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/1988/nb880517.256

Text File | 1991-08-18 | 53KB | 1,079 lines

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MAXTOR TO HAVE FIRST ERASABLE OPTICAL DISK
SAN JOSE, Ca. (NB) -- Maxtor should beat Tandy Corporation to market with
the first erasable optical disk drive this September.  The $2,500 Tahiti I
drive, scheduled to be sold to computer manufacturers and resellers,
not end-users, will store 1 gigabyte of data on each removable 5.25" disk,
and is promised to have an access time of only 30 thousandths of a second.
That's three times faster than existing optical disk drives.  The speed,
obtained by employing a lightweight drive head,  also makes the Tahiti
drive competitive with the access time of today's hard drives.

A slower, smaller version of this drive, called the Fiji I, will
also be available.  The 3.5" drive's access speed has been  clocked at
100 milliseconds.  Each disk stores 160 megabytes of information.  This
unit will be priced at less than $1,000.

Maxtor has already made its mark in the industry by selling conventional
magnetic drives.  Analysts are generally impressed with this newest drive
and its technology and believe if Maxtor can deliver on its promises, the
firm may get a full year's jump on competitors' products.
[***][5/17/88][***]
HEWLETT PACKARD AND NORTHERN TELECOM TEAM UP FOR NETWORKS
PALO ALTO, Ca. (NB) -- Northern Telecom, the Nashville, Tennessee-based
subsidiary of the Canadian parent, and Hewlett Packard have formed an
alliance to provide networking know-how for corporations that have a
variety of computers and telecommunications equipment and need help
putting it all together.  The new firm, called Corporate Networks
Operation, will work toward providing an "interwoven, seamless,
integrated network," according to HP President John Young.

The organization has already been working on at least 10 accounts,
according to both sides, and employs some 35 consultants.  The firm is
located in Santa Clara, Ca.
[***][5/17/88][***]
HEWLETT PACKARD TEAMS WITH BIG BLUE, OTHERS, FOR NEW VERSION OF UNIX
PALO ALTO, Ca. (NB) -- In a direct challenge to the Sun Microsystems/AT&T
alliance which aims to produce a new version of the UNIX operating
system, Hewlett Packard has joined IBM, Digital Equipment, and Apollo
Computer to build its own version of the venerable operating system.
While all parties say the project is still in the talk stages, some
reports indicate the alliance is ready to start programming.  HP and
its partners are miffed about the Sun/AT&T alliance, saying that
despite promises that the UNIX produced will be an "open standard,"
the development process has shut out all other firms.

Observers hope a competing UNIX can be nipped in the bud and that
ongoing talks between the disenfranchised parties and AT&T will produce
a settlement.  Said one UNIX enthusiast, Donald O'Shea of Unisoft,
"It's going to screw up the UNIX industry in a horrific way."
[***][5/17/88][***]
CROSS-LICENSING AGREEMENT BETWEEN U.S. AND JAPANESE CHIP FIRMS
SAN JOSE, Ca. (NB) -- The Japanese are very fond of cross-licensing
agreements, as evidenced by the number of them among Japanese computer
firms.  But Hitachi has just won one from a US-based chip firm, VSLI
Technology, in a deal that holds benefits for both sides.

VSLI will license to Hitachi its design tools for ASICs, or application-
specific integrated circuits.  In return, Hitachi will fork over
the technology for the creation of complementary metal oxide chips,
a substance that promises to enable the creation of smaller and faster chips.
VSLI will employ the technology at a new chip-making plant in San Antonio,
Texas.

Both firms also agreed to exchange more information regarding ASICs
for wider applications.
[***][5/17/88][***]
MICROSOFT EXPANDS TO GIGANTIC NEW PLANT, INVESTS IN IRELAND
BOTHELL, Wa. (NB) -- Microsoft has finally consolidated its production
and distribution operations in one plant said to be the size of five
side-by-side football fields.  The $14 million plant is set to
turn out a quarter of a million software packages each month; eventually
one million packages a month will be produced, according to company
officers.  Set to become operational this month, the new plant, just
north of Bothell, will initially employ some 170 people.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has signed with Irish authorities to open a $2.9
million software development center in Dublin.  The center is due to
employ some 28 people. Microsoft is one of 8 U.S. companies that have
agreed to invest heavily in Ireland.  The others are Ashton-Tate ($4
million), Claris, Retix, Quark International, Programming Network,
Logitech, and SBT Corporation.
[***][5/17/88][***]
CLARIS SELLS BIG BUT SENDS SMARTFORMS TO DETENTION
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Ca. (NB) -- Claris Corporation, the Apple software
spin-off, brought home over $35 million in sales during its first year
of life.  But don't let the numbers fool you. The vast majority of
the revenue came from the old Apple titles, repackaged and updated,
and not from the new material, such as SmartForms.

Speaking of SmartForms, Claris has reportedly sent it back to the
drawing board after initial reaction from selected test sites was
negative.  The software, developed by the Claris staff, allows you
to generate personalized forms.  Initially due out in June, the
product now has been delayed six months or so until designers add
more features.
[***][5/17/88][***]
SAN JOSE STATE BASKS IN WARM BLUE LIGHT
SAN JOSE, Ca. (NB) -- San Jose State University has just received a
$1 million donation of computer equipment from IBM.  The 3081
mainframe computer, workstations, and software, will be used by
the school's engineering department to link 290 terminals.

The gift is part of an ongoing effort by IBM to nurture San Jose's
budding pin-stripers at the academic level.  The corporation has
already donated equipment and one staff member to San Jose State
where more graduating engineers reportedly end up in Silicon
Valley computer firms than from any other school in the Bay Area.
[***][5/17/88][***]
NEW DOS DUE FOR JUNE 2
SAN FRANCISCO (NB) -- If industry pundits are correct, IBM will release
version 3.4 of DOS on June 2 -- a DOS with a more visual interface
than its predecessors, and which has incorporated extended memory
support.  In addition, hard disk volumes may now contain up to
512 megabytes of data.

