold under one single brand.

COMPAQ, Houston, TX, is said by "MIS Week" to be considering
launching an 80386-based PC in September. It would be the first
time the company has announced a major new product line ahead of
IBM.

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS, Dallas, TX, cut prices on its TMS-380 token-
ring controller chip set more than 60%, hoping to stimulate
creation of token-ring compatible products to compete with
Ethernet, the Starlan PC network and IBM's token ring.

INNOVATIVE SOFTWARE, Lenaxa, KS, entered the NASDAQ National
Market System August 5, making stock in the producers of "Smart
Software" easier to trade.



[***][8/12/86][***]
ASHTON-TATE BIDS $13 MILLION FOR DECISION RESOURCES
Decision Resources of Westport, Conn. will cost Ashton-Tate
$13 million, but will add a graphics software developer to the
Torrance firm's stable of companies.  Edward Esber, Ashton-
Tate's president and CEO, announced the pending acquisition at
the firm's annual meeting in Los Angeles, where he also revealed
that A-T intends to enter the minicomputer market within the
next year.  And, if all goes according to plan, the firm will
introduce several programs for mainframe computers soon after
that.  According to Esber, the "easy way to get into the
minicomputer market" would be through another acquisition.  The
Decision Resources deal is expected to close in October.

CONTACT:  ASHTON-TATE INC., 20101 Hamilton, Torrance, CA 90502
          [phone]

[***][8/12/86][***]
EMULEX INJUNCTION LIFTED
Once enjoined from selling Digital Equipment Corp.-compatible
expansion boards by a New Hampshire federal judge, Emulex Corp.
can now market its products without judicial interference.  The
federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., saw the DEC
injunction as unfair to the Costa Mesa-based company and lifted
it, thus putting the firm back in business until a hearing in
October.  DEC claims that the Emulex boards infringe on its
patents and that Emulex employees stole its trade secrets.

[***][8/12/86][***]
TANDON SELLS TO "BABY BELL" STORES
PacTel InfoSystems retail stores will carry Tandon's PCX and PCA
computer lines, joining Entre and Sears stores in the privilege.
PacTel, a division of Pacific Telesis (one of the spun-off Bell
operating companies), has not announced whether the Tandon
micros will appear in the chain's printed catalogs.

CONTACT:  TANDON CORP., 20320 Prairie, Chatsworth, CA 91311
          [phone]

[***][8/12/86][***]
MICRO D AND ARION II BRING ON THEIR CLONES
Adding more fuel to the IBM-clone blaze, Santa Ana-based
software distributor Micro D has released its MDET and MDST AT-
compatibles, bundling Matrix Software's Synergy Desktop file
manager and Synergy Operating Environment with the machines.

Also trying not to miss the bonfire, Arion II of Los Angeles has
announced that it will sell IBM PC-XT and AT clones, but to
value-added retailers (VARs).  The start-up firm's hardware will
come with a three-year warrantee and a 12-month "insurance plan"
as standard equipment.  The Arion II computers will sell for
$1,253 and $2,499, respectively.

[***][8/12/86][***]
HI-RES BOARDS INTRODUCED, PRONTO
Addressing the CAD, CAM and CAE (computer-aided design,
computer-aided manufacturing & computer-aided engineering)
market, Pronto Computers of Torrance has announced the HR-1200
Series color graphics boards for IBM and compatible computers.
Four versions of the high-resolution boards are available, with
a 1024 x 768-pixel low-end model selling for $2,195 and a high-
end 1280 x 1024 version priced at $3,495.

CONTACT:  PRONTO COMPUTERS INC., 3730 Skypark Dr., Torrance, CA
          90505   [phone]

[***][8/12/86][***]
QUOTRON BATTLES BUS BOZOS
Will the Los Angeles Rapid Transit District (RTD) pave paradise
and put up a bus maintenance yard?  Not if property owner
Quotron Systems and local residents have anything to say about
it.  The clash started when the RTD went shopping for a new
maintenance facility to replace its Venice yard.  An empty lot
at 12655 Beatrice St. looked inviting, so the bus company
started the appropriate paperwork with city officials prior to
making an offer on it.  That was in May.  Meanwhile Quotron
Systems, newly acquired by Citicorp, also saw the property and
made an offer to F. Ronald Rader of Klabin Realtors.  "Quotron
went into escrow on July 10," said Rader.  "By that time, RTD
had seen the property five times and had added it to their
studies list."  So, as the RTD paperwork continued its mind-
numbingly slow journey through city hall, the property had been
sold.

Now RTD says it doesn't care WHO owns the lot...they want it.
"We do have the power of eminent domain," said RTD spokesman
Marc Littman, "but no decision (to use it in this case) has been
made as yet."  Enter the local residents, who object to RTD's
tactics and would like Quotron to own the property.  They have
cited problems such as noise, air and water pollution, traffic
congestion, safety hazards and reduction of property values if
RTD gets its way.

"We have purchased it.  It is in escrow," said Bruce Jackson of
Quotron, who won't give up the land without a fight.  "We have
taken posession of part of it as the prior owners have moved
out."

The parcel cost Quotron $13 million, but RTD will hold public
hearings to discuss acquiring ownership of the site in November.