News of a new DOS has caused even more confusion in a market
already confused about the benefits of IBM's newest operating
system, OS/2.  Jeffrey Tarter, editor of "Softletter,"
comments that "DOS 3.4 sends an interesting signal to the marketplace
that we suspect could dramatically affect the transition to OS/2....
Until now, the lack of attention to DOS from both IBM and Microsoft has
encouraged most users to regard it as a dead-end....If DOS continues
to evolve, we expect that users and developers will increasingly
think of DOS and OS/2 as parallel environments."
[***][5/17/88][***]
CONSULTING FIRM CREDITED WITH BIG LEGAL WIN
SAN FRANCISCO (NB) --  What do you do if you're a one-man legal shop
charged with taking on a Fortune 500 company in an unfair practices
lawsuit?  Clearly, San Francisco attorney Charles Harris needed help
in his defense of first, a single dealer, and now, an entire network
of former Snap-On Tools dealers who believe they were deceived by the
company's sales and billing practices.  Harris has become a walking
commercial for a San Francisco consulting firm which computerizes
small to medium sized law firms.  He puts it bluntly, "A small
firm like mine could never have taken on a Fortune 500 without
Hammersly Technology's expertise."  And what has Hammersley done that's
so incredible?  They've allowed Harris and his associates, who often
must work on cases in different parts of the country, to coordinate
their work on similar cases through a Compaq 286 in the home office.
The attorneys can dial into the Compaq and access information on the
case, leave documents, read mail, and basically just coordinate their
efforts.

Hammersly has participated in the computerization of over one hundred
law firms, installing word processing and back office systems built
on a network.  Boasts Steven Hammersly, president, "I've some clients
who have grown 50 percent without adding more support staff."

CONTACT:  HAMMERSLY TECHNOLOGY, 415/956-1300
`
[***][5/17/88][***]
IN BRIEF --


DATACOPY, Mountain View, Ca., has agreed to merge with Xerox.  Maker of
desktop scanners and image processing systems, Datacopy will allow Xerox
to get into this end of the business in a deal estimated to be worth
$31 million.

FLOATING POINT SYSTEMS, Beaverton, Oregon, has laid off 160 people in
a restructuring move due to poor revenues.  The layoff of 20% of the
staff brings the total employment to 680, down
from a high of 1,600 in 1985.

GATEWAY COMPUTER, Huntington Beach, Ca., has published a free guide to
the products it sells, providing cross-referencing to operating systems
and hardware/software compatibility.  Also listed are prices!  This unique
catalog is available at any of the firm's 8 California and Nevada stores.

The second issue of HYPERAGE, a magazine devoted to Apple's HyperCard, is
being sent to subscribers despite the dispute which has the publishers
pitted against each other in court.  The dispute led to a brief suspension of
the publication.  Andrew Wolf tells NEWSBYTES he hopes for an equitable
settlement so that publication can get back on schedule.

INFORMATION ACCESS CO., Foster City, Ca., is offering a new service
that allows access to the articles and news reports in 133 computer
magazines and journals.  Available on the Dialog network, the
database will have full-text articles from a third of the magazines and
indexes and abstracts from the rest.

NOLO PRESS, Berkeley, Ca., has a new software package for PCs designed
to make incorporation in California easier.  California Incorporator
takes the user step-by-step through the incorporation process for just
$129 -- about $900 cheaper than going through an attorney!  Contact
them at 415-549-1976.

OCL TECHNOLOGY CENTER, San Jose, has signed a lease for a new US-
Japanese technology exchange center for downtown San Jose.  The center
will coordinate cooperation between technology companies in the two
countries.

The SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION says the book to bill ratio, the
chief indicator of the industry's financial health, was up in April
compared to February and March, to 1.19.  The dollar figure for orders
was   up to a four year high of $1.21 billion dollars for the quarter
ending in April.

SYMANTEC, Cupertino, Ca., plans a public stock offering for this summer.
The software company won't say how much it wants to raise or what the
per share offering price might be.




[***][5/17/88][***]
CHICAGO FIRE PUTS SUBURBAN CHICAGO PHONES OUT FOR A MONTH
CHICAGO (NB) -- A fire which gutted a two-story Illinois Bell
switching center in Hinsdale, IL the night of May 8 wiped out key
elements of the company's fiber-optic phone network. The office
was a major gateway for suburbs west and south of Chicago, an
Illinois Bell official told "The Wall Street Journal." Service to
O'Hare Airport, was restored within a day, but for a day the
normal five-mile distance between planes over Chicago was raised
to 20 miles. Also cash machines and beepers fell silent, United
Airlines and Sears were hit hard, MCI Mail was out for a time,
except through an 800-number carrying a surcharge, (the gateway
to Dow-Jones was totally down) and one Transamerica unit had to
shift its business to a hotel room. The fire points out the need
for adequate back-up systems with fiber -- Hinsdale was equipped
to shift over only 25% of its load when the fire broke out.

Later press reports indicated the problems caused by the fire may
not be totally solved for up to a month. For at least a few
businesses there's no phone service until then.
[***][5/17/88][***]
COMPAQ, DEC SIGN TECHNOLOGY EXCHANGE AND SUPPORT PROGRAM
HOUSTON (NB) -- Digital Equipment continued its assault on IBM by
signing a technology exchange agreement with Compaq, the leading
maker of PC clones. The deal formalizes support from DEC VAX
systems for Compaq PCs, based on OSI standards. DEC will also
handle non-warranty service on Compaq PCs owned by its customers.

This is nothing like the far-reaching deal signed between Apple
and DEC a few months ago, but the problems of linking Compaq and
DEC computers are relatively trivial -- both represent words and
numbers with ASCII characters, for instance.