CONTACT:  QUOTRON SYSTEMS, 5454 Beethoven St., Los Angeles, CA
          90066   [phone]

[***][8/12/86][***]
BEACHBITS

>>>  Micom of Simi Valley has adopted a so-called "fair price
     rule" as an anti-takeover measure.  It is designed to
     prevent suitors from buying shares of the computer-
     communications-equipment firm at one price to gain control
     of the company, then acquiring the remaining shares for
     less.  Micom says it needed the protection because of a
     recent sharp drop in price of the company's stock...from
     $50 to about $10.

>>>  Titan Corp. of San Diego has penned an agreement to buy
     Meteor Communications Corp. of Kent, Wash.  Titan makes
     computer peripherals and Meteor builds advanced radio
     equipment.  Terms were not disclosed.

>>>  Datametrics Corp. of Chatsworth has acquired Magnetic
     Storage Corp. of Costa Mesa.  Magnetic Storage's operations
     will be moved to the San Fernando Valley to be closer to
     the new owners.  Both firms make magnetic-tape cartridge
     systems.  No further details on the merger were announced.

>>>  Rock music producer Shel Talmy (The Kinks, The Who &
     Manfred Mann) has joined TV director Norman Strassner in
     forming a full-service optical scanning firm.  Now that
     makes sense, doesn't it?  The new firm will be named
     Superscan Technologies and will be based in Sherman Oaks.

[***][8/12/86][***]
RABBIT COMPUTERS ARE THE LATEST IN HIGH-TECH SEX
"Not tonight, I forgot the batteries," may be the most recent
lament heard in bedrooms across America.  A Century City
investment banking firm has formed a new venture with Rabbit
Computer Corp. of Beverly Hills to market an electronic device
that lets a woman know up to a week in advance when her fertile
days begin and end.  Called simply the "Rabbit," the hand-held
computer works by comparing a woman's daily body temperature to
data on the length of the woman's menstrual cycle.  "The Rabbit
is aimed at women who want to become pregnant and need highly
reliable information to determine when they are most able to
conceive," says Michael Price, Rabbit Computer's chairman.  The
market for ovulation-detecting devices is a $100-million-a-year
industry, says Price, and he expects that Rabbit, which sells
for $159, will gross $15 million in its first year.  But how did
the product get its name?  "Rabbits have long been associated
with the pleasures of birth and procreation," said Price.

[***][8/12/86][***]
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"Hollywood had Burton and Taylor.  Advertising, in 1986, had
Apple Computer and Chiat/Day."
     -- Adweek Magazine


[***][8/12/86][***]
LEADING EDGE UPGRADES MODEL D
Maybe PC clones are becoming "commodities" after all. Leading
Edge has reduced the price on its hot-selling Model D PC clone,
and come out with an enhanced model. The company announced this
week that the original Model D is being reduced from $1495 to
$1295. But for $1495 you'll now be able to buy the newly-
enhanced Model D which will include 512K of RAM (as opposed to
256K in the original) and a built-in 1200 baud modem. The "new"
Model D will also be shipped with the Leading Edge Word
Processor, a spelling checker, and a "Lotus-like" spreadsheet
package.

CONTACT:  Leading Edge Hardware Products, 225 Turnpike Road,
          Canton, MA 02021, 800-343-6833

[***][8/12/86][***]
LOTUS TO RAISE PRICES?
PC Clones may be "commodities," but software prices charged by
the big boys certainly aren't coming down. A Lotus insider said
this past week that the company will raise the wholesale prices
on its products by 3% next month. Retail list prices won't
change, and it's unclear whether the increase will raise the
"street price" of 1-2-3 and other Lotus products. At the same
time, Lotus will increase the co-op advertising allowance for
its products to 4% of what a dealer buys, at least slightly
offsetting the price increase. It remains to be seen whether
Lotus' move will kick off a series of industry-wide price hikes,
as happened a year ago when Ashton-Tate, Microsoft, and Lotus
all raised their prices in a short period of time.

Meanwhile, the rumor mills say that Lotus will start offering a
volume-purchase plan to its large corporate customers within the
next few weeks. Sources say that companies buying 500 or more
copies of Lotus copies will get special discounted direct
prices. And no, Lotus still won't remove copy protection from
its products.

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

[***][8/12/86][***]
MORE VAXES FROM DEC
So what else is new? Digital Equipment Corporation this week
continued on its aggressive road of VAX dominance by introducing
two new high-end VAXes, the fifth and sixth new VAXes since
January 1. DEC held the intro at Boston University, where
thousands of DEC salespeople from around the world have gathered
for intensive sales-training sessions.  Prices for the VAX 8550
(with 20 megs of main memory) start at $364,000, while the VAX
8700 starts at $433,000 (with 32 megs). Although it sounds like
a lot of money, the two new machines are very aggressively
priced as DEC continues to go after IBM dominance in many
markets.

But there's a kicker: Hidden in the reams of press material that
DEC gave out is the very interesting information that the new
VAXes use something called VAXBI (Vax Bus Interconnect) for
hooking up peripherals. VAXBI is proprietary, meaning that
independent companies that make their money by selling lower-
than-DEC-priced peripherals are out of luck unless DEC chooses
to license them. So far, about 70 companies have been licensed
for VAXBI peripherals. As DEC president Ken Olsen put it, "we
have to protect our extensive investment."

Meanwhile, on the lighter side, as this column was written, over
50 "senior" professional golfers were teeing off in hot and
humid weather at the Nashawtuc Country Club in Concord, MA. Such
"vintage" luminaries as Lee Elder, Gary Player, Billy Casper,
and Chi Chi Rodriguez were there for the Digital Seniors Golf
Classic. DEC sponsors the tournament every year, and contributes
all proceeds to a Boston-area hospital.

Finally, WORKING MOTHER magazine says that DEC is one of the 30
best places to work in the U.S. for (you guessed it) working
mothers. The top two companies in the magazine's survey were
both computer concerns and both in Silicon Valley -- Apple
Computer and Hewlett Packard.

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

[***][8/12/86][***]
ASHTON-TATE BUYS CONNECTICUT GRAPHICS FIRM
Companies that make business graphics software are suddenly
ultra-hot property for the "big boys" as the software industry
continues to consolidate. Three months ago, Lotus bought Graphic
Communications of Waltham, MA -- and has just started hawking
the line with splashy ads in industry rags. (Question: in the
Lotus ads, why is Lotus Business Products Division GM Dan
McMillan wearing a tie with pigs on it?) The latest acquisition
came this past week when Ashton-Tate of Torrance, CA agreed to
pay $13 million in cash for Decision Resources of Westport, CT.
Decision Resources, founded five years ago, sells Chart-Master
and Diagram-Master. There's no word yet if Ashton-Tate will
leave Decision Resources in New England, as it did with
Multimate after the firm acquired it last year.

CONTACT:  Ashton-Tate, 20101 Hamilton Ave., Torrance, CA 90502,
          213-329-8000

[***][8/12/86][***]
A BUSY WEEK FOR DATA GENERAL
DG received a setback in an antitrust case last week when a U.S.
District Court judge in California ordered the company to stop
requiring that sales of its NOVA software be tied to sales of
its computer systems. The injunction came in a suit filed by
Digidyne Corporation and Fairchild Camera and Instruments, both
of which manufacture DG-compatible minicomputers. A trial in the
case is scheduled for early next year. The two plaintiffs are
seeking $300 million in damages.

Meanwhile, DG introduced a new supermicrocomputer. The 32-bit
MV/7800 replaces the four-year-old MV/4000. A typical system
will sell for between $19,000 and $27,000. The MV/7800 is low-
end successor to the "Eagle," the computer whose development was
described in Tracy Kidder's "The Soul of a New Machine." A DG
spokesperson says the MV/7800 cost 28% less than a comparable
VAX; but DEC seems more worried about Big Blue these days than
its long-time arch-rival started by former DEC employees.

At the same time they announced the new computer, DG also raised
prices on some of its hardware and software, including its CEO
office system, on which the company has pinned its hopes of
cracking the office automation market. A typical CEO system went
from $18,000 to $21,600. Older minicomputer systems were also
raised an average of 10%. Analysts says DG appears to be making
an attempt to make up for some of the losses it's chalked up
lately.

CONTACT:  Data General Corporation, 4400 Computer Drive,
          Westboro, MA 01581, 617-366-8911

[***][8/12/86][***]
RCA ENTERS PC PRINTER MARKET
You can tell that a technology is truly becoming a consumer item
when RCA enters the market. And they've done just that with a
low-cost ($299) dot-matrix printer. The RCA VP2100 covers all
bases with both serial and parallel interfaces and both IBM and
Epson compatibility. Though it appears to be foreign-
manufactured, an RCA spokesperson declined comment on who makes
it. And you can even order it by mail.

CONTACT:  RCA New Products Division, Data Communications
          Products, New Holland Ave., Box 3140, Lancaster, PA
          17604-3140. 800-RCA-0094

[***][8/12/86][***]
NORTHEAST BITS

-- NEC has cut the prices of its AT-Compatible APC (Advanced
Personal Computer) Model 4. The new price for a single-floppy
unit is $2995; add a 20-meg hard drive and the price goes to
$3495. And $3995 buys the APC-4 with a 40-meg drive.

-- A Waltham, MA-based computer retail chain has signed with
Kurzweil Applied Intelligence to be the exclusive distributor of
the recently-introduced Kurzweil Voicesystem to the federal
government. MBI Business Centers expects to sell about 100 of
the $6500 voice-operated terminals over the next year.
Meanwhile, Kurzweil says it'll introduce an advanced model by
the end of the year that will be the "first voice-activated word
processor."

-- Boston-based Symbolics has introduced two new comparatively
low-priced workstations designed for programmers who develop AI
programs using the LISP programming language. Prices start at
about $50,000. The company also reduced prices on its current
higher-end systems.

-- The American Electronics Association, in a recently-release
report, says New England has the third highest rate of
electronics industry employee turnover in the country. In any
given year, some 21.2% of employees change jobs. Orange County,
CA is highest with 23.2%, followed by Texas with 21.8%. Even
though the figures seem high, they've dropped to their lowest
level in five years.

-- General Computer, the Cambridge, MA-based purveyor of hard
disk systems for the Apple MacIntosh, has put a feather in its
collective corporate cap by snagging a long-time IBM executive
to be its chief executive officer. Thomas O'Donnell spent 17
years with Big Blue, and will immediately start "restructuring
the organization" at General Computer.

-- Framingham, MA-based Alloy Computer, which recently went
public, announced its profit for the quarter just ended fell to
$212,000 from $375,000 for the same period last year. But the
maker of hard-disk subsystems and other peripherals cautioned
stockholders not to worry: sales were up for the period and the
lower profit was due (according to the company) to the costs
associated with bringing out several new products.