CONTACT: Jeff Stives, COMPAQ, [phone]
[***][5/17/88][***]
SUPERCOMPUTER UPDATE -- SANDIA MAKES A THIN-FILM FOR COMPUTERS
ALBUQUERQUE, NM (NM) -- The Sandia National Laboratory has
created a thin-film superconductor which loses all resistance to
electricity at -285 degrees centigrade. It's made of thallium,
barium, and copper, and it's applied in 7/10th of a micrometer
layers on a flat substrate. A report from China's Xinhua news
agency, quoting "Albuquerque Today," says the compound used was
first crafted by Allen Hermann and Sheng Zhengzhi of the
University of Arkansas, and Sandia had been working with the
material 9 weeks. The key to making the Hermann-Zhengzhi material
successfully, Xinhua said, involves careful control of the film's
thallium content during anealing, a process of heating and
cooling.
[***][5/17/88][***]
MARC CANTER LOSES BUSINESS FOR PASSING VIRUS, BUT MAY BE INNOCENT
ATLANTA (NB) -- NEWSBYTES has heard more about the MacVirus with its peace
message which landed in the Aldus PageMaker tutorial tool, FreeHand,
last month. FreeHand developer Marc Canter, our sources say, was
innocent. Another developer, with whom Canter made the mistake of
failing to dine, slipped the virus into FreeHand (he'd
gotten it online from CompuServe) to discredit him. And Paul
Brainerd, Aldus' chairman, specifically said he "could not be
sure" that the bug found in his software even came from the disk
he got from Canter. It's just as likely the bug came direct from
CompuServe (known here as the "C" word). Worse, we were told, Mr.
Canter's company has already lost at least one big piece of
business due to the nasty reputation he got from those press
reports. It's the boys and girls from the press who have failed
to follow up on this story, NEWSBYTES sources tell us, and we
should all be ashamed of ourselves.
[***][5/17/88][***]
QUADRAM TAKES A DRINK, MAKES MANY PRODUCT INTRODUCTIONS
ATLANTA (GA) -- Almost unnoticed during Comdex was Quadram's
first cocktail party, which came roughly 3 years after IBM's
first drinks-provided sales meeting. Co-founder and parent ISC
chair Leland Strange, whose Spring Comdex plans previously
featured soft-drinks-only concerts by, among others the Gatlin
Brothers and Alabama, drank a Diet Sprite and took interviews.
His company kept most of its divisions in one booth this year, to
save money. Their prayer breakfast speaker this year was Zig
Ziglar. The quad-news was a rash of Quad-introductions,
including:
        *JT Fax PS/Q, a fax board for the IBM PS/2. It runs on a
4800 bit/second modem chip, making it half as fast as most fax
machines. But the price will be $600 and the software is memory-
resident and fully de-bugged.
        *Peachtree Software's Back to Basics Professional, on IBM
PCs and Macs, with an invoicing module, designed in part for
home-based businesses and priced at about $200.
        *QuadPort PS/Q, another PS/2 board which provides 2
serial ports to the Models 50 and 60.
        *An 8-megabyte version of the QuadMEG PS/Q memory board,
again for the PS/2, which could solve those problems of running
multi-tasking under OS/2.
        *MLe, a new 3270 emulation package for Quadram's MainLink
II micro-mainframe board, which uses a Chips + Technologies chip
set. The software goes for $150, the hardware for about $200.
(Add about $100 for the PS/2 version of the hardware.)
        *A 40-megabyte hard disk version of the Datavue Spark
laptop, with a price of about $2,500. It will ship in July.

CONTACT: Jane Bator, CAM GROUP, [phone]
[***][5/17/88][***]
TEXAS INSTRUMENTS ADDS INTEL 80386 MACHINE TO ITS SYSTEM 1000
AUSTIN, TX (NB) -- Texas Instruments continued trying to tie its
proprietary System 1000 mini-computer line to industry standards
by introducing the SP1000, an Intel 80386-based system for 8-16
users. The computer runs TI System V, a version of Unix based on
SCO Xenix V and derived from AT&T's System V. The basic unit's
list price is $3,800, other units go as high as $8,600. The
company also introduced the System 1200, a 24-user system in the
same series.

In other TI news, the company announced a deal with The Santa
Cruz Operation Inc. to bring SCO Xenix-Net to the System 1000.
The system lets you integrate MS-DOS based machines into the
System 1000 environment. And it announced the TravelMate LT220, a
portable DEC VT-220 terminal which weighs under 5 pounds.
[***][5/17/88][***]
PECAN CHIPS

ARNET, Nashville, began shipping MultiPort/2, which adds 8 serial
ports to the IBM PS/2 line.

BROCK CONTROL SYSTEMS, Atlanta, announced an alliance with AT&T
to sell its Unix-based telemarketing systems. The Brock systems
will be sold on AT&T 6386 and 3B hardware.

COMPUTONE PRODUCTS, Atlanta, announced supply contracts with
Tandy and NEC for its input-output boards. The NEC deal is an
exclusive on its Powermate PCs.

DATA ACCESS, Miami, FL, introduced Office Works, a $1,100 package
which includes E-mail, document control, time management software
and phone messaging systems to provide what the company calls
group productivity.

DENEBA SOFTWARE, Miami, announced an upgrade of its Canvas
drawing program for the Macintosh. Version 2.0, due in July, will
go out free to users of Version 1.0. It includes color support,
faster drawing and editing, greater precision, and better Bezier
curves.

DUKE UNIVERSITY, Durham, NC, said it will get ISDN service when
it cuts over its new AT&T 5ESS switch July 9. Among the
innovative uses planned for ISDN at Duke, "Network World"
reported, are transmitting X-Rays for doctor conferences, and
giving students who now share phone lines more access to modems.

HAYES, Atlanta, shipped a 2,400 baud modem for the IBM PS/2, the
Smartmodem 2400P.

HONEYWELL BULL, Minneapolis, introduced three new members of its
Unix-based XPS-100 family. It also announced RPG II/36, a
software tool to let System 34/36 users move their work to the
XPS-100 line. Finally it introduced a color dot-matrix printer
which can print drafts at about 10 lines/second, or pretty copy
at 1/4 that speed, for $2,450. The printer ships this summer.

INFOMART, Dallas, opened its computer-integrated factory
demonstration at the IDEACENTER, on an upper-floor of the market
center.

MICRO DESIGN INT'L, Winter Park, FL, began shipping a version of
its optical WORM drive for Unix-based systems. The 12-inch
version holds up to 2 gigabytes per platter.

MINDSCAPE, Northbrook, IL, introduced Numbers Up, a Lotus 1-2-3
compatible pop-up spreadsheet for people who prefer using word
processors and databases. The price will be about $80, with
delivery this summer.

NCR, Dayton, OH, announced 386/ix, a family of software products
to give MS-DOS users the power to run their programs under Unix
using VP/ix.

NETLINE, Provo, UT, introduced a networking system which uses
power lines called Link. With it, any set of PCs in a building
can now be linked through a serial port plugged into a wall
outlet. Prices are $5-600 per PC, and it ships in June.

PRODIGY, the White Plains, NY-based online system opening in
Atlanta later this year, said Manufacturers Hanover will be
handling software and processing for local banks which, like C&S
in Atlanta, tie into its system for home banking.

SEMATECH, Austin, TX, got its first allotment of $100 million in
Defense Department funds, making the DoD an official member of
the research consortium.