-- Aggressive marketing (coupled with well-designed-and-built
products) can work wonders for a company. Fairfield, CT-based
Summagraphics, which makes plotters, digitizers, mice, and other
graphic-related peripherals, has inked two large-scale deals for
supplying its graphics tablets. Zenith selected the company to
supply the tablets for its lucrative Air Force computer
contract; and DEC selected the tablets for several workstation
products.

[***][8/12/86][***]
HOW'S THAT AGAIN?
The NEWSBYTES NORTHEAST Proofreading Award for August goes to
NEW ENGLAND COMPUTING magazine. A large headline on the cover of
the current issue reads as follows:

               "Lotus: A Moving Tagket"


[***][8/12/86][***]
COMMODORE 128 TO BALE OUT?
Commodore may well be changing its market profile in the UK.
Last week NEWSBYTES UK reported that Commodore UK had only
booked business space at the forthcoming Personal Computer
World show scheduled for early September, but this week CBM
UK looks set for a dramatic rethink on its UK policy.

"Popular Computing Weekly" leads this week with the dramatic
story that the 128 computer, which appeared in the UK last
year, is scheduled to be dumped due to falling sales.
Acting CBM UK general manager Chris Kaday is on record as
strongly denying the 128's demise when the magazine
approached him for verification of the story, but the
evidence is very obvious.  Already several UK high street
mutiples - W.H. Smith, Lasky's and Boots - have ceased
stocking the 128, with several others deeply discounting the
128 unit to around the 150 pounds mark ($225), along with
similar deals on the also allegedly doomed 1570 disc drive.

Filling the gap left by the 128, PCW says that the 128 -
essentially a 128 with integral disc drive (which bears an
uncanny resemblance to the Atari 1040ST) will remain on sale
in the UK for Commodore lovers.

PCW's news can hardly have brought good cheer to an already
worried Commodore UK, smarting from comments that the
recently launched Amiga simply can't compete with the Atari
ST, especially now that one can get a colour 1040 ST for 999
pounds ($1,500).  But if the story is true, then CBM UK could
be in for the biggest shakedown of its life.  Of course, if
PCW is wrong, then we could see a few strong words (and
possibly actions) from CBM UK against the magazine!

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

[***][8/12/86][***]
 ...WHILST THE 64C MAKES AN APPEARANCE IN SEPTEMBER
Hard on the heels of the possible bale-out of the 128, comes
news that CBM UK has *finally* gotten around to giving a
definite date for a UK showing (and, hopefully release) of
the Commodore 64's successor, the 64C.

Essentially a 64 PCB inside a restyled keyboard case, which
looks very similar to the 128's styling, the 64C will have
GEOS - a GEM-style front end software package - bundled as
part of the 195 pound ($295) package.  As well as offering
an 8-bit psuedo-GEM, GEOS speeds up disc read/write actions
by as much as seven times, according to reports of the
package appearing in the US.  With the reknowned speed (or
rather, lack of it) in the case of the 1571 disc drive, this
*has* to be an improvement!

The 64C will stage its first UK appearance at the 8th
Official Commodore User show, to be held in Manchester,
England this coming September 12th - 14th, when several
Commodore goodies will be on show.  NEWSBYTES UK will, as
ever, be covering the show, and bringing you first reports,
as they happen.

Contact:  Christine Lees, Exhibitions Organiser,
          Database Publications, 68 Chester Road,
          Stockport, SK7 5NY.  Tel: [phone].

[***][8/12/86][***]
ROW FLARES OVER AMSTRAD PC LEAKS
Last week's NEWSBYTES UK revelations over the impending
Amstrad PC1512 were very close to the mark.  As we mentioned
last week in our stop press, "MicroScope," a computer news
weekly, blew the lid off Amstrad's PC clone, revealing the
PC clone to be a 399 pound ($600) cheapie but goodie, with
512K RAM and single standard floppy plus monochrome monitor.
Amstrad's founder, Alan Sugar, is reported by several
sources to have become very angry at the paper's
revelations, and is reported on "Micronet 800," an
electronic publisher on Prestel, as saying that MicroScope
can "call him liar" if the paper's story was true, as he
says it is a complete fabrication.

MicroScope's editor, Derek Cohen, is adamant over the story,
which he says is 100 per cent correct.  NEWSBYTES UK
descreetly followed up the story with several sources and
our indications are that the details of the 399 pound
machine are "almost 100 per cent right," said our source.
Launch date is, as NEWSBYTES exclusively revealed several
weeks ago, in very early September - the 2nd to be precise.
Watch this space!

[***][8/12/86][***]
APPLEWORLD COMES TO THE UK
Apple UK has finally got its act together and, after much
pushing from Apple enthusiasts in this country, announced
the first AppleWorld will take place at the recently-opened
Business Design Centre in Islington, London from October
29th though November 1st this year.  The exhibition will (it
says here) comprise four distinct areas of interest:

* Desk Top Publishing - Concentrating on the "key players"
in the world of desktop publishing - Aldus Pagemaker,
Gestetner, and Linotype.

* Business - Major hardware and software solutions for the
businessperson.

* Desk Top Communications - Concentrating on the expanding
number of modems and software packages available for the II
family and, of course, the Macintosh.

* Educauion - including representations from the Apple
University Consortium, a "body of leading universities and
colleges who work with the Macintosh."

Also scheduled for its first public appearance is what Apple
UK describes as "the new evolutionary Apple from the Apple II
family."  No-one at Apple UK is saying exactly what the
evolutionary part of the machine is, but NEWSBYTES UK
suspects it's the new Apple Vega, a 16 bit II family
compatible, that bridges the gap between the 8-bit machines
and the Macintosh.

Consolidating the major categories outlined above at
Appleworld will be four one-day conferences involving some
of the top people in the world of Apple, with specific
reference to the key subjects of the four subject areas
concerned.

Contact: Sonja Eiarsvo/Mary Ainsworth, Apple Computer UK,
         Eastman Way, Hemel Hempstead, Herts., HP2 7HQ.
         Tel: [phone].

[***][8/12/86][***]
BRITISH TELECOM WIELDS THE AXE OF COMPETITION
Acknowledging the existence of Mercury Communications for
perhaps the first time, British Telecom is gearing its staff
up to the newly privatised world it finds itself in.  A
series of conferences for key BT staff have been called, in
order to brief them of the stiff competition that Mercury
will provide, in the shape of their shiny new digital
telephone exchanges.

Blaming the low rate of inflation along with stifled
business sector growth levels, BT has offered its workers a
3 per cent pay rise for this year, along with substantial
changes in working conditions for several grades of staff.

A spokesman for the Union of Communications Workers is
quoted in this week's "Computing" magazine as saying that
the threat of Mercury "is a big stick that BT brings out
every now and then to beat us (metaphorically) with."
That's competition for you!

[***][8/12/86][***]
INSTANT COMMUNICATIONS IN YOUR HAND
The past year has seen the two competing cellular telephone
networks rise from almost nothing to grab several thousand
subscribers in the expensive world of cellular (mobile)
phones.  Until now, however, the majority of so-called
portable phones suffered from two major drawbacks - power
consumption and weight.  The sheer logistics of achieving a
reasonably clear signal for a hand-held unit, coupled with
phenomenally high battery consumption, have meant that all of
the hand-held units to date have been the weight of a
housebrick, with corresponding increases in the length of
users arms.

Now one small UK firm, Excell, has come up with a very real
alternative - the Excell pocketphone.  Weighing in at just
18 ounces and measuring 7 by 3 by 1 inches, the handheld
unit works as well as its big brothers, and is less than 33
per cent of the weight and size of its nearest competitor.
It is also software-driven, so as to facilitate system
upgrades as and when they appear.  NEWSBYTES UK is sold on
the little unit - apart from its price however - 1,995
pounds ($2,995) - which puts it well out of reach of a
humble reporters pocket!

Contact: Excell Communiactions Ltd., Cecil Road, Altringham,
         Cheshire, WA15 9PA.  Tel: [phone].

[***][8/12/86][***]
MORE CHIP WARS REACTION
The ultra-conservative "Washington Times" last week railed at the
U.S.-Japan agreement on semiconductor sales as protectionist and
likely to harm the consumer. Faced with foreign competition, says
the newspaper, "American go-getters seldom go and get any longer.
They yipe about 'unfair trade practices' instead, demanding help
from store-bought Washington pols." Rapidly falling prices for
computer components and finished products, says the newspaper,
"isn't 'dumping'; it's progress. The new agreement may prove to
be a passing storm or it may begin an era of central planning,
benefiting chiefly lobbyists and congressmen, while injuring
those it professes to protect: the American consumer and the
American computer industry."

[***][8/12/86][***]
COMPUTER EXECUTIVES SETTLE UP WITH SEC
Two former executives of a New York computer graphics company
settled charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission last
week that they inflated the company's earnings and sold stock
without disclosing that the company was about to go under. The
company, Information Displays of Armonk, N.Y., is bankrupt.
William Weksel, former chairman and chief executive officer of
the defunct company, paid the SEC $208,000. Albert Bromberg,
former executive vice president, agreed to give up $103,000. The
SEC says the amounts represent losses the pair dodged by selling
out before the company's troubles became known on the market.
Neither admitted wrongdoing. The events alleged took place during
late 1982 and early 1983.

[***][8/12/86][***]
HOME COMPUTER MARKET SURPRISINGLY STRONG
The market for home computers "is showing surprising strength as
declining prices have put powerful computers within reach of more
consumers," said an article in last week's "Wall Street Journal."
The business paper noted that software for the home machines is
getting better, faster, more sophisticated, and less costly. Why
the perception that the bottom has fallen out of the home market?
"The trouble was that industry expectation were too high," the
article quotes Ed Juge, market planner for Tandy. "The 100% and
200% growth years are gone." Nevertheless, look for good sales
this Christmas, says the paper, observing that "industry analysts
forecast the stronger Christmas season in years for home
computers. They expect shipments to rise 28% this year, to $2.77
billion. Some big mass merchants, equally optimistic, are
planning to stock more powerful models for the first time."

[***][8/12/86][***]
COLUMNIST FACES THE FEARED AND FABLED COMPUTER SALES PERSON
Fred Reed, science columnist for the "Washington Times," recently
went shopping for a new personal computer to replace his aged,
C/PM Televideo machine. Folks at Compaq and Televideo should
read this carefully. "My first discovery," wrote Reed, "was the
computer stores still don't want to sell computers....I called
one store, found that the salesmen were all out to lunch, asked
that someone call me back with information on the [Compaq 286
Deskpro] -- and didn't get called. It seems the entire store was
out to lunch."

Then Reed called Televideo, hoping for guidance on where he could
find an Televideo 286. "The number they gave me in Arlington had
been disconnected. So much for Televideo." Reed says he then
wandered into a local store "where the salesman quoted me an
outrageously high price, as in a couple of thousand too high, and
showed no interest in showing me any other machines they sold."
Reed's final conclusion on his shopping spree: "It is a good
thing that people are independently determined to buy computers.
The industry certainly couldn't sell them." Reed ended up with
the Compaq and says he loves it.