TANDY, Ft. Worth, announced it's adding Open Systems Accounting
for SCO Xerix 286 and 386 operating systems used in its 3000 and
4000 computers.

WARREN AVIS, Ann Arbor, MI, founder of the Avis rent-a-car
agency, formed a computer systems integration outfit, Avis
Information Systems. Mr. Avis has written 5 books on
entrepreneurship, and developed a research park, since founding
Avis 40 years ago.


[***][5/17/88][***]
TSE CHOOSES STOCKS FOR COMPUTER-TRADING TEST
TORONTO (NB) -- The Toronto Stock Exchange has selected 24 stocks
to be involved in a test of new computerized trading rules.  The
24 interlisted stocks -- each one traded in either Montreal or
New York as well as Toronto -- will be traded on the TSE's
Computer-Assisted Trading System (CATS) under new rules
recommended by the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. of New York.

Mary Revell, manager of information and media services for the
exchange, said the proposed new computerized trading rules are
only one part of McKinsey's recommendations.  The consultants
were hired last fall to study the exchange's trading methods.

The tests, to take place this summer, are seen as a showdown
between traditional floor trading methods and the computerized
system.  The floor traders association at the exchange is unhappy
with McKinsey's recommendations, contending that a combination of
automation with traditional methods is the best way to go.  They
have been developing an automated floor trading post, which will
also be tested this summer.

Among the stocks selected for the test are Northern Telecom , the
distillery company Seagram, Mitel Corp. and Canadian Pacific.  It
is the first time interlisted stocks have been traded on the CATS
system.
[***][5/17/88][***]
NEW BOSS AT BCE
MONTREAL (NB) -- BCE Inc., parent company of Northern Telecom
Ltd., Bell Canada and Bell-Northern Research and Canada's largest
conglomerate, has a new chief executive officer.  He is Raymond
Cyr, the company's president, who takes over the CEO job from BCE
Chairman A. Jean de Grandpre.  Cyr is a 54-year-old engineer who
has worked for BCE and Bell Canada for 30 years.

There is speculation Cyr's tenure may see some retrenching for
the C$26-billion company, which has publishing, energy and real
estate interests as well as its pre-eminent position in the
Canadian telecommunications industry.  Some companies that
haven't turned out well might be sold off again, and under Cyr,
BCE is expected to be less involved in the management of its
subsidiaries.
[***][5/17/88][***]
MICROSOFT THROWS OPEN FRENCH WINDOWS
MISSISSAUGA, Ont. (NB) -- Microsoft Canada has announced a
French-language version of Windows 2.03.  The new version
delivers the graphics user interface of Presentation Manager,
with standard pull-down menus, dialog boxes and scroll bars, as
well as overlapping windows rather than tiled ones.  All menu
commands are available directly from the keyboard, and Windows
2.03 conforms to IBM's Systems Application Architecture (SAA).

Microsoft has also introduced a French-Canadian version of its
Word 4.0 word processor, adding advanced document retrieval and
summary capabilities, paragraph bordering, line drawing, linkage
to spreadsheet data and an interactive macro language.  The two
new releases bring the French-language versions of the packages
up to date with the English-language versions.

CONTACT: MICROSOFT CANADA, 6300 Northwest Dr., Mississauga, Ont.
         L4V 1J7, [phone]
[***][5/17/88][***]
BIG CONFERENCE WEEK IN TORONTO
TORONTO (NB) -- The Metro Toronto Convention Centre will be the
site of three computer-related conferences between May 18 and 20.
The Canadian Information Processing Society is sponsoring CIPS
Congress '88, a conference for data processing professionals, May
18-20.  The Electronic Desktop Publishing Association is holding
its third annual show and conference, Comgraph '88, May 18-19.
And usr/group/cdn, the Canadian Unix users' group, is holding its
Unix '88 show and conference, also May 18-19.

The three shows have among them attracted some industry
heavyweights.  Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corp., will
speak twice on May 18, delivering the opening-day keynote address
for Comgraph '88 and a luncheon speech to CIPS.  Other EDPA
speakers include Paul Brainerd, president of Aldus Corp.; John
Warnock, president of Adobe Systems Inc.; John Meyer, president
of Ventura Software Inc.; and Jim Rafferty, chairman of Cricket
Software.  The Unix '88 conference, meanwhile, will hear from
Unix whiz Bill Joy of Sun Microsystems Inc. as well as Roderick
Bryden, chairman of SHL Systemhouse Inc. and of Kinburn
Technologies Corp., both of Ottawa.
[***][5/17/88][***]
BELL-NORTHERN CLAIMS MOST ADVANCED FIBRE-OPTIC TRANSMITTER
OTTAWA (NB) -- Bell-Northern Research says its scientists have
developed the world's most advanced monolithic optoelectronic
transmitter, a key to bringing fibre-optic networks into the
home.  By producing both of the transmitter's light-reflecting
mirrors entirely by semiconductor processing, BNR says it has
made fabrication significantly more efficient.  That paves the
way for cost-efficient mass production of the devices, which
would bring down the cost of fibre-optic networks.

The transmitter converts electronic signals into light as better
than two billion bits per second.  It is made from gallium
arsenide and is not much larger than a grain of sand, according
to Bell-Northern Research.

CONTACT: BELL-NORTHERN RESEARCH, Box 3511, Station C,
         Ottawa, Ont. K1Y 4H7, [phone]
[***][5/17/88][***]
BITS, EH?
-- COMPUTER INNOVATIONS DISTRIBUTION INC., Brampton, Ont.,
reported a C$6.5-million profit in the year ended April 2, up
from C$3.9 million the previous year.  Revenue climbed to C$306.3
million from C$255.6 million.

-- LANPAR TECHNOLOGIES INC., Markham, Ont., lost C$4.6 million in
the year ended Jan. 31, worse than a C$3.5-million loss in the
previous year.  Revenue fell to C$41.5 million from C$42.4
million.  Lanpar manufacturer, distributes and services computer
equipment.

-- Directors of MDI MOBILE DATA INTERNATIONAL INC., Richmond,
B.C., endorsed a takeover offer by Motorola Inc.  Motorola is
offering C$13.50 a share for t he maker of mobile communications
equipment, a better price than the C$9.75 offer from BCE Inc. of
Montreal.