[***][8/12/86][***]
LUTHERANS ONLINE ON NEWSNET
NewsNet has picked up "Lutheran News Service" for its online
information service. "Lutheran News Service" is published weekly
by the Lutheran Church in America, a 5.3 million-member
denomination being formed by the merger of the American Lutheran
Church, the Lutheran Church in American, and the Association of
Evangelical Lutheran Churches. The news service also contains
news of the Lutheran World Federation, the Geneva-based
organization of more than 100 Lutheran denominations around the
world.

CONTACT: NewsNet, Bryn Mawr, Pa., 800-345-1301.

[***][8/12/86][***]
IPO FOR WARNER COMPUTER SYSTEMS
The American Stock Exchange began trading in the common stock of
Warner Computer Systems last week, under the ticker symbol WCP.
The stock opened on 100 shares at 5 1/8 in the initial public
offering. Warner, of Teaneck, N.J., markets IBM PCs with special
financial services software and provides maintenance and repair
services. The company reported unaudited net income of $689,00 on
revenues of $6.9 million for the six months ended in April. That
compares with a net of $371,000 on revenues of $5.9 million for
the first six months of last year.

CONTACT: Warner Computer Systems, Teaneck, N.J., 201-692-9400.

[***][8/12/86][***]
NEW PIN PATENT AWARDED TO NEW JERSEY FIRM
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has awarded a patent to
Giordano Associates, Inc., of Sparta, N.J., for the universal pin
electronics concept. The company says universal pin electronics
uses very large scale integrated circuit technology to produce
automatic testing capabilities on a per-pin basis. The concept
allows the generation and measurement of high-speed digital and
analog signals on each automatic test channel. GAI says it has
develop a device called a tri-decompactor. It is a
custom-designed circuit that decompacts digital data in three
serial streams in real time. The serial data streams are totally
independent, according to the company, and can be supplied at
speeds in excess of 25 MHz.

CONTACT: Les Parker of Giordano Associates, Inc., 201-891-9330.

[***][8/12/86][***]
LITTLE CHANGE ON COMPUTER INDEX, NON-COMPUTER ADS SLIDE
The Washington Computer Business Index held at 185 for the week,
still in the summer doldrums. But the edge between computer and
non-computer ads narrowdd again. For the week, computer display
ads in the "Washington Business" tabloid totaled 9.6 pages,
compared to only 10.5 pages for non-computer ads.

[***][8/12/86][***]
POWERBYTES

 $$$ Worldwide Computer Services of Wayne, N.J., announced sales
of $6.4 million for the six months ended in June, with net income
of $155,639. That compares to $5.2 million in revenue and
$167,639 in net income from the first half of 1985. The company
supplies temporary computer professionals to businesses,
particularly Fortune 500 companies.

 $$$ The Computer Factory of New York City, a computer retailer
hn New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts,
Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C., reported net income for the
third quarter of $514,633 (17 cents per share) on $25.9 million
in sales, compared to net of $165,752 (8 cents per share) on
$13.3 million in sales for the third quarter last year.

 $$$ The Naval Air Development Center in Warminster, Pa., has
awarded the computer graphics division of GTI Corp. a $525,000
contract for a GTI graphic system. GTI is headquartered in San
Diego, Calif.


[***][8/12/86][***]
COMPUTER-AIDED PROGRAMMING FOR IBM PC
Netron Inc. of Toronto will announce software later this month
that will allow IBM PCs to be used for developing mainframe
programs.  The system will automate production of COBOL and other
code using Bassett Frame Technology, the technique on which
Netron's existing computer-aided programming products for
minicomputers are based.  This approach imposes tight quality
control standards on the code produced, according to the company.
Netrnn says the new product will allow mainframes to be used
exclusively for processing while applications prototyping and
development are done on desktop PCs.

Netron is also expected to announce the establishment of its
first U.S. office this month.  The company's Canadian head office
tripled in size recently.

CONTACT:  Bill Daverne, NETRON INC., 99 St. Regis Crescent N.,
          Downsview (Toronto) ON M3J 1Y9

[***][8/12/86][***]
BAD NEWS AND BOWLER HATS FROM MITEL
Mitel Corp., the Ottawa-area telecommunications equipment
manufacturer acquired this year by British Telecom, has announced
another quarterly loss.  The C$5.9 million shortfall is the
company's 11th in the last 13 quarters.  It is, however, better
than the C$14.1 million loss in the same period last year, thanks
to increased sales, reduced inventory and income on the money
British Telecom invested in the company.  Some more cost savings
may come from the closure of a rented manufacturing plant in
Puerto Rico, announced August 6.  The closure will mean the loss
of 300 jobs in Bayamon, Puerto Rico.

Meanwhile Mitel's public image is showing the influence of its
new parent.  Recent advertising headed "Mitel is now suitably
attired to answer even more of your questions" shows running
shoes and a bowler hat -- the former presumably intended to imply
a fast-moving, innovative company while the latter alludes to the
stability created by British Telecom's acquisition of the
formerly shaky firm.

CONTACT: MITEL CORP., 350 Legget Dr., Kanata, ON K2K 1X3,
         [phone]

[***][8/12/86][***]
AUTOMATE TO STAY IN BUSINESS, TRAIN TO STAY EMPLOYED
Business and industry must automate and innovate in order to stay
in business, but technological change can mean havoc in the job
market.  That seems to be the basic message of the 55th Annual
Couchiching Conference, held at Geneva Park, Ont., north of
Toronto, last week.

The answer suggested by speakers at the conference was education
and training.  There were calls for more investment in post-
secondary education and complaints about the quality of
schooling.  Robert Ferchat, president of Northern Telecom Canada
Ltd., called for this country to become "a knowledge nation,
where brainwork replaces busy fingers and natural resources as
the essential source of economic activity and growth."  Ferchat
also noted that in addition to automation, low-priced labor in
developing countries is another threat to employment in Canada
and the rest of the developed world.

[***][8/12/86][***]
NATIONAL SERVICE TO HANDLE VOICE, DATA, IMAGE TRANSMISSION
Telecom Canada, the consortium of Canadian telephone operating
companies, is planning a service that will allow ordinary
telephone conversations to be transmitted simultaneously with
computer data and even images over the same communications
channel.  Megaroute Inter-City is to transmit at 1.5 megabits per
second and could handle crucial medical information including X-
rays and CAT scans, as well as other images such as engineering
drawings.  The service, to operate across Canada, will probably
be interconnected with AT&T's Accunet T1.5, a similar U.S.
offering.

CONTACT: TELECOM CANADA, 410 Laurier Ave. W., Ottawa, ON
         [phone]

[***][8/12/86][***]
CADAPSO BATTLING SOFTWARE PIRACY
The Canadian Association of Data and Professional Service
Organizations (CADAPSO) has published a guide to fighting
software piracy for its members.  Entitled The Five Steps, the
booklet tells software firms the rules of copyright in Canada and
outlines ways of protecting software from piracy.  It emphasizes
customer relations as well as copy-protection schemes.  Carrying
the battle to Parliament Hill, CADAPSO has also been lobbying for
changes to the antiquated Copyright Act, which at present makes
no explicit reference to software (legal precedents in Canada
have, however, shown software to be subject to copyright).

CONTACT: CADAPSO, 280 Albert St., Suite 804, Ottawa, ON
         K1P 5G8

[***][8/12/86][***]
SUPERCOMPUTER TIME FOR RENT
If you're one of those people who moved up from a Commodore 64 to
an IBM PC to an AT and you still don't think your system is
powerful enough, the University of Toronto might be able to help.
The university is to take delivery any day now of a Cray X-MP/24,
whhch costs C$12.9 million and is a couple of hundred times more
powerful than a PC AT.  The trouble is that corporate clients,
which the university has been counting on to help pay for the
supercomputer, haven't been beating the doors down for a chance
to use the system.  In fact, not one had been signed up as of
last week, the "Toronto Star" reported.  So University of Toronto
is now out looking eagerly for businesses, government agencies,
and anyone else who wants to rent time on a supercomputer.

The university's Cray is the fifth supercomputer in Canada.  The
University of Calgary has a Control Data system, Environment
Canada uses a Cray for weather prediction in Montreal, two
businesses in Toronto own Crays and the Canadian Department of
Defense has a supercomputer it won't talk about.  A consortium of
universities, government, and industry in Halifax, Nova Scotia
also has plans to buy a supercomputer.

CONTACT: THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SUPERCOMPUTER CENTRE,
         [phone]

[***][8/12/86][***]
PROTECT ATM USERS, ACTIVIST URGES
If a bank automated teller machine fouls things up, the customer
is usually on his own.  So says Sue McGregor, a lecturer in
consumer studies at Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax.  She
argues that there ought to be laws to protect users of the
banking machines, who in Canada are currently liable for
transactions made with stolen cards and money stolen from deposit
envelopes.  She has urged the Canadian government to beef up
legislation defining the responsibilities of banks that operate
ATMs.

[***][8/12/86][***]
FIRST LOSS EVER FOR GEAC
Geac Computer Corp. has posted its first-ever annual loss.   In
the year ended April 30, Geac lost C$9.9 million on C$65.1
million in revenues, compared to a profit in the previous year of
almost C$5 million on revenues of C$71.7 million.  The
manufacturer of mid-range computer systems is Canada's only
domestically-owned builder of computers larger than PCs.  It
sells most of its wares to libraries and financial companies,
vertical markets in which it has done well in Canada and
internationally.  In the past year sales have slowed down while
costs rose.  At the beginning of April, Geac fired its president
and chief executive, Chuck Williams, after six years at the helm.
Observers are suggesting Geac may not be able to go it alone, and
will have to get into a joint venture with a U.S. firm.

CONTACT: GEAC COMPUTER CORP., 350 Steelcase Rd., W., Markham, ON
         L3R 1B3, [phone]

[***][8/12/86][***]
BITS, EH?
-- Park Vandal & Associates, Toronto, has introduced computer-
assisted design software for the IBM PC and compatibles.  Priced
at C$415, Drafix 1 is designed for architects, engineers,
interior designers, manufacturers and graphics artists. It works
with major graphics cards, monitors, printers and plotters.

-- Software developer Cognos Inc. of Ottawa has filed for an
initial offering of 1.7 million common shares at C$10.25 a share.
The company expects to raise about C$17 million.

-- Major national computer consulting firm DMR and Associates of
Montreal is going public.  The company has changed its name to
DMR Group Inc. and hopes to raise C$20 million from the share
offering.