-- BELL CANADA, Montreal, has been ordered to cut long-distance
rates -- again.  The Canadian Radio-television and
Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) figures Bell is making too
much money, so the phone company was told it must reduce rates
for long-distance calls from Ontario and Quebec to other parts of
Canada by an average of 24.6 per cent.  Rates for calls to the
United States will fall about 10.3 per cent, and calls within
Bell territory will be about 2.8 per cent cheaper.

-- THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO got nearly C$2.2 million in
additional funding for its James Milton Ham Research Programme,
which was announced in 1984 to increase the university's
expertise in microchip design and fabrication.  C$1.7 million
came from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research
Foundation, C$400,000 from the university itself and C$90,000
from Northern Telecom.  The program was started with a C$500,000
initial grant from Northern Telecom four years ago.


[***][5/17/88][***]
PROTOTYPE OF FIFTH GENERATION COMPUTER DUE IN THREE YEARS
TOKYO (NB) -- The Ministry of International Trade and Industry
(MITI) has just endorsed a project to develop a fifth generation
computer.  MITI will invest about 30 billion yen ($ 240 million)
from 1989 through 1992 for the project and the Institute for
New Generation Computer Technology (ICOT) will develop the
prototype machine. The system will be capable of parallel
processing of data and will connect a staggering 1,000 central
processing units (CPU).  It is expected that such a
machine will be able to process a whopping 500 times more data
than present large-scale general purpose computers.  MITI even
claims this fifth generation machine will be the first to
understand and infer human voice -- and such a prototype will
be complete in three years.

Meanwhile, MITI will provide free access to all copyrights and licences
acquired in the development of this prototype machine to companies
at home and abroad.  In this way, MITI aims to acquire international
participation in this project.

CONTACT: Institute for New Generation Computer Technology,
         Mita Kokusai Bldg. 2F., 1-4-28 Mita, Minato-ku,
         Tokyo 108
[***][5/17/88][***]
GALAXY PROJECT CHALLENGES TRON PROJECT
TOKYO (NB) -- Mamoru Maekawa, a professor at the  Univ. of Tokyo, is
taking on the advocates of TRON by backing yet another operating
system called the GALAXY project.  He has been joined by scholars
at 16 laboratories and 12 universities, as well as IBM Japan, in the
development of a next-generation computer system based on GALAXY.

What is the GALAXY project?  It's said to be a new concept based
on the ISDN or Integrated Service Digital Network technology.
Scientists hope to develop software and hardware that processes
data and color animation at high speed.

Maekawa is now in direct competition with Professor Sakamura of the
Univ. of Tokyo who is spearheading the TRON project.  Both are
on the same faculty and the competition must make for lively faculty
meetings.  Maekawa is being quoted in the press as saying that GALAXY
will exceed TRON's capabilities.  To the layman, the basic difference
between the two operating systems has to be their perspective.
TRON is geared toward domestic productivity and GALAXY looks toward
international standards.
[***][5/17/88][***]
FUJITSU EXPERIMENT CREATES NEURO-COMPUTER ROBOTS
TOKYO (NB) -- Fujitsu recently launched a public experiment
designed to show how robots can learn via a neurocomputer link.
Demonstrated at the Fujitsu Integrated Technology Exhibition here,
the robots, taking directions from a neurocomputer, were
capable of surprising, independent movement based on changing
situations.

The basic situation presented to the robots involved pursuit of
one by the others.  Interestingly enough, scientists observed that
the speed with which each robot "learned" was different.  The
experiment was more than a stage show, however. Fujitsu plans to
use the data gathered to design a large scale integrated circuit,
called the Neurochip, and hopes to use it for the control
of industrial robots.

CONTACT: Fujitsu, 1-6-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100
[***][5/17/88][***]
COMPUTER SPEAKS AMD READS JAPANESE
TOKYO (NB) -- Tokyo-based heavy electric machinery manufacturer
Meidensha has developed a revolutionary new sound synthesis system
that reads Japanese documents written by computers and word
processors.  Further, the technology is said to be capable of
interpreting the meaning and context of a statement, thereby
adjusting inflection.

The sound synthesis system consists of Japanese language
processor and sound generator.  The system is processed as
follows: The Japanese language processor converts disk-based
text documents into sound code, the sound generator processes
the code into voice-like sound, using microprocessors.  Finally,
the system reads the sound through speakers.

Meanwhile, its makers say the system can be adapted to other
languages, since the phonemes, or basic units of human speech,
are similar for most languages, and simply have to be rearranged
for the system to work.

CONTACT: Meidensha, 2-2-1 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100
[***][5/17/88][***]
SONY TO RELEASE MORE PROGRAMS FOR NEWS MACHINES
TOKYO (NB) -- Sony's pulling out all the stops in an effort to
further popularize the NEWS workstation.  The company plans to
bring out several more software packages, including a program
called NWF609 which can translate documents between Japanese
word processors and NEWS machines.  The core of the software is
called Sony's Common Document File Format (CDFF).

Meanwhile, Sony has developed CD-ROM software called KRS
in cooperation with KnowledgeSet of the U.S.  The program can read
not only documents but images and figures.  Sony has rewritten
the program so that it runs on X Window System.

NWF609 will be released on October 21, at $1,600.  The English
version of the KRS will be released in Europe and America this
summer, and the Japanese version in the fall.  The price of KRS
has not been announced yet.

CONTACT: Sony, 4-10-18 Takanawa, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108
[***][5/17/88][***]
LAPTOP N5200 PERSONAL COMPUTER FROM NEC
TOKYO (NB) -- In addition to the laptop version of PC9800
series, NEC has developed another laptop personal computer for
the top-class N5200 series, which is in most cases connected
with general purpose computers.  It has a backlit, 640x494-dot, liquid
crystal display, 80286 central processing unit (CPU), and 1 megabit
memory.  The system is able to use the 100+ programs written for
the N5200. The prices are 455,000 yen or $3,640 with two 3.5-inch
hard disk drives (HDDs) and 595,000 yen or $4,760 with a 3.5-inch
HDD and a CD-ROM.

CONTACT: NEC, 1-4-28 Mita, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108
[***][5/17/88][***]
BAN ON DAT DUBBING PROPOSED
TOKYO (NB) -- Seven electronics manufacturers in Japan and Europe,
including Matsushita and Philips, have signed a draft agreement for
integrated copy protection to solve the digital audio tape (DAT)
copyright problem.  The draft includes a proposal to allow DAT
recorders to make only one dub of a subject, and a restriction on
dubbing between DAT machines.  The recording and video industries
have been up in arms about the ability of digital audio tape to
reproduce nearly perfectly, without generation loss, and have
put pressure on DAT electronics manufacturers to restrict usage of
the machines.  This, apparently, is their answer.

CONTACT: Matsushita, 1006 Oaza-Monma, Monma-shi, Osaka 571
[***][5/17/88][***]
NEW STRUCTURED TRANSISTOR FOR HIGH INTEGRATED MEMORIES
TOKYO (NB) -- Matsushita's semiconductor research center has
developed a new structured transistor for highly integrated
memories.  By adopting this transistor, Matsushita hopes to realize
volume production of highly integrated, next-generation memory
chips.  The American premier of the technology is slated for the
coming VLSI Technology Symposium in San Diego, U.S.

Matsushita expects this technology will enable it to produce a
prototype 64 megabit dynamic RAM chip within three or four years.

CONTACT: Matsushita, 1006, Oaza-Monma, Monma-shi, Osaka 571
[***][5/17/88][***]
<< SUSHI BYTES >>

FOREIGN SOFTWARE COMPANY BACKS UP TRON -- Microtec Research Inc.
of the U.S. and Japan Microtec Research will ship a software tool set
of assembler/compiler/debugger for GMICRO this fall.  GMICRO is
a 32-bit microprocessing  unit (MPU) for TRON.  The two companies
have received orders from GMICRO group, including Hitachi, Fujitsu
and Mitsubishi.   This is the first time a foreign company has
supported the TRON project.

NEW GENERATION MPU -- Sharp and Mitsubishi have jointly
developed a 32-bit microprocessing unit (MPU).  The MPU makes use of
a pipe-line processing unit, which can process data while
transmitting it.

HIGH-FUNCTION AND LOW-PRICE LAPTOP PC FROM HITACHI -- Hitachi has
released a laptop personal computer, the B16LXS, which boasts more
features than similar-priced models of the competition. One reason
the B16LXS is so cheap is its display -- 8 shade liquid crystal
instead of plasma.  Equipped with an 80286 and capable of running
at 8 megahertz, the machine is priced at 298,000 yen or $2,384 with
2 floppy disk drives (FDDs) and 498,000 yen or $3,984 with a 3.5-inch
FDD and a 20-megabyte hard disk drive (HDD).

MATSUSHITA TO RELEASE 32-BIT PERSONAL COMPUTER
Matsushita will release its 32-bit personal computer the
PANACOM M series CV M800HE in August.  The computer is
compatible with the 32-bit personal computer the FMR70 of
Fujitsu and it has both MS-DOS and Japanese OS/2 for its
operating systems.  The price is 955,000 yen or $7,640.

NMB SEMICONDUCTOR TO START VOLUME PRODUCTION OF 1M DRAM --
NMB Semiconductor, a subsidiary of Minebea in Japan, will start
volume production of 1 megabit dynamic RAMs (1M DRAMs) at the end
of this month.  Also, NMB expects to start production of the fastest
1M DRAMs this October.  They are said to have a data reading speed
of 70 nanoseconds.

IBM SUPPLIES 500 LAPTOP PCs TO A UNIVERSITY -- IBM Japan has
supplied 500 units of its laptop personal computer the IBM
Personal System/55 Model 5535 to the Nagoya Commercial Univ.
In total, the university owns 1,600 sets of the IBM Personal
System.  The university students will be able to take many of
the units home and file their assignments electronically.

NEC RELEASES NEW HDD
NEC has released 5.25-inch magnetic hard disk drive (HDD), the
D5655.  This HDD has the biggest memory (179.8 megabytes) in
Japan and its average access time is 0.018 of a second, the fastest
in this industry.  Samples will be shipped at the end of June at
450,000 yen or $3,600.

TOSHIBA FOLLOWS HITACHI TO PRODUCE 1M SRAM
Toshiba will ship samples of 1M SRAM a month behind Hitachi.
They will be used for computers and office automation systems.
Toshiba will start to produce 50,000 sets of them per month this
fall.  The sample price is 30,000 yen or $240.

ACER IN TAIWAN ENTERS JAPANESE MARKET -- Stan Shih, president of
the largest personal computer maker in Taiwan, Acer, has visited
Japan.  He has announced that the company will release the AX
personal computer, an IBM PC/AT-compatible with a Japanese language
feature.  Acer will also release more PS/2 compatible machines in
Japan.

[***][5/17/88][***]
MACWORLD SHOW DEBUTS IN AMSTERDAM
AMSTERDAM, HOLLAND (NB) -- MacWorld Expo 88, here at the RAI
Convention Center, drew a respectable crowd for this part of
the world -- 13,000 -- and some interesting new product introductions.
NEWSBYTES covered the event and presents the highlights:

      - An Italian company called Softing introduced a finite element
system which can be used for structural analysis and design. The
program, which runs on the Mac II and the SE also offers a MacBeam
package which can be used for the design of pillars in reinforced
concrete. CONTACT: Softing, Via Reggio Calabria, 6, 00161 Rome

      - US-based Letraset announced Letrastudio, a type design library and
software to run on the Mac and the Mac II. The software offers
placement and sizing of characters and is used together with the design
library to offer almost 1,000 display references. Updated on a yearly
basis, the library adds about 100 faces every year.

      - Stacks, a Swiss company, displayed Hyper-office 2, a
complete office management system running under Hypercard. The software
includes searching, sorting, calendar management, appointment tracker,
phone list and pasting from and to documents.  CONTACT: Stacks,
Parkettistrasse 3, CH-6374 Buochs/Lake Lucerne, Switzerland.

      - A Hungarian company, Graphisoft, introduced the ArchiCad package
which can be used on the Mac II and SE to develop architectural designs.
The program which offers 3D with perspective views also permits the user
to perform shading for that realistic look. CONTACT: Graphisoft, Szobranc
koz 10, 1143 Budapest, Hungary.

      - CTA introduced text reader software called TextScan which can
read just about any font available. The software  runs on the Mac
SE and Mac II, and reads 2500 characters per minute and is said to
have a 99.9% success rate. CONTACT: CTA SA, Mare de Deu del Carmel 1,
08022 Barcelona, Spain.

      - Apple donated Apple Macs to the World Wide Fund for its Dutch
office. Apple's Jan Terwisse said, "Apple has long had a history of
supporting institutions and initiatives which share a mutual vision of
'changing the world'."