-- The city of Sccrborough, Ont., a suburb of Toronto, is using
computers to help residents design additions to their houses when
they pick up building permits.  A program developed by the city
and the Ontario Ministry of Housing produces plans for a garage
or carport when the homeowner types in specifications.



[***][8/12/86][***]
PSI MACHINE TO GO ABROAD
Mitsubishi Electric has decided to market its serial inference
processor "PSI" at overseas market next year.  PSI was developed
by the Japanese Institute for New Generation Computer Technology
(ICOT) as a by-product for producing a fifth generation parallel
processor.  PSI has a powerful Prolog dubbed ESP, which
is said to be superior to LISP.  ESP is expected to
become the base language for ICOT's parallel processor.  ICOT has
disclosed the list of ESP, and the organization asks for no
royalty for its usage.

Currently, Mitsubishi is the only company that sells the PSI
machine.  According to a published report, the sales of the
machine have been quite satisfactory in the domestic market.

CONTACT: Mitsubishi Electric, 2-2-3 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku,
         Tokyo 100   (03-218-2333 PR. Dept.)

[***][8/12/86][***]
NEC'S NEW LAPTOP
According to the Nikkei Computer magazine (8/4), NEC will
announce its laptop computer this fall.  The new machine is
compatible with NEC's PC-9801, which is the best-seller 16-bit
micro in Japan.  The report says the laptop has NEC's original
CPU, "V30" or "V50," and a built-in 3.5-inch disk drive.  MS-DOS
is to be supported as the machine's operating system.  The retail
price of this system is around US$3,225.

NEC's new laptop will vie with Fujitsu's FM-16pi.  Meanwhile,
a rumor says Fujitsu also plans to release a new version of
FM-16pi before long.

CONTACT: NEC, 1-4-28 Mita, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108
         (03-451-2974 PR. Dept.)

[***][8/12/86][***]
SOFTWARE VENTURE WENT BANKRUPT
The news broke that an accounting system development firm "Miroku
Keiri" (Tokyo) went bankrupt on August 11.  The total debt of the
company is US$323 million, which is the largest among the
bankruptcy of venture businesses in Japan.  Miroku Keiri has
been developing accounting software and marketing office
computers.  It was a big surprise, since the company had enjoyed
sales of as much as US$148 million in fiscal 1985. The reason
for its bankruptcy is said to be overinvestment in
regional offices and advertisement.  Moreover, the main problem
seem to lie with the firm's "hit or miss account," which is not at
all suitable for an accounting firm!

[***][8/12/86][***]
SHARP'S SMALLTALK80 WORKSTATION
Sharp has developed a Japanese version of SmallTalk80 for its
workstation "IX-5."  Sharp's IX-5 is a multi-purpose low-priced
workstation which supports UNIX and various programming
languages including Prolog.  According to a report, Sharp is now
in the final process in improving the program.  It will be
released by the end of the year.  The price of this SmallTalk80
system has not been released yet.

CONTACT: Sharp, 8 Hachiman-cho, Ichigaya, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162
         (03-260-1161)

[***][8/12/86][***]
FAMICON COMPATIBLE SELLS WELL
Meanwhile, Sharp's Famicon-compatible machine which was just
released on July 1 has been selling like hot cakes. This reporter
has not seen the product yet, since almost no shops can keep the
machine on their shelves even for a single week.  The price of
Sharp's "Twin Famicon" is US$14 more expensive than the original
Famicon with the proprietary disk drive.  However, it is popular
since Twin Famicon has a built-in disk drive, and four expansion
slots for a printer, a modem, a joy-stick, and a keyboard.

Meanwhile, the original Famicon of Nintendo has sold over 7 million
sets as of July.  The sales have gradually been slowing down.  So
Nintendo has now been pushing the sales of its disk drives, and
has been preparing for the Famicon network.

CONTACT: Sharp (see above)
         Nintendo, 1-22 Suda-cho, Kanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
         (03-254-1781, Mr. Tanaka)

[***][8/12/86][***]
<<< SUSHI BYTES >>>

JAPANESE iRMX86 -- Contec (Osaka, Japan) has ported and started
marketing Intel's "iRMX86" operating system for NEC's PC-9801.
iRMX86 is a multi-user, real-time operating system, and it
supports various languages such as Pascal, PL/M, FORTRAN and
BASIC.  The PC-9801 version also supports Kanji.

CITIZEN IN KOREA -- A Japanese watch maker "Citizen" has decided
to shift all the production of mini-printers for its pocket
calculators to its factory in Korea, says a report.  The decision
was made in the wake of the rapid rise of Japanese yen.

500MB HDD -- CDC Japan, subsidiary of the U.S. manufacturer in
Tokyo, plans to market "Wren IV" and "Wren V" (300MB - 500MB HDD)
next year.  Those HDDs will be built-in on word processors,
personal computers, and workstations on an OEM basis.

SOFTWARE SHOW -- SOFTPIA '86 will be held at Trade Center in
Tokyo on 8/19 to 8/22.  AI and CAD/CAM software will be shown,
and a CAI conference will also be held then.

[***][8/12/86][***]
BOOK CORNER
   "Top 1500 Japanese companies"
    -- Compiled by the "Japan Times" (US$7.70)
       CONTENTS: The Top 1500 Rankings, Japanese Industry
       "Today and Tomorrow," Corporate Profit Picture (1985-86),
       etc.

CONTACT: Publications Department, The Japan Times, 4-5-4
         Shibaura, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108    (03-453-5311)