      - Logic Programming Associates introduced the MacProlog package
which offers Prolog language development for Macintosh users. MacProlog
2.0 offers colors as well as an easy-to-use tool kit for menus,
dialogs and windows. The program supports a symbolic debugger and
compatibility with LPA meta-level extensions. CONTACT: Logic Programming
Associates, Studio 4, Royal Victoria Patriotic building, Trinity Road,
London SW18 3SX, United Kingdom.

      - Gnosis (from the Greek 'knowledge') demonstrated Sequelink, a
program that accesses DEC networks with Appletalk. In addition, the
program offers SQL database link into the Macinstosh.  CONTACT: Gnosis,
Kardinaal Mercierlei 4, B-2600 Berchem-Antwerpen, Belgium.

      - The world's first 24-bit color board was demonstrated by
RasterOps Corporation, a small company based in Cupertino. Ca. Color 104 is
a 24 bit per pixel board for the Macintosh II which can be used for
realistic CAD/CAM applications as well as pre-press publishing needs.
CONTACT: RasterOps, 10161 Bubb road, Cupertino, CA 95014.
[***][5/17/88][***]
BELGIAN UNIVERSITY ANNOUNCES OPTICAL ARCHIVAL PACKAGE FOR THE MAC
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (NB) -- Archie is the name of a new product developed
at the Programming Technology Lab of VUB, the Free University of
Brussels. The program, which runs on the Mac SE, Plus and the II, offers
a hardware/software solution to large scale archival management. Based
on an optical drive which can store up to 10,000 pages, Archie offers
Hypercard-based archiving and retrieval based on search and sort fields
specified through user input.

Archie is designed to be offered in two versions. The first is a single
user version, suited to small colleges. The second is an AppleTalk
connected system which offers multiuser support via access to the
Archie server. Internal Archie documents are kept in Postscript format
allowing the largest possible compatibility range.

CONTACT: Softcore, 1045 Waversesteenweg, 1160 Brussels, Belgium

[***][5/17/88][***]
EUROBITS...

      Plus Passport, a 40MB hard disk subsystem based on a removable
cartridge has been announced by Computer 2000 in Germany. The system,
which uses a 5.25 inch cartridge costs DM 3384 (about $1600)...

      ...Elite 16, a 16MB memory card for the AT and PS/2 MCA-based
systems gives the user the capability to expand the memory to the
maximum supported by the processor. The board supports EMS and EEMS as
well as an Extended Memory Specifications...

      ...Wordstar 3.0/OS/2 now supports and runs under the OS/2
operating system. It comes in 24 diskettes and sports one of the fastest
scrolling speeds...

      ...A FAX card developed in Germany is to be offered to the European
market. The card supports T3 and T4 modes exchanges information
at 9600 bps. Price in the Federal Republic is DM 2223 (about $1300)...

      ... and finally, there is a solution to the memory chip pricing
war. Manufacturers are changing their systems to use 1MB RAM chips
instead which have the same cost as the hard-to-get 256K parts.




[***][5/17/88][***]
COMMUNICATIONS 88 SHOW COMES AND GOES
Birmingham, West Midlands (NB) -- Whilst the eyes and ears of the
computer world were focused on Comdex, NEWSBYTES UK was treading
the floor at Communications '88, the annual telecommunications
show held at Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre.  The four-
day event brought home to NEWSBYTES UK that the market for
communications-related products is converging with that of the PC
and computers generally.  Here's a summary of what we found:


DOWTY: NEW MODEMS
Birmingham, West Midlands (NB) -- Dowty, the long-established
modem and communications specialist, is moving upmarket.  To
celebrate the fact, the company unveiled a new range of
communications-related products at the NEC.  First in is the DIS
(Dowty Information Systems) 9696, a 9600bps Hayes-compatible
modem working to V25Bis standards.

Further upmarket is the DIS 9200 digital multiplexer, and
Autoprint, a portable data terminal with LCD screen and thermal
printer.  Unusually for a portable data terminal, the Autoprint
is designed to work with AM/FM radio as well as cellular
radiophone links.

CONTACT: DOWTY INFORMATION SYSTEMS - 0225-891881
[***][5/17/88][***]
INFOTRON SYSTEMS' LOW-COST NETWORKING SOLUTION
Birmingham, West MIdlands (NB) -- Infotron is moving into the
networking market in a big way.  Its hopes hinge on Commix 32, a
low-cost PC and minicomputer networking system capable of
supporting up to 32 simultaneous users.  The package sells for
$2,995 in the US, with a provisional UK price tag of just under
#2,000.

That makes it the cheapest 32-user networking system that
NEWSBYTES UK has yet seen.  How come it's so cheap?

"All the hardware is in this case here," said Patrick Bourgeois,
sales manager of Infotron's Itron US subsidiary.  "It connects to
any PC running Dos via ordinary RS232/serial links.  The software
requires just 44K of system Ram and works in memory-resident
(pop-up) mode," he added.

Verdict?  For users with a need to link laptop PCs into a desktop
network, the system could be a very cheap solution.  The pop-up
software looks good too.  Worth checking out before choosing an
expensive network.

CONTACT: INFOTRON SYSTEMS - 01-735-0731
[***][5/17/88][***]
MAYZE SYSTEMS: NEW MODEMS GALORE
Birmingham, West Midlands (NB) -- Mayze is relative newcomer to
the UK modem scene.  The company is aggressively fighting for its
share of the modem market however, and the product range looks
exciting (if you're into modems, that is).

Mayze launched the Synchro 24 at the NEC.  The plug-in card modem
works with IBM's PS/2 series and connects using the PS/2's MCA
bus system.  This means that the modem won't work with IBM's
Model 30, which cuts out 30 per cent of PS/2 users immediately.
Still, the modem is synchronous and comes supplied with pop-up
(memory-resident) software for use under a Dos environment.
That's the good news.  The bad news is that the modem only works
at 2400bps (V22Bis), yet still costs #545.  For #100 more, you
get a 4,800bps (V27Ter) option - assuming, of course, you know of
any online systems that work at 4800bps!

CONTACT: MAYZE SYSTEMS - 0793-511789.
[***][5/17/88][***]
MERCURY: MEDIA CAMPAIGN AND NEW INTERNATIONAL VOICEMAIL SERVICE
Birmingham, West Midlands (NB) -- Mercury Communications is
pitching into the business communications market with a
vengeance.  To mark the occasion, the company started its first
TV and general media campaign last week to 'raise the public
consciousness.'  In addition to this, Mercury launched its
Mercury 2700 voicemail system.

Similar to British Telecom's Voicebank voicemail system, the
service works in a similar fashion to electronic mail, except, of
course, that the messages are spoken.  What makes the system
stand out is that messages can be sent to other international
voicemail services, specifically Tigon in the US and Kokusai in
Japan.  Verdict?  Mercury is small but growing pain in BT's
backside.  Its services are cheaper too - something to think
about next you get your communications bill.

CONTACT: MERCURY COMMUNICATIONS - 01-528-2000.
[***][5/17/88][***]
And now, as they say, the rest of the week's news...


COMPEC SHOW BOWS OUT
London, UK (NB) -- The Compec computer show, held in London each
year, has been allowed to die gracefully.  Cahners Exhibitions
has announced that the reason for the cancellation was a
shortfall in exhibitors.

Announcing the cancellation from his London HQ last week, Hugh
Keeble, Cahners' group show director, said that the decision to
cancel was made with some regret.

"Our first obligation is to provide our visitors with a
comprehensive show.  The number and range of exhibitors currently
contracted to appear at Compec has not allowed us to fulfil that
promise," he said.

NEWSBYTES UK notes the passing on of Compec with a little
sadness.  The long-standing show was taken over by Cahners in
1986, when the company vowed to return the show to its original
DP/MIS profile.  It looks like the PC marketplace has overtaken
that aim.

CONTACT: CAHNERS EXHIBITIONS - 01-891-5051.


DATABASE PUBLICATIONS CONSOLIDATES ITS MAGAZINES
Macclesfield, Cheshire (NB) -- It's been a busy week for Database
Publications, part of the Europress Group.  The company announced
last week that Apple User, its Apple-specific magazine, is to
cease publication.  The magazine was the least profitable,
according to company sources.

In addition to this, Database also announced the merger of its
two Amstrad PCW-specific magazines, 'Computing with the Amstrad -
PCW' and 'Amstrad PCW,' into one title.  Rex Last, editor of
Amstrad PCW, becomes overall editor of the new magazine.  "I'm as
pleased as punch," he told NEWSBYTES UK.  "You can quote me too,"
he added.  We just did Rex.

Why is Database consolidating its computer magazines?  The
company has a few aces up its sleeve.  The next few weeks sees
the first issue of Amiga Computer, an Amiga-specific title,
appear on the news stands.  Also in the pipeline is a non-
computer title from the group.  No-one's saying what the magazine
is about, but NEWSBYTES UK'S sources suggest a leisure industry
magazine is in the offing.

CONTACT: DATABASE PUBLICATIONS - 0895-878888.
[***][5/17/88][***]
ZENITH LAUNCHES TWO NEW AT-COMPATIBLES
Slough, Berkshire (NB) -- Zenith has unveiled two new 80286-based
desktop PCs, the Z-248/12 and the Z-286-LP.  The former machine
is one of the fastest 80286-based PCs thanks to its 12MHz clock
speed and zero-wait state operation.  The latter machine's claim
to fame, meanwhile is its size - about 60 per cent smaller than a
standard 80286-based desktop PC and with a footprint marginally
larger than that if its monitor.

The Z-248/12 comes in three configurations, each with 1Mb of
system Ram and a single 3.5 inch 'media-sensing' 1.44Mb floppy
drive.  Hard disk storage is via an integral 40Mb hard disk
(system price #2,795).  Other configurations include an 80Mb hard
disk at #3,195, and a 120Mb hard disk at #4,465.

The ultra-compact Z-286-LP is just 4 inches high and comes with
1Mb of Ram (expandable to 6Mb internally).  Two full size
expansion slots have been squeezed into the machine's casing,
along with a 3.5 inch 1.44Mb floppy and a choice of 20 or 40Mb
hard disks.  Pricing is #1,995 and #2,295 respectively.

CONTACT: ZENITH DATA SYSTEMS, 452 Bath Road, Slough,
         Berkshire, SL1 6BB.       Tel: [phone].
[***][5/17/88][***]
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
+ BRITBYTES - Bytes of news from around the UK... +
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

ADT (0734-320077) has announced a Microchannel/Ethernet card for
use with IBM's PS/2 Model 50, 60 and 80 series.  The #399 card
allows users of these top-end PS/2 machines to link their
machines into Ethernet-compatible local area networks.

AMSTRAD (0277-230222) didn't announce the budget fax machine we
predicted it would last week.  Instead, the company launched a
#499 video camcorder under the Fidelity brand name.  The company
also announced it had bought Fidelity for #3.1 million.
NEWSBYTES UK is still waiting for the fax machine, along with an
80386-based PC that we *know* is waiting in the wings.

BRAINSTORM SOFTWARE (0895-677845) has relaunched the Amstrad PCW
version of its popular Brainstorm ideas processor.  The outliner
package was previously sold by Caxton Software, which recently
pulled out of the budget software market.  Brainstorm re-acquired
the rights to its package for the PCW and is now selling
Brainstorm for #29-95.

DATABASE EXHIBITIONS (0625-878888) has announced that the Desktop
Publishing Show (October 13/15) is to go international this year.
The DTP show is only in its second year, yet is reported to have
attracted considerable interest from the overseas market.

INTEGRATED NETWORKS (0235-555595) has unveiled an internal four
port passive hub for use in Arc-Net Lan systems.  The card is
unusual for two reasons - it's very cheap (#30) and is the first
internal Arc-Net hub to be produced commercially.
[***][5/17/88][***]
AND FINALLY...

PC users who take their laptops with them on holidays and/or
business trips (from the UK) will no longer need to bother with
an export licence, according to COMPUTING.  The weekly magazine
reports that customs officials are getting more than a little
cheesed off with having to obtain emergency telephone
authorisation for computer users who turn up at the airport,
unaware that their machine needs a licence to travel with them.

The UK government has now agreed to an urgent request from HM
Customs and Excise and the Department of Trade and Industry that
export licences are no longer required for PCs up to 4Mb of Ram,
providing the machines (and their owners) are en-route to a
friendly state.

Interestingly, Computing says that there is no limit on the
number of PCs that any one person can take out of the UK.
NEWSBYTES UK has visions of spivvy executives carrying armloads
of laptops on 'day trips' to Bulgaria...